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{{Short description|Title character of a 13th-century French epic poem}}
'''Huon of Bordeaux''' is the title character of a 13th-century [[French language|French]] epic poem with [[Romance (heroic literature)|romance]] elements.

== ''Huon of Bordeaux'' ==
The poem tells of Huon, a knight who unwittingly kills [[Charlot]], the son of Emperor [[Charlemagne]]. He is given a reprieve from death on condition that he fulfil a number of seemingly impossible tasks: he must travel to the court of the [[Emir]] of [[Babylon (Egypt)| Babylon]] and return with a handful of the Emir's hair and teeth, slay the Emir's mightiest knight, and three times kiss the Emir's daughter, Esclarmonde. Huon eventually accomplishes all these feats with the assistance of the fairy king [[Oberon]].<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k79040t |title=Les Prouesses et Faicts du Trespreux Noble et Vaillant Huon de Bordeaux, pair de France, et duc de Guyenne |publisher=B. Rigaud (Lyon) |year=1587 |language=FR}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Bourchier, Lord Berners |first=John |url=https://carleton.ca/chum/wp-content/uploads/Huon-for-Hums-3200.pdf |title=The Book of Huon de Bordeaux. |publisher=Early English Text Society |year=1887 |editor-last=Lee |editor-first=S.L. |edition=Critical |language=EN}}</ref>

== Editions and continuations ==
The ''[[chanson de geste]]'' that survives (in three more or less complete manuscripts and two short fragments) comprises 10,553 [[decasyllable]] verses grouped in 91 [[assonance]]d [[laisse]]s.  Presumed dates for its composition vary, but 1216 and 1268 are generally given as ''[[terminus post quem]]'' (earliest possible date) and ''[[terminus ante quem]]'' (latest possible date).<ref>Raby, ix–xvii.</ref>

The ''chanson'''s success gave rise to six continuations and one prologue which triple its length:

* ''Roman d'Aubéron'' – the [[Turin]] manuscript of the romance (the only manuscript to contain all of the continuations) contains the only version of this 14th-century prologue in the shape of a separate romance of ''Auberon''. ''Auberon'' also refers to the title of another chanson de geste, ''Auberon'',<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.chanson-de-geste.com/auberon.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010824090306/http://www.chanson-de-geste.com/auberon.htm|url-status=usurped|archive-date=August 24, 2001|title=Auberon|website=www.chanson-de-geste.com|access-date=2019-11-21}}</ref> written as the prologue to ''Huon de Bordeaux''. No prose version exists.<ref>Raby, xviii.</ref>
* ''Huon Roi de Féérie''
* ''Chanson d'Esclarmonde''
* ''Chanson de Clarisse et Florent''
* ''[[Chanson d'Yde et d'Olive]]''
* ''Chanson de Godin'' – the [[Turin]] manuscript of the romance contains the only version of this 13th–14th century continuation. No prose version exists.<ref>Raby, xx–xxi.</ref> The Turin manuscript also contains the romance of ''Les Lorrains'', a summary in seventeen lines of another version of the story, according to which Huon's exile is due to his having slain a count in the emperor's palace.
* ''Roman de Croissant''

The poem and most of its continuations were converted to a [[rhyme]]d version in [[French alexandrine|alexandrine]]s in 1454 (only one manuscript exists).<ref>Raby, xxi–xxii.</ref> While no manuscript exists from the 15th century prose version, this version served as the base text for 16th century printed editions (eleven exist), the earliest extant being the edition printed by Michel le Noir in 1513.<ref>Raby, xxiv.</ref> The work was reprinted ten times in the 17th century, eight times in the 18th and four times in the 19th (notably in a beautifully printed and illustrated adaptation in modern French by [[Gaston Paris]] in 1898).

The romance came into vogue in [[England]] through the translation ({{Circa|1540}}) of [[John Bourchier, 2nd Baron Berners|John Bourchier, Lord Berners]], as ''Huon of Burdeuxe'',<ref>Lewis, p. 152</ref> through which [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare]] heard of the French epic. In [[Philip Henslowe]]'s diary there is a note of a performance of a play, ''Hewen of Burdocize'', on 28 December 1593. The tale was dramatized and produced in Paris by the Confrérie de la Passion in 1557.

The tale also serves as the basis for [[Christoph Martin Wieland]]'s epic poem ''[[Oberon]]'' of 1780, where Huon becomes the lover of the Sultan's daughter Rezia/Amanda. [[Andre Norton]] retold the tale in quasi-modern English prose as ''Huon of the Horn'', published by [[Harcourt, Brace & Company]] in 1951, which is considered her first fantasy novel.

== Historical sources ==
The Charlot of the story has been identified by [[Auguste Longnon]] (''Romania'' vol. viii) with [[Charles the Child]], one of the sons of [[Charles the Bald]] and [[Ermentrude of Orléans]], who died in 866 in consequence of wounds inflicted by a certain Aubouin in precisely similar circumstances to those related in the romance. The godfather of Huon may safely be identified with [[Seguin II of Gascony|Seguin]], who was [[count of Bordeaux]] under [[Louis the Pious]] in 839, and died fighting against the [[Vikings]] six years later. Huon himself is probably based on [[Hunald I]], duke of [[Aquitaine]] in the 8th century, who was defeated by Charlemagne's father.<ref>Julien Bellarbre, [http://journals.openedition.org/ifha/8049 "La « nation » aquitaine dans l’historiographie monastique du sud de la Loire (VIII<sup>e</sup>–XII<sup>e</sup> siècles)"], ''Revue de l'IFHA'', '''6''' (2014), retrieved 21 May 2018.</ref>

== Translations ==
* {{Cite book |editor=Catherine M. Jones and William W. Kibler |year=2021 |title=Huon of Bordeau |url=http://www.italicapress.com/index532.html |location=New York |publisher=Italica Press |page=354 |isbn=<!--978-1-59910-401-0--><!--978-1-59910-400-3-->978-1-59910-402-7 |language=English}}

== Citations ==
{{Reflist}}

== General and cited references ==
* {{Cite book |editor=Frederick J. Furnivall |year=1871 |title=Captain Cox, His Ballads and Books |url=https://archive.org/details/captaincoxhisba01lanegoog |publisher=Ballad Society |pages=xvii–xix |quote=Esclarmonde. }}
* {{Cite book |editor1=François Guessard |editor2=Charles Loizeau de Grandmaison |title=Huon de Bordeaux; chanson de geste |url=https://archive.org/details/huondebordeauxch00gues/page/n10 |language=French |location=Paris |year=1860 |publisher=F. Vieweg}}
* {{Cite book |author=M. Lens |year=2000 |chapter=Huon de Bordeaux |editor1=W. P. Gerritson |editor2=A. G. Van Melle |title=Dictionary of Medieval Heroes |url=https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofmedi00gerr |url-access=registration |publisher=Boydell Press |isbn=0-85115-780-7 |page=[https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofmedi00gerr/page/150 150] |quote=Huon de Bordeaux.}}
* {{Cite book |author=C. S. Lewis |authorlink=C. S. Lewis |year=1954 |title=English Literature in the Sixteenth Century, Excluding Drama |url=https://archive.org/details/englishliteratur00lewi |url-access=registration |series=Oxford History of English Literature |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=[https://archive.org/details/englishliteratur00lewi/page/152 152]}}
* {{Cite book |author=Jean-Louis Picherit |year=1995 |chapter=Huon de Bordeaux |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4qFY1jpF2JAC&q=%22Huon+de+Bordeaux%22&pg=PA46 |editor1=William W. Kibler |editor2=Grover A. Zinn |title=Medieval France: An Encyclopedia |edition=2nd |location=New York |publisher=Garland |isbn=0-8240-4444-4 |page=4677}}
* {{Cite book |editor=Michel J. Raby |year=1998 |title=Le Huon de Bordeaux en prose du XVème siècle |language=French |location=New York |publisher=Lang |isbn=0-8204-3301-2}}

==External links==
* {{ISFDB title|11103|Huon of the Horn}}

{{Matter of France}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:13th-century books]]
[[Category:Chansons de geste]]
[[Category:Epic poems in French]]
[[Category:Fictional characters introduced in the 13th century]]
[[Category:Fictional French people]]
[[Category:Fictional knights]]
[[Category:French folklore]]
[[Category:French poems]]
[[Category:Male characters in literature]]
[[Category:Medieval French romances]]
[[Category:Medieval legends]]