Wace

Wace (no authority for the common prænomen Robert), a celebrated Anglo-Norman poet, born in Guernsey most probably about 1100, enjoyed the favour of the Norman kings of England, was given by Henry II. a prebend at Bayeux, and died about 1175. His two long romances, the Geste des Bretons or Brut and the Roman de Rou, are among the best monuments of Norman French in point of language, and even literature. The former (ed. by Leroux de Lincy, 2 vols. Rouen, 1836-38) is a free versification of the History of Geoffrey of Monmouth. The Roman de Rou is a history of the Dukes of Normandy down to 1107, three-fourths of its 16,000 verses written in octosyllabic verse rhyming in pairs (ed. by Pluquet, Rouen, 1824; more adequately by Dr Hugo Andresen, 2 vols. Heilbronn, 1877-79).