Arthurian Romances

by Chretien de Troyes

  5. This is the most famous example of a rash boon in Chrétien’s romances. (See note3 to Erec.) [155ff.]

  6. In some MSS this plea is addressed to the king, in others it is not addressed to anyone in particular. Since Guinevere seems to be addressing her absent lover, we have chosen the reading that makes this most clear. [209]

  7. Castles of the period consisted generally of a large central room, called the hall, along with several small private chambers for the household. Therefore beds for guests were regularly set up in the same room in which the guests were entertained for dinner. [461]

  8. It is quite possible that Gorre refers to the Celtic underworld, sometimes termed the Isle de Voirre (‘Isle of Glass’). False etymology identified this with Glastonbury, Somerset. In the poem it is the land into which Meleagant will take the queen and where he will hold her captive along with many others. Its capital is Bade (Bath). [639]

  9. The angevin was the denier of Anjou. [1273]

  10. Logres in medieval romance is the mythical kingdom of Arthur. According to Geoffrey of Monmouth, Aeneas’s great-grandson Brutus fled from Italy after slaying his father and eventually reached Albion, which he renamed Britain in honour of himself. He divided the land among his three sons: Kamber received Wales (Kambria), Albanactus took Scotland (Albany), and Locrinus was given what is now England proper (Loegria). The precise geographical boundaries of Logres varied according to the accounts, but generally included the land east of the Severn and south of the Humber (excepting Cornwall). [1300]

  11. Ysoré is the name of a Saracen king mentioned in several of the epics of the Old French William of Orange cycle, notably the Moniage Guillaume, and in some Arthurian romances. ‘Not since the time of the giant Ysoré’ reflects a long and imprecise period of time. [1352]

  12. Theriaca (or theriac) is a paste made from many different drugs pulverized and mixed with honey, which was formerly used as an antidote to poisons. [1475]

  13. The great fair called Lendi (or Lendit) was held annually at St Denis, near Paris, during 11–24 June. This, and the four great fairs held in Champagne (Provins, Troyes, Lagny-sur-Marne, and Bar-sur-Aube), were at the very centre of medieval commerce, and travellers and merchants brought goods to them from every corner of the known world. [1482]

  14. Dombes was a small principality in Burgundy, between the Rhône, the Saône, and the Ain. It was probably chosen for the rhyme rather than for any particularly fine medieval tombs. [1858]

  15. The ‘ointment of the Three Marys’ was a purportedly miraculous ointment widely attested in medieval texts. The Three Marys are mentioned in the Gospel account of Easter Sunday: ‘When the sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and [Mary] Salome brought perfumed oils with which they intended to go and anoint Jesus’ (Mark xvi. 1). According to a legend recounted in the Old French epic, La Morte Aimeri de Narbonne, the ointment used by the Three Marys to anoint the body of Christ after his burial became part of the relics of the Passion that were brought by Longinus into Femenie. The composition of the ointment is not mentioned in Mark, but there is likely confusion with the spices, myrrh and aloes used by Nicodemus at the burial of Jesus (John xix.39). [3358]

  16. See note 19 to Cligés. [3485]

  17. Frequent allusions to Poitevin arms suggest that some of the best early medieval steel armour was produced in the region of Poitou. [3505]

  18. Ovid’s tale of the tragic love of Pyramus and Thisbe (Metamorphoses 4) was well known in twelfth-century France through a mid-century adaptation by an unknown poet. [3803]

  19. The Old French gives ‘Breibançon’ who, according to Foerster (Sämtliche Werke, p. 396), were ‘hired killers’. Brabant is that region in central Belgium of which Brussels is the principal city. [4219]

  20. It was not unusual in the Middle Ages for males and females to share the same sleeping quarters. In this instance, since both are titular captives of King Bademagu, they are no doubt kept guarded in the same chamber for convenience. [4523]

  21. Chrétien here prepares a pun on the name of the town, which is ‘Noauz’ in the Old French. The expression au noauz, used later by the queen during the tournament can mean ‘Do your worst!’ or ‘Onward for Noauz!’ When Guinevere sends the girl to the unknown knight with this message, she knows that Lancelot alone, being the model lover he is, will interpret it ‘Do your worst!’ whereas any ordinary knight would understand simply ‘Onward for Noauz!’ By changing the name of the town to ‘Wurst,’ we have attempted to render some of the flavour of the original. [5369]

  22. On medieval tournaments, see note10 to Erec [5575ff.].

  23. Two classes of knights were not permitted to take part in the tournament: those who had been defeated previously and those who had sworn to take up the Holy Cross of the Crusade, and who thus could not sully themselves in such a frivolous (and condemnable) sport. These knights joined the ladies in the stands and on the sidelines, explaining the rules and identifying the heroes for them. The use here of personal and familial devices for decoration and identification is remarkable, for this was not widespread until the thirteenth century. [5772]

  24. The MSS readings are corrupt here and the reference obscure. The ‘giant’ is possibly Dinabuc, slain by Arthur on Mont-Saint-Michel in Geoffrey of Monmouth’s History of the Kings of Britain (c. 1137) and Wace’s Roman de Brut. [6074]

  25. According to Godefroy de Lagny’s statement at the end of the work (11. 7098–7112), Chrétien abandoned his poem at about this point. [6132]

  26. Bucephalus was the horse used by Alexander the Great on most of his campaigns. It had magic powers attributed to it in the twelfth-century Old French Romance of Alexander. [6780]

  27. Nothing is known of Godefroy de Lagny other than what he tells us here. [7102]

  THE KNIGHT WITH THE LION (YVAIN)

  1. Old French ‘Carduel’ is identified with modern Carlisle in Cumbria, one of Arthur’s principal residences in the romances. Gales (‘Wales’) might be a case of mistaken geography, but more likely refers to the lands, including Strathclyde, occupied by the ancient Cymri. [7]

  2. Dodinel, nicknamed ‘the Wildman’, is included among the Knights of the Round Table in Chrétien’s Erec (1. 1688) and plays an important role in the Manessier Continuation of The Story of the Grail and in Claris et Laris. He also occurs prominently in the prose Vulgate Merlin and Livre d’Artus. For Sagremor, see note 16 to Cligés. [54]

  3. Yvain is one of the rare knights of Arthurian romance who might be based on a historic figure. Owein, son of Urien, fought alongside his father against the Angles who invaded Northumbria in the sixth century. He won such glory that he became a figure of Welsh folklore, appearing in two tales of the Mabinogion, ‘The Dream of Rhonabwy’ and ‘The Lady of the Fountain’.

  4. The forest of Broceliande is mentioned by Wace in Le Roman de Rou (11. 1160–74). He describes the fountain, which he calls the fountain of Berenton, in terms remarkably similar to those used here by Chrétien. Broceliande has been identified as the present-day forest of Paimpont, near Rennes (Brittany), and the fountain of Berenton is still known by that name. Chrétien, however, seems to place Broceliande in Britain, since there is never any question of crossing the channel going or coming from it to Carlisle. Like the situating of Carlisle in Wales, this might be better interpreted as poetic licence than mistaken geography, and would have been unlikely to disturb a medieval audience. [189]

  5. Nureddin (Nur-ed-din Mahmud) was Sultan of Syria from 1146 until his death in May 1173, when he was succeeded by Saladin. Two MSS, in fact, give Saladin at this rhyme. Forré was a legendary Saracen king of Naples in the Old French epics. To ‘avenge Forré’ is to brag about doing something impressive and never carry it through. [596–7]

  6. The typical medieval portcullis was a timbered grille of oak, plated and shod with steel, that moved up and down in stone grooves in the doorway. [923]

  7. The allusion to fur powdered with chalk is a realistic detail to indicate that the fur is
brand-new, since chalk was used in the preparation and preservation of furs. [1889]

  8. Of the ten MSS that relate Yvain’s marriage to the Lady of the Fountain, only three give her the Christian name, Laudine. The others call her simply ‘the Lady of Landuc’. Though there is thus room for doubt whether Chrétien himself named her, her name is already Laudine in Hartmann von Aue’s adaptation of Chrétien’s poem, lwein (c. 1200), the principal heroine is named in every other of Chrétien’s romances, and Foulet (1955) and Uitti (1984) have recently offered a compelling stylistic argument for retaining it. Nothing is known of any ‘lay of Laududez’. [2155–7]

  9. Chrétien puns upon the name Lunete, a diminutive of lune (‘moon’).[2402ff.]

  10. For Morgan, see note8 to Erec [2957]

  11. The Argonne forest is situated in northeastern France on the borders of Champagne and Lorraine. [3232]

  12. The Turks (OF Turs) are the Saracens who attacked Roland at Roncevaux in the Old French Song of Roland; Durendal is the name of his relicencrusted sword. [3240]

  13. An allusion to The Knight of the Cart, which Chrétien was apparently composing simultaneously. There are further allusions at 11. 3932–41 and 11. 4742–7. [3708ff.]

  14. This long episode of the Castle of Dire Adventure is one of the most remarkable passages in Chrétien’s romances. It has been widely discussed as an example of social realism, with Chrétien protesting exploitation in the local silk industry; however, one must remember that these exploited labourers are noble captives. The medieval monetary system had 12 pence (deniers) to the shilling (sous), and 20 shillings to the pound (livre). Thus, the women who are given 4 pennies per day for having produced goods worth one pound, are paid a sixtieth of their real earnings. [511iff.]

  15. Here the maiden either sews on a detachable sleeve, or laces on a tightly fitted one. I have opted for the latter interpretation as more likely in this context, though there are examples of what appear to be detachable sleeves in Erec 1. 2102 and The Story of the Grail 11. 5390ff. [5427]

  16. Chrétien develops an elaborate financial metaphor on the notion of lending, borrowing, and repaying with interest. Cf. Cligés 11. 4080–87. [6252–68]

  17. Daughters had the right of inheritance in this period, but the laws of succession varied from region to region. ‘In some a law based on primogeniture was in force, in others one based on partition. In the latter case the younger children held their share of the fief as vassals of the eldest, either with or without homage (parage avec hommage, parage sans hommage). In the county of Champagne… the law changed from one based on partition to one based on primogeniture in the course of the twelfth century. In this episode, Chrétien strongly supports parage avec hommage, by which the younger daughter inherits a part of the estate and recognizes her sister as suzerain.’ (Diverres 1973, p. 109) [6444–9]

  18. The ‘game of Truth’ is perhaps similar to the well-known courtly game, ‘Le roi qui ne ment’ (‘The king who doesn’t lie’), in which the player was foresworn to tell the truth before knowing all the consequences of the oath. [6641]

  THE STORY OF THE GRAIL (PERCEVAL)

  1. The verse from 2 Corinthians in the opening line (‘He who sows sparingly will reap sparingly’, ix.6) was proverbial. Chrétien finds the link between this idea and the Parable of the Sower (Matthew xiii.3–23, Mark iv.3–20, Luke viii.5–15), which he quotes here (Luke viii.8, ‘But some [seed] fell on good soil, grew up, and yielded grain a hundredfold’) and which underlies the remainder of the prologue. [4]

  2. Philip of Flanders, a cousin to Marie de Champagne, became Chrétien’s patron sometime after the death of Henry the Liberal in 1181. Chrétien finds his Christian patron’s largesse superior to that of the pagan Alexander the Great, a medieval model of generosity. Chrétien alludes elsewhere to Alexander’s legendary generosity, for example in Erec et Enide (11. 2231–2) and in Cligés (11. 187–213), when another emperor named Alexander extols the virtue of largesse. [13]

  3. ‘In giving alms you are not to let your left hand know what your right hand is doing’ (Matthew vi.3). [32]

  4. Cf. 1 Corinthians xiii.4, ‘… [love] does not put on airs, it is not snobbish’. [43–4]

  5. ‘God is love; and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him’ (1 John iv.16). Chrétien blunders in attributing John’s text to Paul, and the error is made all the more glaring by the special emphasis in line 49. In all events, the attribution functions positively to draw attention once more to the celebrated Pauline encomium in I Corinthians xiii to which Chrétien has just referred. Significantly also, St Paul is a patron of knights. (Cf. note18 to Cligés). [47–50]

  6. Chrétien makes a pun upon the noun lance and the verb lancer (‘to throw’); the translation attempts to reproduce the effect with English ‘lance/launch’. [198]

  7. Chrétien alludes here to the widespread stereotype of the Britones, the native Celtic inhabitants of Britain (and Brittany), as stupid and uncouth, in order to establish a distinction between courtly and uncourtly behaviour. Naturally, in twelfth-century Britain the former would be associated with the Anglo-French ruling class (a point of view that would have been shared in courtly society across the Channel) although, in terms of his literary origins, Arthur is quintessentially Celtic. [243–4]

  8. Primarily on the basis of the variant in MS S, which reads ‘li destroit d’Escandone [or perhaps Escaudone]’. the mountain passes within sight of the Waste Forest have generally been identified as belonging to the Snowdon range in northwest Wales. (The reading is possibly a lectio difficilior misread by scribes thinking of the names of the hero, Perceval, as Valdone, Vaudone, etc.) On the other hand, R. L. Graeme Ritchie (1952), in Chrétien de Troyes and Scotland, considering the most common reading, associates the word with the gorges of the River Doon on the northern border of Galloway; the association with Galloway (the territory in southern Scotland between the Solway Firth and the Firth of Clyde) might explain the proximity of Carlisle (see note13 to Erec) and strengthen the bond between Perceval and Gawain. [298]

  9. This Ban of Gomeret is the King Ban de Ganieret who attended the wedding of Erec and Enide (Erec 1. 1937). [449]

  10. Quinqueroy is perhaps Kyningesburh (modern Conisbrough), or Coniston in Cumbria. The knight’s name recurs in full in 11. 4092–3. [930–31]

  11. Each manuscript bears a different version of the mentor’s name here and in 1. 1872. The form Gornemant de Goort has been consecrated by Hilka’s choice. (Cf. Erec 1. 1683.) [1528]

  12. The arithmetic is peculiar indeed. Most manuscripts give the number slain or imprisoned as deus et dis moins de seissante (‘two and ten less than sixty’), i.e., forty-eight. If there are but fifty knights alive at Biaurepaire (1. 1981), then one could presume that two hundred and sixty of the orginal three hundred and ten are dead or in prison. Bryant, finding both the two and sixty in the line, opts ‘for the clearest solution’ (p. 22n), and translates ‘for two hundred and sixty… have been led away and killed or imprisoned by… Engygeron’ (pp. 22–3). Foucher and Ortais’s translation (1984) for the Gallimard Folio collection skirts the issue and vaguely gives ‘Les autres ont été emmenés par Anguingeron’ (p. 70). It is possible to defend the original by having forty-eight led away and slain by Anguingueron and understanding that the rest were lost in some other fashion. [1982]

  13. Disnadaron (‘Disnadaron en Gales’, 1. 2719) perhaps derives from Welsh dinas plus Old French d’Aron, i.e., Aaron’s Castle. As St Aaron was the patron of Caerleon (Gwent), this could originally be the name of a fortification within the same city where Arthur’s court later receives the Haughty Knight of the Heath and his lady (1. 3969) and where the discrete Perceval section comes to a close in joyful celebration (1. 4572). [2698]

  14. The bleeding lance is never directly connected with the grail in Chrétien’s fragment, but very soon among Chrétien’s early imitators and continuators (see Appendix) it becomes associated with the legendary lance of Longinus, the name given to the Roman centur
ion who pierced Christ’s side at the Crucifixion; thus, the Lance figures prominently in post-Chrétien associations of the grail with the Last Supper and with the Mass. In Chrétien’s text, as it stands in fragmentary form, the bleeding lance has a far more secular – and the grail a somewhat more secular – function. [3158–67]

  15. Although it figures as a spectacular object in a wonderfully mysterious procession, the grail is introduced into the story by Chrétien in a singularly unpretentious way (all the more powerful because of the inverted word order of the Old French syntax): ‘A grail in both her hands did a maiden hold who came in with the youths’, etc. Thus Chrétien stresses the object’s fundamental ordinariness as a serving dish appropriate for the table of a very rich man. Despite his unsophisticated upbringing and his ignorance generally of courtly manners, the hero instantly recognizes what ‘a grail’ is, as is evident when his cousin later questions him in detail about the procession (esp. 11. 3522–3). [3188]

  16. On sleeping arrangements, see note7 to The Knight of the Cart. [3286ff.]

  17. This list of exotic delicacies, consisting of unusual words and evoking unknown luxuries, presented copyists with almost insurmountable problems, and no two manuscripts present identical lists. [3291–6]

  18. Cotouatre apparently derives from Scottewatre, i.e., the Firth of Forth.

  19. Glanders is a contagious disease in horses characterized by fever, inflammation of the nasal passages, and glandular swelling. [3671]

  20. The reference is to the Whitsunday court at Disnadaron (see 1. 2751) when Clamadeu joins his seneschal to be imprisoned by Arthur. Significantly, the snowy morning occurs two weeks after Whitsunday (the fiftieth day after Easter), which can be no earlier than mid-May; thus the reunion takes place in June, when it might still snow in Arthurian Britain. [4516]

  21. The depiction of the goddess Fortuna as possessing thick hair in front and being bald at the back is a medieval commonplace: you can grab hold of Fortune (by the hair!) as she approaches you rising on her wheel, but not after she has gone by and is descending; that is, if one has sufficient foresight and perspicacity one can take advantage of Fortune but hindsight or wisdom after the fact is useless. [4612–13]