Outlaws and Traitors: Justifying Rebellion in the Old French Epic of Revolt

The plot of many chansons de geste hinges on acts that would have been considered treasonable by medieval legal custom. Yet despite conspicuously treasonous behavior, rebel characters remain the heroes of the tales. Coming to an understanding of the esoteric way that medieval poets and their audiences would have perceived the difference between rebel characters and traitor characters is the pursuit of this study. Through an investigation of the narrative logic and poetic details of epic poems like Girart de Vienne and other chansons de geste, the divergence between treachery and rebellion can be shown to reside in narrative strategies like the "noble robber tale," in essentializing discourse that ascribes traits to characters through lineage and essence regardless of actions, and in appeals to an audience largely made up of young knights whose late twelfth-century world was undergoing massive changes that threatened their expectations about life. This study shows that it is not so much about a difference between rebellion and treachery, but a difference between rebels and traitors.