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Sources of the Lay of Yonec

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 December 2020

Oliver M. Johnston
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Extract

The lay of Yonec is composed of 562 lines of eight syllables, riming in couplets. The substance of this charming lay of Marie de France is as follows:—

There lived in Britain an old knight, who was so jealous of his young wife's beauty that he confined her in a tower and placed her under the care of his sister, an aged widow. The knight passed his time in the chase, while his young wife had no solace but in her tears. One morning in April, after he had set off on his usual occupation, the fair lady began her lamentations as she was wont to do. She execrated the hour when she was born, and the avarice of her parents, who had married her to an old jealous tyrant.

Type
Research Article
Information
PMLA , Volume 20 , Issue 2 , 1905 , pp. 322 - 338
Copyright
Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 1905

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References

page 322 note 1 See Die Lais der Marie de France, herausgegeben von Karl Warnke. Halle, 1900, pp. 123-145.

page 322 note 1 See op. cit., pp. cxxii-cxxvi.

page 322 note 1 See vol. xvi, pp. 609-629.

page 322 note 2 See op. cit., p. 521: “Dans le livre des Rois du poète persan Firdusi, Zal et la belle Tehmîneh se prennent d'amour l'un pour l'autre sans s'être jamais vus. Firdusi conte aussi que Ketayûna, fille de l'empereur de Constantinople, voit Gushtasp, pour la première fois, dans un rêve et le reconnaît ensuite au milieu de sa cour, et la même histoire est racontée par Giami, à propos de Zalikha, qui voit son Yûsuf dans son sommeil et se prend également d'amour pour lui. C'est là une légende répétée dans le Roman de Odati et Zariadre composé par Carète de Mithilène d'après les récits des soldats macédoniens revenus de la Perse et dans l'histoire de Striangée et Zairinaie d'origine orientale très ancienne. Dans l'Occident l'aventure a été attribuée, comme tout le monde sait, à Jauffré Rudel et à Mélisande comtesse de Tripoli; un récit pareil explique comment Durmart s'éprit de la reine d'Irlande; à son tour Else de Brabante fait la connaissance de Lohengrin, de la même manière.”

page 322 note 3 See op. cit., p. 621.

page 322 note 1 See op. cit., p. 628.

page 322 note 1 See edition by Brunet and Montaiglon. Paris, 1856, vv. 10, 324-11, 218.

page 322 note 1 See Modern Language Notes, xvii, 336-37.

page 322 note 2 See vv. 209-882.

page 322 note 2 For a Provençal version of the Inclusa, compare Le Roman de Flamenca, ed. by Paul Meyer, Paris, 1901, vv. 1304 ff.

page 322 note 1 Alfred Nutt: Folk-Lore. A Quarterly Review of Myth, Tradition, Institution, and Custom. London, 1891, ii, pp. 87-89.

page 322 note 1 See Folk-Lore. London, 1891, ii, p. 88.

page 322 note 1 See Reinhold Köhler, op. cit., pp. cxxv-vi; Toldo, op. cit., p. 620, note 2.

page 322 note 1 See Dänische Volksmärchen. Nach bisher ungedruckten Quellen erzählt von Svend Grundtvig. Uebersetzt von W. Leo. Leipzig. 1878, pp. 125-147.

page 322 note 2 See Toldo, op. cit., p. 620, note 2.

page 322 note 3 See Toldo, op. cit., pp. 621-23; Romania, x, pp. 123-24.

page 322 note 1 See Romania, x, 122-123.

page 322 note 1 For a comparison of the different stories related to the theme of the Fan Prince compare Romania, x, 117-143.

page 322 note 2 See Portuguese Folk Tales, collected by C. Pedroso, and translated from the original ms. by Miss Henriqueta Monteiro. London, 1882, No. xii.

page 322 note 3 See Fiabe e Novelle Popolari Veneziane raccolte da Giuseppe Bernoni, Venezia, 1873, No. xvii; Italian Popular Tales, by Thomas Frederick Crane, A. M., London, 1885, pp. 12-17.

page 322 note 1 I have named this story the Jealous Sisters in order to, distinguish it from the closely related tale of the Jealous Stepmother from which it is derived.

page 322 note 2 See Griechische und albänische Märchen, gesammelt, übersetzt und erläutert von J. G. von Hahn. Erster Theil. Leipzig, 1864, pp, 97-102.

page 322 note 1 See Dänische Volksmärchen, translated by W. Leo, Leipzig, 1878, pp. 125-147.

page 322 note 1 The Lays of Graelent and Lanval, and the Story of Wayland (Publications of the Modern Language Association of America, vol. xv, 2. New Series, vol. viii, 2, p. 173). For other lays which show a mixture of Celtic and foreign material, compare Schofield (op. cit., pp. 172-179).