Summary
This perplexing text, which mixes political history with satire, sets out to narrate events related to the Holy Land after its conquest by the First Crusade and following the rule of Godfrey of Bouillon and his brother Baldwin. What follows concerns mainly the kings of England and France (the central figure is undoubtedly Philip Augustus), but parts of the Récits are devoted to the political history of the Holy Land in the later twelfth century, with a particular interest in the reign of Henry I.
MSS
London, British Library MSS 11753 and 7103;
Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MSS fr. 10149, 24430, 13566;
Rouen, Bibliothèque Municipale, MS 53
Edition
De Wailly, Natalis, (ed.). Récits d’un ménestrel de Reims au treizième siècle. Paris, France: Librairie Renouard. 1876.
Levine, Robert, (trans). A Thirteenth-Century Minstrel’s Chronicle (Récits d’un ménestrel de Reims: a Translation and Introduction. Lewiston, NY: Mellen Press, 1990.
Secondary Literature
For bibliography and further info see Arlima.