Toponyms and Anthroponyms in the Reception of Fierabras in the British Isles: Barbour’s Bruce, Book III, L. 435-462

Abstract

The tale of Fierabras is among the most widely circulated narratives of the Carolingian cycle in the Middle Ages. Originally composed as a chanson de geste in late 12th-century France, it was later adapted into romance form and repeatedly rewritten in prose across a broad geographic area, from its native France to the Iberian Peninsula, Italy, and the British Isles. Even in the brief summary found in John Barbour’s Bruce, nearly all the key personal and place names from the story are preserved. However, these names occasionally differ in form from those found in the earliest French versions and, to some extent, from the Anglo-Norman and Middle English retellings that Barbour undoubtedly knew. Among the personal names, only those of the protagonist and his adversary father appear altered. While the emir’s name—changed from Balan to Lawyne—may reflect a relatively minor variant, the protagonist’s name, rendered as Ferambrace in Barbour’s account, might instead represent a descriptive or metaphorical reinterpretation of the original.