Sicambria et la Hongrie dans Li Myreur des histors de Jean d’Outremeuse

Abstract

In the first, mostly fictitious part of his Myreur des histors Jean d’Outremeuse tells the story of the origins of the Franks combining the two traditional narratives, that of the Chronicle of Pseudo-Fredegarius, and that of the Liber historiae francorum. In his text Gaulois and Sicambrins, both descending from Trojan refugees, are united after some conflict as the same people, ancestors of the French. Instead of locating Sicambria to Hungary as some of his comtemporaries do, he is attributing to a secondary but significant role to Hungary as a colony and rival of Danemark, another important kingdom in his narrative. The article argues that it might be a kind of compensation of putting apart Hungary from the story of Sicambria, and also a consequence of the phonetic closeness of Hongrie (Hungary) and the city of Tongres, which is in the center of the narrative before the foundation of Liège.