Doctoral Dissertations
Date of Award
8-2022
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy
Major
French
Major Professor
Anne-Hélène Miller
Committee Members
Mary McAlpin, Jessi Grieser, Matthew Brauer, Rachel Golden
Abstract
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.
Recommended Citation
Tietjen, Klayton, "Outlaws and Traitors: Justifying Rebellion in the Old French Epic of Revolt. " PhD diss., University of Tennessee, 2022.
https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss/7375
Included in
French and Francophone Literature Commons, Medieval History Commons, Medieval Studies Commons