NEWS  First translation of the complete Roman de Rou

Making history from the 12th Century to the 21st

The first English edition of the epic narrative chronicle by Wace, known as Roman de Rou, was launched in May, 2002, appropriately in his birthplace, Jersey - a truly historic event. The translator of this neglected and virtually censored Anglo-Norman  masterwork is Professor Glyn S. Burgess of the University of  Liverpool, one of our most eminent European literature and  language scholars. He was recently awarded the title of Chevalier  des Palmes Académiques in recognition of his literary  achievements and his many academic and popular interpretations of Old French and Anglo-Norman classics. His translation of the Wace rhyming chronicle, in prose, is from the Battle manuscript - copied at the Abbey in the late 12th Century (see Wace in Battle) with the addition of the disputed Chronique Ascendante.  The Roman de Rou (originally, the title given to the story of Rollo, legendary founder of the Norman state) is celebrated - or notorious - only for its vivid, personalised, unique and highly-detailed '1066' section. Since its rediscovery 200 years ago, the Rou and Wace, its author, have been excluded from cultural history studies and rejected by orthodox Norman Conquest academics (who still consider the Latin propaganda poems and eulogistic histories as 'authorities') but is highly-regarded by thinking writers and modern iconoclasts. We hope that Wace will be restored to his rightful position in the canon of world literature - and the Roman de Rou given at least equal status with his enduring Brut, unarguably the most influential vernacular work in the history of European political, dynastic, and popular culture. This edition of Roman de Rou is published by the Société Jersiaise, and includes the facing text in Old French (the Anglo-Norman original is lost) from the S.A.T.F. series by Anthony Holden, now Emeritus Professor of  French at Edinburgh.  Unfortunately, this is a short-run first edition and may be sold out on advance orders.  An English-only paperback is promised for 2004.
    The historical notes for this controversial epic of the rise and fall of the Normans are by the eminent Netherlands medieval scholar and Latin chronicle translator Dr. Elisabeth M.C. van Houts of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, one of the few academic historians  in this country to study and write about Wace on his own terms. The others include the Anglo-Norman Conference pioneer, Matthew Bennett of Sandhurst, and Professor Sir James Holt, a former President of the Royal Historical Society. 
    Members of W.A.C.E. have been closely involved in the publication of this translation since its beginnings as a Jersey Millennium project. Our interest is in promoting Wace as a 'man of the world' - a professional and erudite popular author and journalistic investigator - and in using his work to discover the truth of the Norman heritage. The facts of the Conquest were known - or, at least, suspected - by the first of the Latin '1066' chroniclers and certainly in the lifetime of  Wace, who wrote intentionally to entertain and inform the general public in their own cross-Channel spoken language. The story is buried in the subtexts of all the Norman chronicles.  Why is the Roman de Rou  the only work ruled out and considered to be 'unreliable' and controversial? Why was it virtually censored, along with its author and his most erudite and pioneering Victorian advocate, Professor Edward A. Freeman, who dubbed him 'Honest Wace'? Why did the 20th Century's leading 'honest' historians - who founded their careers on this platform during World War II - also denigrate Wace?  Finally - most significantly - why did neither the 19th or 20th Century Wace family members, which included journalists, archeologists and historians, never write their own history of this most important writer who may possibly be one of their ancestors?    
   We will be answering these questions in our own forthcoming publications. 
   In our view, the new translation is sure to renew the old debates on the Normans in terms of 21st Century Euro-politics and the English national identity, and will raise timely questions about the our cross-cultural heritage, in particular the ways that history since 1066 is presently taught and interpreted by the popular media. 
    W.A.C.E. will be in the forefront of these debates and will provide exclusive information about this long-awaited translation -  the additional details not available at the time of going to press. We will also be publishing a study of the background to the histories, songs and legends that Wace used for Roman de Rou. We  will explain why his major work has been so seriously misrepresented as 'mere poetry' and how much he knew about, in particular, the Norman Conquest of England, from his unique 'oral history' sources - and why he had to be cautious about what he wrote and, like his modern counterparts, studded his subtext with clues and subtle allusions to earlier writing, including the songs of the jongleurs, the travelling minstrels and roving reporters of his day.  

As an introduction to this radical new form of literary investigation, we recommend the illuminating study of the Latin chronicles, the Bayeux Tapestry and the vernacular chronicles, written by Emily Albu, a Californian professor of classics - the first to investigate all Norman literature from the points of view of its authors in the political contexts in which they wrote the chronicles and poems still thought of as official documentaries of events. Please visit our Book News and Reviews page for a feature on her new book, The Normans in their Histories - Propaganda, Myth and Subversion. Professor Albu's study, in our opinion, is the 21st Century's first and most convincing challenge to the enduring myths of the West's most notorious would-be master race. The 12th Century's was the magnificent Roman de Rou by Wace. See Wace  (The Author) for an excerpt of the text and our translation of his own pioneering and significant statement of his rights as an independent author.  

In addition to reporting on neglected and censored works of cultural importance, from all eras of history, and their correct interpretation, W.A.C.E., on behalf of its network members, promotes the fundamental and defining rights of professional authors, as individuals and originators, in all relevant legislation, and lobbies for the proper recognition by agents, publishers or employers of all these laws and the principles on which they were founded in acknowledgment of an author's equivalent personal, creative, occupational and cultural responsibilities. However, we are not equipped for casework and we encourage authors, especially academic authors, to join the reputable unions and the copyright and royalty collection societies. 

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