Reviewed by: Medieval Narratives of Alexander the Great: Transnational Texts in England and France by Venetia Bridges Levilson C. Reis venetia bridges, Medieval Narratives of Alexander the Great: Transnational Texts in England and France. Studies in Medieval Romance, XX. Pp. xi, 306. Cambridge, UK: D.S. Brewer, 2018. isbn: 978–1–84384–502–7. $99. This monograph on Alexander the Great challenges the traditional medievalist approach to studying great historical figures and the medieval translatio of their exploits often based on a ‘restricted interpretive framework dominated by vernacular and nationalistic imperatives’ (p. 12). The corrective is a ‘transnational’ rather than ‘local’ study of the Alexander corpus that opens the dialogue that various iterations of the Alexander material engage with one another regardless of culture, language, or polity. The scope of this transnational interaction is, however, limited to France and England, but it does not hinder this book’s comparative approach. The first part of this study focuses on Alexander narratives associated with France and the court of Philip Augustus. Preparing the reader to delve into the core of this study, Chapter One surveys the Greek and Latin sources of the Alexander corpus dating from the fourth century BCE up to the medieval period (see also Appendices One and Two). This chapter lays out the argument that, since antiquity, there has been a ‘need to interpret Alexander in culturally relevant terms’ (p. 63). Chapter Two focuses precisely on the historical and political uses of the Alexander material in the construction of medieval dynastic identities, focusing on two Latin epics, Walter de Châtillon’s Alexandreis (c. 1180) and John of Exeter’s Ylias (c. 1180), as examples of speculum principis. Given the sic et non poetics of Châtillon’s translatio, this chapter reconsiders the Alexandreis as a backhanded paean to Philip Augustus, at once celebrated as a chivalrous king and criticized for his squabbles with his uncle William, to whom Châtillon dedicates the poem. Beginning with the notion that the Alexandreis and Alexandre de Paris’ Roman d’Alexandre (c. 1177) share the same sources, Chapter Three argues that, while the former is concerned with historical accuracy, the latter inclines more to a stripe of ‘ethical translatio of the antique material’ (p. 118). The Alexandre ‘anxiously’ corrects the depiction of Alexander as a duplicitous other by redressing him as the paragon for Christian rulers and knights. Notwithstanding the positive recasting of Alexander as a political leader, this chapter eschews imperium, the political aspects of translatio, and Chrétien de Troyes’ reformulation of the classical translatio in terms of chevalerie in Cligés (c. 1176). Some engagement with this conceptualization of translatio might have pointed to translatio’s transhistorical rather than ‘transnational’ aspects. The last two chapters turn the reader’s attention to Alexander narratives associated with the British Isles and the sphere of influence of Henry II. Chapter Four studies [End Page 105] the Roman de toute chevalerie (c. 1174–1200) and the Roman de Horn (1172) for signs of a specifically insular translatio of the Alexander matter. As other scholars have concluded, and Thomas of Kent himself notes, the Roman de toute chevalerie (RTC) draws mostly on Greek sources, the conclusion being that it remains ‘independent of continental Alexander versions’ (p. 152). Despite its faithful borrowings, the RTC idiosyncratically rejects Alexander as a speculum principis, whereas the Horn offers a ‘positive portrayal of decisive kingship’ (p. 180), reflecting Henry II’s consolidation of power over Irish and Anglo-Norman lords. In a study of Alexander narratives in late Middle English in Chapter Five, it becomes clear that romances such as Kyng Alisaunder (KA), Of Arthour and of Merlin (AM), and The Seege or Batayle of Troye (SBT), were all three composed around the same time (c. 1131–40) and were adapted for local audiences who were more interested in romance poetics than ‘instructive learning’ (p. 204). Although the first two draw upon Latin and French sources of the Trojan and Arthurian materials, they tend to simplify the lexical, stylistic, and historical content of the original sources. The SBT also condenses the history of Troy (abbreviato being here an effect of translatio). In pursuing intertextual links between the KA, RTC...
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