Proem and Foreword

Rés gēstaè | cecinèrunt | regúm Francórum (e)t amores
Mágnos, ut trádita súnt, | témporaqu(e) átque morés.
Dé liberó Martís, | venatrícem quí adiúvit,
Íps(e) enárraví, | póstqu(am) actóres agént.

"They sung of the feats and great love stories of the Frankish kings
Written to record their times and their customs
but of the son of Mars, who came to the huntress's aid,
was told by me first, and the actors will now perform."

Of the Valiant's original text, we have almost no record left minus from some latin loanwords in later works, assumed to be part of the poem's original composition, and verses quoted by other works. However we have an all-around good idea of its contents from the many plays that stemmed from it during the pre-Stilnovist period and ahead - older versions written in Latin, some in French or German and a vast majority in Sicilian, Italian and Provençal.

Still, the four lines above are widely agreed upon to have been at the beginning of the original version of the Valiant and the Unlucky. With us not having this sort of certainty over the rest of the text, of course, especially with the mistranslations and willing censorship that the story underwent during its long history, we'll make an assumption of the original plot accompanied by latin fragments and details of the various versions.

It is almost certain that the proem was much longer than the four verses we know of, presumably including an invocation to the muses, praise of the original commissioner - more on that in the notes - and its family, and a more detailed explanation of the plot culminating in the praise of the time's pope, all elements present in the various versions of the story.