Guillaume de Palerme


Guillaume de Palerne or in modern spelling Palerme is a French romance poem, later translated into Middle English where it is also known as William and the Werewolf. The French verse romance is thought to have been composed anywhere from the late 12th to late 13th century. The verse version in French survives in a single 13th century manuscript.
The prose version of the French romance went through early printed editions. The edition from of Paris passed through several post-incunabula editions, into the 17th century.
The English poem in alliterative verse, commissioned by Humphrey de Bohun, 6th Earl of Hereford, was written by a poet named William. A single surviving manuscript of the English version is held at King's College, Cambridge. The English prose was printed in 1515 by Wynkyn de Worde, even earlier than the printing of the French prose.

Textual overview

Dating

The poem's author dedicates the work to "contesse Yolent", who was generally identified as Yolande, hence the leeway of "mid-1190s to the early 1220s" as the date of composition is ascribed by, this Yolant/Yolande actually having lived to be a. Past editors and commentators had ascribed composition before .
However, this identification of Yolande is not certain, and other possible historical figures have been suggested as plausible by, who allows for the possibility of aka Yolande de Bourgogne. Thus the overall date range is the indefinite end of 12th to the late 13th century.

Language

The original French was composed in the Picard dialect, by someone active in the Picardy region of northern France and also Île-de-France around Paris.
The Oxford English Dictionary has cited the Middle English poem as being the earliest known use of singular "they" in written English.

Irish version

An Irish prose version Eachtra Uilliam was composed in the 16th century, based on the English prose.

Plot

The romance opens in the Kingdom of Sicily and Apulia. The author displays considerable intimacy with the geography of this Norman kingdom.
King Embron and his queen Felise have a baby son, who is kidnapped and raised by a kindly wolf who knew the king's brother was aiming to kill the child. The wolf was in truth a prince of Spain, transformed by an evil stepmother. The child is discovered one day and adopted by a cowherd as his son "Guillaume". He is of great prowess and draws the notice of the emperor of Rome, who brings Guillaume to court as the valet to his daughter Melior. They fall in love with each other, but she struggles with the unknown origins of her valet. And then, his prowess becomes even more renowned after Guillaume is instrumental in defeating the Saxons.
Though Melior's love grows stronger, a contingent of the Greek Emperor arrives with the Greek prince's proposal of marriage to the Roman princess. The Roman Emperor Nathaniel gives immediate consent. The lovers flee into the woods disguised in bear-skins. The same Spanish prince turned wolf appears to the fugitive couple, providing them with food and drink stolen from the clerics and peasants. The marriage ceremony had been prepared in Rome, but the bride's disappearance angers the Emperor who orders a search in the woods. The wolf holds the soldiers at bay, but witnesses come forward having seen the bears leave town. The theft of the bearskins is discovered, and the ruse unravels. The wolf now takes the lovers on a journey towards Apulia, but along the way at Benevento they are discovered by miners while taking shelter inside what they mistakenly thought was an abandoned mine or quarry. A posse arrives to capture them, but the wolf diverts attention by carrying off the magistrate's child, and they escape. The wolf has the couple wear deerskin as disguise.
The group reaches war-torn Apulia, where Guillaume's sister, Florence, remains. The invading Spanish king was scheming to marry his witch-wife's son, Brandin, to Florence. The group cross the Strait of Messina and arrive in Palermo. The city is at war, defended by King Embron's widow against the military invasion by the King of Spain. When Guillaume arrives in the guise of a deer, the Queen realizes this must be the deliverer of their sorrows, but she and her son do not recognize each other, as Guillaume has never known his origin. Guillaume accepts aiding the defense and asks for armament. Then the king's warhorse Brunsaudebruel, which never let any man beside its master ride it, is brought to Guillaume and now recognizes him. The benevolent werewolf is disenchanted and marries Guillaume's sister.

Analyses

It is taken as a point of incredulity that a couple suited up in bearskin could so easily trick people into thinking they are true bears, without advance training.

Motifs

As Laura A. Hibbard points out, the Guillaume man-wolf seems to follow the formula of the four "Werewolf's Tale" types enumerated by Kittredge, namely the two lais of Bisclavret of Melion, the romance Arthur and Gorlagon and the Irish folktale.< Hibbard argues these parallels to be of a more primitive form than Guillaume.
Whether the similarities outweigh the differences is a point of contention. Three of the paralleling tales share the common plot development where the unfaithful wife prevents the werewolf's own ability to revert back to human by stealing his clothes, magic ring or rod is a point of similarity with Guillaume. but Philippe Ménard argues the differences are too many. Others feel the list of similitudes are compelling. For example, the werewolf of the primitive legend also exhibits the theme of the werewolf's loyalty to the royal house which is shared by Guillaume, alongside several other motifs. The werewolf's attack on his wicked stepmother is something else that corresponds to that of the werewolf on his false wife in Bisclavret and Melion, and Guillaume plays the same role as the king, protecting the werewolf after the attack.
The work is also clearly representative of "Romulus-type" story tale where the wolf fosters a human child. This may have developed as a "two-step" formation, a story of an abandoned child rescued by strangers, with the helper animal element added, as Charles W. Dunn argued.
Hibbard was convinced Guillaume could derive from a "Defense of the Child" type, specifically Seven Sages of Rome] tale or Gesta Romanorum, except told in inverted order. Though Hibbard does not elaborate, Seven Sages of Rome does contain an element much like wolf-as-protector, though it is actually a dog involved. This dog motif actually closely resembles Kittredge's "Werewolf's Tale" of the Irish folktale variety Hibbard's argument is that "confused reminiscence" will add up to be the Guillaume romance.
The love of Guillaume and Melior, though presented as classical courtly love, ends in marriage and children—a deviation from the original formulation of courtly love that grew common in romances of this era.
The warhorse recognizing its master Guillaume after the many years of absence is likened to Ulysses's faithful dog Argos. Hibbard comments that it is rather implausible that a horse should remember Guillaume who had been kidnapped so young as an infant.

Explanatory notes

Texts

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