THE EARLIEST OLD FRENCH LIVRE DES JUGES; A NOTE ON THE TRANSLATOR AND HIS PATRONS

Abstract

As is well known from the rhymed Prologue, the oldest French prose translation of the Book of Judges had two Templar patrons, Richard of Hastings and Odon de Saint-Omer. This paper throws more light on their renown in the twelfth century and on their enthusiastic support for a vernacular rendering of this particular Book of the Old Testament. A close study of the translator's statements allows the reasonable conjecture that he was not a Templar himself, but a priest serving the Order in London.