From Middle Englishdosse 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 Frenchdouse pers, douze pers[and other forms], and Old Frenchdouze 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 Frenchdouze) + pers (plural of per(“peer”); modern Frenchpair).[2]Doze is derived from Latinduodecim(“twelve”), from duo(“two”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European*dwóh₁(“two”)) + decem(“ten”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European*déḱm̥(“ten”)); per is derived from Latinpār(“equal; like”).
Also kynge Charlemayne kynge of Fraunce / With his dyssypersRowland 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
[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:
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.
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.
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, […]
(by extension) A person considered to be like or in the model of Charlemagne’s peers; someone considered a greathero or paladin. [14th–16th c.; revived 19th c.]
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.
“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?[”]
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:[…]
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.
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.
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.