Middle English Romances

Though Middle English Romances: authoritative texts, sources and background criticism is only one item on my ME list, it actually contains several different works. However, I will still blog them in the same post, though not all at once: this post will be updated as I complete each work.

I. Havelok (ca. 1300)

This romance is one of only two (?) in this anthology that aren't related to the Arthurian milieu, the Matter of Britain. Instead, it is part of the Matter of England, romances celebrating heroes from the Anglo-Saxon period of English history. Some textual info, via Wikipedia:

The story of Havelok is first attested in lines 37-818 of Geoffrey Gaimar's Anglo-Norman Estorie des Engles of about 1135-40. This was the basis for another Anglo-Norman poem, which in turn may have influenced Havelok the Dane. Havelok is the second oldest surviving romance written in English. It is often categorized in the so-called Matter of England. It is believed to have been composed somewhere between 1295-1310. The romance survives in one imperfect version, as well some fragments.

The Wikipedia summary is at least as good as any I could spontaneously compose, so here 'tis:

Havelok is intricately constructed, consisting of a double arc of usurpation and restoration of rightful heirs through their marriage. The poem starts in England, with the reign of Athelwold, described extensively as just and lawful, but is then imperiled when Athelwold dies without an adult successor. His daughter Goldborow is still a child, and Athelwold appoints Godrich, the Earl of Cornwall, to rule as regent until she can be married (to the “highest man in England”). When Athelwold dies Godrich immediately betrays his oath, imprisoning Goldborow in a remote tower in Dover.

The poem then shifts to Denmark, where a similarly virtuous king, Birkabein, dies leaving behind two daughters, Swanborow and Helfled, and his son, Havelok. Godard, a wealthy retainer, is appointed regent. Another betrayal, and Godard brutally murders the daughters and hands the three-year old Havelok over to a thrall, the fisherman Grim, to be thrown into the sea. Grim recognizes Havelok as the rightful heir when he sees a pair of miraculous signs: a bright light that emerges from the boy’s mouth and blazing red-gold “kynemerk,” a cross-shaped birthmark on his shoulder. Sparing the boy, Grim flees with Havelok and his family to Lincolnshire. There they raise Havelok as their own and fish the North Sea. Havelok, during this time has grown into a very tall and strong lad, with a huge appetite. (Several versions tell that Havelok was raised under a false name, Cuaran, in order to protect his identity, though the Middle English version omits this detail.)

During a famine, Havelok is forced to leave home to seek his subsistence in Lincoln. There he is taken in by Bertram, a cook in a noble house. During a festival, Havelok bests the other servants and kitchen-boys in a shot-putting contest. This victory brings him to the attention of Godrich, who notices Havelok’s height and strength. Godrich then decides to marry off Goldborow in order to dispossess her once and for all. Havelok protests the wedding, because he is too poor to support a wife, but submits to the union after being threatened and abused by Godrich. Later, Havelok and Goldborow flee back to Grimsby, where they are taken in by Grim’s children. That night, Goldborow is awakened by a bright light, and sees Havelok’s mouth glowing. She is then told by an angel of Havelok’s lineage and destiny.

Havelok returns to Denmark with Goldborow and Grim’s three eldest sons in order to reclaim his kingdom. In disguise as a merchant, Havelok is sheltered by Ubbe, a Danish nobleman. Ubbe sees the light and immediately pledges his support to Havelok in overthrowing Godard. Godard is defeated and Havelok invades England to overthrow Godrich and restores Goldborow. Now king of Denmark and England, Havelok rules justly and assures his realm’s stability through siring fifteen children, of whom "the sons were all kings and the daughters were all queens." ("Plot Summary"

Here are some bullet points of my own reactions to Havelok:

* Unlike the Arthurian romances of France and their English translations/adaptations, Havelok seems especially sympathetic to, and concerned with, the plight of the lower and middle classes. Though Havelok is royalty, he is raised by a fisherman (Grim) and looked after in Lincoln by a cook. Havelok never forgets their kindness and rewards the cook and Grim's heirs.

* Havelok asserts that no-one should be ashamed of putting in a good day's work and that anyone who doesn't work, shouldn't eat. This celebration of manual labor seems almost Puritan.

* Havelok seems to view class structure as arbitrary and alterable: he elevates Grim's sons to positions of nobility, and marries Grim's daughters to earls -- one an earl by birth, and the other the cook whom Havelok elevated to earldom. In most other romances, if those of low estate are raised to high estate, it is because their origins were in the high estate (Perceval, "Beaumains"/Gareth). In Havelok, those of wholly low estate may be raised to high estate, for which they are seen as fitted by innate virtue and "nobility".

II. Ywain and Gawain

III. Sir Orfeo (ca. late 1200s-early 1300s)

Another non-Arthurian romance, Sir Orfeo is based on the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. On to Wikipedia! The text:

Dated to the late thirteenth or early fourteenth century, it represents a mixture of the Greek myth of Orpheus with Celtic mythology and folklore concerning fairies, introduced into the English culture via the Old French Breton lais of poets like Marie de France. Sir Orfeo is preserved in three manuscripts, Advocates 19.2.1 known as the Auchinleck MS. and dated at about 1330, the oldest. The next oldest manuscript, Harley 3810, is from about the beginning of the fifteenth century. The third, Ashmole 61, was compiled over the course of several years; the portion of the MS. containing Sir Orfeo is c. 1488. The beginning of the poem describes itself as a Breton lai, and says it is derived from a no longer extant text, the Lai d'Orphey.

The plot:

In the poem, Sir Orfeo, king of Thrace, loses his wife Heurodis (i.e. Eurydice) to the fairy king, who steals her away from under a ympe-tre (grafted tree) that happened to be haunted by the fairies, and takes her to his underworld kingdom. Orfeo, distraught by this, leaves his court and wanders in a forest. After ten years, he sees Heurodis riding past in the company of the fairy host. He follows them to the realm of the fairy king, where he entertains the fairy king by playing his harp. The fairy king, pleased with Orfeo's music, offers him the chance to choose a reward; he chooses Heurodis. Orfeo returns with Heurodis and reclaims his throne.

Some commentary:

While this is not the classical myth of Orpheus, the poet shows substantial ingenuity in merging the Orpheus of mythology, who tries and fails to obtain the return of his wife Eurydice from Hades, the underworld, with the traditional fairy motifs of the fairy raid or hunt, the fairies' otherworldly kingdom, their attempts to abduct mortals, and the magical transformations endured by those who are captured by them. These motifs are shared by both Sir Orfeo and later-collected versions of the ballad fairy-lore in such works as the ballads of Thomas the Rhymer and Tam Lin.

IV. Sir Launfal (ca. late 1300s)

The text:

Sir Launfal is a 1045-line Middle English romance or Breton lay written by Thomas Chestre dating from the late 14th century. It is based primarily on the 538-line Middle English poem Sir Landevale, which in turn was based on Marie de France's lai Lanval, written in a form of French understood in the courts of both England and France in the 12th century.

The summary:

Sir Launfal participates in the chivalric tradition of gift giving to such an extent that he is made King Arthur's steward, in charge of celebrations. He eventually leaves King Arthur's court when Guenevere, King Arthur's new wife, shows ill will to him by not giving him a gift at the wedding. He leaves Arthur's court and so loses his status, income, and retainers. On Trinity Sunday he borrows a horse and goes for a ride. He stops to rest under a tree. Two ladies then appear and bring him to a lady they call Tryamour, daughter of the King of Olyroun and of Fayrye. She offers him herself and several material gifts including a bag that will always produce goin coins, all on the condition that he keeps their relationship secret from the rest of the world. She tells him she will come to him whenever he is all alone and wishes for her.

Sir Launfal uses his new wealth to perform many acts of charity. He also wins in a local tournament, thanks to the horse and banner given him by the lady. A knight of Lombardy, Sir Valentyne, challenges him (on the honor of his beloved lady) to come fight him. Launfal makes the voyage, and defeats Valentyne, thanks to his invisible servant who picks up his helmet and shield when Valentyne knocks them down. Launfal kills Valentyne and then has to kill a number of his fellow Lombardy knights in order to get away.

Launfal now, seven years after leaving court, comes again to King Arthur's attention and is asked to serve as steward for a long festival beginning at the Feast of St. John. During some revelry at the court, Guenevere offers herself to Sir Launfal. Sir Launfal refuses, Guenevere says some harsh words, and Launfal boasts that he has a mistress whose ugliest handmaiden would be a better Queen than Guenevere. Guenevere is furious. She goes to Arthur and accuses Launfal of trying to seduce her and also of his actual boast. Knights are sent to arrest him for this insult to Arthur.

Sir Launfal realizes that, because of his boast, Tryamour will no longer come to him when he wishes for her, and her gifts have disappeared or changed. Now he is brought to trial. Since his jury of peers all know the Queen is more likely to have propositioned Launfal than the other way around, they believe Launfal's version of the encounter. However, he is given a year and a fortnight to produce the beautiful lady as proof of his boast; Guenevere says she is willing to be blinded if he manages to produce such a woman. As the day of the proof progresses, the Queen presses for him to be executed while others express doubt, particularly when two parties of gorgeous women ride up. Finally Tryamour arrives and exculpates Launfal on both counts; she also breathes on Guinevere and blinds her. His former invisible servant brings his former horse up, and Tryamour, Launfal, and her ladies ride away to the island of Olyroun. Once a year Launfal's horse is heard and a knight may joust with him in that place.

V. The Awentyrs of Arthure (ca. 1300s)

The text (taken from the TEAMS edition):

The Awntyrs off Arthur survives complete in four separate medieval manuscripts, none of which is based upon any of the other extant copies. Though its language and meter indisputably indicate northern composition - perhaps in Cumberland, whose seat is Carlisle - the four copies were made in different parts of England, including Yorkshire, the Midlands, and the London area. The number and pattern of surviving copies constitute material evidence that Awntyrs enjoyed a remarkable popularity outside (and also presumably within) the region in which it originated. Such popularity seems even more extraordinary since the poem did not begin as an oral tale, like Ragnelle, Carlisle, Turke, or the ballads. While its supernatural and chivalric storylines have affinities with popular tales, the complex rhyme scheme, narrative structure, written sources, allusions, and content demonstrate that Awntyrs was a distinctively literary effort. Awntyrs emerges from a transitional cultural context, in which a literate author has fully exploited oral stylistics and techniques.

The summary (taken from the TEAMS edition):

Until fairly recently, editors and critics have regarded Awntyrs (meaning "adventures") as deficient in structural and thematic unity. The poem divides neatly - almost perfectly, according to Spearing's arguments - into two halves: the first part (lines 1-338) transforms a popular legend associated with Pope Gregory the Great - the Mass or Trental of Saint Gregory - into a chivalric episode. Awntyrs begins with the standard opening for a Gawain romance: as in Ragnelle, Carlisle, Avowyng, and other tales, Arthur and his companions go off to hunt in Inglewood Forest. The "adventure" of Awntyrs, its encounter with the alien, takes the form of a gothic fantasy: a ghost, described in screeching and grotesque detail, appears to Gawain and Guenevere at the Tarn Wathelene. The specter turns out to be the tormented soul of Guenevere's mother, who suffers now for the hidden sins of the flesh she committed on earth. The ghost laments the split within her own life, between a brilliant, splendid appearance and a fetid inner corruption, and then goes on to commend her own condition as a general warning to the entire court. She cautions Gawain and Guenevere, as representatives of the Round Table, that the conduct of knights and ladies must conform to Christian precept, and that the court must narrow the chasm between its excessive consumption and the desperate poverty that besets others in the community: material and spiritual concerns must coincide. Her own visitation typifies this link, in her ghostly intervention into the worldly life of the court, and, perhaps more strikingly, in her requesting Masses for her soul, making clear that those still in the flesh may affect the fate of those in the spirit world.

The apparition passes and the hunt ends, and the second part (lines 339-702) follows a scenario familiar in chivalric romance: as Arthur and the Round Table are seated at dinner in Rondoles Halle, a strange knight enters, accuses Arthur and Gawain of being in false possession of his lands, and demands an honorable combat. Sir Galeron of Galloway's challenge falls to Sir Gawain - a fitting outcome, given Gawain's popular title as the Lord of Galloway during the Middle Ages and after. The narrative lingers over the courage, skill, and ferocity of the fight; neither knight can gain early victory, and each does great damage to his opponent. Just as Gawain seems at the point of a lethal triumph, Galeron's lady and then Guenevere intervene, and Arthur halts the combat. Galeron submits to Gawain's prowess (and to Arthur's lordship), but the king composes the dispute by assigning other lands to Gawain, and having his nephew restore lands to Galeron. Galeron marries his lady, and becomes a knight of the Round Table. In the last stanza of Awntyrs, Guenevere arranges the Masses for her mother, and the poem ends with a verbal repetition of its opening line.

VI. Weddyng of Syr Gawen (ca. 1400s)

The text:

The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnelle is one of several versions of the "loathly lady" story popular during the Middle Ages; an earlier version appears as "The Wife of Bath's Tale" in Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, and the later folk ballad "The Marriage of Sir Gawain" is essentially a retelling, though its relationship to the medieval poem is uncertain. The Wedding of Sir Gawain survives in a poorly copied 16th-century manuscript located in the Bodleian Library (Bodleian 11951, formerly Rawlinson C.86) though it was probably written in the 15th century.

The summary:

The story begins when the mystical knight Gromer Somer Joure challenges King Arthur to discover what women desire most, or face dire consequences. Arthur's nephew and knight Gawain sets out to answer the riddle for him, and eventually Gromer's sister, the hag Ragnelle, offers the solution if Gawain will marry her. Gawain selflessly consents to save his uncle, and Ragnelle reveals that what women desire most is sovereynté, to make their own decisions. With this answer Arthur wins Gromer's challenge, and much to his despair, the wedding of Gawain and Ragnelle goes ahead as planned.

Later, the new pair retire to the bedroom. After a brief pause, Gawain assents to treat his new bride as he would if she were attractive, but when he looks up, he is astonished to see the most beautiful woman he has ever seen standing before him. She explains she had been under a spell to look like a hag until a good knight married her; now her looks will be restored half the day. She gives him the choice to have her beautiful at night, when they are together, or during the day, when they are with others. Instead, he gives her the sovereynté to make the choice herself. This answer lifts the curse for good, and Ragnelle's beauty returns permanently.

The couple live happily, and the court is overjoyed when they hear Ragnelle's story. Ragnelle lives for only five more years, after which Gawain mourns her for the rest of his life. According to the poem, Ragnelle bore Gawain his son Gingalain, who is the hero of his own romance (though in most versions of his story, his mother is a fay who raises him ignorant of his father). The poem concludes with the poet's plea that God will help him out of jail.