Fantosme, Jordan

(fl. ca. 1175)

   Jordan Fantosme was an Anglo-Norman poet and historian whose Chronicle provides a history of the young King Henry’s first rebellion against his father, HENRY II, and of the ensuing war between the older Henry and the Scottish king William the Lion. These events of 1173–74 are described in a lively monorhymed poem divided into laisses, after the fashion of the CHANSONS DE GESTE. Fantosme was most likely the clerk of Elias, the bishop of Winchester, and previously had been a student of Gilbert de la Porrée, bishop of Poitiers and a well-known scholastic philosopher. He claims to have been eyewitness to many of the events he describes. That claim cannot be verified, but it is certainly true that Fantosme seems to have had access to good information from both sides of the conflict, so that his Chronicle is generally a reliable and historically valuable text, written possibly within a year of the war itself. It is also a significant literary text, dramatic and colorful. Its most recent editor (R. C. Johnston) examines Fantosme’s versification and determines that he uses five different meters in his poem, suggesting as well that the lines are arranged, like ALLITERATIVE VERSE, into half-lines with two stresses each. Fantosme begins his story with the young Henry’s decision to rebel and his obtaining the support of powerful French nobles and the French king Louis VII. The Scottish king William the Lion, against the advice of some of his nobles, decides to support the rebellion and invades Northumbria.At the same time, an army of Flemings, whom Fantosme satirizes as weavers rather than soldiers, attacks East Anglia. The old King Henry’s powerful speech before launching his army into battle is a memorable part of the poem (though it is most likely formulaic rather than historical), and ultimately the rebellion is put down, and King William is defeated and captured at Aluwich in 1174. Henry then invades France to lift the siege of Rouen, and Fantosme’s text ends with the king facing new challenges. Fantosme explicitly compares his hero,Henry II, to CHARLEMAGNE— a parallel often encouraged by Henry himself.

   Perhaps the most memorable scene in the Chronicle concerns the Battle of Fornham, a significant turning point in the rebellion.Here after Peronelle, the countess of Leicester, has incited her husband to join the rebellion against Henry, she dons armor herself and rides beside the earl into the decisive battle. Overthrown and nearly drowned in a ditch where she loses her jewelry, the countess and the earl, her husband, are defeated and taken prisoner.

   Fantosme’s Chronicle is lively and readable. While the author seems a supporter of the old king’s cause, he does seem to have deliberately left out details about the young Henry’s culpability and that of his younger brothers, perhaps out of wide-ranging loyalty to the royal family. Nevertheless, the story that Fantosme presents is accurate, entertaining, and valuable.

   Bibliography

   ■ Fantosme, Jordan. Chronicle. Edited and translated by R. C. Johnston. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1981.