geste

• Both the profane and what may be called the religious chanson de geste were sung or recited by the same jongleurs--men of a class superior to the vulgar purveyors of amusement. —  A History of French Literature Short Histories of the Literatures of the World: II.
• The development of lyric poetry in the South probably checked the development of the epic The style in which the chansons de geste are written is something traditional, something common to the people and to the time, rather than characteristic of the individual authors. —  A History of French Literature Short Histories of the Literatures of the World: II.
• History at first, as composed for readers who knew no Latin, was comprised in those chansons de geste which happened to deal with matter that was not wholly--or almost wholly--the creation of fancy. —  A History of French Literature Short Histories of the Literatures of the World: II.
• Chansons de geste (songs of exploit), or romans_, is the native name by which those primitive French poems are known. —  Classic French Course in English
• The French epic, to make up for that, has an exciting history; it lived by antagonism, and one may look on and see how the chansons de geste were fighting for their life against the newer forms of narrative poetry. —  Epic and Romance Essays on Medieval Literature

Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Used in the Same Context