Renaut de Montauban

A long and impressive chanson de geste, also known by the title Les Quatre Fils Aymon. Its structure is biographical, following Renaut from a boyhood quarrel at Charlemagne's court through many years of exile and warfare against the king to his final abandonment of the world; he works as a builder in the construction of Cologne Cathedral, and is killed by his fellow workers for undercutting accepted rates of pay, but his abnegation meets with divine favour, and he is finally revered as a saint.

Like Raoul de Cambrai, Renaut de Montauban explores the breakdown of society and the collapse of authority within it; Charlemagne loses the support of the twelve peers, and his authority is symbolically dismantled by Renaut's extraordinary cousin, Maugis, a thief and magician who steals the royal insignia and even kidnaps the king himself. Another unexpected source of support of Renaut is his horse Bayart, who is more of a character than many of the humans in the text. He carries Renaut and his three brothers on his back, and actively participates in their struggles; Charlemagne vindictively tries to have him drowned, but the magnificent horse swims away to safety. The 12th-c. French poem survives in a large number of manuscripts, and was recast in both verse and prose in the 14th and 15th c.; it was also adapted in medieval Dutch.

— Sarah Kay