Huon of Bordeaux
Knight of Charlemagne who inherits the fairy king's throne.
Huon of Bordeaux is a popular character of French romance, the title figure of a late 13th-century chanson de geste. He is a knight in the court of Charlemagne and the son of Seguin de Bordeaux. His adventures take him to the East, where he fights Saracens and wins the heart of Princess Escalarmonde, eventually inheriting the throne of the fairy king Auberon.
- Field
- French romance / chanson de geste
- Nationality
- French
- Known for
- Title character of Huon de Bordeaux; knight of Charlemagne; hero of adventures in the East
Lore & Background
Huon de Bordeaux is a late 13th-century chanson de geste, a French epic poem with romance elements. The poem tells of Huon, a knight who unwittingly kills Charlot, the son of Emperor Charlemagne. He is given a reprieve from death on condition that he fulfill seemingly impossible tasks: travel to the court of the Emir of Babylon, return with a handful of the Emir's hair and teeth, slay the Emir's mightiest knight, and three times kiss the Emir's daughter, Esclarmonde. Huon accomplishes these feats with the assistance of the fairy king Auberon.
The poem recalls tropes of earlier French epics, such as conflicts with Saracens, the Saracen Princess who converts to Christianity, and the 'epic of revolt.' However, because of its lateness and romance undertones, William Kibler has classified it as a 'chanson d'aventure.' The oldest surviving version comprises 10,553 decasyllable verses grouped in 91 assonanced laisses. Presumed dates for its composition vary, with 1216 and 1268 generally given as terminus post quem and terminus ante quem.
Reader's Guide
Huon of Bordeaux is significant as a late example of the chanson de geste tradition, blending epic and romance elements. Its success gave rise to six continuations and one prologue, collectively tripling its length, though editors have not agreed on a collective title for the Huon de Bordeaux Sequel Cycle. The tale was adapted in the 15th and 16th centuries, and the late 19th and early 20th centuries saw renewed interest, with first modern editions by scholars like Gaston Paris and retellings for both adult and young readers.
The romance came into vogue in England through John Bourchier's translation (c. 1540), and Shakespeare heard of the French epic through it. The tale was dramatized in Paris in 1557 and served as the basis for Christoph Martin Wieland's epic poem Oberon (1780). In the 20th century, Andre Norton retold the tale as Huon of the Horn (1951), considered her first fantasy novel. The poem was also translated into Middle Dutch in the 14th-15th centuries, with three extant printed versions of the Dutch prose retelling. Historical sources identify Charlot with Charles the Child, son of Charles the Bald, and Huon's father with Seguin, count of Bordeaux under Louis the Pious. Huon himself is probably based on Hunald I, duke of Aquitaine.
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