A Moreai krónika keletkezése és szerkezete
Origin and structure of the Chronicle of Morea

Summary/Abstract: The study examines the objective and structure of the Chronicle of Morea (Τὸ Χρονικὸν τοῦ Μορέως). The endings of the two earliest Greek manuscripts of the Chronicle differ: one continues the story of the moreots in chronological order, the other adds a significantly earlier, out-of-place legend of Sir Geoffroy de Briel in almost 400 lines. This story is told hundreds of lines earlier in the other manuscript. Given the significance and location of this legend, the basic premise of my research is that the Chronicle, like the ancient epics, may have been composed of ‘books’, i.e., smaller units that were edited and performed independently. I will analyse the structure of the Chronicle in a comprehensive way, exploring what holds the individual units together and for what purpose they were structured as an organic whole. In the second half of the paper, I will address the issues of the legend of Sir Geoffroy de Briel: the excerpt uses several folktale motifs and parallels the stories of the anti-heroes of the chansons de geste (Crusade cycle). I will show the possible links between the Chronicle and the Old French chansons, as well as I am going to examine how this French cultural tradition influenced the work.

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