SOURCE: "The Role of the Emir d'outre l'Arbre Sec in Jean Bodel's Jeu de Saint Nicolas," in Australian Journal of French Studies, Vol. XIV, No. 1, January-April, 1977, pp. 3-31.

In the following essay, Horton considers the role of the Emir d'outre l'Arbre Sec in maintaining structural coherence in Le Jeu de Saint Nicolas.

Because of a rubricator's error in the unique manuscript of Jean Bodel's Jeu de saint Nicolas, editors of the work have in effect been faced with the problem of deciding whether the one pagan leader who resists conversion at the end of the play is the Emir d'Orkenie or the Emir d'outre l'Arbre Sec. The most recent editor, A. Henry, is the first to retain the manuscript readings for lines 1473 and 1477 while systematically inverting the two names for lines 1493, 1495, 1500, 1501 and 1507,¹ thus making the dissenter the Emir d'outre l'Arbre Sec. In support of this solution he points...