Roman de la Rose

Lore & Background

The Romance of the Rose was written in two stages. Guillaume de Lorris composed the first 4,058 verses circa 1230, describing a courtier's attempts at wooing his beloved in a walled garden, a locus amoenus. Forty-five years later, circa 1275, Jean de Meun added 17,724 lines, expanding the allegorical personages—such as Reason and Friend—and adding new ones like Nature and Genius, who discuss the philosophy of love in encyclopedic breadth.

Reader's Guide

The Romance of the Rose was both popular and controversial. One of the most widely read works in France through the Renaissance, it was possibly the most read book in Europe in the 14th and 15th centuries. Its sensual language and alleged misogyny provoked attacks by Jean Gerson, Christine de Pizan, Pierre d'Ailly, and others. Later scholars noted its encyclopedic quality: Gaston Paris called it 'an encyclopedia in disorder,' C. S. Lewis described its 'encyclopedic character,' and Mikhail Bakhtin said it was 'encyclopedic (and synthetic) in its content.' About 300 manuscript copies survive, one of the highest figures for a secular work, with many illustrated. The poem influenced English literature through the Middle English translation The Romaunt of the Rose, portions thought to be by Chaucer, and the character 'La Vieille' may have inspired Chaucer's Wife of Bath. C. S. Lewis's 1936 study The Allegory of Love renewed interest in the poem.

Did You Know?

• About 300 manuscript copies of the poem survive, one of the highest figures for a secular work.
• The poem was written in two stages: Guillaume de Lorris circa 1230 and Jean de Meun circa 1275.
• The Burgundian British Library Harley MS 4425 has 92 large miniatures, despite a date around 1500.
• An edition from Lyons in 1503 is illustrated with 140 woodcuts.