In 1852 Fauriel gave an account of the poem in the «Histoire Littéraire de la France, par les religieux bénédictins de congregation de Saint-Maur . . . . . continuée par des membres de l’Institut», vol. xxii. p. 196 «et seq.», where he also investigated the question of the originality of the two versions, without arriving at a final solution; as from the comparison of the French and the Provençal version, no conclusion as to the original could be drawn in favour of either of the two poems.[18] As early as 1829 Uhland and Diez had expressed their opinion, that in all probability the Provençal poem was to be looked upon as a reproduction of some French source;[19] and in 1839 Edelestand du Méril, in France, had pointed out the French poem as the original of the Provençal version;[20] Guessard in his lectures at the Ecole des Chartes, at Paris, had also defended the same opinion; when in 1860, the editors of the French «Fierabras»[21] finally and irrefutably proved the impossibility of considering the Provençal poem as anything but a translation of a French original. [p-xi] In 1865, Gaston Paris, in his «Poetical History of Charlemagne», pointed out that what we have now of the Fierabras romance must be looked upon as a very different version from the old original «Fierabras» (or «Balan») romance, the former being indeed only a portion, considerably amplified and in its arrangement modified, of the old poem, the first portion of which has been lost altogether. Gaston Paris had been led to this supposition by the rather abrupt opening of the «Fierabras», which at once introduces the reader «in medias res», and by the numerous passages of the «Fierabras», which contain allusions and references to preceding events; several of which, being obscure and inexplicable from the context of the «Fierabras» itself, can only be explained by assuming the existence of an earlier poem. The main subject of the old «Balan» or «Fierabras» romance may be given as follows:—“The Saracens having invaded Rome and killed the Pope, Charlemagne sends, from France, Guy of Burgundy and Richard of Normandy to the rescue of the city, and follows himself with his main army. After a fierce combat between Oliver and Ferumbras, the city is delivered from the Saracens, and a new Pope established.”[22] [p-xii] Of all the events related in the old «Balan» romance, there is but one which is contained in the «Fierabras» poem, viz. the combat between Oliver and Ferumbras, and even this has been greatly modified in consequence of the composer’s transferring the scene of action from Italy to Spain. All the other events related in the «Fierabras», the love of Floripas and Guy, the capture of the twelve peers, their being besieged in the castle of Agremor, and their deliverance by Charlemagne, and the ultimate wedding of Floripas and Guy are altogether wanting in the original «Fierabras» [Balan] romance.