Fierabras or Ferumbras is a fictional Saracenknight appearing in several chansons de geste and other material relating to the Matter of France. He is the son of Balan, king of Spain, and is frequently shown in conflict with Roland and the Twelve Peers, especially Oliver, whose prowess he almost rivals. Fierabras eventually converts to Christianity and fights for Charlemagne.
Texts and adaptations
The oldest extant text of the story of Fierabras is a 12th-century Old Frenchchanson de geste of roughly 6,200 alexandrines in assonanced laisses. The story is as follows: the Saracen king Balan and his son Fierabras return to Spain after sacking the church of Saint Peter's in Rome and taking the relics of the passion. Charlemagne invades Spain to recover the relics and sends his knight Olivier de Vienne, Roland's companion, to battle Fierabras. Once defeated, the giant decides to convert to Christianity and joins Charlemagne's army, but Olivier and several other knights are captured. Floripas, Fierabras' sister, falls in love with one of Charlemagne's knights, Gui de Bourgogne. After a series of adventures, Charlemagne kills king Balan, divides Spain between Fierabras and Gui de Bourgogne, and returns to Saint Denis with the holy relics. The poem also survives in an Occitan version dating from the 13th century. The Occitan and the Old French version may derive from a common lost source. This version in turn inspired an Italian version in the second half of the 14th century. Two English versions were made: Sir Ferumbras and Firumbras. A 15th-century English work, Sowdon of Babylon, combined the story with another work. The story was put into prose three times in the 14th and 15th centuries:
one anonymous version ; in this version, among the various changes brought to the story, Fierabras is no longer depicted as a giant.
and, most importantly, a Swiss French version by Jean or Jehan Bagnyon, Le rommant de Fierabras le geant which the author expanded with other material from the Matter of France and the history of Charlemagne. The historical material in Bagnyon's text is largely based on the Historia Caroli Magni, probably known to Bagnyon via the Speculum Historiale of Vincent de Beauvais. The Bagnyon version became one of the most popular novels in France in the first half of the 16th century and was adapted into Castilian, Portuguese, German, and English.
In Spain the story can be found in the Historia del emperador Carlomagno y de los doce pares de Francia by Nicolás of Piemonte first edited in 1521. This is a Castilian translation—or better, an adaptation—of Bagnyon's La Conqueste du grand roy Charlemagne. Miguel de Cervantes refers to Fierabras in his Don Quixote. There also exist other versions of the legend, including one in Early Modern Irish. The 17th-century playwright Calderón de la Barca used elements of the story for his play La Puente de Mantibile. In 1823, Franz Schubert wrote the opera Fierrabras, based on certain tales surrounding the knight's conversion.
Historical sources
The story echoes the historical Arab raid against Rome in 846 in which Guy I of Spoleto participated, and critics have suggested that the existing "chanson" was based on a now lost poem describing the Sack of the Roman Basilicas extra muros. The composition of the 12th-century poem may be closely linked to the cult of relics at the Basilica of St Denis in Paris and the creation of the local festival of Lendit, as the narrator in the Old French poem addresses himself to visitors at this fair. Another view is that the Legend is based on the character of the Basque prince, Fortun "the Basque" Al-Graseiz or El-Akraz, as seen by the Arab chroniclers and perhaps known as such by Shakespeare to bring it over to his exotic character Fortinbras. This is the tale that Robert the Bruce, King of Scots, is said by Barbour to have related to his men after they fled their enemies across Loch Lomond in 1307.
The balm of Fierabras
According to a chanson from 1170, Fierabras and Balan conquered Rome and stole two barrels containing the balm used for the corpse of Jesus. This miraculous balm would heal whoever drank it. In Chapter X of the first volume of Miguel de Cervantes' Don Quixote de la Mancha, after one of his numerous beatings, Don Quixote mentions to Sancho Panza that he knows the recipe of the balm. In Chapter XVII, Don Quixote instructs Sancho that the ingredients are oil, wine, salt and rosemary. The knight boils them and blesses them with eighty Pater Nosters, and as many Ave Marias, Salves and Credos. Upon drinking it, Don Quixote vomits and sweats and feels healed after sleeping. For Sancho it has also a laxative effect, rendering him near death.
