at a subsequent
period, by some Norman monk into French.[861]

The use of a popular language became more common after the year 1100.
Translations of some books of Scripture and acts of saints were made
about that time, or even earlier, and there are French sermons of St.
Bernard, from which extracts have been published, in the royal library
at Paris.[862] In 1126, a charter was granted by Louis VI. to the city
of Beauvais in French.[863] Metrical compositions are in general the
first literature of a nation, and even if no distinct proof could be
adduced, we might assume their existence before the twelfth century.
There is however evidence, not to mention the fragments printed by Le
Boeuf, of certain lives of saints translated into French verse by
Thibault de Vernon, a canon of Rouen, before the middle of the preceding
age. And we are told that Taillefer, a Norman minstrel, recited a song
or romance on the deeds of Roland, before the army of his countrymen, at
the battle of Hastings in 1066. Philip de Than, a Norman subject of
Henry I., seems to be the earliest poet whose works as well as name have
reached us, unless we admit a French, translation of the work of one
Marbode upon precious stones to be more ancient.[864] This De Than wrote
a set of rules for computation of time and an account of different
calendars. A happy theme for inspiration without doubt! Another
performance of the same author is a treatise on birds and beasts,
dedicated to Adelaide, queen of Henry I.[865] But a more famous votary
of the muses was Wace, a native of Jersey, who about the beginning of
Henry II.'s reign turned Geoffrey of Monmouth's history into French
metre. Besides this poem, called le Brut d'Angleterre, he composed a
series of metrical histories, containing the transactions of the dukes
of Normandy, from Rollo, their great progenitor, who gave name to the
Roman de Rou, down to his own age. Other productions are ascribed to
Wace, who was at least a prolific versifier, and, if he seem to deserve
no higher title at present, has a claim to indulgence, and even to
esteem, as having far excelled his contemporaries, without any superior
advantages of knowledge. In emulation, however, of his fame, several
Norman writers addicted themselves to composing chronicles, or
devotional treatises in metre. The court of our Norman kings was to the
early poets in the Langue d'Oil, what those of Arles and Toulouse were
to the troubadours. Henry I. was f