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     Jehan Bodel lived during the Middle Ages. The exact date of his birth is not known. Toward the end of his life, he contracted leprosy and died in 1210.

     Bodel was a native of the city of Arras in the province of Artois. This region is now part of France; but when Bodel lived, it belonged to the counts of Flanders.

     Bodel belonged to a class of entertainers variously called jongleurs or ménestrals (minstrels). “Jongleur” seems to be the original term. The term “ménestral” was applied later, especially if the entertainer gained a position at the castle of some nobleman and acquired skill in composition.

     Jongleurs had various skills in their repertoire. They usually could perform acrobatic tricks such as juggling, but they were basically storytellers. They recited artistic works, such as those of the trovères, and currently popular epics. Jongleurs usually were a little more educated than the rank and file of the Middle Ages. They were often clergymen who had left the clerical profession. Therefore, many were capable of composing works of their own.

     Jongleurs liked to perform in castles if they could. But they performed wherever they could gather a crowd, usually in public market places.

     The works of Jehan Bodel include a number of fabliaux and pastourelles. The fabliau was a short tale in verse, often scurrilous but sometimes teaching a moral lesson. The pastourelle involved witty repartee between a shepherdess and a would-be seducer with varying results. This genre later achieved an elevated literary plateau in the Spanish works of the Marquis of Santillana. 

      Bodel’s most noteworthy production is a dramatic work called “Le Jeu de Saint Nicholas” (“The Play concerning St. Nicholas”). The work is a vernacular adaptation of a Latin work by Hilarius, who lived in the first half of the twelfth century. In this play, a crusading Christian army attacks a Saracen host and suffers a disastrous defeat. The Saracens find a surviving Christian soldier praying to an image of Saint Nicholas. The Saracen king doubts the efficacy of this image and decides to put it to a test. He puts some treasures in an exposed place where thieves can easily steal it. Some thieves come, but the image of St. Nicholas miraculously prevents the thieves from carrying out their evil design. The Saracen king is convinced, and he and his hosts become Christians.

      Jehan Bodel wrote this play in Old French. It occupies a special niche in the history of literature because it is one of the first Latin plays to be translated into a vernacular language, according to the “Merriam-Webster’s Encyclopedia of Literature.”

      While “Le Jeu de Saint Nicholas” is a fanciful legend with no basis in fact, “La Chanson des Saisnes” (“The Song concerning the Saxons”) is based on a definite historical event. Charlemagne was king of the Franks from 768 to 814. During his reign, he forged an extensive empire in Western Europe. he had special trouble with a people called the Saxons, who lived in northwest Germany. They were a hardy people who refused to stay conquered. It took more than 30 years and many campaigns before the Saxons were finally pacified in the year 804. In this struggle, a Saxon chief called Widukind played an important role.

       “La Chanson des Saisnes” is an epic poem commemorating these events. Charlemagne and Widukind are the principal protagonists. It belongs to a class of literature called chansons de geste (songs concerning great deeds), like the more familiar “Chanson de Roland” (“Song of Roland”).

     Like the “Chanson de Roland,” “La Chanson des Saisnes” takes liberties with the historical events. For example, Widukind is called Guiteclin in Bodel’s work.

     The writings of Jehan Bodel are more highly regarded than those of the average jongleur. In fact, some sources refer to him as a trovère. However, while the trovères of northern France liked to write on courtly love, Bodel did not specialize in this genre. In any case, he was an accomplished and innovative poet.

Reference

“Merriam-Webster’s Encyclopedia of Literature”: 1995

Wikipedia

Encyclopaedia Britannica