Lanval and Sir Launfal Lecture PDF

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Marie de France, Lanval and Thomas of Chester, Sir Launfal Lecture Overview of medieval ideas about retelling narratives:  Romanz: old meets new  Learning, ‘clergie’, of old stories now found ‘en romanz’  Romance (both language and emerging genre) as intellectual heir to Latin  New audience for these stories: more mixed, although still envisaged as elite  Secular (i.e. not Latinate clergy)  Women as well as men. Beginnings of romance: • Arises out of the desire to tell stories of old times in a new linguistic and social context. • Lots of works composed in Britain even though they are in French. • French used in Britain by upper class. • First appears in French and in France early in the 12th century, but lots of earliest French works composed in Britain (e.g. Chanson de Roland) • These British French works are called ‘Anglo-Norman romances’; prevalent from mid-12th century to end of 13th • Romances in English appear in number from the end of the 13th century • English romances dominate the 14th and 15th centuries in Britain • Stories often move from French to English, e.g. • Anglo-Norman Horn (c. 1175); Middle English King Horn (c. 1250) • Anglo-Norman Haveloc (after 1140); Middle English Havelok (c.1280-90) Romance form: • Earliest French romances often in rhyming eight-syllable couplets (e.g. Cligès) • English romances also often stylistically defined by rhyme (e.g. Sir Launfal) • British Library, MS Cotton Caligula A.ii (fol. 93v) Marie de France: • Author of the lais (c. 1170), L’Espurgatoire seint Patriz (1189-1208), collection of Fables (1190), La Vie Seinte Audrey (Possibly hers?) • ‘Oez seignurs ke dit Marie’ (Guigemar) ‘Marie ai nun, so sui de France’ (Fables) – why we know her name – because she explicitly says it. • Reference by Denis Pyramus (La Vie seinte Edmunde le rei, 1190s) • ‘de France’ refers to area around Paris • Possibly worked in/around Henry II’s court? Definitely in Noble area. • Places her as active during the late 12th century when French is still the language of the nobility. • Literate: trilingual. Translates texts from Latin into English. • Possibly a nun? Only women who received that level of education. • Marie Beckett, Thomas Beckett’s sister, abbess of Barking; the abbess of Shaftesbury in Dorset. • Individual identity of an author in the Middle Ages is less important now. • She becomes a character, taking on a persona. Lais:

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Lais = about Arthurian figures. Breton lais were tales from Wales, Cornwall and Ireland that travelled to Brittany (hence the name) Marie’s lais are the earliest example la matière de Bretagne: mythology related to King Arthur Lai c.f. a ‘short story version’ of a romance narrative (usually longer and often interlaced, i.e. several narratives woven together) Features: knights, ladies, quests (aventure), magic and supernatural, chivalry, love Roles and expectations of women Subvert common narrative devices while not necessarily offering a female or feminist take of them.

Performance: • Lai were performed (communal experience)  De ceste cunte ke oï avez Fu Guigemar le lai trovez, Quë hum fait en harpe e en rote: Bonë est a oïr la note (Guigemar, 883-886)  [The lay of Guigemar, which is performed on harp and rote, was composed from the tale you have heard. The melody is pleasing to the ear.] • Stylistic features of lai (verse, rhyme, repetition) indicate performance: memory aids. • No dense poetic imagery or metaphors. • Short in rhyming couplets and tended to be performed. Marie de France, Lanval: narrative • Situates Lanval as another lay. • This isn’t an original story. • The context is feudalism – a societal structure based on quid pro quo between a higher and a lower status person. • Feudal context: the knight Lanval is Arthur’s vassal (fights for Arthur if the King goes to war). In theory, might repay him with land and titles. • Lanval is alienated from the court because Arthur has failed to reward him which amounts to social rejection. • Feudal relations depend on the bargain between subjects and vassal. • As Lanval leaves the court, he meets a fairy who becomes his lover and gives him money to improve his standing as a knight on condition is that he can’t tell anyone about her. • Lanval is then able to behave appropriately as a knight, and he attracts attention of the queen, Arthur’s wife, who asks him to be her lover. Lanval rejects her and reveals he has a lover, but of course he then loses his lover, as he’s broken his promise of secrecy. • In revenge, the queen accuses Lanval of trying to seduce her and he is tried, but is saved by his fairy lover who comes back to rescue him, despite his broken promise. • He mounts her horse and the two ride off to the isle of Avalon, a magical island. Lanval: narrative motifs: • The Otherworld and the Earthly Court • The fairy mistress figure • Fictions of female empowerment

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The story incorporates and subverts common narrative conventions, such as the power dynamic between men and women.

The Otherworld • A cross between the afterlife and a parallel dimension, place from which magic originates: Celtic/Breton mythology • Usually involves an erotic experience • Isolated and inaccessible • Although it looks like the real world, it operates by different rules (e.g. time moves differently – no time/loads of time has passed) • Space of inversion, parallels with feudal court • Usually a point where someone falls in love with a fairy or is lured there by a fairy like in Lanval. Lanval and the Otherworld: • Inversion of feudal court. • When he meets the mysterious lady, there are several signals that point to the fact that he’s crossing into another world. • It is interesting that the fairy lady insists that Lanval returns to court as most of the time fairies would try to keep their Knight’s with them away from society. • Lanval’s own reaction shows he is surprised  [‘I shall abandon all others for you, I never want to leave you.’] • Signs of boundaries between ‘real’ world and ‘Otherworld’:  Magical animal or water: ‘une ewe curaunt’ (45) – sits down by running stream.  Trembling of house: ‘sis cheval tremble forment’ (46)  Sleep – sleep in medieval literature is often symbolic of death or a passing between worlds. • Isolation:  ‘Pur vus guerpirai tutes genz, Jamés ne queor de vus partir’ (128-9) Inversion of court: • Otherworld is an inversion of the feudal court: Un aigle d’or ot desus mis, De cel ne sai dire le pris, Ne des cordes ne des peissuns Que del tref tienent les giruns; Suz ciel n’ad rei kis esligast Pur nul aver k’il i donast (87-92) [There was a golden eagle placed on the top, the value of which I cannot tell, nor of the ropes or the poles which supported the walls of the tent. There is no king under the sun who could afford it, however much he might give.]  The court’s resources are finite as there is not enough land and women to go around.  However, the lady has unlimited resources.  Here, the ladies ability to offer Lanval unlimited wealth makes her a substitute for Arthur as she offers him the rewards that the King owes. The Fairy Mistress:

Modelled on the medieval figure of the fairy: is a single woman who governs her own household, usually in an Otherworld-type setting. Normally isolated from court: magic. • Inversion of courtly lady: autonomous, independent (sexually and financially). • Women at court are seen as objects of exchange commonly. • See this when Arthur offers women to his knights. • Seeks out her own lover: ‘Lanval,’ fet ele, ‘beus amis, Pur vus vienc jeo fors de ma tere De luinz vus sui venue quere.’ (110-112) [‘Lanval,’ she said, ‘fair friend, for you I came from my country. I have come far in search of you.’] • Openly sexualised: ‘En sa chemise senglement’ (99) [‘clad only in her shift’] ‘Tut ot descovert le costé,/le vis, le col e la peitrine’ (104-5) [‘her side was uncovered, as well as her face, neck, and breast’] • She saves him, not the other way around: he is ‘ravi’, or ‘taken’ – usually associated with men carrying away women. He is therefore no longer part of the patriarchal structure. - Not wearing veil or wimple and is basically naked apart from some underwear. - In most Lais stories, women are clothed lavishly so this is rare. - The fairy is basically the opposite of Guinevere in this way. - She is also opposite to her because she is more like Arthur in her ability to give gifts. - The fairy saves Lanval not the other way round. - In many ways, the fairy represents empowerment as the fairy becomes the hero. •

Marie de France, Lanval: key points • Lanval creates a fiction of female empowerment • Otherworld is a space outside of the patriarchal court; fairy has authority • Subverts established generic expectations of lais (and romance) • Highlights that the imbalance of power (re. gender, status etc) is written into the basic conceptions of lai and romance • Marie is interested in playing with literay expectations about the imbalance of power. Thomas of Chester, Sir Launfal • Middle English retelling of the Lanval narrative • Composed in the late 14th century • Single manuscript dates from 1446-60, so late 15th century (i.e. a century later than poem composed) • Possible author names himself ‘Thomas of Chester’ at the end of the work, but we know nothing else about him • Composed in the same era as Chaucer’s poetry (e.g. The Canterbury Tales). • Chaucer wrote a parody of romance – ‘The Tale of Sir Thopas’. • The opening lines of this are similar to that of Sir Lanfal. Not parodying him directly but it was so ubiquitous that it was easy enough to copy. Generic change between Lanval and Sir Launfal? • Major themes and form of romance seem similar between 1170s and late 1300s between French and English • Change (related to language) is in audience: e.g. the Host who interrupts ‘Sir Thopas’

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Romance has moved from being an elite, aristocratic, French genre to one experienced by a much wider range of people from across the social hierarchy, and, crucially, is experienced in English. English language nature gives them a much bigger and more socially mixed audience than that of Marie’s. This may mean they reflect slightly different ideas and approaches to narrative that speak to the concerns of this rather more varied audience.

Sir Launfal: Otherworld • Different from the French Lanval: no river or shivering horse • Forest: can be an ‘otherworldly’ place, but not necessarily • Forest is often a place of hunting/questing/knightly testing. • There is no mention of the shivering horse or of the lake. • Sir Launfal is removed from the court, but has he crossed to the Otherworld? • Crossing over into the other world is much less clearly marked in this text in comparison to Marie’s. Sir Launfal: extra scene (Otherworld context) • After leaving Arthur’s court Launfal goes to ask the mayor of Carleon if he may lodge with him despite having left the king • The mayor initially makes an excuse, finally offering the knight much less good accommodation. • In despair Launfal desposes of his remaining wealth and goods ‘savagelych’ or ‘wildly’ • The mayor fails to invite Launfal to a feast on Trinity Sunday because the knight is so poor • His daughter tries to persuade Launfal to come; he refuses, saying he has no clean clothes, then begs her for a saddle and bridle for his horse. Ø Details relate to potential concerns of a lower-status, more mixed audience: different focus of Thomas’s translatio  This tells of crucial details of debt, poverty (lacking clothes), unkindness of characters such as the man.  These vivid details create a very different picture from Marie’s Lanval, where we are told Lanval spent all his inheritance without much more detail.  Potential concerns faced by a lower status and more mixed audience.  Focus more on wealth and class as opposed to the supernatural.  Alongside the concerns that are present in the first text, more issues and arguments are raised. Sir Launfal: fairy maiden (or is she?) • Named ‘Dame Tryamour’ (trier, ‘to choose’; amor, ‘love’) – she is not named in the Marie text. • Seems less supernatural and elusive. • ‘the Kynges doughter of Olyroun’: she inhabits human power structures of contemporary medieval society • Gift-giving is less magical. • In the English version we are given more specifics of the wealth he has, I’ll give you my horse/servant/banner – will be protected by armor/possibly magic? • In contrast, in Marie, he is simply told, you’ll always have enough.

Fairy maiden: a bargain: • Launfal’s wealth is in exchange for not just secrecy (as in French text), but faithfulness to the lady. • This condition isn’t in the first text. • Dowry? Language of condition, contract, and exchange • Moves away from supernatural towards the ‘real’: the fairy maiden locates herself in the everyday world in which women are effectively bought and sold in marriage • Free will and her agency are engaging within societal parameters. Makes her less powerful. Ø The maiden’s free will and agency, unlike her counterpart in Marie’s text, are operating with ‘normal’ societal parameters: she’s less powerful in her own right Sir Launfal: the ending:  MARIE = When the maiden came through the door, he leapt in a single bound on to the palfrey behind her. He went with her to Avalon, so the Bretons tell us, to a very beautiful island. Thither the young man was borne.  THOMAS OF CHESTER = Launfal mounts own horse and the two ride away with their servants.  Very different scenario – no sense of the fairy maiden as a free agent in removing Launfal from court with no threat to patriarchal power here.  Both the fairies and the otherworldly power are reduced in the English text.  Also an interesting addition to the story in the English version – every year upon a certain day, men may hear Launfal’s steed nay and see him with sight.  Narrator goes on to say that if they see Launfal on that day, they mauy joust with him, even though he has been taken by fae.  This is supernatural and otherworldly. Still, is less distinctly magical than in Marie’s.  Underlines a straightforward relationship between the other world and the real one in the English narrative. Sir Launfal: key points • A different perspective on the Lanval story: • Wider social range of characters and themes, perhaps related to more mixedstatus audience • Less concerned with issues of gender and power as seen in the fairy maiden • Less engaged in constructing a comparison between the Otherworld and the world of the court Conclusion: • Both lais and romances are fascinated by ‘old stories’ • This fascination is a fundamental characteristic of the genre in both French and English, in early and late works • Lots of variety in the retellings of ‘old stories’. • Romance as a genre is inherently plural, multilingual, and various nature....