The "Lais" of Marie de France: Text and Context 0820309486, 9780820309484

Table of contents :
Introduction vii
Chapter One: The Problem of Internal Chronology 1
Chapter Two: Two Cases of 'mesure' 35
Chapter Three: "El nés pot mie tuz amer..." 50
Chapter Four: "Ceo fu la summe de l'escrit..." 65
Chapter Five: Chivalry and Prowess 71
Chapter Six: Women in Love 101
Chapter Seven: The Vocabulary of Love 134
Conclusion 179
Notes 189
Bibliography 221
Index 235

Citation preview

The Lais of Marie de France

The Lais of

arie de France M Text and Context G L Y N S. B U R G E S S

The University of Georgia Press ATHENS

rù 1987 by the University of Georgia Press Athens, Georgia 30602 All rights reserved Designed by Betty P. McDaniel Set in 10 on 13 Trump Mediaeval The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library Resources.

Printed in the United States of America 91

90

89

88

87

5 4 3 2 1

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Burgess, Glyn S. (Glyn Sheridan) The Lais of Marie de France. Bibliography: p. Includes index. i. Marie, de France, 12th cent. Lais. 2. Lays— Flistory and criticism. I. Marie, de France, 12th cent. Lais. 1987. II. Title. PQ1494.L7B87 1987 84T.1 87-4999 ISBN 0-8203-0948-6 (alk. paper)

Contents

Introduction

vii

Chapter One: The Problem of Internal Chronology Chapter Two: Two Cases of m esure

35

Chapter Three: "El nés pot mie tuz amer . . . " Chapter Four: "Ceo fu la summe de l'escrit . . . " Chapter Five: Chivalry and Prowess Chapter Six: Women in Love

71

10 1

Chapter Seven: The Vocabulary of Love Conclusion Notes

189

Bibliography Index

179

235

221

134

50 65

i

Introduction

The present volume examines twelve poems which have come down to us in manuscript Harley 978 of the British Library. These poems are known individually as lays or lais and collectively as the Lais of Marie de France. We are able, in the first instance, to attribute the collection to a specific author because the name Marie appears in the prologue to the first of the lays: " Oëz, seignurs, ke dit M arie ” [Guigemar, v. 3).1 The full name of Marie de France derives from the epilogue to a collec­ tion of fables also found in the Harley manuscript: "Marie ai num, si sui de France" (v. 4).2 The generally held conviction that Marie de France wrote the Fables and all the lays in the Harley collection underpins the current book, but the possibility does exist that the two authors were not one and the same person and, more importantly for our purposes, that the twelve lays in the Harley collection were not written by the same person.3 It is hoped that the present study, which brings forward a number of thematic and textual parallels, w ill help in preparing the way for a future réévaluation of the authorship of works currently at­ tributed to Marie de France. The Harley lays were composed in the second half of the twelfth century and they include a total of around 5,770 lines of text. The stories vary considerably in length, from Chevrefoil, an episodic tale from the Tristan legend (118 lines), to vii

Introduction

Eliduc, a short romance on the subject of the agonies of a man with conflicting loyalties (1,18 4 lines). Geographically speak­ ing, the lays are rich in place names, and in reading the lays we find ourselves transported from Brittany to England and from Normandy to Wales, with a quick visit to Salerno in Italy and even to the Isle of Avalon. Among the individual towns men­ tioned in the poems are Barfleur, Boulogne, Caerleon, Caerwent, Carlisle, Dol (Upper Brittany), Exeter, Mont St. Michel, Nantes, St. Malo, Southampton, and Totnes in Devon. Such a variety of places suggests that Marie was keen to provide real­ istic settings for her tales and examining these settings may help us to decide the order in which the poems were written. The variety of locales may well indicate that Marie herself had travelled and made use in her stories of the experience she had thus accumulated. It certainly looks as if at some stage in her career Marie came to Britain, where she could have discovered the outlines of several of the stories she recounts.4 The first chapter of the present book examines the geographical refer­ ences in the Lais and attempts to find within the poems them­ selves evidence for their order of composition. Among the fac­ tors which indicate that the lays were not composed in the order found in the Harley manuscript are variation in length, unevenness of quality, the wide geographical distribution of the settings, and the absence in certain cases of borrowings from important contemporary texts. Any knowledge we can glean concerning the order of composition can only be helpful to an assessment of Marie's art and to a study of the various themes and motifs which make up the Lais as a whole. Since they were first published in 18 19 by B. de Roquefort, the Lais have been frequently edited and translated. Few prob­ lems of basic understanding of the text remain, but there are still one or two passages which are difficult to translate. Such problems of interpretation are dealt with in chapters 2, 3, and 4. Both Equitan and C haitivel begin with difficult passages which are of considerable importance to the meaning of the viii

Introduction

individual lay and to the wider issue of Marie's attitude to­ wards love. The theme of love is certainly the fundamental pre­ occupation of the Lais and Marie's pronouncements on love need to be properly understood. When we are confronted with a difficult or significant word or phrase, a profitable line of enquiry is to examine every other example found elsewhere in the text and to call upon relevant examples from other contem­ porary texts. This technique w ill be used both in the case of awkward passages and for the more general examination of themes and motifs which occupy the later stages of this book. Marie's comments on love in Equitan are linked by the term mesure to one of the most intriguing scenes in the Lais, the young man's ascent of the mountain in the Deus Amanz. What makes the young lover act as he does? Why does Marie inter­ vene at a critical moment in her story? I shall look at the mean­ ing of the term mesure and at the role played by this concept in the overall structure of both Equitan and the Deus Amanz. Of all the lays attributed to Marie de France the one which has provoked the most varied comments is Chevrefoil. What does Marie mean when she writes: "Ceo fu la summe de l'escrit/Qu'il li aveit mandé e dit" (vv. 61-62)? Did Tristram in fact send a letter or an oral message to his beloved to inform her of his presence in the wood? How does the symbolism of the hazel and the honeysuckle fit into the chronology of events? Fundamental to any interpretation of the lay is the meaning given to verses 6 1-6 2 , but many commentators do not link their views of these lines to their overall reading of the lay. In the case of both the Deus Am anz and Chevrefoil it w ill be suggested that a modification to traditional punctuation w ill assist the interpretation of the passages in question. In addition to realistic geographical settings, the Lais provide a reflection of the feudal and courtly society of Marie's day. It is never easy to know the extent to which a literary text can be seen as a mirror of reality, but chapters 5 and 6 of this study will investigate what Marie says about the social status of her IX

Introduction

characters. We shall see that Marie concentrates in particular on the relationship between knights, either with or without land and power of their own, and men of substance, who have the capacity to grant or deny the knights what they want. Their desires are usually focussed on the love of a noble woman, mar­ ried or unmarried, who is normally unable to control her own fate. Marie de France wrote for a m ilitary society and her he­ roes all possess m ilitary skills. In some lays they participate in wars, tournaments, or hunting expeditions, the three principal areas of male aristocratic activity. A study of the vocabulary of chivalry w ill permit us to see what use Marie makes of a cru­ cial aspect of the social reality of her times and also to see what contribution her Lais make to the wider issue of the reflection of chivalry in twelfth-century texts. She makes sparing but sig­ nificant use of the motif of tournaments and may have been an enthusiastic spectator at such events. She also certainly knew something of the techniques of hunting (Guigem ar, vv. 77-88). But hunting often has a somewhat negative role to play in the Lais, and Marie may have had a certain distaste for it as a pursuit. A particularly noticeable feature of the lays is the contribu­ tion made by female characters to the development of the plot and the final outcome of the story. Physically the heroines re­ flect the twelfth-century stereotype, but they are especially quick-witted and ever capable of winning some form of victory over the men who oppress them. An example is the lady in Milun who communicates with her beloved for twenty years without arousing her husband's suspicions. Similarly, in Laiistic, defeat is transformed into partial victory when the lady manages to send to her beloved the gruesome present of a dead nightingale, which becomes the sad memory of a defunct but not forgotten relationship. But more importantly, each of Marie's heroines joins forces with her heroes in a love rela­ tionship which predictably involves some form of suffering and which may or may not end in a happy marriage. The final chap­

Introduction

ter of this book analyses the vocabulary of love and its effects. Love induces in its victim s a variety of feelings, such as fear, bewilderment, a sense of powerlessness, and a desire to put an end to it all. But love can herald a delightful period of pleasure in one's life ("M ut fu delituse la vie," Guigemar, v. 537) and it can be crowned by a lengthy spell of pure joy and happiness ("En grant bien e en (grant] duçur/Vesquirent puis e nuit e jur," Milun, vv. 5 31-3 2 ). Whether Marie's love vocabulary and love motifs are largely derivative, from such sources as the romans antiques, translations from Ovid, and the troubadour lyrics, or whether her work contains a substantial element of originality is a matter which requires investigation. On this and other points the present volume aims to stimulate further research. Four of the present chapters have appeared elsewhere. The first chapter was published under the title "The Problem of Internal Chronology in the Lais of Marie de France" in the Zeitschrift für französiche Sprache und Literatur (1981). The text of this article has been substantially modified for the pur­ poses of the current volume. This is also the case with chapter 2 which was originally a contribution, under the title "Two Cases of m esure in the Lais of Marie de France," to Sprach-und literaturwissenschafliche Beiträge vom frühen bis zum aus­ gehenden M ittelalter edited by K. Baidinger (1977). The sug­ gestions made in Chaper 4 appeared under the title "A Note on Marie de France's C hevrefoil" in the French Studies Bulletin (1982), and Chapter 5 is a reworked and expanded version of "Chivalry and Prowess in the Lais of Marie de France" (French Studies [1983]). M y paper entitled "Social Status in the Lais of Marie de France," which appeared in The Spirit of the Court: Selected Proceedings of the Fourth Congress of the Interna­ tional Courtly Literature Society (Toronto, 1983), edited by G. S. Burgess and R. A. Taylor (1985 ), contains a summary of some of the material in chapters 5 and 6 . 1 am grateful to the editors of the periodicals and to the publishers of the collective vol­ umes for permission to reprint items which have appeared in XI

Introduction

their publications. I should also like to thank William W. Kibler, Rupert T. Pickens, and Loris Green. Like the lady in Chaitivel, they are possessed of ''mut grant sens” and their comments have caused me to rewrite more than one unclear or inaccurate statement. If the present gloss to the Lais of Marie de France still contains any obscurities, they may or may not be deliberate. Now read the beginning.

Xll

The Lais of Marie de France

C HA PTER ONE

The Problem of Internal Chronology

Anyone who undertakes a literary analysis of the Lais of Marie de France encounters an immediate difficulty. In what order were the twelve poems composed? The order in which they occur in manuscript Harley 978 (Guigem ar, Equitan, Le Fresne, Bisclavret, Lanval, Deus Amanz, Yonec, Laiistic, Milun, Chaitivel, Chevrefoil, E lid u c) is manifestly not the original order of composition. The only other French manuscript to offer more than two complete lays, manuscript S, presents the poems in a different order, but one which is no more satisfac­ tory: Guigemar, Lanval, Yonec, Chevrefoil, Deus Am anz (in­ complete), Bisclavret (ending only), Milun, Le Fresne, E quitan.1 Faced with this situation some scholars, such as E. J. M ickel and E. Sienaert, have opted in their literary studies for the order found in the Harley manuscript.2 Such a procedure is certainly justifiable, for it is distinctly plausible that the arrangement of the lays found in Harley 978 is that of Marie herself. In following the stories and themes from Guigem ar to Eliduc we may be witnessing the progression which Marie in her more mature years decided to impose on the diversity of poems she had composed. We cannot of course be certain that Marie was the author of all the lays contained in the Harley manuscript and she may well have written more than twelve poems. Claim s have been

The Lais of Marie de France

made for her as the author of one or more of the "anonymous" lays. What is clear is that several poems in the Harley collec­ tion form part of a group (see Guigemar, vv. 19 -2 0 ; Equitan, vv. 5 -7 ; Bisclavret, vv. i - 2 ; Yonec, vv. 1- 4 ; Milun, vv. 1-2). More than one of the short prologues which serve to introduce the lays make it apparent that the author was a conscious artist concerned about the quality of craftsmanship and the recep­ tion of the poems. The author of M ilun wishes to "speak so persuasively that the tale w ill bring pleasure to people" ("Parler si rainablement / K'il seit pleisibles a la gent," vv. 3-4). G uige­ mar has been written by someone with a great enthusiasm for high quality workmanship ("Ki de bone mateire traite, / M ult li peise si bien n'est faite," vv. 1-2), a marked sense of responsi­ bility and mission ("Ki en sun tens ne s'oblie," v. 4), and a repu­ tation which is jealously guarded (vv. 5-18 ). The prologue to Yonec evinces a commitment to hard work on the part of the author ("Ja n'iert par mun travail laissé," v. 2) and Milun shows concern for variety of presentation ("Ki divers cunte veut traitier," / Diversement deit contender," vv. 1-2). In fact the idea of a single author for the twelve lays of the Harley collection makes perfect sense. It seems likely that when Marie wished to present her "nobles reis" with a collection of twelve poems she arranged the texts in an appropriate order and wrote a general prologue to accompany the collection.3 This new prologue fits in unhappily with the prologues to Guigem ar and Equitan, but it serves to confirm our impression of an author who thinks highly of her own talents and who is willing to work hard to ensure the success of what she has undertaken. Her God given talent ("Ki Deus ad duné escïence / E de parler bon' elo­ quence," vv. 1-2 ) was not sufficient to prevent the need for abundant nocturnal polishing ("Soventes fiez en ai veillié," v. 42). The form of the Harley collection does not of course rule out the possibility that there were earlier arrangements of the poems by Marie.4 Those scholars who reject the Harley order tend to seek

The Problem of Internal Chronology

some grouping of the lays for the purpose of discussion, on the basis of theme or dominant characteristic. S. Foster Damon de­ cided on a division into realistic and supernatural lays.5 The eight realistic poems are further subdivided into four groups of two: Laiistic and Chevrefoil (the shortest lays), Eliduc and C haitivel (the 'Two most individualistic in their psychological analyses," p. 970), the Deus Am anz and Equitan (dealing with the reward for selfishness or unselfishness) and Milun and Le Fresne (each contains an unknown child and the love element does not dominate the text completely). The other lays, Bisclaviet, Lanval, Guigem ar and Yonec (Guingam or is also at­ tributed to Marie and placed in this category), are regarded by Damon as supernatural and symbolic. Ernest Hoepffner, whose book Les Lais de Marie de France was for almost forty years the only available synthesis, preferred to discuss the lays in the following order: Lanval, Yonec, Guigem ar ("les lais féeriques"), Eliduc ("l'amour conjugal"), Le Fresne and Milun ("parents et enfants"), Deus Amanz, Chevrefoil, Laiistic ("l'amour tragique"), and Bisclavret, Equitan, C haitivel ("la femme coupable"). More recently Paula Clifford divides up the poems as follows: Guigem ar ("the force of destiny"), C haitivel and Eliduc ("the dilemma of choice"), Equitan, Le Fresne, Milun ("obstacles to love"), Lanval, Yonec, Bisclavret ("love and the supernatural"), and the Deus Amanz, Laiistic, Chevrefoil ("as­ pects of fatal love," predominantly tragic atmosphere).6 Such groupings can be instructive, but they can be multiplied without difficulty and are generally based on relatively super­ ficial criteria. There is no clear distinction between the real­ istic and the supernatural lays. Philippe Ménard is right to speak of the "mélange indissociable du merveilleux et du réel" and to distinguish carefully between such terms as le m er­ veilleux, le folklore, le féerique and le fantastique.7 Bisclavret is in my view not a supernatural lay, but one based, like Le Fresne, on a folklore theme or popular belief. It combines more satisfactorily with Equitan and C haitivel than with Guigemar, 3

The Lais of Marie de France

Lanval or Yonec. There are "obstacles to love" in lays other than those so designated by Paula Clifford. It would naturally be preferable to plot the development of Marie's artistry in accordance with the actual order of composi­ tion of her collection. Thus one could see how her undoubted ability to vary theme and incident functions within the corpus of texts and thus plot any modifications in her preoccupations or in the structure of the poems. Two scholars in particular, E. Hoepffner and R. N. Illingworth, have tackled the question of the internal chronology of the lays, but their researches have commanded respect rather than assent. In spite of Ménard's caveat that "les recherches chronologiques butent toujours sur des obstacles irréductibles" (p. 23), my aim in the following pages is to summarize the current state of research and to add a few suggestions which may prepare the way for an acceptable internal chronology. In the first of his two articles in Romania entitled "Pour la Chronologie des Lais de Marie de France" Hoepffner studies Lanval.8 He concludes that Marie's conception of the realm of King Arthur is based on the Roman de Brut of Wace. The theme of triple gradation in the presentation of the fairy mistress sug­ gests the influence of the lost primitive Tristan story and the description of the fairy and her servants bears witness to direct borrowing from the Roman de Thèbes. The trial of Lanval re­ calls that of Daire Le Roux in the Thèbes. In his second article Hoepffner moves on to Yonec and Guigemar. Yonec is a "proche parent" of Lanval (p. 36) and may even have been com­ posed shortly before it. Both poems contain the theme of the love between a mortal and a supernatural being and in both cases the love is betrayed. Supernatural elements are in general more in evidence in Yonec and Lanval than elsewhere in the collection. Yonec has fewer borrowings than Lanval, but again it is mainly in the Brut (the reference to St. Aaron and Caerleon, and the description of Muldumarec's city) and the Thèbes (descriptions of the bed, the sword and the tomb) that 4

The Problem of Internal Chronology

they are to be found. Hoepffner sees no clear-cut influence on Lanval or Yonec from the Roman d ’Eneas or from Chrétien de Troyes. Both lays seem to have been composed "assez au début de l'activité littéraire de M arie" (p. 44). The Eneas, composed in Hoepffner's view around 116 0 or a little later, did, however, exert clear and direct influence on Guigemai. The magic ship with its magnificent bed, the castle in which Guigemar's lady dwells and the psychological study of the birth of the love relationship, all have their counterparts in the Eneas. G uigem ai must, therefore, have been composed after Lanval and Yonec, and after other lays such as Laüstic in which there is no discernible influence from the Eneas.9 It is interesting to note that earlier a critic as sensitive as Lucien Foulet had accepted that Guigem ar was Marie's first lay.10 The Eneas in Hoepffner's view also influenced Eliduc, Milun and Equitan. The description of love in Equitan has a different ton­ ality from that in a lay such as Guigem ar and, along with Chaitivel, it was probably written after the other lays and un­ der the influence of the troubadour code of love.11 Hoepffner accepted that Gautier d'Arras had access to Eliduc when he began Ille et G aleron.12 He therefore concludes that "une par­ tie au moins" of Marie's output of lays was completed by 116 7 or 116 8 . As the prologue to Ille mentions the coronation in 116 7 of Beatrice, wife of Frederick Barbarossa, Gautier proba­ bly began his text shortly after this event. Hoepffner's work on the chronology of the Lais is scattered throughout several journals and festschriften, but his approxi­ mate chronology seems to be as follows: Bisclavret, Laüstic, Le Fiesne (traditional framework or deliberate Breton local col­ our); Deus Amanz, Chevrefoil (with clear influence from the Brut)-, Lanval, Yonec (influenced by the Brut and the Thèbes)-, Guigemar, Eliduc, M ilun (influenced by the Brut, the Thèbes and the Eneas)-, C haitivel and Equitan (also influenced by the Provençal code of love). The major division of the lays seems to be for Hoepffner those influenced by the Eneas (the last five) 5

The Lais of Marie de France

and those showing no such influence (the first seven). A fairly considerable lapse of time could have ensued between the two groups. In addition, as we have seen, Hoepffner places consider­ able stress on the importance of the Roman de Brut: "A peu près toutes les notions historiques et géographiques que Marie a introduites dans ces lais remontent à l'œuvre de Wace, à l'ex­ ception de celles qu'elle doit à l'ancien roman de Tristan,"13 R. N. Illingworth objected to Hoepffner's order for the lays on a number of grounds.14 The date of the Roman de Thèbes, around 1 160, proposed by Hoepffner and necessary for his chro­ nology, is not acceptable. The reference to a period of forty days during the trial of Daire (vv. 8366, 8368, 10650, ed. Constans) is to the quarantaine le roy, a decree promulgated, as a device to lim it private war, by Philip Augustus who came to the throne in 1 1 80. Thus the fine distinctions made by Hoepffner between the Thèbes and the Eneas (itself of uncertain date but defi­ nitely composed before 117 4 , the date of Heinrich von Veldeke's adaptation into German) are not tenable. In addition Il­ lingworth refuses to accept the date 116 7 or shortly afterwards as the likely date of composition for llle et G aleron, contend­ ing that Gautier d'Arras could have begun this work any time between 116 7 and 118 0 . On this Illingworth may be right, but it is not difficult to show, as P. B. Grout has done, that the Roman de Thèbes cannot be dated on the basis of the ap­ pearance of the term quarantaine and in fact there is no con­ vincing evidence to shake the conviction of earlier scholars that the Thèbes was composed before 116 0 , perhaps as early as 114 8 or 114 9 , and the Eneas around 1 1 6 0 .15 Illingworth is on much stronger ground when he considers the personal names and topographical references in the Lais and criticizes earlier scholars such as Brugger and Lot, who used Marie's nomenclature in their attempt to establish the prove­ nance of the Lais which were seen as a reflection of stories earlier, perhaps a good deal earlier, than M arie's.16 Illingworth is no doubt right to point out that of Marie's personal names 6

The Problem of Internal Chronology

Guigemar, Yonec, Muldumarec, Eliduc, Guilliadun and Guildeluec were to be found in her source. One can add to this list the names of Tristram and Arthur. Other names (Equitan, Gurun, Le Fresne, Milun, etc.) would be the result of personal choice and be drawn from her reading and from the contempo­ rary world. On the basis of Marie's nomenclature Illingworth suggests the following preliminary classification into two groups: (A) Equitan, Deus Amanz, Le Fresne, Laiistic, Chaitivel, Bisclavret; (B) Lanval, Yonec, Chevrefoil, Milun, Eliduc, Guigemar. In the first group Marie uses few names, the lais are situated on the continent (this, one should note, re­ quires that one interpret Bretaine in Bisclavret, v. 15, as "Brit­ tany" and not "Britain") and the antiquity of the lais is not stressed. Similarities of vocabulary and locutions are adduced (pp. 437-43) to confirm the close connection between the lais in group A and those in group B. Stylistically the two groups "s'op­ posent nettement" (p. 443), and this suggests to Illingworth that they were composed at different points in Marie's career.17 We can observe that Illingworth's researches lend weight to Hoepffner's feeling that a close tie exists between Yonec and Lanval. Verse 153 of Lanval ("Delez li s'est al lit cuchiez") re­ calls or anticipates verse 166 of Yonec ("Delez li s'est cuché al lit") and verse 550 of Lanval ("En tut le secle n'ot plus bele") is similar to verse 480 of Yonec ("En tut le sied e n'ot plus bel"). Hoepffner's view that Guigemar, Eliduc and M ilun are also closely linked to one another and were all composed after 116 5 (i.e. for Hoepffner after the appearance of the Eneas) is also con­ firmed. Illingworth sees 11 5 5 - 6 0 as the date of composition for group A and the literary influences for this group, although they are not easy to find, as Gaimar's Estoire des Engl eis, Wace's Brut, Piramus et Tisbé, certain lyric genres (the reverdie, the aube, etc.), and the doctrines of "amour courtois." The literary influences on group B are, in addition to those men­ tioned for group A, the Roman d ’Eneas and the primitive Tristan (the version which served as a source for Beroul and 7

T h e Lais of M a rie de Fran ce

Eilhart). The date of composition for group B would be c. 1 16 0 65 and a probable order for the entire collection as follows: Bisclavret, Le Fresne, Laiistic, C haitivel (influenced by the Brut and the Estoire des Engleis), Deus Amanz, and Equitan (influenced also by Piramus et Tisbé, composed 1155 -6 0 ), Lanval, Yonec, Milun, Chevrefoil, Guigemar, and Eliduc (influ­ enced by the Eneas and the Tristan). Illingworth differs from Hoepffner principally in that he sees Chevrefoil as one of the later lays and C haitivel and Equitan as members of group A. Tentatively Illingworth suggests as a terminus ad quem for the entire collection the date of Chrétien de Troyes' Erec et Enide (c. 1170), in which the Prologue seems to show knowledge of Marie's General Prologue which she presumably composed at the conclusion of the collection.18 It is worthwhile examining once again the geographical names in the Lais. If we accept Illingworth's final order for group A as a working hypothesis, the following observations can be made. Bisclavret is one of five lays in which the story proper begins with the expression "En Bretaine": En Bretaine jadis maneient.

[Le Fresne, v. 3)

En Bretaine maneit un ber.

(Bisclavret, v. 15)

En Bretain[e] maneit jadis.

(Yonec, v. 11 )

En Bretaine a Nantes maneit.

(Chaitivel, v. 9)

En Bretaine ot un chevalier.

(Eliduc, v. s)

With the exception of Bisclavret, precise geographical refer­ ences in the text permit one to localize the story in Brittany (Le Fresne, Chaitivel, Eliduc) or Britain (Yonec). The king who res­ cues Bisclavret from his life as a wolf is, however, more likely to be in Marie's mind the King of Brittany than the King of Britain. The King of Brittany reappears in Guigem ar (v. 29) and Eliduc (v. 30, etc.), but there is no reference in the Lais to a king of Britain (cf. Eliduc, v. 89). Arthur in Lanval is associated with 8

The Problem of Internal Chronology

the "tere de Loengre" (v. 9). Marie refers once to the Engleis [Milun, v. 390), but with the exception of Yonec (v. 1 1 ), her term for England or Britain south of the Wash is Logres/Loengre [Milun, v. 17; Eliduc, vv. 69, 1071). The allusion in Bisclavret to the frequent marvels which have occurred "en Bretaigne" (v. 260) fits in perfectly with Marie's periodic remarks on adven­ tures which the Bretons have turned into lays (Guigem ar, vv. 19 -2 4 ; Equitan, vv. 1- 8 , 3 12 ; Deus Amanz, vv. 5, 244; Laiistic, vv. 2, 159; and Eliduc, vv. 1, 118 1-8 3 ) . The appearance of the form garwaf in verse 4 ("Garwaf l'apelent li Norman") and in verse 9 ("Garualf, c[eo] est beste salvage") may indicate, as G as­ ton Paris thought, a Norman source for the lay, or just that it was originally intended for a Norman or Breton audience.19 The Deus Am anz is presented as a Breton lay set in Normandy. Of the various explanations for the term bisclavret itself, which is undoubtedly Breton, perhaps the most convincing is that by J. Loth, who derives it from bisc, "short," lavret, "wear­ ing breeches or short trousers." There would thus be a connec­ tion between the name bisclavret and the motif of clothes as agent of transformation. Earlier H. Zimmer, who saw the lays as continental in origin, related the term to Breton bleiz la v­ aret, "speaking wolf." Th. Chotzen preferred a derivation from bleidd llafar, "the dear little speaking wolf" or "le bon loup fatidique," concepts which are not appropriate to the lay and which therefore in Chotzen's opinion Marie must not have un­ derstood.20 Recently in the same vein H. W. Bailey has ex­ plained the form bisclavret as bleiz laveret "rational wolf" (a "speaking being" is man, the rational animal). W. Sayers, how­ ever, proposes bleiz claffet "wolf-sick, afflicted with lycanthropy," an interpretation which has the merit of linking the form to the theme of social banishment (cf. the treatment of the wife and her lover at the end of the text), as the term claff is also associated with leprosy.21 Le Fresne is also situated in Bretaine (see vv. 3, 52, 237), clearly to be translated as "Brittany," as the official responsible 9

The Lais of Marie de France

for the dissolution of the marriage between Gurun and Le Fresne is the Archbishop of Dol, one of the principal towns in Upper Brittany (vv. 243, 362). The fact that the archbishopric of Dol was abolished in 119 9 by Innocent III and brought under the jurisdiction of Tours is, as has been pointed out by various editors, interesting but not significant. There is also reference to Constantinople, visited by Le Fresne's father (v. 125). The names Gurun, Le Fresne, and La Codre are probably personal inventions or French adaptations of the names Marie found in the conte to which she refers in verse 2.22 The action in Laüstic takes place in the county of St. Malo (Seint Mallo in verse 7) and the original lay is twice attributed to Li Breton (vv. 2, 159). The term laustic derives from the Breton form éostic, via aostic, austic.23 C haitivel is located in Nantes (vv. 9, 73) in Bretaine (vv. 9, 33). The participants in the tournament, Flem­ ings (vv. 78, 92), Frenchmen (v. 77), Normans (v. 77) and knights from Anjou (v. 79), Boulogne (v. 79) and Hainault (v. 92), reflect the contemporary world rather than traditional Breton mate­ rial. Northwest France was in Marie's day the virtual home of tournaments. Neither Laüstic nor C haitivel offers any per­ sonal names for the protagonists. The Deus Am anz is set in Normandy ("Jadis avint en Normendie / Une aventure mut oïe," vv. 1-2,- "En Neustrie, / Que nus apelum Normendie," vv. 7 -8 , cf. Wace, Brut, vv. 10 15 8 -5 9 : "Normendie / Ki dune aveit nun Neüstrie"), in the town of Pistre (modern Pitres), a few miles from Rouen, opposite Pont de l'Arche. The remains of the Prieuré des Deux-Amants, built in the twelfth century, can still be seen on the Côte des Deux Am ants which dominates the confluence of the Seine and the Andelle from a height of about 450 feet. The river Seine is men­ tioned in the Deus Am anz (the form is Seigne in verse 170), as is the city of Salerne (vv. 95, 127), normally interpreted as Salerno in Italy, as Marie probably intended, but which could well have referred in the original local legend to the Pays de 10

The Problem of Internal Chronology

Saleme near Brionne, in the diocese of Lisieux.24 The entire passage from the opening lines of the Deus Am anz is worth quoting: Pres de cel munt a une part Par grant cunseil e par esgart Une cité fist faire uns reis Que esteit sire de Pistreis; Des Pistreins la fist [il] numer E Pistre la fist apeler. Tuz jurs ad puis duré li nuns; Uncore i ad vile e maisuns. Nus savum bien de la contrée, Li vais de Pistrë est nomee.

(vv. I I-20) Near to this mountain, on one side, after careful deliberation, the king, who was lord of the Pistrians, had a city built and named it after the Pistrians, calling it Pistre. The name has survived to this day; there is still a town there and houses. We know the region well; it is called the Valley of Pistre.

Many scholars have been convinced, I think rightly, that these lines, with their insistence on geographical and historical detail, reflect personal acquaintance with the area in question. Marie may have heard the story recounted in the region in which it is set. Gustave Cohen reports that "la tradition folk­ lorique locale" was still recounting a similar legend in the first half of the twentieth century.25 It is also true that the best method of approach to the mountain, for an enterprise such as is outlined in the lay, is from the side leading down to the Seine ("Devers Seigne en la praerie," v. 179). In the twelfth century Pitres was situated in the Norman Vexin (the modern départs-

The Lais of Marie de France

ment of Eure), divided by the river Epte from the French Vexin (Seine-et-Oise and Oise). The French Vexin is an area which would satisfy Marie's insistence that she was born in France [Fables, Epilogue, v. 4). Although it is set in Normandy, the Deus Amanz, like Laiistic, is twice attributed to Li Bretun (vv. 5 / 244)Equitan, the last lay in Illingworth's group A, is also based, Marie tells us, on a Breton composition (vv. 2, 312). The poem is associated with Brittany (Bretaine, v. 2) and Equitan seems to be King of Nantes and the surrounding region. The form Nauns in verse 12 ("Sire de Nauns, jostis' e reis") seems to derive, al­ beit unhappily, from Nam netes, but it has been interpreted by Maurice Delbouille as "dwarfs," on the basis of the reading nains in manuscript S and the reference in the Erec et Enide to Bilis, the "sires des nains" (ed. Roques, v. 19 4 1 ).26 The epon­ ymous character in Equitan probably owes his name to a per­ sonal choice by Marie. But the name has been linked to equita­ tion and seen as suggestive of Equitan's favourite pursuits, hunting and amorous dalliance.27 Illingworth is successful in establishing a coherent group of lays on the grounds of nomenclature and literary borrowings. It may be possible, however, to go a little further and to draw up a more convincing chronology for group A. Marie's first lay in my view was Equitan. Although by no means devoid of thema­ tic interest and not worthy of the scorn heaped upon it by some readers, Equitan has all the signs of an early work: poor struc­ ture, stylistic obscurities, an uninspired treatment of a some­ what tedious theme, an unsatisfactory ending.28 WatheletWillem expresses the point well when she says that compared with Marie's other lays Equitan "n'a pas la même résonance."29 Hoepffner had already recognized this ("Le lai occupe dans l'œuvre de Marie une place à part"), but the conclusion he drew was that Equitan was Marie's last lay.30 In fact the prologue to Equitan looks very much as if it was intended to introduce not only the lay of Equitan but the very concept of the Breton lay: 12

The Problem of Internal Chronology Mut unt esté noble barun Cil de Bretaine, li Bretun. Jadis suleient par prüesce, Par curteisie e par noblesce Des aventures que oiëent, Ki a plusur gent aveneient, Fere les lais pur remembrance, Que [hum] nés meist en ubliance. (vv. 1- 8) The Bretons, who lived in Brittany, were fine and noble men. In days gone by these valiant, courtly and noble individuals composed lays for posterity, based on adventures they had heard and which had befallen many a person; their intention was to preserve these stories from oblivion.

This rather awkwardly worded introduction (see especially the repetition in verse 2) is followed by a banal story-line (the adjec­ tive is from Ewert's edition, p. 168), which has been likened to that of a fabliau. The tale is presented in two very unequal parts, the first laced with unnecessarily lengthy passages of love casuistry, the second, in Wathelet-Willem's words, "in ­ organique et cahotique" (p. 343). It is the second part only which could be described as a fabliau. An unusual lack of vraisem blance and logic with respect to concrete details is linked to a rather superfluously didactic conclusion ("Tel purcace le mal d'autrui / Dunt le mais [tut] revert sur lui," vv. 30910). Illingworth placed Equitan last in his group A on the grounds that the theme of love is couched in terminology which recalls Piramus et Tisbé. Yet I find the correspondences brought forward unconvincing. Of the numerous examples cited (pp. 452-57) I quote but the first three: 13

T h e Lais of M a rie de Fra n ce

Haï, Amours, . . . Ta sajette ne set faillir. (Piramus, vv. 23, 29) Ta sajette ne set faillir;

Amurs l'ad mis a sa maisnie. Une s[e]ete ad vers lui traite, {Equitan, vv. 5 4 -5 5 )

Elle fait plaie sanz pertus. (Piramus, vv. 29, 31)

Une s[e)ete ad vers lui traite, Que mut grant plaie li ad faite, El quor li ad lancie e mise. (Equitan , vv. 5 5 -5 7 )

Li fers navre de l'esgarder, La fléché coule el penser. (Piramus, vv. 39-40)

Pur ceste dame que ai veüe M 'est un'anguisse al quor feme. (Equitan, vv. 67-6 8 )

Themes or motifs such as the pleasures and pains of love, the personification of love and nature, lamentations on one's des­ tiny, and the irresistible power of love, do appear in both Pi­ ramus and Equitan. They are also found in the Eneas, a fact which led Hoepffner to the almost certainly erroneous conclu­ sion that Marie composed Equitan partly under the influence of this romance. We do not know the ultimate origin of such motifs and terminology. Even if direct influence exists, the ex­ act chronology of this influence is not always easy to deter­ mine. Borrowings from Piramus in the Deus Am anz, as out­ lined by Segre and confirmed by Illingworth, are somewhat more convincing, but do not obviate the possibility, as sug­ gested by Wathelet-Willem, that it was the Deus Am anz which influenced Piramus A 1 Wathelet-Willem's feeling that it was in a moment of weak­ ness that Marie retained Equitan in her collection, this "m al venu parmi ses enfants," and tucked it away inconspicuously behind Guigemar, may also be a little wide of the mark.32 I prefer R. T. Pickens' view that Equitan has a good deal in com­ mon with Guigem ar thematically.33 To the contrasting at­ titudes towards love manifested by the two heroes corresponds the polarity of their fates and the nature of the two plots. It is in these two lays that we find the theoretical passages outlining 14

The Problem of Internal Chronology

Marie's fairly simplistic concept of love (see below, pp. 36-42, 13 4 —43). Both have clear-cut endings based on justice for the protagonists and they not only set the tone for the collection but offer contrasting standards of behaviour by which we can judge succeeding characters. The temptation is very strong for us to feel that it must have been Marie who made this subtle deci­ sion in respect of the lays with which the collection should open. Certainly the second place in the line-up of twelve lays can scarcely be deemed inconspicuous. I think that there is a good chance that after Equitan Marie composed Chaitivel. Situated in Nantes (as is, in all proba­ bility, Equitan), C haitivel is the only other lay to possess a rather tedious plot, stylistic obscurities, poor motivation for the actions of the characters and for certain details, and a gener­ ally mediocre level of composition.34 As M ickel points out, the situation in C haitivel is reminiscent of one of the cases sub­ mitted to the great ladies in Andreas Capellanus's De arte hon­ esti am andi.35 Hoepffner has rightly observed that the lovers in Chaitivel share Equitan's disregard for the dangers of love and "metent lur vie en mineure" (Equitan, v. 17), and in his literary analysis of the Lais he justifiably considers these two texts to­ gether.36 But instead of placing them at the end of Marie's col­ lection I prefer to follow R. B. Green, who sees Equitan and C haitivel as early compositions and as the prototypes of the other lays.37 For Green these two lays establish a "base philo­ sophique sur lequel repose l'ensemble des autres poèmes" and the later lays constitute merely variations or refinements on Marie's initial condemnation of irresponsible love. To this one can add, however, that the irresponsible love in C haitivel is not necessarily that of the lady who has attracted more criticism from scholars than her behaviour warrants.38 It is primarily the male protagonists who are led astray by love from the path of common sense. The order of composition for the remaining lays in group A, Le Fresne, Bisclavret, Deus Am anz and Laiistic (numbers 3, 4, 15

The Lais of Marie de France

6 and 8 in Harley), is difficult to establish. It is probably safe, however, to consider them in two groups, Le Fresne/Bisclavret and Deus Am anz/Laiistic. Bisclavret and Le Fresne are both victims of the ruthlessness of the world, but both stories end happily for the eponymous characters. The quality of the w rit­ ing seems slightly higher in Le Fresne than in Bisclavret, in which Marie shows that she has not yet overcome some of the stylistic and literary problems which are evident in Equitan and Chaitivel. The wife's motivation for cross-questioning Bisclavret about his clothes and the structural switch in his behaviour from a man-eating destructive wolf ("Hummes devure, grant mal fait," v. 11) to a courtly royal companion ("Tant esteit franc e deboneire, / Unques ne volt a rien mesfeire," vv. 179-80), i.e. from a wild beast to a faithful dog, are not well established.39 The Deus Am anz and Laiistic, still short like the other lays in group A (the average length is 299 verses as compared with 654 for group B), both end in sadness. In both lays the lovers' valiant efforts to defy reality are thwarted, in one case by the young man's lack of strength to perform a superhuman feat, in the other by the presence of a watchful husband. Their com­ munion, on the one hand in death, on the other by virtue of the dead bird's presence in the chasse, is in a world beyond every­ day existence. Structurally the two lays have marked sim ­ ilarities. Katharine Le Mée has found narrative segments com­ mon to both poems and she concludes that the two poems are "very similar in terms of the sequence of these narrative seg­ ments."40 From the point of view of the general quality of com­ position Laiistic has a poetic intensity lacking in the early stages of the Deus A m anz (the visit to Salerno represents one of the longueurs in Marie's writings to which certain critics have referred).41 The lays examined so far do indeed form a homogeneous group of short, relatively unsophisticated stories. It is perhaps possible to divide them into two groups of three. In Equitan,

The Problem of Internal Chronology

Chaitivel and Bisclavret the relationship between the couples never reaches great heights of inspiration or commitment. The women in Equitan and Bisclavret switch their affections cal­ lously from one man to another and on both occasions their new affairs end abruptly and brutally. The relationship in C haitivel between the lady and the four suitors is inevitably somewhat shallow and there is a certain immaturity and insen­ sitivity in her behaviour. The poems in the second group retain this element of callous disregard for others. But there is here an element of profundity which prepares the way for the more elaborate treatment of alienation and frustration in group B. The lives of three young women are blighted by a mother {Le Fresne), a father (Deus A m anz) and a husband (Laiistic). In all three tales the brutal rubs shoulders with the sublime, as shown by Le Fresne's charitable gesture with her paile roé, the coffin on the mountain top, and the nightingale in its casket. The one woman who emerges clearly from the first six hero­ ines is Le Fresne. Her five counterparts are either dead or in trouble at the end of their stories, whereas her happiness will be paralleled by more than one of the later female lovers. Cer­ tainly the vicissitudes of Le Fresne's upbringing and love life are recounted in the longest and most positive of the first six stories (518 lines).42 Apart from the visit to Salerno in the Deus Amanz, there is little geographical movement in the first six poems. The action seems to be confined to Brittany and Normandy and there are certainly no sea voyages. But when we approach Lanval, the atmosphere we encounter is quite different. The setting is now the kingdom of Arthur, a kingdom at war; England is being defended by Arthur against the marauding Piets and Scots north of the border with Scotland. The story concerns the epon­ ymous hero, an introverted, successful knight, who had left his own country to serve Arthur. Neglected by Arthur when fiefs and other rewards are distributed, lonely and penniless, he re­ ceives solace in the arms of a supernatural mistress. Marie's 17

The Lais of Marie de France

comment with respect to Lanval's disenchantment with his foreign hosts strikes an authentic note: Hume estrange descunseillez Mut est dolent en autre tere, Quant il ne seit u sueurs quere. (vv. 3 6 - 3 8 )4 î A stranger bereft of advice is very distressed in another land, when he does not know where to seek help.

Everything suggests that, between writing her first group of lays and beginning the second, Marie had come to Britain, ei­ ther as a result of marriage or because she wished to further her career and possibly attract the patronage of Henry and Eleanor.44 She may of course have married after arriving in England and gone to settle in an area which provided her with new material for her story-telling. In as far as we can accept Illingworth's chronology based on literary influence, a tentative date for her move to Britain would be around 1 16o, at about the time she became acquainted with the Eneas. The story of Lanval doubt­ less came to Marie's attention after she had left France. The name Lanval seems French, but it was probably invented by Marie, possibly under the influence of the name Avalun of which it constitutes a virtual anagram.45 Hoepffner is convinc­ ing when he points out that some details in Lanval are derived from the Brut, but as Wace situates the Arthurian court at Caerleon, in the county of Gwent (formerly Monmouthshire) and York (Everwic) Hoepffner is forced to explain away the refer­ ence to Carlisle (in the form Kardoel in v. s).46 This he does somewhat awkwardly and unconvincingly by recourse to the primitive Tristan story, in which there may have been an allu­ sion to Carlisle as Arthur's seat, as there is in Beroul's version (vv. 650, 684). The fact is that Lanval could well be a Northern British legend, as Constance Bullock-Davies has argued.47 Three m iles from Carlisle is the small town the Romans called 18

The Problem of Internal Chronology

Aballava or Avalana (modern Burgh-by-Sands) which could be the origin of the Avalon mentioned in Lanval. As Marie knew the Brut before writing Lanval and as all the indications we have suggest that it was Wales and the southwest of England that she knew best, it is not likely that she would choose Carlisle or change the name she found in her source to Carlisle. We cannot of course tell how Marie would have heard of the legend of Lanval, but it is likely that it came south by the same process which brought the Tristan legend to the attention of the AngloNorman aristocracy. Marie herself, of course, knew the Tristan legend by the time she wrote Chevrefoil and she knew a version which was, contrary to the opinion of Hoepffner and Illing­ worth, not that of Beroul and Eilhart.48 When she composed Lanval Marie had probably been in Brit­ ain long enough not only to assimilate some sophisticated leg­ ends but also to become acquainted with English legal prob­ lems and terminology. The trial in Lanval has, as Hoepffner suggested, some sim ilarities to that of Daire Le Roux.49 The Count of Cornwall, already present in Wace's Brut, reminds us in his counsel of King Creon. But the trial makes us think more of the legalistic mind of Henry II and twelfth-century English legal practice.50 We cannot know whether the Count of Corn­ wall (one of only two counts in the Lais, cf. Deus Amanz, v. 50) appeared in Marie's source, and, if so, to what extent she has modified his role to suit her purpose. She may well have been aware of his presence in the Brut and allowed certain phrases or notions from this text to find their way into her own.51 But if she was writing in England for an Anglo-Norman audience she would surely have had a contemporary situation or figure in mind. The Earl of Cornwall at the probable time of composi­ tion of Lanval was Reginald de Dunstanville (d. 1175), one of Henry II's most valued advisers.52 In Lanval it is the count who puts the central legal issue in his "intervention coura­ geuse et franchement favorable à Lanval."53 Justice is one of Marie's ever-present concerns and it is possible that, when she 19

The Lais of Marie de France

wrote Lanval, some personal experience had produced a feeling of disillusionment. Lanval, neglected by Arthur in spite of his merits as a knight, and later wrongly accused of homosexuality by the queen and of attempted seduction by the king, would at the outset have been left in an impoverished state and later been exiled or hanged but for the intervention of the supernatural world. For the first time Marie has had a recourse to the m er­ veilleux, to enable her hero to cope with the intransigence of reality. Hopes that, as in Le Fresne, virtue and loyalty might be rewarded have, if only temporarily, deserted Marie and she summons for help a mysterious Celtic world peopled with powerful, versatile beings. In Lanval the themes of envy (to which Marie herself had certainly been subject, see Guigemar, vv. 5 -18 ) and hypocrisy ("Tel li mustra semblant d'amur, / S'al chevaler mesavenist, / Ja une feiz ne Ten pleinsist," Lanval, vv. 24-26) are highlighted at the outset. Lanval's alienation from society as a result of Arthur's neglect and the even greater iso­ lation he needs in order to enjoy union with his mistress ("Lan­ val s'en vait a une part, / Mut luin des autres; ceo l'est tart / Que s'amie puïst tenir, / Baiser, acoler e sentir," vv. 253-56) culminate in his final departure from the real world in the company of his beloved ("Sur le palefrei detriers li / De plain eslais Lanval sailli. / Od li s'en vait en Avalun," vv. 639-41). The extent to which Marie seems to identify with her hero is revealed by her personal interventions in the story (e.g. "Ore est Lanval mut entrepris," v. 33; "Ore est Lanval en dreite veie!," v. 134; "M ut est Lanval bien herbergez," v. 140; and "Ore est Lanval bien herbergez," v. 154). The alienation of Lanval is paralleled by the frustration and secret life of Yonec's mother. Both she and Lanval are victim s of the cruelty of human affairs. Hoepffner has thus stressed quite rightly that Lanval and Yonec form a diptych.54 In Yonec Marie tells us an originally Celtic tale, from which she retains the personal names Yonec (occurring in manuscript H also under the forms Iwenec and Yuuenec, vv. 6, 9) and Muldumarec 20

The Problem of Internal Chronology

(Nusdumaret in manuscript Q, Murdimalet in S, and Eudemarec in P).55 The story is transformed, however, from one re­ counting the birth of Yonec and his accession to his father's kingdom to a tale of tragic love in which emotional cruelty inflicted on the mother by an aged, impotent husband is avenged by her lover's son.56 The scene is set as follows: En Bretainfe] maneit jadis Un riches hum viel e antis; De Carwent fu avouez E del pais sire clamez. La cité siet sur Düelas; Jadis i ot de nés trespas. (vv. 1 1 —1 6 ) In Britain there once lived a rich old man; he held the fief of Caerwent and was called lord of the territory. The city lay on the River Duelas; where there used to be a passage for ships.

Bretaine here must be interpreted as "Britain," contrary to the opinion of Ewert (p. 219), and Carwent must be Caerwent in Gwent, South Wales. The river Düelas may be, as Ewert sug­ gests (edition, p. 179), the former name for the stream on which Caerwent lies. Certainly the Welsh roots on which Düelas seems to be formed, du "dark, black" and glais "stream ," are common enough in British topography.57 Later in the story the lady leaves Caerwent with her husband and son to journey to Caerleon (the form in the text is Karliun, v. 468), a distance of nine miles. The aim is to celebrate the festival of St. Aaron, a Romano-Briton martyred in the persecutions of Diocletian (303 -5 A.D.) and apparently put to death in Caerleon. An odd fact, but doubtless a relic of the legend, is that they do not know the way: "M es il ne seivent u il vunt" (v. 476). There is talk of a dreit chemin (v. 478) between Caerwent and the castle which is to be the scene of the clim ax to the story. Is it too

The Lais of Marie de France

fanciful to follow Bullock-Davies and see this straight road, as the Roman Julia Strata, running from Chepstow to Newport, the modern A48?58 To this day the road, as it leaves Caerwent in the direction of Caerleon, is still exceptionally straight. In spite of some uncertainty concerning the exact location of Muldumarec's kingdom, which at one point, when the lady fol­ lows her lover, is within easy walking distance of Caerwent, and later turns out to be at Caerleon (“ De ceste tere ot esté reis,“ V. 517), it seems distinctly possible that Marie was ac­ quainted with the area of Gwent she describes and I feel no need to call upon Wace, as Hoepffner does, to explain the to­ pography of Yonec or of other lays. The apparently useless piece of information in verse 16 that there was a passage for ships as far as Caerwent may be of significance for our purpose. A l­ though the point Marie makes is factually untrue, a local tradi­ tion persists to this day that ships could sail up to Caerwent. The legendary founder of Caerwent, Tatheus or Tathy, is re­ puted to have arrived by sea from Ireland, landing at Portskewett, the creek of Caerwent.59 Constance Bullock-Davies thinks that Marie must have found the detail about the passage for ships in her source and merely translated it.60 The opposite is perhaps true and more in tune with Marie's attitude towards points of detail. Marie would have added the detail from her own knowledge in order to provide her audience with a certain element of local colour (for an alternative suggestion see below, P- 23). In addition, the entire situation in which the heroine finds herself at the outset suggests at least a certain degree of au­ thenticity and both the autobiographical and geographical ele­ ments are confirmed by later lays. Yonec in fact inaugurates a series of lays in which adultery is a central theme and in which the woman seeks a means of escaping from an unloved hus­ band, a theme adumbrated in Laüstic. The situation of the lady in Guigem ar is very similar to that of her counterpart in Yonec. Imprisoned by an aged, jealous husband she finds consolation 22

The Problem of Internal Chronology

with a man who is him self unable to achieve harmony between his personal characteristics and his social responsibilities. The scene is set initially in Brittany. Guigemar (the form Guigeimar also occurs, see verse 37) is the son of Oridials, lord of Liun, now St. Pol de Léon and surrounding area in the départe­ ment of Finistère. The father is a close adviser (privez) to King Hoilas (Artus in manuscript P, Odels in N). The sea crossing, taking less than one day (v. 205), which Guigemar makes after having been wounded by the androgynous hind, may well cor­ respond to a voyage to Britain, as Illingworth suggests.61 Or possibly the episode has been transposed in Marie's mind. Ur­ ban T. Holmes was convinced that in describing the terrain over which Guigemar walks to reach the boat Marie is thinking of the Golden Valley of the river Wye and that the braz de m er (v. 150) is the river Severn seen from the hills above Mon­ mouth.62 As the confluence of the Wye and the Severn is at Chepstow, only five miles from Caerwent, we are again brought back to the area of southern Gwent which we encountered in Yonec. It is also not without interest to observe that there is in the department of Finistère a river Daoulas, which could have been mentioned in Marie's source for Guigem ar and found its way into Yonec as the river Duelas.63 The motif of the passage for ships would be more appropriate to Guigemar, where a sea-crossing is at stake. Holmes also sug­ gested that Marie's account of the white hind with its magic properties is analogous to a tale told by Giraldus Cambrensis of a hind with male antlers killed near Radnor. Because of the great novelty involved, the head and horns of the hart were sent to Henry II. The hunter lost the sight of his right eye and en­ dured a lingering illness.64 If she lived not too far from the site of this adventure, Marie must surely have heard it recounted and deemed it of considerable interest. Concerning the prove­ nance of the lay one must note that Guigemar is a Breton name (Guihomar, earlier Wiwhomarch) and that there are possible dynastic connections with the house of Leon, in which Guige23

The Lais of Marie de France

mar was a traditional name.65 We can observe that in Chré­ tien^ Erec there appears as a wedding guest a Guingamars, lord of the Isle of Avalon and friend of Morgain la Fée, Arthur's sis­ ter (vv. 1904-8). (Morgain has also been seen as Lanval's m is­ tress in Marie's earlier lay.) We cannot, of course, be certain where Marie came across the story of Guigemar. In the prologue to the lay she attributes it to the Bretons: "Les contes ke jo sai verrais, / Dunt li Bretun unt fait les lais, / Vos conterai assez briefment" (vv. 19 -2 1). She also tells us that she was composing the tale from a written source ("Sulunc la lettre e l'escriture, / Vos mosterai un' aven­ ture . . . ," vv. 23-24), the first time she has made such a com­ ment, if my chronology is correct. Where did she find this w rit­ ten document? Helen Laurie thinks, wrongly in my view, that Marie is referring particularly to the Roman d ’Eneas , 66 This latter romance doubtless influenced Marie in the presentation of the descriptions and the love theme in Guigemar, as Hoepffner, Illingworth and others have contended, but I see la lettre e l ’escriture as a text, perhaps in Latin, whose outlines Marie followed more in the second half of her lai than in the first. There is an intriguing reference in the Lai de 1’Espine, a lai often attributed to Marie by earlier scholars, to "estores / Qui encore sont a Carlion / En el moutier Saint Aaron" (vv. 6 - 8 ).67 One of these estores is given as the source of the Espine and as a guarantee of its veracity. Whether Marie obtained the story of Guigemar or any of her stories directly or indirectly from the monastery of St. Aaron, we shall never know, but the notion is attractive and feasible. It is possible that Marie was living not too far from Caerleon at the time she composed Guigemar. The evidence from Milun is of considerable interest on this point. Milun is a native of South Wales ("M ilun fu de Suhtwales nez," v. 9) and his beloved lives after her marriage in or around Caerleon. M ilun's squire tells the porter at the loved one's castle that he has caught a 24

The Problem of Internal Chronology

swan "en un pre desuz Karlïun" (v. 185). Marie is too sensitive to points of detail to allow the squire to carry a heavy swan more than a reasonable distance.68 The girl had not moved far from her paternal home, as she had been given to a local lord ("Un mut riche humme del pais, / Mut esforcible e de grant pris," vv. 12 7 -2 8 ) and on M ilun's return from abroad, she is still within a short distance of his own home area: "Pres esteit de sa cuntree" (v. 157). Thus the homes of Milun, his beloved's parents and her husband are within fairly close proximity to Caerleon. Milun's stratagem for continued contact with his loved one involves the use of a pet swan, and a number of factors concern­ ing this swan are worthy of attention. They have been carefully studied by Constance Bullock-Davies.69 First it can be noted that it was necessary for the lady to keep the swan without arousing suspicion. This could only be done if the idea of keep­ ing a pet swan was by no means a novelty, i.e. the area involved was one in which swans were a common sight. The fact that Milun himself had a pet swan ("Un cisne aveit k'il mut ama," v. 164) indicates that the area in question satisfies this crite­ rion. Secondly it was necessary for Milun to discover a ruse which would enable him to place the swan within the confines of his beloved's castle. In this respect the words used by Milun's squire to the porter are of fundamental importance: "Am is," fet il, "entent a mei! Jeo sui un hum de tel mester, De oiseus prendre me sai aider. En un pre desuz Karlïun Pris un cisnë od mun laçun; Pur force e pur meintenement La dame en voil fere present, Que jeo ne seie desturbez, E[n] cest pais achaisunez." (vv. 18 2-9 0 )

25

The Lais of Marie de France "Friend", he said, "listen to me. I am a man whose trade is such that I am an expert at catching birds. In a meadow beneath Caerleon I caught a swan with my net. In order to gain her support and protection, I wish to make a present of it to the lady, to prevent my being hindered and arraigned in this region."

These lines betoken an interesting knowledge of the hunting of swans in feudal Britain. It is possible that Marie has given us here and elsewhere an exact translation of her original. But I do not think this is likely. Swans were royal game (cf. v. 215 : "E ja est ceo present rëaus") and lords permitted to keep and mark them required the king's licence. An owner of swans under li­ cence could grant fowlers a licence to hunt, but this was re­ stricted to their own districts. M ilun's squire under the guise of a fowler claims that he requires the protection of the lady (her force and m eintenem ent) in order to avoid being arraigned for poaching. This subtle argument convinces the porter and the ruse is successful. The interest of these observations would be greatly enhanced if one could point to a connexion between swans and the Caerleon-Caerwent area. This question has been examined by Bullock-Davies and she concludes: That there was (and still is) a natural breeding-place for swans exactly where he (the squire] said it was can be proved not only by the geographical nature of the area, but by topographical and manuscript evidence. The marshy ground to the south and south­ west of Caerleon comprised in Marie's day two tracts of land stretching from the mouth of the Rhymney to Portskewitt . . . The whole area was a tidal flat until the late eighteenth century. Even now it can be heavily water-logged in rainy weather. In the past it was apparently an ideal breeding-place for swans, as the old Welsh name for the river Rhymney implies: "afon Alarch or Elarch," "swan river" (pp. 23-24 ).

26

The Problem of Internal Chronology

The reference in Marie's text to the flats "desuz Karliun" where Milun's squire claims to have netted his swan implies considerable local knowledge. If, more speculatively, the vile mentioned in v. 179 ("Par mi la vile est trespassez, / A la mestre porte est alez," vv. 179-80) is Caerleon, and Milun's home was at Caerwent, the dreit chemin which Milun's squire knew well ("Tut le dreit chemin quë il sot / Al chastel vient, si cum il pot," vv. 17 7 -7 8 ) may again (cf. Yonec, v. 478) be the old paved Julia Strata.70 There are two further points in Milun which are worthy of note. When M ilun's son, who has been brought up by his moth­ er's sister in Northumbria (Norhum bre in verses 69, 453), de­ cides to leave England in search of fame, he makes his way to Southampton: A Suhthamptune vait passer; Cum il ainz pot, se mist en mer. A Barbefluet est arivez; Dreit en Brutainë est alez. La despendi e tumeia. (vv. 3 1 8 -2 3 ) He made his way to Southampton and set sail as soon as he could. He arrived at Barfleur and went straight to Brittany where he spent freely and attended tournaments.

Marie evidently knew that one of the best routes from England to France was from Southampton to Barfleur on the Cotentin peninsula, not far from Cherbourg. This may have been a route she herself had taken.71 Also she was aware that during the reign of Henry II jousts were forbidden in England and any as­ piring knight would have to seek his fortune on the continent ("Fors de la te'-e e del païs," v. 312).72 When M ilun's son is suc­ cessful in his quest for glory, Marie makes the point in the fol­ lowing terms: 27

The Lais of Marie de France De tutes les teres de la Porta le pris e la valur.

(w. 332-33) In all the regions over there, he carried off the prize and won the day.

In these lines we find confirmation that M ilun was written in Britain. The teres de la must indicate the regions from which contestants came to the tournaments (cf. vv. 387-89), i.e. those beyond the Channel. It has become a commonplace to compare M ilun with Le Fresne, as both lays present a child separated from its parents shortly after birth and later reunited with its family. In reality there is greater thematic contact between M ilun and Yonec, and Milun and Guigemar. In Yonec and M ilun Marie has clearly shifted the emphasis from the child to the love rela­ tionship between the parents. Guigem ar and M ilun are united by the constancy of the love and its ability to withstand obsta­ cles. In both M ilun and Yonec, a son, the fruit of a love rela­ tionship, offers his mother, late in her life, compensation for an unhappy marriage. Yonec, Guigem ar and M ilun are all linked, moreover, by the theme of adultery (in M ilun the lovers do suc­ ceed in seeing each other from time to time, vv. 287-90). To this trio of lays we can add Chevrefoil. In spite of its brevity Chevrefoil succeeds in summing up many of the quintessential themes of Marie's Lais. The perfect love between Tristram and Iseut (it is only in this lay that Marie uses the expression fine amur, v. 8) withstands obstacles and has to content itself with a few brief but delightful meetings. In the encounter described in Marie's tale the ecstasy of contact produces not a child but a lay: Pur la joie qu'il ot eüe De s'amie qu'il ot veüe . . . Tristram, ki bien saveit harper, En aveit fet un nuvel lai. (vv. 10 7 -8 , 1 1 2 - 1 3 )

28

The Problem of Internal Chronology Because of the joy he had experienced from the sight of his beloved . . . Tristram, a skilful harpist, had composed a new lay.

Tristram, like Milun, has had to make contact with his beloved by means of a subtle device. But by virtue of his status as a celebrated lover he transforms his device into a symbol of inex­ tricable union. Separation is like death ("Mes ki puis les volt desevrer, / Li codres muert hastivement / E li chevrefoil ensement," vv. 74-76). The opening lines of Chevrefoil are reminiscent of those of Milun. In the Harley manuscript the two texts are separated, one recalls, by C haitivel: Ici comencerai Milun E musterai par brief sermun Pur quei e coment fu trovez Li lais kë issi est numez. [Milun, vv. 5-8) I shall begin Milun and explain briefly for what reason and under what circumstances the lay which bears this name was composed. Asez me plest e bien le voil Del lai que hum nume Chevrefoil Que la vérité vus en cunt [E] pur quei il fu fet e dunt. [Chevrefoil, vv. 1-4 ) It pleases me greatly and I am eager to relate to you the truth of the lay called Chevrefoil, and to say why it was composed and how.

In the case of M ilun, Marie's concern with the exact prove­ nance of the lai seems quickly to be forgotten. Apart from Chevrefoil, the only lay of which the birth forms an integral 29

The Lais of Marie de France

part of the structure of the text is Chaitivel, a fact which may explain its position in the Harley collection. Geographically Chevrefoil recalls Milun. Exiled by King Mark, Tristram spends a year "En Suhtwales, u il fu nez" (v. 16). At the end of the year he makes his way to Cornwall, the home of his beloved (Iseut, like Guinevere in Lanval, is not named in the text). The particular meeting recounted in Chevrefoil takes place between Iseut's normal residence, which is not specified, and Tintagel, apparently about a day's journey away (vv. 47-48). After the meeting Tristram returns to Wales (v. 105). Specula­ tion concerning the origin of Marie's tale is otiose, but we must observe that Marie claims both to have heard and read about the tribulations of Tristram and the queen: "Plusurs le me unt cunté e dit / E jeo l'ai trové en escrit" (vv. 5-6). The lay has currency amongst speakers of French and of English: "Gotelef l'apelent en engleis, / Chevrefoil le nument Franceis," vv. 1 1 5 16). The term gotelef is the second of the English words used by Marie, the first, nihtegale, occurring in Laiistic (v. 6).73 I think that it is highly likely that Eliduc, the last lay in the Harley manuscript, was the last lay composed by Marie. Eliduc does not appear in any of the other extant collections, includ­ ing the Old Norse translations, and Marie may have written it to round off the collection she had decided to present to Henry II. Although perhaps occasionally rather dull, it is a mature poem which stands out from the rest by virtue of its length, being around three hundred lines longer than its nearest rival Guigemar. The length may constitute a deliberate compensa­ tion for the brevity of Chevrefoil. Beginning with Guigem ar and Equitan (a total of 1200 lines) the collection ends with the 1302 line pairing of Chevrefoil and Eliduc. These pairings are separated by four shorter groupings: Le Fresne and Bisclavret, 836 lines; Lanval and Deus Am anz, 890 lines,- Yonec and Laiistic, 7 14 lines; and M ilun and Chaitivel, 776 lines). More­ over, the two fundamental preoccupations of the Lais are prob­ ably love and justice. If Chevrefoil presents love in its most perfect form, it also exhibits a total lack of justice. The lovers 30

The Problem of Internal Chronology

are condemned to die without any prolonged period of bliss (cf. vv. 8-10). It is the only one of the lays from the second group which does not end harmoniously and Marie presumably did not wish to conclude her collection with tears ("Mes quant ceo vient al desevrer, / Dune comenc[er]ent a plurer," vv. 10 3-4 ).74 But only the supernatural or a superhuman effort could trans­ form feudal reality into a framework for love and happiness. The story of Eliduc provided Marie with the startling act of charity, so often lacking in the other lays, which she required for the conclusion to her collection and as a link with the mag­ nanimity of her earlier heroine, Le Fresne. Geographically Eliduc offers few surprises, but it is closest to Guigemar in topography. Eliduc is a Breton knight (v. 5) and he is presented as a loyal servant of the "Reis de Brutaine la m einur" (v. 30). In Guigem ar (v. 315) Marie also uses the ex­ pression Bretaine la meinur. This suggests that when compos­ ing these lays in Britain she experienced the need to differenti­ ate clearly between Britain and Brittany. Like Lanval and Marie herself, Eliduc is subject to envy (v. 41). He falls into disfavour and is banished. He makes his way to the kingdom of Loengre (v. 69), a term which occurs again in verse 10 7 1, in the form Logres. His port of entry is Totnes (the form is Toteneis in v. 88) in Devon.75 From there he proceeds to Exeter (Excestre in v. 91), a distance of 24 miles, where he meets Guilliadun, daugh­ ter of a local king. Her name, in spite of its Germanic ap­ pearance, is probably Celtic. In the text it occurs five times in the form Guilliadun (vv. 17, 294, 470, 589, 812) and once as Gualadun in the passage in which, as in the case of Chaitivel and Chevrefoil, Marie is concerned with the title of the lay: D'eles deus ad li lai a nun Guildelüec ha Gualadun. Elidus fu primes nomez, Mes ore est li nun remüez, Kar des dames est avenu. (vv. 2 1 - 2 5 )

31

The Lais of Marie de France From these two the lay of Guildeliiec and Guilliadun takes its name. It was first called Eliduc, but now the name has been changed, because of what happened to the ladies.

The use of the Breton conjunction ha "and" in verse 22 sug­ gests a Breton source in accorda .- e .ith Marie's own attribu­ tion ("De un mut ancien lai bretun / Le cunte e tute la reisun / Vus dirai," vv. 1 —3; "De l'aventure de ces treis / Li auntïen Bretun curteis / Firent le lai pur reim • ihrer," vv. 1 1 8 1 —83). The name Guildelüec, which belongs to Eliduc's first wife, occurs in the text, in addition to verse 22, only once (v. 20). It too is doubtless Celtic, as is the name Eliduc. It has been suggested that the expression de utre m er in verse 486 is a further indica­ tion that Marie was writing in England. The passage reads as follows: Li reis est del manger levez, As chambres sa fille est entrez. As eschés cumence a jüer A un chevaler de utre mer. (vv. 48 3-8 6 ) The king rose from his meal, and entered his daughter's bedroom. Fie begins to play chess with a knight from overseas.

The expression de utre m er has been interpreted by Del Monte and Raugei as "French," and by Hertz as "who has returned home from the Crusades."76 The idea of the king playing chess with a knight of non-British origin, or with one who has trav­ elled overseas, is interesting as an indication of Marie's ac­ quaintance with the activities of a British court and with the individuals one might find there. As with many another pas­ 32

The Problem of Internal Chronology

sage in the Lais, there is a ring of truth about a minor point of detail. My contention is that in general Marie wrote of the things she knew. The stories she told had some personal impact on her. They corresponded to her feelings about life, to her indi­ vidual needs and those of her audience. Whether we should follow the suggestions of E. A. Francis and see dynastic con­ cerns or fam ily stories in a good many of the lays is another matter.77 Were the names in Le Fresne or the story itself cho­ sen to appeal to nobles whose fam ily name was Fresnes or Fresneys? Was La Coudre the daughter of the lord of the village of Coudre in the parish of Saint-Méloir des Oudes near Dol (hence the intervention of the archbishop of Dol, whose arch­ bishopric was under threat as early as 1173)? Is Milun to be identified with a real person, such as Miles of Gloucester, who possessed lands in South Wales and who married Sybil, daugh­ ter of Bernard of Neufmarche? (Miles' grandfather was Roger of Pistre, whose descendants both in France and Britain would have been interested in a tale concerning Pitres.)78 Certainly by the time Marie composed her lays, a good number of French families had branches and relatives on both sides of the Channel. One such fam ily was the Beaumonts, who held lands in France and in Britain. Waleran, Count of Beaumont, was also Count of Meulan and Earl of Worcester. His twin brother had the earldom of Leicester and another brother became Earl of Bedford.79 Urban T. Homes thought that Waleran's eighth child, Marie de Beaumont, may have been Marie de France.80 Marie de Beaumont married Hugh Talbot, Baron of Cleuville, who held lands in Hereford and Buckinghamshire. This Marie, born at Saint-Germain-en-Laye, seems to have been brought up about thirty miles from Pitres. The fief of Meulan was in the French Vexin and Beaumont was one of the Norman baronies belonging to Waleran's father. But in 116 6 , when Waleran died, Marie was no more than sixteen years old, which tends to rule her out as a possible Marie de France, who 33

The Lais of Marie de France

was probably somewhat older than Marie de Beaumont, per­ haps even twenty years older. But Marie de France was doubt­ less a member of a sim ilar fam ily with connections in sundry places. Because of Marie's connections, she could have composed six of the lays in the Harley collection in France, possibly in the order Equitan, Chaitivel, Bisclavret, Le Fresne, Deus Amanz, and Laiistic, and later in the west of England or South Wales she could have written Lanval, Yonec, Guigemar, Milun, Chevrefoil, and Eliduc.Hl The "French" stories would be the product of oral transmission, as she tells us in the prologues to Equitan ("Un en firent, ceo oi cunter," v. 9) and C haitivel ("Talent me prist de remembrer / un lai dunt jo oï parler," v. 1-2). The "Brit­ ish" tales, generally more substantial (C hevrefoil, by far the shortest, contains the only reference to an oral source, v. 5), would be based on written texts (cf. Guigemar, v. 23, and Chevrefoil, v. 6). On completing Eliduc, which ends on a note of parfit’amur (v. 1150 ) and the commitment of the self to the service of God, Marie probably wrote the Prologue and dedi­ cated the entire collection, begun in the late 1 1 50s, to Henry II, perhaps shortly before or not long after 117 0 .82

34

CHAPTER TWO

Two Cases of m esu re (Equitan, vv. 18 —19; Deus Amanz, vv. 178 -79 )

The Lais of Marie de France contain twelve examples of mesure or related forms: Gelus esteit a desmesure.

(Guigemar, v. 213)

Le plet i fet en teu m esure: N u le fem m e nel desfereit,

Si force u cutel n'i meteit.

(ibid., vv. 564-66)

Kar bele esteit a demesure.

(ibid., v. 708)

A li parlai en teu mesure: "Amie, duce creature, Estes vus ceo, dites mei veir!"

(ibid., vv. 8 1 5 - 1 7 )

Que d'amur n'unt sen e mesure. Tels est la mesure de amer.

(Equitan, v. 18) (ibid., v. 19)

Ele parla en teu mesure, Kar de demurer nen ot cure.

(Lanval, vv. 6 1 3 - 1 4 )

Kar n'ot en lui point de mesure.

(Deus Amanz, v. 179)

Sa beuté pert en teu mesure Cume cele que n'en ad cure.

[Yonec, vv. 4 7-4 8 )

Mes tel mesure esgardez Que nus ne seium encumbrez.

(ibid., vv. 2 0 1-2 )

Mut est dolente a demesure.

[Milun, v. 130)

Il en prist mesurablement.

(Eliduc, v. 647 )1 35

The Lais of Marie de France

If we set aside Equitan, vv. 18 - 1 9 , this list offers us four occur­ rences of the term m esure in the sense of "manner, way" (in each case the phrase is en teu m esure "in this way, in the fol­ lowing way," Guigemar, vv. 564, 8 15; Lanval, v. 613,- Yonec, v. 47), two examples with the meaning "restraint, moderation" [Yonec, v. 201; Deus Am anz, v. 179), one case of the adverb m esurablem ent, and three of the locution a desm esure (i.e. estre + adjective + a desmesure, or adjective + estre + a desmesure).2 The adjectives used with a desm esure can denote both a concept to which Marie is hostile (gelus in Guigemar, v. 213) or those to which she is sympathetic [bele in Guigemar, v. 708; dolente in Milun, v. 130). Ewert's translation "im m od­ erately, excessively" is thus not appropriate for verse 708 of Guigem ar or for verse 130 of Milun, in which the expression a desmesure does not have a pejorative connotation.3 The examples in Equitan present more difficulty. The full quotation reads: Equitan fu mut de grant pris E mut amez en sun païs; Déduit amout e drüerie: Pur ceo maintint chevalerie. Cil met(ent) lur vie en nu[n]cure Que d'amur n'unt sen e mesure; Tels est la mesure de amer Que nul n'i deit reisun garder. (vv. 13 -2 0 )

Earlier editors (Roquefort, Warnke, Hoepffner) preferred to adopt in verse 18 the reading d ’amer from manuscript S. But Ewert and Neri, the first editors to retain d ’amur (manuscript H), have been followed in all subsequent editions. Some editors (e.g. Warnke, Hoepffner, and Rychner) emend sen e m esure to sen ne m esure (manuscript S, sens ne mesure). Neither correc­ tion is necessary to an understanding of the text. The difficult lines 17 - 2 0 are translated by Ewert as: "Those take little thought for their life who show neither wisdom nor modera­ 36

Two Cases of mesure

tion in love. Yet such is the rule of love that none (of its vo­ taries) is fated to heed reason." The expression aveir sen(s) de aucune rien is here interpreted by Ewert as "to show wisdom in something" and likewise the phrase aveir m esure de aucune rien is understood as meaning "to show moderation in something." Furthermore we can note that in Ewert's view Marie is using the term mesure in two different senses, rendered respectively by "moderation" and the somewhat ambiguous "rule" (the glossary gives "m easure" for this second example). Ewert's interpretation also requires a conjunction to facilitate the transition from verse 18 to verse 19. Rychner understands the passage in a similar way, opting to keep in Modern French the term m esure for both examples: "Ils se négligent eux-mêmes, ceux qui n'observent ni sagesse ni mesure dans l'amour; mais la mesure de l'amour, c'est que chacun y perde la tête." Jonin, however, prefers to avoid the element of ambiguity present in the expression "la mesure de l'am our" and he offers us the following version: "Ils ne se sou­ cient pas de leur vie ceux qui par amour n'ont ni sagesse ni loi. Car la loi même de l'amour veut que tout homme soit destiné à perdre la tête."4 Unfortunately, these translations tend to suggest that M a­ rie's statement here makes little sense. Are we being told that moderation in love is both essential and impossible? Stevens interprets the lines as indicating that: "You cannot be happy in love unless you are moderate; but love admits of no modera­ tion."5 Perhaps we should search for a hidden meaning— the lover finds him self in a paradoxical world, aware of the impor­ tance of moderation, but ensnared by a force to which modera­ tion is a stranger. Faced with this, a slight paraphrase, such as we find in Hanning-Ferrante's version, is understandable: "Whoever indulges in love without sense or moderation reck­ lessly endangers his life; such is the nature of love that no one involved with it can keep his head." Hoepffner, followed by Rychner and other scholars, com­ pares verses 1 7 - 1 8 of Equitan with a passage from the Eneas: 37

T h e Lais of M a rie de F ra n ce

De sa vie n'a al mes cure: Amors nen a sens ne mesure. (vv. 1 8 8 1 -8 2 ) 6

But it should be noticed, whether or not Marie had these lines in mind, that the syntax of the two passages is not identical. In the case of Eneas, verse 1882, the expressions aveir sens and aveir mesure are used absolutely and negatively. Am ors is the subject of the verb aveir (''Love knows no sense or modera­ tion"), not some form of complement or part of an adverbial phrase. The merit of the quotation from the Eneas lies in the association of the terms sens and mesure. But this association, attested as early as the Chanson de Roland ("Kar vasselage par sens nen est folie, / Mielz valt mesure que ne fait estultie," vv. 1724-25), occurs elsewhere in contemporary literature. To this example can be added:

Sages de senz e de m esure.

(Roman de Thèbes, vv. 33 53- S 4, cf- vv. 354748)

One plus corteis ne manja pain. De sen e de bele mesure Sormontot tote creature.

(Roman de Troie, vv. S3 5 6 -5 8 , portrait of Hector)

M il chevaliers bons par nature,

Sens e m esure, icest pareil,

Deivuit estre nostre conseil.

(ibid., vv. 6 13 5 - 3 6 )

Se il m esfait, qu'en puet il m ais,

Quant cil li tout sen e mesure.

(ibid., vv. 18 4 4 4 -4 5)

De tos se venge coiement, Et non pas sorsalïem ent,

Mais tot par sens et par mesure.

(Ille et Galeron, vv. 4 15 0 -5 2 )

Or doit chascuns savoir son pechie et sa pure Et se doit porpenser par senz et par m esure Et nar confession oster sa m espresure. 38

(Les Vers de Thibaud de Marly, w . 5 3 9 - 4 1 ) 7

Two Cases of mesure

The fact that the terms sens and m esure are linked together in this way suggests that their semantic fields overlap more than one might suspect at first sight. Indeed, it often seems that mesure is closer in meaning to "understanding" or "sensi­ ble behaviour" than to "moderation, restraint." This is perhaps not surprising in view of the basic meanings of mesurer and mesure which continue the Latin mensurare, mensura, denot­ ing the assessment of quantity, size, or extent, in other words an understanding of the basic characteristics of an object.8 There are several examples of mesure in Old French in which the sensible nature of the action involved is at issue: Mes qui porroit cerchier et querre Qu'il partissent entr'ex la terre, Que chascuns eüst sa droiture, Ice seroit senz et mesure. (Thèbes, vv. 4 357 -6 0 ) Puis que nos vient tel aventure, De retorner est bien mesure. (ibid., vv. 5259-60) Toi, ne dire, n'est pas mesure; Femme est plus foible par nature. [Eneas, vv. 9 8 7 3-7 4 ) Quar ç'avient bien e est mesure, Que li mort aient sepouture. (Troie, vv. 24 9 4 3-4 4 ) Ci ferons fin, bien est mesure. (ibid., v. 30301)

G. Raynaud de Lage is certainly right to gloss the example in verse 5260 of the Thèbes as "sagesse." Mesure in Troie, verse 24943, is glossed by Constans as "justice." In the well-known example from the Chanson de Roland ("M ielz valt mesure que ne fait estultie," v. 1725) the meaning is "caution, prudence" rather than "moderation." 39

The Lais of Marie de France

It may well be that the expressions aveir sen(s) de aucune rien and aveir mesure de aucune rien are so close in meaning that one could consider them as synonymous. The sense of these expressions is perhaps ''to have an understanding of, be aware of the true nature of." There is an example in the Le Mans Song of Songs of the expression savoir la m esure des choses "to understand things, to have the measure of things": Ne seit des choses la mesure, Se crient par tot entrepresure. (v. 2 5 7 7 —78)y

A possible translation of Equitan, verses 1 7 - 1 8 , would therefore be: "They who do not have a full comprehension and under­ standing of love show no thought for their lives." The following lines would constitute an explanation of this statement: "Such is the way (or nature) of love that no one under its sway (2) can retain command over his reason." There is now no need for an expletive "yet" or "m ais," or for us to seek a hidden meaning behind the apparent obscurity of the text. There is certainly, however, a play on words, as Hanning-Ferrante point out (p. 6o), the term m esure being used in two different senses. The exam­ ple in verse 19 offers us a fifth case of the meaning "way." M anu­ script S, in which verse 20 reads Nus n ’i puet m esure garder, carries the play on words a stage further. How does this interpretation fit in with the total meaning of the lay? Firstly it must be said that Equitan is more than an illustration of what Hoepffner calls the "banale vérité" stated by Marie at the end of the lay: "Tel purcace le mal d'autrui / Dunt le mais [tut] revert sur lu i" (309 -10).10 It is a representa­ tion of the destructive power of love, when the characters are not protected and aided by some form of divine or supernatural power, as they are in lays such as Guigem ar and Yonec. R. T. Pickens stresses, rightly in my view, that it is not the quality of the love between Equitan and the seneschal's wife that is at stake, but the context of this love.11 Given the circumstances 40

Two Cases of mesure

it should never have existed. Equitan seeks the love of a lady whose husband is possessed of all the courtly virtues and who is discharging judicial and administrative responsibilities with greater conscientiousness than is manifested by Equitan in ful­ filling his royal functions: Equitan ot un seneschal, Bon chevaler, pruz e leal; Tute sa tere li gardoit E meinteneit e justisoit. (vv. 2 1-2 4 ) Li seneschal la curt teneit, Les plaiz e les clamurs oieit. (vv. 19 5-9 6 )

What Marie seems to be saying in this lay is not that Equitan should have shown moderation in his love affair with the sene­ schal's wife, but that he should have been more aware of the character of love, which takes away from its victim reisun (v. 20), sens (v. 58) and cointise (v. 58). Equitan's success in seduc­ ing his vassal's wife leads to a situation in which his kingdom loses a well-liked ruler and is more vulnerable to attack from outside forces. I cannot follow Pickens when he says that "it is the destiny of Equitan . . . to be destroyed by fatal love" (p. 365). Except in as far as his pleasure-loving disposition makes it likely that he w ill be attracted to a lady of peerless beauty ("El rëaume n'aveit sa per," v. 37), Equitan is not forced to fall in love. The text makes it quite clear that he makes a conscious effort to seek out this love. The element of fate enters the pic­ ture later, when Equitan is "suspris" (v. 59) by the power of love. Ewert and Jonin are right to interpret deit in verse 20 as indicating destiny, rather than just a "fait habituel" (Rychner's interpretation). If Equitan were destined to love the seneschal's wife, the theoretical statement in verses 1 7 - 1 8 , however one translates it, would have no function in the lay. The remark that "C il metent lur vie en nuncure / Que d'amur n'unt sen e 41

The Lais of Marie de France

mesure" suggests a warning and a call to action. If one under­ stands the danger of love one can avoid its ultimate conse­ quence— death.12 Bédier saw in verses 19 -2 0 of Equitan the sum of Marie's sim plistic theory of love, "le contraire de la théorie chevaleresque et courtoise, selon laquelle on ne doit parvenir à l'amour que grâce aux règles réfléchies de la stratégie sentimentale et par l'exercice de la raison."13 For my part I should not underestimate the cerebral element in Marie's view of love, an element illustrated by Equitan perhaps better than by any other lay. Sen e m esure (v. 18), sens e cointise (v. 58), sen e valur (v. 139), three expressions containing wide-ranging terms, combine to emphasise the necessity to understand love and perhaps triumph over its temptations and its dangers. There are two passages in the Lais in which the term mesure could be interpreted as "m oderation" (Deus Amanz, v. 179, and Yonec, v. 201). In both Yonec and the Deus Am anz the concept of mesure has considerable structural importance which has been fully recognised by commentators.14 In Yonec the lady is asked by Muldumarec to esgarder mesure in order to safeguard their love and to preserve them from the prying eyes of the old man's sister: "M es tele mesure esgardez Que nus ne seium encumbrez Ceste vielle nus traira, [E| nuit e jur nus gaitera." (vv. 2 0 1-4 )

In entreating his beloved to pay close attention to the dictates of mesure, Muldumarec is asking her not to indulge in foolish or over-hasty actions, such as those perpetrated by Lanval (vv. 288-90), the lady in Laiistic (vv. 1 1 2 - 1 4 ) and the lover in C haitivel (vv. 119 -2 0 ). Mesure is prudence as much as modera­ tion. But the role of m esure in the Deus Am anz has been vari­ ously interpreted and it could perhaps still benefit from a reconsideration. 42

Two Cases of mesure

As he begins the ascent of the mountain, the dam isel en­ trusts his strength-giving potion to his amie. Marie's comment is as follows: Mes jo creim que poi (ne) li vaille, Kar n'ot en lui point de mesure. (vv. 1 7 8 - 7 9 )

Critics have attached varying degrees of importance to the ab­ sence of m esure on the part of the young man. For Hoepffner Marie has given us here the key to the entire understanding of the poem: "La 'démesure,' le vieux thème sur lequel repose déjà la Chanson de Roland, le reproche le plus grave qu'on pût faire alors aux héros courtois, la faute qui entraîne aux pires catastro­ phes. Je ne crois pas que Marie ait voulu dire autre chose et plus que cela. A l'amour clairvoyant et raisonnable de la jeune fille elle oppose la passion violente, irraisonnée, démesurée de l'amant, au bon sens de l'une la folle impatience de l'autre."15 Moshé Lazar agrees. Quoting verses 17 8 -7 9 he writes: "Voilà le vrai nœud du lai: l ’absence de m esure . . . Tout excès d'amour est une folie. Il aveugle la raison." In overestimating his own strength the lover commits in Lazar's view the sin of pride: "C 'est ce péché d'orgueil qui rend cet amour tragique." M ickel also sees the young man's faith in his beloved as "not great enough to overcome his prideful 'démesure.' " D. Fasciano crit­ icizes the young man for "sa vanité et ses faiblesses."16 Other critics have stressed in their interpretation the lover's unwillingness to cheat. In Hoepffner's words: "Le jeune homme ne veut devoir sa conquête qu'à lui-même, à ses propres forces, sans aide étrangère et sans artifice."17 In 1894 Clédat had w rit­ ten of "le breuvage surnaturel que l'amant repousse sans cesse dans une héroïque folie, ne voulant devoir qu'à lui-même l'objet de son amour."18 Hoepffner, however, categorizes such a view as "poétique" and insists, as we have seen, that we interpret the lay in terms of the concept of démesure. But more recently, J. Ste­ vens, following Jeanne Lods, has stressed that the Deus Am anz 43

The Lais of Marie de France

is not an illustration of the foolishness of dém esure.19 To in­ terpret the lay in the light of verses 17 8 -7 9 is for Stevens to "take too moral a tone" (p. 2). He considers that "the element of reckless courage . . . , of aspiring self-assurance, which goes be­ yond the bounds of common sense, is an essential characteristic of 'the hero who serves for lo v e '" (ibid.). Stevens is impressed not by the young man's lack of common sense but by "the inner logic of his imaginative ecstasy" (p. 3). As they lie together on the top of the mountain, symbol of the world and its obstacles, the lovers bear witness to the defeat they have inflicted on this world. The critical dilemma would thus seem to be: are we to condemn the lover, as Marie seems to have done, and to wish that he had won an artificial victory, or should we reject what Marie has said and attribute another cause to the young man's decision not to drink the potion? The text of the Deus A m anz tells us that the dam isel and the young girl love each other (vv. 3, 55, 61, 64) and that this love is loyal (v. 64), a key concept in Marie's ethic of love. The love would appear to be fully in accord with Marie's prescription for perfect love. There is particular stress on the intensity of the young man's feelings, his frequent entreaties (vv. 56-58), his suffering and frustration (vv. 68-78), his delight at returning with the potion (vv. 143-45), etc. Nowhere are we told that the love is excessive, unless we interpret verse 179 as a condemna­ tion of immoderate love on the part of the dam isel. Thus we are probably led to question Leo Spitzer's interpretation of the death of the lovers as "die Folge von zu viel Liebe" and Moshé Lazar's remark that "tout excès d'amour est une folie." It is the father's love for his daughter which could be considered exces­ sive and foolish. Nor does Marie mention the young man's orgueil, which was a strong, anti-social concept at this time. Only on one occasion in the Lais does Marie criticize a person for "pride": "Kar ele ert feinte e orguilluse / E mesdisante e envïuse" {Le Fresne, vv. 27-28). It seems inconceivable that Marie would attribute the sin of pride to her principal male 44

Two Cases of mesure

character and then allow him a permanent memorial alongside his beloved.20 The untenable nature of Lazar's accusation of orgueil has al­ ready been underlined by Jeanne Wathelet-Willem who consid­ ers that a "rupture psychologique" occurs in the young man's behaviour as he mounts the hill.21 The sudden change is ex­ plained by Wathelet-Willem in terms of the joie experienced by the dam isel and instilled in him, at least in part, by the young girl's semi-nudity ("Li reis ad sa fille menee. / N'ot drap vestu fors la chemise," Deus Am anz, vv. 172-73). The term joie itself (v. 182) denotes in Wathelet-Willem's view "exaltation amour­ euse": "Bien plus que de vanité, il conviendrait de parler d'en­ ivrement amoureux pour expliquer la démesure" (pp. 11 52- 53) . This stress on the concept of joie is surely correct. The text makes it clear that the young man's feeling of joie plays a crucial part in the events: Od li s'en veit grant aleiire, Le munt munta de si qu'en mi. Pur la joie qu'il ot de li De sun beivre ni li membra. (vv. 18 0 -8 3)

Editors such as Ewert and Warnke, who place a full stop at the end of verse 18 1 (verse 1 9 1 m Warnke), see the joie as the rea­ son why the dam isel forgets his potion. Rychner has no punc­ tuation at all in this passage and thus leaves the matter open. But to get halfway up the hill without the aid of the potion is an achievement in itself and this feat requires an explanation. The initial success experienced by the young man can perhaps be attributed to joie and we could punctuate as follows: Od li s'en veit grant aleiire. Le munt munta de si qu'en mi, Pur la joie qu'il ot de li. De sun beivre ne li membra. 45

The Lais of Marie de France

I should, however, prefer to see the joie explained not as de­ riving from the sensual presence of the beloved, but rather as a feeling of happiness induced by her proximity. The scanty clothing worn by the young girl is probably to be regarded sim ­ ply as a weight-reducing device. Moreover, there are other pas­ sages in the Lais which suggest a close connection between joie and the sight or presence of the loved one. When in Guigemar the lovers are reunited, we read: E li chevalers la retient . . . Ore est sa joie revenue. (vv. 832, 835)

The lovers in Lanval, Yonec, and Chevrefoil experience a sim ­ ilar feeling of joie when they see each other: Mut ot Lanval joie e déduit: U seit par jur u seit par nuit, S'amie peot veer sovent. (Lanval, vv. 2 1 5 - 1 7 ) Pur la grant joie u ele fu, Que ot suvent pur veer sun dru, Esteit tut sis semblanz changez. {Yonec, vv. 2 2 5 - 2 7 ) Pur la joie qu'il ot eüe De s'amie qu'il ot veüe. (Chevrefoil, vv. 107- 8)

foie in the Lais seems to be an intense feeling of contentment stimulated by the satisfactory turn of events. Although it can designate or imply sexual pleasure [Yonec, v. 2 7 1; Chaitivel, v. 220), the term joie normally sums up the lover's reaction to love itself [Guigemar, v. 523; Equitan, v. 140; Lanval, v. 122), to the attitude of the loved one (E liduc, v. 960), or, as we have seen, to the fact that the lovers are together. Spurred on by the intense pleasure of being with her and knowing that he is loved, the dam isel carries his beloved half46

Two Cases of mesure

way up the mountain. The reference to the halfway mark re­ calls an earlier passage in which we are told that only the most exceptionally determined suitors reached that point: Teus [i ot] que tant s'esforçouent Que en mi le munt la portoënt. (Deus Amanz, vv. 4 3 -4 4 )

It is precisely at this halfway point that Marie mentions the potion. Verse 183 ("De sun beivre ne li membra") recalls verse 169 ("Sun beivre n'i ublia mie") and underlines the fact that events were not turning out as expected. It could not in fact have been anticipated that he would reach even this stage un­ aided. Thus it is probably better to speak of a change of plan on the part of the dam isel rather than of a "rupture psychologi­ que." We know that he is a dynamic youth (vv. 51-52), funda­ mentally sensible ("Tant est sages, pruz e beus," v. 74), but prone to oscillate between caution (vv. 68-70, 80-83) and hot­ headedness (vv. 76-77). Although not a person who resorts easily to trickery (the idea of the potion is the girl's), he w ill do so in order to alleviate his suffering: "Anguissusement li requist / Que s'en alast ensemble od lui, / Ne poeit mes suffrir l'enui" (vv. 76-78). His initial success, due to the power of his feelings and his rapid start (grant aleiire, v. 180), probably gives him new heart. He decides to press on unaided. His failure to drink the potion is the product of an unexpected victory. More­ over, at no time does Marie inform us that he was to drink the potion automatically. The potion would revive him when he was "travaillez," "ateint," "chargiez" (vv. 135-36 ). The young man's error, his failure to exercise mesure, stems from a m is­ calculation, a misreading of the situation. In his own opinion his strength had not failed ("Bele, jo sent tut fort mun quer," v. 189). Kristine Brightenback is correct when she writes of "in ­ completely understood lim itations."22 The second half of the climb was bound to be more demanding than the first. To ig­ nore the girl's second warning and to keep going with such dog­ 47

The Lais of Marie de France

ged determination turned out to have been a serious misjudge­ ment. Again we see that m esure is very close to the notion of com­ mon sense or understanding. As in Roland, verse 1725, it is the opposite of risk-taking rather than of the avoidance of ex­ tremes. To see a total opposition between dém esure and raison or to insist that Marie is condemning the lover for his foolish­ ness is to oversimplify the problem treated in this lay. Contem­ porary courtly literature does not present an unalloyed denun­ ciation of démesure. There is an interesting case in the Roman de Thèbes, which shows us that lack of mesure, undertaking a task which one cannot complete, is a natural failing of youth, a mark of instability of temperament: As ostieux s'en corent armer Et li rois as portes fermer. Il meïsmes en fu portiers, Ne mist serjanz ne chevaliers; Des jouvenciax sot la nature, Qu'en eulz n'avoit point de mesure: Crient que tel jeu conmencissont Que achever ne pouïssont. (vv. 3 7 i9 - 2 6 ) 2î

The fact that the only example of the term point in the Lais occurs in the Deus Am anz suggests that Marie may have had this passage from the Thèbes in mind. The sim ilarity of syntax is quite striking: Kar n'ot en lui point de mesure.

(Deus Amanz, v. 179)

Qu'en culz n'avoit point de mesure.

(Thèbes, v. 3724)

The Deus Am anz deals with the overcoming of obstacles— the girl's father, the mountain (which participates in a false cou­ tume: "Sortit esteit e destiné . . . ," v. 35), the lover's apparent lack of strength, etc.24 The absence of mesure, a young person's tendency to take unnecessary risks, is another obstacle and one which proves fatal. But, although serious enough to cause two 48

Two Cases of mesure

deaths and to thwart the father's intention to keep his daughter for himself, the lover's lack of mesure is not without its positive side. I think W. Noomen is wrong to see the m oti­ vation of the young man's conduct as "une tentative irration­ nelle d'auto-destruction," divorced from any normal psycho­ logical causation, and to categorize his rejection of the belov­ ed's entreaties as unnatural.25 I do not think that Marie's pub­ lic would have taken this view of the dam isel’s desire to con­ tinue his progress unaided. The lover's death would probably not have been regarded primarily as a victory over the moun­ tain and the world (as Stevens suggests), but the positive aspect of the démesure may well, as Stevens and Lods have stressed, have loomed large in reactions to this lay. Serving as an illustra­ tion of the "triomphe de l'amour," the Deus Am anz tells a touching story of perfect love between two young and unat­ tached people.26 Like the Laüstic in its chasse (Laiistic, vv. 148-56) and the lai in Chaitivel, the flowers, the tomb and in particular the mountain, now named the "münz des Deus Am anz" (v. 242), act as a perpetual reminder of a memorable event. As in the Roland there is an element of self-sacrifice for a cause, a sense of victory in defeat. The Deus Am anz is by no means a denunciation of pride and démesure. Pierre Jonin is doubtless right when he suggests that Marie's comment, "I am afraid that it [the potion] w ill be of little use to him " (v. 178), is merely a storyteller's wish to "faire passer chez ses lecteurs ou auditeurs un frisson de crainte."27 On her part this crainte is purely "fictive" (Jonin, p. 192) and is not to be regarded as an emotional reaction to events or specifically as a condemnation of the young man's behaviour. Ignoring risks and danger is a prerogative of youth, as J. Ribard has pointed out.28 But Ribard still sees Marie's personal intervention in verses 17 8 -7 9 as "l'enseignement ultime de l'œ uvre" (p. 589). It is never easy to pronounce on the ultimate lesson to be gained from any great work of literature. But Marie's poem seems to have more to say about love and life than about dém esure and death.

49

CHAPTER

THREE

"El nés pot mie tuz amer . . (C h aitivel, vv. 17 -2 8 )

The lay of Chaitivel, found only in the Harley manu­ script, opens with a short prologue in which Marie expresses her desire to set down for posterity a lay of which she has heard. She w ill relate the aventure, name the city in which the lay originated and discuss its title, because two titles are cur­ rently attributed to the poem, says Marie, C haitivel and Les Quatre Deuls (vv. 1-8). The narrative begins with the line "En Bretaine a Nantes m aneit" (v. 9) which leads straight into the description of the heroine, "a lady distinguished by her beauty, education and good breeding. There existed no knight in the region with any merit at all who would not have fallen in love with her at first sight and wooed her" (vv. 10 -16 ). The passage which follows presents certain difficulties.1 It reads in E wert's edition: El nés pot mie tuz amer Ne ele nes vot mie tüer. Tutes les dames de une tere Vendreit [il] meuz d'amer requere Que un fol de sun pan tolir; Kar cil volt an eire ferir. La dame fait a celui gre De suz la bone volunté; Purquant, s'ele nés veolt oïr,

50

"El nes pot mie tuz amer . . ." Nés deit de paroles leidir, Mes enurer e tenir chier, A gre servir e mercier.

(vv. 17-28) On only three occasions in this passage does Ewert modify the readings of the Harley manuscript: el for ele in verse 17, the addition of il in verse 20 and the omission of le in verse 22 (kar cil le volt). In each case the aim is to produce a regular oc­ tosyllabic line. Other editors show less respect for the Harley text. Warnke's 1925 edition has eighteen emendations and Rychner makes eleven. In their recent translation of the Lais Robert Hanning and Joan Ferrante maintain in a note that this passage from Chaitivel "has never been satisfactorily explained" (p. 181). They translate the passage as follows: She could not love them all, But she didn't want to refuse them either. It would be better to seek the love of all the ladies in one land than to separate a single fool from his rag, for he wants to strike out at once. The lady grants her favor according to her goodwill; however, if she doesn't want to hear someone, she shouldn't abuse him with words but honor him, hold him dear, serve his pleasure and be grateful.

In his notes Alfred Ewert offers a translation of verses 19 -2 4 which differs on a number of points from the Hanning-Ferrante version: "It would be more fitting (profitable) to sue for the love of all the ladies of a land than to deprive a fool (half-wit) of his gleanings (lit. booty), for he is minded to strike straightway. The lady (on the other hand] shows favour towards him [who sues] under [the behests of] good-will. Yet, if she does not wish 51

The Lais of Marie de France

to heed them [who sue], she must not abuse them with her words. . . ." Ewert adds that 'The testimony of the sole MS. (H) does not enable us to establish with certainty exactly what the author meant" (p. 182). The following pages aim to review the principal difficulties presented by the passage and to offer a tentative translation.

Verse 18 The form tuer

The Hanning-Ferrante translation "refuse" is based on the reading reuser, an emendation found, they claim, "in Warnke's text." But this reading occurs only in the little used second edi­ tion of 1900 (= Warnke 2). The first edition of 1885 (= Warnke i ) offers the reading veer. The third edition (= Warnke 3 ) reverts to tuer, the restoration of which was demanded by G. Paris in his review of Warnke's first edition, on the grounds that "rien n'est plus simple . . . 'La dame . . . ne voulait pas non plus les tuer.' " 2 However, even if one maintains the form tuer, its meaning is not entirely clear. Cuenca has the lovers dying of grief ("pero tampoco queria matarlos de dolor") and certainly the notion of dying under the stress of thwarted love is a com­ monplace of the time: e.g. Equitan, v. 174: "N e me laissez pur vus m ûrir!" (see also v. 114); Guigemar, vv. 4 0 3-4 : "S'ele refuse ma prïere / E tant seit orgoilluse e fiere, / Dune m'estuet [il] a doel m ûrir" (see also vv. 503-4).3 But the verb tuer, when it means "to kill," seems to suggest a violent attack, probably with some form of weapon. In the only other example of this verb in the Lais, the death is that of the weasel in Eliduc, beaten to death by Guildeliiec's servant: "De un bastun qu'il tint la tua" (v. 1036). The act of striking seems to be at least as important as the notion of death. An early example from Gaimar's Estoire des Engleis indicates that tuer and ocire are not identical in meaning: "Treis en ocist, dous en tuad / E al 52

"El nes pot mie tuz amer . . ."

sist[e] le poin trenchad" (vv. 5 4 1- 4 2 ).4 It does not seem likely that tuer here means "to kill." B. Foster points to the pos­ sibility that the meaning is "to wound," an idea based on Con­ stans' attribution of this meaning to verse 16 28 1 of the Roman de Troie ("Plaié se sont e si tüé / Que del champ en furent porté"). Foster sees a possible link between such a meaning and our passage in Chaitivel, in which he translates tuer as "to scorn, hurt the feelings of a suitor" (p. 112), and he draws a useful parallel with two lines from the multilingual descort of Raimbaut de Vaqueiras: "Si sele que j'ai plus chiere / Me tue, ne sai por quoi."5 I think, however, that it is more likely that the meaning in the Estoire is "to stun, to knock out, to cause to lose consciousness." When in the Eneas we read of Turnus' men drinking themselves into a drunken stupor a similar no­ tion is conveyed: "Tant an boivent que tuit se tüent"; "Tant ont beü, tuit sont tüé" (vv. 4901, 4929). Tuer in C haitivel is clearly a strong verb and the meanings "to scorn, to hurt the feelings of" are probably too weak to do it justice. The act of tuer un chevalier is equated by Marie with that of un fou de sun pan tolir and she stresses that the conse­ quences would be violent. Closer to the mark perhaps are Ewert's "to crush" (glossary) and Warnke's "to destroy" ("zu Grunde richten," glossary to 3d ed.). But a better image might be "to deal a stunning blow." Or we may simply prefer to see the lady as not wishing to "repulse" her lovers, to drive them away with whatever force, physical or verbal, she could muster.

et» Verses 1 9 -2 0 Tutes les dames de une tere Vendreit meuz d'amer requere (manuscript H)

All editors, with the exception of Battaglia and Neri, emend at some point in verse 20: 53

T h e Lais of M a rie de F ra n ce

Vàudréit meuz d'amur requère.

(Roquefort)

Vendreit mielz d'amer e requerre.

(Warnke i)

Vendreit mielz amer e requerre.

(Warnke 2)

Vendreit mult mielz d'amer requerre.

(Warnke 3)

Vendreit mieuz d'amer a requere.

(Hoepffner)

Vendreit [il] meuz d'amer requere.

(Ewert)

Vendreit meuz d'amer e requere.

(Lods)

Vendreit mieuz d'amer e requerre.

(Rychner)

The expression vendreit m euz has been variously interpreted, as "it would be better" (Roquefort, Jonin, Hanning-Ferrante), "easi­ er" (Battaglia), "better and easier" (Neri), "more fitting (profit­ able)" (Ewert, note), and "more reasonable" (Ewert, glossary). In the Index des Lais de Marie de France the form vendreit is interpreted wrongly as a form of valeir, both in this case and in the only other example of this form in the Lais, in which it is also coupled with m euz: "M euz me vendreit mûrir que vivre" [Milun, V. 143). Later in C haitivel Marie does use the expression valeir meuz with an infinitive: "M euz me vaudreit la mort tenir" (v. 224, see also Equitan, v. 138). In my view G. Paris alone has detected the correct nuance in verse 20: "Il y a moins de danger à prier d'amour toutes les dames d'un pays. . . ."6 Marie is concerned with the negative and violent consequences of a hypothetical act. Modifications to the manuscript reading d ’amer requere here have little significance for the interpretation of the pas­ sage. The text is, however, perfectly acceptable as it stands. As we have seen, the syntax venir meuz + infinitive is attested in Milun, verse 143 ("Meuz me vendreit mûrir que vivre") and occurrences of requere aucun de aucune rien are found in Guigem ar verse 61 ("Së il de amer la requeïst") and verse 505 ("Jo vus requeor de drüerie"). The substantival use of amer is attested elsewhere in the Lais (in addition to Guigemar, v. 61, 54

"El nes pot mie tuz amer . .

see Equitan, v. 19, "Tels est la mesure de amer," and Eliduc, v. 394, "E or le faz de amer preier").

et» Verse 21 Quë un fol de sun pan tolir

What is the meaning of the term foil The words fol and folie in the twelfth century can indicate that an individual is de­ ranged in his mind ("mad"), that he acts in a way which is un­ usual, extreme or rash (e.g. Roland, v. 3234, "Karies de France chevalchet cume fols," cf. v. 1053; Deus Amanz, vv. 14 9 -50 , "Li reis ne Len escundist m ie; / Mes mut le tint a grant folie"; Eliduc, v. 1084, "M ut est foie quë humme creit"), that he is guilty of a dishonourable love which involves illicit sexual rela­ tions ("Mes n'ot entre eus nule folie, / Joliveté ne vileinie," Eliduc, vv. 575-76 ; "Li rois pense que par folie, / Sire Tristran, vos aie amé," Beroul, Romance of Tristran, vv. 20-21), or that he is the victim of "an overwhelming love or love sickness seen as a cause of irrational behaviour."7 In C haitivel the context is that of the reaction of a lover to the withdrawal of his lady's favours. Chrétien de Troyes points out that the man who in­ terprets a courtly lady's fair words and embraces as love is a fol: Que tes fos i a, cui il sanble, Que d'amor vaingnent li atret Et li sanblant, qu'ele lor fet. Et çaus puet l'an nices clamer, Qui cuident, que les vuelle amer.8

In C haitivel the term fol appears to indicate a man made foolish by love, who has misinterpreted or exaggerated his lady's demeanour and words, and whose behaviour, if he were thwarted, would be that of the natural fool. The best transla­ tion is perhaps "a besotted lover" (cf. Neri, "un folle amante"). 55

The Lais of Marie de France

The syntax tolir a u cu n de a u cu n e rien There are seven further occurrences of tolir in the Lais. In each case the syntax is tolir aucune rien a aucun: e.g. "Que nuis li toille s'am ie" (Equitan, v. 147); "N e sun seignur ne li tolist" (Le Fresne, v. 388). In these examples the action involves taking an object or a person away from someone. In Chaitivel, verse 2 1, the action is the reverse, that of removing the fou from the pan. Translations such as that of Ewert ("to deprive a fool of his gleanings") and of Jonin ("enlever un morceau de son pain à un fou") do not take this into account. The syntax tolir aucun de aucune rien is attested in the Vie de saint A lexis: "Si li preiuns que de tuz mais nos tolget."9 Note also the syntax partir aucun de aucune rien in Bisclavret, verse 55: "Kar de m'amur vus partirai."

D e sun pan Warnke 2 translates pan here as "Fetzen," Warnke 3 as "Schoss, Zipfel," Ewert as "gleanings" (note) and "rag" (glos­ sary), and Hanning-Ferrante as "rag." Rychner confesses that he does not know what it means (p. 273). G. Paris interprets pan as "bread" (p. 601), a notion on which Neri pours scorn (p. 383). The translation "bread" was revived by J. Frappier and by Jonin.10 The form pan would thus presumably be an Anglo-Norman form of pain. The reduction of /âin/ to /án/ in Anglo-Norman is rare but sporadically attested. Ewert in his analysis of the lan­ guage of Harley 978 cites two cases of a for ai, both in pretonic positions (Guigem ar, v. 44, faseit; v. 252, reparout), but none of an for ain (only of an for en).11 Rychner (p. 273) suggests the possibility that pan in Chaitivel, verse 2 1, means "thoughts," an interpretation also mentioned by D. Rieger (p. 353, note) and adopted by H. F. Williams ("Que d'arracher un fou à ses pen­ sées"). In the other seven cases of pan in the Lais the meanings are "flap" or "tail" of a shirt, hauberk or coat (Guigem ar, vv. 559,

56

"El nes pot mie tuz amer . .

731, 8iO; Lanval, vv. 49, 572; and Milun, v. 472), or the "flap" of a tent (Lanval, v. 86). An interpretation which would allow us to take pan in the sense of "skirt, coat-tails" was proposed in A. Tobler in 1886.12 Tobler considers that the implied subject of vendreit meuz is tutes les dames (thus leaving d ’amer requere without an ob­ ject) and translates: "Allen Dames eines Landes würde es bes­ ser frommen um Liebe zu bitten, als einen Narren von ihrem Schoss abzuschütteln." This demands the somewhat gratui­ tous emendation of sun to lur: "Que un fol de lur pan tolir." This reading for verse 21 is adopted by Warnke 3, Battaglia and Neri. G. Cohn preferred to retain tutes les dames as the object of d ’amer requ eu e and to insert the negative particle ne in verse 20 ("[Ne] vendreit mielz d'amer requerre").13 Cohn trans­ lates as: "Es würde besser sein, alles Dames eines Landes nicht um Liebe anzugehen, als einen Thoren von seinem Rockzipfel zu entfernen." My own feeling is that the text is acceptable as it stands, but that Tobler, Cohn, and Warnke 3 are right in that sun does not refer to the fool. With Cohn I should accept the slightly awkward transition from the implied male subject of vendreit meuz to a female subject of tolir and translate: "It would be less dangerous for a man to seek the love of all the ladies in one land than for a woman to remove a single besotted lover from her skirts."14 It is, however, possible that pan means "portion of territory" (Roland, vv. 869, 3207), "a certain stretch of something" ("Bien ad curut de mer un grant pan," Benedeit, Voyage of St. Brendan, v. 480). Thus the notion would be that of keeping an importunate fool or unwanted suitor away from one's immediate vicinity. Readers who follow Roquefort and Mason for the interpretation of verses 1 9 - 2 1 w ill be particu­ larly misled: "Il vaudrait mieux alors qu'un homme fît la cour à toutes les femmes de la même contrée, que de le voir m al­ heureux par les souffrances d'amour"; "Better by far that a man pray and require in love all the dames of his country, than run mad in woods for the bright eyes of one." 57

The Lais of Marie de France

ef> Verse 23 Kar cil le volt aneire ferir (manuscript H)

All editors remove the le in order to create a regular oc­ tosyllabic line. If cil refers to the fou, le would have to refer to the pan and I do not see how it could be retained. Some editors make unnecessary orthographical emendations to volt (e.g. Rychner, voelt; Warnke 1 - 3 , vuelt), which can without diffi­ culty be accepted as a present tense (see La Vie de Saint Alexis, vv. 39/ 43/ 165, etc.; Voyage of St. Brendan, v. 766). Roquefort emends aneire to arriéré, as do Warnke 1 (ariere, "von hinten") and Tobler [arrier], who translates "denn er stürzt sich immer wieder darauf." Neri reads Kar cil volt an eire périr, "Il folle amante, invece, ore sia respinto, subito si abbandone alla disperazione" ("subito corre alla sua rovina," note, p. 383). Bat­ taglia also emends ferir to périr: "che subito si mette a im ­ plorare la morte." Cuenca, who uses Rychner's text, maintains ferir, but thinks that the fools would be driven to "cometer actos irresponsables." I should prefer to maintain what has be­ come since Warnke 2 the traditional reading and interpretation Kar cil volt an eire ferir, "for he is minded to strike straight­ way" (Ewert). The verb voleir perhaps means "to attempt" rather than sim ply "to want" (cf. Hanning-Ferrante, "for he wants to strike out at once"), or it may indicate the imminence or immediacy of the action.15 The expression an eire is well attested with the meaning "im m ediately": e.g. "O aus vos ajosta an oirre" (Roman d ’Eneas, v. 6330); "En eire perdi la clarté / Del sen par sa m aleürté;" "En eire après soleil culchant."16 The precise implications of verse 22 remain un­ clear. The reference is presumably to a rebellion on the part of rejected lovers. P. Ménard notes that violence and a profound instinct to destroy are major characteristics of the fool: "C 'est un personnage dangereux par son agressivité et ses accès de fureur"; "Frapper, lacérér, mordre, voilà les signes classiques

58

"El nes pot mie tuz amer . . ."

d'un accès de dém ence."17 The fool's violence is proverbial: "Li fous ne prent garde ou il fert" (ipom edon, v. 8487); "G eu de fol n'est prouz, car il fert tot."18.

ctî Verses 2 3 -2 4 La dame fait a celui gre De suz la bone volunté (Ewert)

fait . . . gre Rychner emends to sait gré and translates as "sait gré," an interpretation also found in Jonin. Support for this emendation comes from the fact that Marie uses the expression saveir gre a on four other occasions (Equitan, v. 230; Eliduc, vv. 396, 519; Milun, v. 368). Against this one notes that the scribe uses the form fait on thirty-three occasions, but never the form sait (the third person present indicative of saveir is seit, twenty examples, or set, three examples). The meaning of saveir gre a is always "to be grateful to, to thank," whereas the expression faire gre a, cited by Godefroy and Tobler-Lommatzsch, means "to give sat­ isfaction to, to fulfil the desires of, to repay a debt." Ewert's glossary translates as "obliged," his translation gives "shows favour" (cf. Hanning-Ferrante "grants her favor"). The lady clearly feels a sense of obligation to the lovers. She wants to repay them for their efforts, to satisfy their demands to the ex­ tent that circumstances and her feelings allow. The manuscript reading fait gre seems preferable to sait gré on both linguistic and semantic grounds.

a celu i Warnke 1 emends to a tuz lur (gre). This reading found favour with Tobler and is maintained in Warnke 2 and 3. Tobler goes further than Warnke 1 and reads for verse 23 Se dam e fait a tuz 59

The Lais of Marie de France

lur gre, a suggestion incorporated in Warnke 3. Both Neri and Battaglia read Se dam e fait a celui gre. I find no difficulty in maintaining celui as a personal pronoun referring back to cil in verse 22 and fol in verse 2 1: "The lady satisfies the desires of each lover." The editorial addition of se seems gratuitous. For this use of celui see Guigemar, verses 575, and 855, and Eliduc, verses 417, 500, and 786.

D esu z la b o n e v o lu m e (manuscript H)

Editors and commentators since Roquefort have been sus­ picious of the reading desuz la: De tuz le bone volunté.

(Roquefort)

De tuz a bone volenté.

(Tobler)

De tuz a bone volunté.

(Warnke 3, Neri, Battaglia)

De sue bone volunté.

(Rychner)

Scholars are also divided on the question of whose bone vol­ unté is at stake. For Tobler, Ewert, Neri, Battaglia, Rychner (p. 274), Jonin, etc., it is that of the lovers: e.g. "The lady [on the other hand] shows favour towards him [who sues] under [the behests of] good-will" (Ewert); "Si una dame mostra di gradirli tutti, tutti le vogliono bene" (Neri); "La dame au contraire sait gré à un prétendant de ses bonnes intentions" (Jonin). Roque­ fort, Cohn, Mason, Warnke 1 - 3 , and Hanning-Ferrante at­ tribute the bone volunté to the lady. I favour the latter in­ terpretation, as the standpoint of the entire passage seems to be that of the lady, who represents all ladies in a similar situation. The lovers enter the scene specifically in verse 33 ("En Bretaine ot quatre baruns"), which recalls verses 9 - 1 0 ("En Bretaine a Nantes maneit / Une dame . . ."). Warnke 3, following Cohn, translates bone volunté as "die freie Liebe, die aufrichtige N ei­ gung" and cites the Breviari d ’amor, verses 11 5 and 34, 60

"El nes pot mie tuz amer . . ."

"Amors es bona voluntatz."19 I see no special nuance here and would accept for verse 24 Hanning-Ferrante's translation "A c­ cording to her good w ill." I have not found a precise parallel to desuz, a reading I prefer with Warnke 1 - 3 and Lods to Ewert's de suz. Elsewhere Ewert reads desuz, e.g. Guigemar, v. 207, "Desuz une antive cité"; Lanval, vv. 50, and 223. But the basic meaning "beneath" seems capable of extension to "under the dictates of, under the behest of, according to."20 Ewert's glos­ sary offers "subject to," which seems appropriate only if the bone volunté is that of the lovers. The least drastic emendation is that of Cohn who reads desus "iiber-hinaus, wider." Auberee, verse 294, dessus mon pois, "against my w ill," is quoted in support.21 It is not, I feel, likely that Marie is saying that the lady is acting against her good will, or over and above the call of "freie Liebe." For bone volunté see Alexis, verse 159 ("Sert sun seinur par bone volentét") and verse 541 ("Sainz Alexis out bone volentét"); Erec et Enide, verse 3200 ("Liez et de boene volanté"), etc. The concept of volition and good w ill is clearly important to Marie here and elsewhere (cf. the use of voleir three times in this passage, vv. 18, 23, and 26) and to the poet of the Breviari for whom love is good will, pleasure and inclina­ tion towards goodness.22

Verse 28 a gre servir Ewert translates a gre as "to one's satisfaction" (glossary). The satisfaction would be that of the lovers. For the expression a gre servir see Alexis, v. 172, "Quar il ad Deu bien ed a gret servit" (Storey glosses as "de façon convenable"); Beroul, Tristran, v. 4067, "M olt nos avra servi a gré" (Ewert translates as "in welcome fashion"); Marie de France, Fables, 13, vv. 3 1- 3 2 , "Par losengier e par mentir / Les puet hum bien a gre servir," Once again those who consult the translation of E. Mason w ill be severely misled: "Even when she might not hear a lover's

The Lais of Marie de France

words, so sweetly she denied his wish that the more he held her dear and was her servant for that fond denial." I suggest for verses 17 -2 8 the following translation: "It was not possible for her to love them all, but neither did she wish to repulse them. It would be less dangerous for a man to court every lady in an entire land than for a lady to remove a single besotted lover from her skirts; for he would immediately at­ tempt to strike back. The lady satisfies the desires of each lover at the behest of good will. Yet, even if she has no wish to listen to their pleas, she should not speak insultingly to them: rather should she honour and cherish them, serve them appropriately and be grateful to them." How does this passage fit into the structure of C haitivel and Marie's view of feminine behaviour? For Ewert these lines ap­ pear to represent "a defence of love and its service, which yields rewards or is its own reward. Even the unsuccessful suitor may regard his rejection as honourable, if it does not involve contempt and ill-treatm ent" (p. 182). Hanning-Ferrante interpret as follows: "The courting may be as futile as the at­ tempt to take a worthless object from a fool, but the fool w ill fight back while the lady may accept; meanwhile, presumably, the courting itself can give some pleasure" (p. 181). Neither in­ terpretation is satisfactory. The passage seems to me to relate in the first instance to the lady whose story Marie is recount­ ing: "Une dame que mut valeit" (v. 10), "La dame dunt jo voil cunter" (v. 29). Marie wishes to explain and defend her be­ haviour, to forestall, in fact, the sort of criticism to which the lady has been subjected by twentieth-century critics. As a beautiful, well-bred lady, courted night and day (v. 32) by her admirers, she had the delicate task of balancing her desire to act with good w ill against the needs of common sense ("El nes pot mie tuz amer") and self-preservation. Marie in this early lay (and also in Equitan) is concerned to present the danger of love and the way it can affect human relationships and threaten life itself. In Equitan, as I have attempted to show in chapter 2, 62

"El nes pot mie tuz amer . . ."

Marie illustrates in her story, and maintains in the early the­ oretical passage, that love can subvert reason ("Tels est la m es­ ure de amer / Que nul n'i deit reisun garder," vv. 19 —20). Those who do not manifest a true understanding of love put their lives at risk (vv. 17 -18 ). In C haitivel Marie adds to the two corpses of Equitan three dead knights and one emasculated survivor whose frustration leads him to thoughts of suicide ("Meuz me vaudreit la mort tenir," 224). In Chaitivel, by way of prelude to her story, Marie raises an important theoretical issue: what is the correct behaviour for a woman to adopt when under pressure from a number of suit­ ors? In the passage under discussion the shift in tense from the preterite (pot, vot) to the conditional (vendreit) and finally to the present (volt, fait, etc.) indicates the movement in Marie's thought from a specific case to a general principle. The pre­ scriptive deit in verse 26 reminds us of the use of this verb in Equitan, verse 20. A lady should treat her suitors with appre­ ciation and feeling, but also with an awareness of what she is doing. Even then she cannot prevent disaster from overtaking her. It is probably unfair to tax her with selfishness, when she wishes to impose her title Quatre Dois, on the lay. Her experi­ ence marks for her the end of a way of life, a pattern of thought. The difficulty for the lady, who may be very young, lies in the fact that she is not in love. She is waiting to see which admirer to love, to discover the criteria by which to choose ("Ne pot eslire le meillur," v. 54). Like Equitan, before he meets the sene­ schal's wife (also a lady of bon affeitement, v. 32), she enjoys "déduit . . . e drüerie" (Equitan, v. 15). But neither she nor Equitan realizes that love does not operate in this way. Love is a wound, overturning sens and cointise (Equitan, vv. 54-58). It comes from without, not from rational, internal decision m ak­ ing. In Guigem ar Marie w ill return to and expand upon the at­ titude of a "dame de bon purpens" (v. 519) towards her lover. Here the lady is not beset by four admirers, as is the 63

The Lais of Marie de France

"dame . . . de mut grant sens" in Chaitivel, v. 49. Love in Guigemar is still a wound (v. 483), a long-lasting m al (v. 485). The lover should, Marie repeats, be served by the lady ("Mut le deit servir e amer," v. 494), and she should not be too cruel or overbearing towards him ("N e se ferat vers lui trop here," v. 522). But the context in Guigem ar is one of genuine love. Marie can talk here of philandering on the one hand (vv. 487-92) and loy­ alty on the other (v. 493). In C haitivel there is no mutual love, only love for the lady by the lovers ("La grant peine k 'il en suffreient / De l'am ur qu'il vers vus aveient," vv. 2 13 -14 ) . Only when the physical wound suffered by the surviving suitor in C haitivel becomes the "m ut grant plaie" caused by love's arrow, which places the victim "a sa m aisnie" [Equitan, vv. 54-56), can there be any prospect of happiness.23 In Guigem ar the hero is injured in the same suspect part of his anatomy, the thigh ("De la plaie ke as en la quisse," v. 113), but the wound is transformed by destinee (v. 108) into a deeper affliction ("Mes amur l'ot feru al vif," v. 379), one which also affects his lady whose heart is set on fire by the same flames which overcome Guigemar (vv. 390-92). F. Neri (p. 383) declares that the passage under discussion from C haitivel is the only one in the entire text of the Lais to resist interpretation, both semantic and thematic. This view may be too pessimistic, and in spite of some remaining uncer­ tainties these lines do seem to afford us a useful glimpse into the structure of Marie's thought at the outset of her literary career.

64

C HA P T E R FOUR

"Ceo fu la summe de Fescrit . . (C hevrefoil, v. 6 1 )

» Having been banished from Cornwall by King Mark because of his love for the queen, Tristram spends a year of exile in his native South Wales. After such a lengthy separation from his beloved he is driven by the power of love to risk his life by returning to Cornwall. There he hides by day in the for­ est (the forest of Morrois?), takes lodging at night with peasants and waits for news of the king's activities. Hearing that the royal party w ill spend Pentecost at Tintagel and knowing the route the cavalcade must take, Tristram makes plans for a brief encounter with the queen. He takes a hazel branch, squares it and carves some letters on it with his knife. Aware that the queen w ill be on the look-out for such a signal, he places the branch on a slope in the road.1 A similar device has been suc­ cessful on a previous occasion and the stratagem works again. The lovers enjoy a brief but ecstatic meeting and Tristram composes a lay to commemorate the reunion: Pur les paroles remembrer, Tristram, ki bien saveit harper, En aveit fet un nuvel lai. (Chevrefoil, vv. 1 1 1 - 1 3 )

The precise nature of the paroles mentioned in verse h i has puzzled scholars, as has the reference to the act of writing in 65

The Lais of Marie de France

verse 109 ("E pur ceo k 'il aveit escrit") and earlier in verse 61 ("Ceo fu la summe de reserit"). Verse 61 in fact introduces the central passage in the text, a passage which gives the poem its particular poetic intensity but which has been subject to varied interpretation. In Ewert's edition it reads: Ceo fu la summe de 1'escrit Qu'il li aveit mandé e dit: Que lunges ot ilec esté E atendu e sujurné Pur espïer e pur saver Cornent il la peüst veer, Kar ne pot nent vivre sanz li; D'euls deus fu il (tut) autresi Cume del chevrefoil esteit Ki a la codre se perneit: Quant il s'i est laciez e pris E tut entur le fust s'est mis, Ensemble poënt bien durer; Mes ki puis les volt desevrer, Li codres muert hastivement E li chevrefoil ensement. "Bele amie, si est de nus: Ne vus sanz mei, ne mei sanz vus!" (vv. 6 1-7 8 )

These lines and those which lead up to them have raised in scholars' minds a number of questions. Did Tristram commu­ nicate with the queen during his stay in the forest? If so, did he send her an oral message or a letter? Was the communication just a hazel branch with a honeysuckle entwined round it, from which the queen would deduce the symbolic relationship? Per­ haps there was a letter sent on a previous occasion, ensuring that the queen was always on the watch for a sign from Tris­ tram whenever she went out. This letter may have explained the symbolism of the hazel and the honeysuckle. What was written on the stick? Just Tristram's name (vertically, or in 66

"Ceo fu la summe de l'escrit . . ."

such a way that the letters is, for Iseut, would be framed around her lover's name, t r i s t r a m )? Was the entire message in verses 6 3-78 written on the stick or just verses 77-78? The difficulty of cramming so much on to one stick could be explained if the stick were carved in ogam. It may be, however, that there was no communication before the meeting and nothing but Tris­ tram's name on the stick. Perhaps Iseut's overwhelming love led her to divine spontaneously and intuitively the relationship between the honeysuckle and the hazel. Or did Tristram ex­ plain this to her when they met, on the current or the previous occasion? What is more important, the logic and common sense of our interpretation or the element of poetry? Is it useful, or alien to Marie's poetic meaning, to suggest that it might be difficult to carve the entire message on a hazel stick, even on one with four surfaces, and even more difficult to read it in its entirety from horseback ("Tutes les lettres i conut," v. 82)? Is it conceivable that Marie would expect her public to realize that the queen was deciphering ogamic script as she looked down from her horse? Many important and ingenious suggestions have been made with regard to the interpretative problems raised by the text of Chevrefoil.2 But fundamental to any interpretation is the translation one offers for verses 6 1-6 2 , "Ceo fu la summe de l'escrit / Qu'il li aveit mandé e dit." Recently Ferrante and Hanning have rendered these lines as "This was the message of the writing that he had sent to her." Earlier Jean Frappier had translated sim ilarly: "Voici le contenu du message qu'il lui av­ ait adressé."3 fonin takes a different view: "Voici le sens fonda­ mental du message écrit sur le bâton." In general it is clear that most translators think that verses 6 1—62 indicate the existence of a letter or message outlining the material related by Marie in verses 6 3-78 : e.g. Battaglia, "Questa è l'essenza dello scritto ch'egli le mandava"; Neri, "Ecco in breve quant'egli le aveva scritto"; D. Rieger, "Das war im wesentlich der Inhalt der Botschaft, die er ihr übermittelt und bedeutet hatte"; H. F. 67

The Lais of Marie de France

Williams, "dans son message, il lui mandait que"; Woledge, "This was the matter of the letter which he had sent and told her that."4 If this be so, the "intuitive" interpretation, ad­ vanced by L. Spitzer and supported by A. G. Hatcher and L. Cocito, becomes untenable, as it does if we adopt Jonin's view that the entire message was carved on the stick. Translators are united in their rendering of sum m e as "the essence, the contents" and in their attempt to interpret the phrase m ander e dire un escrit a aucun. M y suggestion is that we translate sum m e as "the sum total of, all," escrit as "a piece of writing" (cf. Godefroy, "ce qui est écrit"), pause at the end of verse 61, take que in verse 62 as "because" and allow m ander e dire to introduce the que of verse 63. We could then translate verses 61 to 63 as: "That is all he wrote, because he had sent her word that he had been there a long time. . . ."5 During his lengthy stay in the forest (lunges, v. 63) Tristram had managed to get word to the queen that he was watching out for an oppor­ tunity to see her (vv. 64-66), because she meant so much to him (v. 67). To reassure her of his love and convince her of his urgent need for a reunion, he adopts or re-adopts the effective image of the honeysuckle entwining itself around the hazel. As Marie refers to the earlier success of a hazel branch as a sign of Tristram's presence (vv. 57-58), we can assume that the lovers were already aware of this image and its relevance to their rela­ tionship. The direct speech in verses 77 to 78 is probably more an indication of Marie's own emotional involvement with her characters (cf. Guigemar, vv. 5 3 3 -3 4 ; Lanval, vv. 134, 140, etc.; Yonec, vv. 8 1-8 5 ) than a summary (short enough to appear on the stick) of verses 68 to 76 or a report of what they had said to one another. The term sum m e occurs only twice in the Lais. The other example ("De ceo vus dirai ja la summ e," Lanval, v. 146) pre­ sents a locution which is different from that in Chevrefoil: dire a aucun la sum m e de aucune rien, "to tell someone all he needs to know about something, to explain the consequences 68

"Ceo fu la summe de l'escrit . . ."

of something" (cf. Erec et Enide, v. 6 122; Le Chevalier au Lion, vv. 785, and 3886-87). The meaning "the sum total of" seems appropriate for sum m e in Philippe de Thaon, Comput, vv. 2000-2002 ("Genesin, / Ci recuntet la sume, / Quant que Deus fist pur hume"); Roman de Troie, v. 2 5 3 13 ("Tote la some de l'afaire") and Cligés, v. 32 ("Et de clergie la some").6 Que is used in the sense "because" in Lanval, v. 233: "Que od nus ne l'avum amené," "because we have not brought him with us." Mander as a transitive verb "to send, to summon, to com­ mand" is well attested in the Lais and in other texts, normally with a person as object, e.g. Guigemar, vv. 747, and 749; Deus Amanz, v. 156. This verb is used in association with a letter, in the form m ander aucun par bref, in Yonec (v. 260) and Eliduc (v. 595). M ander and dire are linked in the Deus Am anz with the meaning "to send word, to let it be known": "[E] luinz e pres manda e dist: / Ki sa fille vodreit aveir / Une chose seüst de veir" (vv. 32-34). M ander a aucun plus que and the indicative is found in Eliduc, verses 1 1 2 and 769. Dire que plus indicative is amply attested (e.g. Equitan, vv. 105, 189, and 267). Dire un escrit "to compose a text" is, however, attested in the Fables: "Al finement de cest escrit, / Qu'en Romanz ai traitié e dit" (Epilogue, vv. 1- 2 ) .7 The interpretation I have proposed makes it clear that the hazel branch contained only Tristram's name, which is in ac­ cord with common sense.8 There was a communication, oral, written, or both, but this is not conveyed by the term escrit in verse 61. The information "that he had been there a long tim e" suggests strongly that the message was sent on this occasion and not at the time of some earlier meeting. As suggested above, it looks as if all the material contained in verses 63 to 76 was communicated before the encounter in the wood. Verse 109 ("E pur ceo k'il aveit escrit") seems to confirm that a w rit­ ten message was sent to Iseut. Warnke in his editions of 1885 and 1900 preferred for verse 109 the reading of manuscript S "Par le bastun qu'il ot escrit," which is apparently the basis for 69

The Lais of Marie de France

Hanning-Ferrante's rendering, "By means of the stick he in­ scribed as the queen instructed/' But in his third edition Warnke restored the reading of manuscript H under the influence of G. Cohn.9 I cannot follow the view of Spitzer, Frappier and Jonin that Tristram composed the lay in order to commemorate the words spoken by Iseut in the wood. I take paroles in verse 1 1 1 as the substance of verses 67 to 78. The queen would have told Tristram to compose the lay during their meeting (cf. v. 96 "E ele li dit sun pleisir"). Rychner (edition, p. 279), who thinks that in Marie's mind the entire message was carved on the stick, expresses the notion that common sense is less impor­ tant than poetry. Whether or not one shares this view, the present interpreta­ tion of the text of Chevrefoil, which leaves no room for Iseut's pure, spontaneous intuition, for the keenness of her eyesight, or for Tristram's powers as a carver of wood, seems in no way to detract from the poem's poetic quality. Iseut's suggestion that Tristram record his idea about their symbolic relationship makes the poem a product of joint inspiration and one in which Marie's oft-stated aim of relating an aventure can be har­ nessed to her characters' own creativity.

70

C H A P T E R FIVE

Chivalry and Prowess

-j The world of Marie's Lais is one of knights and their ladies. In the twelve poems (5774 lines in the Ewert edition) there are 126 examples of the term cheval(i)er, and no other word is used with significant frequency to designate the heroes of the tales.1 The term vassal is found only seven times in all, with five occurrences in Lanval.2 Forms such as ber/barun, quens/cunte and produm(e) are used sparingly and often refer to groups of individuals.3 Alm ost all the characters whose at­ titudes and activities Marie clearly supports are described as knights: Guigemar and his father, the seneschal in Equitan, Gurun in Le Fresne, Bisclavret, Lanval, Muldumarec and his son Yonec, the lover in Laiistic, Milun and his son, the four lovers in Chaitivel, and Eliduc. A notable exception is the lover in the Deus Am anz, who is called an enfant (vv. 3, 241), a dam isel (vv. 49, 143, 168, 188), a danzel (vv. 73, 126) and a val­ let (vv. 68, 1 17, 159).4 Although the son of a count (v. 50) and manifestly capable of exceptional physical effort, he does not live long enough to be knighted. But he does possess many of the qualities Marie attributes to her favoured knights. In Cheviefoil Tristram is not referred to specifically as a knight, but Marie is relying here on a well-known story for the framework of her tale. The conflict between Tristram's role as knight and 71

The Lais of Marie de France

as lover is at the core of the legend: "Oublié ai chevalerie, / A seure cort et baronie," mourns Beroul's hero, when the effect of the potion wanes (vv. 216 5-6 6); "G e sui essillié du pais, / Tot m'est falli et vair et gris, / Ne sui a cort a chevaliers" (vv. 2 16 7 69). Marie does not say much about the way in which her heroes became knights, but there are references to dubbing in Guigemar (v. 47), Yonec (v. 464) and M ilun (vv. 10, 294). When a young man was dubbed, he was provided with equipment and a horse ("Armes li dune a sun talent," Guigemar, v. 48; "Chevals e armes me dona," Milun, v. 457). The dubbing ceremony took place when the future knight possessed sufficient sens [Guige­ mar, v. 46) and was of the right age (Guigem ar, v. 46; Yonec, v. 463; Milun, v. 293). M ilun's son appears to have been dubbed when he was a little over twenty (cf. v. 279). Dubbing seems normally to have taken place outside the boy's home. As soon as Guigemar's father could bring him self to part with his son he placed him in the service of a foreign king (v. 42), who dubbed him at the appropriate time. An act such as dubbing must have constituted recognition by the outside world of hard-won success in training exercises and have acted as a re­ generative process in the boy's life, marking his readiness for a new beginning. Guigemar immediately sets off "pur sun pris quere" (v. 51) to Flanders where there was no shortage of m ili­ tary conflict (v. 52).5 Two of Marie's lovers are kings: Equitan and Muldumarec. We are told that Muldumarec is a knight ("Chevaler bel e gent devint," Yonec, v. 1 1 5 ; "M ut fu curteis li chevalers," v. 119), but Equitan is never specifically designated as such. We are, how­ ever, informed that his love of pleasure and dalliance led him to uphold the principles of chivalry: "Déduit amout e driierie: / Pur ceo maintint chevalerie" (vv. 15 -16 ). Marie never gives us her definition of chevalerie (this is in fact the only example of the term in the Lais). But it is safe to assume that Equitan's interpretation of it left something to be desired: 72

Chivalry and Prowess Ja, se pur ostïer ne fust, Pur nul busuin ki li creüst Li reis ne laissast sun chacier, Sun deduire, sun riveier.' (vv. 2 5 -2 8 ) Never, except in time of war, whatever the need might have been, would the king have abandoned his hunting, his pleasures or his river sport.

The fact that Equitan, who is "de grant pris" (v. 13), is willing to abandon his pleasurable activities in time of war indicates that in theory he possesses the m ilitary skills necessary to defend his territory. But the absence of any reference to attendance at tournaments and the stress on deduire, chacier and riveier seem to prefigure Equitan's irresponsibility during his courting of the seneschal's w ife.6 Equitan and Muldumarec are not the only kings in the Lais. One also notes the presence of King Hoilas in Guigemar, Bisclavret's protector, Arthur in Lanval, the girl's father in the Deus Amanz, Mark in Chevrefoil, Eliduc's first lord and his second wife's father. In fact eight of the poems contain a royal personage (the exceptions are Le Fresne, Laiistic, Milun, and C haitivel). The functions of these kings are extremely varied but their presence is always significant, both because of their relationship with the hero and because they enjoy the highest rank in a society obsessed with power and status.7 The kings who are not lovers are never termed chevaliers, but they are referred to, as one would expect, as lords: Sire de Nauns, jostis' e reis.

(Equitan, v. 12)

Une cité fist faire uns reis Quë esteit sire de Pistreis.

(Deus Amanz, vv. 1 3 - 1 4 )

Elidus aveit un seignur, Reis de Brutaine la meinur.

(Eliduc, vv. 29 -30 ) 73

The Lais of Marie de France

Both kingship and lordship are clearly fundamental preoccupa­ tions of the Lais. Only the substantive dam e (177 examples) is used more frequently in the poems than reis (146 examples) and sire/seignur (143 examples). Lordship is particularly im ­ portant in Guigem ar (23 examples). In the important line of the prologue, in which she names herself, Marie identifies her audience as a group of men with power and status: "Oëz, seignurs, ke dit M arie" (Guigem ar, v. 3). The story opens with a statement concerning a positive relationship between two lords: Li reis aveit un sun barun Ki esteit sire de Lïun; Oridials esteit apelez, De sun seignur fu mult privez. (vv. 2 9 -3 2 ) The king had a baron who was lord of Liun. His name was Oridial and he enjoyed the confidence of his lord.

Meriaduc, later in the story, is described once as a chevaler (v. 832) and also as "li sire" (v. 691). The lady's husband is likewise called "li sire" (vv. 209, 229). But is the lord of the antive cité a king? The antive cité is termed in verse 208 "chief de cel régné." Ewert translates régné as "kingdom " and Jonin as "royaume," but Warnke contrasts regne, "Königreich" in Yonec (v. 460), with régné, "Herrschaft, Reich" in Guigemar. Greimas offers for régné: (1) royaume, (2) pays, fief.8 However, whether or not Marie envisaged the jealous husband as a king, it is as a seignur that he makes his presence felt in the text. To obtain the cure for his physical and mental wounds Guige­ mar has to triumph over two lords, the lady's husband and Meriaduc. The pattern of a knight finding him self in conflict with other knights or with men of wealth and power is thus established 74

Chivalry and Prowess

fully in Guigemar. The relationships between knights and knights or between knights and lords/kings are extremely var­ ied. In C haitivel the four lovers share a similar social back­ ground, but they are engaged in a dangerous rivalry with each other which produces three deaths and an unhappy survivor. In Bisclavret Marie is careful to indicate that there is no discern­ ible difference between Bisclavret, who is called a chevaler (vv. 251, 299), and the "chevaler de la cuntree" (v. 103) who steals his clothes and marries his wife. Lanval is ostensibly part of a substantial group of knights, but although there is never any open conflict between him and his companions the alliance is an uneasy one. When the king forgets him on the occasion of the distribution of "femmes e tere" (v. 17), no one speaks up for him. When he should be enjoying the fellowship of his com­ rades he is initially forgotten (v. 233), then wanders "mut luin des autres" (v. 254). After his contretemps with the queen he is "sul e esgaré" (v. 398). In spite of the good offices of Gauvain and Yvain (vv. 400-40 1, 5 17 - 1 8 , etc.), Marie sets up an opposi­ tion between le chevaler (vv. 25, 39, 66, 77, etc.) and les chevalers (vv. 2 2 1, 249, 407). It is no surprise when he is finally carried off [ravi, v. 644), away from the world of Arthur and his knights.9 Laüstic is a tale of "deus chevalers" (v. 9) who are able, by virtue of their bunté "courage, sk ill" (v. 11), to contribute sig­ nificantly to the good reputation of their town. Both knights possess a fort m aisun (v. 10), presumably a domus fortis of the type regularly constructed by the m ilites by way of imitation of the seignorial castles.10 Both houses have a sale and a dungun "keep" (v. 36). The lover in this text is said to be a bacheler (v. 17), as well as a chevaler, so the one attribution does not ex­ clude the other and a bacheler can clearly be a man of means and status. The only other bacheler in the Lais is the porter in Milun (v. 1 91 ), so wealth and status are not significant criteria. As Jean Flori has shown, the only characteristic which links all bachelers is youth.1 1 Thus the knight who thwarts Laüstic and 75

The Lais of Marie de France

puts an end to his emotional life is almost certainly older. He is clearly not sexually attractive to his wife. He may also have the edge over his neighbour in prestige. His house possesses an ex­ tensive vergier (v. 97) and he has an army of servants who trap the nightingale. When the bird is ensnared Marie refers to the husband as "the lord": "Al seignur fu rendu tut vis" (v. 102). So Marie offers us in the Lais a discussion of the behaviour and problems of the twelfth-century knight. The conflicts and tensions which beset his life are normally either with other knights or with men who are markedly his superior in rank and power. The latter have the capacity to protect or destroy him. On the credit side one thinks notably of Eliduc's reception by Guilliadun's father in England and of Bisclavret's rescue by the King of Brittany from his life as a savage beast. Less happy cases are unfortunately more numerous. Lanval is badly treated by Arthur who fails to reward him for his service and Tristram in Chevrefoil is forced by Mark to spend his days hid­ ing in the forest where he lives the life of a hunted animal in similar fashion to Bisclavret. Eliduc is banished without just cause by the King of Brittany and Muldumarec's death is caused by the man who is avouez of Caerwent and lord of the territory (Yonec, vv. 1 3 - 1 4 ) .12 The seneschal in Equitan, a "bon chevaler, pruz e leal" (v. 22), is treated outrageously by his lord, King Equitan, who makes him do his work for him and com­ mits adultery with his wife. The king seduces the wife in the seneschal's own home and kindly suggests that he should not be too distressed if he discovers the relationship. "He cannot keep her for him self," says the king, "I am certainly willing to share her with him " (vv. 87-88). Later the king attempts to murder the husband, presumably to be able to satisfy his own lust and the wife's desire for power. The characters Marie favours all possess, of course, excep­ tional personal attributes and they are involved in an interesting aventure. But it is clear that socially they are well placed. Guigemar is the son and heir of a barun, who is "sire de Lïun." 76

Chivalry and Prowess

His father is a knight described by Marie as "pruz e vaillanz," and as being on close terms (privez) with his own lord, King Hoilas (vv. 27-33). The seneschal in Equitan has his own castle (vv. 46, 244) and his own vassals (v. 258). Both Guigemar (v. 70) and Bisclavret (v. 15) are described as "un ber," a man possessed of the requisite aristocratic virtues of birth, courage, wisdom, skill, etc. Bisclavret is popular (v. 16) and, like Oridial, a close adviser of his lord ("De sun seinur esteit privez," v. 19), who is almost certainly King of Brittany (vv. 2 5 1-5 3 ). Bisclavret has his own meisun (v. 30), and tere (v. 303) which is restored to him by the king. Gurun in Le Fresne is called a "bon seignur" (v. 243) and he has his own castle, serving men and vassals (v. 309), one of whom is the archbishop of Dol who officiates at his wedding (vv. 361-62). Lanval is one of the select band of knights belong­ ing to Arthur's m eisnee (v. 29). Son of a "riche rei" (v. 232) he is "de haut parage" (v. 27), a foreigner, far from his own heritage (v. 28), with long service to Arthur and desperately in need of mate­ rial reward to restore his exhausted aveir (v. 30). He had doubt­ less spent his money in laudable acts of generosity (see vv. 21, 20 9 -14 , and 231), a quality Marie naturally expects from her ideal knight. The young man in the Deus Am anz has his own hummes, from whom he chooses those closest to him for his trip to Salerno (vv. 125-26), and he equips him self richly before departing: "Hastivement s'est aturnez / De richefs] dras e de deniers, / De palefreiz e de sumers" (vv. 122-24). Muldumarec is king over the territory reached by his lady through a gap in the hillside (hoge) near her home in Caerwent (Yonec, vv. 346-47, 355/ 450).13 His kingdom turns out to be the area around Caerleon (v. 517). His city, approached via a beautiful meadow, contains buildings which seem to be made of solid silver (vv. 356-64). The posts on his deathbed are made of pure gold, the bedclothes of inestimable worth, and the permanently lit can­ delabra as valuable as all the gold in an entire city (vv. 388-92). The lover in Laiistic, as we have seen, is a man of substance with his own property. In C haitivel the lovers are "gentiz hummes 77

The Lais of Marie de France

del pais" (v. 40), and Tristram is the king's nephew and heir. Eliduc has his own chastel (v. 1135), tere (vv. 112 5 , 1156 ) and vassals, from whom he selects ten when first leaving Brittany (v. 79). Like the lover in the Deus A m anz he equips him self richly for his departure: "Si s'est richement aturnez" (Eliduc, v. 76). The grant of land he gives his first wife (vv. 112 5 - 2 6 , 1134 ) permits her to found a m uster with its m eisuns (vv. 113 7 - 3 8 ) and she bestows on the new establishment "grant tere . . . e grant aveir" (v. 1139). Eliduc later founds his own eglise, again with a gift of extensive land. He gives the church "tut sun or e sun argent" (v. 1157). Marie's favoured protagonists are thus respectable and nor­ mally highly respected members of the community. If they are not already lords, such as Gurun, they are potential lords who will take on serious social responsibilities and become close advisers to kings. Marie's concern is manifestly to create for her young knights, whenever possible, a successful marriage as a basis for harmony in personal and social relationships. She is certainly suspicious and critical of those members of the feudal establishment who ride roughshod over the rights of others. Those who do down the favoured chevalier are often subject to vengeance. Guigemar kills Meriaduc, Equitan is scalded to death, Bisclavret's rival is forced into exile, and Yonec decapitates his mother's husband, who is also his fa­ ther's murderer ("Ad dune vengié le doel sa mere," v. 544).14 It would appear that Marie has a tendency to use for those male personages she does not like the appellation li sires. She does this for the husbands in Laiistic (v. 91), in Guigem ar (vv. 209, 229, 585) and in Yonec (vv. 41, 53, 58, 242, 258, 279, 298, 470, 494). It is thus possible for her to play on the ambiguity of the term sire/seignur "lord, husband." If li sires is "the lord," m is/sis sires is "m y/her husband" (Guigem ar, vv. 339, 352, 580; Yonec, vv. 178, 2 2 1, 228, 536; Laiistic, vv. 70, 80, 1 1 3 ; and Milun, vv. 152, 501, 518). As we have seen, the lay of Guigem ar offers an exploration of the role of the "sire" with two good lords, Guigemar's father and Meriaduc's adversary (vv. 693, 7«

Chivalry and Prowess

863-68), and two bad ones, the lord of the antive cité and Meriaduc. One bad sire denies freedom to his wife, the lady who is destined to cure Guigemar's wound and enable him to fulfil his social obligations. Sim ilarly Meriaduc wishes to impose his will brutally on the lady and on his neighbour. Guigemar, one can assume, w ill be both a good lord and a good husband, gov­ erning his father's territory with distinction. As it is often in a state of war (v. 28), the land of his father's lord, King Hoilas, w ill require all Guigemar's dynamism and military skill. The ideal lord's fundamental tasks are to maintain peace and defend his community. In Guigem ar the lady's husband and Meriaduc are punished for anti-social behaviour. Another form of revenge against social injustice occurs at the end of Milun. After the reunion of father and son, one antici­ pates that the son, offspring of a love relationship, will perform a similar act to that of Yonec who removes the head of his mother's husband. But in M ilun the husband dies conveniently and the son's act is to give his mother to his father. Unlike her father he gives her to the right man: E cum sis peres la duna A un barun de sa cuntreje). (vv. 4 9 2 -9 3) And how her father gave her to a baron from the region. Lur fiz amdeus les assembla, La mere a sun pere dona. (vv. 5 29-30 ) The son united them and gave his mother to his father.

The world in which Marie places us in the early stages of Milun is a male dominated one in which fathers or lords use daughters as pawns in a political game, marrying them off in search of greater wealth and territorial alliances. One recalls Arthur who distributes lands and wives to his counts and barons ("Femmes e 79

The Lais of Marie de France

tere départi," Lanval, v. 17). Although possessed of all the chivalric and courtly virtues M ilun seems not to have been consid­ ered a fitting match for the girl he loves and whom he has made pregnant. She certainly thought, before she was given away, that she could marry her beloved ("Ainz quidoue aveir mun ami," v. 140), hoping presumably for some form of consultation on the question of her future husband. There are at least two possible explanations of why the girl's father, who was doubtless aware of all the powerful individuals in the cuntree, did not give his daughter to Milun. The first is that Milun was not of a sufficiently high rank. Edgard Sienaert has argued strongly that in M ilun Marie is making a bold state­ ment of principle: chivalric achievements, when not allied to high social standing, can nevertheless make an individual a worthy partner for a girl of distinguished birth.15 The question of the degree of integration of knights into the nobility was one of the most crucial and most delicate issues of twelfth-century society. Money and a strong arm did not in themselves make a man noble. As Tony Hunt writes: "The constant genealogical interests of the aristocracy were promoted through patronage and neither training in the skills of warfare nor the quality of being dives et potens was sufficient to confer n o b ilita s."16 In Milun Marie would be enhancing the chivalric ideal at the ex­ pense of the old order, setting up an opposition between "mér­ ite personnel" and "privilège de classe."17 But is Milun of markedly inferior birth to his beloved's hus­ band? Marie certainly does not tell us that he is, although she makes no mention of his father. Clearly Milun is a man of some affluence: "Il s'aparaille richement" (v. 374); "Riches osteus teneit sovent / E si donot curteisement" (v. 379-80); "Plusurs bons chevalers retient" (v. 383). He has his own meisun (v. 265) with servants (an esquier is mentioned in verse 167 and a despensier "steward" in verse 269). Perhaps at the outset of the story he is too young to marry. The fact that he departs in search of pris ("M ilun eissi fors de sa tere / En sude[e]s pur sun pris quere," vv. 123-24), just before the girl's father contem­ 80

Chivalry and Prowess

plates marrying off his daughter, suggests that he is not yet beset by the problems of estate management. He is presumably a young man still making his way in the world, attracted by adventure and risk. He may still be under twenty at the time his beloved is married to the powerful baron (vv. 127-28). Twenty years later he is a good enough jouster to be highly esteemed on the first day of the tournament ("E mut i fu preisez le jur," v. 406). He shows no reluctance to tackle the finest performer present and is still strong enough to break his oppo­ nent's lance: "M ilun le fiert si durement / L'anste depiece vereiment," vv. 4 17 -18 ). The combination of prowess and fidelity gives M ilun an opportunity to marry his beloved, to increase his own wealth and territory, and to settle down to a life of contentment as husband, father, and lord.18 In her description of Milun, Marie stresses his outstanding personal and m ilitary virtues: Mut par esteit bons chevaliers Francs [e] hardiz, curteis e fiers.

(vv. 13-14) He was a very fine knight, noble and bold, courtly and fierce.

He has an international reputation and his prowess provokes envy (vv. 1 5 —18). It is also a source of love and honour: Pur sa prüesce iert mut amez E de muz princes honurez. (vv. 19 -20 ) Because of his prowess he was much loved and honoured by many princes. Ele ot oi Milun nomer; Mut le cumençat a amer. (vv. 2 5 -2 6 ) She had heard Milun's name mentioned and conceived a deep love for him.

81

The Lais of Marie de France

Through the agency of his beloved's sister, Milun's fine quali­ ties are communicated to his son: Puis li ad dit ki est sa mere E l'aventure de sun pere, E cum il est bon chevaliers, Tant pruz, si hardi et si fiers, N'ot en la tere nul meillur De sun pris ne de sa valur. (vv. 2 9 7 -30 2 ) Then she told him about his mother and what had happened to his father, what a good knight he was, so brave, bold and fierce, such that there was no one of greater fame or valour in the entire land.

Milun and his son are reunited on the battlefield and linked by their desire and capacity to be a bon chevaler: Milun i est alé primers, Que mut esteit bons chevalers. Le bon chevaler demanda. (vv. 3 9 1 - 9 3 )

Milun, who was a fine knight, arrived early and asked for the other fine knight.

As we have seen, M ilun is described by Marie as franc, hardi, curteis, fier and proz. He thus possesses the m ilitary prerequi­ site of courage {proz) and the necessary martial skills and train­ ing [hardi].19 Apart from bon, used nine times, proz with eight examples is the adjective most frequently found qualifying chevalier directly in the Lais (Guigemar, v. 33; Equitan, v. 22; Le Fresne, v. 6; Yonec, v. 426; Milun, v. 300; Chaitivel, v. 37; Eliduc, vv. 6, 272). In all Marie employs the adjective proz twenty-seven times in the Lais. It refers to Guigemar's father (v. 33); Guigemar as a young man (v. 43); Arthur, Gauvain, and Lanval (Lanval, vv. 6, 1 1 3 , 227, 516); the lover in the Deus 82

Chivalry and Prowess

Am anz (vv. 59, 74); Yonec (vv. 328, 426, 461); Milun and his son (vv. 300, 526); the four lovers in C haitivel (v. 37); Eliduc (vv. 6, 272); and the nobles reis to whom the Lais are dedicated (Pro­ logue, v. 44), probably Henry II. With the exception of its use to describe Arthur, Marie calls proz only the favoured male pro­ tagonists of her stories. As applied to Arthur and Henry pruz and curteis probably represent courtesy epithets, with little specific semantic content. But it is not only male characters who merit the use of the adjective proz. Le Fresne (v. 482), the girl in the Deus A m anz (v. 228), the fairy mistress in Lanval (v. 72), Eliduc's wife (v. 710), and a hypothetical, perfect woman in C haitivel (v. 196), are all described as pruz, sage, and bele. The sister of M ilun's beloved is called "pruz e senee" (v. 70). A study of the substantive pruesce confirms that "prowess" is one of the qualities of which Marie approves in a man and a woman. Pruesce is used eight times, with reference to the Bretons in Equitan (v. 3), Lanval (v. 22), the bacheler in Laüstic (v. 19), M ilun and his son (vv. 19, 339), the lovers in C haitivel (v. 153) and Eliduc (vv. 35, 547). In the case of the bacheler in Laüstic, who is "coneii . . . de prüesce" (vv. 18 -19 ), it helps him to gain a good reputation in the community and acts as one of the fac­ tors in his success as a lover. Eliduc is retained by the King of Brittany by virtue of his pruesce ("Pur sa prüesce le retint," v. 35). Prowess is a means of serving one's lord (vv. 32—34). Eliduc enjoys similar success with Guilliadun's father and his followers: "M ut fu preisez par sa prüesce" (v. 547). For Eliduc, Milun, and the four lovers in Chaitivel, pruesce is a major component in the love they inspire in a woman. In the case of M ilun's son it gives rise not only to his reputation but to his name itself: "Puis ad tant fet par sa prüesce, . . . L'apel[ou]ent par tut Sanz Per" (vv. 339, 342). If Marie has any reser­ vations about pruesce, they are that it can lead to envy and even to alienation from the community (Lanval, vv. 22—23; M ilun, vv. 345-46; Eliduc, vv. 41-46). Pruesce, as we have seen, is not a male prerogative and it is not restricted to achievement on the battlefield. The Bretons, who have been thoughtful enough to 83

The Lais of Marie de France

preserve interesting aventures for posterity by composing lays, are praised for their priiesce (Equitan, v. 3). Pruesce is evidently the ability to adapt skill and power to a particular need. For the chevalier the social need is principally military. But prowess also attracts the admiration of the ladies. Marie uses three other m ilitary adjectives in direct associa­ tion with the term chevalier: hardi (M ilun, vv. 14, 300; Eliduc, v. 6), fier [Milun, vv. 14, 300; Yonec, v. 514; Eliduc, v. 6), and vaillant (Guigem ar, v. 33; Le Fresne, v. 6; Yonec, v. 426; Chaitivel, v. 37). The adjective hardi is used to describe Lanval (v. 516), M ilun (vv. 14, 300) and Eliduc (v. 6), but always accom­ panied by proz or fier (there is an additional example of hardiz e fiers applied to Milun, verse 392, in manuscript S, a reading incorporated by Rychner but not by Ewert). This may suggest that Marie regards hardem ent not as a permanent charac­ teristic or attitude of mind but as a supporting virtue. It is the dimension of boldness added to an individual's other qualities and can be inspired or tempered by circumstances. Guigemar is stimulated by love to the point of confessing his feelings to his lady: Amur li dune hardement: II li descovre sun talent. (vv. 499-500) Love emboldened him: he revealed his feelings to her.

If pruesce is the opposite of cowardice, hardem ent is the op­ posite of fear. When Guigemar's boat is seen arriving the lady begins to flee. Her companion is bolder: La dame volt turner en fuie: Si eie ad poür n'est merveille; Tute en fu sa face vermeille. Mes la meschine, que fu sage E plus hardie de curage, La recunforte e aseüre.

(vv 270-75) 84

Chivalry and Prowess The lady wanted to turn and flee: no wonder she was afraid. Her face became quite flushed. But the maiden, who was of bolder disposition, comforted and reassured her.

There are also in the Lais two examples of the syntax si hardi plus relative clause. Again the meaning "bold" is appropriate. No forester would be bold enough to challenge Eliduc, so favoured was he by the king (vv. 37-40). On his arrival in England Eliduc demands that none of his men should be bold enough to accept gifts or money during the first forty days (vv. 14 1-4 4 ). H arde­ ment must be kept in check, otherwise it leads to acts which can be categorized by the English term "foolhardy." One can be too hardi, but not too proz. Marie uses the adjective vaillant to describe Guigemar's fa­ ther (v. 33), Le Fresne's father and his neighbour (v. 6), Yonec (vv. 328, 426, 461) and the hypothetical lover so ardently desired by his mother (v. 98), the prudum e who attempt to carry the girl up the mountain in the Deus Am anz (v. 152), the lovers in C haitivel (v. 37), Eliduc (v. 8), Lanval's lady (v. 370), and Bisclavret's wife (v. 21). When used to describe a male character vaillant is, like hardi, a supporting epithet employed prin­ cipally in the formula pruz e vaillanz in the second hemistich, e.g. "Chivaliers ert pruz e vaillanz" (Guigem ar, v. 33); "E chevalers pruz e vaillant" {Le Fresne, v. 6). The precise meaning of vaillant is not easy to determine from the contexts in which Marie uses it. It is clearly employed as a means of indicating approval of the individual in question. Its use in association with proz and in other texts suggests strongly that m ilitary skills are implied. The original Latin senses of the verb valere, having strength, effectiveness, influence or worth, combine to produce a concept of valur seen as particularly successful on the field of battle: "Bien coneü entre ses pers / De prüesce, de grant valur" (the lover in Laüstic, vv. 18 -19 ). Lanval (v. 21), Milun (v. 302), and the lovers in C haitivel (vv. 53, 154) are also 85

The Lais of Marie de France

said to possess valur. As a general social quality valur is es­ pecially prized when in association with sen(s): "K i en sei eit valur ne sens" (Guigem ar, v. 520); "Si en sei ad sen e valur" (Equitan, v. 139). It is as highly valued in women as in men (Guigem ar, v. 520; Chaitivel, v. 31). Another positive virtue attributed by Marie to knights she favours (Muldumarec, Milun, and Eliduc) is fierté. No explana­ tion is required or offered. It is eminently clear from all Old French texts dealing with warfare that fierté is an essential part of the warrior's makeup, representing an attitude of mind, a dynamic view of battle, fierceness and confidence.20 In the Lais the adjective fier (she does not use the substantive), when des­ ignating male characters, is always associated with other m ili­ tary qualities, hardi (Milun, vv. 14, 300, 392 in manuscript S; Eliduc, v. 6), proz (Milun, vv. 14, 300; Eliduc, v. 6), and fort (Yonec, v. 514). The Lais present three categories of chevaliers. There are those who receive passing mention as such, but whose be­ haviour is abhorrent to Marie: Meriaduc in Guigemar, Equitan, the lover in Bisclavret, the husband in Laiistic. These indi­ viduals are not given the benefit of positive m ilitary or social epithets, but they are powerful men who create difficulties for the favoured chevaliers. The latter are all lovers or sons of lovers. But in as far as they are wealthy or the sons of the wealthy both these categories of chevaliers have as their re­ tainers other knights ("Chevalers manda e retient," Guigemar, v. 747; "Plusurs bons chevalers retient," Milun, v. 383). These knights can be summoned, given instructions, used as compan­ ions (Guigemar, vv. 77, 741, 754; Lanval, vv. 478, 496; Eliduc, vv. 79, 284), etc. They perform whatever function is necessary, acting as escort to the queen in Chevrefoil (v. 83), as reinforce­ ments at a tournament (Chaitivel, v. 104), as soldiers in Eliduc (vv. 155, 219, 232). Several references make it clear that cheva­ liers were a common sight in Marie's society: 86

Chivalry and Prowess Alez i est mut richement, Chevalers meine plus de cent. [Guigemar, vv. 7 5 3 -5 4 ) Guigemar set off richly attired, bringing with him more than a hundred knights. Asez eurent joie e déduit, De chevalers eurent plenté. (Milun, vv. 488-89) They experienced great joy and pleasure, and with them were a good many knights. A vus revendrai volenters Od grant esforz de chevalers. [Eliduc, vv. 639-40) I shall willingly return to you with a great force of knights.

Living in towns (Guigem ar, v. 857; Lanval, v. 205) or courts, doubtless in cramped conditions, many of these knights will have been poor: N'ot en la vile chevalier Ki de surjur ait grant mestier, Quë il ne face a lui venir. (Lanval, w . 2 0 5-7 ) In the town there was no knight in sore need of shelter whom he did not summon to him. Les povres chevalers amot: Ceo que des riches gaainot Lur donout e sis reteneit. (Milun, vv. 3 2 7 -2 9 )

87

The Lais of Marie de France He loved the poor knights: he gave them what he won from the rich and retained them. A sun manger feseit venir Les chevalers mesaeisez Que al bure erent herbergez. (.Eliduc, vv. 138 -4 0 ) He had all the needy knights who were lodged in the town come to his table.

Marie is sympathetic to the poor knights, but she is not specifi­ cally interested in them and makes no attempt to explore their problems. They provide an opportunity for the well-to-do knights to display their generosity, thus confirming their posi­ tion as heroes. Other knights had their own fiefs. The "chevaler fiufé" put pressure on Gurun to marry and threaten disaffection if he re­ fuses [Le Fresne, vv. 325-27). They are powerful enough to make him risk his personal happiness in order to satisfy their demands for a legitimate heir. Gurun is in fact the only cheva­ lier whose conflict is with his social inferiors. Their behaviour gives us a glimpse of the latent power of the small-time landed knight. In Beroul's Tristran Mark's vassals make a sim ilar point: "Se ton nevo n'ostes de cort / Si que [il] jamais ne retort, / Ne nos tenron a vos jamez, / Si ne vus tendron nule pez" (vv. 6 19 -22 ).21 The knights who with their ladies occupy the centre of the stage in Marie's stories are proz, hardi, fier, vaillant and fort. They are sound all-around warriors, who also possess social and physical qualities. They are franc, curteis, bel and gent. They look the part of the lover, do and say the right thing at court. Marie's knights are brave and handsome young men, well equipped to be a success on the battlefield or in the ban­ queting hall. In many cases their m ilitary qualities have to be taken on trust. "Les chevaliers dans les Lais," remarks 88

Chivalry and Prowess

Y. Otaka, "sont plus courtois que guerriers."22 The seneschal in Equitan, Gurun in Le Fresne, Bisclavret, Lanval, the lover in Laüstic, Muldumarec and his son in Yonec, and Tristram are not called upon in the context of their aventures to perform deeds of bravery. However, Guigemar, Milun and his son, the lovers in Chaitivel, and Eliduc are seen in action at some stage in their story. There are of course three main areas of activity for a dynamic knight in the twelfth century: hunting, tournaments and war. The first two act as a source of pleasure and as keep-fit classes for the third. Hunting provided food and relaxation: "Kar cel déduit forment li plest" (Guigem ar, v. 8o); "Quant repeirout de sun déduit" (Equitan, v. 48). Arthur is haitiez "joyful" when he returns from his hunt (Lanval, v. 312). Jean Larmat has recently pointed to the connection between hunting and war: "La chasse et la guerre sont parentes, surtout dans la société féodale."23 As a team sport, with some room for individual effort and skill, hunting was good training for war. In fact a hunting party was not unlike a m ilitary expedition.24 There is also a clear analogy between hunting and the search for a lover or bride. "The amatory chase," writes Marcelle Thiébaux, "drives the hero— as hunter or victim or both— to the experi­ ence of passionate love."25 So when Marie introduces the motif of hunting she situates her stories against a backdrop of a favourite aristocratic pas­ time and of a favoured literary theme. As an element of realism and as a device for furthering her plots she exploits both the noble sport of stag hunting and the less distinguished practice of ensnaring animals and birds with nets and traps. The only reference to the aristocratic love of river sports occurs in E qui­ tan where the king's continual delight in riveier "hawking at the brook," verse 28 (i.e. hunting ducks on the river bank), gets in the way of a fully-rounded chivalric existence and sym ­ bolizes his irresponsible way of life.26 One notes also that the sport of falconry is represented by the espervier on the wrist of Lanval's lady (v. 573) and in Marie's choice of a versatile lover 89

The Lais of Marie de France

for her lady in Yonec. Muldumarec flies through her window in the form of an ostur "goshawk" (vv. i io, 122, 278) of five or six moultings (v. h i ), i.e. as a bird of perfect maturity who be­ comes a handsome and perfect lover. Marie describes the ostur as a noble bird ("gentil oisel," v. 122). The idea of hunting is central to many of the lays and is often linked to adultery and betrayal. In Lanval the queen's at­ tempted seduction of the hero takes place during Arthur's ab­ sence in the forest (vv. 3 1 1 - 1 2 ) . Eliduc's early harmony and prestige are symbolized by his freedom to hunt in his lord's forest (vv. 37-40). His im m unity from reproach by the foresters seems to be a major source of the envy which produces the rupture with his lord and leads indirectly to his meeting with his second wife. In Bisclavret Marie needs to transfer the wolf from the forest to the court, as preparation for the act of ven­ geance and the eventual transformation into human form. For her purpose hunting serves a double function. The initial meet­ ing between Bisclavret and the beneficent king takes place dur­ ing a hunting expedition (v. 13 sff.). The removal of the wife's nose occurs when the king seeks lodging as he returns from hunting in the same forest (v. 2i9ff.). The rescue of Bisclavret through the agency of hunting forms an ironic twist to a story in which he him self had been condemned to function as a per­ manent hunter living off prey and plunder (v. 66). In Equitan hunting is, as we have seen, synonymous with pleasure and irresponsibility (vv. 25-28). Equitan uses the hunt as a means of meeting the seneschal's wife (vv. 43-44). The fact that he goes hunting alone (priveem ent, v. 43) would doubtless not have been popular with other members of his court. Later the wife's plot to murder her husband revolves around the concept of the chase: "Sire," fet ele, "si vus plest, Venez chacer en la forest, En la cuntree u jeo sujur." (vv. 2 4 1-4 3 ) 90

C h iv a lr y and P ro w ess

"Lord," she said, "please come hunting in the forest in the region where I live." Ne demurat mie treis meis Que el pais vet chacier li reis. (vv. 26 3-6 4) Less than three months later the king went hunting in the region.

Similarly, in Yonec the first meeting between the lady and her hawk-lover takes place whilst the husband is away hunting (vv. 53-54). When, with the iron spikes in place, the latter wants to trick his wife into summoning her lover, he announces a hunt­ ing trip (vv. 298-99). Guigemar, in which the hunt constitutes a prelude to an erotic experience, is the closest of the Lais to the traditional pattern in which the quarry "draws a hero to an other-world mistress" (Thiébaux, p. 105) and whose function is "to achieve the separation of the protagonist from his familiar notions of reality and order and procure for him his isolation" (p. 56). An early passage in Guigem ar demonstrates on Marie's part some knowledge of the mechanics of the hunt: Guigemar "conceived a desire to go hunting (aler chacier)-, that night he summoned his knights, his hunters (veneurs) and his beaters [berniers], and in the morning set off into the forest, as hunting was his favourite pastime. They gathered in pursuit of a large stag and the dogs were unleashed (descuplé). The hunters ran on in front and the young man tarried behind. A servant carried his bow [arc], his hunting-knife [ansae] and his quiver (her­ serez). If the opportunity arose, he wished to be ready to shoot an arrow before the animal had stirred" (vv. 76-88). As often in Marie, we have here a blend of realism and fiction. Guigemar's victim, an androgynous hind, is endowed with the gift of speech and prophecy. Bisclavret too is not what he seems when encountered by the hunters: "Ceste merveille esgardez, / Cum ceste beste se humilie! / Ele ad sen de hume, merci crie" (vv. 91

The Lais of Marie de France

152-54). The weasel in Eliduc, which enables Eliduc to marry Guilliadun and contributes to the dénouem ent of the text, pos­ sesses both magic properties and human intelligence. Seeing its dead companion, it displays human grief and immediately rushes into a nearby wood in search of a red flower with powers of resuscitation (vv. 10 32-53). The brutal killing of the first weasel, the wounding of the hind, the fact that Bisclavret is nearly torn to pieces ("tut deciré e maum is," v. 144) by the king's hounds, the nightingale whose neck is deliberately broken and whose blood bespatters the lady's tunic (Laüstic, vv. 11 5 - 19 ) , the trail of blood and an­ guish left by the dying hawk-knight in Yonec (vv. 3 1 0 - 1 8 , 342, 357-59 , 372-78), all combine to support Larmat's feeling that Marie did not like hunting.27 Man with his variety of weapons, in particular the bird-lime, nets and snares in Laüstic (vv. 96, 99, 107) and the broches de fer "iron prongs" in Yonec (vv. 28 6 87, 310), was perhaps seen by Marie as possessing an artificial superiority over the hapless victim s. The trapping of birds is clearly not a chivalric pursuit, but it does affect the lives of knights. In Laüstic and Yonec it spells death for the love-affairs which are central to the stories. Animals and birds in the Lais also have the function of unit­ ing or separating the lovers and they often seem to pass on to the characters their symbolic properties. In Guigem ar (the white hind with its fawn, vv. 90-91), Bisclavret, Yonec, Laüs­ tic, Milun, and Eliduc, they have an important role in the plot and in the lives of the lovers. In Equitan the motif of hunting is central to the structure of the text and Equitan's name may be connected with equitation.28 In Lanval the hero's horse trem­ bles as adventure approaches (v. 46) and, as J. Ribard has pointed out, when he leaves his horse to vuiltrer "roll over on its back" (v. 48), he is sym bolically cutting him self off from Arthur's court and his own chivalric function and showing his readiness for a new experience.29 In lays lacking important animal references, plants tend to 92

Chivalry and Prowess

play a significant role: the ash tree and the hazel in Le Fresne, the revitalizing potion prepared by the expert in "herbes e ra­ cines" (Deus Amanz, v. ioo) which ultim ately fertilizes the mountain ("Meinte bone herbe i unt trovee," v. 218), the hazel and the honeysuckle in Chevrefoil which are closely linked to the themes of love, death, and separation. The red flower "que tant fu bele" (Eliduc, v. 1062), perhaps the vervain, selected by the weasel from amongst the "herbes" in the wood (vv. 10 4 6 48), brings Guilliadun back to life.30 "Red flowers," writes J. E. Cirlot, "emphasize the relationship with animal life, blood and passion."31 Marie was not a genuine naturalist in the modern sense, but it is no surprise that the author of the Lais was tempted by the animal world she found in King Alvrez' fables (Fables, Epilogue, v. 16).32 Marie clearly expects her young heroes to attend tourna­ ments and from her knowledge of procedure and technique one can conclude that she had gained her grasp of the essentials at first hand, as an enthusiastic spectator. Like the motif of hunt­ ing, tournaments provide her with a realistic setting for the stories and they serve at least two useful functions with regard to her plots. They enable her to bring key personages together and allow the participants to display virtues or faults which affect our judgement of them or our interpretation of the story. Gurun, whose love for Le Fresne has already been kindled by her excellent reputation (vv. 246-48), attends a tournament as an excuse for meeting her when returning via the abbey where she is living (vv. 249-50). The bacheier in Laiistic is a frequent participant in tournaments. They are an excellent way of build­ ing and maintaining a reputation for m ilitary skills and for demonstrating the important virtue of generosity: "M ut turnëot e despendeit / E bien donot ceo qu'il aveit" (Laiistic, vv. 2 1 — 22); "La despendi e turneia" (Milun, v. 323). "The virtues of the early tourneyers," writes Richard Barber, "were chiefly a strong arm and a hard head; if they were also congenial company and liberal spenders, their success was assured."33 93

The Lais of Marie de France

Tournaments are places where knights can enjoy the admir­ ing glances of the ladies, as happens in Chaitivel, where the lady watches from her tower the performance of her four sui­ tors: La dame fu sur une tur, Bien choisi les suens e les lur; Ses druz i vit mut bien aidier: Ne seit [le] queil deit plus preisier.

(vv. 107-10) From a tower the lady had a good view of her knights and their men; she saw her lovers giving a good account of themselves: she did not know which merited her esteem most.

In C haitivel the tournament is at the very heart of the story. It provides the tragic action which can justify both possible titles, Le C haitivel and Les Quatre Deuls. Marie describes with care­ ful attention to detail how the participants gather from far and near well in advance of the starting day (vv. 75-82). As she was aware, preliminary skirmishes often broke out on the eve of the event and this is what happens here: "Al vespré del turneiement / S'entreferirent durement" (vv. 83-84). In the early con­ tests the lovers demonstrate their courage under pressure ("N'aveient talent de fuir," v. 96) and with determination and skill unhorse their opponents: Lance baissie, a espelun, Choisi chescun sun cumpainun. Par tel air s'entreferirent Que li quatre defors cheirent.

(vv. 97-100) Lance lowered and at full speed, each one picked out his opponent. They struck each other with such violent blows that the four adversaries were unhorsed. 94

Chivalry and Prowess

On the day of the tournament itself, with the ranks now swollen (v. 1 12), the lovers carry off all the honours (v. 116). But foolishly they expose themselves away from their followers. At dusk, when they should have retired for the night (vv. 117 -2 0 ), they are hit "a traverse" (by an unfair lateral attack?) and three are killed, the fourth being wounded in that suspect part of his anatomy, the thigh (vv. 12 1-2 6 ). The risk factor of these un­ disciplined contests is evident, and such a tragedy, in as far as it reflects reality, would serve to justify criticism of tournaments. A major reason for the popularity of tournaments was the opportunity they provided for financial gain from the horses, armour and prisoners that could be taken. The lovers in Chaitivel had earlier shown their nobility of outlook and singleminded desire to impress their lady by refusing the horses of their defeated opponents: "Il n'eurent cure des destriers, / Ainz les laissèrent estraiers" (vv. 10 1-2 ). M ilun's son scores victories over "riches hummes" (v. 324) and uses the proceeds to help and retain impoverished knights (vv. 328-30). Milun him self is concerned with the tournament not for financial gain but as a chance to inflict humiliation ("leidier e empeirer," v. 354) on the famous knight Sanz Per, but he merely ends up being un­ horsed by him for the first time in his career. His horse is then returned to him by the victor (vv. 425-26). It turns out that he has been the victim of his own son and Marie has used the tournament as a device for bringing father and son together in circumstances which highlight their foremost characteristic, martial skill. It is also interesting to note that M ilun's son trav­ els from Northumbria to Brittany in order to participate in tournaments. Presumably none were available in England in view of Henry IPs attitude towards them. M ilun meets his son at a tournament held at Mont St. Michel and Marie comments that Norman, Breton, Flemish and French participants gath­ ered there, but there were very few Englishmen (vv. 387-90). Were they too scared to come or were they out of practice? Cer­ tainly until the advent of the professionalism of W illiam Marshal, English knights were unable to cope with the tough 95

The Lais of Marie de France

and uncompromising world of continental tournaments. R. W. Southern points out that English knights were looked on as “ easy game" by French knights because they tackled tourna­ ments “ as playboys and adventurers,“ as a means of escaping the “deadly dull“ life in England rather than as a serious form of martial training.34 So knights like M ilun and his son would have been a shock for the continental tourneyers. If William Marshal was known to Marie, he would have been well pleased to see his own ideals, notwithstanding the absence of his acute business skills, expressed in her lay. Tournaments are closely linked to wars. Twice Marie men­ tions that they begin around Easter time (C h aitivel, v. 72; Milun, v. 384), the moment for the renewal of many forms of activity. Milun tells his son about the active life he had led: Mut ai cerchiees autres teres Par turneiemenz e par gueres. (vv. 4 4 1-4 2 ) I have visited many lands in search of tournaments and wars.

The act of jousting can apply to tournaments [Milun, vv. 353, 416) and to an engagement in war: “ Peot cel estre, nus justerums" (Eliduc, v. 170). Sim ilarly we encounter a grant m edlee in C haitivel (v. 105), as the lovers7 opponents are rescued by the back-up team of knights, and in Eliduc Guilliadun's father has no one in his castle bold enough to “ estur ne mellee tenir“ with the enemy (v. 102). In Guigem ar Meriaduc proclaims a tournament against his enemy. He summons and retains a number of knights (v. 747) as a means of strengthening his team: “The tournament was essentially two teams of knights, fighting under certain condi­ tions.“35 Over and above this he makes a specific request to one knight, Guigemar, whom he knows sufficiently well to call “ ami e cumpainun“ (v. 750), and offers him a material reward [gueredun, v. 749) for his support at this time of need. Guige­ mar duly arrives with a hundred knights (v. 754) and is lodged 96

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by Meriaduc in his keep (v. 755). But more important than Guigemar's m ilitary muscle is Meriaduc's desire to trick him into opening up the lady's belt. Everything goes as he has planned. When Guigemar asks him for the lady in return for two or three years' vassal service he responds that his m ilitary needs are not such that he is forced to surrender her to him (vv. 848-50). But Guigemar then challenges him (v. 855), retreats to the castle of Meriaduc's opponent in the war, and uses as a fighting force the knights intending to participate in the tour­ nament which never takes place (vv. 857-68). He liberates the lady, destroys the castle and puts an end to the guere (v. 868). As in Milun, the tournament marks an important stage in the re­ union of the lovers. Not all Marie's heroes are so effective in battle. But another notable exception is Eliduc who, having impressed one lord by his prowess, arrives in war-torn England: "Plusurs reis [i] ot en la tere, / Entre eus eurent estrif e guere" (vv. 89-90). He is de­ lighted that he has "found" a war, as he now has a chance to offer auxilium and act as a mercenary: Ne voleit mes avant aler, Quant iloc ad guere trovee; Remaner volt en la cuntree. Li reis ki plus esteit grevez E damagiez e encumbrez Vodrat aider a sun poeir E en soudees remaneir. (vv. 10 4 -10 ) He did not want to proceed any farther now that he had found a war. He wanted to remain in that country and help, as best he could, the king who was most afflicted and discomfited, and remain in his service.

The search for soudees "paid m ilitary service" is Eliduc's prin­ cipal motivating force: "M es puis avient par une guere / Quë il 97

The Lais of Marie de France

alat soudees quere" (vv. 13 - 14 ) ; "E s'il nel voleit rete­ nir, . . . Avant ireit soudees quere" (vv. 116 , 118). As in the case of Milun the display of prowess, wherever it is needed, is his raison d ’être. He is defined by Marie as "li bon chevaler" (v. 340) and as "le bon soudeer" (v. 1074, see also vv. 246, 339). Like Milun he wins through his prowess the love of a beautiful and loyal maiden of higher social status than his own. Wars, like tournaments, offer an opportunity for financial gain ("Del herneis pristrent a espleit, / M erveillus gaain i unt fait," Eliduc, vv. 223-24). The spoils of battle give Eliduc an oppor­ tunity to display his generosity and sensitivity to others' needs. He distributes the armour to his victorious companions, keep­ ing only three horses for his own use (w. 259 -6 1). Unlike Arthur's act of départir (Lanval, v. 17), Eliduc's is fair and uni­ form: "Tut ad départi e duné, / La sue part communément, / As prisuns e a l'autre gent" (vv. 262-64). Wars, again like tour­ naments, also enable the victor to inflict material damage on an opponent and at the same time to dishonour him ("Bien tost les purreit damagier / E eus laidier e empeirier," Eliduc, vv. 183-84). The acts of gaainier and of dam agier are also a source of pris "reputation": Si nus poüm rien gaainier, Ceo nus iert turné a grant pris De damagier noz enemis. (Eliduc , vv. 198-200) If we can win anything, the fact that we have discomfited our enemies will help our reputation.

Marie gives us no details about M ilun's life as a mercenary or about Guigemar's early efforts in Flanders. One can assume that she had no direct experience with wars.36 At the end of Guigemar, however, there is a brief description of the taking of Meriaduc's castle: "N ext day they rose early and everyone in the lodgings equipped himself. They made a noisy exit from the 98

Chivalry and Prowess

town with Guigemar out in front. They reached the castle and attacked it, but it was strong and they could not take it. Guigemar besieged the town and would not leave until it was taken. His friends and followers increased in number so much that he starved all those inside. He captured and destroyed the castle and killed the lord w ithin" (vv. 869-80). When Eliduc fights on behalf of the King of Exeter who is under attack from one of his peers because of his refusal to hand over his only daughter in marriage (vv. 94-98), Marie devotes even less atten­ tion than in Guigem ar to the actual battle: "They struck vig­ orously and did not spare the enemy who were quite astounded, quickly routed and their ranks split. In a short time they were vanquished" (vv. 2 13 - 17 ) . But here the fighting is placed in a wider context of the preparations for the ambush and of the aftermath, in which Eliduc displays his generosity (vv. 259-64). The complete episode occupies 119 lines (vv. 145-264). When Eliduc's first lord, the King of Brittany, is at war ("M ut ert grevez e damagiez / E encumbrez e empeiriez; / Tuz ses chasteus alot perdant / Etute sa tere guastant," vv. 553-56), he summons help from his discarded vassal. Again Marie provides few details. Keen to return to England Eliduc polishes off the king's adver­ saries in next to no time: "De pais fere s'est entremis; / Tuz acorda ses enemis" (vv. 747-48). In both episodes in Eliduc, as in Guigemar, Marie is principally concerned to present the victory of right over wrong or to show in action the excellent qualities of her heroes, their respect for feudal values (Guigem ar, vv. 855, 860; Eliduc, vv. 14 1-4 4 , 19 1- 9 2 , 19 5 -9 7, 201), their m ilitary acumen (Guigem ar, v. 85 3ff. Eliduc, vv. 166—72, 209 -10) and their ability to inspire and instruct less gifted knights (Guigemar, vv. 8 6 1—62; Eliduc, vv. 159 -64 , 194, 205-8, 212). Guigemar's prize in the battle is his beloved, but Eliduc fights because of his delight in a challenge. The greater the need, the greater his enthusiasm ("Li reis ki plus esteit grevez / E damagiez e encumbrez / Vodrat aider a sun poeir," vv. 107-9). The squire's remark to the king after the battle that his like had 99

The Lais of Marie de France

never been seen ("Unques tel chevalier ne fu/' v. 249), confirms Marie's aim. Eliduc is now ready for the next stage in his life, the meeting with the king's daughter. Pierre Le Gentil has argued that Marie was insufficiently in­ terested in prowess and that Chrétien de Troyes was better able to satisfy public demand in this area.37 Be that as it may, my impression is that Marie became more committed to action and chivalric pursuits as time passed by. In Milun, Guigem ar and Eliduc, lays which I think Marie composed later in her career, more space is allotted to the hero's development in m ili­ tary matters and all the occurrences of the terms guere, guerreier, soudees, soudeiei and estur are found in these lays. These three poems are also dominated by the theme of loyalty, partic­ ularly of the man to the woman.38 These are the lays of real commitment by the knight to a lady and to the service of oth­ ers. One does not have the impression that Marie envisaged her heroes as champions of justice or as liberators. But the chiv­ alric ideal is certainly there. Guigem ar at least, and Yonec in its own way, provide examples of the rescue of a damsel in dis­ tress. Guigemar and Eliduc rid weak but fundamentally good lords of the horrors and fears of war and restore joy to their communities (Guigem ar, vv. 865-68; Eliduc, vv. 253-54). In Guigemar, Milun, and Eliduc prowess and love come together to form an effective partnership to the benefit of both self and society.

100

CHAPTER

SIX

Women in Love

Each of the knights whose activities and attributes have been examined in the previous chapter enjoys a close rela­ tionship with a maiden [pucele/dam eisele) or dame. The term dame, with 177 examples, is in fact the most frequently used substantive in the Lais. 1 In this chapter I shall examine the social status of the ladies at the time they meet their beloveds. Are they all of noble birth and, if they are married, what infor­ mation do we have about the social standing of their husbands? What terms does Marie use to convey the status or background of her female characters? What vocabulary and what techniques does she use to describe her ladies? We shall see whether they are merely "dumb blondes," or whether they share wide-ranging characteristics with their male counterparts. Such details help us to place the relationships between the heroes and heroines in a social and literary context. Guigemar's lady is the wife of the lord of the antive cité (v. 207), the capital city of its area ("chief de cel régné," v. 208). Marie does not locate this city clearly, but it is reached by a seajourney from Brittany and could well be envisaged as being on the coast of Britain or on the estuary of a river such as the Severn.2 We are told that the lady is de haut parage "of high birth" (v. 211), an expression which is also later used to describe her husband (v. 341). He is said by his wife to be a rich and IOI

The Lais of Marie de France

powerful man in control of the city and the surrounding area (vv. 339-41). Advanced in years (vv. 210, 342), he is obsessed by jealousy (vv. 2 1 1 , 343). His fear of cuckoldry (v. 216) and the cruel way he treats his wife call forth from Marie an outburst which she reserves for those who deny young women the chance to place their affections where they wish (vv. 2 1 1 - 1 8 , see also Yonec, vv. 8 1-8 6 ; Milun, vv. 143-50). Equitan's am ie is the wife of a knight who occupies the posi­ tion of seneschal (vv. 2 1-2 2 ). The husband has his own chastel (vv. 46, 244) and, as seneschal, is the king's chief legal and ad­ ministrative official. He discharges his duties successfully ("Li seneschal la curt teneit, / Les plaiz e les clamurs oieit," vv. 195-96) and in fact, because of Equitan's abnegation of his re­ sponsibilities, becomes a surrogate king: "Tute sa tere li gardoit / E mainteneit e justisoit" (vv. 23-24).3 He is evidently a loyal and supportive vassal, eager to please and help the king (vv. 10 7 - 12 , 247-50, 268-70). We are not told anything about his social background or that of his wife, but it is safe to as­ sume that they are members of the lower nobility. The posses­ sion of a castle, which lies in the region outside Nantes, sug­ gests comfortable financial circumstances. But there is a good deal of social and financial distance between the king and the seneschal's wife and this concerns her greatly: Vus estes rei de grant noblesce; Ne sui mie de teu richesce Que (a] mei [vus) deiez arester De drüerie ne de amer.

(vv. 121-24) You are a king of great nobility; I am not wealthy enough to be the object of your love or passion. Pur ceo que estes rei puissaunz E mi sire est de vus tenaunz, Quidereiez, a mun espeir, Le danger de l'amur aveir. (vv. 1 3 3 - 3 6 )

102

Women in Love Because you are a powerful king and my lord is your vassal, you would expect, as I see it, to be lord and master in love as well.

It is the lady's social ambitions which seem to lie at the root of her disloyalty to her husband and her plot to murder him. The king's offer to make her a queen evidently makes a deep im ­ pression on her: "Reine e dame vus fereie" (v. 227). Le Fresne is the daughter of a knight from Brittany (vv. 3-4 , 52). Her father is described as "pruz e vaillant" (v. 6) and he is said to be a wealthy man ("riches hum," vv. 5, 19). He is thus able to offer any future son-in-law the prospect of extensive lands, a prospect which is not lost on Gurun's barons when they contemplate the possibility of a marriage between Gurun and the knight's other daughter, La Codre: "M ut poëz tere od li aveir" (v. 334). The unusually fine paile "brocade," which he had brought back from Constantinople (vv. 12 3 -2 5 , 414), and the large ring, made from an ounce of pure gold with a jaguncc "hyacinth stone, ruby" set in it (vv. 128-30), are signs of the father's wealth and position in society. Le Fresne's mother uses these objects to indicate her daughter's noble birth ("Que ele est nee de bone gent," v. 134), and the porter and his fam ily at the abbey immediately interpret them as such: "Bien surent cil tut a scient / Que ele est nee de haute gent" (vv. 209—10). At the close of the text Le Fresne's father marries off his daughter La Codre "m ut richem ent" (v. 513). Throughout the story he shows himself to be a kindly and thoughtful man and his good­ ness and nobility of spirit are clearly passed on to Le Fresne. After celebrating her marriage with Gurun, he ensures that Le Fresne receives her half of his inheritance which her mother, who had even thought of murdering her ("Un des enfanz m'estuet murdrir," v. 92), had come close to denying her. The pechez which the mother had committed (v. 489) is expeditiously rec­ tified by the father. The lay of Bisclavret opens with talk of a happy marriage ("II amot li e ele lui," v. 23) between Bisclavret and a woman de­ 103

The Lais of Marie de France

scribed as "vailant" (v. 21). No details are supplied concerning the family background of the couple whose home is in Bretaine (v. 15). They both seem to belong to the lower nobility. The knight to whom the wife turns as a result of her physical revul­ sion for Bisclavret is a vassal of the king with his own fief (v. 188). He is one of the king's baruns (v. 187) and attends his court "richly and elegantly attired" (v. 192). His social status would appear to be very sim ilar to that of Bisclavret. Bisclavret's wife appears to be both vain and ambitious. When the king goes hunting and lodges in her area, she puts on her finery ("Avenantment se appareilot," v. 228) and takes him an expensive gift ("Riche present li fait porter," v. 230). The loss of her nose, a common punishment for adultery, is an appropriate humiliation and disfigurement for a woman who was dis­ tinctly proud of her appearance ("Que mut feseit beu sem­ blant," v. 22). Lanval's am ie is a fairy whose dwelling-place is apparently in Avalon ("En un isle que mut est beaus," v. 643). She tells Lan val that she has come from afar ("de luinz," v. 112 ) to see him. She is inordinately rich and capable of offering Lanval lim itless pocket-money and immediate sexual gratification. Her wealth is symbolized by the tref "tent, pavilion" in which Lanval first meets her. It was, says Marie, "very beautiful and well appointed. Neither Queen Semiramis at the height of her wealth, power and knowledge, nor the Emperor Octavian, could have afforded even the right-hand side of it. There was a golden eagle placed on the top; I cannot tell its value, nor that of the ropes or the poles which supported its walls. There was no king under the sun who could have paid for it, however much he might have given" (vv. 81-92). The coverlets on the bed cost as much as a castle (v. 98). Later, when the fairy arrives at court on a handsome white palfrey, we read that no count or king could have afforded the animal and its equipment, unless he sold or pledged his lands (vv. 555-58). The fairy has the power to impose on Lanval the taboo of secrecy and possesses 104

Women in Love

the omniscience to know the circumstances in which he is forced to break the taboo (vv. 6 19 -2 1). In short she represents a fearsome combination of beauty, wealth, power and knowl­ edge. Marie always refers to her in human terms, m ainly those denoting a young noble girl (dam eisele, v. 71 ; meschine, v. 1 3 1 ; pucele, vv. 93, 108, 549, 587, 630, 638). She is also called a dame (vv. 493, 536, 601) and, repeatedly, Lanval's am ie (vv. 158, 165, 18 1, 187, 2 17 , etc.). In a medieval household the presence of young boys and girls from noble families would have been a sign of prestige (the lady in Le Fresne is served by a faithful m eschine who is de franche orine "of noble birth," vv. 99-100). Thus when Lanval announces to the queen that his beloved's poorest m eschine is superior to the queen in beauté, enseigne­ ment, and bunté (vv. 299-302), he is presenting the fairy as a potentate with a court outstripping that of King Arthur him ­ self. This statement is as much of an insult to the king as to the queen herself. The point about the excellence of the serving maidens is picked up by both the queen and Arthur and it be­ comes the centre-piece of the accusation against Lanval: De tele amie se vanta, Que tant iert cuinte e noble e here Que meuz valut sa chamberere, La plus povre que tant serveit, Que la reine ne feseit. (vv. 320 -24 ) He boasted of a beloved who was so well-bred, noble and proud that her chambermaid, her poorest servant, was more worthy than the queen. Vanté vus estes de folie: Trop par est noble vostre amie, Quant plus est bele sa meschine E plus vaillanz que la reine.

(vv. 367-70) 105

The Lais of Marie de France You boasted foolishly: your beloved must indeed be noble for her serving maiden to be more beautiful and more worthy than the queen.

One notes that the queen embroiders on Lanval's original state­ ment, which confirms the nature of the affront to her which his outburst constituted. More importantly it illustrates that the beauty of the serving girls is envisaged as a guarantee and sign of the excellence of Lanval's amie, a factor which would stimulate jealousy in the queen (note the use of noble in verses 321 and 368). Hence the importance of the impact of the puceles (vv. 472, 480, 510) who precede their mistress in the closing stages of the tale. The knights confirm that the second two are more worthy than the queen ever was ("N 'i ad cele meuz ne vausist / Que unkes la reine ne fist," vv. 5 3 1-3 2 ). Both pairs of maidens (the earlier ones are also called dames, v. 504, the later arrivals dam eiseles, v. 521) are sufficiently striking and effec­ tive to put the judges off their stride (vv. 504-5), much to the annoyance of Arthur and the queen who is impatient (in one manuscript she is said to be hungry).4 Lanval's am ie turns out to be the most beautiful damsel in the world (v. 591), a source of joy for all who see her ("dreite joie," v. 584), the finest lady ever to enter the court (v. 602). Lanval's boast was justified; "De sa beauté n'iert mie gas" (v. 579). Arthur's court is duly eclipsed and it is no surprise when Lanval, always something of an out­ sider, opts to accompany her on her return to Avalon. As we read the lays in the Harley order we pass from Lanval's stunning mistress to the young girl in the Deus Am anz who has little or no control over her own destiny. Her father sees her presence as a consolation for the loss of his wife: "Cunfortez fu par la meschine, / Puis que perdue ot la reine" (vv. 23-24). He offers her hand in marriage as a prize in a contest of strength and it repeatedly falls to her lot to be carried part of the way up the local mountain (vv. 39-46). As the daughter of a king, albeit 106

Women in Love

a petty king, she is a member of the higher nobility. If her young admirer had survived his mission to get her to the top of the mountain, the resulting marriage would have been dis­ tinctly advantageous to him. Having married an only child, he would ultim ately have taken over his father-in-law's estates in Normandy. Temperamentally the girl seems to have inherited her father's careful and thoughtful attitude towards life. The city at Pistre was built only after careful thought and consulta­ tion ("Par grant cunseil e par esgart," v. 12) and, faced with a dilemma, the king hatches the plan which he thinks w ill en­ able him to get what he wants whilst preserving appearances: Quant il oï que hum en parla, Mut fu dolent, mut li pesa; Cumença sei a purpenser Cument s'en purrat délivrer Que nul sa fille ne quesist. (vv. 2 7 - 3 1 ) When he heard that people were talking about it, he was distressed and very upset; he began to devise a plan by which he could prevent anyone from seeking his daughter's hand.

Like her father, the girl does not panic when confronted by a dilemma. Should she grasp what might seem her only chance of happiness and elope with her beloved, thus causing her fa­ ther further "doel e ire" (v. 89)? She also comes up with a plan which stands a good chance of providing her with what she wants without outraging public opinion. Like the girl in Milun, who gets her sister to bring up her son, the king's daughter makes use of a convenient member of the family, a wealthy aunt who had spent the last thirty years in Salerno ("Riche femme, mut ad grant rente; / Plus de trente anz i ad esté," vv. 96-97) and who was an expert herbalist ("Mut est saives de mescines; / Tant conust herbes e racines," vv. 99-100). In spite 107

The Lais of Marie de France

of his being armed with a powerful electuary (vv. 105-8 ) and in spite of the insistent prodding of his beloved (vv. 18 5 -8 7 , 200), the young man's determination to carry out his task unaided compromises the success of both the girl's plan and that of her father. The girl loses her life and the king loses his daughter. The girl in the Deus Am anz is described as an enfant (vv. 3, io, 241), a dam eisele (vv. 22, 84, 163, 227), a m eschine (vv. 23, 220), and a pucele (v. 206). As we move to Yonec we encounter another pucele (v. 21), who very quickly becomes a dam e (vv. 31, 35, 6 1, i i 6, 547) on her marriage to the aged lord of Caerwent in South Wales. The emphasis now switches from the pitfalls of attempting to thwart one's father's wishes to the ago­ nies of an unhappily married woman. The lady in Yonec is of noble birth ("de haute gent," v. 21) and she has been given to an intensely jealous man ("Ki a cest gelus me donerent," v. 83) who was attracted to her by virtue of her child rearing ca­ pability. It was her task to enable her husband to produce an heir for his "bon heritage" (v. 18): "Femme prist pur enfanz aveir, / Que après lui fuissent si heir" (vv. 19 —20). It is not clear what Marie had in mind when telling us that her lady is the wife of an avouez. The term avouez may have a very general meaning, "the acknowledged holder of a fief" (Ewert, glossary), "maître reconnu" (Jonin), "acknowledged and accepted as lord of the land" (Hanning-Ferrante), or it could be a somewhat more technical feudal term with a meaning such as "gouver­ neur" (Tuffrau), "protecteur" (Williams), or "Vogt" (Warnke). J. F. Niemeyer ("deputy, attorney, trustee, deputy of a count, officer in the service of a territorial prince") and A. Blaise ("gouverneur de ville, de château, intendant, administrateur du trésor, administrateur") both provide evidence that the ad­ vocatus was one of the secular officers of feudal society.5 From the point of view of our example in Yonec, the husband could be compared with the seneschal in Equitan and the cunestables who play a minor role in Eliduc (vv. 121 , 218, 250). But I think Denise McClelland may well have interpreted Marie's meaning correctly.6 The avouez in Yonec is an ecclesiastical 108

Women in Love

officer, a man appointed by the Church to handle its secular affairs. The advocate would receive in return a grant of a por­ tion of the land and revenues he protected. "As time went on," writes Joseph R. Strayer, "advocates began to think of these holdings as their own possessions and rendered little service to the Church from which they held them. At their worst they oppressed the churches they were supposed to protect, but even when they were not oppressive they were, in fact, independent feudal lords."7 If Marie's lady was married to one of these dis­ tasteful individuals, this could have heightened the audience's sympathy for her plight. The fact that he had himself "called" lord ("E del pais sire clamez," v. 14) suggests that he was intent on usurping power and influence. Ironically her child beheads the husband in an act of vengeance and becomes lord and king of his father's domains, not those of his stepfather (vv. 542, 549)-

The lay of Laiistic also presents a sterile relationship be­ tween an attractive young woman and her husband. The latter is a knight in comfortable financial circumstances. He pos­ sesses a fortified house (v. 10), an abundance of servants (vv. 9 5 100), and an extensive garden with hazel trees and chestnut trees (v. 98). The lady's background is not specified. She is al­ ways called la dam e (vv. 49, 67, 83, h i , 1 1 7, 121 , 142), and she too w ill have been married off on account of her potential as a mother. In Yonec we are specifically told that during the first seven years of marriage the woman did not produce a child (vv. 37-38). This crucial failure to meet an obligation may well be understood as part of the background to Laiistic. The rela­ tionship between the lady and her husband is clearly strained: he addresses her as "dam e" (v. 105) and she calls him "sire" (v. 83). The husband's anger (vv. 80, 92), sarcasm (vv. 10 5 -10 ), and spiteful wringing of the nightingale's neck (vv. 1 1 4 - 1 5 ) con­ trast with the pleasure his wife derives from the love for the boy next door (vv. 46, 84-90, 125). Her ephemeral relationship provides her with a period of happiness spiced with risk, but she is finally left with nothing but her memories and her em­ 109

The Lais of Marie de France

broidery. Throughout the lay, however, she is resourceful and she even manages to win a small victory over her husband when she smuggles the dead nightingale out of her house and into the hands of her beloved. The girl Milun eventually marries is the daughter of a barun who comes from the same cuntree ''region" as Milun himself ("En sa cuntree ot un barun," v. 21). M ilun's region is, we are told, South Wales (Suhtw ales, v. 9). Before her marriage the girl is called a m eschine (v. 95) and a dam eisele (vv. 24, 30, 44, 47, 54, 89) and after her marriage la dam e[vv. 188, 207, 524). She is also referred to as M ilun's am ie (vv. 125, 280, 361, 511). Although brought up in an atmosphere of repression, she shows the cus­ tomary ingenuity displayed by Marie's heroines. She has numer­ ous chamberlains to guard her whilst she is living with her father (vv. 145-46); but she still manages to get a message to Milun and to meet him on a number of occasions in the garden beside her bedroom ("Delez la chambre en un vergier, / . . . La justouent lur parlement / M ilun e ele bien suvent," vv. 49, 5 1 52). Even though she is "tenuz estreitement" by her husband (v. 289), she manages to escape his clutches from time to time. This, says Marie, is in the nature of things, because it is impossi­ ble to be so carefully watched over that one cannot find a way out on occasion: "N u l ne pot estre si destreiz / Ne si tenuz estreitement / Que il ne truisse liu sovent" (vv. 288-90). The girl has a wealthy married sister who lives in Northumbria (vv. 68— 70) and who performs an important function within the text. After a crisis erupts in the girl's life, as a result of her pregnancy, the sister offers a way of escaping the "grant justise" the girl fears (v. 60). The baby is spirited away to Northumbria, joyfully received and cherished (vv. 1 1 7 —20), and brought up for twenty years. As the young man departs for France, having earlier been dubbed a knight by his aunt (v. 294), he benefits from her liberal supply of money and advice (vv. 316-18). In the meantime and whilst Milun was away from home, the boy's mother had been "given" (v. 126) to a powerful man from her locality, a "m ut riche 1 10

Women in Love

humme des pais" (v. 127). His home is a castle (vv. 178, 524), set in a vile which may well be Caerwent (vv. 179-80). He is of sufficient standing in society to have a royal licence to hunt swans (vv. 182-90). But the marriage is another marriage of convenience and M ilun's am ie remains true to her beloved. After twenty years the husband conveniently dies, leaving his wife to enjoy married bliss with M ilun and belated motherhood. Milun w ill presumably take over the maintenance of the hus­ band's estates. The lady in C haitivel has a good deal more control over her own affairs than many of Marie's heroines. She clearly has the power to choose a husband, which she ironically fails to do in spite of an ever-present supply of suitors and her own skill at keeping them at bay (vv. 13 -32 ). She is presented as an intel­ ligent woman ("de mut grant sens," v. 49) with beauty, breed­ ing, and education (beauté, enseignement, affeitement, vv. 1 1 12). From the outset of the text she is called la dam e (vv. 10, 23, 29, 49, 107, 142, 182, 195). One wonders whether Marie might have intended her to be regarded as a widow. She is a lady of some means, burying her lovers richem ent (v. 168) and making a "grant offrendre e grant partie" to the abbey where they are interred (v. 170). She evidently considers herself to be of high birth. When indulging in self-congratulation about her success in obtaining so many lovers, she says: "Never w ill a woman de mun parage, however beautiful, worthy, and wise she might be, love four such lovers at the same time, only to lose them in a single day" (vv. 195-98). In Chevrefoil Tristram's am ie (vv. 77, 108) is a woman of the highest possible social standing. She is queen of Cornwall and in the text she is always designated as la reine (vv. 7, 14, 28, 43, 55/ 79), never as Iseut, the name by which she must have been known to the audience. When she travels to Tintagel she has a substantial escort of knights (vv. 50, 83, 88) and is accompanied by her faithful servant Brenguien (vv. 89-90). The queen's rela­ tionship with her husband, King Mark, is defined by his anger 111

The Lais of Marie de France

against her am i Tristram (vv. 1 1 —1 4) and her hopes that one day there w ill be a reconciliation (acordem ent, v. 98). The entire story concerns her ability to make the best of an opportunity to spend a few forbidden moments with Tristram. This was not the first time that such a meeting had taken place (“Autre feiz li fu avenu / Que si l'aveit aparceü," vv. 57-58). Eliduc, a short romance, contains two heroines. Guildelüec, Eliduc's first wife, is a woman of high birth: “ De haute gent, de grant parage" (v. 10). One can assume that, in addition to re­ maining faithful to him, she successfully looked after Eliduc's household and lands during his absence in England (cf. vv. 7 2 1 28). His second wife, Guilliadun, is the daughter of a king (v. 16) who lives in the vicinity of Exeter (v. 91). Guilliadun is re­ ferred to as a pucele (sixteen examples), a m eschine (six exam­ ples) and a dam eisele (six examples, one in direct speech). Eli­ duc's first wife is designated as la fem m e (twenty-two exam­ ples) and as la dam e (sixteen examples). In verse 25 the two women are collectively called dames. Space does not permit a full analysis of the varied activities of the two women. In particular, from the time she first hears Eliduc's name (v. 273, cf. Milun, v. 25), Guilliadun leads an active life. She sends a messenger to him, secures his love, elopes with him, endures a period of apparent death, marries Eliduc, and is finally wel­ comed as a “ sister" by his former wife who had withdrawn to a convent (v. 1167). Like her male characters Marie's ladies are all of noble birth, but some apparently are more noble than others. When Marie wants to stress the high birth of her characters she uses the phrase de haut parage (Guigem ar, vv. 2 1 1 , 34 1; Lanval, v. 27), de grant parage [Guigemar, v. 7 10 ; Eliduc, v. 10) or de haute gent [Le Fresne, v. 210; Yonec, v. 2 1; Eliduc, vv. 10, 389). These expressions are used with reference to Guigemar's lady and her husband, Le Fresne, Lanval, the lady in Yonec, Guildelüec, and Eliduc (as a query by Guilliadun, v. 389). The term lignage is 1 12

Women in Love

used only once by Marie in the Lais, with reference to suc­ cessive generations of a fam ily rather than to noble birth: "Plusurs (des] femmes del lignage, / C'est vérité, senz nes sunt nees" (Bisclavret, vv. 3 12 —13). There is one example in the Lais of the term orine "origin" ("de franche ohne," Le Fresne, v. 100). The substantive noblesce is employed only twice in the Lais. It is used to designate Equitan's social standing. "Vus estes rei de grant noblesce," says the seneschal's wife (v. 121). Earlier in Equitan it refers more to the qualities and behaviour befitting or pleasing to a nobleman rather than to noble birth. The Bretons preserved lays for posterity "par priiesce / Par curteisie e par noblesce" (vv. 3-4). Marie also calls them "noble barun" (v. 1). The adjective noble is used in conjunction with other positive adjectives. It applies to women more frequently than to men: Ki tant par fust noble ne bele.

(Guigemar, v. 60)

Que tant iert cuinte e noble e fìere.

(Lanval, v. 321)

Femme ot espuse, noble e sage.

[Eliduc, v. 9)

It is used once of a specific member of the society in which Marie lived, the "nobles reis" to whom the lays are dedicated (Prologue, v. 43), presumably Henry II. Here the king's fine qualities are being emphasized to a greater extent than the ex­ cellence of his birth. Flattery is of the essence and the adjective noble serves its purpose well. In Lanval, as we have seen, Arthur accuses Lanval of declaring that his am ie is so noble that her serving maid is more beautiful and more worthy than the queen (vv. 368-70). "N obility" is here seen to be assessed by and to be dependent upon an outward sign, the loveliness of the m eschine. The two examples of the adverb noblem ent in the Lais suggest correct or appropriate behaviour. Bisclavret is a fine knight who conducts him self noblem ent (v. 18) and the lady in C haitivel has the dead lovers prepared for burial lov­

The Lais of Marie de France

ingly and noblem ent (v. 167). When Eliduc speaks to Guilliadun "od mut noble cuntenement" (v. 291), the same impression is conveyed. The ladies who attract Marie's heroes are not only aristocra­ tic. They possess, like their male counterparts, outstanding characteristics. The lady in C haitivel gives us a good idea of Marie's view of the perfect woman when she laments to her emasculated lover that no noble lady w ill ever have four such lovers, only to lose them in one day, however bele, proz, or sage she may be (vv. 195-98). It is no surprise that the adjectives Marie uses to describe the ideal woman occur elsewhere to de­ pict the heroines of the lays. Eleven of Marie's thirteen female lovers are specifically described as beautiful (see Guigem ai, v. 2 12 ; Equitan, vv. 3 1, 52; Le Fresne, v. 237; Lanval, vv. 72, 11 7 ; Deus Amanz, vv. 2 1, 228; Yonec, vv. 22, 2 4 -2 5 ; Milun, 23; Chaitivel, vv. 1 1 , 3 1; Eliduc, vv. 18, 294, 710, 1022, 1026). The exceptions are the lady in Bisclavret, and the queen in Chevrefoil whose outstanding beauty would already be known to the audience. Gent, an adjective designating noble beauty, is ap­ plied to the body (cors) of three of Marie's ladies (Equitan, v. 33; Lanval, vv. 100, 563; Yonec, v. 25). The first set of girls who appear at court in Lanval are said to be avenanz "com ely" (v. 474). Four female characters are described as pruz "w orthy": Le Fresne (v. 482), the fairy mistress in Lanval (v. 72), the girl in the Deus A m anz (v. 228) and Eliduc's first wife, Guildeliiec (v. 710). The notion of worth is also conveyed by the adjective vailant, applied to the lady in Bisclavret (v. 21), and by noble, used to describe Guildeliiec (v. 9). The substantive valur is used to designate an important element of a quality attributed to the lady in C haitivel (v. 31). Eight of the ladies are termed sage: Guigemai, v. 2 12 ; Equitan, v. 51, Le Fresne, vv. 254, 482; Lan­ val, v. 72; Deus Amanz, v. 228; Yonec, v. 22; Laiistic, v. 14; Eliduc, vv. 9, 710. The lady in C haitivel is said to possess "mout grant sens" (v. 49). The intellectual skills of the female

Women in Love

protagonists are also conveyed by the terms enseignee [Le Fresne, v. 253) and enseignement [C haitivel, v. 11) and by the expression de bone escole [Le Fresne, v. 239). The queen's dam­ sels in Lanval are described as "quointes" (v. 244) and Lanval's mistress (by the queen) as "cuinte" (v. 321). The notion of cointise covers a wide range of meanings, both positive and nega­ tive. The Anglo-Norman Dictionary lists the meanings "w is­ dom, sagacity, knowledge, shrewdness, astuteness, skill, elegance, and refinement" on the one hand, but also "cunning, trickery, vanity, and peculiarity." In Marie's only example of the noun cointise, used with reference to Equitan, a victim of Love's arrow ("El quor li ad lancie e mise; / N 'i ad mestier sens ne cointise," Equitan, vv. 57-58), the sense is "understanding, wisdom," but when applied to beautiful women the adjective quointe seems to indicate fundamentally elegance and refined behaviour. There is a strong cerebral element in the term curteise, an­ other of the terms Marie favours for her female characters. Seven of them are so described: Guigemar, v. 2 12 ; Equitan, v. 5 1; Le Fresne, vv. 238, 254; Deus Amanz, v. 22; Yonec, v.22; Laüstic, v. 14; and Milun, v. 24. The courtly lady is one who possesses a thorough understanding of the needs of the court, who can cope with a delicate or tricky situation, who demon­ strates responsibility and subtlety in handling others. In G u i­ gemar it is the lady's serving maiden who realizes that Guigemar is in love with her mistress. For the skilful advice the maiden offers, her comforting words and commitment to help her hero, Marie calls her curteise (v. 464). Another term which expresses nobility of outlook, a blend of politeness and sensitivity, is franche. Marie employs this word less often than one might anticipate with reference to her female characters. But she does use it in connection with the lady in Guigemar, who is described as "franche, curteise, bele e sage" (v. 212), and with Le Fresne ("Franche esteit e de bone

115

The Lais of Marie de France

escole / [EJ en semblant e en parole" (vv. 239-40). When Gurun takes Le Fresne away from the convent and installs her in his castle, his vassals and his servants cherish and admire her for her franchise, which she later amply illustrates by her gener­ ous action in spreading her paile roé over her beloved's mar­ riage bed, after he has unwittingly married her twin sister. Marie also applies to Le Fresne the term afeitee "w ell bred, well trained" (v. 254, cf. also v. 380: "Serveit mut afeit[ï]ement") and the substantive affeitem ent is used with reference to the ladies in Equitan (v. 32) and C haitivel (v. 12). Marie likes her ladies to be enveisie "cheerful" (Equitan, v. 53) and to display a friendly mien and attractive appearance [bel semblant) to those around her: Mut la trova curteise e sage, Bele de cors e de visage, De bel semblant e enveisie. (Equitan, vv. 51 —53) He found her most courtly and wise, beautiful in body and face, of fair appearance and cheerful. Femme ot espuse mut vailant E que mut feseit beu semblant. (Bisclavret, vv. 2 1 - 2 2 ) As his wedded wife he had a most worthy woman who was of very fair appearance. Bel semblant feseit a chescun. (Chaitivel, v. 56) To each she displayed a friendly mien.

She seems also to be aware that a pleasing exterior can mask a potential for cruel and misguided behaviour, such as we see

Women in Love

from the women in Equitan and Bisclaviet. In general, a lady's sem blant seems to include her countenance, manner and out­ ward appearance. In Yonec the notion of sem blant is of major structural impor­ tance. The girl loses her beauty because of the grief occasioned by her imprisonment in the tower (vv. 45-48). When she has a lover to visit her, she begins once more to take an interest in her appearance. In order to please her lover "she took great care of herself and her beauty was completely restored" ("Sun cors teneit a grant chierté, / Tute recovre sa beauté," vv. 2 15 -16 ). The consequence of the joy she experienced from her frequent contact with her beloved was a total change in her appearance ("Esteit tut sis semblanz changez," v. 227). The lady's changed appearance leads, as her lover Muldumarec points out to her, to his death: "Bien le vus dis qu'en avendreit: / Vostre semblant nus ocireit" (vv. 3 2 1-2 2 ). Her appearance ends up destroying her own happiness. Sim ilarly in C haitivel the lady's sem blant (v. 56) has tragic consequences. The four lovers assume from her appearance and behaviour that their efforts to secure her love are proving successful. In the context of a tournament with its attendant physical dangers these efforts have in fact catastrophic results. Marie evidently approves of the emphasis on sem blant and expects her females to be elegant. The adjective acemee, from acesmer "prepare, equip, adorn," conveys the notion of a care­ fully turned-out appearance. The second set of girls in the pro­ cession in Lanval are called "m ut acemees e mut beles" (v. 522). Marie describes the lady in Laiistic as "acem ee" (v. 14) and tells us that her remarkable attention to herself was quite normal at the time: "A merveille se teneit chiere / Sulunc l'usage e la manere" (vv. 15 -16 ). The expression se tenir chiere, although difficult to define precisely, clearly indicates an awareness of personal worth and attention to details of ap­ pearance and to social behaviour.8 When Equitan envisages a

The Lais of Marie de France

hypothetical lady in love, he regards the act of se tenir chiere as one of the prerequisites for perfect womanhood: Suz ciel n'ad dame, s'ele est sage, Curteise e franche de curage, Pur quei d'amer se tienge chiere, Que el ne seit mie novelere, S'el n'eüst fors sul sun mantel, Que uns riches princes de chastel N e se deüst pur li pener E lëalment e bien amer. (vv. 1 5 5 - 6 2 ) There is no lady on earth who, if she is wise, courtly and of noble disposition, and if she sets a high price on her love and is not fickle, would not deserve to be sought after by a rich prince in his castle and loved wisely and well, even if she had nothing other than her mantle.

The act of se tenir chiere d ’am er is to set such a price on oneself and one's self-respect that only a worthy suitor w ill measure up to the required standards. Such a conception of per­ sonal worth has to be coupled with commitment, loyalty, and the avoidance of fickleness. Equitan's view of the ideal lady also confirms that the two qualities not mentioned by the lady in Chaitivel, franchise, and curteisie, combine with beauté, proesce, and sagesse to form the perfect marriage partner, pro­ vided that any obstacles standing in the way of the marriage can be overcome. What method does Marie use to convey to us information concerning the physical and mental attributes of her ladies? A reading of the Lais indicates that the details come to us in three basic ways. One particularly successful method is the presentation of a lady through a one- or two-line description when she is first introduced: 118

Women in Love Une dame de haut parage, Franche, curteise, bele e sage. (Guigemar, vv. 2 1 1 - 1 2 ) A lady of high lineage, noble, courtly, beautiful and wise. De haute gent fu la pucele, Sage, curteise e forment bele. (Yonec, vv. 2 1 - 2 2 ) The girl was of high birth, wise, courtly and very beautiful. Il aveit une fille bele, [E] mut curteise dameisele.

[Milun, vv. 2 3 - 2 4 ) He had a beautiful daughter, a most courtly girl.

This extremely economical method of introducing a character by means of a restricted cluster of adjectives, which I have quoted here from Guigem ar, Yonec, and M ilun, may have been favoured by Marie later in her career. At that time she would have been more certain of her technique and possessed a greater understanding of the requirements of a short story. An alternative method, which Marie uses very sparingly, is to provide a more detailed physical portrait of the lady in question: La dame ert bele durement E de mut bon affeitement, Gent cors out e bele faiture; En li former uvrat nature: Les oilz out veirs e bel le vis, Bele buche, neis ben asis. El rëaume n'aveit sa per. [Equitan, vv. 3 1 - 3 7 )

The Lais of Marie de France The lady was very beautiful and of very good breeding, noble in body and of fair appearance. Nature had spared no pains when fashioning her: her eyes sparkled, her face and mouth were beautiful and her nose well set. She had no equal in the kingdom.

Only two other ladies are described in such terms, the fairy mistress in Lanval and Guilliadun in Eliduc: Le cors ot gent, basse la hanche, Le col plus blanc que neif sur branche, Les oilz ot vairs e blanc le vis, Bele buche, neis bien asis, Les surcilz bruns e bel le frunt E le chef cresp e aukes blunt; Fil d'or ne gette tel luur Cum si chevel cuntre le jur. [Lanval, w . 563 - 7 0) She was noble in body with low hips and a neck whiter than snow on a branch; her eyes sparkled and her face was white, her mouth fair and her nose well set; her eyebrows were brown and her brow fair, and her hair was curly and rather blond; a golden thread does not shine as brightly as her hair in daylight. Quant en la chapele est entre(e) E vit le lit e la pucele, Que resemblot rose nuvele, Del covertur la descovri E vit le cors tant eschevi, Les braz lungs [e] blanches les meins E les deiz greilles, lungs e pleins, Or seit ele la vérité. (Eliduc, vv. 1 0 1 0 - 1 7 )

120

Women in Love When she entered the chapel, and saw the bed and the maiden, who was like a new rose, and raised the coverlet and saw the body which was so slender, the long arms, the white hands, and the fingers, so slim, long and full, she knew the truth.

Like Guilliadun, Lanval's mistress is compared to a "rose nuvele," and also to the lily and the hawthorn: Flurs de lis [e] rose nuvele, Quant ele pert al tens d'esté, Trespassot ele de beauté. [Lanval, vv. 94-96) She surpassed in beauty the lily and the new rose when it appears in summer. Plus ert blanche que flur d'espine. (ibid,

V.

106)

She was whiter than the hawthorn blossom.

A third method by which Marie conveys descriptive details concerning her heroines, particularly their beauty, is the occa­ sional remark situated in the course of the poem. In fact two of the more elaborate descriptions (Lanval, vv. 563-70 ; Eliduc, w . i o n - 1 6 ) are placed towards the end of the story. The long­ est of the brief reminiscences of a lady's beauty occurs in Guigemai, when the hero, struck by love, spends the night re­ calling "Les paroles e le semblant, / Les oilz vairs e la bele buche" of his beloved (vv. 4 14 -15 ). The lady's serving maiden points out that love between Guigemar and her mistress would be entirely appropriate in view of the beauty they share: "Vus estes bels e ele est bele," v. 453. When Meriaduc discovers the lady, he is delighted by her quite remarkable beauty ("Ke de beuté resemble fee," v. 704; "Kar bele esteit a demesure," v.

The Lais of Marie de France

708). Similar descriptions appear in other lays. Le Fresne grows up during the course of the text and her beauty is communi­ cated to us in verses 2 3 7 -3 8 : "En Bretaine ne fu si bele / Ne tant curteise dameisele". But later Marie reminds us of it and her other qualities when her mother speaks of the "dameisele / Que tant est pruz e sage e bele" (vv. 481-82). The girl in the Deus Am anz is described at the moment of her death as "pruz e sage e bele" (v. 228). Similarly, halfway through the story, Eliduc remembers his wife who is very "bele, sage e pruz" (v. 710). In this text Guilliadun's beauty constitutes a leitmotif: Guilliadun ot nun la pucele, El rëaume nen ot plus bele.

(vv. 1 7 - 1 8 )

Guilliadun, que mut fu bele.

(v. 294, repeated v. 470)

Pur la belë est en esfrei.

(v. 315)

Quant si bele femme est perie.

(v. 1026)

Fittingly this girl, who "de beuté resemble gemme" (v. 1022), is revived by "la flur que tant fu bele" (v. 1062). The use of bele or bele am ie in direct address also serves as a reminder of her loveliness: "Bele amie, mar me veïstes!" (v. 941, see also vv. 685, 938, 943/ 1085). In Lanval the element of beauty transcends the function of a motif to become a fully-fledged theme, one of the key notions of the text. Lanval is of course a handsome hero: Pur sa valur, pur sa largesce, Pur sa beauté, pur sa prüesce L'envioënt tut li plusur. (vv. 2 1 - 2 3 ) Because of his valour, his generosity, his beauty and his prowess, many people envied him. Quant il fu vestu de nuvel, Suz ciel nen ot plus bel dancel. (vv. 17 5 -7 6 )

122

Women in Love In his new clothes there was no more handsome man on earth.

But it is the fairy, her maidens, and the objects with which she is associated that preoccupy Marie. LanvaPs first contact with his beloved comes through the maidens: [Si] vit venir deus dameiseles, Une n'en ot veü[es] plus beles. (vv. 5 5 -56 ) He saw two maidens approaching, more beautiful than any he had ever seen. Mut par aveient bel le vis. (v. 60) Their faces were very beautiful.

They inform Lanval that they have been sent to him by their damsel who "tant est pruz e sage e bele" (v. 72). Before she describes the fairy Marie describes her tent which "m ut fu beaus e bien asis" (v. 81). Within the tent the pucele, lying on "un lit mut bel" (v. 97), surpasses in beauty the lily and the fresh rose. Her body is "bien fait e gent" (v. 100) and her skin whiter than the hawthorn (v. 106). Lanval looks at her, sees how beautiful she is ("Il Pesgarda, si la vit bele," v. 117), and is pricked by the spark of love (v. 118). Later the queen sees Lan­ val from her window and takes thirty of her maidens ("Les plus quointes [e] les plus beles," v. 244) into the vergier. When taxed with a lack of interest in women and a liking for young boys, Lanval retorts that the woman he loves outstrips all others he has ever met and adds that her poorest serving maiden is more beautiful and has better breeding than the queen (vv. 275-302). For a time the theme of female loveliness takes second place to LanvaPs plight and Arthur's marshalling of feudal justice. Just as he is pushing the judges towards what would have been an unjust verdict of guilty, two maidens are seen arriving on "deus 123

The Lais of Marie de France

beaus palefreiz amblaz" (v. 473). The girls are “ de grant beuté" (v. 489) and they delay the act of départir “ decide, announce a verdict." A repeat performance ensues with the arrival of two maidens who are “ mut acemees e mut beles“ (v. 522), both more worthy than the queen (vv. 5 31-3 2 ). Finally Lanval's beautiful mistress (“ En tut le secle n'ot plus bele,“ v. 550) puts in an appearance, riding a handsome palfrey (“ Suz ciel nen ot plus bele beste,“ v. 554). Lanval's companions are convinced, and this time rightly so, that this blond beauty is his am ie: “ El n'est pas fave ne brune; / Ceo [e]st la plus bele del mund" (vv. 590-91). Everyone, particularly the judges, stare at this incom­ parable creature, the most beautiful ever to visit the court (“ Unques si bele n'i vient mais," v. 602): Il n'ot al bure petit ne grant Ne li veillard ne li enfant Que ne l'alassent esgarder. (vv. 575 - 7 7 ) There was no one in the town, humble or powerful, old or young, who did not go to watch her. Quant il 1'orent bien esgardee E sa beauté forment loëe . . . (vv. 6 1 1 - 1 2 ) When they had looked at her and praised her beauty greatly . . .

The verb esgarder appears in Lanval with its common meaning “ to look at," but it is also one of the numerous legal terms in the text (“ Quanque la curt esgarderat," “whatever the court de­ cides," v. 380).10 The astonishing loveliness of the fairy serves to clear Lanval of the charge of boasting of his mistress's beauty and her testimony is sufficient to acquit him of the charge of attempted seduction. Lanval's happy future with his beloved on the “ isle que mut est beaus" (v. 643) looks assured. 124

Women in Love

The beautiful fairy is the most impressive of Marie's hero­ ines. She is the only lady in the Lais with independent power and wealth. Her manoeuvrability and omniscience are envi­ able. She falls in love with a man who resides a fair distance away from her land ("Pur vus vienc jeo fors de ma tere; / De luinz vus sui venu[e] quere," vv. 1 1 1 - 1 2 ) , sends for him ("Elle nus enveie pur vus," v. 73), imposes a taboo (vv. 143-50), and knows when and how it has been broken (vv. 339-40). She saves her lover in the nick of time through her dramatic inter­ vention at the trial. The events in Lanval are orchestrated by two sovereigns. Arthur forgets Lanval (v. 19) and then pros­ ecutes him. Insouciance on Arthur's part gives way to anger ("Li reis li dit par maltalant," v. 362; "Li reis fu mut vers lui irez," v. 381) and undue haste ("Li reis les hastot durement," v. 469; cf. vv. 5 0 1-2 , 544). The fairy's calmness and control are symbolized by the ambling palfreys of the first two maidens (v. 473) and her own arrival at a slow walking-pace: "Ele veneit meins que le pas" (v. 580). The staggered arrival of the fairy and her maidens is staged to create the maximum effect and Ar­ thur's court and justice are clearly outclassed. In addition both the vanity and the vindictiveness of the queen are exposed by a superior woman whose love relationship she threatened. If we attempt to draw conclusions from the twelve lays con­ cerning the nature and success of the love affairs portrayed, we find initially that five of Marie's male lovers have relationships with married women: Guigemar, Muldumarec in Yonec, the bachelei in Laiistic, Milun, and Tristram in Chevrefoil. One of these lovers, Muldumarec, possesses supernatural powers in that he can visit the lady disguised as a hawk. In each of these cases the lady is married to a man of considerable power, the least powerful being the husband in Laiistic. In M ilun the girl is unmarried at the time of the lovers' initial meeting. One can assume that the same is true in the case of Tristram and the queen, who are the only couple whose relationship remains static throughout the lay. In every other case the love affair 125

The Lais of Marie de France

begins or ends in the course of Marie's story. In five lays the male heroes (in C haitivel a group of heroes) have relationships with unmarried girls: Gurun in Le Fresne, Lanval, the count's son in the Deus Amanz, the knights in Chaitivel, and Eliduc. One of the heroes, Lanval, falls in love with a fairy, albeit one who is presented in very human terms. The two remaining knights, the seneschal in Equitan, and Bisclavret, are happily married at the outset of their stories which centre around the reprehensible affairs which their wives have with other men. In Equitan the relationship is with a man of superior status and in Bisclavret with a knight of sim ilar social standing to that of the husband. The lay of Equitan is different from the other eleven in that the role of the man supported by Marie is eclipsed by that of his rival. The seneschal never indulges in direct speech and he re­ mains a totally passive figure (see vv. 2 1- 2 4 , 10 7 - 10 , 19 5-9 6, 266-70). He is manipulated by his wife and her lover until the finale (vv. 287-304), when his justifiable anger brings the text to a swift conclusion. If Equitan was the first lay which Marie composed, one can conclude that thereafter she preferred to concentrate on more stimulating heroes and more positive rela­ tionships. The counterpart to the seneschal as a shadowy figure is the second husband of the lady in Bisclavret. This time we are dealing with a bad lover who participates in a form of murder, when he steals Bisclavret's clothes. It is clear that there is a good deal of variety in the love rela­ tionships in the Lais. Five of the favoured knights are happy at the end of the text and have the women of their choice with them: Guigemar, Gurun, Lanval, Milun, and Eliduc, all heroes of what I consider to be the later lays. Three of them owe their happiness to supernatural happenings: Guigemar, Lanval, and Eliduc. The latter's beloved is revived from apparent death through the agency of an intelligent weasel, a magic flower, and some quick thinking on the part of his wife. Two of the male lovers, Guigemar and Milun, are involved before their final happiness in adulterous relationships. In the case of Eliduc, 126

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however, one would anticipate an adulterous relationship be­ tween him and Guilliadun, but the text is specific that the af­ fair remains pure: Kar anguissusement l'amot E ele lui ke plus ne pot. Mes n'ot entre eus nule folie, Joliveté ne vileinie. De douneer e de parler E de lur beaus aveirs doner Esteit tute la drüerie Par amur en lur cumpainie. (w. 573-80) For he loved her terribly and she loved him. But there was no foolish­ ness, fickleness or wickedness between them. Their love consisted entirely of courting and talking, and of exchanging fair gifts, when they were together.

In Guigem ar Marie maintains that those who "jolivent par tut le mund" (v. 489), and she is probably thinking particularly of any woman who gives her body to a man indiscriminately or without commitment, are guilty of folie, m auveisté and lecherie "concupiscence" (vv. 4 9 1-9 2 ).11 If we apply to these findings my chronology, it could be con­ cluded that in her early lays (Equitan, Chaitivel, Bisclavret, Le Fresne, Deus Amanz, Laiistic) adultery does not assume a positive structural role in Marie's thinking. Chaitivel, Le Fresne, and the Deus Am anz contain no adultery. In Equitan it is condemned outright, as is the second marriage in Bisclavret, which in view of Bisclavret's suspended status as a wolf can be seen as constituting an adulterous relationship. Laiistic has a largely unhappy ending and any adultery is rendered impossible by circumstances. In the second series of lays (Lanval, Milun, Yonec, Guigemar, Chevrefoil and E lid u c) adultery is accepted 127

The Lais of Marie de France

where necessary. Only when combined with loyalty, per­ severance and good fortune can an adulterous relationship lead to happiness. Lanval, on the other hand, rejects an adulterous relationship with the queen, which would conflict with his loy­ alty towards the king and the fairy. In general the second group of lays presents a much more positive view of human rela­ tionships. Given a helping hand, a love match, necessary for happiness, is feasible. Clearly there is a greater element of ide­ alism and optimism in the second group. I certainly do not think that we can follow entirely J.-C. Payen's remark that as a whole the Lais is a work of "pessimisme assez radical."12 In three of the twelve lays (Equitan, Le Fresne, M ilun) the difference or apparent difference in status between the lovers is an essential structural element. As happens so frequently in the Lais, the motif takes on different forms. In Equitan the seneschal's wife harps on the gulf between her social position and that of King Equitan, which would create in her a feeling of insecurity (vv. 12 1-4 8 ). The king rejects her view in the name of true courtly behaviour. He stresses the importance of loyalty and offers to become her vassal (vv. 150-76). But the lay ends unhappily for the lovers because they have embarked upon an ill-founded relationship. In Le Fresne Gurun acquiesces when his landed knights claim that Le Fresne's inferior social status constitutes sufficient grounds for rejecting her as a possible wife. They propose La Codre, who is certain to be a source of wealth (vv. 3 11- 4 2 ) . In this case the story ends happily and it turns out that there can be no argument about the rank of the two girls, as they are twin sisters. In Milun, as we have seen (pp. 79-81), the father of the hero's beloved gives her to a man of great power and Marie may be stressing the point that his sta­ tus, considered as an amalgam of birth, wealth, and power, makes him an unsatisfactory match for the baron's daughter. In three further lays the motif of rank is of some interest. In the Deus Am anz the count's son, had he lived, would have married a king's daughter. If the lady's husband in Guigem ar is consid­ 128

Women in Love

ered a king (see above, p. 74), the marriage which we assume w ill take place after the close of the text, in spite of the hus­ band left behind in the antive cité, would be between the son of the lord of Léon (historically the lords of Léon normally held the title of viscount) and a queen. Guilliadun in Eliduc is con­ scious of the fact that marriage to her would raise Eliduc's so­ cial horizons. He would become her father's heir and this she sees as an incentive for him to accept her as a lover: Si par amur me veut amer E de sun cors asseürer, Jeo ferai trestut sun pleisir, Si l'en peot grant bien avenir: De ceste tere serat reis. (vv. 343 - 4 7 ) If he wishes to love me truly and to pledge himself to me, I shall do his bidding; great benefit could come to him through this and he will be king of this land.

The social status of the lovers is clearly one of Marie's ever­ present preoccupations.13 There is never any thought of pre­ senting a relationship between a member of the nobility and a partner of markedly disparate social background. There are no marriages between nobles and bourgeois, and no "vilains en­ richis." Marie makes very sparing use of the term burgeis. In Eliduc the hero receives lodging from a wise and courtly bur­ gess who gives him his own "bele chambre encurtinee" (vv. 13 3 -3 5 ). But King Equitan, doubtless with Marie's support, makes an unflattering comparison between the burgess's con­ cern with money and other down-to-earth matters and the courtly individual's interest in higher ideals and loftier stan­ dards of behaviour: "C il ne sunt mie fin curteis, / Ainz est bargaine de burgeis" (vv. 15 1-5 2 ) . The only favourable allusion to vileins in the Lais, one which is not uncommon at the time, 129

The Lais of Marie de France

concerns their ability to encapsulate a general truth in the form of a proverb: "Li vileins dit par reprover, / Quant tencë a sun charier, / Que amur de seignur n'est pas fiez" [Eliduc, vv. 6 1-6 3). A ll other references display contempt for the vilein's unattractive, boorish, anti-social behaviour: "N 'esteit mie fous ne vileins" (Lanval, v. 177); "Vileins cuarz, mauveis failliz" (ibid., v. 283). The term vilein serves to contrast the conduct and the char­ acters of the husband and lover in Laüstic: "De ceo fist il que trop vileins" (the husband, v. 116); "M es ne fu pas vileins ne lenz" (the lover, v. 148). The substantive vileinie is used of slan­ derous and envious remarks ("Sovent en dient vileinie," Guigemar, v. 10), of Equitan's adultery and plot to murder the hus­ band ("Pur sa vileinie covrir," v. 294), and of the callous behaviour of Le Fresne's mother ("Jadis par ma grant vileinie," v. 467). The term is used negatively to describe an honourable meeting between lovers ("Sanz reproece, sanz vileinie," Lan­ val, v. 166) and a chaste love relationship ("M es n'ot entre eus nule folie, / Joliveté ne vileinie," Eliduc, vv. 575—76). Marie's characters, their standards of behaviour and their ideals are en­ tirely aristocratic. Looked at in the light of the chronology for the Lais, her concern for social standing appears to increase. The female lovers of the early lays are of lower rank than those of the later texts. The ladies in Equitan, Bisclavret, and Laüstic are married to successful knights, whereas in Guigemar, Yonec, Milun, and Chevrefoil, they are the wives of potentates. One of the husbands is actually King of Cornwall. Eliduc moves from one wife of em inently respectable birth (v. 10) to another who is a king's daughter. In general Marie's ladies do not involve themselves in any organized athletic activity. In the Lais there is no Cam illa lead­ ing her troups into battle [Eneas, v. 3959ff.). But, even if they cannot match the ability of Lanval's fairy to manipulate events, the heroines are by no means entirely passive creatures who leave their fate in the hands of their lovers and husbands. The 130

Women in Love

lady in Equitan gives a good account of herself in conversation with the king and makes sure that her demands and anxieties are properly heeded. When her interests are threatened, it is she who devises and executes the plan to murder her husband and then cover up his death. The dam e in C haitivel handles with consideration and tact the importunate attentions of her numerous admirers and when three of the four she particularly cared for are killed in the tournament she sees to the arrange­ ments for the burial. The idea of a lay to commemorate the tragic event is hers (vv. 2 0 1-3). Bisclavret's wife skilfully ex­ tracts information from him with a series of probing questions and on learning the truth she protects her own interests by arranging the seizure of his clothes and marrying one of the king's barons. Ironically, it is when she is again attempting to further her own interests by visiting the king armed with an expensive gift that she loses her nose (vv. 227-35). Le Fresne is probably the most passive of Marie's heroines. She speaks only once in the text, addressing a few brief remarks to her mother (vv. 436-40, 442). But Gurun's happiness and the restitution of Le Fresne's rightful share of her father's inheri­ tance are secured by an inspired act of self-sacrifice, when she spreads on the marriage bed the object which is the very sym ­ bol of her status in life. The girl in the Deus Am anz argues cogently against her lover's suggestion of elopement (vv. 8 5 92) and advances an alternative cunseil, that he should pay a visit to Salerno (vv. 9 3 -116 ). Sensibly she slims in order to re­ duce the weight he w ill have to carry (vv. 164-66) and argues persistently and correctly that he needs to drink the potion (vv. 185-200). Finally she pours the contents of the vessel on to the ground, thus securing a perpetual reminder of the tragedy in the form of "meinte bone herbe" which brought great improve­ ment to the surrounding country (vv. 2 13 -19 ). If her plan had been carried out to the letter, she and her lover would have enjoyed a happy marriage. The resourceful lady in Laiistic con­ trives numerous rendez-vous with her beloved, copes admira-

The Lais of Marie de France

bly with his query about her nocturnal activities (vv. 83-90), makes a heroic, if misguided, effort to extract the captured nightingale from her husband (vv. i n - 1 3 ) , and engineers the plan by which her lover is reassured and their love preserved in their hearts. In Yonec the arrival of the hawk is consequential upon the lady's prayer and her rebellion against her lot. She has the power to summon him to her and when he is mortally wounded she immediately escapes, jumping from a twentyfoot high window (vv. 336-40) and following him to his do­ mains. It is thanks to her visit to her beloved's kingdom that she receives the sword with which her son, after her pithy re­ marks to him (vv. 527-32) and her dramatic death, beheads the "villarz" (v. 530) who killed his father. Like her counterpart in Yonec, Guigemar's lady is impris­ oned and she conceals from her husband a fairly lengthy love affair. She too escapes, albeit with less difficulty (v. 674ff.). The idea of the knotted shirt as a symbol of her lover's loyalty is hers (vv. 558-62). When she unties the knot (vv. 8 10 - 11) , she literally provides the dénouem ent for the entire story. Milun's amie makes the first move towards a relationship with him and conceals their meetings, and later her pregnancy, from her family. The idea of sending the child to her sister with a letter and Milun's ring is hers (vv. 67-86). After her marriage she con­ ducts an affair with M ilun for twenty years, concealing from her husband the function of the swan and her periodic meet­ ings with M ilun (vv. 287-90). The ring she had recommended acts as the agent of recognition between father and son (v. 432) and finally her letter (v. 515) marks the conclusion of their trib­ ulations. The queen in Chevrefoil is as adept as the other ladies at contriving meetings with her lover. The episode recounted by Marie is a glorification of one such rendez-vous. The idea of a commemorative lay appears to be hers (v. n o ) .14 Guilliadun also makes the first move in her relationship with Eliduc (vv. 275-80) and then confirms her interest in him with the gift of a ring and belt (vv. 406-7). But it is Guildelüec's quick thinking, 132

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when she spots the potential of the weasel with its red flower, and her magnanimous gesture of withdrawing into a convent, which bring the text its final, happy scenes. I have presented this summary of the activities of Marie's human heroines in the order their stories may have been w rit­ ten. But whatever the order, it is obvious that these beautiful, courtly ladies are resourceful and likeable creatures. They can be imprisoned (Guigem ar, Yonec) or closely guarded by their husbands (Laiistic, Milun, Chevrefoil), but nonetheless they manage (or Marie allows them to manage) to conduct intense relationships with more suitable partners. If they are skilful at avoiding their husband's or father's wrath for a more or less protracted period, they are also quick to advise their lovers on a sensible course of action or to take evasive action when things are looking bad. But what one notices above all when examin­ ing their actions and decisions is that they are motivated al­ most entirely by love, which inspires them, torments them, causes them to take serious risks, avenges them and occasion­ ally kills them.

133

CHAPTER

SEVEN

The Vocabulary of Love

^ * * > As in many texts from the twelfth century, the theme of love in the Lais finds its expression in three different do­ mains: love between man and woman, between man and man, and between man and G od.1 The first of these categories is normally and correctly regarded as central to the thematic structure and meaning of the poems, but an examination of the vocabulary of love in the Lais reveals Marie's concern for all three areas. Initial investigation into Marie's concept of love between man and woman is greatly aided by the presence in the Lais of two passages, one beginning "Love is . . . ," the other "Love is not. . . ." These two passages are found in Guigem ai and Equitan, the lays with which the Harley collection opens and which present, both in their themes and in their theoretical passages, Marie's introduction to her approach to love and its consequences. In Guigem ar we read: Amurs est plaije de]denz cors, E si ne piert nient defors. Ceo est un mal que lunges tient, Pur ceo que de nature vient; Plusurs le tienent a gabeis, Si cume li vilain curteis, Ki jolivent par tut le mund, 134

The Vocabulary of Love Puis se avantent de ceo que funt; N 'est pas amur, einz est folie E mauveisté e lecherie. Ki un en peot leal trover, Mut le deit servir e amer [E] estre a sun comandement. (vv. 4 83- 95 ) Love is a wound within the body which is not visible from without. It is a long-lasting ill, since it has its source in nature. For many it is the butt of jokes, as for those ignoble courtiers who philander around the world and then boast of their conquests. That is not love, it is foolishness, wickedness and debauchery. Anyone who discovers a loyal partner should serve and love him and obey his commands.

These lines are situated just before Guigemar, emboldened by love ("Amur li dune hardement," v. 499), declares his passion for the wife of the lord of the antive cité. They represent both a theoretical statement on Marie's part, in the form of an au­ thorial intervention, and an outburst against hypocrisy and promiscuity. There is clearly a certain amount of pent-up anger behind this attack on philanderers and it is reminiscent of the contempt she displays in the prologue to the same lay for the denigrators of her work whom she likens to vicious dogs (vv. 5 18). In verses 483-95 she tells us what love is and what it is not, and what action one should take when confronted by the real thing, rather than by a sham. Marie considers that love, like herself and her work, needs defending against calumny and abuse. Society is failing to treat love with sufficient care and attention and such negligent behaviour calls into question the standards of conduct of those who live at court.

The Lais of Marie de France

Marie's instruction to the would-be lover, to serve, love and obey a loyal partner, recalls an earlier passage in Guigemar, in which the Goddess of Love is portrayed as destroying the book in which Ovid outlines the method by which love can be repressed: La chaumbre ert peinte tut entur: Venus, la deuesse d'amur, Fu tresbien (mise] en la peinture, Les traiz mustrez e la nature Cument hom deit amur tenir E lëalment e bien servir; Le livre Ovide, ou il enseine Cornent chascun s'amur estreine, En un fu ardant le gettout E tuz iceus escumengout Ki ja mais cel livre lirreient Ne sun enseignement fereient. (vv. 2 3 3 - 4 4 P The walls of the chamber were covered in paintings. Venus, the goddess of love, was skilfully depicted there and the nature and obligations of love: how it should be observed with loyalty and good service. Venus was shown as casting into a blazing fire the book in which Ovid teaches the art of controlling love, and as excommunicating all those who read this book or adopted its teaching.

Verses 493-94 are linked to verses 2 3 7 -3 8 not only by the con­ cepts of loyalty, love and service, but also by the prescriptive deit. Marie is concerned with the moral welfare of the courtiers who, of course, constitute her public. Clearly not all those who are cuiteis in the social sense of court dwellers are curteis in the moral sense, responsible, mature individuals. Marie evi­ 136

The Vocabulary of Love

dently thinks that true love and the proper conduct of lovers are beneficial to society. Those who let their standards slip be­ come vilain, social outcasts. It is noteworthy that Marie makes no distinction between the behaviour of a man towards a woman and that of a woman towards a man. Guigemar confirms this when in strong terms he requests his beloved not to keep him dangling in order to satisfy her self-esteem or to act out the stereotyped part of the coquette: Femme jolive de mestier Se deit lunc tens faire preier Pur sei chérir, que cil ne quit Que ele eit usé cel déduit: Mes la dame de bon purpens, Ki en sei eit valur ne sens, S'ele treve hume a sa manere, Ne se ferat vers lui trop fiere; Ainz l'amerat, si'n avrat joie. (vv. 5 1 5 —23) A woman who is always fickle likes to extend courtship in order to enhance her own esteem and so that the man will not realize that she has experienced the pleasure of love. But the well-intentioned lady, who is worthy and wise, should not be too harsh towards a man, if she finds him to her liking; she should rather love him and enjoy his love.

Here the advice is directed specifically at feminine behaviour, not by means of an authorial intervention but through the words of the hero. Marie clearly abhors fickleness in a woman ("Femme jolive de mestier") or in a man ("Li chevalier n'est pas jolis; / feol tienc a curteis e a sage," Eliduc, vv. 422-23). She 137

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admires the well-intentioned lady who stops to think of the consequences of her actions, the "dame de bon purpens" (G u igemar, v. 5 11, cf. v. 408, "Li est venu novel purpens"). Such a lady possesses sens "intelligence, understanding, sensitivity" (v. 520) and valur "worth, high quality, excellence" (v. 520). There is another thoughtful woman in the Lais who spends time thinking about the valur of her lovers: La dame fu de mut grant sens: En respit mist e en purpens Pur saver e pur demander Li queils sereit meuz a amer. Tant furent tuz de grant valur, Ne pot eslire le meillur. (Chaitivel, vv. 49- 54) The lady possessed great intelligence. She gave careful thought to which of them was most worthy of her love. They all had such great merit that she was unable to choose the best.

Sadly, in spite of her fine qualities, the lady in C haitivel is un­ able to achieve happiness because she cannot form a rela­ tionship with just one worthy partner. The lady in Guigem ar has the sense to agree with the hero's comments on love ("La dame entent que veirs li dit," v. 527) and to grant him her love and her body. The result is pruz "profit" for the lovers (v. 525) and a feeling of joie (v. 523). The second important theoretical passage occurs in Equitan. The King of Nantes has made a declaration of love to the sene­ schal's wife and she responds to it in a long speech (vv. 117 -4 8 ) in the course of which she makes the following points: Amur n'est pruz se n'est egals. Meuz vaut un povre[s) hum lëals, Si en sei ad sen e valur, [E| greinur joie est de s'amur

138

The Vocabulary of Love Que il n'est de prince u de rei, Quant il n'ad lëauté en sei. S'aukuns aime plus ha[u]tement Que [a] sa richesce nen apent, Cil se dut[e] de tute rien. Li riches hum requid[e] bien Que nuis ne li toille s'amie Qu'il volt amer par seignurie. (vv. 1 3 7 - 4 8 ) Love is not honourable, if it is not based on equality. A poor man, if he is loyal and possesses wisdom and merit, is of greater worth and his love more joyful than that of a prince or a king who lacks loyalty. If anyone places his love higher than is appropriate for his station in life, he must fear all manner of things. The powerful man is convinced that no one can steal away his beloved over whom he intends to exercise his seigniorial right.

Neither the lady in Equitan nor her counterpart in Guigem ar is unduly concerned that she is being asked to commit adul­ tery. Both ladies have other preoccupations. In Equitan there is irony and subtlety in the fact that Marie places what appear to be authentic comments on the nature of love in the mouth of a woman she condemns. We have here a further example of varia­ tion in technique and in the presentation of her views which is the hallmark of Marie's literary creativity. As in verses 483-95 in Guigem ar she deals in these lines from Equitan with the positive and the negative side of love. Her comments help us to understand her view of what love is and outline the dangers for the woman of an ill-conceived relationship. But Marie goes fur­ ther than in Guigem ar and places love firmly in the context of rank and power. The question of the social distance between

139

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the lovers is a key element in the structure of the text. The lady's feeling that as a king Equitan w ill marry a king's daugh­ ter ("Femme prendrez, fille a un rei," v. 215) drives her to sug­ gest the murder of her husband. Very early in her remarks to the king, the lady had said: "You are a king of great nobility; I am not of sufficient rank for you to direct your passion or your love towards m e" (vv. 1 2 1 —24). She sees a love affair of this kind as a risky business for the woman. The scenario she envisages is that of a powerful man loving by virtue of his authority ("par seignurie," v. 148) rather than loving through true and spon­ taneous feelings, loving "par am ur" ("S'il ne m 'aim e par amur, / Mûrir m'estuet a grant dolur," Eliduc, vv. 349-50). The man would regard the woman as a sexual plaything to be discarded when the spirit moved him. Such fears are doubtless very real, and not just in Marie's day. But in a positive sense there emerges from Equitan, vv. 13 7 -4 8 , the concept of "amur pruz" (v. 137), an acceptable, honourable love, beneficial to both parties (cf. Guigemar, v. 525, "Avrunt il mut de lur pruz fait"). To the point made in Guigem ar that the lovers should treat each other as equal partners, loving, serving and obeying each other, Marie adds in Equitan that love must be based on social equality. In both texts the ideal partner is loyal and possessed of sens and valur and the love induces a feeling of joy. There is no suggestion by the lady or by Marie that such a love has to exist only between a married couple. But there is certainly irony in the fact that these remarks are placed in the mouth of an ambitious and disloyal woman. The king in his reply to the lady begins by raising the ques­ tion of social standing.3 Behaviour such as the lady envisages would be characteristic of the financial dealings of a burgess, rather than of the amorous activities of a true courtly lover ("C il ne sunt mie fin curteis, / Ainz est bargaine de burgeis," vv. 15 1- 5 2 ). Like the lady the king has a mental image of the perfect lover: 140

The Vocabulary of Love Suz ciel n'ad dame, s'ele est sage, Curteise e franche de curage, Pur quei d'amer se tienge chiere, Que el ne seit mie novelere, S'el n'eüst fors sul sun mantel, Que uns riches princes de chastel Ne se deüst pur li pener E lëalment e bien amer. (vv. 1 5 5 - 6 2 ) Any wise and courtly lady of noble disposition, who sets a high price on her love and is not fickle, deserves to be sought after by a rich prince in his castle, and loved well and loyally, even if her only possession is her mantle.

The king's image of the ideal woman would seem to corre­ spond to that of Marie herself. She is sage, curteise and franche de curage and she does not grant her love easily. Such a woman is not fickle (noveliere), and she deserves the loyalty and true love of a "fin curteis" (v. 15 1 ), the perfect courtly suitor (who can be contrasted with the "vilain curteis" of Guigemar, v. 488). Whether or not the lady has money is not an issue. The king adds that those who are fickle in love and who resort to underhand behaviour are the object of mockery and they fail to achieve their ends (v. 163-65). To obviate this possibility, the king advocates a total reversal of the reality of their lives. She should regard him as her vassal and her lover (vv. 17 1- 7 2 ) and make him beg for her love as a servant: "Vus seiez dame e jeo servant, / Vus orguilluse e jeo preiant!" (vv. 175-76). Like the lady in Guigemar, the seneschal's wife yields to these per­ suasive words and grants him her love and her body.4 Several scholars have seen in the king's words an expression of the Provençal code of love. M. Lazar's comment on verses

The Lais of Marie de France

17 3 -8 0 of Equitan is: "On ne pouvait mieux résumer en quel­ ques vers les principes de la fin ’amors, et la soumission de l'amant à la dame." E. Hoepffner saw in Equitan a "condamna­ tion discrète et voilée" of the Provençal code of love, whereas Lazar thinks that "M arie accepte la fin ’am ors.” 5 It is true that certain of the king's remarks, in particular his notion of the man becoming the servant of the woman, correspond to the concept of fin ’amors, as it is normally understood. But one feels that in placing such an argument in the mouth of the man who is the most active male character in this lay, Marie is thinking of the needs of her story rather than attempting to condemn or condone the troubadour's view of love. For the king to suggest to a woman with a social inferiority complex that not only can she have equality with him, but even go a step further and be his superior, is an excellent ploy. And it works. Marie has prepared the ground for the second part of her story. She has in fact now made the principal points she wishes to stress in this lay and she recounts the remaining episodes with a certain haste and apparent lack of interest. It may well be that Marie placed Equitan after Guigem ar in the Harley collection in order to present a negative statement about love after a more positive statement in the earlier text.6 But there are nevertheless a good many positive elements in Equitan. The original lay is the product of the priiesce, curteisie, and noblesce of the Bretons (vv. 3-4) and Marie's tale shows how such fine qualities can be squandered. King Equitan is curteis (v. 11) and a man of great reputation and merit ("Mut de grant pris," v. 13). He is well loved by his subjects (v. 14). The lady is exceptionally beautiful, of good breeding ("de mut bon affeitement," v. 32), good humoured [enveisie, v. 53), courtly and wise ("Mut la trova curteise et sage," v. 51). The king is led astray by pleasure, which is one of the key themes of the text, and by the power of love. The lady is obsessed by power and status. Both lovers lack loyalty, the king to his vassal, the lady 142

The Vocabulary of Love

to her husband, who is him self characterized by his loyalty ("Bon chevaler, pruz e leal," v. 22). They also lack, as I have attempted to show (pp. 36—42), a true understanding of the dan­ gers and consequences of love. In spite of his lucidity (vv. 7 0 76), the king succumbs, because of the physical effects love have on him ("M 'est un' anguisse al quor feme / Que tut le cors me fet trembler," vv. 68-69), to selfishness ("Mes nepurquant pis iert asez / Que pur li seië afolez," vv. 77-78) and to specious arguments (vv. 79-88). In order to win the lady's love he has to convince her that it is possible for reality to be overturned, for kings to become servants. This imaginary world of love inevita­ bly falls foul of true reality in which the king is obliged to marry and in which he would normally marry a king's daughter. The king's love of pleasure and the influence which love exerts over him lead him to create a new order of things in which he can eschew his responsibilities to the community. It is also noteworthy that Marie links her statements about love to the themes of her poems. The notion that "love is a wound" imme­ diately recalls the wounding of the hind and Guigemar's own wound, just as the idea that love must be based on equality relates to a key element in the plot.7 The only other lay in which Marie presents some theoretical comments on love is Chaitivel. This time the remarks are pre­ sented from the point of view of an attractive woman who is besieged by admirers. The woman must (deit in v. 26) honour, cherish, and serve her suitors and be grateful to them (vv. 2 7 28). She must avoid insulting language (v. 26) and in general treat her suitors in kindly fashion, regardless of whether she has any real desire to respond to them (vv. 24-25). In the story itself the four lovers are, like King Equitan, cuiteis (v. 38) and de grant pris (v. 39). As Marie would wish, they serve the lady of their choice and they use words (preier) to press home their case (v. 61). But, unlike Equitan, they want to please their lady by letting her see them in action: 143

The Lais of Marie de France A l'assembler des chevaliers Voleit chescun estre primers De bien fere, si il peüst, Pur ceo que a la dame pleüst. (vv. 63-66) When knights assembled, each wanted to lead the rest, if he could, in performing brave deeds to please the lady.

It is their desire to shine on the jousting field which leads to their downfall, which results from a collective act of folly (vv. 119 -2 0 ). Like her counterpart in Equitan, the lady in C haitivel is beautiful (vv. 1 1 , 31) and wise (v. 49). Both ladies are "de bon affeitement" (Equitan, v. 32; Chaitivel, v. 12). Neither the lady nor her lovers are guilty of malicious behaviour. The lovers are caught out by the fact that love can lead its victim s to take great personal risks. Similarly, Tristram risks his life for love when he returns to Cornwall: "M es puis se mist en abandun / De mort e de destruction" (C hevrefoil, vv. 19-20). Marie com­ ments that Tristram's action is in no way surprising ("N e vus esmerveilliez neent," v. 21). The lady in C haitivel loses her lovers because, although she treats them in accordance with Marie's prescription for feminine behaviour, she has no ulti­ mate control over the power of love to drive individuals to commit acts of recklessness. The fact that both titles, Le C haitivel and Les Quatre Dois, are applicable to the story evens the score with regard to responsibility for the catastro­ phe. Both titles express the concept of sadness and both E qui­ tan and C haitivel recount the loss of life of individuals pos­ sessed of many fine qualities. Both texts contain the elements for a perfect love affair, but the conditions are not right. Marie clearly envisages love as a natural phenomenon: "Pur ceo que de nature vient" (Guigem ar, v. 486). Nature is seen 144

The Vocabulary of Love

elsewhere in the Lais as a creative force, taking pains to fashion a beautiful woman: Gent cors out e bele faiture; En li former uvrat nature. [Equitan, vv. 3 3 -3 4 ) She had a noble body and good bearing; Nature had spared no pains when fashioning her. Quant [ele] vient en tel eé Que nature furme beuté, En Bretaine ne fu si bele Ne tant curteise dameisele. [Le Fresne, vv. 2 3 5 -3 8 ) When she reached the age when Nature forms beauty, there was no fairer or more courtly girl in Brittany.

Moreover, it is nature's task not only to create the external fea­ tures of an individual, but to form specific characteristics and inclinations, to give each person his own nature which will govern his outlook on life: Gelus esteit a desmesure; Kar ceo purportoit sa nature. (Guigemar, vv. 2 1 3 - 1 4 ) He was exceedingly jealous; for his nature imposed this on him.

One of nature's duties is to create an inclination or talent to­ wards love. Guilliadun wonders how she w ill be able to recog­ nize Eliduc's talent ("Coment savrai par mun present / S'il ad de mei amer talent?" Eliduc, vv. 367-68). But in Guigemar's case nature had slipped up: 145

The Lais of Marie de France De tant i out mespris nature Kë une de nul'amur n'out cure. (vv. 5 7 -5 8 ) But Nature had done him such a grievous wrong that he never displayed any interest in love. Mais n'aveit de ceo talent. (v. 64) But he had no interest in such things.

If an individual has not been created or inspired by nature to aveir cure/talent d ’amur, some way must be found of forcing love upon him. In Guigem ar this w ill be the role of the magic hind, an exceptionally striking animal, completely white with male antlers and accompanied by its fawn (vv. 90-92). The hind brings together the elements of purity, beauty, harmony and fertility, which are essential to love. In similar fashion the hawk irrupts into the life of the lady in Yonec when she has failed to aveir cure de sa beuté (vv. 47-48). If an individual is not one "ki amur ad a sun talent" (Laiistic, v. 63), his behaviour w ill be regarded by the outside world as suspect and socially damaging. In the case of Guigemar we read: Nuis ne se pout aparceveir Kë il volsist amur aveir. Pur ceo le tienent a peri E li estrange e si ami. (vv. 65-68) No one could detect any concern for love. For this reason he was considered a lost cause by stranger and friend alike.

146

The Vocabulary of Love

As heir to his father's domains Guigemar w ill need to marry and produce an heir in his turn, but the term peri may imply homosexuality.8 Certainly, when Lanval says to Arthur's queen "Jeo n'ai cure de vus amer" (v. 270), the angry queen calls him a "vileins cuarz" and a "mauveis failliz" (283). She claims he has no talent for women and points to the rumours circulating about his supply of youths, well trained for his pleasure: Asez le m'ad hum dit sovent Que des femmez n'avez talent. Valiez avez bien afeitiez, Ensemble od eus vus deduiez. (Lanval, vv. 2 79 -8 2 ) I have often been told that you have no desire for women. You have well-trained young men with whom you enjoy yourself.

Secrecy in love quickly leads to doubts about one's inclina­ tions. But fortunately Marie's heroes, even Guigemar in the end, are sensible enough to take an interest in women. King Equitan, on the other hand, has too keen an eye for the opposite sex and only a crisis w ill induce him to abandon his search for pleasure. Before he meets the seneschal's wife he is the sort of man to have his way with a woman [faire son talent, Equitan, v. 125) and then discard her. Wherever possible, one should find a loyal partner ("Ki un en peot leal trover," Guigemar, v. 493) and remain loyal oneself. It is no surprise that loyalty, cornerstone of the feudal world, should be at the heart of Marie's thinking on love. Loyalty for her is an essential ingredient in the perfect love relationship: E lëalment e bien amer.

(Equitan, v. 162)

E s'entr'amerent lëaument.

(Deus Amanz, v. 64)

Celui que ele eime lëalment.

(Yonec, v. 304)

147

The Lais of Marie de France Mut s'entr'amerent lëaument.

[Eliduc, v. 12)

Dunt vus m'amastes lëaument.

(ibid., v. 945)

The concept of perfect love is crystallized in the phrase we find in Eliduc: "l'am ur leale e fine." After learning of the death of the hermit, Eliduc addresses his beloved Guilliadun whom he believes to be dead: Bele amie, mar me veïstes! Duce chere, mar me siwistes! Bele, ja fuissiez vus reine, Ne fust l'amur leale e fine Dunt vus m'amastes lëaument. Mut ai pur vus mun quor dolent. (vv. 9 4 1-4 6 ) Fair love, how sad that you ever saw me! Sweet beloved, how sad that you followed me! Fair one, you would soon have been queen, had it not been for the loyal and pure love with which you loved me faithfully. M y heart grieves for you.

Eliduc's anguish does not prevent him from remembering that she would have married a king's son but for the intensity and purity of her love for him. A m ur fine suggests the purity of gold.9 In fact the most frequent association for the adjective fin in Old French poetry of the twelfth century is with gold: "Deus chandelabres de fin or" (Guigem ar, v. 183); "De or fin erent li chandelier" (Yonec, v. 503). "G old," writes J. E. Cirlot, "is sym ­ bolic of all that is superior. . . . Everything golden or made of gold tends to pass on this quality of superiority to its utilitarian function."10 Pure love, like pure gold, can be seen as conveying the exquisite in life and as forging a link between human rela­ tionships and the spiritual harmony man can enjoy with God. Marie uses the expression amur fine again in Chevrefoil to de­ scribe the relationship between Tristram and the queen: "De 148

The Vocabulary of Love

lur amur que tant fu fine" (v. 8). It is no surprise that the only two examples of amor fine occur in the last two lays in the Harley collection, lays in which the love between the pro­ tagonists is of a superior, almost spiritual order. Am or fine goes hand in hand with amor leale (E liduc, v. 944), which implies that the love is in accord with the concept of lei, God's law and man's. The only two occurrences of the term lei are found in Eliduc in which the hero is torn apart by conflict­ ing loyalties, to two women and to two lords. The sailor makes the following point to Eliduc: Femme leale espuse avez E sur celë autre en menez Cuntre Deu e cuntre la lei, Cuntre dreiture e cuntre fei. (vv. 8 3 5 -3 8 ) You have a legal wife and now with this one you offend God and his law, righteousness and faith.

Later Guildelüec comments as follows on Eliduc's marital dilemma: Kar n'est pas bien në avenant De deus espuses meintenir, Ne la lei nel deit cunsentir. (vv. 11 2 8 -3 0 ) It is neither right nor proper to keep two wives, nor should the law allow it.

The relationship between legality and loyalty is well illus­ trated by the sailor's description of Guildelüec as a "femme leale" (v. 835), as she is both a legitimate and a loyal wife. Once the contradiction between Eliduc's lifestyle and God's law have been sorted out, thanks to a charitable act of self-sacrifice by his first wife, Marie can talk of parfit’ amur between him and Guilliadun: 149

The Lais of Marie de France Mut ot entre eus parfit' amur. Granz aumoines e granz biens firent, Tant que a Deu se cunvertirent. (vv. 1 1 50 -52) The love between them was perfect. They distributed great alms and performed great works, until they turned to God.

The only other occurrence of the term parfiz in the Lais is also found in Eliduc, in conjunction with the adjective seinz. Eliduc's plan to bury his beloved in the hermit's chapel is thwarted by the latter's recent death: "O it jurs esteit devant finiz / Li seinz hermites, li parfiz" (vv. 9 17 - 18 , cf. verse 891 "U n seinz hermites i maneit"). Perfect love between Guilliadun and E li­ duc brings about an awareness of the needs of others. Their generous gifts (granz aumoines) and good works (granz biens) unite them with God the Creator, and with the principles of creativity of Marie herself who sees her own work as uns granz biens (Prologue, v. 5). Marie sees a smooth transition between perfect human love and a movement towards God (a Deu se convertir, v. 1 1 5 2 11 ) which leads in its turn to an energetic at­ tempt at loyal service: Mut se pena chescun pur sei De Deu amer par bone fei. (vv. 1 1 7 7 - 7 8 ) Each one strove to love God in good faith.

The act of "amer par bone fei," whether the object is God, one's lord or one's beloved, requires essentially the same outlook on life, a constant desire for loyal service and total commitment, the avoidance of any act of hostility or any misdeed. "N e mesf[e)rai a mun seignur," says Lanval to the queen when faced with her attempted seduction (v. 274).12

The Vocabulary of Love

In the twelfth century the verb amer and the substantive amur are used to denote the relationship between a lord and a vassal, just as that between the sexes or between man and God. When Equitan realizes that he has no option but to love the seneschal's wife ("Mei Testuet amer," v. 70), he is lucid enough to see that this love conflicts with the principle of not harming one's vassal and with the feudal contract which demands love and faith on both sides: E si jo l'aim, jeo ferai mal: Ceo est la femme al seneschal. Garder li dei amur e fei, Si cum jeo voil k'il face a mei. (vv. 7 1 - 7 4 ) If I did love her, I should be acting wrongly. She is the seneschal's wife. I ought to love him and keep faith with him, just as I wish him to do with me.

Before the rupture in their relationship Eliduc had served his Breton lord faithfully: "E il lëaument le serveit" (v. 32). Lanval too had given good and loyal service to Arthur and merited bet­ ter treatment than he received: Femmes e tere departi, Par tut, fors un ki l'ot servi: Ceo fu Lanval, ne l'en sovient. (vv. 1 7 - 1 8 ) He distributed wives and lands to all, except for one who had served him. This was Lanval, whom he forgot. Lungement ai servi le rei. (v. 271) I have served the king for a long time.

The Lais of Marie de France

Loyalty means perseverance, resourcefulness, a desire to over­ come obstacles, a capacity to suffer hardships. It means not abandoning the object of one's love (guerpir) and not com m it­ ting any act of felunie. Bisclavret is a vassal of the king and he continues to behave as such when living the life of a wolf: "II n'ad cure de lui guerpir" (v. 164); "Il n'out cure de desevrer" (v. 182). The wolf's love for the king was evident in its behaviour ("Bien s'aparceit que il l'am out," v. 184) and the king loved Bisclavret ("E mut le tient a grant chierté," v. 169), just as he had loved him as a vassal ("Que taunt par suliez aveir chier," v. 252). As a wolf Bisclavret committed no treacherous act, except against his wife and her lover: "Unke mes humme ne tucha / Ne felunie ne mustra," vv. 245-46). He thoroughly deserved both his human form and the restoration of his fief which he achieved by means of love, loyalty and service. Milun remained loyal to his beloved when she became preg­ nant and when she was married off to a powerful baron. He waited over twenty years to be united with her. During the time his pet swan acted as love messenger. Swans, which are monogamous and take a new mate only when the former one has died, serve as an excellent symbol of steadfastness, and by virtue of their whiteness and elegance, they can convey the pu­ rity and harmony of a love relationship.M In Guigem ar the lady's serving maiden recognizes that Guigemar has what it takes to participate in a successful relationship with her lady. He is handsome, thoughtful, positive, etc. All that is required is for the two lovers to be loyal to each other (estable): Amer poëz en iteu guise Que bien ert vostre amur assise. Ki ma dame vodreit amer Mut devreit bien de li penser; Cest' amur sereit covenable, Si vus ambedui feussez estable. Vus estes bels e ele est bele. (vv. 4 4 7 -5 3 )

152

The Vocabulary of Love Your love may well have found a true home. The man who wishes to love my lady must keep her constantly in his thoughts and, if you remain faithful to each other, the love between you will be right and proper. You are handsome and she is beautiful.

In this lay the symbols of love and loyalty are a knotted shirt and a well-fastened belt (vv. 557-75). The hero remains loyal by managing to ward off the demands of his followers that he should marry (as does Equitan, but not Gurun) and finally, thanks to his military skills, wins the lady of his choice. His beloved demonstrates her commitment to him by following him from the antive cité and by rejecting the advances of Meriaduc. Laüstic is also concerned with loyalty as the lady does not want her lover next door to think that she has been dis­ loyal: "Une chose sai jeo de veir: / Il quid[e]ra ke jeo me feigne" (vv. 13 0 -3 1). This concern is expressed in the concrete gesture of sending her lover the corpse of the nightingale. Loyalty is frequently expressed in service and in spite of her beloved's disloyalty to her in marrying La Codre, Le Fresne continues to serve both him and his new bride, to the amaze­ ment of onlookers: Entur la dame bonement, Serveit mut afeit[ï]ement. A grant merveile le tendent Cil e celes ki la veeient. (vv. 3 7 9 -8 2 ) She served the lady properly and most elegantly. A ll those who saw her were amazed.

In Le Fresne service and loyalty are rewarded by a happy mar­ riage. In Chevrefoil Tristram's loyalty, patience and resource­ 1 53

The Lais of Marie de France

fulness are also rewarded, but only fleetingly, in an ecstatic reunion with his beloved: Dedenz le bois celui trova Que plus l'amot que rien vivant. Entre eus meinent joie [mut] grant. (vv. 9 2-94) In the wood she discovered the man she loved more than any living thing. They shared great joy together.

These brief moments in the wood, removed from true civiliza­ tion, are a microcosm of the long-lasting joy which could stem from a successful marriage. They are also, like Tristram's exile, symbolic of deep frustration and the anguish suffered by a per­ son "ki eime mut lëalm ent" (v. 22), but who is denied access to his source of pleasure. The concept of the commitment of one individual to another is represented above all in the Lais by the terms leal/lealm ent/leauté, fei/fiance, and servir/servise. Each concept can be divided into four categories: commitment of a generally helpful nature, commitment to God, to a lord, or to a lady. Guilliadun's chamberlain gives her "cunseil leal" [Eliduc, v. 353), sound, sincere advice, and M ilun's son is taken to North­ umbria "lëaum ent" (v. 108), in a caring fashion as befits loyal servants. Eliduc asks his men to guard his wife "lëaum ent" (v. 73) and he tells Guilliadun "lëaum ent," in honest and straight­ forward terms, that he w ill return to her, if she gives him leave to go back to Brittany (v. 690). Eliduc assures the King of Ex­ eter's men that he w ill help them to attack their enemy ("Jo vus asseür lëaument . . . v. 195). Feudal service is doubtless uppermost in Marie's mind when she tells us that the sene­ schal in Equitan is a "chevaler, pruz e leal" (v. 22). In Eliduc the hero served the King of Brittany loyally (v. 32) before he was banished from court without a proper hearing and later he 154

The Vocabulary of Love

promises to serve the King of Exeter loyally (v. 452). Marie links loyalty to love in the same text when she points out that the wise man remains loyal to his lord and on good terms with his neighbours: "Sil est sages e vedzïez / Ki lëauté tient sun seignur, / Envers ses bons veisins amur" (vv. 64—66). But more than half the examples of leal[ment) and leautë in the Lais concern love (see above, pp. 147-49). A similar division is encountered in the examples of fei. This term is used in a general fashion in a formula indicating the truth of what one is about to say: "Par cele fei ke jeo dei vus" (Guigemai, v. 344, and again with a slight change in word order in Bisclavret, v. 248; and Lanval, v. 444). The presence of this formula in the Lais is doubtless a reflection of contemporary usage and the formula itself is an attenuated expression of gen­ uine feudal commitment. Likewise the phrase "par fei" (ten examples in the Lais, plus one of "par ta fei") acts as an inten­ sifier for the following statement, or simply as an interjection "upon my word." In a general sense Brenguein in Chevrefoil is a girl of good faith ("de bone fei," v. 90), but several of the exam­ ples of the term fei in the Lais refer specifically to feudal com­ mitment. If leauté is what binds individuals together and is something which is "m aintained" by a good vassal ("Ki lëauté tient sun seignur," Eliduc, v. 65), fei seems to preserve a more precise reflection of the feudal oath itself. Loyalty is the force which enables its possessor to keep faith. In the Lais faith is pledged ("Chescun li afie sa fei," Guigem ai, v. 860) and it can be "kept" ("Garder li dei amur e fei," Equitan, v. 73) or "borne" ("Si li devez porter grant fei," Eliduc, v. 192). Any violation of faith ("Kar ne voil ma fei trespasser," Eliduc, v. 739) is a shatter­ ing experience for lord or vassal. It constitutes a misuse of words, a failure to be true to the terms of one's oath. Lanval realizes that a relationship with the queen would be a betrayal of his commitment to Arthur: "N e li voil pas mentir ma fei" (Lanval, v. 272). Eliduc makes this point well when faced with one of his many dilemmas. He says to Guilliadun: 155

The Lais of Marie de France Bele, jeo sui par serement A vostre pere veirement— Si jeo vus en menoe od mei, Jeo li mentireie ma fei. (vv. 685-88) Fair one, in truth I am bound by an oath to your father— if I took you away with me, I should be betraying my faith.

Eliduc uses the terms of his serem ent to help him out of a tricky situation. The fact that Marie's concept of love between men and women relies heavily on the terminology and spirit of the feudal contract is well illustrated in Eliduc. When he leaves Brittany under duress Eliduc tells his wife that "il li porterat bone fei" (v. 84). When he begins to fall in love with "la fille sun seignur le rei" (v. 316), he recalls the promise he made to his wife that "bone fei li portereit" (v. 325). There are two reasons why love between Eliduc and Guilliadun would be dishonour­ able. He must keep his promise to his wife and remain faithful to his lord: Mes ja ne li querra amur Ke li [a]turt a deshonur, Tant pur sa femme garder fei, Tant pur ceo qu'il est od le rei. (vv. 4 7 3 - 7 6 ) But he would never seek love from her which would dishonour her, both in order to keep faith with his wife and because he was in the king's service.

Another term which is used for both feudal and sexual love is fiance, which occurs principally in the formula prendre fiance de aucun. The King of Exeter retained Eliduc for a year and 156

The Vocabulary of Love

received his oath of fealty ("La fiance de lui en prist," vv. 269; see also vv. 525, 905). When he has to leave England, Eliduc points to the fiance which exists between him and Guilliadun ("Pur ceo preng jeo cunseil de vus / Que fiancë ad entre nus," vv. 673-74). Bisclavret's wife offers her love to a former admirer and extracts from him a promise of commitment: "E la fiance de li prent; / E el le met par serement" (vv. 118 - 19 ) . When the lovers in Equitan commit themselves to each other, Marie tells us that they pledged their fiances to each other and they main­ tained them well: "Lur fiaunce[s] s'entreplevirent. / Bien les tiendrent, mut s'entr'amerent" (vv. 182-83). In contrast to this erotic and socially damaging relationship is the final example of commitment in the Harley collection. After their period of marital harmony Guilliadun and Eliduc devote themselves to the task of loving God "par bone fei" (v. 1178). Love, faith and loyalty are all crystallized in some form of service, which again can be directed towards God, one's lord, one's beloved, or any superior. Service of God is fairly rare in the Lais, but it does occur, in two forms. The act of "oïr le servise" {Le Fresne, v. 180; Yonec, v. 76) or "dire le servise" [Guigemar, v. 259) refers specifically to church ritual (see also Le Fresne, v. 2 1 1 , and Yonec, v. 158). In Eliduc Marie twice uses the same phrase to indicate that a burial and a wedding should be conducted with an appropriate church service: "Od grant honur, od bel servise" (vv. 880, 1146). In a more general sense Guildelüec decides to become a nun and devote herself to the service of God ("Nunein volt estre, Deu servir," Eliduc, v. 1124). Later Eliduc him self decides to enter the monastery he founded in order to "servir Deu omnipotent" (v. 1164). When Eliduc's second wife joins his first, the latter admonishes her to "Deu servir" (v. 1169). Feudal service is a little more widely represented in the Lais. Guigemar is sent as a young boy to obtain his chivalric training at a king's court ("Si l'enveat servir un rei," v. 42) and at the close of the text he offers vassal service for two or three years to 1 57

The Lais of Marie de France

Meriaduc, if the latter w ill hand over his beloved (v. 844). Gurun's enfeoffed knights threaten to withdraw their service, if he refuses to accept their demand that he should take a suit­ able wife (v. 326). In Bisclavret the king's barons make their way to court as a sign of commitment to their lord: "Pur aider sa feste a tenir / E lui plus beal faire servir" (vv. 189-90). Arthur's failure to reward Lanval for his service is a fundamen­ tal element in the structure of the text and it sets the story in motion. The man who "tant aveit le rei servi" (v. 40; see also vv. 18, 27 1, 459) is forgotten. The service Eliduc has rendered to the King of Brittany is sim ilarly scorned (vv. 32, 51, 59) and again this factor forms the basis of the story which develops. Lack of gratitude on the part of a lord is unforgivable, but it creates ideal conditions for the storyteller to contrast the hero with his superiors in wealth and power. Lanval finds protection and riches in the Other World, whereas Eliduc finds what he needs in another country. Eliduc's transfer of service from one king to another is an essential element in the structure of the text. He manifests his prowess and commitment to the King of Exeter and is retained for a year of loyal service ("Desque a un an par serement / Qu'il li servirat lëaument," vv. 4 5 1-5 2 ). His prowess leads to a further element in the story, as it brings him to the attention of the king's daughter. Her chamberlain points out that the year of service w ill provide her with an oppor­ tunity to get to know him and to express her feelings towards him (vv. 450-54). When Eliduc leaves England to return to the service of his first lord, he tells Guilliadun's father that he will come back, if necessary, with an appropriate force of men: "S'avez mester de mun servise, / A vus revendrai volenters / Od grant esforz de chevalers" (v. 638-40). It is an irony of the text that Eliduc abducts the daughter of this benevolent king who appreciated his service to the point of offering him access to his treasury and a third of his kingdom ("La terce part de s'herité / E sun trésor abaundoné," vv. 629-30). Love causes Eliduc to commit a hostile act. 158

T h e V o ca b u la ry of Lo ve

The fact that amorous service and m ilitary service are en­ visaged by Marie in the same terms is well illustrated by the vocabulary of the Lais. A perusal of the examples of servir pro­ duces cases such as: E lëalment e bien servir.

(Guigemar, v. 238)

Mut le deit servir e amer.

(ibid., v. 494)

Sun seignur sert mut bonement.

(Le Fresne, v. 353)

Ne volenters nel servirunt.

(ibid., v. 326)

E il lëaument le serveit. Mut l'aveit volenters servi.

(Eliduc, v. 32) (ibid., v. si)

The first three quotations refer to love service, and the others to feudal service. Service is a basic principle of any positive relationship. A man must serve his beloved and she must serve him: "M ut le deit servir e am er" (Guigemar, v. 494); "A gre servir e mercier" (Chaitivel, v. 28). Such service can take many forms, but the behaviour of the lovers and the lady in C haitivel offers a good example. She sends her admirers presents and keeps in touch with them ("Ses drüeries lur donout, / Ses m es­ sages lur enveiout," vv. 57-58). They serve her in word and deed. A display of prowess is in their view the best way to influ­ ence her and in tournaments they make the greatest possible effort to please her by a successful performance (vv. 63-66). They wear her love-token and use her name as a rallying-cry (vv. 68-70). Love service is manifested in different ways in the various lays and its form depends on circumstances. In Bisclavret the lady's admirer had served her with acts of generosity ("E mut duné en sun servise," v. 106) which pay off only when she turns to him at a time of crisis. The lovers in Laiistic serve each other by tossing gifts from house to house ("E lur aveirs entrechangier / E par geter e par lancier," vv. 43-44). In their desire to serve their lady King Equitan and the second husband in 159

The Lais of Marie de France

Bisclavret attempt to eliminate their rival to pave the way to marriage with the lady. Equitan fondly believes that his loveservice can actually transform him into the lady's servant: "Vus seiez dame e jeo servant" (v. 175).14 The desire to serve goes hand in hand with the desire to honour: Bien fu servie e honuree.

(Guigemar, v. 716)

E tuit li autre l'enurerent, De li servir se présentèrent.

(Lanval, vv. 6 0 9-10 )

Bien sunt servi e honuré.

(Yonec, v. 486)

Mes enurer e tenir chier, A gre servir e mercier.

(Chaitivel, vv. 2 7 -2 8 )

When it is not associated with service, the concept of honour is linked, as in the last quotation from C h aitivel, to love: N 'i out un sul, petit ne grant, Pur sa franchise ne l'amast E ne cherist e honurast.

(Le Fresne, vv. 3 1 0 - 1 2 )

Lanval, mut vus ai honuré E mut chéri e mut amé.

(Lanval, vv. 26 3-6 4 )

Pur sa prüesce iert mut amez E de muz princes honurez.

(Milun , vv. 19 -2 0 )

Individuals in the Lais take pains to honour a guest in their dwelling (Guigemar, vv. 716, 756, 833; Lanval, vv. 6 0 9 -10 ; Yonec, v. 486), someone with exceptional personal qualities (Le Fresne, vv. 3 1 0 - 1 2 ; Milun, v. 20), someone they love (Le Fresne, v. 405; Lanval, vv. 263-64) or those associated with a loved-one (Le Fresne, v. 354). One is never more worthy of honour than after death. Eliduc intends to bury his beloved in a blessed cemetery "od grant honur, od bel servise" (vv. 880—81). Twenty candles in pure gold candelabra surround Muldumarec's tomb at least fifteen years after his death (his son has already been 160

The Vocabulary of Love

dubbed a knight). His tomb is censed "pur grant honur" by cen­ sors of amethyst [Yonec, vv. 501-6). Marie's ideal man has to understand the concept of honour ("Mut fu curteis, mut sot honur," Milun, v. 334) and to know when to, and be able to, accomplish honourable deeds (fere les honurs in Lanval, v. 2 12 ; Laüstic, v. 20; Eliduc, v. 495). In a feudal context the Count of Cornwall comments that it is the duty of the vassal to fere honur to his lord (Lanval, vv. 447-48), i.e. to avoid any harmful or insulting behaviour. Honour de­ mands some concrete sign of recognition, an outward sign of esteem. For example Arthur rises when Lanval's mistress ar­ rives at court (v. 608). Honour is like an object which one can possess and lose: "Jamés pris në honur n'avrai!" [Le Lresne, v. 74); "S'onur e sun bien ad perdu" [Milun, v. 58). The loss of honour is a devastating experience. Le Fresne's mother is w ill­ ing to kill her own child to avoid shame: "Meuz le voil vers Deu amender / Que mei hunir e vergunder" (vv. 93-94). Milun's beloved, who has lost her honour through pregnancy, be­ lieves she w ill be tortured and sold as a slave by way of punish­ ment (vv. 60-62). Both these examples of honur in the sense of "reputation" refer to a woman. For her male characters Marie prefers the term pris as an indicator of personal glory or achievement.15 Unlike many contemporary writers Marie does not use honur in the sense of "land, fief."16 It is, however, important to note that her entire creative act is oriented to­ wards the act of honouring her king: En 1'honur de vus, nobles reis, . . . M'entremis des lais assembler, Par rime faire e reconter. (Prologue, vv. 43, 4 7-4 8 ) In your honour, noble king, . . . did I undertake to assemble the lays, to compose and relate them in rhyme.

161

The Lais of Marie de France

Marie's concrete gesture of honour is her art itself, her twelve lays. If Marie's male characters are firm ly placed in a feudal con­ text in which their relationships with other men are crucial, it is their love for a woman which is her principal preoccupation and which constitutes their aventure: "Love is the unifying theme of the collection. . . . The principal action of each lai concerns love" (Mickel); "Les situations amoureuses sont tou­ jours au premier plan. C'est autour d'elles que se noue l'action" (Ménard).17 What characteristics do the ladies possess which appeal to the heroes? Guigemar's love is predestined (vv. 108, 326, 607) and he sails into his lady's back garden without any forward planning on his part. Her kindness and the fact that she is able to cure his wound doubtless make a great impact on him, but he is specifically attracted, we are told, by her words, her appearance, her sparkling eyes and her beautiful mouth (vv. 4 13 -15 ). Equitan's lady is sim ilarly endowed with "oilz veirs" and a "bele buche" (vv. 35-36), but he makes a conscious effort to seek her out and plans his first meeting with her carefully. He had often heard her praised (v. 38) and had already sent her greetings and presents (vv. 39-40). He too is attracted by her beauty and appearance, but also by her intelligence and courtli­ ness: "M ut la trova curteise e sage, / Bele de cors e de visage, / De bel semblant e enveisie" (vv. 5 1 - 5 3). Gurun too had "oï par­ ler" of Le Fresne and had begun to love her before their first meeting (vv. 247-48). The qualities she shares with our first two ladies (vv. 236-40) are confirmed and his love reinforced: "M ut la vit bele e enseignee, / Sage, curteise e afeitee" (vv. 253- 54)-

We are not told how Bisclavret first met his wife or why he fell in love with her, but we know that she was a worthy woman of good appearance (vv. 2 1-2 2 ). Lanval, like Guigemar, is intro­ duced to his lady as a result of circumstances beyond his con­ trol. She fulfills a need in him for comfort and protection and his love is kindled immediately when he sees how beautiful she is: 162

The Vocabulary of Love

"Il l'esgarda, si la vit bele" (v. 1 17). In the case of the count's son who spends a good deal of time at court no specific reason is given for his love for the king's daughter (Deus Amanz, vv. 4 9 62). Her high rank and all-round qualities ("Tant ert pruz e sage e bele," v. 228) must be considered important factors. The lady in Yonec has, like Guigemar and Lanval, a deep-seated need for a saviour, and Muldumarec had already loved her a long time before she summoned him with her ardent prayer ("Jeo vus ai lungement amé / E en mun quor mut désiré," vv. 127-28). She was the only lady he had ever loved or would ever love (vv. 12 9 1 30), but we do not know why this is so or what attracted him to the lady in the first instance. Marie is more concerned with the welfare of her lady than with Muldumarec. We are not told specifically why the bacheler in Laiistic fell in love with his neighbour's wife, but like other heroines she possesses the at­ tractive qualities of wisdom, courtliness and elegance in man­ ner and dress (vv. 13 - 15 ) . M ilun grants his love to the baron's daughter ("Volenters otriat l'amur," v. 31) without having met her. His reaction seems to be that of a polite and positive man ("Asez li fait curteis respuns," v. 33) to a bold approach by a girl whose birth and qualities must have been communicated to him by the messenger: "Par sun message li manda / Que, si li plest, el l'am era" (vv. 27-28). The lady in C haitivel is irresistible (vv. 1 3 —16) and her lovers doubtless fall for her beauty, intelligence and breeding (vv. 1 0 12). At the outset of the text Eliduc is already married to Guildelüec who is "noble e sage" and of high birth (vv. 9-10). Like that of Milun, Eliduc's relationship with Guilliadun begins when he receives a message from her, via her chamberlain (vv. 275-78), and he too reacts with politeness and sensitivity (vv. 290-93). But his love for her does not lead to a speedy declara­ tion. Rather it engenders an immediate conflict of loyalties (vv. 323-26) and an internal struggle which only comes to an end after a good deal of persistence on the part of Guilliadun. The entire episode relating the birth of the love between Eliduc and 163

The Lais of Marie de France

Guilliadun is the longest such episode in the Lais (vv. 2 7 1 549). It is only in verse 542 that we realize that Eliduc has lost his personal battle with his feelings: “ Grant est entre eus la drüerie.''18 Marie's ladies are sim ilarly influenced by the positive char­ acteristics of the male lovers, but they often grant their love only as a result of the man's persuasive arguments. The lady in Guigem ar is clearly saddened, yet attracted, by the sight of Guigemar's apparently dead body (“ Mut pleint sun cors e sa beuté," V. 296). She is impressed by the account of his misfor­ tunes (vv. 3 11- 3 6 ) and a spark of love is kindled within her (vv. 390-92). But, after his initial declaration, she attempts to stall him (vv. 509-12), only yielding to his entreaties after his four­ teen-line attack on fickle women (vv. 513-26 ). Equitan has to work a little harder to win his talkative lady. Like Guigemar he begins by declaring that he is dying because of her: “ 'Dame,' fet il, 'je meorc pur vus' " (Guigem ar, v. 501); “ Saver li fet qu'il meort pur li" (Equitan, v. 114). Both ladies make the same re­ ply: they are not accustomed to this sort of thing and need time to think (Guigem ar, vv. 5 0 9 -12 ; Equitan, vv. 117 -2 0 ). In addi­ tion Equitan is subjected to a tirade on the question of social status (vv. 12 1-4 8 ), to which he responds cleverly, on the one hand with an attack on bourgeois materialism and fickle lovers, and on the other with a positive statement of intention (“ Jeo ferai vostre pleisir," v. 173) and willingness to reverse the social norm (vv. 175-76). Marie tells us that he spoke so insis­ tently and begged for mercy so fervently that the lady granted him her love. Le Fresne is also won over by her admirer's persuasive words (“Tant li pria, tant li premist / Que ele otria ceo kë il quist,“ vv. 273-74), but the same tactics do not work initially for the knight in Bisclavret (“ E mut preié' e mut requise / E mut duné en sun servise— / Ele ne l'aveit une amé," vv. 105-7). The lady in Bisclavret only turns to her suitor at a time of crisis in her life. In Lanval it is the fairy who does the talking initially (vv. 164

The Vocabulary of Love

n o -16 ) , but Lanval needs little persuasion to accept her love and change his way of life: "Jeo f[e]rai voz comandemenz, / Pur vus guerpirai tutes genz. / Jamés ne queor de vus partir" (vv. 127-29). We are not told why the fairy chose Lanval, but she does stress the importance of prowess and courtliness ("Se vus estes pruz e curteis," v. 113). The conventional pattern occurs again in the Deus Am anz where the count's son wins the love of the king's daughter by dint of persuasion: "E maintefeiz l'areisuna / Que ele s'amur li otriast" (vv. 56-57). For the first time Marie tells us precisely why the young girl is attracted to the boy: "Pur ceo ke pruz fu e curteis / E que mut le presot li reis" (vv. 59-60). Love is again dependent upon the fundamen­ tal virtues of pruesce and curteisie, but also on her admirer's high standing in the eyes of her father. Similarly, in Laiistic, the lady responds positively to the bachelor's entreaties ("Tant la requist, tant la preia," v. 24) both because of his intrinsic excel­ lence ("Tant par ot en lui grant bien," v. 25) and his reputation ("Pur le bien quë ele oï," v. 27). But here there is a third reason: his proximity ("Tant pur ceo qu'il iert pres de li," v. 28). This factor evidently reflects her frustration and need for a lover, a need she shares with the lady in Yonec, the lay which separates the Deus Am anz and Laiistic in the Harley collection. As in Lanval the supernatural lover is in Yonec the first to speak (vv. 12 1-3 4 ). The lady has already been impressed by the hawkknight ("Chevaler bel e gent devint," v. 115 ) and has only one concern, his belief in God (vv. 138-39). Once satisfied on this point she lies with him and her sadness ("Mut ert la dame en grant tristur," v. 45) is transformed into laughter ("Quant unt asez ris e jüé," v. 193). Like Equitan and Gurun, M ilun's beloved begins to fall in love on the basis of what she has heard: "Ele ot oi Milun nomer" (v. 25). She has been influenced by his reputation for prowess (v. 19) and by his fine personal qualities (v. 14). It is, however, the messenger who makes the plea on her behalf and Milun's love has been granted before the couple meet. In

The Lais of Marie de France

C haitivel the principal issue is precisely the fact that the lady does not grant her love to her suitors, but they are certainly right that the best way to her heart is success on the tourna­ ment field. ("Ses druz i vit mut bien aidier: / Ne seit [le) queil deit plus preisier," vv. 10 9 -10 ). The assumption seems to be that if one of the lovers had become the overall winner at the end of the tournament, he would have stood the best chance of securing the lady's love. The lovers possess four virtues which attract the lady: Pur lur beauté, pur lur priiesce, Pur lur valur, pur lur largesce Les fis d'amer [a] mei entendre. (vv. 1 5 3 - 5 5) Because of their beauty, their prowess, their valour, their generosity, I made them compete for my love.

But the lady comes to appreciate her admirers only after the disaster which leaves three of them dead and one permanently incapacitated. As brave and handsome knights, the four lovers had the potential to attract the lady's love, but they failed to do so. We are given no details concerning the source of the queen's love for Tristram or about Guildelüec's love for Eliduc. The latter is a handsome man (v. 301) endowed with many fine qualities ("Pruz e curteis, hardi e fier," v. 6; "Eliduc fu curteis e sage," v. 2 7 1; cf. vv. 348, 423, 533). Guilliadun was attracted to him when she heard his name ("La fille al rei l'oï numer," v. 273; ci- Milun, v. 25) and an account of his virtues ("les biens de lui," v. 274). On meeting him she is struck by his physical ap­ pearance ("Icele Pad mut esgardé, / Sun vis, sun cors e sun semblant," vv. 30 0 -30 1) and can find nothing unbecoming in him (v. 302). She falls in love with him at once, but it is only after a second visit to Eliduc by her chamberlain, who this time bears 166

The Vocabulary of Love

gifts of a ring and a belt (vv. 379-80, 406-7), and some per­ suasive words on her part (vv. 5 0 8 -18 , 532-36) that she secures any commitment from him and becomes his am ie (v. 541). When Marie wishes to tell us that Guilliadun falls in love with Eliduc she comments: "Amurs i lance sun message, / Que la somunt de lui amer" (vv. 304-5). With reference to Lanval's love we read: "Amurs le puint de Testencele, / Que sun quor alume e esprent" (vv. 118 - 19 ) . Verse 119 of Lanval is repeated in Guigem ar when Marie speaks of the lady "Quë aukes esteit reschaufee / Del feu dunt Guigemar se sent / Que sun queor alume e esprent" (390-92). In the case of Guigemar's love the metaphor of fire is replaced by one drawn from the domain of masculine activity: "M es amur Lot feru al vif; / Ja ert sis quors en grant estrif" (vv. 379-80). In Equitan Marie again sees Love as an abstract or independent power with the ability to force its victims to do what it wants: A m u r s l'a d m is a sa m a isn ie . U n e s[e]ete ad vers lu i traite, Q u e m u t gran t p laie li ad faite, El quor li ad la n cie e m ise. (vv. 5 4 - 5 7 ) Lo ve a d m itted h im in to h er h o u s e ­ hold. Sh e let fly an arro w in h is d irectio n w h ic h , h a v in g been la u n ch ed at h is h eart w h e re it b eca m e fixed , left a v e ry deep w o u n d in h im .

Love is equipped with the capacity to wound (Guigem ar, v. 379; Equitan, v. 56), to fire an arrow (traire une seete in E qui­ tan, v. 55), to kindle a fire (Guigem ar; vv. 390-92; Lanval, vv. 1 1 8 - 1 9 ; Eliduc, v. 502), and by some means or other, to reach a person's heart (Guigem ar, vv. 380, 392; Equitan, v. 57; Lanval, v. 1 19). So far we have seen the concept of love associated with the verbs alum er (Guigem ar, v. 392; Lanval, v. 119), esprendre (Guigemar, vv. 392, 455; Lanval, v. 119 ; Eliduc, v. 502), ferir 167

T h e Lais of M a rie de Fra n ce

(Guigemar, v. 379), lancier (Equitan, v. 57; Eliduc, v. 304), puindre [Lanval, v. 118), reschaufer (Guigem ar, v. 390) and sum undre (Eliduc, v. 305). Love has its own household (m aisnie in Equitan, v. 54) into which its victim s are introduced. It can take an individual unawares, overtake him to the point of op­ pression (surprendre): “ Mes il esteit tuz jurs pensis / Pur l'amur dunt il ert suspris" (Eliduc, vv. 7 1 1 - 1 2). It can also grasp an individual so tightly (destreindre) that it can induce a feel­ ing of pain: “ E cum l'am ur la destreineit" (Guigemar, v. 420); “ Ceo fait amur que la destreint" (ibid., v. 430); “ Cum l'amur de lui me destreint" (E liduc, v. 447). But any attempt to tighten one's own grip on love (estreindre “ repress") is ruled out by Marie. Those who read the book in which Ovid teaches “ com­ ent chascun s'amur estreine" must be excommunicated (Gui­ gemar, vv. 239-44). The sensible individual turns his love in the direction of a worthy woman (aturner in Guigemar, vv. 1 31 , 7 1 1 ) and clings to his love in accordance with the teaching of Venus who illustrates “ cument horn deit amur tenir" (Guige­ mar, vv. 234-38). In all the substantive amur occurs eighty-nine times in the Lais. Each lay has at least one example. Guigem ar has twentyfour and Eliduc twenty. The act of granting one's love to a part­ ner is conveyed by the verbs otreier and aseiirer: La dame entent que veirs li dit, E li otreie sanz respit L'amur de li, e il la baise.

(Guigemar, vv. 5 2 7 -2 9 )

E meintefeiz l'areisuna Que ele s'amur li otriast.

(Deus Amanz, vv. 5 6 -5 7 )

Volenters otriat l'amur.

(Milun, v. 31)

Mut fu la dameisele lië(e) De l'amur issi otrïe[e|.

(ibid., vv. 4 7-4 8 )

Ele ne l'aveit une amé Ne de s'amur aseüré.

(Bisclavret, vv. 1 0 7 - 8 ) 19

16 8

The Vocabulary of Love

The grant of love on the part of a woman is normally accom­ panied by the grant of her body: M'amur e mun cors vus otrei.

(Bisclavret, v. 1 1 5)

S'amur e sun cors li otreie.

(Lanval, v. 133)

Tant ad li reis parlé od li E tant li ad crié merci Que de s'amur l'aseüra,

E el sun cors li otria.

(Equitan, vv. 177-80)

In Guigem ar the lovers progress rapidly, once the lady's love has been granted, to the "surplus," the act of consummation which follows the initial embraces: Ensemble gisent e parolent E sovent baisent e acolent; Bien lur covienge del surplus, De ceo que li autre unt en us!

(vv. 531-34) They lay together and talked, kissing and embracing often; may the final act, which others are accustomed to enjoy, give them pleasure.

Almost all the lays contain allusions to sexual activity. The exceptions are the Deus Am anz and C hevrefoil.10 In Le Fresne one of Gurun's first concerns is that his beloved should not become pregnant in her aunt's establishment: "M ut durement li pesereit / S'entur li feussez enceintiee" (vv. 282-83). This is Gurun's principal argument for transferring Le Fresne to his own castle. In Laiistic the lovers' happiness is marred by the fact that they cannot come together physically: "M ut esteient amdui a eise, / Fors tant k'il ne poënt venir / Del tut ensemble a lur pleisir" (vv. 46-48). The surviving lover in C haitivel is distressed by his inability to enjoy sexual relations: "Si n'en puis nule joie aveir / Ne de baisier ne d'acoler / Ne d'autre bien

The Lais of Marie de France

fors de parler" (vv. 220-22). The ladies in Yonec and M ilun have children by their lovers. The avoué's wife repeatedly takes her pleasure with her hawk-knight ("Sun ami volt suvent veer / E de lui sun délit aveir," vv. 2 19 -2 0 ) and when they are finally discovered they are experiencing great joy together ("Ensemble funt joie mut grant," v. 271). Marie is clearly willing to accept that any of her heroes will enjoy sexual relations with his beloved, whether she is married or unmarried. She appreciates the pleasure and joy which can be obtained from such relationships (pleisir in Laüstic, v. 48; délit in Yonec, v. 220; joie in Yonec, v. 271). However, she is careful to comment in Eliduc that the love between Guilliadun and Eliduc remains chaste. Eliduc is preoccupied with the con­ cepts of loyalty and honour. He cannot prevent him self from loving the beautiful Guilliadun or from embracing her (vv. 468-72), but he is fully conscious of his duties and anxious to avoid any form of dishonourable conduct (vv. 473-76). Later Marie insists that the relationship is confined to conversation and the exchange of presents (vv. 577-79). The lovers avoid any actions which would be harmful to themselves or society: "M es n'ot entre eus nule folie, / Joliveté ne vileinie" (vv. 575 — 76). Folie can be seen as an act based on an incorrect judgement of circumstances, joliveté as one lacking in responsibility and characterized by superficiality and lack of commitment, and vileinie as an ignoble act not suited to the needs of society. We are reminded of Marie's condemnation in G uigem ai of "vilain curteis" whose ubiquitous philandering constitutes folie, mauveistié, and lecherie (vv. 487-92). It is certainly not love: "N 'est pas amur" (v. 491). Marie sets high standards for her lovers and these standards are met by Guilliadun and Eliduc whose love merits, as we have seen, the adjective parfit (v. 1150). Love has a number of visible effects on its victims. One such is the act of sighing [suspirer). This form of audible inhalation and exhalation as an expression of emotion accompanies either the onset of love or the loss of it. Guigemar sighs immediately 170

The Vocabulary of Love

as his physical wound is replaced by the wound of love: "De sa plaie nul mal ne sent; / Mut suspire anguisusement" (vv. 383— 84). He sighs as he agonizes over whether or not to declare his love to his lady (v. 407) and again repeatedly during his subse­ quent sleepless night (v. 412). In the morning, after merely ex­ changing a few words with his lady's serving maiden, he sighs again: "Atant se tut, si suspira" (v. 443). He sighs as his ship sails away from the antive cité (v. 622) and he continues to do so during his lengthy separation from his beloved (v. 782). A l­ though less prone than Guigemar to manifest her feelings in this way, the lady sighs when Meriaduc tells her of the exis­ tence of a knight with a knotted shirt (v. 735). Equitan sighs during his nocturnal deliberations (v. 89), and Lanval does so when he realizes his love has been lost (v. 341). Later in Lanval the act of sighing takes on a more positive role in that it sig­ nifies the hero's relief at recognizing his beloved as she arrives to support him at his trial (v. 594). In Eliduc the act of suspirer, in the sense of audible breathing, is again positive. It serves as a sign of life itself in the apparently dead Guilliadun. Twice Marie informs us that after her swoon there was no return to consciousness ("El ne revient ne suspira," v. 856; "N e reveneit ne suspirot," v. 970). But the red flower in her mouth is quick to take effect: "U n petitet i demurra, / Cele revint e suspira" (vv. 1063-64). Earlier Guilliadun had sighed in reaction to the sum ­ mons which love had issued to her ("Amurs i lance sun m es­ sage, / Que la somunt de lui amer; / Pâlir la fist e suspirer," vv. 304-6) and her sigh makes a considerable impression on Eliduc (v. 318). It is one of the factors which lead to his first crisis of conscience (vv. 314-26). Guigemar's sigh is accompanied by trembling in his limbs ("Pur ki mis quors suspire e tremble," v. 782) and similar trem­ bling also affects Equitan ("Que tut le cors me fet trembler," v. 69). The trembling of Lanval's horse in the meadow ("Mes sis cheval tremble forment," v. 46) is perhaps an indication of the arrival of love in his life as well as of the approach to the Other World. A further visible sign of love is pallor, and as we have

The Lais of Marie de France

just seen, Guilliadun's sigh of love is associated with this con­ dition (v. 306). Guigemar likewise becomes pale, first as a result of the wound in his thigh (v. 281 ), then because of the wound of love (v. 424). His beloved turns pale in anticipation of coming face to face with him in Meriaduc's castle ("La dame fu pensive e pale," v. 764). Here, pallor is directly linked to a combination of love and anxiety. Elsewhere in the Lais pallor is a sign of death. Guilliadun is left for dead ("E cum pur morte la laissierent," v. 934) when she fails to come out of her coma: "Desur sun vis cheï paumee, / Tute pale, desculuree. / En la paumeisun demurra" (vv. 853-55). Later, as she lies unconscious, some of her colour returns: "U nkes la colur ne perdi / Fors un petit que eie enpali" (vv. 973-74).21 Guilliadun, whose loss and recovery of consciousness is an important element in the text of Eliduc, is by no means the only lover to faint. Lanval faints repeatedly when he realizes his love has gone (v. 342). The lady in Yonec faints when Muldumarec reveals that he is about to die because of his love for her (v. 323) and she does so again when she locates him in his palace (v. 396). On both occasions Marie uses the expression chei'r pasm ee and the third example in Yonec marks the lady's death: "Sur la tumbe cheï pasmee, / En la paumeisun devia; / Une puis a humme ne parla" (vv. 538-40). By her subtle use of vocabulary Marie unites here and elsewhere in the Lais the themes of love, grief, and death. The anxiety which love creates can manifest itself in tears, sighs, or sleeplessness. Guigemar weeps when he is forced to leave his lady (v. 622). The lovers in Chevrefoil also shed tears as they embark on a further period of separation (v. 104) and the lady in Laiistic cries when she realizes her love can be no more: "Durement plure e si maudit / Ceus ki le laüstic traïrent" (vv. 122-23). The queen in Lanval sheds tears of frustration when her attempts at seduction are thwarted (v. 304) and Eliduc weeps over the body of the unconscious Guilliadun (v. 975), as she had wept, this time tears of joy, on his return from Brittany (v. 785). Tears, of course, can be a useful weapon, and the lady in 172

The Vocabulary of Love

Equitan uses them successfully as a ploy to safeguard her rela­ tionship with the king: "Forment plura e grant deol fist" (v. 209); "Sire, jo plur pur nostre amur" (v. 213). In the opening stages of Yonec the lady's tears, sighs and sleeplessness ("Od lermes, od suspir e plur," v. 46; "La dame en plur e en esveil / Choisi la clarté del soleil," vv. 6 1-6 2 ) act principally as an indi­ cation that she is ready for the onset of love. Later love and desire w ill cause her some hours of wakefulness ("La dame jut; pas ne dormi, / Kar mut desire sun am i" (vv. 267-68). Sleepless nights are also experienced by Guigemar and his lady (vv. 4 11, 429), Equitan (vv. 63-64, 9 9 -10 1), the lovers in Laiistic (vv. 76, 108) and Guilliadun (vv. 3 3 1-3 2 ). Marie herself, like the lovers in Laiistic, made good use of the hours of darkness. She tells us of the care, perhaps even the passion, with which she polished her lays: "Soventes fiez en ai veillié" (Prologue, v. 42). As we move from the Prologue to the first lay in the Harley collection, the hunting scene in Guigem ar introduces us to the wider impact of love, the suffering which it causes for those who experience it. Suffering is the stuff from which literature is fashioned and the Lais are no exception. A ll Marie's lovers and a good many other characters (e.g. the father in the Deus Am anz, Le Fresne's mother) know what agony is. Love irrupts into the Lais as a physical wound to be cured only by extraordi­ nary suffering:

Jamais n'aies tu med[e]cine! Ne par herbe ne par racine Ne par mire ne par pociun N'avras tu jamés garisun De la plaie ke as en la quisse, De s[i] ke cele te guarisse Ki suffera pur tue amur Issi grant peine e tel dolur Ke unkes femme taunt ne suffri; E tu ref[e]ras taunt pur li. (vv. 10 9 -18 )

173

T h e Lais of M a rie de Fra n ce

May you never find a cure, nor may any herb, root, doctor or potion ever heal the wound you have in your thigh, until you are cured by a woman who will suffer for your love more pain and anguish than any other woman has ever known, and you will suffer likewise for her.

Love and suffering are part of Guigemar's destinee (v. 108). When he arrives at the antive cité he is an unhappy man and he becomes no less unhappy as love for the lord's wife overcomes him. Marie is careful to link love with suffering right from the outset: "M es amur l'ot féru al vif; / Ja ert sis quors en grant estrif" (vv. 379-80). Love is imm ediately referred to as a wound ("Kar la dame l'ad si nafré," v. 381) and the subsequent lines are dominated by the vocabulary of anxiety, suffering, and the de­ sire for death (see vv. 383-424). It is no surprise that in the first theoretical passage, love is described as a wound (v. 483) and a m al (v. 48s).22 Terms for the suffering engendered by love are found con­ sistently throughout the lays. The verb susfrir occurs twentytwo times in all (plus one example of suffrance) and almost all the examples refer to love: e.g., Ki suffera pur tue amur.

(Guigemar, v. 1 15)

Ke unkes femme taunt ne suffri.

(ibid., v. 117 )

La suffrance mut lur greva.

(Deus Amanz, v. 67)

Que meuz en volt les maus suffrir.

(ibid., v. 69)

Les granz peines e la dolur Que Milun seofre nuit e jur.

(Milun.vv. 2 3 5 -3 6 )

La grant peine k'il en suffreient De l'amur qu'il vers vus aveient.

(Chaitivel, vv. 2 1 3 - 1 4 )

In the case of Yonec Marie chooses to remind us, in the last two lines, of the suffering which had been the major theme of her 174

T h e V o ca b u la ry of Lo ve

text: "De la pité, de la dolur / Que cil suffrirent pur amur" (vv. 553—54)-23

A number of terms are used by Marie to convey the concept of suffering in love: anguisse, destreit, doel/dolur, effrei, ennui, estrif, mal, martire, peine, travail, tristur: Nul humme el mund ne purreit dire Sa grant peine ne le martire Ne l'anguisse ne la dolur Que la dame seofre en la tur.

(Guigemar, vv. 6 6 1-6 4 )

Après pariat e dist: "D e quei Sui en estrif e en effrei?"

(Equitan, vv. 9 1 —92)

Mut fu pur li amer destreiz . . . Ne poeit mes suffrir l'enui.

(Deus Amanz, vv. 7 1, 78)

De lur amur que tant fu fine, Dunt il eurent meinte dolur.

(Chevrefoil, vv. 8 - 9 )24

Alternatively suffering can be expressed as the absence of joie: "Une n'oït joie ne déduit" (Guigem ar, v. 666); "Unques n'ot joie ne délit" (Eliduc, v. 460). Often the lovers are plunged into deep thought and despair. They become anguissus, cureçus, maz, murnes, trespensez and in particular dolent and pensif: Pensif esteit e anguissus. Mes tuz jurs ert maz e pensis.

(Guigemar, v. 394) (ibid., v. 644)

Pensis esteit e anguissus.

(Lanval, v. 338)

Pur vus sui dolent e pensis.

[Yonec, v. 409)

Tristram est dolent e pensis.

(Chevrefoil, v. 25)

Dolente e cureçuse fu.

[Laüstic, v. 112)

Tut est murnes e trespensez.

(Eliduc, v. 314 )25

In these poems, which aim to recount the vicissitudes of love, the variety of emotional and physical effects undergone by lovers is extensive. Guigemar forgets his painful wound and 175

The Lais of Marie de France

even becomes unmindful of his homeland and his respon­ sibilities (vv. 382-83). He rejects his followers' request that he take a wife (vv. 645-50) and embarks on a somewhat rash cam­ paign to save his lady (vv. 853-80). In fact several of the male lovers take risks because of their love and some are killed in the process (Equitan, the count's son, Muldumarec, and three of the lovers in Chaitivel). Tristram and Eliduc throw caution to the wind, Tristram in returning to Cornwall ("Mes puis se mist en abandun / De mort e de destructïun," vv. 19 -20) and Eliduc in mounting an attempt to abduct Guilliadun from her father's domains and smuggle her back to Brittany. Similarly, to prove his love for his wife, Bisclavret risks telling her about the location of his clothing (vv. 80-96). Love can induce a feeling of hopelessness, bewilderment, or powerlessness [Guigemar, vv. 4 0 9 -io; Equitan, vv. 62, 70; Le Fresne, v. 257; Eliduc, vv. 468—69). It makes its victim s indulge in self-pity, often calling themselves m a lba illi "badly done by" or cheitif "hapless one" (Guigem ar, v. 402; Le Fresne, v. 256; Chaitivel, v. 216 ; Eliduc, vv. 399, 462). Some lovers talk to them­ selves, introducing their remarks with "A llas!" (Guigemar, v. 399; Equitan, v. 65; Eliduc, v. 585), "Lasse" (Laiistic, v. 126; Milun, v. 13 5 ; Eliduc, v. 387; also see Yonec, v. 67) or "M ai m 'estait" (Laiistic, v. 126; also see Eliduc, v. 337). In general, lovers are quick to bemoan their fate. Marie uses the verbs se pleindre (Guigemar, v. 429; Lanval, v. 341, etc.) and se dem enter (Eliduc, vv. 386, 401, etc.) or the expression faire sa pleinte (Deus Amanz, v. 75; Milun, v. 56). Lovers are uncertain what to do (Guigemar, v. 395ff.; Equitan, v. 9iff.), fearful of rejection (Guigemar, vv. 476-80; Eliduc, vv. 367-77) and willing to do whatever the beloved wishes, however foolish this might be (Equitan, vv. 17 0 -7 6 ; Lanval, vv. 12 1-2 8 ). They are over­ whelmed by a desire for instant help ("hastif sueurs," Guigemar, v. 497) and by a need for the beloved's mercy (Guigemar, v. 401 ; Lanval, v. 599). A painful death quickly appears inevitable for lovers whose desires are not fulfilled: 176

T h e V o ca b u la ry of Lo ve

Si par la dame n'est gariz, De la mort est seürs e fiz. Dune m'estuet [il] a doel mûrir,

(Guigemar, vv. 39 7-9 8) (ibid., v. 405)

Si [vus] ne m e volez guarir,

Dune m'estuet [il] en fin mûrir.

(ibid., w . 50 3-4 )

Pur vus m'estuet aver la mort.

(Equitan, v. 219)

Que, s'il ne m'aime par amur, Mûrir m'estuet a grant dolur.

(Eliduc, vv. 34 9-50 )

Death can in fact seem preferable to the agonies of separation: Si vus murrez, jeo voil mûrir.

(Guigemar, v. 549)

Meuz voil hastivement mûrir Que lungement cest mal suffrir.

(ibid., vv. 669-70)

Lanval i vait od sun grant doel; 111 'eüssent ocis sun veoil.

(Lanval, vv. 3 5 7 -5 8 )

Meuz voil ensemble od vus mûrir Que od mun seignur peine suffrir.

(Yonec, vv. 4 1 1 —12)

Teus cent maus me fetes suffrir, Meuz me vaudreit la mort tenir.

(Chaitivel, vv. 2 2 3 -2 4 )

U si ceo nun, jeo me ocirai.

(Eliduc , v. 681)

Iloc fust mort od li, sun voil.

(ibid., v. 872)

Lovers who are not comforted ("Del tut li peot faire confort," Equitan, v. 115) or cured of their sickness by the beloved (Guigemar, vv. 397, 503; Lanval, v. 600) are in Marie's view in a sorry plight, "en mauvés pleit" (Eliduc, v. 338). As we have seen, they can know no joy in their lives: "Jamés n'avrai joie en ma vie" (Eliduc, v. 400); "Jamés joie ne bien ne avrai" (ibid., v. 682). They are forced to "vivre a reburs," to lead a life of misery [Guigemar, v. 498). But when all is well they are on the right path, "en dreite veie" (Lanval, v. 134). They are well cared for, 177

The Lais of Marie de France

"bien herbergez" (Lanval, vv. 140, 154). They enjoy bien, duçur, eise, pruz, and above all joie: En grant bien e en {grant] duçur Vesquirent puis e nuit e jur.

(Milun, vv. 5 3 1 - 3 2 )

De lur amur e de lur bien Firent un lai li auncïen.

(ibid., vv. 5 3 3 - 3 4 )

Ainz l'amerat, si'n avrat joie; Ainz que nul le sachet u oie, Avrunt il mut de lur pruz fait.

[Guigemar, vv. 5 2 3 - 2 5 )

Mut esteient amdui a eise.

(Laüstic, v. 46)

Entre eus meinent joie [mut] grant.

(Chevrefoil, v. 94)

Grant joie funt a l'assembler.

(Eliduc , v. 805)

In short, life for those lovers able to enjoy each other's company is one of constant delight: "M ut fu delituse la vie" (Guigemar, v. 537). The joy of love can be fleeting, as in the case of the meeting of Tristram and the queen, of Lanval and his mistress, and of Milun and his am ie (vv. 287-90), or it can be permanent (the aftermath of Guigemar, Le Fresne, Lanval, Milun). Love can inspire ("Amur li dune hardement," Guigemar, v. 499; "Icil quatres la dame amoënt / E de bien fere se penoënt," Chaitivel, vv. 4 1-4 2 ) or destroy ("D'Equitan, cumjent] il fina / E la dame que tant l'am a," Equitan, vv. 3 1 3 - 1 4 ; "Ileoc cheï, puis ne leva," Deus Amanz, v. 204). It can lead to a child (Milun, Yonec) or a poem (Chaitivel, Chevrefoil), to marriage or disaster. It can stimulate uncharacteristic behaviour such as the murder of the sailor by Eliduc, the attempted murder of the seneschal by Equitan, or Lanval's insult to the queen. Alternatively it can prepare lovers for total commitment to God (Eliduc, vv. 1 1 4 5 80). But, above all, those who s’entr’aim ent (Equitan, v. 183; Deus Amanz, w . 3, 64; Laüstic, vv. 29, 57; Eliduc, v. 12) have what Ménard terms a "valeur absolue" which dominates their lives, for good or evil.26 178

Conclusion

There can be no better guide than vocabulary to an author's preoccupations, or to the social reality of a period in which a literary work was created. In the preceding pages we have concentrated on the text of the Lais of Marie de France and seen the extent to which her characters and her situations reflect the feudal and courtly world of the twelfth century. The male characters Marie has chosen to emphasize are chevaliers, each of whom is of noble birth. Some are more no­ ble than others. Needy knights, who rely on others for their equipment and for a good meal, are present in the Lais (see especially Lanval, vv. 2 0 5 -7 ; Milun, vv. 327-29 ; Eliduc, vv. 138-40), but they are there to serve the interests of their more affluent counterparts. Muldumarec, father of Yonec, is a king of great wealth, and Lanval is the son of a rich and powerful king ("riches reis," v. 232). In Chevrefoil the hero, Tristram, is the nephew of King Mark. The other heroes are all powerful figures in their own right or the sons of powerful men. Knights such as Gurun in Le Fresne and Eliduc possess their own castles and their own vassals. Guigemar is the heir of a man who is a close adviser (privez) to the King of Brittany. Marie's knights are described as bon, fier, fort, hardi, va il­ lant, and proz. They are active m ilitary men who enjoy par­ ticipating in the three principal male pursuits of their day: 179

Conclusion

hunting, tournaments and war. They excel in the performance of honourable deeds ("E volenters feseit honur," Laüstic, v. 20). Not all are active within the lays in which they appear and they do not all accomplish acts which are socially useful. But the knights realize that they are part of the feudal world. They are dedicated to the welfare of their lord and their community and they know that service and loyalty are the basic principles of the world in which they live. As Lanval says to the queen, "I have served the king for a long time. I do not wish to belie my faith. I shall never for you or for your love commit an act which w ill be harmful to my lord" (vv. 271-74 ). These men are also handsome and generous beings, capable of conducting them­ selves well in society, of behaving in a generally sensible, pleas­ ing and responsible way (curteis, franc). For example, Milun has all the qualities required to impress those around him: "M ut par esteit bons chevaliers / Francs [e] hardiz, curteis e fiers" (vv. 1 3 —14). But life is not easy for these men. They fall in love with women who are not in a position to create with them a happy marriage. If they are married at the outset of the story, as in the case of the seneschal in Equitan, Bisclavret, and Eliduc, cir­ cumstances arise during the poem which lead to the break­ down of the marriage. Marie's ability to vary similar motifs is never more evident than in this domain. A considerable diver­ sity of marital and amorous situations, with or without the act of adultery, leads to a sim ilar diversity of endings. At the close of Guigemar, Le Fresne, Lanval, Milun, and Eliduc the lovers are happy in their different ways, but only Gurun in Le Fresne and Milun remain in society as married men likely to live hap­ pily ever after. Guigemar's beloved is still married and Lanval has been forced into exile with his fairy mistress on the Isle of Avalon. Eliduc ends his days contentedly in a monastery, lov­ ing God "par bone fei" (v. 1178). Other heroes are either dead at the end of the text or condemned to live with their memories or with their thoughts of what might have been. The bacheler 180

Conclusion

in Laüstic has his chasse with him wherever he goes, its dead occupant reminding him of his nocturnal pleasures and frustra­ tions. Tristram has his lay, and the survivor in C haitivel has the satisfaction of knowing that he has imposed his title, Le C haitivel, on the poem commemorating his suffering. The women to whom these handsome, brave and sociable knights are attracted are beautiful, well bred, intelligent, and sensitive to the needs of others. They are described largely by the same adjectives used for their beloveds: bele, curteise, fran­ che, proz, sage, and vaillant. Guigemar's lady is "une dame de haut parage / Franche, curteise, bele e sage" (vv. 2 1 1 - 1 2 ) . M a­ rie's heroines are on the whole never at a loss for a plan, for an idea which w ill help them to get what they want. They cope admirably with their fears and their hardships, with the con­ stant necessity to conceal things from those who oppress them. Milun's beloved even manages to hide her pregnancy from her fam ily and to dispose of her child until she can marry the father, over twenty years later. In the circumstances sur­ rounding the women's lives there is, as in so many domains, a great variety of presentation. The ladies in Guigemar, Equitan, Yonec, Laüstic, and Chevrefoil are prevented by their husbands from enjoying a more serene existence. This is also true of Bisclavret, in which the husband's unfortunate proclivities overturn an otherwise happy marriage. In Le Fresne first the girl's mother, then her lover's vassals, are the culprits. In the Deus Am anz it is the girl's father, in M ilun the father, then the husband. In C haitivel the lady must blame herself and her lovers' zeal. Eliduc's wife, like Bisclavret's, is affected by her husband's behaviour, whilst the happiness of his beloved Guilliadun is thwarted by his marital circumstances. Both Lanval's fairy mistress and her male supernatural counterpart, Muldumarec, in Yonec have their own method of imposing them­ selves on reality. As we have seen, some of the heroines are allowed by Marie de France to achieve harmony and happiness with the man of 181

Conclusion

their choice. Others die during the course of the story (Equitan, Deus Amanz, Yonec)} some go on living in a state of frustration (Laiistic, Chaitivel, Chevrefoil). Bisclavret's wife is left to live with her exiled lover and noseless daughters. But whatever the outcome which awaits these women, their fate revolves around the question of love. They are either the object of entreaties or they themselves make the first move in this direction. They are attracted by the man's looks, his reputation, and his avail­ ability. The lady in Laiistic turns to the boy next door "Tant pur le bien quë ele oï, / Tant pur ceo qu'il iert près de li" (vv. 27-28). The bacheler in Laiistic is one of the many men who use their smooth tongues to win the ladies ("Tant la requist, tant la preia," v. 24). But Lanval's mistress, Milun's beloved, and Eliduc's Guilliadun initiate the love relationship by sending messengers to their chosen knights. Both knight and lady are in search of the "delituse vie" (Guigemar, v. 537) which can only come from a prolonged spell in the company of loved one. Love is a wound, a sickness, a source of joie and of dolur. It must be between partners of sim ­ ilar social status who treat each other as equals. The vocabulary Marie uses for the love between man and woman is the one used for the relationship in the feudal world between man and man: servir/servise, honur/honurer, leal/lealm ent/leauté, fei/fiance. Lords and vassals must commit themselves to each other ("Garder li dei amur e fei," Equitan, v. 73); lovers sim ilarly must serve and honour each other, cherishing each other with loyalty and gratitude ("Enurer e tenir chier, / A gre servir e mercier," Chaitivel, vv. 27-28). Loyal love goes hand in hand with perfect love ("L'amur leale e fine / Dunt vus m'amastes lëaument," Eliduc, vv. 944—45 ). Such love possesses the perfection and spir­ ituality of gold. It is only one step away from a life of true service to God ("De Deu amer par bone fei," Eliduc, v. 1178). The Lais is in many respects a work devoted to the dichot­ omy between the "vilain curteis" (Guigemar, v. 488) and the "fin curteis" (Equitan, v. 151). Written for an aristocratic au­ 182

Conclusion

dience, the poems point the way towards improved standards of behaviour and a greater sense of responsibility. Those who are truly courtly must avoid any behaviour which smacks of the bourgeois or the peasant. They must act like the bacheler in Laüstic ("Mes ne fu pas vileins ne lenz," v. 148), not like the husband in the same text ("De ceo fist il que trop vileins/' v. 1 1 6). Any acts of folie, m auveisté, or lech eiie (Guigem ar, vv. 4 9 1-9 2) are outlawed by Marie, as well as any philandering, fickleness, or unreliability. Individuals must be of good intent ("de bon purpens"), people who display valur and sens. Ideally they must eschew any conduct which is "Cuntre Deu e cuntre la lei, / Cuntre dreiture e cuntre fei" [Elidue, vv. 837-38). As Marie illustrates in the last lay of the Harley collection, those who love each other "de bon' amur" (E liduc, v. 684) can finally achieve a state of "grant joie" (vv. 1098, 1119 ) and even of "parfit' amur" (v. 1150). Earlier, in Milun, the steadfastness of the lovers, delightfully represented by the swan, allows them to win a victory over those who "heent bone amur / E se délitent en tristur" (vv. 147-48). Here Milun and his beloved, brought to­ gether by their son, are said to live night and day in duçur "tran­ quillity" and grant bien (vv. 5 31-3 2 ). In the sense that its end product is something beneficial to both individuals and society, loyal and perfect love is analogous to the lays themselves. In the Prologue Marie tells us that her work constitutes a "granz biens" (v. 5 ). It is of value to all concerned and possessed of the power to grow and develop, to pass, as she puts it, from a first flowering to full bloom (Prologue, vv. 5—8). In Equitan we are told that the lays were originally engendered by the blend of pruesce, curteisie, and noblesce manifested by the Bretons (vv. 1-8). These qualities, which Marie's poems show to be among the very finest that human beings can possess, can also be said to be those on which a truly perfect love relationship depends. The lays illustrate, moreover, that happiness in love is the product of a genuine understanding of what love is, and of a sensible and resourceful attitude with regard to the needs of a given situa­ 183

Conclusion

tion. This task is not easy and not all the lovers succeed in steering their relationship to the right conclusion. Similarly, Marie's task of writing the Lais was not easy. She calls it a "grevos' ovre" (Prologue, v. 25) and it too required intelligence and true understanding (escience, Prologue, v. 1). Like her knights, Marie thrived on praise and on the prestige (pris) which her activities warranted. Translating Latin texts into French would have been unprofitable in her eyes: "M ais ne me fust guaires de pris" (Prologue, v. 31). When the poetic tree has praise heaped upon it, then its flowers are at their very best: "E quant loëz est de plusurs, / Dune ad espandues ses flurs" (Prologue, vv. 7 -8 , "And when it is widely praised, then its flowers are in full bloom"). Pris, however, as Marie tells us in the prologue to Guigemar, can have its negative side. A good reputation (grant p ris) stimulates envy in others and leads them to dire vilein ie and to attempt to damage the reputation (vv. 8—1 1 )- To resist and continue one's efforts unabated re­ quires the kind of fortitude and steadfastness manifested by the lovers in the poems, three of whom (Lanval, Milun, and Eliduc) are also the object of envy. It is not clear what poems Marie had composed before G uige­ mar which had led to people behaving, as she puts it, like vicious dogs (Guigem ar, vv. 12 -14 ). I have suggested above that six of the lays may well have been composed on the Continent (in the approximate order Equitan, Chaitivel, Bisclavret, Le Fresne, Deus Amanz, and Laiistic). Then Marie could perhaps have come to Britain and experienced there some of the frustra­ tions and suffering which Lanval experiences. Guigemar's fear of incurring his lady's displeasure and being dismissed because he is a foreigner ("Pur ceo qu'il ert d'estrange tere," v. 478) also has an autobiographical ring about it. Such points are, of course, tenuous, but certainly the remaining lays in the Harley manu­ script form a homogeneous group and they could have been composed in Britain in the order Lanval, Yonec, Guigemar, Milun, Chevrefoil, and Eliduc. Each of these lays contains Brit­ 184

Conclusion

ish place-names and each, if we include the queen's offer of herself to Lanval, contains the motif of illicit love. In four of the lays (Yonec, Guigemar, Milun, and C h eviefo il) a wife com­ mits adultery (for M ilun see vv. 287-90). In Lanval a wife makes herself available for adultery, whereas in Eliduc there seems to be a specific reaction to this motif in the comment that between Guilliadun and Eliduc there was no fo lie, joliveté, or vileinie (vv. 575-76). If this chronology is correct or nearly correct, one could maintain that in the plot of Equitan Marie discovered a tale with the potential to illustrate the meaning and nature of love. But here the principal male character is a villain, the lady an ambitious woman who plans the murder of her husband, and the seneschal, although a good knight and loyal vassal, is too weak to make much impact on the story. After two variants on these motifs in the form of C haitivel and Bisclavret, also rather brutal stories with tedious endings and no sign of future happiness for the characters, Marie may have found in Le Fresne some of the ingredients of the formula she was to use with great success. Le Fresne is the first sympathetic female character and her actions pave the way for a happy ending. In the choice of her name, "Ash-Tree," associated with such motifs as adaptability, and that of her twin sister, "Hazel-tree," Marie may have realized the power of symbolism to convey the themes of her poem s.1 Later, the nightingale in Laiistic, the swan in Milun, and the hazel-honeysuckle motif in C heviefoil are potent images. The lays of the Deus Am anz and Laiistic also have sympathetic heroines and male characters. The he­ roes in these two lays are positive and likeable but are less at­ tractive and less sharply defined than their female counter­ parts. In Laiistic the theme of a beautiful and sociable young girl caught up in a loveless, feudal marriage appears for the first time. Of these six lays (Equitan, Chaitivel, Bisclavret, Le Fiesne, Deus Am anz, and Laiistic), only Le Fresne has a happy ending. 185

Conclusion

Lanval would be the first lay in which Marie offers a truly interesting male character and the first in which she has re­ course to the supernatural. The story is set against a much more subtle background than in the earlier poems. The ideal love of Lanval and his queen contrasts with the real world of war, unre­ warded service, hardship amongst knights (vv. 205-8), envy (v. 23), unjust accusations, court cases, etc. All the lays in the sec­ ond group, with the exception of Chevrefoil, are in fact short romances. They are more thought provoking than those in the first, which are just good yams. Yonec, with its supernatural hero, is similar in many respects to Lanval, but it picks up the theme of the frustrated feudal wife and actually allows her to commit adultery and produce an illegitim ate child, clearly an important new ingredient in Marie's fictional universe. Twelfthcentury lords seem to have made an effort to guard their wives ("En li garder mist mut s'entente," Yonec, v. 26) precisely in order to prevent such an eventuality, to avoid bringing up a child who did not have their blood. It is a stroke of fate too ghastly to contemplate for a lord to be thwarted first by a lover who flies through the wife's bedroom window to father her child and then by that child who chops off the husband's head and goes on to inherit his real father's kingdom. In Guigem ar the aged and jealous lord loses his wife to a young intruder who, although not supernatural himself, arrives in style on a magic ship, after hav­ ing been informed of his destiny by a talkative hind. Lanval, Yonec, and Guigem ar all possess two strongly deline­ ated lovers. In each case one lover is a victim of injustice who is rescued and given some happiness by a supernatural force. In the three remaining lays, Milun, Chevrefoil, and Eliduc, this force has almost entirely disappeared and we are back in the real world. To find more permanent harmony in his life Lanval has to leave the real world and be transported to Avalon. Muldumarec in Yonec leaves the other world only to die at the hands of the lady's husband. The lady herself succumbs at the close of the 186

Conclusion

text, but she has had the satisfaction of a visit to her lover's silver city ("N 'i ot mesun, sale ne tur, / Que ne parust tute d'argent," vv. 36 1-6 2 ) and has enjoyed a period living with her son, her memories, and her magic ring. Guigemar's adventures recall Lanval and Yonec, as a magic ship takes him to a world where he finds happiness. There is, however, a realism about his status as heir to the lordship of Liun which looks forward to Milun. In M ilun and G uigem ai happiness is achieved thanks to a com­ bination of good fortune and personal endeavour. In Chevrefoil Tristram's efforts are rewarded by a frustratingly brief reunion with his beloved and the glimpse of a reconciliation with Mark ("Tant que sis uncles le manda," v. 106). In Eliduc Guildelüec stands in the way of the love between Guilliadun and Eliduc, but, like the seneschal in Equitan, she is an innocent victim of her partner's emotional involvement. Here, however, the ingre­ dients are mixed in such a way that contentment is possible for the three major characters. The answer to their problems comes not from the Other World, but from within one of the characters him self and from the power of God who draws the lovers to him. In Equitan the lovers are united in a tub of boiling water; in Eliduc they are united by a second act of charity when Guildelüec receives Guilliadun "as her sister" (v. 116 7 ; in one sense, as we see from the sim ilarity of the names, she is her twin sister or other self) and by their desire to "servir Deu omnipo­ tent" (v. 1164). Eliduc and his two ladies enjoy a "bele fin" (v. 1179). It could also be said that this "fair ending" is enjoyed by the lays themselves. As Eliduc and his wives offer their service to God, so Marie offers the Lais to honour a noble king who is described in terms which could almost be applied to God H im ­ self: "A ki tute joie se encline, / En ki quoer tuz biens racine" (Prologue, vv. 45-46). The present which Marie offers to her noble king is a satisfying and unified work. The twelve poems, some written in France, others in Britain, seem to have begun with short, relatively unsophisticated stories, not always 187

Conclusion

clearly told, and to have progressed to subtle tales of passionate love, recounted with sensitivity and careful attention to struc­ ture and realism. Arranged as they are in the Harley manuscript, the lays are indeed, like the swan in verse 2 15 of M ilun, a “ pre­ sent rëaus."

188

Notes

Introduction 1. All quotations from the Lais are taken, unless otherwise stated, from the edition by Alfred Ewert (Marie de France: Lais, Oxford: Blackwell, 1944). 2. Karl Warnke, ed., Die Fabeln der Marie de France (1898; reprint, Geneva: Slatkine, 1974). 3. For the view that only the Fables can be attributed to Marie de France and that there may have been more than one author for the lays found in Harley 978 see Richard Baum, Recherches sur les oeuvres attribuées à Marie de France (Heidelberg: Winter, 1968). Also nor­ mally attributed to Marie de France is the Espurgatoire Seinz Patriz, the tale of the descent of a knight Owein into the Otherworld. 4. For further discussion of Marie's life and works see the Introduc­ tion to The Lais of Marie de France, trans. G. S. Burgess and K. Busby (Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin Books, 1986), especially pp. 7 19. This volume also includes an index of all the proper names in the Lais (pp. 1 3 2 - 3 5 ) and a complete translation into English prose. Trans­ lations in the present book are my own, but they correspond largely to those in the Penguin volume. I have translated all the inset quotations which are used for illustrative purposes. Those used for philological analysis or to show how a specific word or expression is used in the Lais are not translated.

189

Notes to Chapter One

Chapter One 1. Manuscript S constitutes a collection of lays and Marie's poems are not consecutive. The Old Norse translation (Uppsala Manuscript) has the order: Guigemar, Le Fresne, Equitan, Bisclavret, Laiistic, Chaitivel (from v. 85), Deus Amanz, Milun, Chevrefoil, Lanval (from V. 155), Yonec. Manuscript P contains Yonec (from v. 396), Guigemar, and Lanval. 2. Emanuel J. Mickel, Jr., Marie de France (New York: Twayne, 1974), pp. 7 2 - 1 2 1 ; Edgard Sienaert, Les Lais de Marie de France: du conte merveilleux à la nouvelle psychologique (Paris: Champion, 1978) , pp. 5 1 - 1 7 4 3. Cf. Philippe Ménard: "Le prologue général des lais . . . a sans doute été écrit en dernier, au moment où Marie mettait la dernière main à sa collection," in Les Lais de Marie de France: contes d ’amour et d ’aventure du moyen âge (Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1 979) , p. 23. Ernest Hoepffner points out that the Prologue is in fact an Epilogue {Les Lais de Marie de France [Paris: Boivin, 1935), p. 49). Florence M cCulloch suggests that in the case of the first ten lays in the Harley collection Marie placed a longer poem (over five hundred lines), celebrating positive, ultimately triumphant love, before a shorter poem portraying perverted, frustrated, or ill-fated love (e.g. Guigemar before Equitan, Milun before Chaitivel). To provide a satis­ fying conclusion illustrating the "triumph of charitable love" (p. 261) the process is reversed for Chevrefoil and Eliduc, in "Length, Recita­ tion and Meaning of the Lais of Marie de France," Kentucky Romance Quarterly 25 (1978): 2 5 7 -6 8 . 4. Rupert T. Pickens, "La Poétique de Marie de France d'après les prologues des Lais,” Les Lettres Romanes 32 (1978): 3 8 3 -8 4 . As she prepared the Harley collection Marie's view of her poetic process seems to have changed and she may have modified the shorter pro­ logues to conform to her new thinking outlined in the General Pro­ logue. 5. S. Foster Damon, "Marie de France: Psychologist of Courtly Love," Publications of the Modern Language Association of America 44 (1929): 968-96. 6. Paula Clifford, Marie de France: Lais (London: Grant and Cutler, 1982). See my review in French Studies 38 (1984): 4 4 3 -4 4 .

190

Notes to Chapter One 7. Ménard, Les Lais, pp. 1 5 1 - 8 9 . See also Daniel Poirion, Le Mer­ veilleux dans la littérature française du moyen âge (Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1982), pp. 3 -6 . 8. Hoepffner, "Pour la Chronologie des Lais de Marie de France," Romania 59 (1933): 3 5 1 - 7 0 and 60 (1934): 36 -6 6 . 9. See also Hoepffner's article "Marie de France et 1'Eneas," Studi Medievali, n.s., 5 (1932): 2 7 2 -3 0 8 . 10. Lucien Foulet, "Marie de France et les lais bretons," Zeitschrift für romanische Philologie 29 (1905): 298. Foulet adds that: "Les pro­ logues nous font sentir une progression chronologique, sans nous per­ mettre d'en déterminer exactement la loi" (p. 2990). Equitan in Foulet's opinion must have followed Guigemar "d'assez près" (ibid.). 11 . See Hoepffner, "Le Lai d ’Equitan de Marie de France," in A Mis­ cellany of Studies in Romance Languages and Literatures Presented to Leon E. Kastner (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1932), pp. 2 9 4 -3 0 2 . 12. See Hoepffner, "Le Roman d ’Ille et Galeron et le lai d ’Eliduc,” in Studies in French Language and Mediaeval Literature Presented to Professor Mildred K. Pope (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1939), PP- 125 - 4 4 13. Hoepffner, "La Géographie et l'histoire dans les Lais de Marie de France," Romania 56 (1930): 32. 14. R. N. Illingworth, "La Chronologie des Lais de Marie de France," Romania 87 (1966): 4 3 3 - 7 5 . 15. P. B. Grout, "The Trial of Daire and the Dating of the Roman de Thèbes," French Studies 19 (1965): 3 9 2 -9 5 . Dr. Grout rightly sees the forty-day period as reflecting a diffidatio, a formal defiance of a lord by a vassal he has wronged. The forty days allow reasonable time for rep­ aration of the wrong inflicted. Illingworth's opinion is based prin­ cipally on R. Harris, "A terminus a quo for the Roman de Thèbes," French Studies 11 (1957): 2 0 1 - 1 3 . 16. Ernst Brugger, "Über die Bedeutung von Bretagne, breton, in mittelalterlichen Texten," Zeitschrift für französische Sprache und Literatur 20 (1898): 7 9 -1 6 2 , and "Eigennamen in den Lais der Marie de France," Zeitschrift für französische Sprach und Literatur 49 (1927): 2 0 1 - 5 2 , 3 8 1-4 8 4 . Ferdinand Lot, "Etudes sur la provenance du cycle arthurien," Romania 24 (1895): 4 9 7 -5 2 8 , and "La Patrie des lais bretons," Romania 28 (1899): 1-4 8 .

Notes to Chapter One 17. We should note Ménard's comment on Illingworth's researches: "La règle fort discutable forgée par Hoepffner est devenue ici une bal­ ance de précision" (p. 22). The stylistic differences are seen as "fort ténues" (ibid.). Ménard reduces Marie's debt to the Eneas to a mini­ mum, but Earl J. Richards sees more links than Hoepffner, links which are "intégrés systématiquement" by Marie (p. 55) and not confined to the first part of the lay ("Les Rapports entre le Lai de Guigemar et le Roman d ’Eneas: considérations génériques," in Le Récit bref au moyen âge, ed. D. Buschinger [Paris: Champion, 1980], pp. 4 5 -5 5 ). 18. For the influence of Marie's Prologue on Erec et Enide, see Stefan Hofer, Chrétien de Troyes: Leben und Werke des altfranzös­ ischen Epikers (Graz and Cologne: Böhlau, 1954), pp. 4 7 -4 8 . 19. G. Paris, Mélanges de littérature française du moyen âge, ed. M. Roques (Paris: Champion, 1912), p. 79. 20. J. Loth, "Le Lai du Bisclavret: le sens de ce nom et son impor­ tance," Revue Celtique 44 (1927): 30 0 -3 0 7 ; H. Zimmer, " Histoire lit­ téraire de la France, tome X X X," Göttingische Gelehrte Anzeigen 20 (1890): 8ooff.; and Th. M. Chotzen, " Bisclavret," Etudes Celtiques 2

(1937): 33-4421. H. W. Bailey, " Bisclavret in Marie de France," Cambridge Medi­ eval Celtic Studies i (1981): 9 5 -9 7 ; W. Sayers, "Bisclavret in Marie de France: a Reply," Cambridge Medieval Celtic Studies 4 (1982): 7 7 - 8 2 . See also Lot, "Etudes," p. 5i5n , the review of this article by J. Loth, Annales de Bretagne 11 (1895): 4 7 8 - 8 1 ; and Brugger, "Eigennamen," pp. 2 4 8 - 5 1 . 22. On the name Gurun (in manuscript S "Burun" or "Bruron") see Brugger, "Eigennamen," pp. 2 4 6 -4 8 , 4 3 1, 438. 23. See Brugger, "Eigennamen," pp. 4 2 0 -2 6 . On laustic as a disylla­ bic or trisyllabic form see Jean Rychner, Les Lais de Marie de France (Paris: Champion, 1966), p. 268. 24. For this suggestion see A.-L. Durdan, Le Lai des Deux-Amants, légende neustrienne de Marie de France: commentaire et adaptation (Mâcon, France: Protat Frères, 1907), p. 18. 25. Gustave Cohen, "Marie de France, le lai des Deux Amants," Mercure de France 265 (1936): 61. The story is still considered to be of sufficient interest to merit inclusion in the Guide Michelin for Nor­ mandy. Here the names Raoul and Caliste are wrongly attributed to

192

Notes to Chapter One Marie's lovers (Normandie, 3d ed. [Paris: Michelin et Cie, 1984), p. 181). 26. Maurice Delbouille, "Le Nom et le personnage d'Equitan," Le Moyen Age 69 (1963): 3 1 5 - 2 3 . Hoepffner supports Warnke's identifica­ tion with Nantes (Warnke, Die Lais, 3d ed., p. 262), seeing the form Nauns as "une forme latinisante" (Hoepffner, "La Géographie," p. 4). F. Lot thought Nauns was a mistake for Camant in Cornwall or Wales, which would make Equitan an insular poem (Lot, "Etudes," p. 526). Brugger emends Nauns to Vanes, in "Über die Bedeutung," pp. 14 2 - 4 4 (see also Brugger "Eigennamen," pp. 2 2 6 -2 8 , 240-46). 27. See Delbouille, "Le Nom,' p. 3230, who suggests that the name derives from the Latin form equitans, and Emanuel J. Mickel, Jr., "Marie de France's Use of Irony as a Stylistic and Narrative Device," Studies in Philology 7 1 (1974): 2 6 8 -70 . 28. See Paul Tuffrau who condemns Equitan as "bête et grossier," refusing to include it in his translation (Les Lais de Marie de France, transposés en français moderne [Paris: Piazza, 1923], p. viii). Hoepff­ ner castigates it as "brutal et violent" (Les Lais, p. 158). 29. J. Wathelet-Willem, "Equitan dans l'œuvre de Marie de France," Le Moyen Age 69 (1963): 325. 30. Hoepffner, "Le Lai d'Equitan," p. 294. 31. Cesare Segre, "Piramo e Tisbe nei Lai di Maria di Francia," in Studi in onore di Vittorio Lugli e Diego Valeri (Venice: Pozza, 1961), 2: 8 4 5 -5 3 - The article also points to borrowings from Ovid in Laiistic. Illingworth, "La Chronologie," pp. 4 4 9 -5 1 . J. Wathelet-Willem, "U n Lai de Marie de France: Les Deux Amants," in Mélanges offerts à Rita Lejeune (Gembloux: Duculot, 19691,2: 115 0 . For a sceptical view of the influence of other texts on Marie, see Ménard, Les Lais, pp. 3 4 -3 8 . 32. Wathelet-Willem, "Equitan,” p. 345. 33. Rupert T. Pickens, " Equitan: A n ti -Guigemar,” Romance Notes 15 (19 7 3 -7 4 ): 3 6 1 -6 7 . 34. Tuffrau finds that in Chaitivel "l'expression est embarrassée" and that it would be necessary to rewrite the text (Les Lais, p. viii). For a discussion of the difficult passage, verses 1 7 - 2 8 , see below, chap­ ter 3. 35. Mickel, Marie de France, p. 116 . On casuistry in Equitan, see Hoepffner, Les Lais, p. 155. 193

Notes to Chapter One 36. Hoepffner, Les Lais, pp. 15 0 -6 5 . See text, pp. 3 6 -4 2 . 37. Robert B. Green, "Fin ’amois dans deux lais de Marie de France: Equitan et Chaitivel," Le Moyen Age 81 (1975): 266. 38. See Samuel T. Cowling, "The Image of the Tournament in Marie de France's Le Chaitivel," Romance Notes 16 (19 7 4 -7 5 ): 6 8 6 91. Cowling sees the lady and the lovers as "basically admirable" (p. 691). For a condemnation of the lady see Mickel, Marie de France, pp. 1 1 6 - 1 7 ; and Clifford, Marie de France, pp. 3 3 - 3 4 . 39. See Salvatore Battaglia, "II mito del Licantropo nel Bisclavret di Maria di Francia," Filologia Romanza 3 (1956): 2 2 9 -5 3 . Battaglia points convincingly to the influence on Marie of Pliny's Natural History. 40. Katharine W. Le Mée, A Metrical Study of Five Lais of Marie de France (The Hague and Paris and New York: Mouton, 1978), p. 126. See also chapter 6, "Arithmetical Symmetry in Les Deus Amanz and Laiistic" (pp. 1 2 7 - 3 1 ) . 41. For an alternative view see C. A. Robson who writes: "The cen­ tral section devoted to the Salerno theme is essential to the whole structure," in "The Technique of Symmetrical Composition in Medi­ eval Narrative Poetry," in Studies in Medieval French Presented to Alfred Ewert (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1961), p. 44. Robson sees the Deus Amanz as "based on the widespread medieval theme of the jour­ ney to Salerno in search of healing" (p. 43) and as an illustration of the medieval technique of grouping structural units in fives. The Deus Amanz represents 10 groups of 24 lines (pp. 33, 44). 42. It is not impossible that after a series of five short lays, Marie deliberately composed a longer, more optimistic story to complete a group of six. It is also interesting to note the similarity of length in the case of two early pairs: Equitan, 3 14 verses, and Bisclavret, 316 verses; Chaitivel, 240 verses, and Deus Amanz, 244 verses. 43. See the comments of Muriel Davison, "Marie de France's Lai de Lanval, 3 1 - 3 8 , " The Explicator 21 (October 1962), item 12. Davison does not consider that these lines represent an autobiographical cri de cœur. For the opposite view, see Hoepffner, Les Lais, p. 50 ("Il y a dans cette réflexion mélancolique comme le résultat d'une expérience personnelle"). 44. Hoepffner (Les Lais, p. 51) talks of "rapports étroits" between Marie and the royal court which are "proved" by her references to a

194

Notes to Chapter One noble king (Prologue, vv. 4 3-4 6 ) and to a Count William (Fables, Epi­ logue, V. 9). Reto R. Bezzola is of the opinion that in view of Marie's knowledge of translations of Ovid, and of the Brut, the Thebes, the Eneas and the Tristan "nous nous trouvons évidemment au plein m i­ lieu de la cour d'Henri II et d'Aliénor," in Les Origines et la formation de la littérature courtoise en Occident (500-1200), vol. 1 (Paris: Champion, 1963), p. 305. 45. See Michèle Koubichkine, "A propos du Lai de Lanval," Le Moyen Age 78 (1972): 4 6 7 -8 8 . 46. Hoepffner, "Pour la Chronologie," pp. 3 5 3 - 5 7 and "La Géo­ graphie," pp. 1 9 -2 5 . 47. Constance Bullock-Davies, "Lanval and Avalon," The Bulletin of the Board of Celtic Studies 23 (1969): 12 8 -4 2 . See also Brugger, "Eigennamen," pp. 2 5 1 - 5 2 , and "Über die Bedeutung," pp. 1 2 1 - 2 4 . 48. Alison Adams and T. D. Hemming, “ Chèvrefeuille and the Evo­ lution of the Tristan Legend," Bibliographical Bulletin of the Interna­ tional Arthurian Society 28 (1976): 2 0 4 - 1 3 . Marie's version did not include a second Iseut or any Breton element. It also seems to have ended violently. 49. Hoepffner, "Pour la Chronologie," pp. 3 6 3 -6 4 . 50. See Elizabeth A. Francis, "The Trial in Lanval,“ in Studies in French Language and Mediaeval Literature Presented to Professor Mildred K. Pope (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1939), pp. 1 1 5 - 2 4 . Marie's legal vocabulary corresponds more to actual trials than to that used in the Roman de Thèbes. For a thorough discussion of the trial see Jean Rychner, Marie de France: Le Lai de Lanval (Gen­ eva: Droz; Paris: Minard, 1958), pp. 7 8 -8 4 . 51. See Hoepffner, "La Géographie," p. 24, and "Pour une Chro­ nologie," pp. 355, 364; and Rychner, Les Lais, pp. 2 5 7 - 5 8 . For Hoepff­ ner an active role is "bien inutilement attribué au duc de Corn­ ouailles." Marie's aim in introducing him is to "maintenir son récit dans une atmosphère de légende" ("Pour la Chronologie," p. 355). 52. See the entry "Reginald, Earl of Cornwall" in Dictionary of N a­ tional Biography (16: 865-66), also L. E. Elliott-Binns, Medieval Corn­ wall (London: Methuen, 1955), pp. 7 6 -7 8 , 1 5 6 - 5 8 ; and F. E. Halliday, A History of Cornwall (London: Duckworth, 1959), i n - 1 3 . After Reg­ inald's death the Earldom of Cornwall was merged until 118 9 with the Crown.

195

Notes to Chapter One 53. Rychner, Le Lai de Lanval, p. 81. 54. Hoepffner, "Pour la Chronologie," p. 36. Paula Clifford observes that " Lanval and Yonec have a similar thematic structure," but adds that the structure of Yonec is "more complex" (Marie de France, 56, 60). 55. On the names Yonec and Muldumarec see Brugger, "Eigen­ namen," pp. 3 8 1-4 0 3 , 4 0 3 -10 , 4SS, 4 7 8 -7 9 ; and Urban T. Holmes, Jr., "Old French Yonec," Modern Philology 29 ( 19 3 1-3 2 ) : 2 2 5 -2 9 . Holmes relates the name Yonec to a Breton formation *dihudennec "a com­ forting individual." Ewert derives it from a Breton diminutive of Iwon stemming ultimately from Celtic Esugenus, descendant of Esus, god of thunder (edition, p. 179). On the Celtic (Irish) origin of the story of Yonec, see R. N. Illingworth, "Celtic tradition and the lai of Yonec," Etudes Celtiques 9 (19 6 0 -6 1): 5 0 1-2 0 . 56. See Sienaert, Les Lais, pp. 1 2 1 - 3 0 . 57. See the entry "D ulas" in Eilert Ekwall, English River-Names (1928; reprint, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1968). Gaston Paris (Romania 8 (1979): 35) suggested that Marie's river was the Douglas in Lan­ cashire, but Ekwall cites a river Dulas (earlier Duueleis, Dyueleis ) in Herefordshire and a river Dowlas (earlier Dyueleys ) in Monmouth­ shire. We can note too that Nennius mentions a victory of Arthur near the river Dubglas, Geoffrey of Monmouth refers to the Duglas (i.e. the Douglas in Lancashire) and Wace [Brut, vv. 9049, 14051) cites the "ewe de Duglas." On Caerwent and the river Diielas see Hoepffner, "La G é­ ographie," pp. 2 7 -3 0 . 58. See Constance Bullock-Davies, "The Love-Messenger in Milun," Nottingham Mediaeval Studies 16 (1972): 24. 59. See Arthur W. Wade-Evans, Welsh Christian Origins (Oxford: Alden Press, 1934), pp. 1 1 8 - 1 9 . 60. Bullock-Davies, "The Love-Messenger," p. 26. 61. Illingworth, "La Chronologie," p. 437. 62. Urban T. Holmes, Jr., "A Welsh Motif in Marie's Guigemar," Studies in Philology 39 (1942): 14. Holmes concludes that "Marie had in mind the region from Radnorshire to the Severn when she wrote the first episode in Guigemar." 63. See Brugger, "Eigennamen," pp. 4 1 1 - 2 0 , 435, 480, and "Über die Bedeutung," pp. 1 2 5 - 2 8 . 64. Holmes, "A Welsh M otif," p. 13.

196

Notes to Chapter One 65. See J. Loth, "Des Nouvelles Théories sur l'origine des romans arthuriens," Revue Celtique 13 (1892): 481 ; and Brugger, "Eigen­ namen," pp. 2 0 2-6 , 2 1 1 - 1 2 , 230, etc. In his note to Guigemar, verse 37, Rychner writes, "Le nom de Guigemar, breton d'origine, a été porté aux Xle et XHe siècles par les vicomtes de Léon et l'on juge possible qu'une légende semblable à celle que rapporte le lai se soit attachée à l'un d'eux" (p. 240). There was a warlike Guiomar of Léon who was a contemporary of Marie herself. E. Durtelle de Saint-Sauveur reports that in 1 1 7 7 Henry II sent his son Geoffrey to Brittany to "abbatre la superbe de Guiomar de Léon" (Histoire de Bretagne des origines à nos jours [Rennes: Armor, 1975], p. 126). Guiomar did submit, to Henry, but "cette soumission pourtant n'est pas définitive, car Guiomar n'est pas de ceux qui consentent aisément à s'avouer vaincus, aussi lui re­ proche-t-on de craindre ni Dieu, ni les hommes." He was finally de­ feated by Geoffrey in 117 9 . Hoilas is presumably to be identified as Hoël. No king of Brittany bore that name but several rulers of Brittany were so named. Three personages by the name of Hoël appear in the Historia Regum Britanniae of Geoffrey of Monmouth. Holmes sug­ gested that Marie might be referring to the Welsh chieftain Howel Dda, who in the mid tenth century was virtually king of all Wales ("A Welsh Motif," p. 14). 66. Helen C. R. Laurie, "A Note on the Composition of Marie's Guigemar,” Medium Aevum 44 (1975): 2 4 2 -4 8 . 67. Note the allusion to Caerleon in the Lai du Cor: "Ceo dist Robert Bikez, / Qui mout par set d'abez. / Par le dit d'un abbé / Ad cest counte trové, / Quë issi trova l'oun / Cest corn a Karlïoun" (vv. 5 8 9 94), ed. C. T. Erickson (Oxford: Blackwell, 1973). 68. A male Mute Swan, for example, weighs over 12 kg. For this and other details concerning swans see Sylvia B. Wilmore, Swans of the World (London and Newton Abbott: David and Charles, 1974). 69. Bullock-Davies, "The Love-Messenger." I am indebted to this article for my argument concerning the swan motif in Milun. 70. Ibid., p. 24. However, I differ from Bullock-Davies, who thinks that the lady's home could well have been at Caerwent. This would give her husband jurisdiction over swan hunting rather too far from his own home. 7 1. But cf. Wace, Brut, vv. 1 4 2 5 3 - 5 4 . See Hoepffner, "La Géo­ graphie," pp. IO -II. 197

Notes to Chapter One 72. See Francis H. Cripps-Day, The History of the Tournament in England and France (London: Bernard Quaritch, 1918); and Robert C. Clephan, The Tournament, its Periods and Phases (London: Methuen, 1919). Richard I relaxed his father's law and granted licences for tour­ naments. See text pp. 9 3 -9 7 . 73. See Lucien Foulet, "English Words in the Lais of Marie de France," Modern Language Notes 20 (1905): 1 0 9 - 1 1 . 74. See McCulloch, "Length, Recitation and Meaning," pp. 260, 26 4 -6 6 (see above, note 3). 75. Totnes was an important town in the Middle Ages. It was a walled town commanding the lowest crossing of the river Dart. To this day vessels of up to 200 tons can lie at its wharves. It is mentioned frequently in the Brut of Wace. See H. R. Watkin, The History of Totnes Priory and Medieval Town, Devonshire, 2 vols (Torquay: pub­ lished by the Author, 1914). 76. Alberto Del Monte and Anna M. Raugei, Introduzione alia lettura dei Lais di Maria di Francia (Milan: Cisalpino-Goliardica, 1973), p. 2; Wilhelm Flertz, Spielmannsbuch, 4th ed. (Stuttgart and Berlin: J. G. Cotta, 1912), p. 183. 77. Elizabeth A. Francis, "Marie de France et son temps," Romania 72 (1951): 7 8 - 9 9 78. For further details see ibid., p. 87ff. 79. See R. D. Whichard, "A Note on the Identity of Marie de France," in Romance Studies Presented to William Morton Dey (Cha­ pel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1950), pp. 1 7 7 - 8 1 . 80. Urban T. Holmes, Jr., "N ew Thoughts on Marie de France," Studies in Philology 29 (1932): 1 - 1 0 . See also P. N. Flum, "Additional Thoughts on Marie de France," Romance Notes 3 (19 6 1-6 2 ): 5 3 -5 6 , and "Marie de France and the Talbot Family Connections," Romance Notes 7 (1965): 8 3-8 6 . Holmes, who returned to his identification in "Further on Marie de France," Symposium 13 (1949): 3 3 5 - 3 9 , and those who have supported him do not cite the substantial article by G. H. White, "The Career of Waleran, Count of Meulan and Earl of Worcester (110 4-6 6 )," Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, 4th ser., vol. 17 (1934): 19 -4 8 . This article gives an excellent idea of the family background of Marie de Beaumont. Her father was tall and handsome, courageous, and fundamentally loyal and honest. He be­ 198

Notes to Chapter One longed to "one of the greatest houses of the old Norman baronage" (p. 19) and seems to have written poetry and shown an interest in liter­ ature. Geoffrey of Monmouth dedicated his Historia Regum Britan­ niae to him conjointly with Robert, Earl of Gloucester (for the prob­ lem of the double dedication and for further details concerning Waleran's life, see A. Griscom, The Historia Regum Britanniae of Geoffrey of Monmouth (London and New York and Toronto: Long­ mans, Green and Co., 1929], pp. 42-98). 81. The chronology I suggest for the second group differs somewhat from the one put forward by Illingworth. M y conclusions are based on geographical, thematic and literary considerations. Studies from a number of different points of view are required to confirm or modify my chronology. Frederick Hodgson's research into the Otherworld motif in three of Marie's lays led him to suggest the order of composi­ tion I have proposed, Lanval, Yonec, Guigemar, in "Alienation and the Otherworld in Lanval, Yonec and Guigemar," Comitatus 5 (1974): 1 9 31. Also of considerable interest are the results of Rupert T. Pickens' enquiry into the temporality of Old French texts. The two primary modes of composition are the historical, in which past tenses are used to establish and sustain distance between narrator and events, and the ahistorical, in which present tenses are employed to give the audience direct access to events. The six lays which most resemble historical compositions are in the Harley order Le Fresne, Bisclavret, Deus Amanz, Laiistic, Chaitivel, and Chevrefoil. Equitan is close to this category but it has more of a dramatic quality than the others and a rather dense concentration of authorial commentary. The five lays with the greatest concentration of verbs in the historical tenses are Chaitivel, Laiistic, Deus Amanz, Chevrefoil, and Bisclavret. Le Fresne has a "compensatory historicizing trend" (p. 181) which paves the way for Milun, Eliduc, Lanval, Yonec and Guigemar in which the frequency of verbs in the historical tenses decreases from text to text and the density of diagetic content increases (Pickens, "Historical Consciousness in Old French Narrative," French Forum 4 [1979): 1 6 8 84). 82. I am not convinced by the correspondences suggested by Hofer between Marie's Prologue and that to Chrétien's Erec (see above, note 18). I know of no convincing terminus ad quern for the Lais other than

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Notes to Chapter One the death of Henry II in 118 9 . M y tentative view relies on matters such as style and content.

Chapter Two 1. In addition to those cited in the Bibliography I have used for chapters 2, 3, and 4 the editions or translations of S. Battaglia, Maria di Francia, Lais: testo, versione e introduzione (Naples: Morano, 1948); L. A. De Cuenca, Maria de Francia, Lais: edición bilingüe y prólogo (Madrid: Editora Nacional, 1975); E. Hoepffner, Marie de France, Les Lais, 2 vols (Strasbourg: Heitz, 19 21); J. Lods, Les Lais de Marie de France (Paris: Champion, 1959); E. Mason, French Medi­ aeval Romances from the Lays of Marie de France (London: Dent; New York: Dutton, 19 11); F. Neri: 1 Lai di Maria di Francia (Turin: Chiantore, 1946); D. Rieger and R. Kroll, Marie de France: Die Lais, übersetzt, mit einer Einleitung, einer Bibliographie sowie Anmerkun­ gen versehen (Munich: Wilhelm Fink, 1980); B. de Roquefort, Poésies de Marie de France, poète anglo-normand du XlIIe siècle, ou recueil de lais, fables et autres productions de cette femme célèbre, 2 vols. (Paris: Chasseriau et Hécart, 18 19 -2 0 ); and H. F. Williams, Les Lais de Marie de France (Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1970). I have also made use of Hélène Nais, ed., Index des Lais de Marie de France (Nancy: Centre de Recherches et d'Applications Linguistiques de l'Université de Nancy II, 1979). 2. Mesure in the sense of "way, fashion" is attested for the first time in the Chanson de Roland, vv. 146 and 6 31 (ed. F. Whitehead, 2d ed., [Oxford: Blackwell, 1946]). Ewert's distinction in his glossary between verse 6 13 of Lanval "in such fashion" and verse 7 of Yonec "in such degree" is unnecessary. Marie's use of the adverb mesurablement is the oldest extant example, but the adjective mesurable is attested as early as the Oxford Psalter: "Astetei mesurables posas les miens jurz, e la meie substance ensement cume nient devant tei" (ed. F. Michel [Oxford, i860], 38: 7). In the Psalter the sense is "limited," in Marie probably "with moderation." The syntax estre plus adjective plus a desmesure is common in early Old French texts, the first example being found in the Cumpoz of Philippe de Thaon (ed. I. Short [London: Anglo-Norman Text Society, 1984]), v. 1959.

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Notes to Chapter Two 3. The Fables offer one example of the expression en tel mesure (41 : 14), two of the verb mesurer "to measure" (90: 2, 5), one of the noun mesureur "surveyor" (90: 1) and two of mesure, one in the sense of "a measuring instrument (90: 3, see below, note 8) and one of "lim it" ("En sa force n'aveit mesure," 73: 34, "his power was limitless"). The Espurgatoire Seint Patriz, which provides one further example of the expressions a desmesure (v. 308) and en tel mesure (v. 655), also offers two cases of the adjective desmesurez (vv. 13 6 1, 2046) and one of the locution senz mesure (v. 1266). 4. H. F. Williams' translation is identical to that of Rychner. Hoepffner (Les Lais, p. 133) translates as: "Ceux-là mettent leur vie en non-cure (exposent follement leur vie) qui d'aimer (en amour) n'ont sens ni mesure." Jean Rychner has suggested to me in personal corre­ spondence an alternative to his published translation: "Ceux qui, à cause de l'amour, perdent sagesse et prudence." 5. John Stevens, "The granz biens of Marie de France," in Patterns of Love and Courtesy: Essays in Memory of C. S. Lewis (London: Ar­ nold, 1966), p. 17. 6. Hoepffner, "Le Lai à'Equitan," p. 297, and Les Lais, p. 155. Cf. also Aimon de Varennes, Florimont, vv. 7 8 8 3—84: "Amors n'ait mie(s) de seu cure, / Moût gardet poc sens et mesure" (ed. A. Hilka [Göttingen, 1932]). Let us note that the rhyme cure/mesure in Equitan in no way proves a reminiscence of the passage in the Eneas (vv. Ï 8 3 7 -3 8 , 8 0 17 -18 ) and Marie uses it herself in Lanval, vv. 6 1 3 - 1 4 , and Yonec, vv. 4 7 -4 8 . Cf. also Floire et Blancheflor, ed. M. Pelan, 2d ed. (Strasbourg, 1956), vv. 2 3 1 - 3 2 . 7. Les Vers de Thibaud de Marly: poème didactique du He siècle, ed. H. K. Stone (Paris: Droz, 1932). 8. Note Marie's use in the Fables of mesurer in the sense "to mea­ sure": "C i cunte d'un mesureür / Ki terre mesurot un jur. / Durement maldist la mesure; / Kar ne pot par nule aventure / Od li, ceo dist, dreit mesurer" (90: 3-7). 9. The Song of Songs: A Twelfth-Century French Version, ed. C. E. Pickford (London and New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1974). The syntax savoir mesure de aucune rien "to assess the num­ bers of, to measure the extent of" is attested in Roland, v. 1035. 10. Hoepffner, Les Lais, p. 15 1. 11. Pickens, "Equitan, anti-Guigemar." On the quality of the love

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Notes to Chapter Two see Emanuel J. Mickel, Jr., "A Reconsideration of the Lais of Marie de France," Speculum 46 (1971): 4 6 -4 8 , and Mickel, Marie de France, pp. 10 5 -7 . 12. Translations of the expression metre sa vie en noncure should stress this risk of death. An interpretation such as that of J. WatheletWillem ("Ceux-là gaspillent leur vie") is too weak (" Equitan," p. 333). Wathelet-Willem's interpretation of the expression aveir sen d ’amur as "avoir compréhension au sujet de l'amour" is, however, identical to my own. 13. In Joseph Bédier "Les Lais de Marie de France," Revue des Deux Mondes 107 (1891): 855. 14. For mesure in Yonec see Leo Spitzer, "Marie de France— Dich­ terin von Problem-Märchen," Zeitschrift für romanische Philologie 50 (1930): 3 2 - 3 3 ; Hoepffner, Les Lais, p. 74; Moshé Lazar, Amour courtois et fin’amors dans la littérature du XHe siècle (Paris: Klincksieck, 1964), p. 179; Mickel, "A Reconsideration," pp. 5 4 - 5 5 ; Mickel, Marie de France, pp. 1 1 2 - 1 3 ; and Sienaert, Les Lais, p. 126. 15. Fioepffner, Les Lais, p. 13 3. See also Ewert, edition, p. 178. 16. Lazar, Amour courtois, p. 184. Mickel, "A Reconsideration," p. 53. Domenico Fasciano, "La Mythologie du lai Les Deux Amants," Rivista di Cultura Classica e Medioevale 16 (1974): 85. 17. Hoepffner, Les Lais, p. 132. 18. Léon Clédat, "Oeuvres narratives du moyen âge: analyses et ex­ traits traduits," Revue de Philologie Française et Provençale 8 (1894): 17 9 -8 0 . 19. Stevens, "The granz biens," pp. 2 - 3 . Jeanne Lods, edition of the Lais (Paris: Champion, 1959), pp. xxv, xxvii). 20. Spitzer, "Marie de France," p. 33. Lazar, Amour courtois, p. 184. See my article "Orgueil and fierté in Twelfth-Century French," Zeit­ schrift für romanische Philologie 89 (1973): 10 3 - 2 2 , and William W. Kibler, "Roland's Pride," Symposium 26 (1972): 14 7 -6 0 . 21. Wathelet-Willem, "U n Lai de Marie de France," p. 115 2 . 22. Kristine Brightenback, "The Metamorphoses and Narrative conjointure in Deus Amanz, Yonec and Le Laüstic," Romanic Review Ti (1981): 8. The point of the Deus Amanz is seen here as the "cou­ ple's incapacity to come to terms with the arbitrary obstacles to their love."

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Notes to Chapter Three 23. The youth of the lover in the Deus Amanz is stressed through­ out: enfant (vv. 3, 10, h i , 237, 241), damisel (w. 49, 143, 168, 188), valiez (vv. 68, 117 , 159), danzeus (vv. 73, 126), de jeofne eage (v. 151). 24. J. Stevens writes: "This sense of obstacles to be overcome by loyal endurance is essential to the creation of her [Marie's] imagina­ tive world" ("The granz biens," p. 17). 25. Willem Noomen, "Le Lai des Deus Amanz de Marie de France: contribution pour une description," in Etudes de langue et de lit­ térature du moyen âge offertes à Félix Lecoy (Paris: Champion, 1973), P- 4 7 7 26. The phrase is Jean-Charles Payen's, in Le Motif du repentir dans la littérature française médiévale (Geneva: Droz, 1967), p. 320. Cf. Bartina H. Wind: "Dans les Deus Amanz la démesure a un aspect trop touchant pour que les conceptions courtoises, toujours un peu céré­ brales, puissent entrer en jeu," in "L'Idéologie courtoise dans les Lais de Marie de France," in Mélanges de linguistique romane et de phi­ lologie médiévale offerts à M. Maurice Delbouille, 2 vols (Gembloux: Duculot, 1964), 2: 743. 27. Pierre Jonin, "Le Je de Marie de France dans les Lais,” Romania 103 (1982): 188. 28. Jacques Ribard, "Le Lai des Deux Amants: essai d'interpréta­ tion thématique," in Mélanges de langue et littérature françaises du moyen-âge offerts à Pierre Jonin (Aix-en-Provence: Publications du CU ER M A; Paris: Champion, 1979), p. 589.

Chapter Three 1. For editions and translations not cited in the Bibliography, see chapter 2, note 1. 2. G. Paris, Review of Wamke i, Romania 14 (1885): 601. 3. D. Poirion has studied the theme of death in the Lais. He con­ cludes that most of the occurrences of the terms mort and morir are found in hyperbolic expressions aimed at conveying desire or distress. He adds that "C es invocations insincères et insignifiantes à la mort tracent un contour affectif à l'intérieur duquel se devine l'inlassable question concernant les rapports de l'amour et de la mort," in "La

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Notes to Chapter Three Mort et la merveille chez Marie de France," in Death in the Middle Ages, ed. H. Braet and W. Verbeke (Leuven: Leuven University Press, 1 9 8 3 )/ P- 20 5- Ghislaine Farout has examined our passage from Chaitivel and concludes that the lady has two possibilities, amer and tuer, but no real choice. The lady herself is seen as ambiguous, and as a "dispensatrice d'amour et de mort," in "D u Chaitivel ou des Quatre Dois," Médiévales 3 (1983): 80. 4. A. J. Greimas, Dictionnaire de l ’ancien français, cites the Eneas as the first text to provide an example of tuer. But there are examples in the Anglo-Norman Voyage of St. Brendan (ed. I. Short and B. Merrilees [Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1979])/ vv. 12 9 1, 1298, where the meaning is clearly "to kill" (one reference is to Christ's death on the cross, the other to the suicide of Judas). L. Foulet in his glossary to the Continuations of the Old French Perceval of Chrétien de Troyes (Philadelphia: The American Philosophical Soci­ ety, 195 s), vol. 3, pt. 2, gives only "frapper, assommer" for the five cases he cites. See in particular manuscript T, v. 9 3 3 1 ("Por qu'avez mon sergant tüé?") which picks up v. 9301 ("Avant ala por lui ferir"). For a general study of the verb tuer see B. Foster, "The Semantic History of tuer," in Essays Presented to C. M. Girdlestone (Durham: University of Durham, Kings' College, i960), pp. 1 0 9 - 2 1 . 5. J. Linskill, ed., The Poems of the Troubadour Raimbaut de Vaqueiras (The Flague: Mouton, 1964), p. 193, w . 4 4 -4 6 . 6. Paris, Review of Wamke 1, p. 601. 7. Alison Adams, "The Metaphor of Folie in Thomas' Tristan," Forum for Modern Language Studies 17 (1981): 88. 8. Chrétien de Troyes, Yvain [Le Chevalier au lion), ed. T. B. W. Reid (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1942), w . 2 4 56 -6 0 . 9. C. Storey, ed., La Vie de saint Alexis (Paris: Minard; Geneva: Droz, 1968), w . 505, 622. 10. Jean Frappier, "Une Edition nouvelle des Lais de Marie de France," Romance Philology 22 (1968-69): 609. 1 1 . In the feu d ’A dam, v. 801 ("Toi covendra manger ton pan," ed. W. Noomen [Paris: Champion, 1971]), the form pan, rhyming with hahan, clearly means "bread" (Noomen, p. 6, suggests it is an Occitanism). See also the Passion du Christ, v. 93 ("Et per lo pan et per lo vin") and v. 97 ("De pan e vin sanctificat," ed. D'Arco Silvio Avalle, in

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Notes to Chapter Three Cultura e lingua francese delle origini nella Passion di Clermont-Fer­ rand, [Milan and Naples: Riccardo Ricciardi, 1962], p. 102), and the Romance of Horn (ed. M. K. Pope and T. B. W. Reid [Oxford: Blackwell, A.N.T.S., 1955]), vv. 7 1 -9 0 , 14 0 8 -2 6 , 3 3 1 8 - 4 2 , where words from -anum are found rhyming with /àn/ rather than /âin/ (see vol. 2, [Oxford, 1964], revised and completed by T. B.W. Reid, pp. 36, 3 8 -3 9 , where the suggestion is made that this phenomenon stems from "clerkly" influence (p. 39) and/or Southwestern dialectal influence). I. Short (personal correspondence) hesitates to accept pan in the feu d ’A dam as an Anglo-Norman feature and suggests that it could have been a semi-learned alternative to pain, which would fit in with its use in the Adam as a convenient rhyme, but not in Chaitivel, where the word is internal. If pan does mean "bread" de would probably have to be a partitive and un fol a concealed dative. On the connection between fools and bread cf. Psalm 53 (Authorized Version): "The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God . . . who eat up my people as they eat bread." But see R. A. Neale, "The Fool and his Loaf," Medium Aevum 54 (1985): 10 4 -9 . 12. A. Tobler, Review of Warnke 1, Zeitschrift für romanische Phi­ lologie 10 (1886): 166. 13. G. Cohn, Review of Warnke 2, Zeitschrift für französische Sprache und Literatur 24 (1902): 40. 14. A similar switch of subject takes place in vv. 2 9 - 3 1 : "La dame dunt jo voil cunter, / Ki tant fu requise d'amer / Pur sa beauté, pur sa valur, / S ’en entremistrent nuit et jur." Several editors (e.g. Warnke 3, Neri, Lods) emend unnecessarily to entremist. See Rychner, p. 274, and Cohn, p. 43. Note that in vv. 1 7 - 1 8 the object pronouns lack a plural noun as antecedent. 15. Pope and Reid, Romance of Horn, 2 :8 7 -8 8 . 16. Karl Wamke, ed., Das Buch vom Espurgatoire S. Patrice der Marie de France und seine Quelle (Halle: Niemeyer, 1938), vv. 1707, 210 2. A. J. Holden in his edition of Hue de Rotelande's Ipomedon (Paris: Klincksieck, 1979) points out the difficulty of distinguishing between an eire and a veire "without doubt, in truth" (p. 540). 17. Philippe Ménard, "Les Fous dans la société médiévale: le tém­ oignage de la littérature au Xlle et au XHIe siècle," Romania 98 (1977): 4 5 1/ 4 4 4 -

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Notes to Chapter Three 1 8. J. Morawski, Proverbes français antérieurs au XVe siècle (Paris: Champion, 1925), no. 987. 19. K. Appel, ed., Provenzalische Chrestomathie, 6th ed. (Leipzig: Reisland, 1930). 20. See the entry "subtus" in the Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch (FEW), vol. 3, which cites the meaning "sous les ordres de." 2 1. Auberee, ed. G. Ebeling (Halle: E. Karras, 1895). There are sev­ eral variants for this phrase and other editors read tot a pois (T. B. W. Reid, B. J. Levy) or a double pois (R. L. H. Lops in Nouveau Recueil Complet des Fabliaux [Assen: Van Gorcum, 1983] 1: 303). For the ex­ pression desor son pois see Tobler-Lommatzsch, 2: 1666, and 7: 2 1 3 7 38. 22. The full quotation reads, "Qu'amors es bona voluntatz, / Plazers, affectios de be" (w. 2 9 4 -9 5, ed. P- T. Ricketts, Le Breviari d ’A mor de Matfre Ermengaud, vol. 2, forthcoming). See also w . 579-60 0 . Marie uses the substantive volenté 10 times in the Lais, the verb voleir 145 times. On the concept of volition see Denise McClelland, Le Vocabulaire des Lais de Marie de France (Ottawa: Editions de l'U ni­ versité d'Ottawa, 1977), pp. 5 4 -5 5 . 23. On the literal and figurative use of the wound in Marie's think­ ing about love see below, p. 2 16 (n.7). For further discussion of the semantic and thematic issues raised by Chaitivel, see chapter seven.

Chapter Four 1 . The queen sees the stick when looking "tut un pendant" (v. 80). Ewert (Marie de France, p. i84n) interprets this as "along an incline sloping away from the road" and Rychner (Les Lais, glossary) as "la pente à côté du chemin." It may be more likely that Tristram would place the stick directly ahead of the convoy, on an incline in the road. Manuscript 5 reads un poi avant and Wamke adopts this reading for his editions. 2. For the critical opinions alluded to here, see m y Marie de France: an Analytical Bibliography (London: Grant and Cutler, 1977), items 1 17, 126, 146, 185, 190, 210, 289, 322, 330, 403, 424 and 446, and

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Notes to Chapter Four Supplement no. i (1986), items 568, 600, 607, 638, 659, 662, 691, 7 1 1 . (See also note 5 below.) 3. Jean Frappier, Les Romans courtois (Paris: Classiques Larousse,

1943)4. Brian Woledge, The Penguin Book of French Verse, vol. 1 (Lon­ don: Penguin Books, 1961). 5. One scholar who does make a slight break at the end of verse 61 is R. Dubuis. He interprets que as "à savoir que," but summe with Frappier as 'l'essentiel, l'essence, le sens": "Tel fut le sens de ce qu'il avait écrit, à savoir que," in "Plaidoyer pour une lecture globale du lai du Chèvrefeuille," Le Moyen Age 87 (1981): 3 4 1 —7 1. In Dubuis' opin­ ion Tristram wrote merely his name on the stick, but this was the way he transmitted his message to the queen: "Il lui avait, de la sorte, transmis un message pour lui dire qu'il était là . . ." (p. 363). 6. There is no clear-cut distinction between the meanings "es­ sence" and "totality" for the term summe. Jean Frappier, in his review of Rychner's edition, translates as "l'essence et la totalité du message" ("une Edition nouvelle," p. 612). 7. In support of the traditional interpretation one could cite the Prologue to the Fables, w . 3 8 -4 0 : "C i comencerai la premiere / Des fables qu'Esopes escrist, / Qu'a sun mestre manda e dist." Warnke glosses mander here as "kund thun," Alfred Ewert and Ronald C. Johnston (Marie de France: Fables, [Oxford: Blackwell, 1942]) as "to proclaim" (see also Prologue, vv. 12-20 ). For the syntax mander aucune rien a aucun (e.g. Laüstic, v. 134, "L'aventure manderai"), see Tobler-Lommatzsch, 5: 10 3 4 -3 6 . 8. Paul Verhuyck has made the plausible suggestion that sun nun in verse 54 should be translated as "her [the queen's] name." If reine in verse 50 were not emended to rute, this would provide a fairly adjacent antecedent. Such an interpretation would not conflict with my view of verse 6 iff., and logic indicates that Iseut's name would be less com­ promising to Tristram, should the stick be discovered. But the pres­ ence in verse 54 ("De sun cutel escrit sun nun") of a clear allusion to his knife suggests that we should interpret sun nun as "his name." See "Marie de France, le chèvrefeuille et le coudrier," in Mélanges . . . f. R. Smeets (Leiden, 1982), pp. 3 1 7 - 2 6 .

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Notes to Chapter Four 9. G. Cohn, Review of Wamke 2, Zeitschrift für französische Sprache und Literatur 24, no. 2 (1902): 1 5 . 1 cannot agree with Wamke who adopts in his third edition Cohn's further point that in verse 11 0 ("Si cum la reine l'ot dit") la reine is the indirect object of dire, "as Tristram told the queen."

Chapter Five 1. The Index des Lais de Marie de France lists 125 occurrences of cheval{i)er and does not include the example in Milun, v. 392, rejected by J. Rychner, on whose edition the Index is based. 2. The term vassal is found in Lanval (vv. 3, 363, 437, 514, 615), Guigemar (v. 107, in direct address to him by the wounded hind) and Milun (v. 434, with reference to Milun's son). In Lanval four references are to Lanval (w. 3, 363, 437, 615) and one to Arthur's vassals (v. 514). There is a tinge of irony in the application of the term to Lanval. Arthur has abnegated his responsibilities to protect and maintain a good vassal. See verses 4 6 3 -6 4 ("Que s'amie face venir / Pur lui tencer et garentir") and Marie's wry comment in verse 154: "Ore est Lanval bien herbergez" (also v. 140). 3. There are twenty-three cases of ber/baron in the Lais. Favoured characters are so designated (Guigemar, v. 70; Guigemar's father, v. 29; Bisclavret, v. 15; the lover in Laüstic, v. 1 1 ; Eliduc, v. 124), as are those less highly regarded (the husband in Laüstic, v. 1 1 ; the girl's father and her husband in Milun, vv. 21, 493). On one occasion the term means "husband" (Milun, v. 126). The Bretons are described as "noble barun" (Equitan, v. 1), the only example with a qualifying adjective. Barun here has little more than its original sense of "m an." The most fre­ quent use of ber/baron in the Lais is as a general designation for the members of a king's or lord's council who give advice or act as judges (Guigemar, v. 657; Bisclavret, vv. 187, 2 13 , 296; Lanval, w . 330, 395, 416, 426, 499, 542, 624; Chevrefoil, v. 38). These barons can be apelez (Lanval, v. 330), bani (Chevrefoil, v. 38), mandez (Bisclavret, v. 187; Lanval, v. 542), or menez (Bisclavret, v. 296). In this usage the pos­ sessive adjective sun/ses is found (Guigemar, v. 657; Lanval, w . 330, 499, 542) or the plural definite article (Bisclavret, vv. 187, 2 1 3 ; Lanval, w . 395, 416, 426; Chevrefoil, v. 38). In Milun the term refers to no­

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Notes to Chapter Five blemen of considerable wealth and power (vv. 21, 493) and in Lanval to Arthur's men excluding those who are counts ("Asez i duna riches duns: / E as euntes e as baruns," vv. 1 3 -14 ) . Only two individuals in the Lais are specifically designated as counts, the "quoens de Cornwaille" [Lanval, v. 433) and the young man's father in the Deus Amanz (v. 50). See also Lanval, w . 1 1 4 and 556. The seneschal in Equitan is described as a produm (v. 277), as is the king's adviser in Bisclavret (v. 281), the neighbour of Le Fresne's parents (v. 32), Le Fresne's father (v. 332) and the porter at the abbey (v. 196). The term seems to cover any individual of good will capable of performing effec­ tively and honorably the role assigned to him. See also Le Fresne, w . 1 1 5 , 346, 37 1, and Deus Amanz, v. 152. 4. The distinction between the designation chevalier and a term such as damisel is not absolute. In the Lai de l ’Espine, for example, the hero is called a damoisel (vv. 327, 399, 427, 444) as well as a chevalier (vv. 220, 228, 276, 288, 297, 487) after being dubbed. 5. There is no sign of a religious element or of elaborate ceremony in the process of dubbing. See Maurice Keen, Chivalry (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1984), pp. 6 4 -8 2 . 6. D. W. Robertson, Jr., thinks that the "idea of chivalry" in verse 16 has "much the same ironic implication that it has in the Lai dou Lecheor," i.e. that all chivalric action is governed "par l'entente du con" (Lecheor, v. 90, in Prudence M. O. Tobin, ed., Les Lais anonymes des Xlle et XlIIe siècles [Geneva: Droz, 1976]). See "Love Conventions in Marie's Equitan," Romanic Review 44 (1953): 243 (reprinted in Es­ says in Medieval Culture [Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1980], pp. 202-6). But, although the king was aware of the erotic over­ tones of chivalry, his excellent reputation indicates that his status as chevalier remained intact and should not be regarded as ironic. Note that Hanning-Ferrante translate chevalerie in v. 16 as "a body of knights." 7. See my article "Social Status in the Lais of Marie de France," in The Spirit of the Court: Selected Proceedings of the Fourth Congress of the International Courtly Literature Society (Toronto, 1983), ed. G. S. Burgess and R. W. Taylor (Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 1985), pp. 7 0 7 1, and Pierre Jonin, "Le Roi dans les Lais de Marie de France: l'homme sous le personnage," in Essays in Early French Literature Presented to Barbara M. Craig (York, South Carolina: French Liter-

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Notes to Chapter Five attire Publications Company, 1982), pp. 2 5 - 4 1 . Jonin studies ten kings and divides them into two categories, principal characters (Equitan, the king in Bisclavret, the father in the Deus Amanz, Muldumarec in Yonec) and secondary characters (Hoilas and the husband in Guigemar, Eliduc's two lords, Arthur in Lanval, and Mark in Chevrefoil). 8. If regne in Yonec, verse 460, is equated with pais in verse 14, it too could be translated as “ country." In the fable "D es oiseaus e del cuccu" (Ewert and Johnston, Fables, no. 25), the term régné designates the territory of a “ prince": “ Prince se deit bien resposer, / Ne s(e) deit mie trop deliter, / Lui ne sun régné aviler / Ne la povre gent eissilier" (vv. 65-68). Prince is certainly no more than a general term for "ruler" (see Milun, v. 20). 9. W. T. H. Jackson expresses the view that Arthur's court is “ little better than a barnyard" ("The Arthuricity of Marie de France," Ro­ manic Review 30 [1979]: 12). 10. See Tony Hunt, "The Emergence of the Knight in France and England 10 0 0 -12 0 0 ," Forum for Modern Language Studies 17 (1981): 9 5 -9 6 . Some of Marie's protagonists possess a chastel: the lord of the antive cité, Meriaduc, and his adversary in Guigemar; the seneschal in Equitan; Bisclavret's royal protector, Gurun, in Le Fresne-, Muldu­ marec in Yonec; the amie's husband in Milun; and the two kings in Eliduc. Only kings have a curt, considered as a building (Guigemar, v. 49; Lanval, v. 636; Deus Amanz, v. 53,- Eliduc, vv. 45, 1000), as a legal entity (Equitan, v. 195; Lanval, vv. 327, 354, etc.), or as a gathering of vassals (tenir une curt: Bisclavret, v. 186; Chevrefoil, v. 40). 11. See J. Flori, “ Qu'est-ce qu'un bachelerl Etude historique de vo­ cabulaire dans les chansons de geste du Xlle siècle," Romania 96 (1975): 2 8 9 -3 1 4 . 12. For a discussion of the office of avoué see pp. 10 8 -9 . 13. On the term hoge, see McClelland, Le Vocabulaire des Lais, pp. 4 4 -4 5 . Ewert glosses hoge as "height," Rychner as "colline, hauteur," but the sense may be "dolmen, cromlech." See Gaimar, Estoire des Engleis, vv. 3144, 314 7 , where the term hoge is glossed by A. Bell as "burial mound" (Oxford: Blackwell, i960; New York: Johnson Reprint Corporation, 1971). In the case of Yonec, vv. 346, 347, 450, manuscript S has cave. 14. The verb vengier occurs five times in the Lais: Le Fresne, v. 68, Bisclavret, vv. 210, 234, Yonec, vv. 3 3 1, 544. Vengeance is certainly a

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Notes to Chapter Five concept of which Marie approves: "Oiez cum il est bien vengiez!" (Bisclavret, v. 234). Yonec's name is linked to vengeance: "Yonec numer le f[e]rat, / Il vengerat [e] lui e li" (vv. 3 3 0 -3 1). 15. Sienaert, Les Lais, pp. 14 2 -4 4 . 16. Hunt, "The Emergence of the Knight," p. 94. For Marie's use of the term noble see text, pp. 1 1 3 - 1 4 . 17. Sienaert, Les Lais, p. 143. See also Burgess, "Social Status" pp. 7 6 -7 7 . 18. Milun's son will now become legitimate and can inherit his fa­ ther's estate. 19. For the etymology and implications of the terms proz and hardi see T. Venckeleer, Rollant li proz: contribution à l'histoire de quelques qualifications laudatives en français du moyen âge (Paris: Champion, 1975), pp. 3 5 6 - 9 1 , 2 9 3 - 3 1 7 . Venckeleer stresses that as the form hardi derives from the Germanic verb *hardjan, "on s'attend naturellement à ce qu'il sanctionne une formation préalablement vécue" (p. 293). With reference to the pair of adjectives proz and hardi, he is of the opinion that they emphasize two complementary charac­ teristics in the perfect knight and adds: "Doublant le savoir-faire m ili­ taire d'une conscience éthique remarquable, l'ensemble constitue de fait un idéal plus complet" (p. 299). 20. See my " Orgueil and fierté in Twelfth-Century French," and Venckeleer, Rollant li proz, pp. 2 1 1 - 3 2 . 2 1. Concerning the passage in Beroul R. H. Bloch points out that the barons do not owe Mark unqualified obedience. If he did not ac­ cept their advice, thus abrogating a contractual agreement, the barons had the right to declare war on him. See "Tristan, the Myth of the State and the Language of the Self," Yale French Studies 51 (1974): 68. 22. Yorio Otaka, "Vocabulaire du combat dans les Lais de Marie de France," in VIII Congreso de la Société Rencesvals (Pamplona: Institución Principe de Viana, 1981), p. 370. 23. Jean Larmat, "La Chasse dans les Lais de Marie de France," in La Chasse au moyen âge: actes du colloque du Centre d ’Etudes Médi­ évales de Nice (Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 1980), p. 380. 24. See J. and F. Gies, Life in a Medieval Castle (London: AbelardSchuman, 1975), p. 128. 25. Marcelle Thiébaux, The Stag of Love: the Chase in Medieval Literature (Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 1974), p. 58.

211

Notes to Chapter Five On the technique of hunting, see especially pp. 2 8 -4 0 , and "Hunting as a Way of Life," in J. and F. Gies, Life in a Medieval Castle, pp. 1 2 5 46. 26. For the motif of riveier, see the Lai de l ’Espine, v. 7 1, Doon, v. 194, Tobler-Lommatzsch, 8, col. 13 3 7 , and J. and F. Gies, who explain that the hounds raised the ducks, then the hawk, trained to circle above the falconer's head, dived to strike them in the air (Life in a Medieval Castle, p. 133). 27. Larmat, "La Chasse," p. 382. 28. See chapter 1, note 27. 29. Jacques Ribard, "Le Lai de Lanval: essai d'interprétation poly­ sémique," in Mélanges . . . Jeanne Wathelet-Willem (Liège: Marche Romane, 1978), p. 532. 30. See Alice Kemp-Welch, Of Six Mediaeval Women (London: Macmillan, 1913), p. 53: "The weasel uses vervain as a preservative against snake-bites, and this idea of its effect might easily have been extended to include death." See also A. de Gubernatis, Mythologie des plantes ou les légendes du règne végétal, 2 vols. (Paris: C. Reinwald, 1878), vol. 2, pp. 3 6 7 -6 9 : "On attribuait surtout des propriétés mer­ veilleuses à la Verbena herculea. On la considérait comme une herbe pure et purificatrice, qui exigeait la chasteté" (p. 368). 31. J. E. Cirlot, A Dictionary of Symbols, trans. J. Sage, 2d ed. (New York: Philosophical Library, 1971), p. n o . 32. See Ann T. Harrison, "Marie de France as Naturalist," Romance Notes 21 (19 8 0 -8 1): 2 4 8 -5 3 . The lays Le Fresne, Bisclavret, Laiistic, and Chevrefoil owe their titles to the world of nature and Yonec's fa­ ther is a hawk-knight. 33. Richard Barber, The Knight and Chivalry (London: Cardinal, 1974), 174. See also on tournaments Keen, Chivalry, pp. 8 3 - 1 0 1 . 34. R. W. Southern, Medieval Humanism and Other Studies (Ox­ ford: Blackwell, 1970), p. 143. 35. Barber, The Knight and Chivalry, p. 162. See also Keen, Chivalry, p. 85, who writes: "Custom s quickly developed as to which side knights from a given area or 'march' should join." 36. Otaka writes: "Marie n'aurait pas vu de vraies guerres, mais seulement des tournois" ("Vocabulaire du combat," p. 373). 37. P. Le Gentil, La littérature française du moyen âge, 4th ed. (Paris: Colin, 1972), p. 84.

212

Notes to Chapter Six 38. On the question of loyalty in Eliduc see Jacques Ribard, "Le Lai d ’Eliduc: étude thématique," in Mélanges . . . Charles Foulon (Rennes: Université de Haute-Bretagne, 1980), i: 2 9 5 -9 9 . See text, pp. 147 - 4 9 -

Chapter Six 1. The term dameisele occurs thirty-six times in the Lais, pucele forty-four times. The third frequently used word for a young, unmar­ ried girl is meschine (thirty-four examples). See McClelland who sug­ gests that the term pucele "implique la notion de virginité" (but note its use for the fairy in Lanval), whereas meschine does not. Dameisele is richer in "connotations sociales" [Le Vocabulaire des Lais, p. 42). 2. See p. 23. 3. Similarly Eliduc "aveit la tere a garder" (v. 34) when the king was away. But Eliduc had no formal judicial responsibilities. There is cer­ tainly nothing extraordinary in the functions Marie attributes to the seneschal in Equitan. S. Scoones tells us that seneschals "jugent, ad­ ministrent, perçoivent les revenus, et, en somme, représentent le roi ou le grand seigneur dans la plénitude de ses pouvoirs, notamment dans ses droits de haute justice," in Les Noms de quelques officiers féodaux des origines à la fin du XHe siècle (Paris: Klincksieck, 1976), p. 70. 4. "La reine s'en curuçot, / Que trop lungement jeünot" (vv. 545 — 56, ed. Rychner). For verse 546 Ewert reads, "Que si lunges les atendeit." 5. See the entry "advocatus" in J. F. Niemeyer, Mediae latinitatis: lexicon minus (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1976); and A. Blaise, Lexicon lati­ nitatis medii aevi (Tumhout: Brepols, 1975). 6. McClelland, Le Vocabulaire des Lais, pp. 89-90. 7. Joseph R. Strayer, Dictionary of the Middle Ages (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1982), 1: 59. See also Scoones, Noms de quelques officiers, pp. 12 9 -4 6 , especially p. 14 1. 8. On these lines see Lucie Polak, "Two lines from Marie de France's Laiistic," French Studies 34 (1980): 2 5 7 - 5 8 . Polak sees the notion of holding oneself dear as a courtly virtue akin to mesure and cortoisie. 9. Three scholars have recently argued that the description of the fairy represents a deviation from or deliberate reversal of the conven­

213

Notes to Chapter Six tional descriptions of feminine beauty: Jackson, "The Arthuricity of Marie de France," p. 15; Elizabeth W. Poe, "Love in the Afternoon: Courtly Play in the Lai de Lanval," Neuphilologische Mitteilungen 84 (1983): 305; Joanne A. Rice, "Conventional and Unconventional Char­ acter Description in the Lais of Marie de France," Neuphilologische Mitteilungen 85 (1984): 34 9 -5 0 . I am not convinced that there is any deliberate distortion, but certainly we note that the order (body, eyes, face, mouth, nose) is found in both Equitan and Lanval. 10. On Marie's use in Lanval of the verbs départir and esgarder, see Poe, "Love in the Afternoon," p. 308, and Rychner, Le Lai de Lanval, p. 83. 1 1 . For further discussion of Guigemar, vv. 4 9 1 - 9 2 , see pp. 170, 183. 12. Jean-Charles Payen, Le Lai nanatif (Tumhout: Brepols, 1975), p. 63. 13. For a full discussion of the question of social standing see my article, "Social Status in the Lais of Marie de France." 14. Monique Santucci has recently written: "Cette reine apparaît comme une femme active, décidée, rusée même, prenant en main la situation," in "Derechef, le lai de Chèvrefeuille: rêve merveilleux et parole d'espoir," L’Information Littéraire 31 (1979): 58.

Chapter Seven i. The theme of love between man and woman looms so large in the Lais that numerous studies have been devoted to it. Of particular interest are: Camilla Conigliani, "L'amore e l'avventura nei Lais di Maria di Francia," Archivum Romanicum 2 (1918): 2 8 1 - 9 5 ; Jacques De Caluwé, "La Conception de l'amour dans le lai à'Eliduc de Marie de France," Le Moyen Age 77 (1971): 5 3 - 7 7 ; J- De Caluwé and Jeanne Wathelet-Willem, "La Conception de l'amour dans les Lais de Marie de France: quelques aspects du problème," in Mélanges . . . Pierre fonin, pp. 1 4 1 - 5 8 ; Green, "Fin’ amors dans deux lais," pp. 2 6 5 -7 2 ; McClelland, Le Vocabulaire des Lais, pp. 6 1 - 6 7 ; Ménard, Les Lais de Marie de France, pp. 10 0 -5 0 ; Mickel, "A Reconsideration of the Lais," and Marie de France, pp. 9 9 - 1 2 1 ; Emil Schiôtt, L’A mour et les amoureux dans les Lais de Marie de France (Lund, 1889): Spitzer,

214

Notes to Chapter Seven "Marie de France: Dichterin von Problem-Märchen"; Wind, "L'Idé­ ologie courtoise," 2: 7 4 1 -4 8 . No attempt is made in the following pages to trace the source of Marie's love vocabulary or to compare it with usage in other texts. See my Contribution à l ’étude du vo­ cabulaire pré-courtois (Geneva: Droz, 1970), pp. 1 4 1 - 5 8 ; R. Jones, The Theme of Love in the romans d ’antiquité (London: Modem Human­ ities Research Association, 1972), pp. 7 1 - 7 6 ; Lazar, Amour courtois, especially pp. 17 4 -9 8 . 2. See on this passage Herman Braet, "Note sur Marie de France et Ovide (Lai de Guigemar, vv. 2 3 3 -2 4 4 )," in Mélanges . . . Jeanne Wathelet-Willem (Liège: Marche Romane, 1978), pp. 2 1 - 2 5 ; and Rob­ ert W. Hanning, "Courtly Contexts for Urban cultus: Responses to Ovid in Chrétien's Cligès and Marie's Guigemar," Symposium 35 (19 8 1-8 2 ): 3 4 -5 6 . For Braet the painting may be deliberately ambigu­ ous and the book could be the Remedia Amoris or the Ars Amatoria, but Hanning argues that Marie is referring to the whole Ovidian sys­ tem of love and that in general her interpretation of love is antiOvidian. 3. For a wider discussion of this question see m y "Social Status." 4. See Philippe Ménard, "La Déclaration amoureuse dans la lit­ térature arthurienne au Xlle siècle," Cahiers de Civilisation Médi­ évale 13 (1970): 3 3 -4 2 , especially pp. 3 5 - 3 8 . There are declarations of love by men in seven lays: Guigemar, vv. 5 0 1-6 , 5 1 3 - 2 6 ; Equitan, w . 1 1 4 - 1 6 , 1 5 0 -7 6 ; Gurun in Le Fresne, w . 2 7 3 - 7 4 ; the chevalier in Bisclavret, w . 10 5 -6 ; the count's son in the Deus Amanz, w . 5 6 -5 8 ; Muldumarec in Yonec, w . 1 2 1 - 3 4 ; the bacheier in Laüstic, v. 24,- the lovers in Chaitivel, v. 61 (see also vv. 16 and 30). But women too are not afraid to declare their love for a man, albeit, in the case of Bisclavret's wife, Milun's beloved, and initially Eliduc's Guilliadun, through the agency of a messenger: Bisclavret, w . 1 1 1 - 1 6 ; Lanval, vv. 1 1 0 - 1 6 , 2 6 3 -6 8 ; Milun, w . 2 7 -2 8 ; Eliduc, vv. 2 7 5 -8 0 , 4 0 2 -7 , 5 0 8 - 1 7 . The act of declaring one's love is conveyed by the expression descovrir sun talent/sun curage (Guigemar, v. 500; Equitan, v. 1 1 3 ; Bisclavret, v. n o ) or mustrer sun curage (Lanval, v. 262), and the verbs apeler (Lan­ val, v. 108), areisuner (Deus Amanz, v. 56; Yonec, v. 120), preier (Le Fresne, v. 273; Bisclavret, v. 105; Laüstic, v. 24; Chaitivel, v. 61) and requeue (Guigemar, v. 505; Bisclavret, v. 105; Lanval, v. 3 1 7 ; Laüstic, v. 24; Chaitivel, (w. 16, 30). For further discussion see pp. 16 8 -7 0 .

215

Notes to Chapter Seven 5. M. Lazar, Amour courtois, p. 196; E. Hoepffner, Les Lais, p. 158. 6. See McCulloch, "Length, Recitation and Meaning." 7. The term plaie is used nine times in Guigemar (eight times with reference to the hero's physical wound, vv. 11 3 , 127, 140, 189, 198, 370, 383, 609, and once relating to the wound occasioned in any indi­ vidual by love, v. 483). The verb nafrer, used five times, refers to the wound suffered by the hind (vv. 103, 107, 608) and by Guigemar (v. 319). In verse 381 Guigemar is said to be nafré by the lady. Guigemar is also described as blescié by the arrow which rebounds on him (v. 123), the only example of blescier in the Lais. For plaie see Equitan, v. 56 (the wound of love), and Yonec, vv. 317 , 334 (Muldumarec's wound caused by the broches)-, and for nafrer see Yonec, v. 3 13 (Muldumarec's wound); Chaitivel, w . 122, 127, 159, 162, 175, 199 (all with reference to the wounding of the four suitors, especially the survivor). 8. See Rupert T. Pickens, "Thematic Structure in Marie de France's Guigemar," Romania 95 (1974): 3 3 1. 9. For example all seven of the occurrences of the adjective fin in the Chanson de Roland are linked to the term or (vv. 652, 1245, 1583, 2033, 2 128 , 3353, 3493). Four of the five examples in Erec et Enide relate to gold (vv. 2325, 2356, 5300, 6776) and the fifth to ivory (v. 6663), in Chrétien de Troyes, Erec et Enide, ed. M. Roques (Paris: Champion, 1952). 10. Cirlot, Dictionary of Symbols, pp. 1 1 9 - 2 0 . 1 1 . On this expression see Omer Jodogne, "La 'conversion' dans le lai d 'Eliduc," in Mélanges . . . Pierre fonin, pp. 3 4 9 -5 4 . The verb se convertir is correctly interpreted here as "to turn towards." 12. "The idea of fealty . . . was the obligation of being faithful, and this fidelity was to be shown by abstaining from any act which might constitute a danger to the lord; it was therefore in the first place an obligation of non facere" (F. L. Ganshof, Feudalism, trans. P. Grierson, 3d ed. [New York and Evanston: Harper and Row, 1961], p. 84). 13. For the complex symbolic associations of the swan see Cirlot, Dictionary of Symbols, p. 322, and A. De Vries, Dictionary of Symbols and Imagery (Amsterdam and London: North Holland Publishing Co., 1974), pp. 4 5 0 - 5 1 . On the habits of swans consult Wilmore, Swans of the World. 14. The notion of service is also expressed by means of the verb aidier and the substantive aie. For feudal service see Guigemar, w .

216

Notes to Chapter Seven 752, 867; Bisclavret, v. 189; Eliduc, vv. 114 , 197, 569, 742. For more general contexts, often connected with love, see Guigemar, vv. 289, 363, 457, 462; Equitan, v. 236; Lanval, v. 292; Deus Amanz, v. 166; Milun, v. 184; Chaitivel, v. 109. In the case of Le Fresne, v. 31, and Eliduc, v. 824, the context is religious. 15. Guigemar is described by Meriaduc as a man of "grant pris" (v. 728) and the same expression is used for Equitan (v. 13), the husband in Milun (v. 128) and the lovers in Chaitivel (v. 39). Guigemar (v. 51), Milun (v. 124) and Milun's son (v. 338, cf. v. 3 1 1) set out to enhance their reputation. The latter is fired by enthusiasm when he hears of his father's valui and pris (v. 302) and he succeeds in carrying off the valut and the pris in the tournaments he attends (v. 333). The count's son in the Deus Amanz makes an effort to bien faire (v. 51) in order to aveir pris over all his companions (vv. 5 1 - 5 2 ) and the lovers in Chaitivel are so skilled that "de tuz le pris aveient" (v. 116) in the tournament. See also Guigemar, v. 69; Milun, v. 335; Eliduc, vv. 190, 199. Marie uses the term pris three times with reference to her own reputation and literary efforts (Prologue, v. 3 1; Guigemar, w . 8, 11). 16. See my Contribution à l'étude du vocabulaire pré-courtois, pp. 68-90, and Y. Robreau, L’Honneur et la honte: leur expression dans les romans en prose du Lancelot-Graal (XlIe-XIIIe siècles) (Geneva: Droz, 1981), especially 8 - 2 1 . 17. Mickel, Marie de France, p. 99. Ménard, Les Lais, p. 100. 18. Marie uses the term drüerie fourteen times in the Lais (Guige­ mar, v. 505; Equitan, vv. 15, 82, 124, 132, 185; Lanval, vv. 267, 317 , 336; Deus Amanz, vv. 58, 6 i ; Chaitivel, vv. 57, 68; Eliduc, w . 4 3 1, 542, 579). In Chaitivel (perhaps also Eliduc, v. 431) the sense is "lovetoken." Elsewhere the term seems to be interchangeable with amur and certainly refers to the serious love relationships between Guige­ mar and his beloved (v. 505), Lanval and his fairy (v. 336) and Eliduc and Guilliadun (vv. 542, 579). The nuance of sensuous love, which has been detected in other texts, is perhaps present in Equitan (v. 15) and Lanval (w. 267, 317). See R. Dubuis, “Dru et drüerie dans le Tristan de Béroul," in Mélanges . . . Pierre fonin, pp. 2 2 1 - 3 1 . For the term dru(e) see Guigemar, v. 836; Equitan, vv. 80, 94; Bisclavret, v. 116 ; Yonec, vv. 138, 226, 238; Chaitivel, vv. 75, 85, 109, 1 1 5 ; Eliduc, v. 328. The most frequent expression is faire de aucun son dru!sa drue (Equitan, v. 94; Bisclavret, v. 116 ; Yonec, v. 138; Eliduc, v. 328).

217

Notes to Chapter Seven 19. See also Le Fresne, vv. 2 7 5 -7 6 , 290; Lanval, v. 267; Deus Amanz, v. 6 i; Eliduc, v. 36 1. 20. D. Fasciano, however, sees the lovers as mounting the hill ac­ cording to a sexual rhythm and the vial as containing the young man's sexual potency ("La Mythologie du lai Les Deux Amants," p. 85). 21. The term colur occurs five times in the Lais, with four refer­ ences to the human face (Guigemai, v. 424; Lanval, v. 530; Eliduc, v. 662, 973) and one to the colour of the flower brought by the weasel. The colour of this flower ("Tute de vermeille colur," v. 1048) is identi­ cal to Guilliadun's own colouring ("K 'il la veeit blanche e vermeille," v. 972). 22. For further details on the concept of wounding see above, note 7, and Chapter 3, p. 64. 23. The complete list for the verb susfrir is Guigemai, w . 1 1 5 , 117 , 199, 409, 664, 670, 687; Le Fresne, v. 97; Lanval, v. 285; Deus Amanz, w . 69, 78; Yonec, w . 177, 4 12 , 554; Milun, w . 74, 149, 236; Chaitivel, w . 2 13 , 223; Eliduc, w . 602, 670, 735. The term suffiance occurs in Deus Amanz, v. 67. 24. The complete lists are anguisse (Guigemai, vv. 166, 663; Equitan, v. 68; Deus Amanz, v. 202), destieit/destrece (Guigemai, vv. 802, 849; Le Fresne, v. 63; Bisclavret, vv. 255, 264, 265; Deus Amanz, v. 7 1; Yonec, v. 420; Eliduc, vv. 167, 209, 624, 634), doel/dolur (Prologue, v. 27; Guigemai, w . 116 , 132, 198, 405, 423, 552, 629, 663, 825; Equitan, w . 97, 2 14 ; Le Fresne, vv. 108, 357; Bisclavret, v. 45; Lanval, vv. 332, 357, 361, 409; Deus Amanz, vv. 89, 233; Yonec, vv. 326, 335, 404, 446, 447, 553; Milun, vv. 74, 155, 235; Chaitivel, w . 8, 132, 135 , 139, 180, 183, 19 1, 202, 204, 227, 234; Chevrefoil, v. 9; Eliduc, vv. 81, 350, 458, 661, 859, 873, 936, 950, 990, 994, 1004, 1024, 1044, 1095), effiei [Guigemai, v. 476; Equitan, v. 92; Bisclavret, v. 43; Lanval, w . 196, 509; Yonec, v. 180; Chaitivel, v. 189; Eliduc, v. 315), estrif [Guigemai, w . 52, 380; Equitan, v. 92; Lanval, v. 508; Eliduc, v. 90), mal [Guigemar, vv. 17, 383, 406, 425, 485, 670; Equitan, vv. 30, 7 1, 108, 265, 299, 309, 310; Le Fresne, vv. 3 15 , 367; Bisclavret, vv. 11, 54; Lanval, vv. 229, 332, 384, 618; Deus Amanz, vv. 25; Yonec, v. 15 7 ; Chaitivel, v. 223; Eliduc, w . 354, 849), peine [Guigemar, vv. 116 , 363, 662, 687, 826, 882; Equitan, vv. 102, 154; Deus Amanz, v. 114 ; Yonec, v. 4 12 ; Milun, v. 235; Chaitivel, w . 46, 2 1 3 ; Eliduc, v. 477), travail [Guigemar, v. 687;

218

Note to Conclusion Yonec, v. 2; Milun, v. 514 ; Eliduc, v. 735), and tristur (Guigemar, v. 826; Yonec, w . 45, 150; Milun, v. 148). 25. The complete lists are anguissus/anguissusement (Guigemar, w . 104, 138, 343, 384, 394, 502; Le Fresne, v. 105; Lanval, v. 338; Yonec, v. 318 ; Eliduc, vv. 573, 975), cureçus/curucié (Le Fresne, v. 284; Lanval, v. 305; Laiistic, v. 11 2 ; Chevrefoil, v. 11), dolent (Guigemar; w . 196, 297, 586, 598, 806; Equitan, v. 107; Le Fresne, vv. 6o, 7 1; Lanval, w . 34, 37, 287, 305, 378, 4 19 ; Deus Amanz, w . 28, 222; Yonec, v. 409; Laiistic, vv. 1 12, 147; Milun, vv. 130, 154, 345, 428; Chaitivel, v. 129; Chevrefoil, vv. 23, 25; Eliduc, vv. 77, 39 1, 627, 718 , 920, 946, 1094), muz (Guigemar, v. 644), murnes (Guigemar, v. 7 18 ; Equitan, v. 60; Eliduc, vv. 314 , 784), pensif (Guigemar, vv. i 6i , 306, 394, 644, 718 , 764; Equitan, v. 60; Lanval, vv. 34, 51, 338, 428, 507; Yonec, vv. 94, 283, 409; Milun, v. 154; Chevrefoil, v. 25; Eliduc, v. 711), and trespensez (Milun, v. 428; Chevrefoil, v. 23; Eliduc, vv. 314 , 627). 26. Ménard, Les Luis, p. 137.

Conclusion i. In her Dictionary of Mythology, Folklore and Symbols, 3 vols. (New York: Scarecrow Press, 1962), Gertrude Jobes attributes to the ash the notions of grandeur, prudence, adaptability, flexibility, mod­ esty, and nobility (1: 13 6 -3 7 ). It is a tree of good omen with strong Christian associations. The hazel symbolizes justice, reconciliation and truth and it was for the Celts the tree of wisdom. But Marie has not only realized the poetic potential of such associations. She has used them in Le Fresne to point to the self-interest of Gurun's landed knights who fail to see the positive elements in Le Fresne and wrongly attempt to claim superiority for the hazel ("Pur le Freisne, que vus larrez, / En eschange le Codre av[r]ez. / En la Codre ad noiz e deduiz; / Freisne ne porté unke fruiz," w . 337-40 ). For further discussion of this point see my article "Symbolism in Marie de France's Laiistic and Le Fresne," Bibliographical Bulletin of the International Arthurian Soci­ ety a (1981): 2 5 8 -6 8 .

219

Bibliography

Items listed here are those cited in the preceding pages. For a more complete bibliography see G. S. Burgess, Marie de France: an A nalytical Bibliography, Research Bibliographies and Checklists, no. 2 1 (London: Grant and Cutler, 1977), and Sup­ plement no. i (1986).

cb Editions of the Lais Ewert, Alfred. Marie de France: Lais. Blackwell's French Texts. O x­ ford: Blackwell, 1944. Frequently reprinted. All quotations are from this edition. Rychner, Jean. Les Lais de Marie de France. Classiques Français du Moyen Age, no. 93. Paris: Champion, 1966. 2d ed., 19 8 1. Rychner, Jean. Marie de France: Le Lai de Lanval. Textes Littéraires Français, no. 77. Geneva: Droz; Paris: Minard, 1958. Wamke, Karl. Die Lais der Marie de France. Bibliotheca Normannica, no. 3. Halle: Niemeyer, 1885. 2d ed., 1900. 3d ed., 19 25; reprint, Geneva: Slatkine, 1974.

Translations of the Lais Burgess, Glyn S., and Keith Busby. The Lais of Marie de France. Pen­ guin Classics. Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin Books, 1986. Hanning, Robert, and Joan Ferrante. The Lais of Marie de France. Trans-

221

Bibliography lated with an introduction and notes. Foreword by John Fowles. New York: Dutton; Toronto and Vancouver: Clarke, Irwin and Co., 1978. With no foreword, Durham, N .C .: The Labyrinth Press, r982. Jonin, Pierre. Les Lais de Marie de France, traduits de l ’ancien fran­ çais. Paris: Champion, r972. 2d ed., 1978. Tuffrau, Paul. Les Lais de Marie de France, transposés en français moderne. Paris: Piazza, 1923. Williams, H. F. Les Lais de Marie de France. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1970. For further editions and translations of the Lais see Chapter 2, note 1. For the translation of the Lais into Old Norse see R. Keyser and C. R. Unger, Strengleikar eÖa LioÖabok (Christiana: Feilberg and Land­ mark, 1850), and R. Cook and M. Tveitane, Strengleikar: an Old Norse Translation of Twenty-Four Old French lais, edited from the Manuscript Uppsala De La Gardie 4-7-AM 666b,4 (Norrone Tekster, no. 3. Oslo: Norsk Historisk Kjeldeskrift Institutt, 1979).

Marie's Other Works The Fables Ewert, Alfred, and Ronald C. Johnston. Marie de France: Fables. Black­ well's French Texts. Oxford: Blackwell, 1942. Martin, Mary Lou. The Fables of Marie de France: an English Transla­ tion. Birmingham, Ala.: Summa Publications, 1984. Includes Wamke's text. Wamke, Karl. Die Fabeln der Marie de France. Bibliotheca Normannica, no. 6. Halle: Niemeyer, 1898. Reprint. Geneva: Slatkine, 1974.

The Espurgatoire Seint Patriz Jenkins, Thomas A. Marie de France: Espurgatoire Seint Patriz: an Old French Poem of the Twelfth Century published with an intro­ duction and a Study of the Language of the Author. Philadelphia, 1894. Reprint. Geneva: Slatkine, 1974. Wamke, Karl. Das Buch vom Espurgatoire S. Patrice der Marie de France und seine Quelle. Bibliotheca Normannica, no. 9. Halle: Niemeyer, 1938.

222

Bibliography

«t» Other Contemporary Texts Benedeit. The Anglo-Norman Voyage of St. Brendan. Edited by I. Short and B. Merrilees. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1979. Beroul. The Romance of Tristran. Edited by A. Ewert. 2 vols. Oxford: Blackwell, 1939, 1970. Chrétien de Troyes. Erec et Enide. Edited by M. Roques. Classiques Français du Moyen Age, no. 80. Paris: Champion, 1952. ______ Yvain (Le Chevalier au lion). Edited by T. B. W. Reid. M an­ chester: Manchester University Press, 1942. Constans, L., ed. Le Roman de Troie. Société des Anciens Textes Fran­ çais. Paris: Firmin-Didot, 19 0 4 -12 . De Boer, C., ed. Piramus et Tisbé. Classiques Français du Moyen Age, no. 26. Paris: Champion, 19 2 1. De Grave, J.-J. Salverda, ed. Le Roman d ’Eneas. Classiques Français du Moyen Age, nos. 44, 62. Paris: Champion, 19 2 5 -2 9 . De Lage, G. Raynaud, ed. Le Roman de Thèbes. Classiques Français du Moyen Age, nos. 94, 96. Paris: Champion, 19 6 6 -6 8 . Gautier d'Arras. Ille et Galeron. Edited by F. A. G. Cowper. Société des Anciens Textes Français. Paris: Picard, 1956. Storey, C., ed. La Vie de saint Alexis. Textes Littéraires Français, no. 148. Paris: Minard; Geneva: Droz, 1968. Tobin, Prudence M. O., ed. Les Lais anonymes des XHe et XlIIe siè­ cles. Publications Romanes et Françaises, no. 143. Geneva: Droz, 1976. Wace. Le Roman de Brut. Edited by I. Arnold. 2 vols. Société des A n ­ ciens Textes Français. Paris: Firmin-Didot, 19 3 8 -4 0 . Whitehead, F., ed. La Chanson de Roland. Blackwell's French Texts. 2d ed. Oxford: Blackwell, 1946.

4» Studies of the Lais Adams, Alison, and T. D. Hemming. "Chèvrefeuille and the Evolution of the Tristan Legend." Bibliographical Bulletin of the International Arthurian Society 28 (1976): 2 0 4 -1 3 . Bailey, H. W. "Bisclavret in Marie de France." Cambridge Medieval Celtic Studies 1 (1981): 9 5 -9 7 .

223

Bibliography Battaglia, Salvatore. "II mito del Licantropo nel Bisclavret di Maria di Francia." Filologia Romanza 3 (1956): 2 2 9 -5 3 . (Reprinted in La coscienza letteraria del medioevo, pp. 3 6 1-8 9 . Naples: Liguori, 1965.) Bédier, Joseph. "Les Lais de Marie de France." Revue des Deux Mondes 107 (1891): 8 3 5 -6 3 . Braet, Herman. "Note sur Marie de France et Ovide [Lai de Guigemar, w . 2 3 3 -4 4 )." In Mélanges de philologie et de littératures romanes offerts à feanne Wathelet-Willem, pp. 2 1 - 2 5 . Cahiers de l'A.R.U.Lg. Liège: Marche Romane, 1978. Brightenback, Kristine. "The Metamorphoses and Narrative conjointure in Deus Amanz, Yonec and Le Laüstic." Romanic Review 72 (1981): 1 - 1 2 . Bullock-Davies, Constance. "Lanval and Avalon." The Bulletin of the Board of Celtic Studies 23 (1969): 1 2 8 -4 2 . ______ "The Love-Messenger in Milun." Nottingham Mediaeval Studies 16 (1972): 2 0 -2 7 . Brugger, Ernst. "Eigennamen in den Lais der Marie de France." Zeit­ schrift für französische Sprache und Literatur 49 (1927): 2 0 1 - 5 2 , 3 8 1-4 8 4 . Burgess, Glyn S. "Chivalry and Prowess in the Lais of Marie de France." French Studies 37 (1983): 12 9 -4 2 . ______ "A Note on Marie de France's Chevrefoil." French Studies Bul­ letin 3 (1982): 1 - 4 . ______ "The Problem of Internal Chronology in the Lais of Marie de France." Zeitschrift für französische Sprache und Literatur 91 (1981): 1 3 3 - 5 5 ______ "Social Status in the Lais of Marie de France." In The Spirit of the Court: Selected Proceedings of the Fourth Congress of the Inter­ national Courtly Literature Society (Toronto, 1983), edited by G. S. Burgess and R. W. Taylor, pp. 6 9 -7 8 . Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 1985. ______ "Symbolism in Marie de France's Laüstic and Le Fresne." Bib­ liographical Bulletin of the International Arthurian Society 33 (1981): 2 5 8 -6 8 . ______ "Two cases of mesure in the Lais of Marie de France." In Sprach-und literaturwissenschaftliche Beiträge vom frühen bis zum ausgehenden Mittelalter, edited by K. Baidinger, pp. 19 8 -2 0 8 . Tübingen: Niemeyer, 1977. Chotzen, Th. M. "Bisclavret.” Etudes Celtiques 2 (1937): 3 3 -4 4 .

224

Bibliography Clédat, Léon. "Oeuvres narratives du moyen âge: analyses et extraits traduits." Revue de Philologie Française et Provençale 8 (1894): 16 1-2 6 4 . Clifford, Paula. Marie de France: Lais. Critical Guides to French Texts, no. 16. London: Grant and Cutler, 1982. Cohen, Gustave. "Marie de France, le lai des Deux Amants." Mercure de France 265 (1936): 6 1-6 8 . Conigliani, Camilla. "L'amore e l'awentura nei Lais di Maria di Fran­ cia." Archivum Romanicum 2 (1918): 2 8 1 - 9 5 . Cowling, Samuel T. "The Image of the Tournament in Marie de France's Le Chaitivel." Romance Notes 16 (19 7 4 -7 5 ): 6 8 6 -9 1. Damon, S. Foster. "Marie de France: Psychologist of Courtly Love." Publications of the Modern Language Association of America 44 (1929): 968-96. Davison, Muriel. "Marie de France's Lai de Lanval, 3 1 - 3 8 . " The Ex­ plicator 21 (October 1962), item 12. De Caluwé, Jacques. "La Conception de l'amour dans le lai d'Eliduc de Marie de France." Le Moyen Age 77 (1971): 5 3 - 7 7 . De Caluwé, Jacques, and Jeanne Wathelet-Willem. "La Conception de l'amour dans les Lais de Marie de France: quelques aspects du prob­ lème." In Mélanges de langue et de littérature françaises du moyenàge offerts à Pierre fonin, pp. 1 4 1 - 5 8 . Senefiance, no. 7. Aix-enProvence: Publications du C U ER M A; Paris: Champion, 1979. Delbouille, Maurice. "Le Nom et le personnage d'Equitan." Le Moyen

Age 69 (1963): 3 1 5 - 2 3 Del Monte, Alberto, and Anna M. Raugei. Introduzione alla lettura dei Lais di Maria di Francia. Milan: Cisalpino-Goliardica, 1973. Durdan, A.-L. Le Lai des Deux-Amants, légende neustrienne de Marie de France: commentaire et adaptation. Mâcon, France: Protat Frères, 1907. Farout, Ghislaine. "D u Chaitivel ou des Quatre Dois." Médiévales 3 (1983): 7 6 -8 8 . Fasciano, Domenico. "La Mythologie du lai Les Deux Amants." Rivista di Cultura Classica e Medioevale 16 (1974): 7 9 -8 5 . Flum, P. N. "Additional Thoughts on Marie de France." Romance Notes 3 (19 6 1-6 2 ): 5 3 -5 6 . _______"Marie de France and the Talbot Family Connections." Ro­ mance Notes 7 (1965-66): 8 3 -8 6 .

225

Bibliography Foulet, Lucien. "English Words in the Lais of Marie de France." Mod­ ern Language Notes 20 (1905): 1 0 9 - 1 1 . ______ "Marie de France et les lais bretons." Zeitschrift für romanische Philologie 29 (1905): 19 -5 6 , 2 9 3 -3 2 2 . Foulon, Charles. "L'Ethique de Marie de France dans le lai de Fresne. " In Mélanges de littérature du moyen âge au XXe siècle offerts à Mademoiselle Jeanne Lods, 1: 2 0 3 - 1 2 . 2 vols. Paris: Ecole Normale Supérieure de Jeunes Filles, 1978. Francis, Elizabeth A. "Marie de France et son temps." Romania 72 (1951): 78 -9 9_______"The Trial in Lanval." In Studies in French Language and Mediaeval Literature Presented to Professor Mildred K. Pope, pp. 1 1 5 - 2 4 . Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1939. Frappier, Jean. "Une Edition nouvelle des Lais de Marie de France." Romance Philology 22 (1968-69): 6 0 0 -6 13 . Green, Robert B. "Fin'amors dans deux lais de Marie de France: Equitan et Chaitivel." Le Moyen Age 81 (1975): 2 6 5 -7 2 . Hanning, Robert W. "Courtly Contexts for Urban cultus: Responses to Ovid in Chrétien's Cligès and Marie's Guigemar." Symposium 35 (19 8 1-8 2 ): 3 4 -5 6 . Harrison, Arm T. "Marie de France as Naturalist." Romance Notes 2 1 ( 19 8 0 -8 11:2 4 8 -5 3 . Hodgson, Frederick. "Alienation and the Otherworld in Lanval, Yonec, and Guigemar." Comitatus 5 (1974): 1 9 - 3 1 . Hoepffner, Ernest. "Pour la Chronologie des Lais de Marie de France." Romania 59 (1933): 3 5 1 - 7 0 and 60 (1934): 36 -6 6 . ______ "La Géographie et l'histoire dans les Lais de Marie de France." Romania 56 (1930): 1 - 3 2 . ______ "Le Lai d'Equitan de Marie de France." In A Miscellany of Studies in Romance Languages and Literatures Presented to Leon E. Kastner, pp. 2 9 4 -3 0 2 . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1932. ______ Les Lais de Marie de France. Bibliothèque de la Revue des Cours et Conférences. Paris: Boivin, 19 35. Reprint. Paris: Nizet,

1959 ______ "Marie de France et YEneas." Studi Medievali, n.s., 5 (1932): 2 7 2 -3 0 8 .

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Bibliography ______ "Le Roman d 'Ille et Galeron et le lai d'Eliduc." In Studies in French Language and Mediaeval Literature Presented to Professor Mildred K. Pope, pp. 1 2 5 -4 4 . Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1939. Holmes, Urban X , Jr. "Further on Marie de France." Symposium 3 (1949): 335 - 3 9 ______ "N ew Thoughts on Marie de France." Studies in Philology 29 (1932): I—10. ______ "Old French Yonec." Modern Philology 29 ( 19 3 1-3 2 ) : 2 2 5 -2 9 . ______ "A Welsh Motif in Marie's Guigemar." Studies in Philology 39 (1942): 1 1 - 1 4 . Illingworth, R. N. "La Chronologie des Lais de Marie de France." Ro­ mania 87 (1966): 4 3 3 - 7 5 . ______ "Celtic Tradition and the lai of Yonec." Etudes Celtiques 9 (196 0 -6 1): 5 0 1-2 0 . Jackson, W. T. H. "The Arthuricity of Marie de France." Romanic Re­ view 30 (1979): 1 - 1 8 . Jodogne, Omer. "La conversion dans le lai d'Eliduc." In Mélanges de langue et littérature françaises du moyen-âge offerts à Pierre Jonin, PP- 349 ~ 5 4 - Senefiance, no. 7. Aix-en-Provence: Publications du CU ER M A; Paris: Champion, 1979. Jonin, Pierre. "Le Je de Marie de France dans les Lais." Romania 103 (1982): 17 0 -9 6 . ______ "Le Roi dans les Lais de Marie de France: l'homme sous le personnage." In Essays in Early French Literature Presented to Bar­ bara M. Craig, pp. 2 5 - 4 1 . York, South Carolina: French Literature Publications Company, 1982. Kemp-Welch, Alice. Of Six Mediaeval Women. London: Macmillan, 19 13 . Koubichkine, Michèle. "A propos du Lai de Lanval." Le Moyen Age 78 (1972): 4 6 7 -8 8 . Larmat, Jean. "La Chasse dans les Lais de Marie de France." In La Chasse au moyen âge: actes du colloque du Centre d ’Etudes Médi­ évales de Nice (Nice 22—24 juin 1979), pp- 3 7 7 -8 4 . Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 1980. Laurie, Helen C. R. "A Note on the Composition of Marie's Guige­ mar." Medium Aevum 44 (1975): 2 4 2 -4 8 .

227

Bibliography Lazar, Moshé. Amour courtois et fin’amors dans la littérature du XIle siècle. Bibliothèque Française et Romane, série C, Etudes Lit­ téraires, no. 8. Paris: Klincksieck, 1964. Le Mée, Katharine M. A Metrical Study of Five Lais of Marie de France. De Proprietatibus Litterarum, Series Practica, no. 85. The Hague and Paris and N ew York: Mouton, 1978. Loth, J. "Le Lai du Bisclavret: le sens de ce nom et son importance." Revue Celtique 44 (1927): 30 0 -30 7 . McClelland, Denise. Le Vocabulaire des Lais de Marie de France. Publications de l'Université d'Ottawa, no. 3. Ottawa: Editions de l'Université d'Ottawa, 1977. McCulloch, Florence. "Length, Recitation and Meaning of the Lais of Marie de France." Kentucky Romance Quarterly 25 (1978): 2 5 7 -6 8 . Ménard, Philippe. "La Déclaration amoureuse dans la littérature arthurienne au Xlle siècle." Cahiers de Civilisation Médiévale 13 (1970): 33 - 4 2 . ______ Les Lais de Marie de France: contes d ’amour et d ’aventure du moyen âge. Littératures Modernes, no. 19. Paris: Presses Univer­ sitaires de France, 1979. Mickel, Emanuel J. Jr. Marie de France. Twayne's World Authors Se­ ries, no. 306. New York: Twayne, 1974. ______ "Marie de France's Use of Irony as a Stylistic and Narrative Device." Studies in Philology 7 1 (1974): 26 5-9 0 . ______ "A Reconsideration of the Lais of Marie de France." Speculum 46 (1971): 39 - 6 5 Nais, Hélène. Index des Lais de Marie de France. Cahiers du CR A L, 1ère série, no. 34. Nancy: Centre de Recherches et d'Applications Linguistiques de l'Université de Nancy II, 1979. Noomen, Willem. "Le Lai des Deus Amanz de Marie de France: con­ tribution pour une description." In Etudes de langue et de lit­ térature du moyen âge offertes à Félix Lecoy, pp. 4 6 9 -8 1. Paris: Champion, 19 73. Otaka, Yorio. "Vocabulaire du combat dans les Lais de Marie de France." In VIII Congreso de la Société Rencesvals: Pamplona-Santiago de Compostela, 15 a 2s de agosto de r9j8, pp. 3 6 7 - 7 3 . Pam­ plona: Institution Principe de Viana, 19 8 1. Payen, Jean-Charles. Le Lai narratif. Typologie des sources du moyen âge occidental, no. 13. Turnhout: Brepols, 1975. ______ Le Motif du repentir dans la littérature française médiévale

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Bibliography (des origines à 1230). Publications Romanes et Françaises, no. 98. Geneva: Droz, 1967. Pickens, Rupert T. "Equitan: Anti -Guigemar." Romance Notes 15

(1973-74): 328-41. ______ "Historical Consciousness in Old French Narrative." French Forum 4 (1979): 16 8 -8 4 . ______ "La Poétique de Marie de France d'après les prologues des Lais." Les Lettres Romanes 32 (1978): 3 6 7 -8 4 . ______ "Thematic Structure in Marie de France's Guigemar." Ro­ mania 95 (1974): 3 2 8 - 4 1 . Poe, Elizabeth W. "Love in the Afternoon: Courtly Play in the Lai de Lanval." Neuphilologische Mitteilungen 84 (1983): 3 0 1 - 1 0 . Poirion, Daniel. "La Mort et la merveille chez Marie de France." In Death in the Middle Ages, edited by M. Braet and W. Verbeke, pp. 19 1-2 0 4 . Mediaevalia Lovaniensia, series I, studia 9. Leuven: Leu­ ven University Press, 1983. Polak, Lucie. "Two Lines from Marie de France's Laiistic." French Studies 34 (1980): 2 5 7 -5 8 . Ribard, Jacques. "Le Lai d'Eliduc: étude thématique." In Mélanges de langue et littérature françaises du moyen âge et de la Renaissance offerts à Charles Foulon, 1: 2 9 5 -9 9 . 2 vols, Rennes: Institut de Fran­ çais, Université de Haute-Bretagne, 1980. ______ "Le Lai de Lanval: essai d'interprétation polysémique." In Mélanges de philologie et de littératures romanes offerts à Jeanne Wathelet-Willem, pp. 5 2 9 -4 4 . Cahiers de l'A.R.U.Lg. Liège: Marche Romane, 1978. ______ "Le Lai des Deux Amants: essai d'interprétation thématique." In Mélanges de langue et littérature françaises du moyen-âge offerts à Pierre fonin, pp. 5 8 1 - 9 1 . Senefiance, no. 7. Aix-en-Provence: Pub­ lications du CU ER M A; Paris: Champion, 1979. Rice, Joanne A. "Conventional and Unconventional Character De­ scription in the Lais of Marie de France." Neuphilologische Mit­

teilungen 85 (1985): 3 4 4 -5 2 . Richards, Earl J. "Les Rapports entre le Lai de Guigemar et le Roman d ’Eneas: considérations génériques." In Le Récit bref au moyen âge: actes du colloque des 27, 28 et 29 avril 1979, edited by D. Buschinger, pp. 4 5 —55. Amiens: Université de Picardie, Centre d'Etudes Médiévales; Paris: Champion, 1980. Robertson, D. W., Jr. "Love Conventions in Marie's Equitan." Ro-

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Bibliography manic Review 44 (1953): 2 4 1 - 4 5 . (Reprinted in Essays in Medieval Culture, pp. 2 0 2 -6 . Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1980). Santucci, Monique. "Derechef, le Lai du Chèvrefeuille: rêve mer­ veilleux et parole d'espoir." L’Information Littéraire 31 (1979): 5 5 60. Sayers, William. "Bisclavret in Marie de France: a Reply." Cambridge Medieval Celtic Studies 4 (1982): 7 7 -8 2 . Schiött, Emil. L’A mour et les amoureux dans les Lais de Marie de France. Lund: Imprimerie de Malmström, 1889. Segre, Cesare. "Piramo e Tisbe nei Lai di Maria di Francia." In Studi in onore di Vittorio Lugli e Diego Valeri 2: 8 4 5 - 5 3 . Venice: Pozza, 1961. Sienaert, Edgard. Les Lais de Marie de France: du conte merveilleux à la nouvelle psychologique. Essais sur le moyen-âge, no. 2. Paris: Champion, 1978. Spitzer, Leo. "Marie de France— Dichterin von Problem-Märchen." Zeitschrift für romanische Philologie 50 (1930): 2 9 -6 7 . Stevens, John. "The granz biens of Marie de France." In Patterns of Love and Courtesy: Essays in Memory of C. S. Lewis, pp. 1 - 2 5 . Lon­ don: Arnold, 1966. Verhuyck, Paul. "Marie de France, le chèvrefeuille et le coudrier." In Mélanges de linguistique, de littérature et de philologie m édi­ évales, offerts à f. R. Smeets, pp. 3 1 7 - 2 6 . Leiden, n.p., 1982. Wathelet-Willem, J. " Equitan dans l'oeuvre de Marie de France." Le Moyen Age 69 (1963): 3 2 5 - 4 5 . ______ "U n Lai de Marie de France: Les Deux Amants." In Mélanges offerts à Rita Lejeune, 2: 1 1 4 3 - 5 7 . Gembloux: Duculot, 1969. Whichard, R. D. "A Note on the Identity of Marie de France." In Ro­ mance Studies Presented to William Morton Dey, pp. 1 7 7 - 8 1 . Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1950. Wind, Bartina H. "L'Idéologie courtoise dans les Lais de Marie de France." In Mélanges de linguistique romane et de philologie médi­ évale offerts à M. Maurice Delbouille, 2 :7 4 1 - 4 8 . 2 vols., Gembloux: Duculot, 1964.

«f» Other Works Cited Adams, Alison. "The Metaphor of Folie in Thomas' Tristan.” Forum for Modem Language Studies 17 (1981): 88-90 .

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433- 59Neale, R. A. "The Fool and his Loaf." Medium Aevum 54 (1985): 10 4 -9 .

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Bibliography Paris, Gaston. Mélanges de littérature française du moyen âge. Edited by M. Roques. Paris: Champion, 19 12 . Poirion, Daniel. Le Merveilleux dans la littérature française du moyen âge. Que sais-je?, no. 1938. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1982. Robreau, Y. L’Honneur et la honte: leur expression dans les romans en prose du Lancelot-Graal (XlIe-XIIIe siècles). Geneva: Droz, 19 81. Robson, C. A. "The Technique of Symmetrical Composition in Medi­ eval Narrative Poetry." In Studies in Medieval French Presented to Alfred Ewert, pp. 2 6 -7 5 . Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1961. Saint-Sauveur, E. Durtelle de. Histoire de Bretagne des origines à nos jours. Rennes: Armor; Paris: Librairie Académique Perrin, 1975. Scoones, S. Les Noms de quelques officiers féodaux des origines à la fin du XHe siècle. Paris: Klincksieck, 1976. Southern, R. W. Medieval Humanism and Other Studies. Oxford: Blackwell, 1970. Strayer, Joseph R. "Advocate." In Dictionary of the Middle Ages, 1: 59 -6 0 . N ew York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1982. Thiébaux, Marcelle. The Stag of Love: the Chase in Medieval Liter­ ature. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 1974. Venckeleer, T. Rollant li proz: contribution à l ’histoire de quelques qualifications laudatives en français du moyen âge. Paris: Cham ­ pion, 1975. Wade-Evans, Arthur W. Welsh Christian Origins. Oxford: Alden Press,

1934Watkin, H. R. The History of Totnes Priory and Medieval Town, Dev­ onshire. 2 vols. Torquay: Published by the Author, 19 14 . White, G. H. "The Career of Waleran, Count of Meulan and Earl of Worcester (110 4-6 6 )." Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, 4th ser., vol. 17 (1934): 19 -4 8 . Wilmore, Sylvia B. Swans of the World. London and Newton Abbott: David and Charles, 1974. Zimmer, H. "Histoire littéraire de la France, tome X X X ." Götting­ ische Gelehrte Anzeigen 29 (1890): 7 8 7 -8 3 2 .

233

Index

Aballava, 18 Acemee, acesmer, 1 1 7 Affeitee, affeitement, m , 116 Aidier, 2 1 6 - 1 7 (n. 17) Aimon de Varennes, 201 (n. 6) Aleüie, 47 Alias, 176 Alumei, 167 Alvrez, King, 93 Amei, amur, 28, 3 6 -4 2 , 54, 57, 148, 149, 150, 1 5 1 , 168, 204 (n. 3), 2 17 (n. 18) Amie, 102, 104, 105, 106, n o , n i , 1 1 3 , 122, 124, 132, 167, 178 Amour courtois, 7 Andelle, River, 10 Andreas Capellanus, 15 Aneire, an eire, 58 Anglo-Norman, 56 Anguisse, anguissus, anguissusement, 175, 2 18 (n.24), 2 19 (n.25) Anjou, 10 Aostic, austic, 10 Ars Amatoria (Ovid), 2 15 (n. 2) Arte honesti amandi, De, 1 5

Arthur, King, 4, 7, 8, 17, 18, 20, 24, 7 5 - 8 3 passim, 89, 90, 92, 105, 106, 1 1 3 , 123, 125, 147, 155, 158, 16 1, 208 (n. 2), 2 10 (n. 6) Aseiiier, 168 Aturner, 168 Aube, 7 Auberee, 206 (n. 21) Aumoines, 150 Auxilium, 97 Avalana, 18 Avalon, viii, 18, 19, 24, 104, 106, 180, 186 Aveir, 77 Avenanz, 1 1 4 Aventure, so, 70, 76, 84, 89, 162 Avouez, 76, 108, 170

Bacheier, 75, 83, 93, 125, 180, 185 Bailey, H. W., 9 Barbarossa, Frederick, s Barber, Richard, 93 Barfleur, viii, 27 Barun. See Ber 235

Index Battaglia, Salvatore, 53, 54, 57, 58, 60, 67 Beatrice (wife of Frederick Barbarossa), 5 Beaumont family, 3 3 - 3 4 Bedford, 33 Bédier, Joseph, 42 Bel(e), beauté, 83, 88, 105, i n , 114 , 1 1 7 - 2 4 , 18 1 Benedeit, 57 Ber, barun, 76, 77, 103, 104, n o , 2 0 8 -9 In. 3) Bernard of Neuf marche, 33 Beroul, 7, 18, 19, 55, 61, 72, 88, 2 1 1 (n. 21) Bien, 150, 177, 188 Bikez, Robert, 197 (n. 67) Bisclavret, 2 - 9 passim, 15, 16, 17, 30, 34/ 56, 7 1 - 7 8 passim, 8 5 - 9 2 passim, 103, 104, 1 1 3 , 114 , 116 , 11 7 , 126, 127, 130, 1 3 1, 1 5 2 - 6 2 passim, 168, 169, 176, 18 0 -8 5 passim; bisclavret (etymology), 9 Blaise, Albert, 108 Bloch, R. Howard, 2 1 1 (n. 21) Bon, bunté, 75, 105, 179 Boulogne, viii, 10 Bourgeois, burgeis, 129, 183 Braet, Herman, 2 15 (n. 2) Brenguien, i n , 155 Bretaine la Menur, 31 Breton, Bretons, 9, 10, 12, 13, 23, 24, 31, 32, 83, 95, 1 1 3 , 142 Breviari d ’amor, 60, 61 Brightenback, Kristine, 47 Brionne, n Britain, viii, 7, 8, 9, 18, 19, 2 1, 23, 26, 31, 33, 10 1, 104, 184, 187, 208 (n. 3); King of, 8 Brittany, vii, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13,

236

17 , 2 3 ,

27/ 3I/ 78, 95/ i o i , 10 3 ,

104, 154, 156, 1 7 2 , 17 6 , 19 7 (n. 65); K ing of, 8, 31, 76, i l , 8 3, 99, 154/ 1 5 8 , 1 7 9 Brugger, Ernst, 6, 1 9 1 (n. 16) B uckingham sh ire, 3 3 B u llo ck -D avies, C on stan ce, 18 ,

22, 25 Burgh-by-Sands, 19

Caerleon, viii, 4, 18, 2 1, 22, 24, 25, 26, 27, 72, 197 (n.67) Caerwent, viii, 2 1, 22, 23, 26, 27, 76, 77, 108, i n , 196 (n. 57), 197 (n.70) Camilla, 130 Carlisle, viii, 18, 19 Camant, 193 (n. 26) C h ad er, 73 Chaitivel, viii, xii, 3 - 1 0 passim, 15, 16, 17, 30, 31, 34, 42, 46, 50 -6 4 , 7 1 - 8 9 passim, 9 4 -9 5 , 96, i n - 1 1 8 passim, 126, 127, 1 3 1 , 138, 143 - 4 4 , 15 9 -8 5 passim Channel, English, 28, 33 Chanson de Roland, 36, 39, 43, 48, 4 9 , 5 5, 57 , 201 (n. 9) Chasse, 16, 49, 18 1 Chastel, 102, 2 10 (n. 10) Cheitif, 176 Chepstow, 22, 23 Cherbourg, 27 Chevalier, chevalerie, 7 1, 72, 8 6 -8 8 , 209 (nn. 4, 6) Le Chevalier au lion, 69 Chevrefoil, vii, ix, 3, 5, 7, 8, 19, 2 8 - 3 4 passim, 46, 6 5 -7 0 , 7 1, 73, 76, 78, 84, 86, 89, 93, i n - 1 2 , 114 , 1 2 5 - 3 3 passim,

Index 144, 14 8 , 14 9 , 1 5 3 - 5 4 , 1 5 5 , 16 6 -8 7 passim Chier(e), tenir, 1 1 7 - 1 8 Chivalry, 7 1 - 1 0 0 Chotzen, Th. M., 9 Chrétien de Troyes, 5, 8, 24, 55, 199 (n. 82) Chronology of Lais, 1 - 3 4 , 100, 1 2 7 - 2 8 , 18 4 -8 7 Cirlot, J. E., 93, 148 Claff, 9 Clédat, Léon, 43 Cleuville, 33 Clifford, Paula, 3, 4, 196 (n. 54) Cligés, 69 Cocito, Luciana, 68 Cohen, Gustave, 1 1 Cohn, G., 57, 60, 61, 70, 208 (n- 9) Cointise, cuinte, 4 1, 42, 63, 1 1 5 Colur, 2 18 (n. 21) Comput (Philippe de Thaon), 69, 200 (n. 2) Constans, L., 39, 53 Constantinople, 10, 103 Convertir, se, 150, 2 16 (n. 11) Cornwall, 30, 65, i n , 130, 143, 176, 193 (n.26), 195 (n. 52); Count of, 19, 16 1 Côte des Deux Amants, 10 Cotentin Peninsula, 27 Coudre, Village of, 33 Coutume, 48 Cowling, Samuel T , 194 (n. 38) Crainte, 49 Creon, King, 19 Cuenca, Luis Alberto de, 52, 58 Cuinte. See Cointise Cunestable, 108 Cunseil, 1 3 1 Cunte, 7 1, 209 (n. 3)

Cuntree, 80 Cure, 146, 201 (n. 6) Cureçus, curucié, 175, 2 19 (n. 25) Curt, 2 10 (n. 10) Curteis, curteisie, 82, 83, 88, 1 1 3 , 1 1 5, 118 , 14 1, 142, 143, 165, 180, 18 1, 183, 2 13 (n.8) Daire le Roux, 4, 6, 19 Damagier, 98 Dame, 74, 10 1, 105, 106, 108, 109, n o , n i , 1 1 2 Dameisele, 10 1, 105, 106, 108, n o , 112 , 2 1 3 (n. 8) Damisel, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 49, 7 1, 203 (n. 23), 209 {n. 4) Damon, S. Foster, 3 Danzel, 7 1 Daoulas, River, 23 Dart, River, 198 (n. 75) Davison, Muriel, 194 (n. 43) Déduire, 73 Deit, 4 1, 63 Delbouille, Maurice, 12 Délit, 170 Del Monte, Alberto, 32, 198 (n. 76) Dementer, se, 176 Départir, 98, 124, 2 14 (n. 10) Descort, 53 Desmesure, desmesurez, 3 5 - 3 6 , 4 3 -4 9 , 200 (n. 2), 201 (n. 3) Despensier, 80 Destinee, 64, 174 Destreindre, 168 Destreit, 175, 2 18 (n. 24) Desuz, de suz, 6 0 -6 1 Les Deus Amanz, ix, 3 - 1 9 passim, 30, 34, 35, 36, 4 2 -4 9 , 5 5, 6 9 -8 5 passim, 91, 92, 93, 10 6 -7 , 114 , 1 1 5 , 122, 126, 127, 237

Index Les Deus Amanz (continued) 128, 1 3 1 , 147, 163, 165, 168, 169, 1 7 3 - 8 5 passim Devon, viii, 31 Difßdatio, 1 9 1 (n. 15) Diocletian, 2 1 Dire, 68, 69 Doel, dolur, dolent, 175, 182, 2 18 (n. 24), 2 19 (n. 25) Dol, viii, 10, 33; Archbishop of, 10, 33, 77 Domus fortis, 75 Dru, drüerie, 2 1 7 (n. 18) Dubbing, 72 Dubius, Roger, 207 (n. 5), 2 17 (n. 18) Duçur, 177, 183 Dr eit chemin, 2 1 - 2 2 , 27 Duelas, River, 2 1, 23, 196 (n. 57) Dungeon, 75 Dunstanville, Reginald de, 19

Effrei, 17 5 , 2 18 (n. 24) Eglise, 78 Eilhart von Oberge, 19 Eise, 17 7 Eleanor of Aquitaine, 18, 195 (n.44) Eliduc, viii, 3, 5, 7, 8, 9, 30, 31, 34 , 35 , 46, 52, 5 5, 59 , 60, 69, 7 1, 73, 76, 78, 8 2 -1 0 0 passim, 1 0 8 - 1 1 2 , 1 1 3 , 114 , 120, 12 1, 122, 126, 127, 129, 130, 132, 133, 137 , 140, 145, 1 4 8 -8 7 passim Enfant, 7 1, 108, 203 (n. 23) England, English, Englishmen, viii, 9, 18, 19, 27, 32, 34, 76, 9 5 , 9 6 , 97 , 99 , 157, 158 Engleis, 9

238

Ennui, 175 Enseignée, enseignement, 105, n i , 115 Entremetre, se, 205 (n. 14) Enveisie, 116 , 14 2 Eostic, 10 Epte, River, 12 Equitan, viii, ix, 2 - 1 6 passim, 30, 34 , 35 - 4 2 , 46, 52, 54, 55, 59, 62, 63, 64, 6 9 -7 8 passim, 8 2 -9 2 passim, 1 0 2 - 3 , I0 8, 1 1 3 - 2 0 passim, 1 2 6 - 3 4 passim, 1 3 8 - 4 2 , 1 4 4 - 8 7 passim Erec et Enide, 8, 24, 6 i, 69, 199 (n. 82), 2 16 (n. 9) Escience, 184 Escole, de bone, 1 1 5 Escrit, 66, 67, 68 Esgarder, 42, 124, 2 14 (n. 10) Espine, Le Lai de V, 24, 209 (n. 4), 2 1 2 (n. 26) Esprendre, 167 Espurgatoire Seinz Patriz (Marie de France), 189 (n. 3), 200 (n. 3) Esquier, 80 Estable, 15 2 Estoire des Engleis (Gaimar), 7, 8, 52, 53, 2 10 (n. 13) Estores, 24 Estreindre, 168 Estrif, 175, 2 1 8 (n. 24) Estur, 100 Eure, Department of, 12 Everwic, 18 Ewert, Alfred, 13, 2 1, 36, 37, 41, 45, 5 0 -6 2 passim, 66, 7 1, 74, 84, 108, 206 (n. 1), 207 (n. 7), 2 10 (n. 13) Exeter, viii, 3 1, 99, 1 1 2, 154, 155, 156, 158

Index Fables (Marie de France), vii, 12,

6 i; 93, 18 9 (n. 3), 195 (n.44),

200 (n. 3), 201 (n. 8), 207 (n. 7), 210 (n. 8) Fabliau, 13 Falconry, 89 Farout, Ghislaine, 204 (n. 3) Fasciano, Domenico, 43, 2 18 (n. 20) Fei, 154, 155, 182 Felunie, 15 2 Femme, 1 1 2 Férir, 58 Ferrante, Joan, 37, 40, 5 1 - 6 1 passim, 67, 70, 108, 209 (n. 6) Fiance, 156, 157, 182 Fier, fierté, 82, 84, 88, 129 Fin, 28, 148, 179, 182 Finistère, Department of, 23 Flanders, 72, 98 Flemings, Flemish, 10, 95 Floire et Blancheflor, 201 (n. 6) Flori, Jean, 75 Florim ont (Aimon de Varennes), 201 (n. 6) Folie, fol, 53, 5 5, 5 8 - 5 9 , 170, 183, 185 Force, 26 Fort, 86, 88, 179 Foster, Brian, 53, 204 (n. 4) Foulet, Lucien, 5, 19 1 (n. 10), 204 ( n . 4 )

Franc, franchise, 82, 105, 1 1 5 - 1 6 , 118 , 14 1, 156, 157, 180, 18 1, 182 France, 12, 27, 33, 34, 116 , 187 Francis, Elizabeth A., 33 Frappier, Jean, 56, 67, 70, 207 (n. 6) French, Frenchmen, 10, 18, 34,

95, 1 8 4

Le Fresne, 3 - 9 passim, 15, 16, 17, 20, 28, 30, 31, 33, 34, 44, 56, 73, 77, 8 2 -8 9 passim, 93, 103, 105, 114 , 1 1 5, 12 1, 122, 126, 127, 128, 1 3 1 , 145, 153, 1 5 8 - 6 4 passim, 169, 17 3, 176, 178, 179, 180, 184, 185 Fresnes, Fresneys (family name),

33 Gaainier, 98 Gaimar, Geoffrey, 7, 52 Garwaf, 9 Gautier d'Arras, 5, 6 Gauvain, 82 Gent, 88, 1 1 4 Geoffrey (Son of Henry II), 197 (n.65) Geoffrey of Monmouth, 196 (nn. 5,7), 1 9 7 (n.65), 1 99 (n. 80) Geography of Lais, viii, ix, 8 - 3 4 Giraldus Cambrensis, 23 Goddess of Love, 136 Golden Valley (of River Wye), 23 Gotelef, 30 Gré, faire, 5 9 -6 0 Green, Robert B., 15 Grout, Patricia B., 6 Guere, guereier, 97, 100 Guerpir, 15 2 Guide Michelin, 192 (n. 25) Guigemar, vii, x, xi, 2 - 9 passim, 14, 20, 2 2 - 2 4 , 2,8, 3 0 -3 6 passim, 40, 46, 52, 54, 56, 60, 61, 6 3 -6 4 , 6 8 -9 2 passim, 9 6 -9 7 , 9 8 -10 0 , 1 0 1 - 2 , 1 1 3 - 2 1 passim, 1 2 5 - 3 3 passim, 1 3 4 - 3 7 , 1 3 8 - 4 8 passim, 1 5 2 - 8 7 passim Guingamars, 24 Guingamor, 24

239

Index Guinevere, 30 Gwent, 18, 23 Ha (Breton conjunction), 32 Hainault, 10 Haitiez, 89 Hanning, Robert W., 37, 40, 5 1 - 6 1 passim, 67, 70, 108, 209 (n. 6), 2 15 (n. 2) Hardi, hardem ent, 82, 84, 85, 86, 88, 179, 2 1 1 (n. 19) Hatcher, Anna G., 68 Hector, 38 Heinrich von Veldeke, 6 Henry II (King of England), 18, 19, 23, 27, 30, 34, 83, 95, 1 1 3 , 195 (n.44), 197 (n. 65), 200 (n. 82) Hereford, 33 Hertz, W., 32 Historia Regum Britanniae, 197 (n. 65), 199 (n. 80) Hodgson, Frederick, 189 (n. 81) Hoepffner, Ernest, 3 - 2 4 passim, 36, 37, 40, 4 3 , 54 , U i , 190 (n. 3), 201 (n. 4) Hofer, Stefan, 192 (n. 18), 199 (n.82) Hoge, 77, 2 10 (n. 13) Hoilas, Hoël (King), 23, 73, 197 (n. 65), 2 10 (n. 7) Holmes, Urban X , Jr., 23, 33, 196

(n . 5 5 ) Honur, honurer, 16 0 -6 1, 182 Howel, Dda, 195 (n. 65) H um m e, 77 Hunt, Tony, 80 Hunting, X, 12, 8 9 -9 2 , 103, 180 llle et Galeron, 5, 6, 38 Illingworth, Richard N., 4, 6, 7, 8 - 1 2 , 13, 18, 19, 23, 24

240

Innocent III (Pope), 10 Ipom edon, 59, 205, (n. 16) Ireland, 22 Iseut, 28, 30, 6 5 -7 0 , i n , 195 (n.48) Italy, 10 fagunce, 103 Le Jeu d ’A dam , 204 (n. 11) Jodogne, Omer, 2 16 (n. 12) Johnston, Ronald, C., 207 (n. 7) Joie, 4 5 -4 6 , 138, 170, 177, 182 Joliveté, 170, 185 Jonin, Pierre, 37, 41, 4 9 , 56, 59 , 60, 67, 68, 70, 74, 108 Jousts. See Tournaments Julia Strata, 22

Kings, kingship, 7 3 - 7 5 , 2 0 9 -10 (n- 7) Knights, knighthood, x, 7 1 - 1 0 0 , 17 9 -8 3 Lanci er, 168 Lanval, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 1 7 - 2 0 , 24, 3 0 -3 6 passim, 42, 46, 57, 6 i, 6 8 -9 2 passim, 10 4 -6 , 1 1 3 - 1 3 0 passim, 1 4 7 , 1 5 ° , 1 5 1 , 155, 1 5 8 - 7 2 passim, 1 7 6 87 passim Larmat, Jean, 89 Lasse, 176 Latin, 24, 39, 184 Laurie, Helen, 24 Laüstic, x, 3 - 1 7 passim, 22, 30, 34, 42, 7 1 - 7 8 passim, 8 3 - 9 3 passim, 10 9 -10 , 1 14, 1 1 5, 1 17, 1 2 5 - 3 3 passim, 146, 15 3 , 159, i 6i , 163, 165, 16 9 -8 6 passim Laustic (etymology), 10 Lazar, Moshé, 43, 44, 14 1

Index Leal, lealment, leauté, 154, 155, 182 Lecheor, Le Lai dou, 209 (n. 6) Lecherie, 170, 183 Le Gentil, Pierre, 100 Leicester, 33 Le Mée, Katharine, 16 Léon, Liun, 23, 74, 76, 129, 187, 197 (n. 6s) Leprosy, 9 Lignage, 1 1 2 Lisieux, 89 Lods, Jeanne, 43, 49, 54, 61 Loengre, Logres, 9, 29, 31 Lords, lordship, 1 7 3 - 7 6 , 178, 179, 186 Lot, Ferdinand, 6 Loth, J., 9 Love, ix, X, xi, 13, 14, 15, 28, 30, 3 6 -4 2 , 44, 49, 5 0 -5 2 , 6 2-6 4 , 1 3 4 - 7 8 , 18 0 -8 5 , 186, 188

Meschine, 105, 108, n o , 112 , 11 3 , 2 13 (n. i) Mesure, mesurahlement, x, 3 5 -4 9 , 200 (n. 2), 2 13 (n.8) Mesurer, mesureur, 201 (n. 8) Meulan, 33 Meuz, 54, 57 Mickel, Emanuel J., Jr., 1, 15, 43, 162 Miles of Gloucester, 33 Milites, 75 Milun, x, xi, 2 - 9 passim, 2 4 - 3 0 passim, 34, 35, 36, 54, 57, 59, 7 1 - 7 8 passim, 7 9 -8 2 , 8 3 - 1 0 2 passim, 1 0 7 - 1 5 passim, 119 , 1 25 —33 passim, 152, 16 0 -7 0 passim, 17 4 -8 8 passim Monmouth, 23 Mont St. Michel, viii, 95 Morgain la Fée, 24 Morrois, Forest of, 65 Murnes, 175, 2 19 (n. 25)

M cCulloch, Florence, 190 (n. 3) McLelland, Denise, 108 Maisun, 75, 77, 78, 80 Mal, 64, 174, 175, 2 18 (n. 24) Malbailli, 176 Mander, 68, 69 Marie de Beaumont, 33, 34, 19 8 -9 9 (n. 80) Mark, King, 30, 65, 76, i n , 130, 179, 18 7 , 2 10 (n. 7) Martire, 175 Mason, Eugene, 57, 60, 61 Mauveisté, 170, 183 Maz, 175, 2 19 (n. 25) Meintenement, 26 Meisnee, 77 Ménard, Philippe, 3, 4, 58, 162, 178, 190 (n. 3), 192 (n. 17) Mensurare, mensura, 39

Nafrer, 2 16 (n. 7) Nains, 12 Namnetes, 12 Nantes, viii, 10, 12, 15, 102, 138, 193 (n.26) Natural History (Pliny), 194 (n. 3 9 ) Nature, 14 4 -4 6 Nauns, 12, 193 (n.26) Neale, R. A., 205 (n. n ) Neri, Ferdinando, 36, 5 3, 54, 56, 57, 58, 60, 64, 67 Neustrie, 10 Newport, 22 Niemeyer, J. F., 108 Nihtegale, 30 Nobilitas, 80 Nobility, noble birth, 10 2 -3 , 112 , 179

241

Index Noble, noblement, noblesce, 83, io6, 11 3 , 114 , 142, 183 Noomen, Willem, 49 Normandy, Normans, viii, 9, 10, 12, 17, 95, 107 Northumbria, 27, 95, n o Nov eher, 14 1 Ocire, 5 2 - 5 3 Octavian, Emperor, 104 Ogam, 67 Oise, Department of, 12 Old Norse, 30, 190 (n. 1) Orgueil, 43, 4 4 -4 5 Orine, 105, 1 1 3 Otaka, Yorio, 89 Otreier, 168 Ovid, xi, 136, 168, 195 (n. 44), 2 16 (n. 2) Oxford Psalter, 200 (n. 2) Paile, 17, 103, 1 16 Pais, 2 10 (n. 8) Pan, 5 6 - 5 7 Parage, 77, 10 1, i n , 1 1 2 Parfit, 149, 150, 170 Paris, Gaston, 9, 52, 54, 56, 196 (n. 57) Paroles, 65, 70 Partir, 56 Pasmer, 17 2 La Passion du Christ, 204 (n. 11) Payen, Jean-Charles, 128 Pays de Saleme, 1 0 - 1 1 Pechez, 103 Peine, 175, 2 18 (n. 24) Pensif, 175, 2 18 (n. 24) Philip Augustus, 6 Philippe de Thaon, 69, 200 (n. 2) Pickens, Rupert T , 14, 40, 41, 190 (n. 4), 199 (n. 81)

242

Piets, 17 Piramus et Tisbé, 7, 8, 13, 14 Pistre, Pitres, Pistrians, 10, 11,

33, 107 Plaie, 2 16 (n. 7) Pleindre, se, 176 Pleinte, faire sa, 176 Pleisir, 170 Pliny, 194 (n. 39) Point, 48 Poirion, Daniel, 203 (n. 3) Pont de l'Arche, 10 Portskewett, 22, 26 Preier, 14 3 Prieuré des Deux-Amants, 10 Prince, 2 10 (n. 8) Pris, 80, 98, 143, 16 1, 184, 2 1 7 (n. 15) Priveement, 90 Privez, 77 Produme, 85 Prologue, General (to Lais), 2, 34, 16 1, 17 3, 183, 184, 187, 192 (n. 18) Prowess, 7 1 - 1 0 0 , 17 9 -8 0 Proz, pruz, pruesce, 77, 8 2 -8 8 passim, 114 , 118 , 142, 165, 179, 18 1, 183, 2 1 1 (n. 19) Pruz ("profit"), 138, 17 7 Pucele, 10 1, 105, 106, 108, 11 2 , 123, 2 13 (n. 1) Quarantaine le roy, 6 Quens. See Cunte Quointes. See Cointise Radnor, Radnorshire, 23, 196 (n. 62) Raimbaut de Vaqueiras, 5 3 Raisun, reisun, 4 1, 48 Raugei, Anna M., 32

Index Raynaud de Lage, Guy, 39 Regne, régné, 74, 2 10 (n. 8) Reine, i n , 207 (n. 8) Reis, 74, 83 Remedia Amoris (Ovid), 2 15 (n. 2) Requer(r)e, 54, 57 Reschaufer, 168 Reverdie, 7 Reuser, 52 Rhymney, River, 26 Ribard, Jacques, 49, 92 Richard I (King of England), 198 (n.72) Richards, Earl J., 192 (n. 17) Richement, i n Rieger, Dietmar, 56, 57 Riveier, 73, 89, 2 12 (n. 26) Robert (Earl of Gloucester), 199 (n. 80) Robertson, D. W., Jr., 209 (n. 6) Robson, C. A., 194 (n. 41) Roger of Pistre, 33 Roman de Brut, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 18, 19, 195 (n.44), 198 (n.75) Roman d ’Eneas, 5, 6, 8, 14, 18, 2 4 , 3 7 , 38, 5 3 , 58, 130, 198 (n .75)

Roman de Thèbes, 4, 5, 6, 38, 39, 48, 195 (nn.44, 50) Roman de Troie, 38, 39, 53, 69 Romans, 18 Romans antiques, xi Roquefort, B. de, viii, 36, 54, 57, 58, 60 Rouen, 10 Rute, 207 (n. 8) Rychner, Jean, 36, 37, 41, 45, 5 1 - 6 0 passim, 70, 84, 197 (n. 41), 201 (n. 4), 206 (n. 1), 2 10 (n. 13)

Sage, sagement, sagesse, 83, 114 , 1 1 5 , 118 , 14 1, 18 1 St. Aaron, 4, 21, 24 Saint-Germain-en-Laye, 33 St. Malo, viii, 10 Saint-Méloir des Oudes, 33 St. Pol de Léon, 23 Sale, 75 Saleme, Salerno, 10, 16, 17, 77, 107, 1 3 1 , 194 (n.41) Saveir, 40, 59 Sayers, William, 9 Scotland, Scots, 17 Segre, Cesare, 14 Seine, River, 10, 1 1 Seine-et-Oise, Department of, 12 Seinz, 150 Semblant, 116 , 1 1 7 Semiramis, Queen, 104 Senee, 83 Seneschal, role of, 2 1 3 (n. 3) Sens, 3 5 - 4 2 , 63, 86, 114 , 138, 140, 183 Serement, 156 Servir, servise, 154, 157, 158, 159, 182 Severn, River, 23, 10 1, 196 (n. 62) Short, Ian, 205 (n. 11 ) Sienaert, Edgard, 1, 80 Sire, seinur, 74, 78, 79, 109 Social status, 8 0 -8 1, 1 0 2 - 3 , m , 12 9 -3 0 , 182 The Song of Songs, 40 Soudeier, soudees, 97, 100 Southampton, viii, 27 Southern Richard W., 96 South Wales. See Wales Spitzer, Leo, 44, 68, 70 Stevens, John, 37, 43, 44, 49 Storey, Christopher, 61 Strayer, Joseph R., 109 243

Index Sum m e, 67, 68, 69 Sum undre, 168 Surplus, 169 Surprendre, 168 Susfrir, suffrance, 17 4 Suspirer, 170, 1 7 1 Sybil (daughter of Bernard of Neuf marche), 33

Talbot, Hugh, 33 Talent, 1 4 5 - 4 7 Tatheus, Tathy, 22 Tere, 28, 77 Thibaut de Marly, 38 Thiébaux, Marcelle, 89, 91 Tintagel, 30, 65, i n Tobler, Adolf, 57, 58, 59, 60 Tolir, 5 3/ 55/ 57 Totnes, viii, 3 1 , 198 (n. 75) Tournaments, x, 10, 27, 81, 9 3 - 9 7 , 98, 1 3 1 , 180, 198 (n.72) Tours, 10 Travail, 175, 2 1 8 - 1 9 (n. 2.4) Tref, 104 Trespensez, 175, 2 19 (n. 25) Tristan, Legend of, vii, ix, 4, 6, 7, 8, 18, 19, 61, 7 1 - 7 2 , 88, 195 In. 4 4 ) Tristur, 175, 2 19 (n. 24) Troubadours, xi, 5, 142 Tuer, 5 2 - 5 3 , 204 (nn. 3, 4) Tuffrau, Paul, 108 Utre mer, de, 32 Vaillant, 77, 84, 85, 88, 103, 114 , 17 9 , 1 8 1 Valere, 85

Vallet, 7 1, 203 (n. 23)

244

Valur, 42, 85, 86, 114 , 138, 140, 183, 2 17 (n. 15) Vassal, 7 1, 208 (n. 2) Veer, 52 Vengier, 2 10 (n. 14) Venus, 136 Vergier, 76, 12 3 Verhuyck, Paul, 207 (n. 8) Les Vers, (Thibaut de Marly), 38 Vexin, i i , 12, 33 La Vie de Saint A lexis, 56, 58, 61 Vilains, vileins, vileinie, 129, 130, 137 , 170, 184, 185 Voleir, 61 Volunté, 6 0 -6 1 Voyage of St. Brendan, 57, 58 Vuiltrer, 92

Wace, 4, 7, 10, 18, 19, 22, 198

(n.75) Waleran of Beaumont, 33, 19 8 -9 9 (n. 80) Wales, viii, 19, 24, 30, 33, 34, 65, 108, n o , 19 3 (n. 26) War, x, 9 6 -10 0 , 180, 186 Wamke, Karl, 36, 45, 5 1 - 6 1 passim, 69, 70, 74, 108, 206 (n. 1), 207 (n. 7), 208 (n. 9) The Wash, 9 Wathelet-Willem, Jeanne, 12, 13, 14, 45, 202 (n. 12) William, Count (dedicatee of Fables), 195 (n.44) William Marshal, 95, 96 Williams, Harry F., 56, 6 7 -6 8 , 108, 201 (n. 4) Wind, Bartina H., 203 (n. 26) Woledge, Brian, 68 Women, x -x i, 1 0 1 - 3 3 , 1 8 1 - 8 3

Index Worcester, 33 Wye, River, 23

Yonec, 2 - 9 passim, 2 0 - 2 1 , 22, 23, 27, 28, 34, 35, 36, 40, 42, 46, 6 8 -9 2 passim, 100, 102, 10 8 -9 , 1 1 4 - 2 1 passim, 125,

127, 132, 133, 146, 147, 148, 160-61, 163, 165, 170-87 passim York, 18 Youth, Theme of, 4 8 -4 9 Zimmer, H., 9

245