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2023 JOURNAL OF THE INTERNATIONAL ARTHURIAN SOCIETY
AbstractThis study explores a statement made by the twelfth-century poet Chrétien de Troyes in his Conte du Graal (c. 1181–90), which includes the line ‘Que nus contes de ce n’amende’ [because no tale improves on the retelling], under the light of a possible relationship with the notion of pre-print publishing. In the context of the current scholarly upsurge of interest in ‘medieval publishing’, and through an analysis of similar phrases found both in other medieval romances and in other of Chrétien’s works, this article proposes we should understand this phrase in a dual sense: on the one hand, as an internal narrative device to avoid repetition, and – importantly on the other – as an outward-facing warning against the alteration of his work in its retelling, functioning in some ways akin to a modern declaration of copyright.
2023 JOURNAL OF THE INTERNATIONAL ARTHURIAN SOCIETY
AbstractThis article argues that elements from the First Continuation of Chrétien de Troyes’s Perceval (or Le Conte du Graal) (c. 1190–1200) were remodelled in the anonymous late thirteenth-century text Le Roman de Laurin, which belongs to the cycle of the Seven Sages of Rome, to create the pseudo-Gawain episode (or episode of the White Knight). This is followed by a consideration of the reasons the author may have had for making use of these Arthurian elements. These include the idea that this section of the Laurin may have formed part of the apparent literary backlash against the denigration of Gawain found in the Prose Tristan (c. 1230), the probable desire of the author to enhance his hero’s status by making him Gawain’s equal, and perhaps the desire to create a text blending the matière de Rome with the matière de Bretagne. The article then looks briefly at how some of the same elements are also found in the Prose Tristan and presents a view on the possible relationship(s) between the various works in the context of these intertextual components. Finally, there is a consideration of what these intertexts may tell us about contemporary audiences and the reception of the Laurin, in the context of a widespread engagement with the Perceval-corpus. This leads to the suggestion that, in the way it interacts with other texts, this part of Laurin might be considered typical of thirteenth-century Arthurian romance.I am indebted to the two anonymous readers of the original draft of this article for various suggested improvements.
2023 JOURNAL OF THE INTERNATIONAL ARTHURIAN SOCIETY
AbstractThe Middle English characters of Acheflour, the hero’s mother in Sir Percyvell of Galles, and Blauncheflour, the hero’s mother in Sir Tristrem, share their actively voiced concern for their sons. In doing so, they are granted greater prominence in these Middle English narrative contexts than their counterparts in other linguistic traditions. In this article, I argue that the figure of Acheflour, whose agency has been acknowledged in scholarship, sets up a standard for Blauncheflour, whose role in the story has been, on the contrary, rather overlooked. Acheflour and Blauncheflour have in common that they are sisters to a king – Arthur and Mark respectively – and young widows. I argue that the strategies that they develop in order to protect their sons from the dangers of knighthood are comparable and create stronger relationships with these young knights.
2023 JOURNAL OF THE INTERNATIONAL ARTHURIAN SOCIETY
AbstractIn Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, supernatural testers disrupt both Arthur’s court and the interlocked perfections of the Pentangle, weighing Gawain and finding him wanting. Gawain’s failure, moreover, foregrounds the human need for grace and forgiveness, demonstrating both the impossibility of human perfection and the humanity of imperfections redeemed. This essay explores the semi-typological relationship between Gawain and St Peter, arguing that the likenesses between the Arthurian knight and Christ’s disciple effectively reinforce the poem’s message that failings are inevitable in a post-lapsarian world, but that those errors can yet be mercifully and graciously redeemed. Gawain’s fairy-wrought ‘fall’ from excellence is, it turns out, a happy one – a chivalric felix culpa that makes room for the forgiveness and recovery of knightly failings.
2023 JOURNAL OF THE INTERNATIONAL ARTHURIAN SOCIETY
AbstractEurope boasts a large number of traditions and cultures which coexist in a relatively small space. However, despite this, different literary motifs and topics have been readapted and transformed into other different traditions. The Arthurian legend is a prime example of this. Whilst it originated in the British Isles, it rapidly expanded throughout the continent in many different cultural manifestations, from poetry to decorative arts, music to drama. The Arthurian legend acquired special importance in France, where Chrétien de Troyes’s Erec et Enide gave it a courtly touch. The Welsh version of the story, Geraint ap Erbin, is less courtly than its French counterpart but keeps elements proper to the Welsh tradition. Thus, the Arthurian legend developed in different cultural traditions throughout the Middle Ages and it is the object of readaptations even today. Erec et Enide was recently rewritten and readapted into Spanish as a contemporary story focusing on modern-day problems. Manuel Vázquez Montalbán’s Erec y Enide is an exceptional example of intercultural practice tailored to a culture (or even cultures) different from the original one in which it was composed. This article analyses the process of transferring and recreating the European medieval time and space of the French and Welsh texts into a Latin-American contemporary context, where brigands and thieves are substituted by henchmen and guerrillas and argues how translation can play a key role in the recreation of the medieval world in a contemporary setting.
2023 JOURNAL OF THE INTERNATIONAL ARTHURIAN SOCIETY
ZusammenfassungIn der Gasoein-Episode der Crône Heinrichs von dem Türlin macht Gasoein gegenüber Artus ältere Ansprüche auf Ginover geltend. Um diese Ansprüche zu belegen, beruft er sich unter anderem auf die antiken Liebesgötter sowie auf die nahtweiden. Diese hätten ihm Ginover bereits bei ihrer Geburt zugesprochen. Der vorliegende Aufsatz geht der Frage nach, was nahtweiden sind und welche Funktion sie innerhalb der erzählten Welt der Crône, vor allem aber auf der Diskursebene haben.
2023 JOURNAL OF THE INTERNATIONAL ARTHURIAN SOCIETY
AbstractThe five Arthurian romances of Chrétien de Troyes were hugely influential in establishing King Arthur’s world as one that could easily expand to include the adventures of a seemingly endless group of chivalric heroes. Chrétien’s use of character details to connect his romances and suggest a shared fictional world inspired other romance writers as well as medieval translators, illustrators, and manuscript copyists and compilers. The result was a multimedia Arthurian universe akin to the modern narratological concept of the transmedial storyworld. This storyworld relied on the recognisability of the Arthurian knights as characters and existed in many different forms across written and visual media, including the unique combinations of text and image that appear in different manuscript witnesses of Chrétien’s romances. Emphasising the utility of both individual manuscripts and modern narratology, this article investigates three manuscripts that contain romances by Chrétien: Paris, BNF fr. 1450, Paris, BNF fr. 1433, and Montpellier, Bibliothèque interuniversitaire, H 249. Through examining the distinct arrangement, editing, and decorative choices in these manuscripts, I argue that they illustrate the potential of character as a means of worldbuilding, not only for medieval authors but also for other creators and audiences.