La chanson d’Yde et Olive et de Croissant: chanson de geste de la fin du XIIIe siècle, édition critique d’après le manuscrit T, L. II. 14 de la bibliothèque de Turin, ed. Elena Podetti. Classiques français du Moyen Âge, 203. Paris: Honoré Champion, 2024, 370 pp.

This refreshing new critical edition of the Old French Yde et Olive will be of interest to scholars of the Old French chanson de geste, as well as to a broader audience. This is the third epic in the Huon de Bordeaux cycle and Yde is Huon’s grandchild. Literary scholars interested in gender studies, trans studies, and LGBTQ narratives in this period will find the nuanced story of a young noble woman who escapes abuse and incest by her father the king, by dressing as a man, leaving home and becoming an accomplished male knight (Yde). Ultimately, Yde marries the Roman emperor’s daughter (Olive). Olive falls in love with Yde, they share a bed, and later Olive does not view gender as any obstacle to their happy marriage, despite the heteronormative practices of the period. Upon public discovery of Yde’s identity as female at birth, an angel transforms Yde into a male physically, so that the loving couple may conceive an heir (a male child named Croissant, with his own narrative. Finally, a second author recounts the further deeds of Yde including battling a usurper.