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{{distinguish|MacAir Airlines}}
'''Macaire''' is a given name and surname associated with medieval France, although it appears to have several claims of origin. It was originally a male name, and later came to be considered a male or female name. ''Macaire'' is also the common name for a 12th-century [[France|French]] [[chanson de geste]], named for one of its main characters.
==People==
People with the surname include:
* [[David Macaire]], Archbishop of Martinique
* [[Maurice Macaire]], French footballer in the 1900 Olympics
* [[Robert Macaire (diplomat)]], British diplomat
* [[Robert Macaire]], a villainous character in French fiction
==In fiction==
Macaire is the name of the main character in two works, ''Macaire'' and ''[[La Reine Sibille]]'' (14th century), both versions of the story of the false accusation brought against the queen of [[Charlemagne]], called "Blanchefleur" in ''Macaire'' and "Sibille" in the later poem. ''Macaire'' is only preserved in the [[Venetian language|Franco-Venetian]] ''Geste of Charlemagne'' (Bibl. St Mark MS. fr. xiii.). ''La Reine Sibille'' only exists in fragments, but the tale is given in the chronicle of [[Alberic Trium Fontium]], a monk of the [[Cistercians|Cistercian]] monastery of Trois Fontanes in the diocese of [[Chlons]], and in a prose version. ''Macaire'' is the product of the fusion of two legends: that of the unjustly repudiated wife and that of the dog who detects the murderer of his master. For the former motive see [[Genevieve de Brabant]]. The second is found in [[Plutarch]], ''Script. moral.'', ed. Didot ii. (1186), where a dog, like Aubri's hound, stayed three days without food by the body of its master, and subsequently attacked the murderers, thus leading to their discovery. The duel between Macaire and the dog is paralleled by an interpolation by [[Giraldus Cambrensis]] in a manuscript of the ''Hexameron'' of [[Ambrose]]. Aubri's hound received the name of the "dog of [[Montargis]]," because a representation of the story was painted on a chimney-piece in the chateau of Montargis in the 15th century.
The tale was early divorced from Carolingian tradition, and [[Jean de la Taille]], in his ''Discours notable des duels'' (Paris, 1607), places the incident under [[Charles V of France|Charles V]].
==See also==
* [[Saint-Macaire (disambiguation)]]
==References==
*{{EB1911 |wstitle=Macaire |volume=17 |pages=190–191}}
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[[Category:Matter of France]]
[[Category:Medieval literature]]
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