Valentin et Orson

(ca. 1498)

   Valentin et Orson is a late medieval French prose text attached to the CHARLEMAGNE cycle of ROMANCES. It was apparently written during the reign of King Charles VIII (1483–98) and printed at Lyons about 1489. The story, essentially a folktale about twin brothers raised apart and reunited, was artificially attached to the court of Charlemagne’s father, King Pepin, and after its popular French version appeared, it was translated into a number of European languages. The romance tells the story of Bellisant, King Pepin’s sister, who is wed to the Byzantine emperor, Alexander. She is falsely slandered by the archpriest of Constantinople and subsequently exiled by the emperor. In the forest she gives birth to twin boys. One of the children (Orson) is seized by a bear and carried off to be raised among the animals, and eventually becomes a wild man of the woods. The other twin (Valentin) is found by King Pepin himself and brought to court, where he is raised as a courtier and a knight.

   Years later Valentin comes across Orson in the woods. With the special empathy of twins, the two recognize one another. Valentin overcomes his brother, brings him to court, and there domesticates and educates the wild man. Together the two have a number of adventures and, ultimately, rescue their imprisoned mother from a wicked giant named Ferragus. They are able to accomplish this with the help of the dwarf Pacolet, a servant of the giant who owns a fantastic wooden horse that instantaneously transports its rider wherever he desires.

   There may have been an earlier French source for the 15th-century romance. But there are also Italian, Icelandic, German, and Dutch versions of the Valentin et Orson story. An English translation, entitled The History of two Valyannte Brethren, Valentyne and Orson, was made by Henry Watson and printed in 1550. There are a number of later English versions, including a BALLAD on the subject included in Thomas Percy’s Reliques in the 18th century.

   Bibliography

   ■ Dickson,Arthur.Valentine and Orson: A Study in Late Medieval Romance. 1929. New York: AMS Press, 1975.

   ■ Valentine and Orson. Translated by Henry Watson. Edited by Arthur Dickson. EETS, o.s. 204. London: Published for the Early English Text Society by the Oxford University Press, 1937.