| This is a critical edition of the opening section, the Genesis, of the Histoire ancienne, composed in a slightly modified Francien dialect of Old French for Rogier, Chastelain de Lisle, during the first quarter of the thirteenth century, possibly before about 1215. The base text used is that of Paris, Bibliotheque Nationale, MS.fr. 20125, a copy made at Acre in about 1287. Where necessary, corrections and clarifications are noted from one or more of the other four thirteenth century Crusader-related copies: London, British Library, MS. Add. 15268; Dijon, Bibliotheque Municipale, MS. 562; Brussels, Bibliotheque Royale, MS. 10175; Paris, Bibliotheque Nationale, MS. 9682. Verse portions are compared with corresponding passages in Vienna, Nationalbibliothek, MS. 2576, the only other known copy in which all of the verse moralizations found in Paris 20125 remain.;A discussion of the illustrations of the Genesis portion of Paris 20125 as they relate to the text and to other Crusader and Parisian painting of the thirteenth century is included. Some consideration is given to the author's text as literature and to his style as a writer. A few observations are made on the language used in this work as it has come down to us in this particular copy.;Some observations are made about the anonymous author of this work and about the place of this copy in the manuscript tradition of the Histoire ancienne. The text is summarized in English. A preliminary attempt is made to identify Latin source materials used by this historian-compiler, chief among which come from the Latin Antiquities of Josephus, the Genesis of Peter Comestor's Historia scholastica and the Vulgate Scripture. Jerome's Interpretate of Eusebius' Chronici Canones and Orosius' Historiam adversum paganos, Libri VII have evidently provided material for this work at several points. Other sources, such as the Jeu d'Adam, that may have been used at certain points are indicated. |
