337-344

A reference to St. Demetrius in Historia Ecclesiastica of Ordericus Vitalis

Μελέτες

• Πεταλάς, Δημήτρης Γ.

It is extremely surprising that the Norman monk and ecclesiastical writer, Ordericus Vitalis (1075-1142) makes reference to St. Demetrius in his Historia Ecclesiastica, given that the western Church never acknowledged Demetrius as a saint. Ordericus compares Demetrius with St. Guillaume de Geilone. Guillaume was Count of Toulouse and served Charlemagne gallantly in his battles against the Saracens of Spain, before becoming a monk and then undergoing sanctification. This comparison with Demetrius, however, is no accident, since Guillaume is a central character in a wide range of folk songs dealing with heroic deeds, in which he is known as Guillaume d’ Orange. Guillaume wins a victory that resembles that won by Demetrius and Nestor over Lyaeus. A possible reason for the existence of this remarkable similarity may lie in the presence of large numbers of Greeks and Armenians, who settled in Normandy about 1000.

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Επιμέλεια αγγλικής μετάφρασης περιλήψεων: Δρ. Βασιλική Χρυσανθοπούλου, Ερευνήτρια, Κέντρο Ερεύνης της Ελληνικής Λαογραφίας, Ακαδημία Αθηνών