What is the Matter of Rome in medieval literature?
The Matter of Rome is a literary cycle defined by the medieval French poet Jean Bodel, encompassing stories from Greek and Roman mythology and classical antiquity, with a focus on military heroes such as Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar. It includes the Matter of Troy and its related romances, including texts about Aeneas. Bodel classified it alongside the Matter of France and the Matter of Britain as one of the three great cycles of medieval literature.
Who was Jean Bodel and why is he important to the Matter of Rome?
Jean Bodel was a medieval French poet who first articulated the division of literary cycles into the Matter of Rome, the Matter of France, and the Matter of Britain. His classification gave the tradition its name and defined its scope.
What sources did medieval poets use to write about the Trojan War in the Matter of Rome?
Medieval Western poets could not access the Iliad or the Odyssey, which were unknown in the medieval West. They relied instead on two short prose narratives attributed to Dictys Cretensis and Dares Phrygius. Working from these slim sources, Benoît de Sainte-Maure wrote Le Roman de Troie in the 1150s, a poem of forty thousand lines.
How did medieval poets change classical heroes in the Matter of Rome?
Poets of the romans d'antiquité reimagined figures like Alexander the Great and Achilles as knights of chivalry, similar to the heroes of the chansons de geste. They introduced courtly love relationships, such as the invented romance between Parthenopæus and Antigone in the Roman de Thèbes, and expanded military episodes to include tournaments and scenes of knight-errantry.
What role did Ovid play in the Matter of Rome tradition?
Ovid was the most popular Latin poet of the Middle Ages, and his works were woven directly into Matter of Rome texts. The Philomela, attributed to Chrétien de Troyes, retells the story of Philomela and Procne drawing on Ovid's Metamorphoses. The French adaptation of the Aeneid known as the Eneas also incorporated episodes from Ovid into its retelling.
What is Sir Orfeo and how does it relate to the Matter of Rome?
Sir Orfeo is a Middle English narrative poem that transforms the Greek myth of Orpheus into a chivalric story. In it, the Greek hero becomes the knight Sir Orfeo, and his wife Eurydice is renamed Heurodis. Unlike the Greek original, Sir Orfeo successfully rescues his wife from a fairy king, illustrating how medieval poets reshaped classical material to fit their own cultural and narrative conventions.