Benoît de Sainte-Maure, Roman de Troie
England?, c. 1165

University Library, MS Add. 2751 (2)
France?, thirteenth century
Vellum, 156 x 37 mm (122 x 20 mm) and 37 x 155 mm (37 x 125 mm), two fragments

This tiny fragment represents the Roman de Troie, a poem which recounts the story of the Trojan war and (more briefly) the Greeks’ return home. Of a similar scale to Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey – though adapted from different sources – the Roman de Troie takes over 30,000 octosyllablic lines to tell its story. The fragment deals with the third battle between the Greeks and the Trojans. According to the Roman, there were 23 in all.