View source for Jean Bodel

{{Short description|Old French poet}}
{{Infobox writer <!-- for more information see [[:Template:Infobox writer/doc]] -->
| name        = Jean Bodel
| birth_date  = {{circa|1165}}
| death_date  = {{circa|1210}}
| death_place = [[Arras]] 
| occupation  = [[poet]]
| nationality = [[French people|French]]
| period      = [[Medieval]]
| genre       = [[chanson de geste]], [[fabliaux]]
}}
{{French literature sidebar}}
'''Jean Bodel''' (c. 1165 – c. 1210), also spelled '''Jehan Bodel''',<ref name=EB1911/> was an [[Old French]] [[poet]] who wrote a number of ''[[chanson de geste|chansons de geste]]'' as well as many [[fabliaux]]. He lived in [[Arras]].<ref name=EB1911>{{Cite EB1911 |wstitle=Bodel, Jehan |volume=4 |page=108}}</ref>

==Writings==
Bodel wrote {{ill|lt=''Chanson des Saisnes''|La Chanson des Saisnes|fr}}<ref name=EB1911/> ("Song of the Saxons") about the war of King [[Charlemagne]] with the [[Saxon people|Saxons]] and their leader [[Widukind]], whom Bodel calls ''Guiteclin''.  He also wrote a [[miracle play]] called the ''[[:fr:Le Jeu de saint Nicolas|Le Jeu de saint Nicolas]]'' ("The Play of Saint Nicolas"), which was probably first performed in [[Arras]] on 5 December 1200. Set in the middle of an epic battle between Christians and Muslims, the play tells the story of a good Christian who escapes the battle and is found praying to a statue of Saint Nicolas by the Muslim forces. The Muslim leader decides to test the saint by unlocking the doors to his treasury and leaving the statue as a guardian, stipulating that if anything were stolen the Christian would forfeit his life. Three thieves attempt to steal the treasure, but Saint Nicolas stops them. As a result, the Muslim ruler and his entire army convert to Christianity.<ref>Lynn T. Ramey, "Unauthorized Preaching: The Sermon in Jean Bodel's Jeu de Saint Nicolas," in n: ''Speculum Sermonis: Interdisciplinary Reflections on the Medieval Sermon'', ed. Georgiana Donavin, Cary J. Nederman, and Richard Utz (Turnhout: Brepols, 2004), pp. 221-33.</ref>

Like another French miracle play from the same time period, ''[[Le Miracle de Théophile]]'', ''Le Jeu de saint Nicolas'' contains an invocation to the Devil in an unknown language:<ref>Discussed in: [[Émile-Jules Grillot de Givry|Grillot de Givry]], ''Witchcraft, Magic & Alchemy'', Courier Dover Publications, 1971, p. 109.</ref>

::''Palas aron ozinomas''
::''Baske bano tudan donas''
::''Geheamel cla orlay''
::''Berec hé pantaras tay''

Bodel was the first person of record to classify the legendary themes and [[literature cycle|literary cycles]] known to [[medieval literature]] into the "Three Matters".

His epic La Chanson de Saisnes ("Song of the Saxons") contains the line:
<poem>
''Ne sont que III matières à nul home antandant,''
''De France et de Bretaigne et de Rome la grant.''

"There are but three matters for the understanding man:
Of France, and of Britain, and of great Rome." 
</poem>

*the "[[Matter of Rome]]", or retellings of stories from [[classical antiquity]]
*the "[[Matter of Britain]]", concerning [[King Arthur]] and related topics
*the "[[Matter of France]]", concerning [[Charlemagne]] and his [[paladin]]s

Bodel contracted [[leprosy]] in 1202 or 1205,<ref name=EB1911/> and entered a [[leprosarium]].<ref name=EB1911/> He then wrote a long farewell, ''"Les Congés"'',<ref name=EB1911/> his most personal and touching work.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{Wikisourcelang-inline|fr|Jean Bodel|Jean Bodel}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Jean Bodel}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bodel, Jean}}
[[Category:1160s births]]
[[Category:1210 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Arras]]
[[Category:12th-century French poets]]
[[Category:French male poets]]