Le Chevalier délibéré/the Resolute Knight

by Olivier de la Marche, Carleton W. Carroll (Translator), Lois Hawley Wilson (Translator)

Le Chevalier deliberé is the most important poetic work of Olivier de La March, courtier of the Valois Dukes of Burgundy. In the late fifteenth century and through virtually all of the sixteenth it enjoyed great popularity, as evidenced by its reproduction in at least eighteen manuscripts and numerous printings in French as well as subsequent translations or adaptations into Spanish, Dutch, and English.

This edition contains both a transcription of the Medieval French and an English translation of the text, as well as a few plates.

Genres: Art

360 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1483

About the author

Olivier de la Marche (1425 or 1426–1502) was a courtier, soldier, chronicler and poet in the last decades of the independent Duchy of Burgundy.

Olivier de La Marche (1425 ou 1426–1502) est un dignitaire, un diplomate, un officier-capitaine, un poète et un chroniqueur de la cour bourguignonne.

Reviews

[Marie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very straightforward allegory - making it a quick read. Unlike much chivalric fiction, allegorical figures are not drawn with portraits nor do they give speeches about their own meaning. Nope. He just throws ‘em out there by the handful and they are what they are. Our hero sets out on a journey across the field of Time. Climbs the Mountain of Middle Age (which it is harder to get up than back down) and then he fights Age himself - saved once by a maiden, Youth, armed with a shield of Endurance, he ends up captured… not exactly hard to follow, eh? But amusing for all that. I chuckled a few times.

The promised End of Charles the Bold, was sadly also allegorical. I guess I hoped for more historical context from someone who was actually around the great empire of Burgundy fell. Still, it’s a very quick read for a chivalric poem.