Wace and the Roman de Brut

Wace and the Roman de Brut

To understand the progression that Wace (Wace rhymes with "Boss") has made with this book you really need to go back to Geoffrey of Monmouth and his "Historia" (HRB) which we covered early on.  But just as a refresher, Geoffrey took the standard latin historical chronicles of Gildas and Bede as well as other sources and built up a new history of Britain that dates all the way back to the Trojan war and the trojan Brutus from where he claims Britain got its name.  This is mostly fantasy, as is a good portion of his history, but it was devoured by the scholarly elite there and on mainland Europe and single handedly place Britain on the world stage with the rest of the continent.  It was published in Latin which was the language of the scholar and received serious treatment by other literates.  The book received such fame and recognition that it would receive treatments by other authors even during Geoffrey's own lifetime.  One of the first of these was Wace's Roman de Brut.

Geoffrey died around 1155, which is the same year this book was published, so it is believed that Wace started about 5 years before.  Before I get into why this book is important, I want to talk about the name.  I have heard that people will mistake the "Roman" (ro-MAHN) as an indicator of Romance, or that it will develop later into what is to become romances and that is only half true.  Roman in old french  means "book", so it is literally interpreted as "the book of the Brut".  "Roman" would later lend itself to the word "romance".  You will notice that the name is French, and that is important.  This work was written in French, and French was the language of the upper class after the Norman conquest in the 11th century and would wax and wane as a common tongue until the 14th century.   What this tells us is that the target audience was not the scholars and monks who deal mostly in Latin but a more general audience, and this will promote even further the popularity of Arthurian subjects.

Wace as a writer, has his own strengths and weaknesses.  For those of you who read Geoffrey's HRB, you will recall a bit of dry reading (or dryer than usual, I should say), especially with the Prophecies of Merlin in the middle of the Arthurian section.  Wace did us all a favor and just skipped right over that section!  He writes: "Then Merlin made the prophecies which I believe you have heard, of the kings who were to come and who were to hold the land.  I do not wish to translate his book since I do not know how to interpret it; I would not like to say anything, in case what I say does not happen."  Another positive thing he did was really build up the character interactions.  In the scene where Uther discovers Ygerna, the wife of Gorlois, Geoffrey writes  "When [he] saw her there among the other women, he was immediately filled with desire for her, with the result he took no notice of anything else, but devoted all his attention to her."  Wace however writes "Before giving any sign of it - indeed, even before seeing her - he had loved and desired her, for she was exceedingly celebrated.  During the meal he kept watching her and giving her all his attention.  Whether he ate or drank, spoke or kept silent, he always thought of her, and watched her out of the corner of his eye."  This goes on for several more sentences but the point is clear, Geoffrey's Uther lusted for Ygerna, Wace's Uther was in love, perhaps even infatuated.  This is the sort of writing Wace seems to enjoy and even excel at.  Unfortunately, he really fails when it comes to bloodshed or battle.  In the final battle between Arthur and Modret (Mordred), Geoffrey writes:  "They hacked their way through with their swords, and Arthur continued to advance, inflicting terrible slaughter as he went.  It was at this point the terrible traitor was killed and many thousands of men with him."  He then goes on to name several individuals who died on both sides.  However Wace only says: "I cannot say who did best, or who lost or who stood firm, or who died and who lived.  The losses were great on both sides, the plain was strewn with dead and bloody with the blood of the dying.  ...Modret was slain in the fray, and the vast majority of his men."  It is almost as if he describes battle only because he must, and glosses over them as quickly as possible.  We will soon see in a few lessons that Wace's "successor," Lawman, would certainly step it up on the battle scenes.

Aside from really improving the literary aspects of Geoffrey's "Historia" and bringing it to a less scholarly audience, Wace is probably most famous, at least in Arthurian terms, for bringing to light (or possibly even inventing) a standard element that will become permanently associated with King Arthur.  This element is the Round table, a thing even modern children have heard of.   If you only take away one thing from this discussion it should be that Wace gives us The Round Table.  The round table represents one thing and that is equality among knights.  There is no seating by rank.  In later works the King himself will sit at the table, but for now, he sits on a dias like a normal King.  Interestingly, Wace forgets himself and later has them sit in order of their rank, but it is not clear if this is at a different table.  Regardless, future books will carry the idea of the round table forever.

To sum things up:

• Wace embellishes Geoffreys HRB with more detail and brings it to a courtly audience by writing in French instead of Latin.
• Wace brings us The Round Table for the 1st time.

Thanks and see you soon!

joe