thumb|Possible depiction of the author. [[Historiated Q from the Vienna manuscript of Meraugis (codex 2599, 14th cent.). <!--The man's figure pointing his finger underscores a "strong authorial presence" in the tone of the prologue-->]]

Raoul de Houdenc (or Houdan; c. 1165 – c. 1230)

Life

Raoul de Houdenc takes his name from his native place. Of twelve possibilities,

His works are now seen as the product of the first quarter of the 13th century,

  • Le Songe d'enfer ("Dream of Hell").
  • Le Roman des eles (or le roman des Ailes de Courtoisie; "The Romance of the Wings")
  • Meraugis de Portlesguez, an Arthurian romance.
  • La Vengeance Raguidel. See it for a discussion on authorship.
  • Dit, a short didactic work.

La Voie de paradis is the sequel to Le Songe d'enfer, but on whether it is penned by the same Raoul there is no firm agreement. According to Friedwagner, Gaston Paris too initially assessed Raoul's writing activity to have occurred around the late 12th to early 13th century, but later reconsidered the dates to c. 1210–1220. Friedwagner himself felt the writings occurred in the first decade of the 13th century, i.e. 1201–1210,

Footnotes

References

Texts

;Le Songe d'enfer

  • Mihm, Madelyn Timmel. (1984) The Songe d'Enfer of Raoul de Houdenc: An Edition Based on All the Extant Manuscripts, Tübingen: Max Niemeyer Verlag, 1984. Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für Romanische Philologie, Band 190.

;La Voie de paradis

;Le Roman des eles

  • (with translation)

;Meraugis de Portlesguez

Studies

  • , Uber Raoul de Houdenc und seine Werke (Erlangen, 1880)
  • Boerner, Otto<!--Not the same as :de:Otto Wahls-->, Raoul de Houdenc. Eine stilistische Untersuchung (1885).
  • William Cole, First and Otherwise Notable Editions of Medieval French Texts Printed from 1742 to 1874: A Bibliographical Catalogue of My Collection (Sitges, 2005).
  • Raoul de Houdenc on Archives de Littérature du moyen âge. Laurent Brun et al. Last updated April 27, 2018.