Oton de Granson: Poems

Oton de Granson, who was slain in a duel in 1397, was first acknowledged for his poetry by Geoffrey Chaucer, who called him the "flour of hem that make in Fraunce [the flower of those that write poetry in France]." Granson was a knight, diplomat, and poet, who lived an active, almost storybook life at or near the center of many of the most important events in the last half of the fourteenth century. He was well known to the major poets of his time in France and England, and was almost certainly a personal friend to both Chaucer and Eustache Deschamps. Granson was among the first and most successful of the poets who were also courtiers. Born to the highest nobility in his native Savoy, he was well known in the courts of both France and England, and he spent the better part of his career in the service of the English king. As one who moved in both a French-speaking and an English-speaking world, he occupies a unique place in the literary culture of his time. And yet Granson's reputation and importance were restored only in modern times, primarily through the efforts of Arthur Piaget and Joan Grenier-Winther. Both of their editions, however, are destined for readers of French. This new translation makes Granson's poetry available again to English readers.