Introduction

Abstract

This collection of essays explores the place, function, and meaning of women as characters, authors, constructs, and cultural symbols in a variety of epic literatures from the Middle Ages. These include: Hrotsvit of Gandersheim ’s Latin epics celebrating Otto I and the foundation of Gandersheim Abbey; the Middle English Alexander romances which follow in the tradition of the Old French chanson de gestes; the Old English Genesis; three central texts from the Old French Crusade Cycle; Girart de Roussillon, an Occitan chanson de geste; the Shahnameh, a Persian epic; the Mocedades de Rodrigo, a Spanish epic in the Cid cycle; the Middle High German Nibelungenlied; the Norse V ölsunga Saga; and the Icelandic family sagas. Such a diverse group of texts gathered under the rubric of “epic ” raises the question of how epic should be defined. Epic is traditionally understood as a verse narrative about a male hero and his heroic deeds of honor.¹ Typically, the subject matter makes reference to a communal past or tradition: the hero ’s deeds often have a foundational quality—they establish a dynasty, a lasting order, or, in some cases, mark the downfall of same. Classical epics are generally written in particular languages (Greek or Latin) and have particular fonns (leonine or alexandrine hexameter). There has been a long tradition of considering epic poetry as exhibiting some degree of orality. That is, the narratives display evidence, such as the use of formulaic epithets or references to a listening audience, that they were at some point composed during or as part of an oral recitation or performance.²; Finally, the world of epic is a martial world, a community of warriors defined by its distance from a world of women and promoting an ideology of masculinity that shores up the heroes ’ relationship to power and authority.³