FOR SARAH KAY (Political Fictions: 83), ‘the epic community is more divided, and less univocal, than traditionally thought’. Chansons de geste, she argues, actively foment ‘counternarratives’, which combat patriarchy's ‘dominant narrative’. These ‘counternarratives’ are associated with ‘the agency of un-epic figures’, such as ‘children, women, the non-noble, “good” Saracens’ (76). Kay particularly focuses on women. Bucking a tendency to understand the genre as a male preserve, she shows how ‘the politics of male society in the chansons de geste are also sexual politics’ (70). Her volume itself becomes a (feminist) ‘counternarrative’ to the (largely masculinist) ‘dominant narrative’ about this corpus. Kay's argument seems, in turn, to invite a particular sort of response. For if Kay underscores the importance of ‘counternarratives’, it makes sense to respond to her by attending to the ‘counternarratives’ spawned by her larger argument.

This essay is, accordingly, concerned with a text which, like female characters and ‘counternarratives’ in chansons de geste, appears to have an unequal claim to epic status: Ami et Amile. Usually dated to around 1200, this chanson de geste is about two perfectly identical friends, often described as ‘compainz’ (companions), whose lives revolve around each other. The two initially come together and enjoy great success at Charlemagne's court; yet they provoke the envy of the terrible Hardré, Charlemagne's steward. This traitor attempts to have them ambushed, but when his plan fails, he offers his niece, Lubias, to Amile, who instantly passes her off to Ami. Hardré has not finished stirring up trouble for the companions, however. Soon thereafter, he observes Amile succumbing to the seductions of Belissant, Charlemagne's daughter. Because he has indeed ‘vergondee’ (shamed, 730) Belissant, Amile cannot defend himself in a trial by ordeal, so Ami, upon learning of his friend's struggles, decides to replace him. Since he has not lain with Belissant, Ami can emerge victorious; yet Charlemagne then attempts to force Belissant on him in marriage. Via an angel, God warns Ami that if, as Amile, he promises to take Belissant as his wife, he will be stricken with leprosy. He nonetheless does, and he is, prompting his vindictive wife to seek the dissolution of their marriage.