SOURCE: Buttry, Delores. “Contempt or Empathy? Master Wace's Depiction of a Peasant Revolt.” Romance Notes, XXXVII, no. 1 (fall 1996): 31-38.

In the following essay, Buttry argues that Wace's account of a peasant revolt shows his sympathy for their plight rather than the aristocratic disdain that has been attributed to him.

The twelfth-century Norman writer Wace appears to have been quite conservative in his social opinions as well as in his use of language. His aristocratic birth has been assumed since at least 1880, and critics have considered his depiction in the Roman de Rou (1160-74) of the peasant revolt under Duke Richard II to be an example of aristocratic bias. Wace's description of the revolt allows for a different interpretation. His lengthy additions to the information he found in his source, William of Jumiège's Gesta Normannorum Ducum, suggest compassion for the peasants. After reviewing the circumstantial evidence for Wace's...