Which Came First, the Demandes d’amours or the Jeu-Parti? Evidence from Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Douce 308

Abstract

Abstract The relationship between the two genres of demandes d’amours and jeux-partis, the first a short-form exchange in prose, the other an extended debate in sung poetry, has been argued to be that of informal oral model to later formal written art form. The origins of the jeu-parti are presumed to be found in the tradition of demandes. By considering the earliest written collection of demandes, however—that found in the manuscript Bodleian Library, Douce 308, where they occur within a collection of jeux-partis—this origin story is subjected to renewed scrutiny.