douzeper

English

WOTD – 28 January 2022

Etymology

PIE word *dwóh₁

PIE word *déḱm̥

An illustration by Charles Copeland of Charlemagne with his douzepers (sense 1).^{[n 1]}

From Middle English dosse per, dousse-per (“one of Charlemagne’s twelve peers or paladins; one of the twelve great peers of France at later times; a famous knight or noble”) [and other forms],^[1] treated as a singular form of dosse pers, dousse pers [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman, Middle French douse pers, douze pers [and other forms], and Old French douze pers, doze pers, duze pers (“Charlemagne’s twelve peers; twelve great peers of France at later times”) [and other forms] (also in the singular forms doze per, duze per, and in Anglo-Norman and Middle French written with a Roman numeral as XII pers), from doze, douze (“twelve”) (modern French douze) + pers (plural of per (“peer”); modern French pair).^[2] Doze is derived from Latin duodecim (“twelve”), from duo (“two”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁ (“two”)) + decem (“ten”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *déḱm̥ (“ten”)); per is derived from Latin pār (“equal; like”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈduːz.pɛː/, /ˌduːzˈpɛː/

• Audio (UK):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈduzˌpɛəɹ/, /ˌduzˈpɛəɹ/
• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˈdʉːz.piə/, /ˌdʉːzˈpiə/
• Rhymes: -ɛə(ɹ) (one pronunciation)
• Hyphenation: douze‧per

Noun

douzeper (plural douzepers) (rare, chiefly in the plural)

1. (historical fiction) One of the legendary “twelve peers” or renowned warriors of Charlemagne, the Emperor of the Romans from 800 to 814. [13th–17th c.; revived 19th c.]
   • [1504?], Stephyn Hawys [i.e., Stephen Hawes], chapter VII, in […] The Example of Vertu‎, [London]: [Wynkyn de Worde], →OCLC, archived from the original on 6 May 2021, signature cc.vi, verso:

     Also kynge Charlemayne kynge of Fraunce / With his dyssypers Rowland and Olyuer / With all the resydue of his alyaunce / That in all armes so noble were / On goddys ennemyes brake many a spere / Causynge them to flee to theyr grete vylony / Hardynes was cause that they had vyctory

     Also King Charlemagne, king of France / With his douzepers Roland and Oliver / With all the residue of his alliance / That in all arms so noble were / On God’s enemies broke many a spear / Causing them to flee to their great villany / Hardiness was cause that they had victory

   • 1828 May 15, [Walter Scott], chapter IV, in Chronicles of the Canongate. Second Series. […] (The Fair Maid of Perth), volume II, Edinburgh: […] [Ballantyne and Co.] for Cadell and Co.; London: Simpkin and Marshall, →OCLC, page 127:

     [T]hou art one of the Douze peers already, and fate has forestalled our intended promotion. Yet rise up, sweet Sir Oliver Thatchpate, Knight of the honourable order of the Pumpkin—Rise up, in the name of Nonsense, and begone about thine own concerns, in the devil’s name.

   • 1879, “Sketch of the Story of ‘Sir Ferumbras’”, in Sidney J[ohn Hervon] Herrtage, editor, Sir Ferumbras. Edited from the Unique Paper Ms. about 1380 A.D. in the Bodleian Library (Ashmole Ms. 33) (The English Charlemagne Romances; part I; Extra Series; XXXIV), London: Published for the Early English Text Society, by Trübner & Co., […], →OCLC, page xxix:

     Ferumbras, despising Oliver’s youthful appearance, tries to frighten him […]; asks him to describe Charles [i.e., Charlemagne] and the douzeperes […]; and enquires his name […]. Oliver declaring himself to be a poor knight, Ferumbras derides him, and bids him return and send Roland, or another of the douzeperes […].

   • 1883, [Robert Hunter], “*cūr-têin, *cūr-tā′-na”, in The Encyclopædic Dictionary: A New and Original Work of Reference to All the Words in the English Language, […], volume II, part II, London, Paris: Cassell, Petter, Galpin, & Co. […], →OCLC, page 625, column 1:

     Cortine, Corteyne, or Cortayn was the name given to the sword of Ogier, one of the celebrated Douzeperes of Charlemagne.

   • 1962, “Notes”, in D[erek] A[lbert] Pearsall, editor, The Floure and the Leafe and The Assembly of Ladies (Old and Middle English Texts Series), Manchester: Manchester University Press, published 1980, →ISBN, page 149:

     The knights of the Round Table and the douzepers were closely associated by virtue of the juxtaposition of Arthur and Charlemagne in the Nine Worthies.

   • 1967, J[onathan] Burke Seyers, editor, A Manual of the Writings in Middle English, 1050–1500. […], New Haven, Conn.: Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences, →OCLC, page 95:

     Roland defiantly accepts the post of danger; the douzepers and other knights join him. Ganelon leads the van of the army as it starts again toward France. The Saracens prepare for battle.

   • 1987, W[illiam] R[aymond] J[ohnston] Barron, “The Matter of France”, in David Carroll, Michael Wheeler, editors, English Medieval Romance (Longman Literature in English Series), Harlow, Essex: Longman, →ISBN, page 90:

     [In The Song of Roland] Ganelon makes his self-interest more obvious by nominating himself to command the van, yet Roland accepts the charge eagerly without mentioning his stepfather, fear of whose treason is so widespread that no other douzeper will volunteer for the mission.

2. (by extension, historical) One of the twelve nobles granted feudal territories or episcopal sees by the King of France in return for their fealty (namely the Archbishop-Duke of Rheims; the Bishop-Dukes of Laon and Langres; the Bishop-Counts of Beauvais, Chalons, and Noyon, the Dukes of Normandy, Burgundy, and Aquitaine; and the Counts of Toulouse, Flanders and Champagne). [13th–17th c.; revived 19th c.]

   Synonym: paladin

   • 1523, John Froissart, “Howe Phylypp of Ualois was Crowned Kyng of Fraunce”, in John Bourchier, Lord Berners [i.e., John Bourchier, 2nd Baron Berners], transl., Sir John Froissart’s Chronicles of England, France, Spain, Portugal, Scotland, Brittany, Flanders, and the Adjoining Countries; […], volume I, London: […] [J. McCreery] for F. C. and J. Rivington;  […], published 1812, →OCLC, page 30:

     And whan the realme of Frãce was fallen to him [Charles IV of France], he was crowned by the assent of the twelve dowspiers of Fraunce; and thã, bicause they wold nat that the realme of Frãce shulde be long without an heyre male, they aduysed by their counsell, that the kyng shulde be remaryed agayne, and so he was to the doughter of the Emperour Henry of Lucenbourg, […]

   • 1560, [Johannes Sleidanus], “The Nyntenth Booke of Sleidanes Commentaryes, Concerning the State of Religion, and the Common Weale, during the Reigne of the Empyre of Charles the Fyfte”, in Ihon Daus [i.e., John Daus], transl., A Famovse Cronicle of Oure Time, Called Sleidanes Commentaries, Concerning the State of Religion and Common Wealth, during the Raigne of the Emperour Charles the Fift, […], London: […] Ihon Daye, for Abraham Veale, and Nicholas England. […], →OCLC, folio ccxcij, verso:

     The Frenche kyng that ſucceded his father at the kalendes of Aprill, the .xxv. day of July, cometh to Rains to be crowned. […] After reſorte to the churche thoſe that are called the Douzeperes of Fraunce, which are twelue in nomber. The Byſhop of Rains, Landune, Langres, Beauuois, Noion and Challon, Than the kyng of Nauarre, the Dukes of Uandome, Guiſe, Niuerne, Mompenſer, and Inmalle. Theſe repreſented the Dukes of Burgundie, Normandie and Guienne, moreouer the Erles of Tolouſe, Flaunders and Champaine. Of the Byſhoppes were choſen two, Langres and Beauuois, alſo two Cardinalles, to go fetche the kyng to the church, […]

3. (by extension) A person considered to be like or in the model of Charlemagne’s peers; someone considered a great hero or paladin. [14th–16th c.; revived 19th c.]
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto X”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 31, page 551:

     Big looking like a doughty Doucepere, / At laſt he thus, Thou clod of vileſt clay, / I pardon yield, and that with rudenes beare; […]

   • 1700, [John] Dryden, “The Floure and the Leafe. As it was Written by Geffrey Chaucer”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 636:

     And tho that beare bowes in their hond / Of the precious laurer ſo notable, / Be ſuch as were I woll ye vnderſtond, / Noble knights of the round table, / And eke the douſeperis honourable, / Which they bare in the ſigne of victory, / It is witnes of their dedes mightily.

     The original poem is no longer thought to be by Chaucer.

   • 1894 July 23, “A Mediæval Metrical Romance. [The Adventures of Arthur at the Tarnewathelan.]”, in The Downside Review, volume XIII, number 2, Yeovil, Somerset: Western Chronicle Company, →OCLC, stanza I, page 183:

     In the time of King Arthur this adventure chanced, / Beside the Tarnewathelan, as the books tell; / When to Carlisle had come that victor enhanced, / With dukes and the douzepeers, the doughtiest that dwell, […]

     The original poem is dated to the 13th century, but was rendered in modern English.

   • 1958, Ellery Queen [pseudonym; Frederic Dannay and Manfred Bennington Lee], “Fifth Night: Sunday December 29, 1929”, in The Finishing Stroke, San Francisco, Calif.: JABberwocky Literary Agency, published 2017, →ISBN, part 2:

     “Mr. Payn, you at least have now been connected with twelveness. In fact, come to think of it, you’re also a douzeper.” / “I’m a what?” Payn gasped. / “Douzeper,” Ellery assured him. “The douzepers were the twelve paladins of Charlemagne. Surely you can’t have forgotten the most famous paladin of them all?[”]

   • 1960, William Matthews, “Arms and the Man”, in The Tragedy of Arthur: A Study of the Alliterative Morte Arthure, Berkeley, Los Angeles, Calif.: University of California Press, →OCLC, page 68:

     And to him [Alexander the Great] are devoted a surprisingly large number of separate works which describe his life and career, his code of conduct as a ruler, or the adventures of his douzepers: […]

   • 1967, William Manchester, The Death of a President: November 20–November 25, 1963, New York, N.Y., Evanston, Ill.: Harper & Row, →OCLC, page 26:

     Down the Grand Staircase the military aides marched in a glittering rank behind the Commander in Chief [John F. Kennedy], Ted [Clifton] on the right, God [Godfrey McHugh] front and center, Taz [Shepard] on the left. Approaching the bottom, valor suddenly vanished; they fled like fugitives. It was time for photographs, and douzepers mustn’t appear to be publicity hogs.

   • 1973 September, John Gardner, “The Alliterative Morte Arthure”, in The Alliterative Morte Arthure, The Owl and the Nightingale and Five Other Middle English Poems in a Modernized Version […] (Arcturus Books; AB116), Carbondale, Edwardsville, Ill.: Southern Illinois University Press; London; Amsterdam: Feffer & Simons, →ISBN, page 70, lines 2639–2643:

     Cousin to the conqueror [King Arthur], as he knows well, / Known by official record as knight of his chamber / And acknowledged the mightiest king of all the Round Table. / I [Gawain] am the douzepere and duke he dubbed with his hands / In due ceremony one day before all his dear lords.

   • 2018, Nicola McDonald, “The Wonder of Middle English Romance”, in Katherine C. Little, Nicola McDonald, editors, Thinking Medieval Romance, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, part I (Does Romance Think?), page 28:

     The standard process by which aristocratic identity is established as the product of ancestry, evidenced in the douzepers’ flamboyant display of their coats of arms, is replicated when Florent dons Clement’s body armour, his weapons, his boar’s-head crested helmet, and his shield, emblazoned with its own craft-inspired heraldic insignia (five of the butcher’s trademark pole-axes), all of which are credited with a robust (war- and weather-beaten) pedigree.

     A discussion of Octavian.

Alternative forms

• douzepeer
• doucepere, douzepere (obsolete)

Translations

one of the twelve peers or renowned warriors of Charlemagne — see also paladin

French: Old French: doze per m, duze per m Middle English: dosse per, dousse-per

one of the twelve nobles granted feudal territories or episcopal sees by the King of France in return for their fealty

French: Old French: doze per m, duze per m Middle English: dosse per, dousse-per

person considered to be like or in the model of Charlemagne’s peers; someone considered a great hero or paladin

Middle English: dosse per, dousse-per

Notes

1. From Marion Florence Lansing (1910) “The Battle of Ronceval”, in Page, Esquire, and Knight: A Book of Chivalry (The Open Road Library of Juvenile Literature), Boston, Mass., New York, N.Y.: Ginn and Company, →OCLC, section I (Of the Council of Charlemagne), page 104.

References

1. “dǒusse-pẹ̄r, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
2. Compare “douzepers, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, December 2020; “douzepers, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Further reading

• paladin on Wikipedia.Wikipedia