Lanval Versus Sir Launfal

Warning: Read at your discretion. The content I will be discussing involves some sexual themes and other interpretations that may not be reader-friendly.

Today, I want to discuss two stories that were written in the Medieval Ages. The first story was written in 1180, and the second one was written in the 1300s.

Lanval - Marie de France (1st account of Lanval)

The first account (meaning it’s the first version or first perspective) was written by a woman named Marie. Her last name is unknown, and any other information about her or her background is unknown. The main evidence we have about Marie’s existence comes from the writing she has done. The title of the story I am going to discuss is “Lanval” by Marie de France. “De France” is not Marie’s last name. It just means that she is from France.

Brief Summary of Lanval

The story of Lanval is about a knight who serves under King Arthur. The story presents several important themes such as honour, nobility, mercy, war between the Scots and the Picts, generosity, justice, seduction, fairytale elements, escapism, and "love." Love really means lust and sexual desire in this story. At the end of the story, the lust turns into love, or at least that is the impression readers receive. Every person who reads the story may have a different interpretation.

I will discuss how the medieval society worked in terms of romantic relationships later on in this post. Secondly, I will discuss the importance of honour and nobility in the medieval ages further as you journey with me through this post.

Lanval wanders into the forest and meets a fairy who tries to distract him from his knightly duties. Lanval is supposed to be serving his king, but instead, he is wandering around in a forest. Lanval is "struck" by the fairy's beauty and ends up falling for the temptation.

Fairies are used to test human beings in fictional writing pieces. Fairies are often much better than human beings, but they test a person's discipline and weaknesses. Fairies are not meant to cause harm.

So, Lanval falls for this fairy, they sleep together in a tent. So....is it really love? I would say no. However, the fairy promises Lanval that he will receive great riches from her. She will give him money, expensive fabrics (clothing), and gifts that he can give to the members of his kingdom. She will provide him with all of these items but he must NOT tell anyone about their interactions. Those were her conditions. She also appears and disappears whenever Lanval thinks of her. In other words, when Lanval wants to see her or sleep with her, all he has to do is think of her and she will appear.

The relationship between Lanval and the fairy is odd. It is not strange to most people in real life because relationships that are transactional exist today. It is not a new situation. It existed in the medieval ages. Lanval is a fictional story, but it does represent some real societal events.

After Lanval meets the fairy, she tells him to go back to his kingdom, and Lanval does so. When Lanval arrives, everyone in the kingdom loves him because he is rich. Lanval hands out gifts to members of the kingdom through his generosity. Before he met the fairy, he was poor,, and he was not seen as a worthy man in his society.

Lanval continues his duties for the king, and some time goes by. King Arthur leaves for some time and his wife, the Queen, Guinevere, tries to seduce Lanval. Lanval rejects her, and Guinevere becomes angry. She accuses him of being a homosexual. Lanval becomes angry and accidentally slips his secret of the fairy. Lanval tells Guinevere that he has his own fair lady.

When Arthur returns, the queen tells him that Lanval tried to take advantage of her. (What a great queen, tries to cheat on her husband, lies, and tries to get Lanval killed later on.) Queen Guinevere has a bad reputation in both stories/accounts of Lanval. She has been said to be unfaithful to her husband in both stories.

King Arthur sentences Lanval to death, but Lanval pleads to him and tells him the entire encounter of the fairy in the forest. Arthur allows Lanval to go on trial instead of executing him right away. Arthur says that if Lanval can convince his lady to speak on his behalf, then he may go free, and if his lady does not show up to plead for his case, then he will be banished from the kingdom.

So....Lanval is on trial;, he is nervous and calls to his lady. She does not appear because she told him not to break their promise and now there are consequences. At this point, Lanval gives up and accepts his punishment of death instead. Just when he was losing hope, his fair lady appeared and pled her case for Lanval. Lanval is set free, and he jumps up onto a horse behind the fairy. They ride away together, never to be seen again. Lanval abandons his entire legacy and abandons his entire role of a knight.

Long story short, the summary I have given you is only a SMALL portion of what is going on in this text. Several themes can be discussed in detail compared to what I am sharing. There are metaphors to discuss and details that depict what the medieval ages could have looked like. I highly recommend reading it. I will share a PDF file below for you to read and view.

Marie de France Lanval.pdf

Download PDF • 398KB

Sir Launfal - Thomas Chestre (2nd account of Marie’s original story)

The second account of the original story of Lanval was written by a man named Thomas Chestre in the 1300's. He followed a similar storyline as Marie but changed the spelling of character names, some scenes in the story, and the relationships between different characters. Thomas's writing technique was different from Marie's. He used a tail rhyming method to tell the story of Sir Launfal.

Middle English Writing

The tail rhyme poetry technique was used as a form of Middle English writing. It was a common form used in the medieval ages. Middle English involves pronouncing every letter, consonant, and vowel.

The order in which the tail rhyming runs is as follows: a, a, b, c, c, d, d, b, e, e, b. Some of the lines in the poem do not mean anything. Some of the lines function as placeholders for sentences. The lines fill up the space in the poem without providing useful or real poetic value.

Brief Summary of Sir Launfal

The story of Sir Launfal takes place in the kingdom of King Arthur. A wedding feast was being held to celebrate Arthur and Guinevere's marriage. Queen Guinevere (Guinevere) gives out rich gifts to all of her knights except for Launfal. Thomas Chestre's version of the story is harder to follow than Marie's version of Lanval.

Launfal claims that his father is sick (which is not true) and that he must visit him. Launfal dislikes the queen for her bad reputation, and he wishes to escape the situation. Arthur grants Lanfaul permission to travel to see his father but he tells Launfal to take some of his squires with him. The squires are said to be Arthur's nephews. Launfal travels through the woods and comes across the Major's house. Launfal and his men ask the mayor if they can spend the night there, but the mayor rejects them because Launfal is poor.

Eventually, Launfal gives his leftover clothing to his squires. He sends them back to the kingdom while Launfal continues his journey. Launfal tells them to conceal the fact that Launfal is going through hardships. This is used to protect his pride and his image in the kingdom. When the squires are sent back to the kingdom, Launfal meets two maidens that lead him to the head fairy.

I want to point out that there is a scene missing here that I did not mention. Before Launfal meets the fairy, the mayor holds a feast on a Sunday. Launfal was not invited, so Launfal decided to enter the forest on a horse, and he decided to lie down on the ground to rest.

The fairy offers him riches, clothing, and gifts, as displayed in Marie's version.

The other focus in the story involves jousting tournaments. Launfal competes in a tournament and wins it.

Another feast is held with dancing involved. Guinevere offers to dance with Launfal, but he rejects her. She becomes angry and accuses him of being a homosexual.

He tells the queen about the fairy, and all of his riches, disappear. Arthur sentences him to death. Instead, Launfal has to prove his innocence by presenting his lady. The fairy appears, and Launfal is set free. They ride off together, never to be seen again. The queen becomes blind because she is seen to be ugly compared to the other maidens in the kingdom. This is both metaphorical and literal.

Long story short, the ending of the second account is similar to the first account of Lanval. Once again, I have left out a large section of information because both texts are complex. This post is simply an introduction to these stories. You can do your own research and you can dive deeper into the details of each account.

English Translation by James Weldon

launfal_weldon.pdf

Download PDF • 89KB

Differences Between the Two Stories

1. The First Account:

-Lanval and Arthur dislike each other and Arthur does not give Lanval rewards.

-Guinevere and Lanval dislike each other later in the story.

-Guinevere confesses her love and desire to Lanval at the court of the kingdom while Arthur is away.

-No mayor exists in this story.

-There is a conflict between the Scots and Picts.

-Lanval wins no tournaments.

2. The Second Account:

-Launfal and Arthur have a good relationship with one another. Arthur gives Launfal favour of his service. Arthur makes Launfal his right hand man later in the story.

-Guinevere and Launfal dislike each other right from the beginning of the story.

-Guinevere offers her hand to dance with Launfal at the feast.

-Launfal and the mayor. Launfal goes to the mayor and asks him for shelter. The mayor rejects him. Once Launfal has money, the mayor tries to appeal to Launfal, but Launfal snubs the mayor (to be rude by not giving someone attention).

-There is no conflict mentioned about the Scots and Picts.

-Launfal is a winner of tournaments.

The Function of Romance and Love

The function of romance was viewed through the eyes. As I have mentioned before, romance often involves a reciprocal relationship between the object and the subject.

There are two views of love according to medieval texts.

1. Fleeting love.

2. Lasting love: Love that involves a long-term musing (thinking about the person for long periods). A desire to be around the person every day.

   
   

   The second part of romance that I want to discuss is the significance of the flowers that are used to describe women. Roses and white lilies are often used to describe the beauty of women. Roses are used to represent a woman's lips and cheeks. Lilies are used to describe a woman's fair skin. There is a popular saying that women's faces are compared to "drops of blood on the snow." Lilies represent marriage and death in some cases. Lastly, flowers are symbols of femininity.

The Function of Honour and Nobility

Coming soon......

Aside from love, two other major themes are important about the lifestyle of the 12th-14th centuries. Those two themes are honour and nobility.

There are different kinds of honour and nobility that must be demonstrated to the public. The first part that I want to share is the definitions of honour and nobility.

Honour means to....

Nobility means to....

The Function of Mercy and Justice

Coming soon......

The next section I want to discuss is the use of mercy and justice in the Medieval Ages. Mercy and justice work together and they can be connected to honour and nobility. The four themes work together interconnectedly.

Mercy means to....

Justice means to....

Conclusion

I want to end this post by saying that I found both stories have a unique take on Lanval the Knight, and it shows readers what stories were like in the Middle Ages. I would recommend reading these two stories because it will give you a taste of the Middle Ages, and it is interesting to read. Especially if you read it in Middle English. The only part of the stories that I did not enjoy was the aspect of seduction and objectivity of women. If you know me, then you will already know that I will not enjoy those aspects of the story. However, in the Middle Ages, beauty and love were seen as physical traits. Women are known to be objectified, but that is a common problem in previous decades and current reality. There was a reciprocal relationship between men and women. Outside of jousting tournaments, women were the objects,, and men were the subjects. When it comes to jousting tournaments, men were often the objects whereas women were the subjects. Women were spectators at the tournaments. The act of reciprocation between women and men was used to demonstrate how their society functioned. Their society involved a consistent battle between gaining and losing honour and nobility.

Thank you for reading. I will update the "coming soon,..." sections in the next few days.

Here are some other resources you can look at:

Middle English Text Series Website

https://metseditions.org/

Middle English Text Series Website: Sir Launfal

https://middleenglishromance.org.uk/mer/60