[La chanson de geste au xiv^e siècle.] Introduction

Establishing a reliable inventory of chansons de geste (songs of heroic deeds) faces a two-fold difficulty. How do we define a chanson de geste? And how can texts be dated with acceptable precision? In many cases, these heterogenous productions represent reworkings or continuations of previous works; in a smaller number of cases, they are presented as original creations. All of them, however, continue the tradition of the medieval epic, which they limit themselves to affecting from the margins.