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Sovereignty as the Principle of Unity in Chrétien's Erec

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 December 2020

Alfred Adler
Alfred Adler*
Affiliation:
Northland College
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Extract

Although more than thirty years have passed since the publication of Nitze's fundamental study of Chrétien's Erec, Arthurian scholarship has still to make full use of the implications he has given toward a better understanding both of details and of the unifying principle of this first French Arthurian romance. Basing itself, then, upon Nitze's contribution, and drawing upon other more recent studies, the present article proposes as its end the presentation of the many episodes of this romance as concordant elements in a great psychological novel.

Type
Research Article
Information
PMLA , Volume 60 , Issue 4-Part1 , December 1945 , pp. 917 - 936
Copyright
Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 1945

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References

1 W. A. Nitze, “The Romance of Erec, Son of Lac,” MP, xi, (1914), 445-489. It is true that Nitze's conclusions have been used by W. Meyer Liibke, “Chrétien de Troies' Erec et Enide,” ZFSL, vl (1917), 141 ff.

2 Very much contrary to the results of the recent full-length analysis of H. Sparnaay. Hartmann von Aue, Studien zu einer Biographie (Halle [Saale]: Niemeyer, 1938), ii, 71 ff.

3 Text used: Kristian von Troyes Erec und Enide, ed. Wendelin Foerster, Dritte Auflage (Halle [Saale]: Max Niemeyer, 1934). Textual criticism: A. Micha, La tradition manuscrite des romans de Chrétien de Troyes (Paris: E. Droz, 1939), pp. 78 ff. J. Misrahi, “Fragments of Erec et Enide and the manuscript tradition,” PMLA, lvi, 951 ff. The same, “Problems in Textual Criticism with reference to Erec et Enide,” PMLA, lviii, Part 2 (Program, 1943), ii.

4 Hartmann emphasizes: “Und schamte sich nie sô sêre wan daz dise unêre diu künegin mit ir vrouwen sach (106-108).” Cf. Erec von Hartmann von Aue, ed. A. Leitzmann (Niemeyer: Halle [Saale], 1939). E. Scheunemann, Arthushof und Abenteuer, (Deutsch kundliche Arbeiten. A. Allgemeine Reihe. Band 8 (Breslau, 1937), 36.

5 “Mes itant prometre vos vuel Que, seje puis, je vangerai Ma honte ou l'angreignerai (244-246).—The words: prometre vos vuel, indicate loyalty to the queen (as in 916-920), but the stress lies on the honte done to him.

6 T. P. Cross, W. A. Nitze, Lancelot and Guenevere, A Study on the Origin of Courtly Love (Chicago, 1930), 81, 97.—Nitze (ibid.) quotes Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae, ix, 13 and 14, and Wace's Brut (108119 f.). See also R. S. Loomis, “Malory's Beaumains,” PMLA, liv, 657.

7 H. Sparnaay, “Zu Erec-Gereint,” ZRP, xvl, 55 ff.—Nitze (MP, xi, 481) mentions the hunt of the White Stag as a common induction motif to the fairy-mistress episode.

8 On Vorausdeutung as a useful assumption in literary interpretation see W. Richter, “Der König von Thule und seine Buhle,” Monatshefte für Deutschen Unterricht (1944), pp. 138 ff.

9 This has been suggested with regard to the premerains vers by St. Hofer, “Die Problemstellung im Erec,” ZRP, iil, 123-128.

10 Even if the text is doubtful at the end (“Der Schluss ist sehr abgebrochen und schlecht überliefert; er fehlt in CBVA.” So Foerster, Anmerkung to 6951, p. 205), the original can hardly have had much to say about Erec's homecoming from Nantes. Anything after the coronation would be an anticlimax.—Erec's growth and its concomitant trait, the better adjustment to the court is here not quite conceived in the sense of Artusbereitschaft and Artuswürdigkeit (Scheunemann, op. cit., p. 118).

11 To the contrary, G. Paris, HLF, xxx, 148. W. Meyer Lübke, (ZFSL, xvl, 141), interprets the duel as an ordeal.

12 M. F. Richey, “Die edlen Armen,” London Mediaeval Studies, I, Part 2, (1938), 265-278.

13 About this shock-experience Scheunemann, op. cit., p. 13.

14 Nitze, MP, xi, 450.

15 The Art of Courtly Love by Andreas Capellanus, with introd., transl., and notes ed. J. J. Parry (New York: Columbia University Press, 1941), pp. 184-186.

16 Nitze (MP, xi, 451 f.), shows clearly that Enide reminds of the fée in Marie de France's Lanval (565 f.), especially with regard to the chaines.

17 R. Zenker considers this as one of the hints that Chrétien's sources are not worked into one unity. (“Weiteres zur Mabinozionfrage,” ZFSL, xvl, 170.)

18 Zenker (loc. cit., pp. 69 ff.) does not see why Enide has to groom Erec's horse in the stable, since there is a servant in the house.

19 Parry, op. cit., p. 178.

20 Foerster (Erec text, p. xxix) suggests the reading: (Et) li escuz forz, (mes) n'est noviaus, or: El li escuz forz, mes est viaux.

21 Nitze, Lancelot and Guenevere, 4, 73.

22 Evrain in Erec (5685 ff.), Gornemant de Goort in Le Conte del Graal, ed. Hilka (1548 ff.).

23 Gen. 3: 16, quoted by Nitze, MP, xi, 445.

24 This is brought out, I think, by Nitze, “Erec's treatment of Enide,” RR, x, 26-37 although it may not have been Nitze's primary objective to bring it out.

25 Sparnaay (op. cit., i, 78), as many before him, sees the problem in the couple's selfish indifference to their social duties.

26 She is outspoken about her indebtedness (6310-11).

27 This demarcation will have to be justified, as it is by no means uncontroversial.

28 About Love, Sloth, and the connection with Irish Other-world Stories, Nitze, Lancelot and Guenevere, p. 87.

29 Cf. Chrétien's description of this state of mind in the Guillaume d'Angleterre: Que l'an songe bien en veillant. Aussi de voir con de mançonge Sont li panser come li songe (2600-02).

30 Cf. 4637 with 2507.

31 R. Zenker (“Erikiana,” Romanische Forschungen, xl, 475), opposing Nitze's emphasis on Erec's sovereignty, argues that Enide is not taught obedience, since she breaks the rule of silence. It is obvious that the breaking of the rule proves nothing against the paramount importance of sovereignty in Erec's outlook; it only illustrates effectively the slipperiness of the ground upon which Erec tries to rebuild his reassurance during this first phase of his reeducation.

32 Sparnaay, op. cit., i, 102.

33 G. Paris (R, xx, 164), infers that the attractiveness of Enide's best dress which Erec makes her wear for the trip points to a source in which the richly dressed lady was meant to attract the champion's opponents.

34 St. Hofer, (ZFSL, lx, 447): “… der allerdings schwer verständliche Entschluss, der einer Bestrafung gleichsieht, Enide mitzuführen … .”

35 Commentarius ex Cicerone In somninum Scipionis, i, 5 (Firmin D: dot, 1883).

36 “Si an trai a garant Macrobe (6738 ff.).” St. Hofer, ZRP, iil, 123 f.

37 The association of the Eight with Justice was by no means far-fetched in Chrétien's days. See V. P. Hopper, Medieval Number Symbolism (New York: Columbia University Press, 1938), p. 112.—The association persists still in the iconography of Raphael's fresco of the Stanza della Segnatura, the one which is meant to exemplify Justice. Raphael painted 3 Virtues of Fortitude, Prudence, and Temperance, which in the classical canon of the Cardinal Virtues ought to have Justice as their companion; but she does not appear. In addition to the 3 Virtues, Raphael painted 5 putti; three of which carry attributions of Faith, Hope, and Charity, two are not explained. Altogether eight figures! Macrobius (loc. cit.) along with Plato (Rep. iv. 432 ff.) and Aristotle (Nic. Eth. v. 3) has been shown to be the source of Raphael's arrangement by E. Wind, “Platonic Justice designed by Raphael, ”Journal of the Warburg Institute, i (1937-38), 69-70, and in his course: Iconography of the Renaissance (U. of Chicago, Summer Quarter 1944). Quoted with permission of E. Wind.

38 “Honie soit ma langue tote, Qui l'orguel et L'outrage dist. . . (3116-17).” Cf. Nitze, RR, x, 26-37.

39 J. W. Thompson, An Economic and Social History of the Middle Ages (New York, London: The Century Press, 1928), pp. 711 ff.

40 J. H. Clapham, E. Power The Cambridge Economic History, I. The Agrarian Life of the Middle Ages (Cambridge, 1941), pp. 303, 528.

41 Spaniaard, op. cit., i, 114.

42 Parry, op. cit., p. 84.

43 Professor A. H. Schutz reminds me of the fact that the troubadours, for instance, frowned on the husband jilos.

44 G. Cohen, Chrétien de Troyes et son æuvre (Paris: Boivin, 1931), p. 143, asks with reference to Enide's respectable duplicity: “On se demande avec inquiétude si les honnêtes dames du temps parlaient ainsi.”

45 This character as a stock figure of the Other World shown by Nitze, MP, xi, 474. Cf. R. Zenker, ZFSL, xlviii (1926), 30-37. R. S. Loomis, Celtic Myth and Arthurian Romance, (New York: Columbia University Press, 1927), p. 22, n. 36, p. 160. The same, “The Spoils of Annwn,” PMLA, lvi, 917-920. About the identification of the Dwarf with Auberon, K. Voretzsch, Die Komposition des Huon von Bordeaux (Halle [Saale], 1900), p. 125. E. Vinaver (Medium Aevum, iii [1934], 204 ff.) cautions against the identification of the Dwarf with the rainmaking boy of the Dodona gang, as suggested by C. B. Lewis, Classical Mythology and Arthurian Romance (St. Andrews, 1932), passim.

46 J. R. Broderius, The Giant in Germanic Tradition (Chicago, 1930), p. 123.

47 Sparnaay, (op. cit., i, 87) sees no function for her in this episode.

48 The Dwarf King, sometimes instrumental in curing wounds, is a traditional figure. Cf. R. S. Loomis, PMLA, lvi, 919.

49 The pattern outlined by Nitze, Lancelot and Guenevere, p. 9. A. C. L. Brown, PMLA, xx (1905), 677, n. 4. The Hospitable Host is discussed by A. C. L. Brown, The Origin of the Grail Legend (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1943), pp. 24 ff., 100-103. It is hoped that more light will be shed upon this question by R. S. Loomis' soon forthcoming Chrétien de Troyes and Celtic Tradition.

50 G. Paris, R, xx, 160. Sparnaay, op. cit., i, 87.

51 Le Conte del Graal, ed. Hilka.

52 Nitze, Lancelot and Guenevere, p. 9.

53 R. S. Loomis' article “Morgain la Fée and the Celtic Goddesses” had not yet appeared in Speculum at the time when this article was finished.—Morgue's status as Arthur's sister seems to be of Chrétien's invention. Cf. J. D. Bruce, The Evolution of Arthurian Romance (Baltimore, 1923), i, 79.

54 Mobonagrain is a giant (5900-02). So is Meleagant in the Lancelot. In the Yvain (794 ff.), the wild man amidst his animals may seem an attenuated impersonation of the monster.

55 The officiating Chapelain is subtly derided (4767-70). For a derogatory attitude towards the clergy see also Erec (6576-79), Cligés (3330 ff.). Yvain (2535-38). Cf. St. Hofer, ZFSL, lx, 45.

56 Cohen (op. cit., 151): “Le moyen âge est un grand enfant et demande toujours ‘et puis après?’.” Sparnaay, op. cit., i, 87. Against Cohen's view, E. Hoeppfner, “Matière et sens dans le roman d'Erec et Enide,” Arch. Rom., xviii (1934), 447 ff.

57 About La Joie de la Cort, E. Philippot, “Un épisode d'Erec et d'Enide,” R, xxv (1896), 282 ff. Nitze, RR, x, 35 ff. The question has been reopened by A. C. L. Brown, The Origin of the Grail Legend (1943), pp. 92-99. See also H. Newstead, “The Joie de la Cort Episode in Erec and the Horn of Bran,” PMLA, li, 13-25 and the same, Bran the Blessed in Arthurian Romance (New York, 1939), pp. 106-120.

58 Nitze, MP, xi, 460.

59 Cf. Leo Spitzer, L'Amour lointain de Jaufré Rudel et le sens de la poésie des troubadours, University of North Carolina Studies in the Romance Languages and Literature, v (Chapel Hill, 1944), p. 7: “Joi est ensuite la joie d'amour, toute morale elle aussi, … et c'est cette joie emanant du couple vertueux qui rayonne à la fin de l'Erec de Chrétien sur toute la cour.”

60 H. Newstead, “The Joie de la Cort Episode in Erec and the Horn of Bran,” PMLA, li, 23.

61 See the abundant use of the words joie and liez after the two ladies have established the fact that they are cousines (6337-62). Cf. C. K. Bang, “Emotions and Attitudes in Chrétien de Troyes' Erec et Enide and Hartmann von Aue's Erec der Wunderaere,” PMLA, lvii, 297 ff.

62 Newstead (PMLA, li, 23), has contributed much to the elucidation of the details about Brandigan.

63 Cf. L. Spitzer, “The Prologue to the Lais of Marie de France and Medieval Poetics,” MP, xli, 96-102.

64 I am greatly indebted to Prof. W. A. Nitze and Prof. H. A. Schutz for reading and criticizing this article. I also owe my thanks to Prof. P. W. Long, and to Mr. M. Bowen.