WALE (?)

See also:

• ROBERT
• ROBERT (1275—1343)
• ROBERT, HUBERT (1753-1808)
• ROBERT, LOUIS LEOPOLD (1794-1835)

ROBERT (xloo?-1175?)  ,Anglo-Norman chronicler, was born in Jersey . He studied at Caen; he became personally known to Henry I., Henry II., and the latter's eldest son, Prince Henry; from Henry II. he received a prebend at Bayeux and other gifts . Except for these facts he is known to us only as the author of two metrical chronicles in the Norman-French language . Of these the earlier in date is the Roman de Brut, completed in 1155, which is said to have been dedicated to Eleanor of Aquitaine (ed . A . J . V . Le Roux de Lincy, 2 vols., Rouen, 1836–1838) . This is a free version of the Latin Historia Britonum by Geoffrey of Monmouth, in rhyming octosyllables; it was rendered into English, shortly after 'zoo, by Layamon, a mass-priest of Worcestershire, and is also largely used in the rhymed English chronicle of Robert Mannyng . Wace's second work, the Roman de Rou, written between r'6o and 1174, has a less fabulous character than the Brut, being a chronicle of the Norman dukes from Rollo to Robert Curthose . It has been ably dissected by Gustav Korting (Ober die Quellen des Roman de Rou, Leipzig, 1867), who shows that it is mainly based upon Dude and William of Jumieges . There is also reason for thinking that Wace used the Gesta reguin of William of Malmesbury .

Where Wace follows no ascertainable source he must be used with caution . Undoubtedly he used oral tradition; but he also seems to have given free

play to his imagination . The Roman de Rou is written in rhyming octosyllables, varied by assonanced alexandrines . It has been edited by F . Pluquet (2 vols. and supplement, Rouen, 1827–1829) and more completely by H . Andresen (2 vols., Heilbronn, 1877–1879) . (H . W . C .