Abstract/Summary

This study analyses the use of proverbs and proverbial material in the history of the Dukes of Normandy by the twelfth-century poet and historian Wace. Far from being throwaway rhetorical adornment, proverbs and proverbial passages are deployed in a creative and meaningful way. The outlook is both political and pastoral; proverbs are tailored to specific contexts in such a way as to reveal ambiguities, complexities and misunderstandings.