From the apocryphal Joseph to the vernacular Joseph (^12th-13th c.) : variations on an imposed figure

From the mid-12thto the mid-13thcentury, before the great systematic translations of the Bible, biblical or hagiographic poems in French flourished, in which the figure of Joseph appears in connection with that of Mary. The most remarkably amplified episodes - the marriage of Mary and Joseph and the flight into Egypt - are inspired by ancient apocryphal traditions, some of which are almost "canonical". However, not all the poet-narrators' portraits of Joseph are identical. We'll see what choices these poets made from the available sources, what reworkings some of them made, and what discrepancies appear from one work to the next.