Morant und Galîe

Morant und Galîe, an anonymous Middle High German epic. In original form only fragments amounting to some 500 lines survive in a MS. believed to date from the 13th c. The complete poem occurs, however, in the 14th-c. MS. of Karlmeinet. It was written in the lower Rhineland and is based on a French original which has, however, not been identified. It deals with an episode from the legendary life of Charlemagne (see Karl I). The knight Morant is falsely accused of illicit relations with Karl's consort Galîe; eventually the slanderers are confounded and punished.