Tradición cesarista y tradición eneádica en la poesía de corte anglonormanda en la Baja Edad Media

Abstract

main focus of the present article is de Caesarist and Eneadic tradition in the Latin poetry, composed at the Anglo-Norman Medieval courts during the eleventh and twelfth centuries. We will begin recalling some models from classic literature, such as laus imperatoris in Horace's poems and the Aeneas legend in The Aeneid by Virgil, in order to research these differents topics in the poems addressed to William the Conqueror and his family, in particular to his daugthers and daugthers-in-law. On the one hand and to support this argument, we will read a number of compositions by the most important European writters at the moment, such as Godfrey of Reims, Baudri of Bourgueil or Hilderbert of Lavardin, that will show us the comparison established between the king and the figure of Roman Caesar. On the other hand, we will study other poems that follow the Eneadic tradition and how they were used in the education of princes. In this regard, we will focus on the epic poem composed at Henry II's Plantagenet court by his tutor Peter of Saintes that describes the Fall of Troy and the erratic journeys of Aeneas until he reaches the Italian coast. To sum up, we will cover some aspects of both traditions and demonstrate how classic figures like Caesar or Aeneas were pointed out in these compositions as models of governor.