Sigismund of Luxemburg and Hungary in French Medieval Literature

Studia Patzinaka, 5, 2007, pp.
47-82
From Bogeyman to Noble King:

Sigismund and Hungary in French Medieval Literature
Vladimir AGRIGOROAEI
This study focuses on a diachronic approach of a literary topos, that of

Hungary, and concentrates on the evidence concerning this realm during the
reign of Sigismund of Luxemburg. The main topic of our research lays
primarily with the Roman de messire Charles de Hongrie, a romance written
towards the end of the XVth century, which deals in a fabulous manner with
the story of Charles-Robert of Anjou king of Hungary (1308-1342),1. The
romance also uses and abuses various events related to the life, times, and
actions of Charles VIII (1483-1498), king of France, as the editor of the text
implies, or of Sigismund of Luxemburg.2 The redaction of the novel must
have taken place under the patronage of a member of the House of Anjou,
since the manuscript mentions as author an otherwise unknown Beauveau,
seneschal of Anjou. His sponsor could have intended to celebrate in this way
Charles-Robert king of Hungary, one of his ancestors.3
The only manuscript copy that survives is MS Paris, Bibliothèque
nationale de France, français 1467 (previously MS 1223 and MS 7546 of the
library of Philippe Hurault of Cheverny, bishop of Chartres in 1598-1620)
and the terminus ante quem for the redaction of the work is 1498, the very
close of the Middle Ages. The manuscript is 190 mm wide, 275 mm long and
contains no drawings. The only decorative element consists of red letters
employed for relevant fragments or for initials. The Gothic cursive which
fills almost all of the 316 folios is common, while the paper watermarks of
various shapes and sizes led the editor to conclude that the signatures of the
manuscript were bound together some place where the scribes assembled all
sorts of paper, of various origins. There is no unity in the choice of paper,
I hereby wish to express my gratitude to Ana Maria Gruia for her careful reading of this article,
to Cătălina Gîrbea for letting me know of Sir Sagremor’s ethnicity in Les premiers faits du roi
Arthur, and to Agnès Guénolé for indicating me the online edition of Adam of Bremen’s
chronicle.
1 Charles and Satine had one of their daughters assignee au roy de France, a detail resembling the
marriage of Clemence of Hungary, Charles-Robert’s daughter, to king Louis X of France;
Chênerie 1992, p. XXIII.
2 Chênerie 1992, pp. XXIV-XV.
3 Chênerie 1992, p. XXIII.

Vladimir Agrigoroaei
there are no exquisite drawings, there are no signs of golden letters, no

colour harmony; nothing draws attention to this manuscript. It must have
been a cheap copy of a lost source, as the editor implies, or, as I tend to
believe, the only one who was ever written. Both hypotheses are equally
plausible. Due to the not so exquisite quality of the manuscript, previous
researches have even labelled it as “detestable”. Despite the fact that I could
not gain direct access to the manuscript, its description does point to a rather
low quality product. Furthermore, the parenthood of the sponsor, the
patron, or the owners of the manuscript are rather uncertain, even though
the editor made desperate tries to search all data relative to the house of
Hurault, to the anonymous Beauveau, seneschal of Anjou, or even to the
house of Anjou in general; once assembled, these data did not provide the
basis for future speculations.4 As we have already implied elsewhere, there
must have been a connection between the House of Anjou and the
manuscript, as a certain interest regarding Hungary is rather common for
the members of this family, but all in all it remains just a hypothesis.5
The manuscript comprises three different works: the Livre de messire
Charles (ff.1r-209r), the book of Troïlus (ff.210r-300v), and an anonymous
poem entitled La vie et regretz du mauvais riche (ff.301r-316v). From a literary
point of view, the adventures of Messire Charles are mediocre even for a late
medieval public, and they do not provide an enjoyable reading. In order to
better understand this evaluation, one should present a brief outline of the
plot.
Knights in White Satin

Once upon a time there was a king in the faraway kingdom of Hungary and
his name was Gault. He had a queen, named Emeraude, who was the niece
of the German emperor. They were old but eventually managed to have a
son, whom they named Charles. But while Charles was still an infant, the
pagan Bohemians invaded the Hungarian capital, slaughtered the king and
turned the queen into a runaway nun in a Beguine convent. Charles was
previously stolen from his mother by a fool, Tauppin, who gave him to the
lady of Goderes; she was the one to raise and educate the little boy.
Meanwhile, the old king of Dlugose (an invented country in a fantasy world)
wanted to marry Satine, the very young, beautiful, and only daughter of the
duke of Tournances. Everybody knows it, she was as beautiful as satin can
be. But then the narrative turns loose, because Charles reaches manhood, he
miraculously discovers his true royal identity, he seeks out adventures, he
rescues damsels in distress, he fights fearless knights and wins great prizes,
slays a giant with the help of a dwarf, then slays a griffon, he rescues the
Rose Knights, and so on. The “Rose Knights”? Who are they? There’s no
time to explain, since everything is coming to a close: Charles presents
4 Chênerie 1992, pp. IX-XIII.

5 Agrigoroaei 2007, passim.
48
From Bogeyman to Noble King
himself as the Blue Knight, he is taken before the king of Dlugose, where he
rescues Satine from a monster who had previously stolen her. What are
monsters for, anyway, if not for stealing damsels? And the queen of
Dlugose, Satine, loves Charles; and Charles loves her back, naturally.
But what happened to Hungary? Well, take your time, dear reader,
for in such narratives one should let go of his or her historical anxieties and
read the story as it is. Nobody thought that the Roman de messire Charles de
Hongrie was a good novel. In fact, we have only one manuscript of it,
probably the only one who was ever written, which means it did not have
too many readers anyway. In the rest of the story, other knights fight great
tournaments. Counts, dukes, and kings fight their counterparts, Charlie kills
four wild men and a winged knight, he rescues lady Joubarde and her
dwarf, and he returns to Dlugose, this time wounded. He rescues Satine in a
judicial combat; he fights a lot of knights, more and more knights, as many
knights as he can. He frees the Knight of the Tower of Love, takes him to the
Dlugose court, and there he fights again. A herald announces the quest for
the White Deer, an animal belonging to the Knight of Estang. Everybody
goes out in search of this wonderful beast but Charlie is the only one who
finds it, not before fighting many more knights, and rescuing many more
damsels. There’s no need to continue the story, for it has been taking us too
long already and the end matters only to our research. As one could easily
foretell, the old king of Dlugose dies from accidental death, leaving Satine a
widow and messire Charles fights some more knights, rescues some more
damsels, and finally gets married to his lady.6
Given that Messire Charles is a chivalric romance, an analysis of the
entire text would be pointless, thus leaving the researcher with only two
small passages to investigate, the beginning and the end, since these two
contain clear references to Hungary. When dealing with this historical
background of the novel, the editor rejected or reinterpreted Lawrence-
Goldstein’s previous hypotheses concerning the narrative.7 She thought in
her own turn that the epic had a lot to do with Charles-Robert I of Anjou,
king of Hungary, but the presence of certain toponyms (Tournances >
Tournon; Romances > Romans; Grenoble; Valentinois) point to the area of
Dauphiné. The editor criticized afterwards the disproportionate attention
given by former researchers to the presence of the Beguines in the narrative
and concentrated on the Boesmes, the mescreans of the chansons de geste,
whom he identifies with the Hussites. Whilst the narrative uses the crusade
rhetoric of the Hussite wars, the capital of Hungary in this chivalrous world
(both fantastic and real) is called Rubie (Russia?) and the enemies are the
“pagan” Czech partisans of Jan Hus (c.1369-1415).8 The last detail does not
remind us of Charles VIII king of France, nor of Charles-Robert of Hungary,
but of Sigismund of Luxemburg, the greatest enemy of the Hussites.
6 Cf. Chênerie 1992, pp. XL-XLVI.

7 Lawrence-Goldstein 1959.
8 Chênerie 1992, pp. XXIII-XIV.
49
On the other hand, Marie-Luce Chênerie envisaged a large array of

possibilities when dealing with this reinterpretation of history. She tried to
make a pact and accept all suggested hypotheses, stressing out that there is
also an interpretatio Francica of the story of Charles-Robert of Anjou, which
she identifies with the Italian campaigns of Charles VIII (1483-1498), king of
France.9 However, when choosing Charles of France the editor does not pay
attention to the fact that the beginning and the end of the narrative do not
give us any clues regarding this king and that the pagan Boesmes have
nothing to do with Italy; she must have made her choice according to the
similarity of the two names. Since the literary re-interpretations of the
history of France do not concern our study and since the identification with
Charles VIII is not substantiated by the toponyms and the ethnic names in
the narrative, one should focus mainly on the citations of Hungary and on
the scenes from the plot which were supposed to happen in that faraway
country. Thus, the reader learns that Hungary is isolated in a time/space
perpetuum, that it does not have any obvious neighbours, and that the main
political and military concern of its monarchs resides in fighting some
pagans, called Boesmes:
Or est il ainssin qu’il lui avoit une maniere de gens que l’on appelloit
Boysmes, lesqueulx tachoient et avoient tasché a destruire le roy et
tout son païs, tant qu’ilz avoient peu. Mais le roy s’en estoit gardé et
gardoit tousjours et avoit victoire tousjours sur eulx. Or advint que a
une assaillie il en desconfit grant foesson. Et en print ung, lequel se
faignit a faire chrestien et se mist a nom Guy ; si fist tant, par sa
malice et par ses flateries qu’il feist au roy, que le roy le print a si
grant amour qu’il en esloigna fort les chevaliers de son païs et qui de
tout temps l’avoient bien servy. Et ne croyoit le roy en autre, fors en
luy de qui je vous parle ; et luy bailla le roy a garder la ville ou il
demouroit, que l’on appelloit Rubie pour le temps que c’estoit.10
However, these pagans are brought in the capital by Guy, who is in his own
turn a pagan Bohemian. When analyzing the choice of names in this novel,
one could find interesting Guy le traistre, for he resembles numerous Guy-s
from the Chanson de la Croisade Albigeoise. In this chanson de geste, at least in
its second part, they are the bad guys, since most of the Guy-s in the
narrative are on the French side.11 Czechs and Cathars could have meant the
same thing to the author of the narrative; the were probably heretics and
nothing more. Next, our Guy, the traitor, managed to send away all the
king’s true servants and when the king was alone he summoned the pagan
Czechs secretly, who came in a ship that landed in the port of Rubie!
Si trouva le seigneur des Boysmes le port de la ville ouvert et aussi les
portes mesmes, que le traistre avoit fait lesser ouvertes tout de gré. Si
descendirent toust et hastivement des navires et entrairent en la ville
9 Chênerie 1992, pp. XXIV-XXIX.

10 Chênerie 1992, p. 1.
11 Gougaud (Martin-Chabot) 1989, passim.
50
et comancerent a crier leur enseigne des mescreanz. Et quant ceulx de

la ville vidrent le grant pan qui y estoit, ilz furent moult esbahis que
plus ne peurent. Et quant ilz vidrent que point n’y avoit de deffance
en eulx, l’un fuyoit sa, l’autre la, chacun se mussoit qui povoit. Mais
ce fust por nyant, que les Boysmes en tuerent tant que ce fut grant
douleur de veoir l’occision qu’ilz firent. Ilz courrurent au palais et
trouverent encores le roy a table, car il n’en savoit rien, pour ce que le
palais estoit assez loing de la ville ; si prindrent le roy et tous ceulx qui
estoient avecques luy ; si ce furent aucuns qui eschapperent, qui s’en
fouyrent en autres villes chrestiennes dire les nouvelles et que l’on
gardast bien les villes. Messire Guy, le traistre, faisoit semblant
d’avoir paour, mes il estoit bien asseuré. Ilz menerent le roy en une
chambre et touz ceulx qui estoient prins avecques lui. Si lui dist le
seigneur des Boysmes : « Roy de Honguerie, croyés en noustre loy ou
nous vous copperons la teste ! » Presentement le roy respondit :
« Faulx mauvais mescreans, je renye ta loy et touz tes mahomés, ne
por paour de morir je… » [lacuna in the manuscript]12
But why should the author imagine Hungary, and why would there be any
need of the pagan Boesmes? The fact that these pagan natives are mescreans is
rather odd. The Czechs should have borne the name hereses, a word well
attested in the fifteen-century sources,13 due to their belonging to the Hussite
“heresy”. On the other hand, the mescreans are those who do not adhere to
Christian religion, namely the infidels, and this adjective usually refers to
the Saracens.14 Since the greatest enemy of the Hussites was Sigismund of
Luxemburg, perhaps it would not be to unusual to look for a plausible
answer in his life and times, and speculate the fact that he was a real
crusader, and that he fought the Turks. However, this research should not
lead to an interpretation of historical facts, but to the distorted visions of the
French authors, both in literature and in historiography. For example, one
knows that in the aftermath of the battle of Nicopolis, Honoré Bovet wrote a
poem bearing the title L'apparicion maistre Jehan de Meun (1398), where he
presented the Saracens (i.e. Turks) as almost schismatic, debauched
Christians prone to vices.15 Subsequently, Bovet urged his masters to
undertake internal reforms in order to heal the Christian faith, and his main
interest laid in the conflicts of the Western World. Nevertheless, one of the
literary targets of this poem was the Schism, which the author puts in the
same basket with the Saracen eggs. And let us not forget that Guy, le traistre,
is a Bohemian, and that we’ve already supposed that his name was inspired
by the countless Guy-s of the Chanson de la Croisade Albigeoise. One could
conclude that pagan, heretic, and schismatic might have meant the same
thing to the author of our narrative.
12 Chênerie 1992, p. 2.
13 BLMF 2006, entrée herese.
14 BLMF 2006, entrée mécréant.
15 Hanly 1999, pp. 227-249.
51
Moreover, when writing about the crusading expedition of 1393 led

by Philippe d’Artois, count of Eu, Michel Pintoin tells us that the count and
his loyal companions wanted to fight the Turks, but the king of Hungary
suggested they would better fight the heretics of Bohemia.16 Perhaps this is
why the Boesmes appear as mescreans in the Messire Charles..., consequently
to a literary confusion between two types of enemies. The Turks do not
belong to the narrative, but they must have left literary traces in the adjective
determining the Czechs, the mescreans. One cannot tell whether the Western
authors knew anything of the differences between schismatic and Saracen,
whether they were interested in knowing them, or whether they mingled
various sorts of information into an already existing plot. In chivalric
romances there’s no time to draw accurate portraits of the Other, who is
always mean. The Other is evil, and since Sigismund and the country he
ruled were fighting for the sake of the Good, all his enemies must have been
the Bad and the Ugly.
More details appear towards the end of the narrative, where messire
Charles writes letters to his peer monarchs demanding their help in order to
fight and regain his kingdom, just like Sigismund the crusader had written
letters in order to assemble the Nicopolis crusade:
Or dit le conte que messire Charles all avers la mer pour passer a
Hongrie. Et mandoit gens de toutes pars et escrivoit lettres aux ducs,
aux contes, comme au duc d’Avrantine son oncle, au duc de Romances
que on souloit appeler le conte de Ridemore, lequel estoit compaignon
de messire Charles, aussi estoit il cousin du roy de Duglouse. Et pour
tout dire, il eut tant de gens qui le voudroient servir pour conquerir
son royaulme qu’ilz furent nombrez a este XXm, parcompte fait, car
touz ceulx qui en ouaient parler venoient a son aide, tant estoit amé de
touz.17
No one could ever imply that the messire Charles’ letter is an echo of the
letters of Sigismund and such a hypothesis remains uncertain, since this
could be just a literary topos that we forgot to analyse or identify
accordingly. Its selection could be nonetheless related to Hungary in general
and to its monarchs’ desperate calls for a crusade in the XIVth and XVth
centuries.
Next, the imaginary crusaders from the Roman de messire Charles…
embark on their ships and cross the sea into Hungary:
Ilz eurent bon vent. Les maistres des navires entendirent fort a
singler, et si bonne diligence firent que en moins de huit jours
arriverent au royaulme de Hongrie. Et descendirent a ung port que on
appelloit Grilloie : ainsi avoit il nom pour le temps. Les compaignons
descendirent sains et haitiez et monterent touz a cheval. Et
chevaucherent jusques a une grosse ville qui estoit a deux lieues du
16 Contamine 2006, p. 75.

17 Chênerie 1992, p. 165.
52
port, de la ou ilz estoient descenduz ; et l’appelloit on pour le temps

que c’estoit, Libourne.
[…]
Et a ceste heure ne parlerent plus de la chose ; si chevaucherent fort et
la compaignee aussi, et arriverent en pou de heure davant Libourne.
Or la ville n’estoit point encore en l’obeissance des Boesmes ; et la
gardoit ung grant seigneur que on appeloit le seigneur de Gautage ; ce
seigneur ycy estoit grant seigneur de soy et tenoit sa terre du roy de
Hongrie. Et quant il sceut que le païs fut ainsi perdu, pour la grant
amour qu’il avoit au roy et a son fils, il laissa toutes ses terres, et pour
garder ceste ville la.18
The allies leave then for the capital, Rubie, where they find the governor
Malifer, an “evil-bearer”, whom they kill, just like they kill Guy, the traitor,
who seems to have used the royal Hungarian power after Charles’s father’s
death. Charles becomes a righteous king, he gives away money, lands, and
titles to everybody, he gets married, just as we’ve already told, and lives a
life of ease. The narrative leaves once again Hungary to return to an
imaginary world where every tale ends the same way and where one should
not seek any historical references. Moreover, when rememoring the
beginning and the end of the narrative, as much as the previous analyses,
the imaginary messire Charles cannot be Charles-Robert of Anjou or Charles
VIII of France. When taking into account the testimony of the pagan Boesmes
we return once again to Sigismund, king of Hungary, king of Bohemia, and
later Holy Roman Emperor.
Sigismund was already known to the French audience, even though
not all testimonies indicate a precise name. For example, Froissart names
him Henry-Sigismund, sometimes “Louis” by mistake, and tells how he sent
a letter to the Western princes, wherein he described the great plans of
conquest of Amorath Baquin, the Ottoman sultan Bayezid I,19 clearly mistaken
for his father Murad I.20 The French audience might have also remembered
his marriage to the Hungarian heiress to the throne, which disturbed the
carefully arranged plans of the French court.21 Not to mention all the
testimonies and narratives related to the Nicopolis crusade, who’s
discussion would expand this article beyond its set limits. One should also
bear in mind that Sigismund was recognized by his step-brother Wenceslaus
IV as vicar-general of the whole Empire, and that he travelled extensively
through Europe in the beginning of the XVth century. His voyages led him to
France and even to England, and his visits must have made an impression
on the local courts. What we’ve already understood and interpreted is that
Sigismund could have been the ideal historical source for the invention of
18 Chênerie 1992, p. 166.

19 Contamine 2006, p. 74.
20 Amorath resembles the name of Bayezid’s father and one should remember the coalition
between Hungarians and Serbs against the Ottomans, and the battle of Kossovopolje (1389),
where Murad I was killed.
21 Contamine 2006, pp. 72-74.
53
messire Charles. Charles was a brave knight and Sigismund was the founder
of the Order of the Dragon; Charles was a king of Hungary and so was
Sigismund; they both fought the evil “Czechs” and they both had to re-
conquer their thrones. However, a lot of details regarding the literary
evolution of Hungary as a romance topos cannot be explained only through
the life and times of Sigismundus. Perhaps one should look for answers in
the medieval French narratives falling into the category of fiction and choose
to analyze not the history of Hungary, but the history of French literature.22
The Bogeyman
In 1826, Charles-Athanase Walckenaër, a French entomologist with literary
aspirations, tried to find a plausible etymology for the word ogre through an
excursus into history. He assumed that it must have had a Dark-Age origin,
since it could have been related to the Hungarians, “Hunni-Gours” or
Uyghurs, those long gone invaders of Europe, presumably regarded by the
medieval folk as heritors of anthropophagic practices. Of course such
considerations were silly and it was the Romanticism of the XIXth century or
the entomologist’s positivism that dictated them,23 but, even though there
seems to be no connection between the two terms, the comparison enjoyed
much literary support and was still used every now and then.24 Thus, the
Hungarian is not the etymon ancestor of the Ogre, but when reading the
early vernacular texts of the Middle Ages which mention Hungarians, one
finds a lot of Bogeymen. Not the Bogeyman, but a Bogeyman, since this
grotesque character has no specific appearance; it can be used
metaphorically to denote a person or a thing of which someone has an
irrational fear. Yes, in the beginning the French felt an irrational fear
towards the Hungarians:
v. 3253 la premere est de Jaianz de Malprose,
l’altre des Hums, e la terce de Hungres…25
This is how the Hungarians appear for the first time in French literature,
more precisely in the Chanson de Roland. The company is “terrific”; Huns and
Hungarians partake in the war waged by the Saracens against Charlemagne.
It is strange to find these two ethnic names together and the choice must
have been purely alliterative, since the Hungarians had not claimed the
heritage of the Huns yet. In the XIth century they probably stressed a
Scythian heritage, as direct heirs of the biblical Magog, whose name
22 The present study does not deal with the Hungarian topos in detail, but with its major trends;
for an accurate expertise of the citations concerning Hungary in the chansons de geste see either
Karl 1907 or Martin 1998; for various topics regarding Hungary in medieval literature see
Eckhardt 1943.
23 The (h)ogre, a "man-eating giant," appears for the first time in 1697 in Charles Perrault's
stories. It derives probably from the Italian orco ("demon, monster"), that derives in turn the
Latin Orcus ("Hades"). The word was probably transmitted perhaps via an Italian dialect.
24 Eckhardt 1943, pp. 53-56.
25 Duggan 2005, I/240.
54
resembled phonetically to the Magyars. Attila’s aura and the consequent

Hun propaganda would appear only later, as a historical legitimacy of the
conquest.26 In the XIIth century the Hungarians still claimed to be Scythians
and they appeared accordingly in Wace’s Brut (1150-1155), where one finds
not one, but two Bogeymen:
Unze mil en furent menees
E en Cologne decolees;
v. 6075 Urséle fu od celes prise,
E ovec eles fu ocise.
Mainte en unt en la mer trovee
Wanis e Melga esguaree ;
Wanis esteit reis de Hungrie;
v. 6080 Par mer alot od grant navie;
Melga esteit de Scice sire.27
There is no need to identify a Hungarian chieftain bearing a name similar to

Wanis, neither to look for historical patterns of Magyar pirates in the
Northern Sea, because Wace follows the storyboard of the Historia Regum
Brittonum by Geoffrey of Monmouth and takes us to a world of fantasy,
where everybody comes to Britain in order to menace the long line of Celtic
protagonists. It might be interesting to observe that both Hungarians and
Scythians are eiusdem farinae. Nobody knows anything about them, they are
pirates only by chance (everybody who attacks the island of Britain has to
row a boat), so that both the Hungarians and the Scythians are in fact
“villains”, not necessarily pirates. They’re just mean.
One may put in the same category the presence of the Hungarians in
the Garin le Loherain chanson de geste, whose early variants could have been
assembled in the late XIth-early XIIth centuries. In this epic, the Hungarians
appear for the first time as allies of the Slavic Esclers and of the Russian Rox,
but later on they attack Gaul by themselves and one of the protagonists in
the epic, Hervis – a probable echo of Heriveus, archbishop of Metz (900-922),
is forced to seek the help of king Pepin.28 The testimony of the Hungarian
26 Róna-Tas 1999, pp. 423-425.

27 Arnold 1940, vol. I, pp. 323-324.
28 Eckhardt 1943, pp. 105-108, who cites without giving the exact references:
Or vous lairons ester del duc Hervi,

Dirons des Hongres, que Diex puis maleïr !
Qui ont lor gent assenblé et porquis,
Por prendre Gaule et gaster le païs ;
Si com la Bible le nous tesmigne et dit.
Mez ont assise qui fu au duc Hervi,
Dont grant despit en vint au palasin.
Secors va querre en France au roi Pepin,
Tant le cercha, ce ne vous quiers mentir,
Qu’a Mont-Loon a trouvé le meschin.
55
Bogeyman is repeated by many other sources29 and the topos is found

centuries later in La Belle Hélène de Constantinople. This chanson de geste was
composed in Northern France towards the middle of the XIVth century and it
mentions a roy Butor de Honguerie, the Bad Guy of the story, who attacks
Rome with a Turkish army:
Dont se party ly rois, baniere desploïe.
v. 2365 Envers les Turs s’en va aveuc se baronie.
Ja en sçavoit nouvelle roy Butor de Honguerie ;
Il a fait adouber chelle gent païennie.
La ot mainte bataille ordenee et rengie,
Mainte trompe d’arain y fu che jour bundie
v. 2370 Et crestïenne gent conmenchement l’estourmie.
La fu telle bataille et faite et conmenchie
Dont maint hons a doleur pardy et corps et vie.
[…]
Devant Romme le grant, le chité honneree,
Ffu grande le bataille et fiere le mellee
v. 2375 Dieux, que ly rois Henris a se forche esprovee
Contre le roy Butor et se gent defaee !
Butors portoit lupars en se targe doree,
Puis le conquist Henris a le chiere membree,
Et se les enquerqua par telle destinee
Qu’enquore tout ly oir d’Engleterre le lee
v. 2380 Ont armes a lupars, ch’est bien chose averee…30
King Henry is an Englishman in the narrative, and he has already fallen in

love with Beautiful Helena, the protagonist, who is in her own turn the
daughter of the Byzantine emperor. Butor, the “mischievous” chieftain,
attacks Rome followed by thousands of Turks, but king Henry of England
kills him and takes the leopards from Butor’s coat of arms, applying them to
his own in what we might categorize as a folkloric approach to the history of
English heraldry. In fact, the “Bad Hungarian” is not a Hungarian at all. The
ethnicity ascribed to “king Butor” plays only a cameo part in the narrative
and a few verses later he is just the leader of the Turks. By the middle of the
XIVth century Hungary was already part of a French Commonwealth thanks
to its Angevine ruling dynasty and Butor’s ethnicity was clearly misplaced.
It was a late echo of Garin le Loherain.
As a result, the Bogeyman refers specifically to the early periods of
Hungarian-French relations; it changed shape from time to time and it
became less barbaric. For example, in the Roman d’Eneas (c. 1150-1160) one
may find a long list of Italian nations in the description of the Latin army,
29 See the Chanson des Saisnes (1196) ; the Floovant (end of the XIIth century); the Gaufrey (second
half of the XIIIth century) or Doon de Mayence (c.1205). For most of these late chansons de geste,
the Hungarian Bogeyman is a topic inherited from the Garin le Loherain epic.
30 Roussel 1995, pp. 220-221.
56
some of whom come from Virgil’s narrative,31 and amongst them the very
same Hungarians, this time allies of the “enemy”, because Turnus and his
troops are fighting Aeneas’ army.
Claudus y vint, uns riches quens
v. 4035 Qui fu sires des Sabïens ;
Venu y sont li Fabarin,
Et li Pullan et li Latin,
Li Genevois et li Pisan,
Et li Hongre et li Toscan,
v. 4040 Cil de Naples et de Salerne ;
Et cil y vindrent de Vulterne.
Que vous en diroie je plus ?
Qu’ytant en assambla Turnus,
Que gent de pié que chevaliers
v. 4045 Qu’en li esma .II.C. milliers.32
The presence of Naples, Salerno, Genoa, and Pisa has nothing to do with
Virgil’s narrative; neither do the Hungarians. Following this data, one
should interpret that the Hungarians are associated with the Italian lands or
at least with the Mediterranean world, that they’re not Bogeymen anymore,
that they’re just rivals. One could assume that the Hungarians gained the
literary right of being described neutrally consequently to the foundation of
a Christian Hungarian monarchy and to the expansion of its territory.
Hungary was Bogeyman’s country no more. To the close of the XIIth century
it turned into an exotic place.
The Other France in the East

In the XIVth century, a century and a half after the presumed date when the
“Bogeyman” became extinct, the Livre de Jean de Mandeville enlightens us
briefly on the topics of Hungary, the Danube, the Black Sea, and the good
Christians living there.33 Such a change occurred soon after Hungary gained
the already mentioned neutral status; through it, Hungary also gained its
place among the many other Catholic realms and it became a part of the
Western world. It remained however exotic to the French, who had no
common border with it as the Germans did, so that the French authors were
forced to imagine a land resembling all other European realms, but far away,
to the end of the Christian world. This change of status is visible in many
lists of countries, such as the inventory in Ille et Galeron by Gautier d’Arras
(c.1167-1191), which is supposed to fill a narrative gap in between its hero’s
extensive travels:
31 Cf. una ingens Amiterna cohors priscique Quirites,/ Ereti manus omnis oliuiferaeque Mutuscae;/ qui
Nomentum urbem, qui Rosea rura Velini,/ qui Tetricae horrentis rupes montemque Seuerum/
Casperiamque colunt Forulosque et flumen Himellae,/ qui Tiberim Fabarimque bibunt, quos frigida
misit/ Nursia, et Ortinae classes populique Latini, / quosque secans infaustum interluit Allia nomen…;
Virgil, Aeneid, VII, 710-717.
32 Petit 1997, p. 272.
33 Macleod Higgins 1997, pp. 67, 185.
57
Et vienent en la grant Bretagne,

En Gales, en la grant montagne
Vienent, puis passent en Irlande,
v. 1295 Puis passent en Bresaliande,
Et trestolte Escoce ont cerkie
Et Norouege et Normendie,
Puis cerkent tolte Danemarce,
Mainte contree et mainte marce,
v. 1300 Trestolte Frise et Hongerie,
Saissçone et tolte Bougerie ;
Mais por nïent le quierent la,
Qu’en Normendie s’en ala,
De Normendie droit en France…34
There’s not much of a geographical order in this catalogue of countries. The

author thought of the lands bordering the North Sea and passed later on
towards Central Europe and Lower Danube. He also associated Hungary
with Bulgaria and Hungary’s occurrence in this fragment is unmotivated
and vague, just as it is in the legend of the seven sleepers, where one finds a
Hungarian monk among the six others met by Charlemagne.35 The same
purpose of praising the exotic can be observed in the Venice and Arsenal
versions of the Roman d’Alexandre. In this text, Alexander gives Ynde la Maior
to Aristés; tote Perse…lo rëaume Dairon to Clinçon; Surie e lo païs en sus /
tresqu’al regne de Perse, que tint Escüerus / de l’entree de Grice entresqu’as mons
desus to Antiocus; to Licanor he gives tote Borgarie, a land davers Rosie, and
catalogues his possessions by naming Engelterre, Lombardie, Rome, Jerl’m,
Acre, Escalone e Rames, Cartage, Barbaria, Aufrica, Sibilia and Celice. To Festion,
his dear servant, he gives Hungary and lo regne d’Ançoi:
v. 5885 Li reis i est venuz, que ne si targe mie,
Si a lites les letres en un marbre porfie,
Pois vit lo dreit sentier si la voie choisie ;
Ne fust mie si liez qui li donast Ongrie.
…………
v. 9296 « Festion, dit li reis, aprochiez vos de moi ;
Ne vos ai oblïé, car molt vos am e croi.
…………
Je vous donrai tel terre, per lo deu ont je croi,
v. 9310 Dons .c.m.. chivaliers en iront après toi :
Or retenez Ongria e lo regne d’Ançoi. »
Festion li respont : « Bel sire, je l’otroi.
Que farai je de terre quant je morir vos voi ? »
Je se ferist au cuer se il eüst de quoi.36
34 Cowper 1956, p. 65.

35 In the Gesta Karoli Magni ad Carcassonam et Narbonam, one finds seven monks, all asleep, of
whom tertius fuit de Ungaria, fiulius Regis regni eiusdem, et vocatur Robertus, bonitatem et mores
ipsius esset longissimum, enarrare ; cf. Eckhardt 1943, pp. 91-95.
36 La Du 1937, vol. I, pp. 304 suiv., 429, 431-433 ; the citation here belongs the Venice version of;
see also the Arsenal one :
58
In fact, the catalogue of countries previously mentioned lists various parts of

the oikoumene and Hungary’s presence is correlated only to its exotic
location. Even so, the choice of lands in the catalogue makes one think that
Hungary is considered a Mediterranean country, and another sign of this
viewpoint could be the relation between Hungary and the enigmatic
kingdom of Ançoi.37
Moreover, in the beginning of the First Branch from Alexander of
Paris’ version, one reads a long record of gifts brought by Olimpias…fille au
roy d’Ermenie to her future husband Philippe, li rois qui Macidoine tenoit et
Alenie / Et Gresse en son demaine et toute Esclavonie.38 Among these offerings
we find a short list of horses, of various shapes, sizes, and – most of all – of
various origins, all mixed up with garments and cloth:
Cil ert privez de li, si ne s’en corroit mie
Qui par armes queroit pris de chevalerie ;
Et li donnoit biaus dons, car de biens ert guarnie,
v. 160 Et biaus chevaus d’Arrabe et mules de Surie
Et riches garnemens, palefroiz de Hongrie
Les siglatons d’Espaigne et pailes d’Aumarie
Et cendaus et tirés et le vair de Rossie,
Dyapres d’Antioche, samis de Romenie,
v. 165 Les chainsils d’Alemaigne, qu’ele avoit en baillie.
More references to Hungary are to be found in other narratives, but they all
designate exotic places and people. We came across two Hungarian
characters in the Doon de la Roche chanson de geste (c.1195-1204): a bishop,
uncle of the female protagonist, and a Hungarian king:
Quatre fois se pasma quant la vile a vuidie.
Onques ne tresfina, si vint en Honguerie ;
L’avesques Auberis l’a molt bien hebergie,
v. 6146 « Festivons, dist li reis, aprosmez vos de mei.

Unques mendres de vos non josta en tornei ;
…………
Ja te dorai la terre, per lo dé o ge crei,
D… a ml’. chivaler en vinront après tei:
Or recevez Ongrie e lo regne d’Ansei. »
Festivon li repont : « Beus sire, ge morir l’otrei
v. 6160 Que farai ge de terre quant ge morir vos vei ? »
Ja se ferust el cors se il oüst de quei.
37 The regne d’Ançoi, or of Ansei, cannot identified for sure. Flutre 1962, p. 195 lists it under the
name of Ansoi, considers it a “royaume voisin de la Hongrie”, and does not speculate further
on. However, the same kingdom of Ançoi appears in the Prophéties de Merlin (c.1276). It could be
either the city of Ancona (e.g. Anconois, Acomeis) and its surrounding territory, or the province
of Alsace (e.g. Ansai, Ausai, Aussai); Flutre 1962, p. 200. Both hypotheses are conceivable, since
Hungary is the neighbour of Germany and also had direct access to the Adriatic, but one should
correlate this name with the general Mediterranean context of the other toponyms in the
fragment. No connection can be made with any other French word; the only ones attesting the
same phonetic sequence are the preposition ainçois (= before) and the noun ansei (= wine press
bowl); cf. Godefroy 1937, vol. 1, pp. 189, 300.
38 Armstrong & alii 1937, II, p. ?.
59
Car il estoit sis oncles et elle estoit sa niece ;

v. 2165 Par le mien escïent que l’avra a mesnie
Tresque il li rendra Alemaigne et Baviere.
Or s’en va li dus Do corociez et pleins d’ire ;
A poine et a travail vinrent en Honguerie.
v. 2415 La ont trouvé le roi de molt grant seignorie ;
S’a retenus les comtes par forces et par aïe.
…………
v. 2421 Li rois de Honguerie fist forment a prisier,
Et ot non Dorames, molt fu bons chevaliers.
Constantinoble claime, siene en fu la moitié.39
It is strange to find a Hungarian king laying claims on the throne of

Constantinople but this should be considered a literary echo of king Béla III,
of whom we will talk later on, when dealing with the literary representation
of accurate historical facts. Such things happen because towards the
beginning of the XIIIth century the romancing fantasy world enters a new
stage, during which it copies the political reality in order to present it
literary. For example, in the Florence de Rome narrative (c.1200-1225?), one
meets two outstanding young men, sons of Philip, king of Hungary, who
live at the court of the king of Esclavonie, because they have fled their native
land:
Car en Hongrie estoient doy hardi bacheler;
Fil estoient le roy, che sachiés sans doubter,
Phelippre de Hongrie, le gentil et le ber.
Moult ama ses enffans dont vous m’oéz compter,
v. 175 Mais li mors, qui tout fait partir et desevrer
Fist le boin roy Phelippre dou siecle definer.40
These heroes are Milon and Esmeré, and they later on join the king of Rome.
The king of Rome bears the name Oton, an obvious reference to the three
Otto-s of the Xth century, and the two brothers experience all possible
hardships while in his service, but they are never interested in returning to
Hungary too soon or in enhancing their knightly fame there, for Hungary
was just the starting point of the epic. Despite the fact that there are not
many clues regarding accurate historical facts in this epic, the researchers
were prone to exaggerate and presumed that the tumultuous relationship
between the two brothers was reminiscent of the rivalry between the
Hungarian king Emeric (1196-1204) and his brother Andrew (future king of
Hungary between 1205-1235).41
Even so, no one can argue convincingly that Milon and Esmeré were
inspired by the almost contemporary conflict between the king of Hungary
and his brother. Such stories are rather common in the romances or in the
chansons de geste and their source could be extracted from anywhere else.
39 Meyer, Huet 1921, pp. 80, 90.

40 Wallensköld 1909, pp. 136-137, passim.
41 Colliot 1970, pp. 221-222.
60
The only historical fact that drew our attention was the overwhelming
presence of Esclavonie next to Hungary in the narratives. It is not the same
territory mentioned in the French romances of the XIIth century, as the
Partonopeu de Blois (1175-1200?):
v. 7195 Od lui ert cil de Danemarce
Qui contre Esclavons tient le marce.
v. 13296 A tant en vient li bons, li grans d’Esclavonie,
Cuida ferir Ernoul a la barbe florie42
It is in fact the by-product of a confusion, because the Esclavonie in

Partonopeu de Blois is Adam of Bremen’s Sclavania,43 a land bordering the
Baltic Sea, while the country mentioned close to Hungary is a Danubian one.
This ubiquitous Esclavonie is no other than Slavonia, the territory comprised
between the rivers Drava, Sava and Danube in eastern Croatia, which
became a part of the Hungarian kingdom after 1027.44 The fact that the two
Hungarian princes from Florence de Rome seek refuge in Esclavonie might be
an echo of the general custom of appointing the successor to the Hungarian
throne as duke of “whole Slavonia”.45
Then, almost out of the blue, towards the end of the XIIth century, in
the Floires et Blancheflor romance, we find a future Hungarian king as
protagonist. In this epic a French noble woman travels to Compostela and
her escort is attacked by the Saracen king of Andalusia, who takes her to his
palace. Later on in the narrative but on the same date both the French lady
and the Saracen queen give birth to Floires the Saracen and to Blanchefleur
the Christian. But the kids love each other just like Pyramus and Thisbe46
and the story follows the ideal plot: the Saracen king decides to send Floires
to school and to sell the girl. She becomes the slave of the emir of Babylon
and Floires learns the truth lately. He starts a quest, arrives at Babylon, plays
chess with the guards of the tower of maidens, where Blanchefleur is
supposed to have sexual encounters with the emir, and he subsequently
enters the tower, arrives in the room of Blanchefleur's friend, who reunites
the two, soon to be discovered by the emir. The Saracen is not so cruel after
all; he is nonetheless impressed and spares their lives. Soon afterwards
42 Collet, Joris 2005, pp. 452, 892.

43 Cf. Sclavania igitur, amplissima Germaniae provintia, a Winulis incolitur, qui olim dicti sunt
Wandali. Decies maior esse fertur, quam nostra Saxonia, praesertim si Boemiam et eos qui trans
Oddaram sunt Polanos, quia nec habitu nec lingua discrepant, in partem adieceris Sclavaniae. Haec
autem regio cum sit armis, viris et frugibus opulentissima, firmis undique saltuum vel terminis
fluminum clauditur. Eius latitudo est a meridie usque in boream, hoc est ab Albia fluvio usque ad mare
Scythicum ; Adamus, Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum, II, 18 (T. Lienhard’s electronical
copy available online at http://hbar.phys.msu.su/gorm/chrons/bremen.htm).
44 Slavonia’s origins can be traced up to the VIIth c., to the time of a Slavic state owing allegiance
to the Avars, then annexed to Croatia in 925, invaded by Hungary in 1027, reunified with
Croatia in 1070, accepting Hungarian suzerainty again in 1091, and finally part of the
Hungarian domain until the Ottoman conquest following the Mohács defeat in 1526.
45 Kristó 2000, pp. 129, 133.
46 See the Babylon references later on which support this scenario.
61
Floires and Blanchefleur are married, while Claris, Blanchefleur’s friend,

marries the emir. Next, news of the king of Andalusia's death reach Floires
and Blanchefleur, who inherit the kingdom, embrace Christianity, and
convert the subjects as well; not before finding out they are the rightful heirs
to the thrones of Hungary, Bulgaria, and Germany. This is our so called first
literary “Hungarian” protagonist. Not much of a Hungarian anyway, since
his origins were Spanish, but various clues in the text indicate that Hungary
is the most important kingdom of the three, as proven by later continuations
of the story. What interest us are in fact a few lines from the prologue, where
the author gives us the theme of his composition:
Floires fu touz nez de paiens
v. 20 Et Blancheflour de crestïens.
Bauptizier se fist en sa vie
Floires por Blancheflor s’amie,
Car en un biau jor furent né
Et en une nuit engendré.
v. 25 Puis que Floires fu crestïens
Li avint grant ennor et biens
Car puis fu il rois de Hongrie
Et de la terre de Bougrie.
Uns siens oncles fu morz sans hoirs
v. 30 Qui de Honguerie estoit rois,
Floire sert fiuz de sa serour
Pour ce fu sires de l’ennour.47
Perhaps the author did not pick Hungary as the ideal kingdom to be given
to the royal couple by chance, for Hungary was pagan and then Christian,
just like Floires. His choice could testify in fact that the Christian cultural
transfer was complete, and that Hungary was ready to be accepted in the
Western world. More proof of this cultural transfer can be obtained from
Philippe de Remi’s Manekine (c.1230-1240), where one stumbles upon:
Jadis avint qu’il ert uns rois
v. 50 Qui molt fu sages et courtois,
Toute Hongrie ot en demaine.
Feme avoit qui n’ert pas vilaine,
Fille estoit au roi d’Ermenie.48
In fact, the story of the Manekine resembles a lot both Floires et Blanchefleur
and the much acclaimed Apollonius of Tyre, with its incestuous fathers, long
lost daughters, and many kingdoms cumulated towards the end of the
narrative. Hungary belongs here to the border of the Western World, and
the protagonist, Joiie, also named by her future husband La Manekine, travels
from Hungary to Scotland, has her arms cut off but finds a loving husband
in the king of the latter country, bears him children and finally, once the
secret of her noble birth revealed, adds to the kingdom of Scotland the
47 Pelan 1937, p. 33.

48 Suchier 1885, vol. 1, pp. 4-5.
62
remote kingdoms of Hungary and Armenia. There is not much of a setting,

Hungary is just another France and the Hungarian king does not differ from
his literary predecessors. Still, one finds in this narrative the desire to
expand the boundaries of romance geography. Hungary is not unknown
anymore and the exotic turns more and more historical, more real, and less
fantastic. This does not imply that Hungary becomes real all of a sudden,
because plenty of works mention Hungary just as before: a name and
nothing more. For example, in the Continuations Perceval (XIIIth c.), Hungary
is a good origin for a horse, but is associated with Bulgaria and Germany.
v. 5735 Rechangié avoit son escu
Por che le sue not perdu;
Et son cheval ne ravoit mie,
Ainz a un autre de Hongrie
Que l’en tenoit a molt tres buen,
v. 5740 Que conquis avoit por le suen.
v. 7295 Mais il a laissié sa serour

En Cornoaille a grant error
Puis s’en repaire par Irlande,
Par Gales, par Nohomberlande,
Par Escoche et par Danemarche.
v. 7300 Diex ! tantes terres, tante marche,
Hongrie et Bougrie, Alemaigne,
Tÿesche terre et Lohoraigne
Et la terre de Lombardie,
Puile et Calabre et Romenie,
v. 7305 Zezile, Tosquane et Roussie…49
There are plenty of Hungaries in the chivalric narratives, but most of them
are just references to exotic origins of horses or objects. From time to time,
they are exotic references related to men, but they are secondary characters.
One may come across Hungarian horses in the Roman du comte d’Anjou
(1316)50 or in the Roman du comte de Poitiers (XIIIth c.),51 followed by beautiful
Hungarian garments in Renaut de Beaujeu’s Le Bel Inconnu (beginning of the
XIIIth c.)52, or by Hungarian army leaders where the exotic needs list strange
countries, as in Claris et Laris.53 All in all, Hungary remains a washed out
soubriquet for mysterious men, as the Lancelot en prose (XIIIth c.) best shows:
Atant se tuit, que plus ne parla et il estoit molt buens clers et avoit
non Bonifaces li Romains. Et lors fu Galehout molt pensis une grant
piece et fu longuement ansi com en pasmison sans dire mot. Et quant
49 Roach 1949, vol. I, pp. 156, 199.

50 Et si n’oubliez pas a querre / Beaus palefroiz gros d’Engleterre / Et d’Alemaigne et de Hongrie, /
Portant souef comme galie ; Roques 1931, vv. 2739-2742.
51 « Grans merchis », ço li dist li dus. / Lors monte el ceval de Hongrie, / O lui ot sa chevalerie;
Malmberg 1940, p. 113 (vv. 316-318).

52 La pene qui fu el mantiel / Refu molt de rice partie, / De rice vair de vers Hongrie ; Perrie Williams
1929, vv. 4234-4236.

53 Alton 1966, vv. 5883 (p. 159), 6259 (p. 170).
63
il parla, si apela l’autre clerc qui les lui seoit : c’estoit uns clers qui
avoit non mestre Elimas, si estoit nés de Radole en Hongrie.54
But this topos did not end all of a sudden, for after a century and a half one
could still read in Coudrette’s Mélusine (beginning of the XVth century) that
many characters where supposed to climb a mountain in order to die, and,
since the author obviously needed exotic references, he appealed for this
reason to another anonymous Hungarian noble knight:
v. 6535 Or en fut il un de Hongrie,
Qui estoit de noble lignie,
Qui le tresor voult conquerir,
Maiz oncques n’y pot avenir.
Jusques en la montaigne vint ;
v. 6540 Le mont puye dix pas ou vint,
Maiz la n’ot gueres demouré,
Que de serpens fut devouré
Et ne monta gueres amont.55
The poor knight died and at the present state of the research the topos of the
other France in the East, or of the exotic Hungary, died with him too.
Hungarian Knights of the Round Table

In the Suite du Roman de Merlin we meet for the first time Sir Sagremor the
Rash, who kills and destroys many knights. The hero is valiant and
powerful, but he is also the son of the king of Hungary:
Et les .II. s’appelloient Agravains et Guerrehés et estoient freres de
messire Gauvain. Et le tiers s’appelloit Mador de la Porte, grant
chevalier a merveilles, mais jeunes estoit. Et le quart Dodinel le
Sauvage. Et le quint estoit Sagremor le Desreé, qui estoit filz du roy
d’Ongrie et nepveu de l’empereur de Constantinoble, qui moult estoit
si desreé, quant il estoit eschauffé, qu’il faisoit moult a prisier de
chevalerie, et pour ce Keux le seneschal lui mist surnom de Desreé.56
Sagremor is an ubiquitous knight of the Round Table; he appears in Chrétien

de Troyes’s Erec alongside the protagonist at a tournament. Later on he
receives a sister, while in the Vulgate Cycle he is given a full life story,
because he is born to the daughter of Hadrian (Andean) of Constantinople
and to Brangoires, king of Vlachia and Hungary. Sagremor is raised in
Byzantium as the heir to the throne, and when his father died, his mother
married king Brandegorre of Estrangorre (whose name and title rhyme
shamelessly). This is the story that one reads in the Premiers faits du roi
Arthur (1225-1230):
Et cil rois Brangoires ot a feme une molt gentil feme qui estoit fille au
roi Andeam, l’emperaour de Coustantinoble. Et celle dame avoit eü
54 Micha 1978, vol. I, p. 45 (Lancelot en prose, IV, 23).

55 Roach 1982, vv. 6535-6543.
56 Roussineau 1996, vol. 2, p. 563 (= chapter 580, 17-25).
64
signour devant qui fu rois de Blasque et de Hongrie, mais il trespassa

au chief de .v. ans qu’il ot espousee la dame. Si en remest un enfant, la
plus bele creature qui fust en forme d’ome. Icil vallés estoit molt biaus
et prous et sages et grans et bien de l’aage qu’il peust chevaliers estre.
Si l’apeloient la gent Saygremour. Cil fist puis mainte haute prouece
el roiaume de Logres dont li contes vous devisera cha avant.57
On the other hand, there is a true side of this fantasy, because Sagremor
brings about certain historical details reminding us of king Béla III of
Hungary (1172-1196). One should remember that Manuel I Comnenus, the
Byzantine emperor, concluded a treaty in 1164 with Stephen III of Hungary,
by which young Béla, the king’s brother, was sent to Constantinople to be
educated at the imperial court. It was there that emperor Manuel wished for
Béla to marry Maria, his daughter, and thus to succeed him. Béla received a
despotate and the Greek name of Alexios, but soon Manuel was born a son
from his second wife, and Béla's engagement to the emperor’s daughter was
cancelled. Manuel planned nonetheless another marriage that eventually
took place. Béla wed Agnès of Antioch, the daughter of Renaud of
Châtillon.58 King Béla was a warrior, a powerful ruler, and his court was
counted among the most brilliant in Europe; moreover, following the death
of his first wife, he got married for a second time to Marguerite, daughter of
the Louis VII king of France and sister of Philip August, an alliance obtained
due to his tremendous wealth, for the jongleurs used to swear not to do
anything pour tout l’or de Hongrie.59 Béla III should be the perfect choice for
the historical counterpart of Sir Sagremor the Rash and this created the basis
for future experiments with Hungary on a literary level.
Next comes the Arthurian romance Floriant et Florete, written in the
second part of the XIIIth century, where one unearths a lot of citations related
to Hungary. The most important details are the fact that Sir Gawain receives
the Hungarian throne through marriage, the presence of the Hungarian king
in of the list of allies of the emperor from Constantinople, and the invention
of beautiful Blanchandine, the Hungarian king’s daughter:
v. 3053 La sinquiesme fist Geremie,
Icil fu rois de Honguerie.
v. 4215 Oïl, ele a une meschine
Qui est nomee Blanchandine,
Fille est le roi de Honguerie,
Molt par est mignote et jolie.
v. 4915 Après parla rois Geremie
Qui estoit sires de Hongrie,
Peres estoit de Blanchandine
Que Gauvains tient en sa saisine.
57 Poirion 2001, pp. 875-876.

58 Pál 2001, pp. 52-53.
59 Eckhardt 1943, p. 120-121.
65
L’emperere en riant repont :

« Artus, par Dieu le roi del mont,
Ja desfendue ne sera,
v. 5900 Florianz sires en sera,
Hui en cest jor et rois clamez.
Or gardez qu’il soit atornez
Tantost de vesture roial
Et voz niés Gauvains autretal.
v. 5905 Hui cest jor le couronnerons,
Gauvain Honguerie donrons
Et Florians avra Suzille ;
Jo vois apareiller ma fille. »60
The name Blanchandine can be associated with another narrative entitled

Blancandin, also written in the XIIIth century, where the author toys with
geography and imagines an oriental setting comprising Persia,
Constantinople, Greece, and Babylonia. The pattern resembles very much
the plot of the Floires et Blanchefleur romance of the previous century, so that
we are forced to conclude that in such romances, particularly in those where
Arthurian characters interact, Hungary is regarded as a cultural “flyover”:
the frightening but glorious East and the chivalrous but equally glorious
West continue their unchallenged parallel destinies, but they overlap
sometimes, in legendary times of course, and most of all in Hungary.
Furthermore, the son of the king of Hungary and the king of Cyprus
appear in the Vienna version of the Apollonius roi de Tyr’s French translation,
where the anonymous adapter makes way for a perfect medieval
interpretation of the Latin original plot and introduces a lot of knights,
tournaments, battles, a second combat of the protagonist, and an exquisite
royal banquet, interrupted by a manuscript lacuna:
Et ung peu après advint que le filz au roy de Hongrye vint a grant
compaignie de chevaliers vers le roy de Sirene et luy requist que il luy
donnast sa fille en mariage. Et le toy luy requist que il fist bonne
chiere et demourast huit ou quinze jours au païs en lui disant : « Je
parleré a ma fille et sauré sa voulenté, car je luy ay en couvenant
qu’elle aura mary tel comme il luy plaira. » Lors dist le filz au roy de
Hongrye : « Grant mercys, et demourray. Si nous esbaterons ensemble
a behourder. – Par foy, dist le roy, c’est bien dist. » Lors furent les
tables mises et le disner prest, et se assirent a table et furent servis de
leur premier mes.61
Then comes le roy de Chipre, qui estoit ung noble chevalier et de l’aage de seize
ans, a supplementary proof that Hungary is regarded as a Mediterranean
country. We have already seen that from the XIIth century onwards Hungary
gravitated around two literary poles: either the German lands or the
Mediterranean. This time, due to its mentioning next to Cyprus, it is clearly
60 Combes, Trachsler 2003, pp. 184, 254, 296, 354. For the other contexts relating to Hungary see
vv. 3208, 4608, 5056, 5599, 5626, 5740 (pp. 194, 276, 304, 336, 338, 344).
61 Zink 2006, pp. 114, 116, 118, 120, 122, 124, 126, 128, 130, 132..
66
Mediterranean, and the immediate context strengthens this hypothesis, since

in the very same text one finds not only Hongrye and Chi(p)pre, but also a
kingdom of Palarne, whose name resembles Palermo.62 We have identified
there a probable relation between the cities of Naples and Palermo, both
extremely rich commercial centres in the Mediterranean and belonging to
the Kingdom of Naples, ruled by an Aragon dynasty (1282-1492) who also
claimed the Hungarian throne.63 The translator of the story altered it
according to a general Mediterranean context, for he needed some sea
bandits and both Sicily and Southern Italy were frequently ravished by
Ottoman invasions and by free pirates.64 As for Hungary, one should
remember that it had access to the Adriatic and it occasionally fought the
republic of Venice. Hungary was associated with both the Mediterranean
and the Balkans, but it still retained it German neighbourhood, as we will
see soon enough.
Extremely important for our analysis are the works of Adenet Le
Roi. In his Enfances Ogier (c.1270) one finds that Charlemagne’s aunt
(following the Floires et Blancheflor tradition) is queen of Hungary, and that
her country has been invaded by the Danes:
Jadis avint, ou tans ça en arrier
Que Charlemaines, qui tant fist a prisier,
Fu en Espaigne pour paiens guerroyer,
v. 60 Si que il dut arriere repairier ;
Devers Hongrie li vinrent messagier :
« Sire », font il, « nous vous venons noncier
Que li Danois ne vous ont gaires chier,
De Hongrie ont essillié grant quartier,
v. 65 Li dux Gaufrois fait moult a desprisier
Quant il guerroie Constance au cuer entier,
Vostre chiereante, cui Diex gart d’encombrier.[…] »65
In another one of his romances, Berte as grans piés (c. 1273-1274), the heroine
is both the wife of king Pepin the Short and the daughter of king Floires and
queen Blanchefleur of Hungary. In this epic, the enemies are the Arrabis
(Arabs, or the Turc/Turs (Turks). Moreover, Adenet describes a Christian
Hungary not too different from the countries of Western Europe; he speaks
of two possible routes leading to it: a northern one, through Germany, and a
southern one, across the Adriatic. He stresses the fact that the Hungarian
62 The Palarne orthography may be explained via a French adaptation of the name; the Latin
name was Panormum, but there where many over medieval variants attesting a much closer
phonetic treatment to the modern form of the name; Agrigoroaei 2006, p. 107.
63 One of Alfonso V of Aragon’s documents, dated 1438, begins with : Nós, Alfons, per la gràcia de
Déu, rei d’Aragó, Sicília citra et ultra far, Valéncia, Hongria, Jerusalem, Mallorca, Sardenya i Còrcega,
comte de Barcelona, duc d’Atenes i Neopàtria, i també comte del Rosselló i Cerdanya, […]; Cuadrada
2001, p. 167.
64 Cuadrada 2001, pp. 165 (the map), 169, 186; moreover, the city of Palermo was protected
against Turkish corsairs and cosmopolite pirates by a harbour chain (see the name of the Santa
Maria della Catena Church).
65 Scheler 1874, p.3.
67
nobles spoke French, car li rois de Hongrie fu en France norris, but not ordinary
or dialectal French. The Hungarians mastered the very français de Paris, the
“purest” idiom in the whole France. Research has proven nonetheless that
such details were specific to the court of Flanders, not to Hungary.66
The description of Hungary is rather conventional and this faraway
kingdom is just another France, probably because Hungary has already
gained the status of a Christian and civilised country, and because it has
already proved itself a good refuge for hunted and persecuted princesses.67
In the medieval romances, of course! In this remote kingdom, in the
neighbourhood of Puille (Puglia), Calabre, Sezile (Sicily), the city of Octrentre
(Otranto), or of Bavaria, Saxony, and Aquitaine,68 we have detected precise
toponyms, like Strigon (a French version of the Latin Strigonium and
Hungarian Esztergom),69 next to invented ones: Valberte (abbey; Val+Berte)
and Valgiste (Val+Giste). Next to Hungary there is Poulane (Poland), where
one may find the city of Grontere (allegedly Grodno).70
v. 135 Berte la debonaire, qui n’ot pensee avere
Molt durement plorant prent congié a son pere :
« Sire, » dist ele, « a Dieu ! Saluez mon frere,
Qui tient devers Poulane la terre de Grontere […] »
v. 2475 La dame de Sassoigne est ma suer, s’ai un frere

Qui est dux de Poulane et des pors de Grontere
But Grodno (nowadays Hrodna in Belarus) has been occupied by the 1250’s
by the pagan Lithuanians and did not gain much importance until the times
of Vytautas the Great, the future duke of Lithuania and previous prince of
Grodno (1370-1382). Grontere could not be identified with any other
toponym, and Grodno seems the perfect choice, but it lacks historical proof.
Moreover, one could barely believe that Adenet le Roi had such precise
pieces of information regarding the toponymy of the Russian and
Lithuanian lands, and Hungary is otherwise unrelated to the North-East
lands. As we have already seen, Hungary is either Central European or
Mediterranean, and Grontere could be either another toponym, unknown to
us at the present state of the research, or a literary invention, without any
historical basis. One should bear in mind that most of these toponyms and
ethnic names represent various data collected by Adenet himself while
travelling in the Mediterranean. He perceives Hungary from the viewpoint
of the lands bordering the Adriatic Sea and appeals in his own turn to the
already fabricated topos of Hungary in the French literature. His Bertha
66 Colliot 1970, pp. 204-211.

67 Colliot 1970, vol. 1, pp. 212-219.
68 Henry 1982, passim.
69 Adenet Le Roi must have used a Latin text, because Latin Strigonium was supposed to be
adapted into French as *Estrig-, due to the vocalic prosthesis law for the groups sk-, sp-, st- etc;
Zink 1994, pp. 67-68. This detail makes us think that Adenet either heard the name of the town
in his Latin variant, or he read it somewhere in a chronicle.
70 Henry 1982, pp. 60, 61, 127, 144, 167.
68
became a Hungarian princess only consequently to the prior invention of the

Floires and Blancheflor theme, because the historical Bertha was French and
her imaginary father Floires was supposed to be Spanish according to the
legend. He acquired the throne of Hungary through heritage. In addition,
the tradition speaks about another version of the story, an oriental one, in
which Berta is related to emperor Heraklios.71 However, since the story has
early origins and there are at least twelve texts dealing with it until the close
of the XIIIth century,72 not to mention the other twelve in the next three
centuries, future considerations would complicate our research beyond its
present scope.
But Hungary is not always seen from a distant point of view. For
example, there is a lot to tell about a strange story regarding the Hungarian
king’s ugly feet, with or without any relation with the “Bigfoot Bertha”
previously mentioned, a literary topos found in Andrew the Chaplain’s
books of love, where one reads that rex est in Ungaria intense plurimum habens
crura simulque rotunda prolixosque et aequales pedes et omnibus fere decoribus
destitutus. Quia tamen nimia morum invenitur probitate fulgere, regalis coronae
meruit accipere gloriam et per universum paene mundum resonant eius praeconia
laudis.73 It all changed a bit in Drouart la Vache’s French translation of the
work (c. 1290), where the translator speaks of the Hungarian king’s ugliness
and greatly exaggerates, for he is no longer familiar with the actual story.74
71 Colliot 1970, vol. 1, pp. 197-200.

72 See more details in Colliot 1970, pp. 11-13 :
1) an allusion to a schismatic character called Batheheut, baptized as a Christian with the
name Berte, in Anseis de Més (first half of the XIIth century);
2) Serlon of Wilton ironically speaks of a poem about Berte au grand pied, composed by an
unknown Robert;
3) Geoffrey of Viterbo writes about a Hungarian Bertha, daughter of Caesar Heraklios;
4) Versions of the legend by Marinet in the XIIth century;
5) Floires et Blancheflor, the romance (first version, second half of the XIIth century);
6) Karl der Grosse of Stricker (1230-1235);
7) Chronique Saintongeaise ou Tote l’histoire de France… -first half of the XIIIth century);
8) The Rhymed Chronicle of Philippe Mousket (c.1240);
9) Vincent of Beauvais’ Speculum historiale (c.1250);
10) Adenet Le Roi and his versions of the story (1274-1278);
11) Gran Conquista de Ultramar (XIIIth century) ;
12) Berta da li gran pié: MS Bibl. San Marco V 13 (c.1300).
73 Ed. Trojel 1892, apud Eckhardt 1943, p. 116.
74 Bossuat 1926, p. 59 :
.I. autre en ot en Honguerie

Qui ot les jambes malotrues,
Trop grosses et toutes tortues :
Les piez avoit plaz et prolis
Et si n’estoit pas moult jolis,
Ains fu moult laide creature.
Gros fu et de courte estature,
Lais fu ses cors et ses visaiges,
Mais, por ce que il fu mout saiges
Et de proesse avironnés,
Fu il après rois coronés
69
When dealing with this “urban legend”, certain authors thought of

king Andrew II of Hungary, others of king Coloman, but no one ever
managed to find a perfect monarch fitting this scenario. Andrew II was
foreseen due to his mentioning in the Aymeri de Narbonne chanson de geste
(c.1217) as a result of his marriage to Beatrice of Este,75 but this identification
has already been rejected.76 Another possible candidate is king Coloman,
due to the grotesque portrait he is given in the National Chronicle, but this
source is rather late and the hypothesis uncertain.77 The last suggestion
envisages king Béla III,78 of whom we have already talked. But Béla was not
hideous, he was just extremely tall, and the researchers asserted that due to
his extreme tallness the French might have heard various rumours,
interpreting them in a strange way.
Later we find Dieudonné de Hongrie, a chanson de geste from the
XIVth century (c.1373-1384), known also as Charles le Chauve, where the
protagonist is the grandson of Charles the Bald, king of France. This
monarch is himself Hungarian, a pagan in the beginning, but Christianized
afterwards, who acceded to the throne of France due to the miracle of the
Sainte Ampoule. His son, Philippe, is mistakenly accused of being a traitor
and has to win a kingdom of his own. Dieudonné, the grandson, is forced to
flee from his father’s realm also due to a mistake, for his mother is accused
of being a traitor.79 There’s not much about Hungary in there, barely the title
of the protagonist, and it is only a joy of the imagination.
One should not forget the popularity of Saint Elisabeth of Hungary
(1207-1231), daughter of king Andrew II and wife of Louis of Thuringia,
whose life slightly resembles the romancing fantasies of the very same era,
not to forget the up-to-date miracles: food turned into flowers once her
husband meets her, a leper boy turned into the image of the Saviour, and the
martyrdom who lead her to the Order of Saint Francis. Saint Elisabeth was
extremely popular and her resting place in Marburg drew a lot of pilgrims:
Albéric of Trois-Fontaines tells us for example that it even exceeded the
number of pilgrims going to Santiago de Compostela, but he must have
exaggerated, of course.80 Saint Elisabeth’s legend draws its roots from a
magical atmosphere and its believers and worshippers accepted the tale of
Et fist tant que, par la contrée,

Fu de lui grant la renommée :
Partout fu loez et prisiés,
Por ce qu’il fu bien avisiés,
Prex et saiges. Si vous pri domques,
Dame que ne regardez omques
Mes piez, ne me jambes tortues.
75 Si me demande rois Andrés de Hongrie, / Mais il n’avra ja a moi compaignie; / Car il est vieus, s’a la
barbe florie, / Et si est rous, s’a la chiere flaistrie ; Demaison 1887, vol.2, p. 105, vv. 2470-2473.
76 Eckhardt 1943, pp. 118-119.
77 Eckhardt 1943, pp. 119-120.
78 Eckhardt 1943, pp. 120-124.
79 Rossi 1988, pp. 433-435.
80 Ancelet-Hustache 1946, p. 377.
70
the magician who interpreted the celestial signs announcing the saint’s
arrival, since they had previously accepted young Elisabeth’s miraculous
healing of the blind man, and many other miracles whose number greatly
increased over the years. At first, her cult emerged in Germany, but it
quickly spread all across Europe and Jean of Joinville tells us that Blanche,
the queen of France, used to kiss and revere the forehead of a young
German, Herman, the son of Saint Elisabeth, pour que elle entendoit que sa mere
li avoit maintes foiz besié.81 One should not concentrate on the popularity of
the saint in Hungary, even if it were significant,82 but on its echoes in France.
As a consequence, it is not surprising to find no less than four lives of the
saint: one written by Rutebeuf in honour of Isabelle, wife of Thibaut of
Navarre, an anonymous translation of a text by Thierry of Apolda (the
manuscript dates to the end of the XIIIth-beginning of the XIVth century), a
life of Saint Elisabeth by brother Robert of Cambligneul, and one by Nicolas
Bozon, a monk from Nottingham, Derby, or Staffordshire from the end of
the XIIIth century. Most of these lives translate or paraphrase an anonymous
work entitled Libellus, but there also existed four other major works, three in
Latin, out of which one belongs to an Auctor rythmicus, another to Thierry of
Apolda, and the last to Caesar of Heisterbach; not to mention a rhymed
German text from the XIVth century. The story must have been used for
mysteries and one finds that in 1481 a few actors from Marburg played
before Anna, wife of Henry III, the play of Elisabeth,83 and even Sigismund
of Luxemburg showed interest in the cult of the saint.84
To the XVth century and back to Sigismund

Before 1453, Jean Wauquelin wrote a prose adaptation of Philippe de Remi’s
La Manekine, a narrative we have previously mentioned. In Wauquelin’s
version small details have changed. For instance, in the beginning the author
introduces a chapter entitled Conment le roy Salemon de Hongrie fu mariez a la
fille de l’empereur Henri d’Alemaigne, which does not remind of the original
narrative by Philippe de Remi.85
Lequel, selonc ce que j’ay peult ymaginer par aultres histories, fu
nommez Salomon et regnoit ou tamps de l’incarnation de nostre
seigneur Jhesuchrist mil soissante quinze ou environ. Cestui roy en sa
jonesse ot grandes guerres a l’encontre de l’empereur Henri
d’Alemagne, mais finablement ledit empereur lui donna sa fille en
mariage, par lequel mariage la pais se fist et estoit la damme nommee
Gisle, femme de tresgrant prudensce, de toutte valeur et de toutte
courtoisie plaine.86
81 Ancelet-Hustache 1946, pp. 369-377.

82 Gerát 2006, passim.
83 Ancelet-Hustache 1946, pp. 391-393.
84 Gerát 2006, passim.
85 Suchier 1885, vol. 1, pp. 268-269.
86 Suchier 1885, vol. 1, p. 268 (chapter II of Jean Wauquelin’s version).
71
Wauquelin must have thought of king Solomon of Hungary (1063-1074), and

his reign is very close to the dating given by the author (1075). But what
about Henri d’Alemagne? Could he be Henry the IVth, the Holy Roman
Emperor (1056-1105)? Wauquelin wants us to believe so, and it is true that
there have been tensions and peaceful moments, in a repetitive pattern,
between the kingdom of Hungary and the German lands around this time,
but Henry’s only living daughter was married to Frederick of Swabia, and
his son had no legitimate heirs. One should think about Henry II, duke of
Bavaria, and his daughter Gisella, who married not Solomon, but king
Stephen of Hungary (1000/1001-1038), the first to embrace Christianity in the
realm. Gisella had a brother, the future Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor, and
we must not demand from our author to speak the truth, for he writes
literature, a thing of the imagination, and his imagination should be sought
after elsewhere. Perhaps it should comply best with the frequent German
marriages of the Hungarian kings or of their female offspring, which must
have led him think that he can give Stephen’s wife to Solomon.87 But this is
not all one finds in La Manekine, for there’s also a strange chronology:
Laquelle [matiere] dist que cestui roy Salomon, selonc ce que diient les
histores et tiesmoignent, des Hongres fu le troixysme roy Xpestiien,
dont le premier fu nommez Estievene, le second Piere, et le tierch fu
cestui dont est le process.88
What a story! King Solomon is the third ruler of Christian Hungary, after
Stephen and a certain Piere. But that’s Peter Urseolo (1038-1041; 1044-1046)
and Jean Wauquelin must have well read his historical sources! When one
thinks that Peter Urseolo had to flee to Henry III, Holy Roman Emperor, in
order to get help to regain the kingdom of Hungary, one may understand a
little bit the confusion in Wauquelin’s mind! So many Henry-s, all German;
who would have minded if he mixed them up a little bit? And who would
also mind if we forget the real chronology, for nobody seems interested in
Andrew I (1047-1061) or in Béla I (1061-1063)? Moreover, the historical
sources concerning king Solomon’s reign are hard to find; one knows only
that he was promoted by the German nobles, and this lack of information
allowed literary speculation. The name of king Solomon in Wauquelin’s
narrative has been interpreted by some as a conjecture on the basis of pope
Urban II’s name, which appears in the original narrative by Philippe de
Remi.89
In order to explain the strange occurrence of this historical data in a
medieval romance one should refer to the German chroniclers who use
Hungarian information. For example, there are cases in which the German
chroniclers diminish Stephen I’s role in Christianizing the Hungarian realm
87 Sophia, daughter of king Béla I married twice to German nobles, and her sisters: Euphemia to
Otto of Moravia, and Adelaide to Friedrich II von Bogen; king Géza I married Sophia, daughter
of the count of Looz, etc.
88 Suchier 1885, p. 269 (same chapter as above).
89 Colliot 1970, p. 222.
72
by attributing the deed to his wife, Gisella.90 There are also several versions
of the Legend of Saint Ladislas, where king Solomon plays from time to time
the key role of the legitimate royal successor, but since the cult of Saint
Ladislas was well extended, he must have had a negative aura, which could
have led Wauquelin to attribute to Solomon the incestuous and paedophile
treatment à la Apollonius de Tyr, not to mention that the German sources
claim that Solomon lost his life in a military adventure in 1087.91 The
Hungarian references in Jean Wauquelin’s La Manekine could be inspired by
some German text, probably of hagiographic origin.
Let us not forget the purpose of our inquiry and cite again the Roman
de messire Charles roy de Hongrie, where in the very first lines of the text one
finds a similar plot:
Cy fut ung roy ou royaulme de Hongrie, qui avoit nom Gault. Iceluy
roy estoit assez aigé et avoit esté et estoit encores vaillant et saiges
merveilleusement ; et avoit une damme espousee que l’en appelloit
Emeraude, et estoit moult belle niepce de l’empereur d’Alemanye, de
jeune aaige estoit encorrez.92
This does not prove that Wauquelin has read the Roman de messire Charles or
that the anonymous author of the romance has read Wauquelin’s Manekine.
It simply proves that Hungary wasn’t associated anymore with the Balkans,
as in the previous centuries,93 but with the Holy Roman Empire, an apparent
result of Sigismund’s reign.
Besides, the final part of Jean de Wauquelin’s text respects his
predecessor’s narrative syntax and leads us to the same world of fantasy,
where le roy d’Escoche fu roy de Hongrie et depuis roy d’Hermenie adcause de sa
femme Joiie.94 A beautiful empire, comprising Scotland, Ireland, Hungary,
and Armenia, testifying only to the good chivalric tradition in which nobody
cares what possessions the protagonist is supposed to have. They must be as
many and as exotic as possible. But Jean Wauquelin knew that he innovated
too much and that Germany had no place in the narrative, for in Philippe de
Remi’s text the king of Scotland was supposed to gain Armenia too. So the
author invented a dazzling scenario, where a long lost grandmother (taye),
whom nobody knew in the beginning, left her granddaughter the faraway
throne of Armenia:
[…] les barons d’Ermenie, en disant que ils se reconmadoiient tous a
eulx et meismement a la damme Joiie, de laquelle ils avoiient ja oït la
nouvelle, et lui mandoiient que elle venist relever et prendre la
posession de son realme d’Ermenie, lequel lui estoit esqueunt de par sa
90 Veszprémy 2006, pp. 230-232.

91 Cf. Veszprémy 2006, pp. 234-238.
92 Chênerie 1992, p. 1.
93 See our previous comments regarding Hungary’s associations with Esclavonie, Bulgaria, and
Byzantium.
94 Suchier 1885, vol. 1, pp. 361-363.
73
taye, femme du roy d’Alemaigne, laquelle fu jadis fille au roy des

Hermins, et ce lui mandoiient il sur leur seaulx.95
Jean of Wauquelin was writing on the command of Jean de Croy, who

pretended that he descended from Hungarian kings,96 and when dealing
with the French romances written towards the end of the XVth century one
should bear in mind another Hungarian connection to the Arthurian cycle.
Sigismund’s grandson, the young king Ladislas V the Posthumous (1440-
1457), the one who was supposed to marry Margaret, daughter of king
Charles VII of France, and died before doing so, was known to the French
audiences as Lancelot! Such name transfers were not unique, for the very
same Lancelot-Ladislas confusion happened in Italy, in the XIVth c., where
king Louis I of Hungary’s brother, whose name was also Ladislas, was
known as Lanzelotto.97 François Villon gave the same name to Ladislas V, this
time as king of Bohemia (1453-1457), in his Ballade des seigneurs du temps jadis,
written in c.1461:
D'en plus parler je me désiste ;
Ce n'est que toute abusion.
v. 20 Il n'est qui contre mort résiste
Ne qui treuve provision.
Encor fais une question :
Lancelot le roi de Behaygne,
Où est-il ? où est son tayon ?
Mais où est le preux Charlemagne ?
Eckhardt supposed that this name transfer must have happened

consequently to the close encounters of the Hungarian nobility with the
Western world, that is to say subsequent to the arrival of embassies and to
the exchange of envoys, who could have presented their king as László, a
name close to Lancelot from a phonetic point of view.98 No matter where
the confusion came from, it bears witness of Hungary’s appropriation on a
literary level.
More proof of these late medieval French-Hungarian connections in
literature can be extracted even from manuscript marginalia. For example,
we have stumbled by chance upon a short text written in a manuscript from
Metz,99 where one finds a short note on the crowning (1423) and the death
(1438) of Sigismund, king of Hungary and Bohemia, in addition to the tenth
brève of Burgundy. A similar text is to be found in the margin of a
manuscript from the Arsenal Library in Paris, wherein one may read that:
Quod anno domini mo cccco Sigismund… eligitur imperatorem per principes et erit
95 Suchier 1885, vol. 1, p. 362 (chapter LXIII of Jean Wauquelin’s version).

96 Colliot 1970, p. 222.
97 Eckhradt 1943, pp. 136-137.
98 Eckhardt 1943, p. 136.
99 MS Metz Bibliothèque municipale 855, folio 5r.
74
imperator quatuor annis.100 The text next to which the short notice is written
bears the name of Prophecia secundum sanctum Eusebium (ff.89v-90v) and the
author of the note is also the scribe who wrote the text. The paper filigrain
dates back to c.1450 and was associated with Western France, Holland, or
Germany.101 The manuscript is French and contains mostly French texts,
mixed with a few Latin ones, a fact which implies that the text of the
prophecy and the marginal Latin remark are posterior to this date. The
manuscript comprises the following works:
ff.1r-63r – Evangile de Nicodème
f. 63v – blank space
ff. 64r-86r – Vengence Vaspasien
ff. 86v-88v – prière et plainte de la Vierge sur la perte de son Fils
ff.88v-89r – Comment Nostre Seigneur Jhesu-Crist entra avecquez ses
appostres en une nef pour dormir
f.89r – Comment Nostre Seigneur ressusscita le filz d’une famme
ff.89v-90v – Prophecia secundum sanctum Eusebium
ff. 91r-124r – Tresor de Sapience
ff. 125r-162v – Vie de sainte Valère (Latin, verse and prose)
ff.163r-180r – traité des Peines de l’Enfer
ff.181r-189v – Enseignemens d’un pere a son fils
ff.190r-194v – Enseignemens du roi saint Louis a sa fille Isabelle
ff.195r-202v – Lettre du Prêtre Jean
The immediate manuscript context does not speak about the crusades;
neither does it mention heresies, pagans, or Hungary in general, as one
could have been inclined to believe due to the Sigismund notice in the
marginalia. The immediate context is moral, hagiographic, esoteric, or
exotic. This manuscript is an unconventional collection of texts and it proves
once more that – no matter what we seek and find – Sigismund was last but
not least an exotic character, a king and an emperor of “faraway realms”. In
fact, between the note from the Metz manuscript and the one from the
Arsenal Library one finds many differences. Even though the nature of the
information rests the same, the choice of language (Latin for the Arsenal
manuscript and French for the Metz one), associated to the general context,
speak of a chronographic approach and a literary one. The use of Latin
changes, it no longer refers to the study of history, because the French
language has already gained the right to deal with such matters. Contrary to
the medieval tradition, the Metz manuscript presents us with a historical
Sigismund.
100 MS Paris, Bibliothèque de l’Arsenal, 5366 (VI-XXIII / anc. MS Bibliothèque de M. de Paulmy,
Belles Lettres 7255) ; the text is written on the margin of the folios 90ro-vo.
101 Gosman 1982, pp. 68-69.
75
76
Messire Charles’ literary contruction
77
***
In the end, we do not find that the Roman de messire Charles de Hongrie was
shaped primarily after the life and times of a late XVth century French king,
as implied both by the editors of the text and by previous researchers, but
after the life and times of Sigismund of Luxemburg. This literary Sigismund
was also the heir of many other French romance protagonists whose
ethnicity was supposed to be Hungarian. There are many things to tell about
Sigismund’s association with Sir Sagremour or with Floires. They all sum up
and create another character, messire Charles, but they do not meet at any
other point. Their relationship is the same as the connection between Béla III,
Charles-Robert I, and Sigismund, but none of these kings can be associated
with another fictitious character than the one already ascribed to them. It is
as if all these Hungarian kings give shape to various French literary patterns,
but they are all forgotten quickly and the next hero recreates the entire topos
instead of changing small and inconsequential details.
Such conjectural relations do not function only on a synchronic
basis, but also on a diachronic one. Sir Sagremour could have influenced
messire Charles just as well as it was influenced by the personality of king
Béla III, and, since our literary mixtum compositum draws its roots from
imagination, one should expect there a thing of the imagination. To an
author of the XVth century Sigismund was too real to lend his name to a
romance protagonist. Even so, he was a gallant knight and a righteous king
and emperor; he was a defender of the Christian faith against both the
Hussite heresy and the Saracen threat, and one could have even
remembered him travelling around Europe in his 1415-1416 voyages.102
Furthermore, many Hungarian monarchs promised, helped, or even took
part in the crusades of the XIIIth century,103 and by the end of the XIVth they
already took the crusader standard on their own shoulders against the
Turks. Sigismund was perhaps the greatest Hungarian crusader king of
them all; he must have made an impression in France since the Roman de
messire Charles roy de Hongrie was shaped according to his celebrity.
102 Itinerar 1995, passim.

103 Kosztolnyik 1996, pp. 24-32, 60-71, passim.
78
Bibliographical Abbreviations
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82

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Studia Patzinaka, 5, 2007, pp.

From Bogeyman to Noble King:

This study focuses on a diachronic approach of a literary topos, that of

3 Chênerie 1992, p. XXIII.

there are no exquisite drawings, there are no signs of golden letters, no

Knights in White Satin

4 Chênerie 1992, pp. IX-XIII.

6 Cf. Chênerie 1992, pp. XL-XLVI.

On the other hand, Marie-Luce Chênerie envisaged a large array of

9 Chênerie 1992, pp. XXIV-XXIX.

et comancerent a crier leur enseigne des mescreanz. Et quant ceulx de

15 Hanly 1999, pp. 227-249.

Moreover, when writing about the crusading expedition of 1393 led

16 Contamine 2006, p. 75.

port, de la ou ilz estoient descenduz ; et l’appelloit on pour le temps

18 Chênerie 1992, p. 166.

25 Duggan 2005, I/240.

resembled phonetically to the Magyars. Attila’s aura and the consequent

There is no need to identify a Hungarian chieftain bearing a name similar to

26 Róna-Tas 1999, pp. 423-425.

Or vous lairons ester del duc Hervi,

Bogeyman is repeated by many other sources29 and the topos is found

King Henry is an Englishman in the narrative, and he has already fallen in

The Other France in the East

33 Macleod Higgins 1997, pp. 67, 185.

Et vienent en la grant Bretagne,

There’s not much of a geographical order in this catalogue of countries. The

34 Cowper 1956, p. 65.

see also the Arsenal one :

In fact, the catalogue of countries previously mentioned lists various parts of

v. 6146 « Festivons, dist li reis, aprosmez vos de mei.

Car il estoit sis oncles et elle estoit sa niece ;

It is strange to find a Hungarian king laying claims on the throne of

39 Meyer, Huet 1921, pp. 80, 90.

It is in fact the by-product of a confusion, because the Esclavonie in

42 Collet, Joris 2005, pp. 452, 892.

46 See the Babylon references later on which support this scenario.

Floires and Blanchefleur are married, while Claris, Blanchefleur’s friend,

47 Pelan 1937, p. 33.

remote kingdoms of Hungary and Armenia. There is not much of a setting,

v. 7295 Mais il a laissié sa serour

49 Roach 1949, vol. I, pp. 156, 199.

Malmberg 1940, p. 113 (vv. 316-318).

1929, vv. 4234-4236.

Hungarian Knights of the Round Table

Sagremor is an ubiquitous knight of the Round Table; he appears in Chrétien

54 Micha 1978, vol. I, p. 45 (Lancelot en prose, IV, 23).

signour devant qui fu rois de Blasque et de Hongrie, mais il trespassa

57 Poirion 2001, pp. 875-876.

L’emperere en riant repont :

The name Blanchandine can be associated with another narrative entitled

Mediterranean, and the immediate context strengthens this hypothesis, since

v. 2475 La dame de Sassoigne est ma suer, s’ai un frere

66 Colliot 1970, pp. 204-211.

became a Hungarian princess only consequently to the prior invention of the

71 Colliot 1970, vol. 1, pp. 197-200.

.I. autre en ot en Honguerie

When dealing with this “urban legend”, certain authors thought of

Et fist tant que, par la contrée,

77 Eckhardt 1943, pp. 119-120.

78 Eckhardt 1943, pp. 120-124.

79 Rossi 1988, pp. 433-435.

80 Ancelet-Hustache 1946, p. 377.