MEDIAEVAL LEGENDS In the middle ages the story of Caesar did not undergo such extraordinary transformations as befell the history of Alexander the Great and the Theban legend. Lucan was regularly read in mediaeval schools, and the general facts of Caesar's life were too well known. He was generally, by a curious error, regarded as the first emperor of Rome,' and representing as he did in the popular mind the glory of Rome, by an easy transition he became a pillar of the Church. Thus, in a French pseudo-historic romance Les Faits des Romains (c. 1223), he receives the honour of a bishopric. His name was not usually associated with the marvel 'Brunetto Latini, Trisor: "Et ainsi Julius Cesar fu li premiers em pereres des Romains." lous, and the trouvere of Huon de Bordeaux outstepped the usual sober tradition when he made Oberon the son of Julius Caesar and Morgan la Fay. About 1240 Jehan de Tuim composed a prose Hystore de Julius Cesar (ed. F. Settegast, Halle, 1880 based on the Pharsalia of Lucan, and the Commentaries of Caesar (on the Civil War) and his continuators (on the Alexandrine, African, and Spanish wars). The author gives a romantic de scription of the meeting with Cleopatra, with an interpolated dissertation on amour courtois as understood by the trouveres. The Hystore was turned into verse (alexandrines) by Jacot de Forest (latter part of the 13th century) under the title of Roman de Julius Cesar. A prose compilation by an unknown author, Les Faits des Romains (c. 1225), has little resemblance to the last two works, although mainly derived from the same sources. It was originally intended to contain a history of the twelve Caesars, but concluded with the murder of the dictator, and in some mss. bears the title of Li livres de Cesar. Its popularity is proved by the numerous mss. in which it is preserved and by three separate translations into Italian. A Mistaire de Julius Cesar is said to have been represented at Amboise in 150o before Louis XII.
See A. Graf, Roma nella memoria e nella imaginazione del medio evo, i. ch. 8 (1882-83) ; P. Meyer in Romania, xiv. (1885), where the Faits des Romains is analysed at length; A. Duval in Histoire lit teraire de la France, xix. (1838) ; L. Constans in Petit de Jullevilles' Hist. de la langue et de la litt. f rancaise, i. (1896) ; H. Wesemann, Die Casarfabeln des Mittelalters (Lowenberg, 1879).