Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.1959, Side 269

255
Original Chanson de Roland
______________!______________
II I . | l
V4 Kms version rimée, foreign versions
If the group represented by V4 and the version rimée is derived from a
MS which had combined the O and the Kms assonanced versions, this
stemma will have to he modified. It will be convenient here to adopt the
designations used by M. Aebischer for the various stages in the develop-
ment of the Kms version, k for the French source of the Runzivals frattr,
n for the original translation, and the MSS would then be grouped in
this way:
Original Chanson de Roland
O version a version
P version I
I n
I . 1 1
V4 version rimée Kms
This stemma would account for all the differences between the versions:
those episodes in which V4 and the version rimée have combined the O and
the Kms versions must have belonged to the a version, those which have
left no trace in the later French MSS (such as the war in Libya, numer-
ous smaller additions) must have been added in k. The differences between
the original version and a were considerable, but it is not possible to
decide with certainty whether most of the omissions in Kms belong to the
a or the k stage. But most of the important changes were clearly made
in a, and it is therefore most natural to attribute the tendency to shorten
the poem also to this version. The originator of k would then be more of
an ordinary jongleur, whose contribution consists mainly of comparatively
small additions.
The result of the combination of O and a in the later French version
is that the latter is frequently much longer than either O or a, with many
unnecessary repetitions and doublets, such as the two Roncevaux scenes.
Occasionally the editor had to make a choice, as between the burial at