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. Of the dozen extant versions of the
chanson, all are anonymous except for one,
Histoire des quatre fils Aymon, attributed to , 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). At the Pentecostal feast, Aymon brought them to Paris to be presented to Emperor
Charlemagne and Renaud proved himself a worthy combatant in the royal tournament and won the emperor's favour. In most versions of the
chanson, the emperor presented him with the magical horse
Bayard (in two versions, it is the fairy Oriande who gives it to him). Renaud kills one of Charlemagne's nephews (Bertolai) in a brawl over a chess game and the brothers flee, aided by Bayard who can carry all the brothers on his back and leap across valleys. The brothers decide to hide in the Ardennes where their cousin, the sorcerer
Maugis, can help them. Maugis constructs a castle for them called Montessor on a peak overlooking the
Meuse. The brothers are, however, forced to flee from Montessor, and eventually they proceed to
Gascony to aid King Yvon in his battles against the Emir Begès. Renaud, thanks to his sword "Froberge" (given to him by Maugis), wins a victory, and in gratitude, the king gives Renaud the castle at
Montauban and his sister in marriage. After a series of adventures, Charlemagne is eventually prevailed upon by the noble
paladin Roland to make terms with the brothers: the four brothers are pardoned on condition that Renaud travels to the
Holy Land on
Crusade, and that their magical horse Bayard is surrendered to Charlemagne. Charlemagne orders that Bayard be drowned by chaining him to a stone and throwing him in a river, but the horse escapes and lives eternally in the woods (in some versions the horse is killed). Renaud, upon his return from the Crusades, discovers his wife has died. After sending his sons to be educated at the court of the emperor, he abandons his home and goes to
Cologne, where he helps to construct a church. In the end, he is murdered by resentful workers, but his body is miraculously saved from the river and makes its way magically in a cart back to his brothers. Charlemagne is portrayed as vengeful and treacherous in these stories; the sympathy of the storyteller is clearly with the four brothers, but ultimately
feudal authority is upheld.
Dutch version Historie van den Vier Heemskinderen, the Dutch translation, dated 1508 and held at LMU Munich gives the following version: Duke Aymon, King of Pierlepont, thinks that Charles, his liege lord, has not shown him sufficient gratitude when he is merely awarded
Dordogne (Dordoen) with the capital of
Albi for his help in many of Charles's wars. He is even angrier about the fact that his warrior friend Hugh (Huon) de
Narbonne gets nothing at all, and decides to turn renegade until Charlemagne gives him a suitable reward. In the end Charles adds Aymon's weight in gold and his sister Aye. However, Aymon is not yet truly satisfied and swears that he will kill any child born out of his union with the king's sister, a truly curious resolution. Aye brings up her four sons (Richard, Writsaert, Adelhaert and Renout in this version) in secret at Pierlepont until the day that Aymon tells her how he regrets the fact that they have no offspring. She shows him his sons and Aymon is very impressed with Renaud, who is very tall, strong and belligerent. He gives Renaud the horse Bayard. The horse is so large that it can carry all four brothers on his back. When the four brothers are presented at Charles's court in Paris, Renaud kills Charles's son Louis. He and his brothers flee to the court of King Loup de Gascogne who betrays them to Charles. Nevertheless, they escape their pursuers with the help of King
Son of Aquitaine, who gives his daughter Claire or Clarisse to Renaud in marriage, as well as the castle of Montauban. Charles attacks the castle, and after months of siege Renaud has to surrender. The cost of their survival is the drowning of his horse Bayard. Charles urges Renaud to go on a
pilgrimage to the Holy Land, especially
Jerusalem. When Renaud comes back he helps to build the shrine of
St. Peter in Cologne. Envious men kill him and throw his body in the River
Rhine.
German versions Ein schöne und lüstige Histori von den vier Heymonskindern appeared in Cologne in 1604. This was largely an adaptation of the then current Dutch version, based on a French original. A previous German adaptation dated 1535 was based directly on the prose romance
Les quatre fils Aymon.
Ludwig Tieck edited and published the story, but seems to have taken it from a different source.
English version The story was known in England by the first half of the 13th century. and
William Caxton published a prose translation under the name "The Right Pleasant and Goodly Historie of the Foure Sonnes of Aymon". The translation was repeatedly reprinted, as well as dramatised, in the 16th and early 17th centuries, and its popular story was referred to (and used) by persons such as
Thomas Nashe and
Samuel Rowlands, although by 1673
Francis Kirkman would call the text a rarity.
Italian version A prose and a verse version of the story called
Rinaldo existed in Italian in the 14th century.
Sequels and related texts From the 13th century on, other texts concerning separate elements of the extended Renaud de Montauban story were created. Together with the original, these are termed the "Renaud de Montauban cycle". These poems are: ''Maugis d'Aigremont'' (describing Maugis's childhood),
Mort de Maugis (describing Maugis's death),
Vivien de Monbranc (the story of Maugis's brother), ''Beuve d'Aigremont'' (the story of Maugis's father, Beuve d'Aigremont, brother to
Girart de Roussillon and Doon de Nanteuil). Renaud, as Rinaldo, also became an important character in Italian Renaissance epics, including
Morgante by
Luigi Pulci,
Orlando Innamorato by
Matteo Maria Boiardo and
Orlando Furioso by
Ludovico Ariosto. ==In other media==