Description

Adenet le Roi s late thirteenth-century Berte as
grans pies presents rich evidence of how manuscript
context affects readers perception of genre because
its textual features do not establish a well-defined
genre and it appears in several manuscript
compilations. Its composition in laisses suggests
that it is a chanson de geste, while themes point to
romance or exemplary tales. However, the seven
manuscript compilations that contain Berte orient
readers understanding of the relationship between
texts and encourage readers to pay attention to
certain textual characteristics. In turn, the
highlighted characteristics help readers determine
the genre of the texts, providing a conceptual frame
that guides interpretation. Each chapter in this
study concerns an aspect of Berte s genre and the
meaning that a particular manuscript generated for
medieval readers: Adenet s creation of a multi-genre
text, readers experience of the text as an epic,
romance, or exemplary tale in manuscript context, and
generic reworkings of the story by later composers.
Throughout, the study develops a methodology for
reconstructing interpretations of medieval works
appearing in manuscript compilations.