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COUNT WILLIAM OF ORANGE - GUILLAUME D'ORANGE ... $20.00

This is a new English translation of the seventeen most important 12th and 13th century Count William of Orange epics. These epics recount the deeds of William, his father Aymeri, William's six brothers and his nephews at the time of Charlemagne and his son Louis, and tell of the struggle of the French against the Saracens in the south of France and in Spain. The William of Orange epics fall into three groups: The first group starts when William's father Aymeri wins Narbonne from the Saracens in his youth, and includes the adventures of William and his six brothers. It ends when he marries the beautiful Saracen princess Orable, who has become a baptised Christian. William, his father and brothers appear again in the second group. Here his nephews fall in love with Saracen princesses. The converted Saracen Renouart, who fights with a cudgel, adds a new dimension to three of these epics. The third group of epics relates further adventures of Renouart, as well as moving events leading up to Aymeri's death, and contains humorous and dramatic episodes as Renouart and William try to fit into monastic life in their later years.