Aye d'Avignon

Short (4000-line) chanson de geste which is remarkable for having a female protagonist. Aye is Charlemagne's niece, and all the events of the text—machinations of traitors, assaults by Saracens, territorial interests—revolve around her. Although initially married by Charlemagne to a French baron, following her husband's death Aye marries a Saracen prince. The poem, composed in the late 12th c., is the oldest one in a group known as the ‘Cycle de Nanteuil’, another member of which—Parise la Duchesse—also has a female protagonist, a calumniated wife similar to the one in Doon de la Roche. The character of Aye was a popular one, frequently referred to in medieval works.

[Sarah Kay]