Les festivités dans l'Estoire de la guerre sainte d'Ambroise

Abstract

Feasts and Feasting in Ambroise’s Estoire de la guerre sainte. The motif of feasting runs through Estoire de la guerre sainte, this 12th-century chronicle of the third crusade. In the accuracy and truthfulness with which he presents it Ambroise shows his concern for a careful and objective recording of events, but also his intention to praise the power of the King of England by displaying the generosity of King Richard Lionheart. To this end he uses the vernacular literature – romances and chansons de geste – which he seems to have a good knowledge of, within ever following them slavishly. The way he rewrites the motif of feasting, which is one of the work’s main features, together with his political and religious commitments leads us to wonder about his status, somewhere between a cleric and a jongleur, an occasional historiographer and a committed pilgrim.