ABSTRACT
Before engaging in the in-depth comparative analysis of the texts, it is useful, in terms of our understanding of the relationship of the individual versions to the legend, to locate each text in its spatio-temporal context. This “grounding” is essential to the study of the protean nature of medieval literature in that it fixes concrete points of reference to serve as a basis for comparison. The medieval French version of the legend, the chanson de geste known critically as Doon de La Roche, exists in only one complete French manuscript, as part of the Harley collection in the British Museum in London. This manuscript is composed of 4638 assonanced alexandrine verses divided into 130 laisses ranging in length from 5 to 519 verses. In addition, there exist two fragments adjudged more ancient and better by the editors. These fragments, also described in detail in the introduction to the edition cited, correspond to verses 1146–1325 and 3110–3289 in the Harley manuscript.
