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1 - Prophecy as Social Influence: Cassandra, Anne Neville, and the Corpus Christi Manuscript of Troilus and Criseyde

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 February 2013

Amy N. Vines
Affiliation:
University of North Carolina
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Summary

In a late twelfth-century French chanson de geste, Raoul de Cambrai, the hero engages in a vicious and, ultimately, self-destructive feud with his former closest friend and ally, Bernier. Raoul's lack of moderation – in matters of revenge and in the desire for political and chivalric advancement – has placed him in this position. To a great extent, his immoderation is worsened by his resistance to accepting his mother's sage counsel. Beginning in stanza 48 of the poem, the Lady Aalais chides her son for failing to fight for his own birthright, which was given to another knight to hold in trust until Raoul reached maturity: “Toute la terre Taillefer le hardi, / Le tien chier pere qe je pris mari, / Te rendist ore, par la soie merci, / Car trop en a Mancel esté servi. / Je me mervelg qe tant l'as consenti, / Qe grant piece a ne l'as mort ou honni.” Raoul ignores his mother's advice that he pursue his own just inheritance and, instead, informs Aalais that he has been granted the lands of the recently deceased Count Herbert by the king of France, a gift that will dispossess Herbert's four sons and cause them to seek revenge on Raoul and his men. When she hears this news, Aalais begins a lengthy emotional campaign to dissuade her son, stating “longement t'ai norri; / Qi te donna Peronne et Origni, / Et S. Quentin, Neele et Falevi, / [Et] Ham et Roie et la tor de Clari, / De mort novele, biax fix, te ravesti. / Laisse lor terre, por amor Dieu t'en pri.”

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Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
Print publication year: 2011

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