The manuscript held by the Fondation Martin Bodmer contains the
only exemplar of the long Anglo-Norman roman lignager (family
history tale) Waldef. This text, originally written at the
beginning of the 13th century, consists of some 22,300 octosyllabic
couplets celebrating the lives of its hero and his sons; after a
long preamble going back to the Roman occupation of England, the
tale recounts love and separation, travels and battles using
conventional imagery. This manuscript was copied near the end of
the 13th century or the beginning of the 14th century and is
decorated with pen drawings in the margins; it also contains a
second roman lignager, Gui de Warewic and a chanson de geste,
Otinel.
Rights
e-codices - Virtual Manuscript Library of Switzerland
