Gormond et Isembart (English: "Gormond and Isembart")[1] is anOld Frenchchanson de geste from the second half of the eleventh or first half of the twelfth century.[2][3] Along withThe Song of Roland and theChanson de Guillaume, it is one of the threechansons de geste whose composition incontestably dates from before 1150;[4] it may be slightly younger thanThe Song of Roland and, according to one expert, may date from as early as 1068.[3] The poem tells the story of a rebellious young French lord, Isembart, who allies himself with aSaracen king, Gormond, renounces his Christianity, and battles the French king. The poem is sometimes grouped with theGeste de Doon de Mayence or "rebellious vassal cycle" ofchansons de geste.[3]
The extant work only survives in a fragment (two parchment sheets that had been used as a binding of a book[3]) of 661octosyllable[2][3] (unusual for achanson de geste) verses in assonancedlaisses (conserved in theRoyal Library of Belgium inBrussels[3]) written in a central France dialect,[3] dating from c. 1130, and that form the end of a much longer poem.[2] The content of the entire poem can be inferred from two sources:
Dating of the composition of thechanson is based on:
The reconstructed plot is as follows:The young French lord Isembart is cruelly persecuted by the French court and his uncle, king Louis, and he goes into exile in England, joining the Saracen king Gormond and renouncing Christianity. Isembart incites Gormond to attack France, to destroy Isembart's own lands and surrounding country, and to burn down theAbbey ofSaint-Riquier. The French king comes to battle them at Cayeux (Cayeux-en-Santerre orCayeux-sur-Mer). (The surviving fragment begins here.) In the battle, after a series of victorious combats, Gormond falls to Louis, but the king is himself mortally injured when he tries to remain on his horse. The Saracen troops are briefly in chaos, but Isembart takes over the army. He eventually unhorses his own father. Four days later, the Saracens give up the battle and Isembart dies, returning to Christianity in his last breaths.[2]
The poem appears based on an invasion ofNorsemen who burned the Abbey of Saint-Riquier in February 881 and were defeated byLouis III six months later atSaucourt-en-Vimeu.[2]
