[77] This is an account of the battle of thirty Englishmen and thirty Bretons in the Edwardian wars. [78] There is, it appears, no authority for the Christian name of Robert which used to be given to Wace. [79] Wace's _Brut_ is not the only one. The title seems to have become a common name. [80] The old edition of the _Roman de Rou_, by Pluquet, has been entirely superseded by that of Dr. Hugo Andresen. 2 vols. Heilbronn, 1877-1879. [81] Discovered recently in the Middlehill collection, and known chiefly by an article in _Romania_ (Jan. 1882), giving an abstract and specimens. [82] Ed. Reiffenberg. Brussels, 1835-1845. [83] Ed. Scheler. Brussels, 1866-1868. [84] Well edited by Koch. Heilbronn, 1879. [85] See especially _Hysminias and Hysmine_. [86] Ed. F. Michel. 2 vols. Paris, 1864. [87] _Dangier_ is not exactly 'danger.' To be 'en dangier de quelqu'un' is to be 'in somebody's power.' _Dangier_ is supposed to stand for the guardian of the beloved, father, brother, husband, etc. This at least has been the usual interpretation, and seems to me to be much the more probable. M. Gaston Paris, however, and others, see in _Dangier_ the natural coyness and resistance of the beloved object, not any external influence. [88] Chaucer's authorship of the existing translation has been denied. It is, however, certain that he did translate the poem. [89] Ed. Stehlich. Halle, 1881. [90] Ed. Foerster. Berne, 1880. CHAPTER VIII. ROMANS D'AVENTURES. [Sidenote: Distinguishing features of Romans d'Aventures.] The remarkable fecundity of early French literature in narrative poetry on the great scale was not limited to the Chanson de Geste, the Arthurian Romance, and the classical story wrought into the likeness of one or the other of these. Towards the end of the twelfth or the beginning of the thirteenth century a new class of narrative poems arose, derived from each and all of these kinds, but marked by important differences. The new form immediately reacted on the forms which had given it birth, and produced new Chansons de Gestes, new Arthurian Romances, and new classical stories fashioned after its own image. This is what is called the Roman d'Aventures, of which the first and main feature is open and almost avowed fictitiousness, and the second the more or less complete abandonment of any attempt at cyclic arrangement or subordination to a central theme. [Sidenote: Looser application of the term.] [Sidenote: Classes of Romans d'Aventures.]