Henry d'Andeli explained

Henry d'Andeli was a 13th-century Norman poet notable for his work La Bataille des Vins (English Battle of the Wines),^[1] and for the satirical poem Battle of the Seven Arts.^[2] He also wrote Dit du Chancelier Philippe on the subject of his contemporary Philip the Chancellor.

The fabliau Lai d'Aristote, which was formerly ascribed to him, is now thought to be by Henry of Valenciennes.^{[3] [4]}

Battle of the arts

In his mock-epic battle (c1230-50), d'Andeli laments the defeat of rhetoric (represented by Grammar/Orléans) at the hands of Logic/Paris.^[5] Grammar is forced to flee to Egypt; and Poetry in the person of 'Sir Versifier' to the Loire countryside - d'Andeli predicting that "It will be thirty years before he dares show his face again".^[6]

Further reading

L. J. Paetow trans., The Battle of the Seven Arts (Berkeley 1914

Notes and References

1. W. W. Kibler ed., Medieval France (1995) p. 842
2. E. Butler, The Bellum Grammaticale and the Rise of European Literature (2013) p. 49
3. Zufferey . François . Un problème de paternité: le cas d'Henri d'Andeli. II. Arguments linguistiques . Revue de linguistique romane . 2004 . 68 . 57–78.
4. Zufferey . François . Henri de Valenciennes, auteur du Lai d'Aristote et de la Vie de saint Jean l'Évangéliste . Revue de linguistique romane . 2004 . 69 . 335–358.
5. E. Butler, The Bellum Grammaticale and the Rise of European Literature (2013) p. 47-9
6. Helen Waddell, The Wandering Scholars (1968) p. 141-2