If you found this page you probably know what it’s about, but just in case you don’t I’ll offer this brief introduction.

In my real life I’m a business attorney in Pittsburgh, PA.  One of my hobbies is the study of the Carolingian (i.e., Charlemagne)[1] cycle of medieval romances (a/k/a Chansons de Geste, or ‘Songs of Deeds’).  I am what you might call an informed and interested amateur.  I neither speak nor read French, let alone medieval French or its various dialects, but I have read a good bit of that was published in English and a fair amount of the accessible commentary.

My interest began with William Caxton’s 1485 book Lyf of the Great and Crysten Prince Charles the Great, which he translated from a 13^th century French work called the Speculum Historiale.[2]  On something halfway between a whim and an obsession, I decided to take this story and re-write it for the modern ear.  The result was a serial in my local SCA newsletter that I’ve since compiled into the book Charlemagne and the Admiral of Spain.

My current project is to do the same thing with Caxton’s 1489 book The Right Plesaunt and Goodly Historie of the Foure Sonnes of Aymon.  The results to date are available under the title The Four Sons of Aimon.

Over the course of putting all this together I’ve also compiled a wealth of backstories, character sketches, history (real and mythic), timelines, family trees, maps, on-line resources, and other assorted background materials.  Those are what you’ll find by pursuing the links set forth below.

Have fun, and please feel more than free to write with any thoughts, comments, commentary, or critique you’d care to add.  I’ve a good thick skin and love to learn.

Scott Pavelle

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CHARLEMAGNE AND THE ADMIRAL OF SPAIN