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Coward, Traitor, Landless Trojan: AEneas and the Politics of Sodomy

Coward, Traitor, Landless Trojan: AEneas and the Politics of Sodomy Chapter 5 Coward, Traitor, Landless T r o j a n : Æn e a s a n d t h e Politics of Sodomy The University of Texas at Austin Coming to terms with sodomy in Heinrich von Veldeke`s Eneasroman means defining the ulterior motives of Lavinia's mother.1 It is the queen who brings up this unsavoury accusation, and when she does so, it is politically motivated. She tries to persuade first her husband and then her daughter that Æneas is unqualified to become Lavinia's husband and thus successor to the old king, a new king of reliable longevity, and the father of a dynasty of future kings. This marks a significant change from the source. In Virgil's Æneid, Amata's arguments are part of an entire sequence of tirades directed against Æneas, and they are proportionally small and insignificant in comparison to those of Iarbas, Turnus, or Numanus, the male mouthpieces of the opposing camps.2 The Roman d'Eneas, however, and Veldeke in its wake, assigns considerably more weight to the Amata figure.3 Although the medieval authors preserved the depicton of the mother's fury which can be found in Virgil, they did not preserve the divine ­ pagan http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Essays in Medieval Studies West Virginia University Press

Coward, Traitor, Landless Trojan: AEneas and the Politics of Sodomy

Hafner, Susanne
Essays in Medieval Studies , Volume 19 (1)
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West Virginia University Press
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Copyright © 2003 Illinois Medieval Association.
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1538-4608
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Abstract

Chapter 5 Coward, Traitor, Landless T r o j a n : Æn e a s a n d t h e Politics of Sodomy The University of Texas at Austin Coming to terms with sodomy in Heinrich von Veldeke`s Eneasroman means defining the ulterior motives of Lavinia's mother.1 It is the queen who brings up this unsavoury accusation, and when she does so, it is politically motivated. She tries to persuade first her husband and then her daughter that Æneas is unqualified to become Lavinia's husband and thus successor to the old king, a new king of reliable longevity, and the father of a dynasty of future kings. This marks a significant change from the source. In Virgil's Æneid, Amata's arguments are part of an entire sequence of tirades directed against Æneas, and they are proportionally small and insignificant in comparison to those of Iarbas, Turnus, or Numanus, the male mouthpieces of the opposing camps.2 The Roman d'Eneas, however, and Veldeke in its wake, assigns considerably more weight to the Amata figure.3 Although the medieval authors preserved the depicton of the mother's fury which can be found in Virgil, they did not preserve the divine ­ pagan

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Essays in Medieval Studies – West Virginia University Press

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