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XVIII.—Hué de Rotelande's Ipomédon and Chrétien De Troyes
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 December 2020
Extract
Kölbing in his work on the Ipomédon of Hue de Rotelande finds in this charming romance of the latter half of the twelfth century the “tendenz, characterzeichnung und handlung,” that class it unmistakably with the romances of the Round Table, and recognizes most particularly upon it the influence of the Charette and the Yvain of Chrétien de Troyes.
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- Research Article
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- Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 1917
References
1 Ipomédon, in drei englischen bearbeitungen, Eugen Kölbing, Breslau, 1889, p. xxviii (A).
2 Hue de Rotelande's Ipomédon, ein französischer abenteuerroman, herausgegeben von E. Kölbing und E. Koschwitz, p. vi (B).
3 Gaston Paris, Journal des Savants, July, 1902; Edmond Faral, Ovide et quelques sources du Roman d'Enéas, Romania, 1911, pp. 233 f.
4 Ip., 11. 5346, 8940, 10569.
5 If, as Ward among others thinks, (Cat. of Rom. v. i, pp. 735 ff.) Hue were acquainted with a Lancelot by his friend Walter Map (cf. Ip., 11. 7173 ff.), it would seem strange that none of this other-world material crept into his Ipomédon. Some of it seems inseparable from a Lancelot story. The nearest approach to it in Ipomédon is the virtue attributed to the sapphire on the cover of the cup Ipomédon gave to Capaneus, and the stone in the ring given to Ipomédon by his mother. Of the former it is said that It cured people of felons (Ip., 1. 2933; cf. Mussafia, Sulla critica del testo del Ipomédon, p. 46), and of the latter that it staunched the blood from a wound (Ip., 11. 9781 ff.). It was common thruout the middle ages to attribute peculiar virtues to precious stones.
6 Kölbing (A), pp. xxviii ff.
7 Ip., 11. 5096 ff.
8 Ip., 11. 211-220; 11. 245-284.
9 Ip., 11. 1737 ff.
10 Cf. Erec, 11. 2289 ff.; Cligés, 11. 4951 ff.; Yvain, 11. 6237 ff.; Char. 1. 5973; Perc. 1. 5548; Kölbing, A, p. xxix.
11 Cf. Cligés, 11. 4860 ff.; “N'i flerent pas ne dui ne troi; Qu'adone n'estoit us ne costume.”
12 Ip., 11. 5022 and 5027.
13 Cf. Annette B. Hopkins, The influence of Wace on the Arthurian Romances of Crestien de Troies, pp. 93 ff., and La folie de Tristan d'Oxford, S. des A. T., v. lvi, 11. 715 ff.
14 Ip., 11. 3121 ff; 1. 4465.
15 Seneschals and chamberlains appear in Thèbes: 11. 782, 2918, 3256, etc.
16 In Perc., 1. 4500, there is a passing reference to a chamberlain.
17 The name Thoas is the only one common to Chrétien's works and to Ipomédon. In the Charette, Thoas is pointed out in the tourney as the knight carrying a shield made in London (1. 5842). As Chrétien uses the word but this once, it is probable that Hue recalled it from Troie, where a Thoas plays a prominent rôle (1. 358, etc.).
18 Ip., 1. 5349. Ipomédon was written therefore after 1174, date of the siege. Hue's protector of whom he speaks as living at the close of his later romance, Protésilaus, died in 1191.
19 Ip., 11. 2272, 2309, etc., cf. Enéas, 1. 3899.
20 Ll. 574 ff.
21 L. 322.
22 Speaking of Henry II, Salzmann (English Nation under Henry II, p. 215) says in his recent volume (1914): “When he went out of England, whether for peaceful cause or war, his hawks and hounds and huntsmen followed him.”
23 L. 2518.
24 L. 2684.
25 L. 8942.
26 L. 5335.
27 L. 2721.
28 B, p. 6; cf. A, p. 29.
29 J. Bardoux, De Walterio Mappio, Paris, 1900, p. 167.
30 Ward, Cat. of Rom., i, p. 734.
31 Sommer's arguments that Hue may not refer to the Walter Map, archdeacon of Oxford, seem quite unconvincing (cf. Vulgate Version of Arthurian Romances, v. i, p. 11 n.). It is natural to suppose that a man who said of himself: marchio sum Walensibus (De Nugis Curialium, Dist. ii, ch. 23) and who was a public character before our poem was written (Ib., ed. Wright, p. 6), should have been known to Hue. This has nothing to do with the question of Map's authorship of a Lancelot. All that Hue says here, is in effect: “You think I am telling an improbable tale. I mean always to tell the truth, but if I fail to do so sometimes, there are others who do, too. Take, for example, Walter Map. You, dear listener, you tell the truth always, of course (‘Ne quit pas que nul de vus mente,‘ 1. 7186).” Whether Map wrote a Lancelot or not, the part of the Ipomédon just preceding these words might naturally have reminded Hue that Map also had told a tale of a young man who, in spite of all the blandishments and even taunts of a queen, had not yielded to her love and had finally vindicated his prowess. Disguised in another's armor, he had vanquished a giant (De Nugis, Dist. iii, ch. 2). As internal evidence shows that parts of the De Nugis were written as early as 1181, it is quite possible that Hue knew this story of Sadius and Galo. (Cf. Hinton, Walter Map's De Nugis Curialium, Pub. M. L. A., Mch., 1917, pp. 106 and 131.)
32 Ll. 49-103.
33 Ll. 2618 ff.
34 L. 3071.
35 Ll. 3005 ff.
36 Ll. 73-80.
37 Cf. 11. 10369 f.: A vostre uncle pus a Palerme Vendi veissie pur lanterne.
38 Erec, 1. 2439. We find the word once again in Perc., 1. 8978: Gauvain tells his sister that Grinomalanz claims her as his drue.
Si bele dame tant mar fust
s'ele n'amast u dru n'eüst!
Que devendreit sa curteisie,
s'ele n'amast de druërie? (Equitan, 11. 83 ff.)
40 Charette, 11. 4387 ff.
41 Ib., 11. 5686 ff.
42 Ib., 11. 4657 ff.
43 Charette, 11. 4355 ff.
44 Ib., 11. 46701; 11. 4734 ff.
45 Ip., 1. 6313.
46 L. 7224.
47 M. Bardoux says after a brief résumé of the prose Lancelot, still comparing it with Ipomédon: “Sic in utramque fabulam inducuntur duae mulieres, et ambae famosi bellatoris amorem sibi consiliare conantur” (De Walterio Mappio, p. 167). Any novice in Arthurian literature knows that it is Lancelot who tries to win and keep the love of Guinivere and not vice versa.
48 Much importance has been placed (cf. Vulg. Version of Art. Rom. v. i, p. 11, n.) on the fact that in the prose Lancelot and in Ipomédon, the knights on the three successive days fight in armor of the same different colors. But after Geoffrey, given a motive for disguise, the amount of invention required of a poet to make his hero fight in different colored armor each day, is reduced to a minimum, and, had Hue had our Lancelot before him, we may credit him with wit enough to have at least changed the colors.
49 Cf. also Thèbes, 11. 6000 f.; 9081 ff.; 3847 ff.; 4147 ff., etc.
50 Kolbing, A, p. 28.
51 Ll. 7275 ff.
52 Ll. 6313-6356.
53 Kölbing, A, p. 28.
54 Ll. 2887 ff.
55 Ll. 2901 ff.
56 Cf. Quicherat, Hist. du Costume en France, p. 180.
57 Char., 11. 1022, 1671, 4600; Yvain, 11. 232, 1884, 5429.
58 Kölbing, A, pp. 28 ff.
59 Ll. 271, 359, 994, etc.; cf. Troie, 11. 5353 ff., etc.
60 It should be noted that while the word tornei is commonly used in Thèbes as a synonymn of battle, combat, reference is made to the tornei of pleasure: cf. 11. 5167 f.
Et o la joie que il ont
A la cite torneier vont.
61 Ll. 8211 ff.
62 Ll. 1771 ff; 11. 7236 ff.
63 Ll. 7284-7636.
64 Erec, 11. 2135-2265; Cligès, 11. 4629-4985; Char., 11. 5595-6078; Perc., 11. 4980-5550.
65 Cf. Cligés, 1. 3265; Char., 11. 5600 ff.
66 Ip., 11. 3151 f.
67 Ip., 3602.
68 Thèbes, 11. 2953, 4055, etc.; cf. Ip., 11. 3291 ff; Perc., 1. 625.
69 Ip., 11. 3635, 3654, 3948, 4631, 4662-4668; cf. Förster in Glos. to Erec, 1. 2874, and Thèbes, 1. 9056.
70 Ip., 11. 422, 2258, 2732, 3170, etc., 10203; cf. Thèbes, 1. 6322.
71 Ip., 1. 5832; Thèbes, 1. 9499.
72 Char., 11. 5983, 5582, 5591.
73 L. 6260; cf. 1. 9652.
74 Char., 11. 860 ff.
75 Cf. 11. 4820 ff. and 11. 6163 ff.
76 The impression one receives in reading the account of the tourney in Ipomédon, is exactly the same as that which M. Jusserand says that he received from reading the Histoire de Guillaume le Maréchal, “celle d'une vaillance, d'un entrain, d'un mépris de la mort et des coups, d'une férocité inconsciente, d'une joie débordante qui nous rapprochent fort près des races primitives héroiques et sauvages” (Les Sports dans l'ancienne France, Revue de Paris, 15 mai, 1900, p. 307). M. Jusserand judges of the tourney in the twelfth century by Guillaume: “Les dames * * * ne sont mentionnées que bien rarement. On n'eût su qu'en faire à cette date, ni où les mettre” (Ib., p. 309). Yet Chrétien was Guillaume's contemporary. May it not well be that Guillaume and Hue reflect conditions in England, and that the tourney in France should be judged more by Chrétien?
77 Gesta Henrici II. Benedict of Peterborough, p. 226, A. D. Mar. 19, 1179.
78 Thèbes, 1. 3822; Troie, 1. 5450.
79 Ll. 1397-1506.
80 Yvain, 1. 1463.
81 Cligès, 1. 785.
82 Cf. Edouard Faral in Romania, 1911, pp. 183 ff.
83 Thèbes, 11. 8431 f.: “Levres grossetes par mesure, Por bien baisier les fist nature.”
84 Cligés, 1. 821; cf. Enéas, 1. 3997.
85 In Perceval, 1. 7129, lèvre is used in describing the roncin that Gauvain rode.
86 The Art d'Amur is definitely mentioned: Ip., 1. 1565. Were it not also for Hue's frequent allusions to the Scriptures, to the wise man and his “sens,” and to the fool and his folly, we should be tempted to see an allusion to Ovid (Ars Amatoris, i, 505: “Sed tibi nec ferro placeat torquere capillos,” etc.) in lines 2972 ff.: “… de tresces cure n'aveit. Mut eime plus a turneer, Ke de ses chevous a planier.” Cf. William of Malmesbury (A. D. 1128): “But this decency (of men in cutting their hair) was not of long continuance: for scarcely had a year expired, ere all who thought themselves courtly relapsed into their former vice: they vied with women in length of locks and wherever they were defective put on false tresses; forgetful or rather ignorant of the saying of the apostle: ‘If a man nurture his hair, it is a shame.‘” Cf. also, Romania, 1915, p. 14, Sans et Matière by Wm. A. Nitze.
87 Cf. Faral, Romania, 1911, pp. 214 ff. In the text of the Kölbing and Koschwitz edition we find all the symptoms, noted by M. Faral, except yawning (cf. Enéas, 11. 1231, 7923, 8077; Cligés, 1. 886). But I believe Hue did say his heroine yawned. Lines 1099-1100 read: “A tel dolour la nuit travaille, Sovent torne, sovent bataille.” The variant of bataille in ms. B is baale after which the editors have put an exclamation point. At the time of the publication of their text, yawning had not perhaps been noted as a symptom of love.
88 Ip., 1. 1464; Enéas, 1. 1324.
89 Enéas, 11. 8551 ff.
90 Parténopeus de Blois, 11. 7240 ff.
91 Kölbing calls attention to the parallel in Parténopeus but does not mention that in Enéas. Yet if either was Hue's model, it was surely the latter. He uses the same two crucial words as the author of Enéas. His heroine sospira after each syllable and the confidante was obliged to asembler the parts of the name (Enéas, 11. 8554, 8559; Ip., 11. 1497, 1502). In Parténopeus, in attempting to pronounce her lover's name, Mélior “Balbie l'a en sanglotant” (1. 7247).
92 Ip., 1. 8781.
93 Ip., 11. 1299-1315; Enéas, 11. 8350 ff.
94 Ll. 764 f., 895 f., 1593 ff., 4306 ff., 6715 ff., 8905 f.
95 Cf. Enéas, 11. 9885f.
96 Ip., 11. 764 f; Enéas, 11. 8633 ff.
97 Ll. 18041 ff.
98 Sulla critica del testo del romanzo in francese antico Ipomédon, p. 21.
99 Ib., n. 3; cf. Bédier, Le Tristan de Thomas, v. ii, p. 22, n. 11; “On sait pourtant que le Protesilaus d'Huon de Rotelande n'offre pas une seule rime non française.”
100 Mussafia failed to notice 11. 6647-8 bacheler: haster.
101 Mussafia, Sulla critica, p. 22, n. 1; p. 23 and p. 23, n. 2. Such rimes as turcheise: richeise, 2924; richesce: pruesce, 3493, might have been included here. There is at least one rime, which probably escaped the notice of Mussafia, impossible to explain in this way. Speaking of Amphion, the poet says: “E mut resteit pruz e curteis [E] mut sout des anciens lais,” 11. 1964 f. That it is indeed lais we have here, is evident by referring to Thèbes where we read: “Nous osteron tutes les pierres Que Amphyon, vostre harpierres, Assembla ci par artimaire E par la force de gramaire Et par le chant de sa viele,” 11. 9321 ff. (Rom. de Thèbes, v. ii, Appendice ii). Mussafia overlooked probably also; cruel: nasel, 7097 by the side of tel: cruel, 4083, etc. (Sulla critica, p. 21, 1°.)
102 Erec, 1. 3437 (Förster's ed., 1909, p. 34).
103 Vus: ambedeus, 6966; vus: delitus, 7195; vus: orgeillus, 5978, etc.; cf. 8255, 7674, 8602, 9605, etc.; cf. pruz: trestuz, 1592, 1759, etc.; pruz: dulz, 2241, etc.; parout (pr. subj. of parler) : desvolt (=desveut), 1957, etc.
104 Cf. Förster's Cligés, ed. 1910, note to 1. 3363.
105 Amis: enuys, 9475; quit (cogito) : dit, 5107, 1997, 2887, etc.; quit: petit, 2435; quisse: fremisse, 4882; cuir: saillir, 9583, etc. The rime nuyt: mut, 1265, would be an anglo-normanism; cf. Le Tristan de Thomas, v, ii, p. 15, § 9.
106 L. 1911; cf. Förster's Erec, p. 36.
107 Ll. 447, 1909, 2353, 3909, etc.; cf. also Loheregne: femme, 1. 7269.
108 Ip., 2822; Erec, 6807.
109 Ip., 2675, 4485; cf. Erec. 4973.
110 L. 10367.
111 Erec., via: trova, 2671; Ip. vait: fait, 1335, 2157; trait: vait, 2386, &c.
112 Erec, iere: chiere 3325; Ip. ere: emperere 346; frere: ere, 1715, 7271.
113 L. 1623; cf. 11. 1695, 2653, 3302, &c.
114 Ip., 11. 4587 ff.; 4823 ff.; 8741 ff.; 9329 ff.; 9576 ff.; 10385 ff. Cf. Thèbes, 11. 45, 55 ff. (seven lines beginning with Tant.), 2953, 3829 ff,. &c. Kölbing seeks a parallel for this feature of Hue's style in Parténopeus de Blois.
115 F. M. Warren, Mod. Phil., iii, pp. 22 f.
116 One from Perceval might have been added:
Si com li fos le devisa
Si com li fos deviné l'ot
Bien fu voirs li devins au sot (1. 4276 ff.).
Ad despendu mult largement
Mult out done et despendu (Ll. 553, 555).
117 Cf. Mussafia, Sulla critica, p. 23, 5°.
118 Warren, Mod. Phil., iii, p. 21.
119 Mod. Phil., iv, p. 672.
120 It has perhaps not been sufficiently noted (cf. Warren, Mod. Phil., iv, p. 666; Paul Meyer, Rom., xxxiii, p. 16; Borrmann, Rom. Forsch., XXV, p. 320) that parts of Thèbes (cf. 11. 2083-2680) offer abundant examples of the so-called new technique of the octosyllabic couplet, the breaking up of the unity of the line as well as the couplet, and the effective use of dialog.
121 Ip., 1. 10540.