Fierabras

A chanson de geste of the last quarter of the 12th c. explicitly linked with the Chanson de Roland, not only by the roles allotted to Roland, Oliver, and Ganelon, but by a specific prediction of Rencesvals in the last laisse. The theme of the poem is the conversion of the giant Fierabras and the rescue and bringing to France from Rome of the relics of the Crucifixion, but in the depiction of battles, the exploitation of supernatural devices (including a healing balm associated with the Entombment), giants, and love-struck Saracen princesses, the epic is transformed into a roman d'aventure. ‘Fierabras’ later became a generic name for boastful warriors.

[Philip Bennett]

Fierabras, a Volksbuch printed in 1533. It is an adaptation of a French prose romance, and deals with the warlike feats of Fierabras, a giant who is the King of Spain's son, and with his eventual defeat by Oliver, the knight of Charlemagne (see Karl I, der Grosse).