First-person formulas in Wace’s Roman de Brut

Abstract

The article focuses on the Roman de Brut by the Norman poet Wace, which is a poetic adaptation of Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Latin chronicle, Historia Regum Britanniae, into Old French. The study aims to examine the contexts in which Wace uses first-person narrative formulas. The purpose of the article is to define the functions of such formulas in the text and, through this, to identify the significance Wace attributes to his role as a historian and translator in contrast to his role as an author. The study consistently examines formulas featuring the author’s name and those including a first-person pronoun and/or verb that refer to a source, justify the exclusion of a fragment, clarify the etymology of toponyms, express authorial modesty, or serve as a literary device. The analysis leads to the conclusion that first-person formulas in the Roman de Brut are primarily used to construct Wace’s persona as a modest translator of a historical text, concerned with the accuracy of details and the reliability of the narrative. However, certain instances indicate the beginning of an emerging authorial self-awareness and a nascent transition from the chronicle to the romance.