The Four Sons of Aymon

The Four Sons of Aymon (French: [Les] Quatre fils Aymon, is a medieval tale centring around the four sons of Duke Aymon: the knight Renaud de Montauban, his brothers Guichard, Allard and Richardet, their magical horse Bayard, and their adventures and revolt against Emperor Charlemagne. It is sometimes also referred to as Renaud de Montauban, after its main character. The story became popular throughout Europe, and echoes of the story are still found today in certain folklore traditions.

Medieval and Renaissance texts

French versions

The oldest extant version of the tale is an anonymous Old French chanson de geste, Quatre Fils Aymon, which dates from the late 12th century and comprises 18,489 alexandrine (12-syllable) verses grouped in assonanced and rhymed laisses (the first 12,120 verses use assonance; critics suggest that the rhymed laisses derive from a different poet). It is one of the longest of all the chansons de geste. Other and later versions of the chanson range from 14,300 to 28,000 verses. Of the dozen extant versions of the chanson, all are anonymous except for one, Histoire des quatre fils Aymon, attributed to Huon de Villeneuve, a 13th-century trouvère. The Renaud chansons de geste were transformed into prose romances in the 14th and 15th centuries, and judging from the number of editions, the prose Quatre Fils Aymon was the most popular romance of chivalry in the late 15th century and first half of the 16th century in France.

The tale is generally included in the Doon de Mayence "cycle" of chansons.

Plot

Renaud and his three brothers were sons of Aymon de Dordone (a fictional location in the Ardennes, although the name seems to be related to Dordogne near Montauban).