Introduction: Alexander the Great in the French Middle Ages

Chapters in this book

1. Front Matter i
2. Contents v
3. Illustrations vii
4. Abbreviations ix
5. Introduction: Alexander the Great in the French Middle Ages 1
6. The Prologue to the Historia de Preliis: A Pagan Model of Spiritual Struggle 21
7. The Raid on Gaza in Alexandre de Paris’s Romance 29
8. Alexander’s Clergie 39
9. Alexander and Aristotle in the French Alexander Romances 57
10. Alexander’s Gabs 75
11. “Mout est proz e vassaus”/“Mout es corteis”: Vasselage and Courtesy in the Roman d’Alexandre 89
12. “A paine a on bon arbre de malvaise raïs”: Counsel for Kings in the Roman d’Alexandre 111
13. Giving Fiefs and Honor: Largesse, Avarice, and the Problem of “Feudalism” in Alexander’s Testament 127
14. Take the World by Prose: Modes of Possession in the Roman d’Alexandre 143
15. Alexander and Caesar in the Faits des Romains 161
16. Alexander the Great as the Icon of Perfection in the Epigones of the Roman d’Alexandre (1250–1450): The Utilitas of the Ideal Prince 175
17. Ekphrasis and Memory in the Fourteenth-Century Parfait du Paon 193
18. Conquering Alexander: Perceforest and the Alexandrian Tradition 203
19. Alexander Amoroso: Rethinking Alexander in the Roman de Perceforest 219
20. From Alexander to Marco Polo, from Text to Image: The Marvels of India 235
21. “Codices manuscriptos nudos tenemus”: Alexander and the New Codicology 259
22. Contributors 275
23. Index 279