nym at Genoa, and his becoming the father of Oliver and Aude. Then
we pass to the third generation (Charlemagne reigning all the time)
with the above-named _Aimeri de Narbonne_. The events of this come
after Roncesvalles, and it is on the return thence that, Narbonne
being in Paynim hands, Aimeri, after others have refused, takes the
adventure, the town, and his surname. He marries Hermengart, sister of
the king of the Lombards, repulses the Saracens, who endeavour to
recover Narbonne, and begets twelve children, of whom the future
William of Orange is one. These _chansons_, with the exception of
_Girart de Viane_, which was printed early, remained much longer in
MS. than their successors, and the texts are not accessible in any
such convenient _corpus_ as De Jonckbloet's though some have been
edited recently.

[Footnote 37: M. Jonckbloet, who takes a less wide range, begins his
selection or collection of the William saga with the _Couronnement
Loys_.]

Three poems intervene between _Aimeri de Narbonne_ and the
_Couronnement Loys_, but they do not seem to have been always kept
apart. The first, the _Enfances Guillaume_, tells how when William
himself had left Narbonne for Charlemagne's Court, and his father was
also absent, the Saracens under Thibaut, King of Arabia, laid siege to
the town, laying at the same time siege to the heart of the beautiful
Saracen Princess Orable, who lives in the enchanted palace of
Gloriette at Orange, itself then, as Narbonne had been, a pagan
possession. William, going with his brothers to succour their mother,
captures Baucent, a horse sent by the princess to Thibaut, and falls
in love with her, his love being returned. She is forced to marry
Thibaut, but preserves herself by witchcraft as a wife only in name.
Orange does not fall into the hand of the Christians, though they
succeed in relieving Narbonne. William meanwhile has returned to
Court, and has been solemnly dubbed knight, his _enfances_ then
technically ceasing.

This is followed by the _Departement des Enfans Aimeri_, in which
William's brothers, following his example, leave Narbonne and their
father for different parts of France, and achieve adventures and
possessions. One of them, Bernart of Brabant, is often specially
mentioned in the latter branches of the cycle as the most valiant of
the clan next to Guillaume, and it is not improbable that he had a
_chanson_ to himself. The youngest, Guibelin, remains, and in the
thi