death_place death_date influences nationality birth_date period genre article_title name occupation
arras 1210 1165 chanson de roland french 1165 medieval chanson de geste , fabliaux jean bodel
 jean bodel poet
jean bodel

jean bodel , who lived in the late twelfth century , was an old french poet who wrote a number of `` chansons de geste '' as well as many fabliaux .
he lived in arras .
bodel wrote the `` chanson de saisnes '' , about the war of king charlemagne with the saxons and their leader widukind , whom bodel calls `` guiteclin '' .
he also wrote a miracle play called the `` jeu de saint nicolas '' , which was probably first performed in arras on 5 december 1200 .
situated in the middle of an epic battle between christians and muslim , the play tells the story of a good christian who escapes the battle and is found by the muslim forces praying to a statue of saint nicolas .
the muslim leader decides to test the saint by unlocking the doors to his treasury and leaving the statue as a guardian , stipulating that if anything were stolen the christian would forfeit his life .
three thieves attempt to steal the treasure , but saint nicolas stops them .
as a result , the muslim ruler and his entire army convert to christianity .
similar to another french miracle play from the same time period , `` le miracle de théophile '' , `` jeu de saint nicolas '' contains an invocation to the devil in an unknown language : `` palas aron ozinomas '' : `` baske bano tudan donas '' : `` geheamel cla orlay '' : `` berec hé pantaras tay '' bodel was the first person of record to classify the legendary themes and literary cycles known to medieval literature into the `` three matters '' ; the `` matter of rome '' , or retellings of stories from classical antiquity ; the `` matter of britain '' , concerning king arthur ; and the `` matter of france '' , concerning charlemagne and his paladins .
in 1202 , bodel contracted leprosy and entered a leprosarium .
