Sir Launfal, Notes

SIR LAUNFAL: FOOTNOTES

1 The red rose, when it first blooms, / Is, in comparison with her complexion, of insignificant color

2 I know thy situation, beginning and end

3 What need has any man to take heed of him?

4 It seemed to him that he would completely consume himself (with envy or enmity) / Unless he could play (i. e. compete) with Launfal

5 Where he [usually] found spending money plentiful

6 And the losing of you - that, for me, is the worst trial

7 Twelve knights were brought to the book (sworn in as jurors)

SIR LAUNFAL: NOTES

Abbreviations: MS: Cotton Caligula A.ii; Bl: Bliss; F: Fellows; F&H: French and Hale; J&W: Johnson and Williams; M: Mills; R: Rickert; Ri: Ritson; Ru: Rumble; S: Sand. See bibliography for complete references. The title occurs in the MS as Launfal Miles.

1 In early Arthurian literature, King Arthur played an active role; he still does so in Malory's opening books of the Morte d'Arthur as well as in the fourteenth-century Alliterative Morte Arthure and Stanzaic Morte Arthur, but he also takes on a passive role in many romance narratives of the later Middle Ages, remaining at court while his knights take up the active roles as warriors and wanderers.

1-2 These lines anticipate the power of law to constrain Arthur's rage toward Launfal later in the tale.

2 The nostalgic opening is typical, not only of romances and Breton lays, but of many late fourteenth-century texts. The need for "good lawes" is echoed by Thomas Chestre's contemporaries. See Langland's Piers Plowman, Chaucer's "Ballad for a Former Age," the works of John Gower, and such romances and diatribes as Athelston and Piers Plowman's Creed.

5 Bl suggests: "In many of the Breton lays the name of the lay is mentioned with some emphasis, as if to recall to the reader (or listener) the tune to which the original lyrical lay was sung" (p. 83).

6 The presence of both performer and audience is articulated in this line, as well as many others. See lines 49, 817, 1036-37. See also Erle of Tolous, lines 7-8, 23, 173, 478-79; Emaré, lines 19-20, 70-72, 96, 144, 310-12, 381, 946-948; and similar lines in Sir Gowther and other lays and romances.

7 Kardevyle: Carlisle as a place associated with Arthuriana is rendered "Kaer-dubalum" in Geoffrey of Monmouth (c. 1136). Wace (c. 1155) uses the form "Kaerleil" but never situates Arthur's court there. In their book, The Place-Names of Cumberland (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1950-52), pp. 40-42, A. M. Armstrong et al provide an etymology for the word "Carlisle": in Latin, the place-name was "Luguvalium, [from] Modern Welsh Caer Liwelydd 'belonging to Luguvallos,' a personal name meaning 'strong as Lugus' [a Celtic god]." In her Lanval Marie de France places Arthur's court at Kardoel. And the Middle English Landevale places it at "Carlile." It certainly can be confused with Caerleon near the river Usk in Wales, a city long associated with Arthur. Caerleon means "Fort of the Legions." Malory situates Guenevere's trial and her subsequent rescue from the stake in Carlisle, in contrast to Chestre's condemnation and blinding of Guenevere here in the Launfal poem. It appears that Caerleon and Carlisle have a confused and interwoven role to play in the late medieval Arthurian records.

13-24 This list of knights does not occur in either Marie de France's Lanval or in the Middle English Landevale, but Libeaus Desconus does contain a list like this (see lines 218-21) as does the OF Le Bel Inconnu. In the introduction to his critical edition, Bl calls attention to Chestre's ordering. Notably, the list proceeds from the most important knight, Perceval (who achieves the Holy Grail) to the least important: Galafre and Launfal, both otherwise unknown as Round Table knights. The ordering may suggest a hierarchy of worth, or it could simply be determined by meter or be a way of placing Launfal in the ultimate position among the company of the best and greatest of Arthur's knights. In Malory's Morte d'Arthur, Gawain, Gaheres and Agravayn are all brothers, sons of King Lot and Arthur's half-sister, Morgawse. They are mentioned again in Launfal, lines 637-38. This group is followed by Lancelot, then Sir Kay (Arthur's stepbrother), Ywayn (Arthur's nephew and son of Morgan la Fay), then King Ban and King Bors (father and uncle to Lancelot and allies of Arthur), and finally Galafre and Launfal. Perceval is hero of numerous romances, particularly Chrétien's twelfth-century metrical romance and the early fifteenth-century English Percevall of Galles. Yvain is the main hero of Chrétien's Chevalier au Lion as well as the Middle English Ywain and Gawain. Gawain's inclusion in the Arthurian retinue has a long history. He can be found in William of Malmesbury (c. 1125) as Arthur's most distinguished knight; he is also a powerful figure in Geoffrey of Monmouth (c. 1136), Wace (c. 1155), and Layamon (c. 1190). In a number of continental romances, he becomes degenerate - hence, his brutishness in Malory's Morte d'Arthur. But he remained a noble figure in English popular literature and within texts like Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and The Awntyrs of Arthur. In Sir Launfal, he is the picture of courtesy (see lines 853, 892, 662) and one of the hero's best friends. Gawain stands next to Launfal during the dance (line 662), does surety for him (line 814), and announces the arrival of the maidens (lines 853, 892). See Chaucer's Squire's Tale (line 95): "Gawain, with his olde curteisye. . . ." Bl notes, "the substitution of [Lancelot's] name in Launfal (line 910) for the "Gawayn" of Landevale (line 413), at the cost of ruining the metre, must be the work of a late scribe more familiar with the continental than with the English tradition" (p. 40). Galafre is not known as an Arthurian knight. On the origins of Launfal's name see Bl. Spearing (p. 107) argues that the list illustrates Chestre's desire "to 'epicize' Launfal's role" and render him more heroic than he appears in Sir Landevale.

19 King Banbooght and King Bos are most likely King Ban and King Bors found elsewhere in Arthurian literature. They are father and uncle of Lancelot and fight as allies with Arthur against kings who resist Arthur's kingship and thus help solidify the kingdom. The word "booght" is obscure. Bl notes that "Possibly Booght is a duplication of Bos. The Old French form of Bors is nominative Bo(h)ors, oblique Bo(h)ort; in many fifteenth-century hands the letter 'r' after 'o' has exactly the form of the upper part of yough, so that an ill-written 'Boort' could easily be read as 'booght' " (1958, p. 84).

22 The name "Galafre" is not found elsewhere as a knight of the Round Table; see note to lines 13-24 above.

25 bacheler. Here means a novice or young knight who would lack the retinue of experienced and more wealthy established knights.

28-30 Largesse or generosity is a knightly virtue. See Sir Isumbras, lines 25-30. See also Sir Cleges, lines 13-23. For medieval codes of chivalry, see Ramón Lull, Le libre del orde de cauayleria (c. 1276), available in Caxton's 1484 translation; Honoré Bonet, Arbre des Batailles (c. 1387), trans. G. W. Coopland: The Tree of Battles of Honoré Bonet (Liverpool: University of Liverpool Press, 1949); and John of Salisbury, Policraticus (c. 1159), ed. and trans. Cary J. Nederman (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990).

29 clothes. MS: clodes.

30 The word "squyer" can designate someone who is in training for knighthood, a personal servant who attends a knight's needs, or a soldier below the rank of "knight."

32 A frequent figure of romances and lays, the loyal steward was in charge of his master's household. He would supervise all domestic servants, oversee the master's table, and regulate the household's expenditures. A steward held considerable power within the domestic world of high ranking aristocrats. See Sir Orfeo, lines 204-08, 554-79, 593-96, and Amis and Amiloun, lines 191, 205-16.

37-72 This material does not appear in Landevale or Lanval (see appendices).

38 Merlin appears here briefly and then never again. He does not appear at all in either Marie de France's Lanval or Landevale. Chestre's Merlin advises Arthur to marry Guenevere; elsewhere, Merlin commonly counsels Arthur against marrying Guenevere. Although it can be found in numerous Arthurian romances, the marriage episode was apparently added to Sir Launfal by Chestre; it does not occur in either Lanval or Landevale.

40 King Ryon is, most likely, King Ryence who appears in other romances where he is usually ruler of North Wales. In other texts central to the Arthurian canon, Ryence is an enemy to Arthur and Lodegryaunce. Lodegryaunce, or Leodegraunce, is commonly Guenevere's father. Perhaps Lodeg "ryaunce" has become "Ryon" here.

41 fette. Ri reads sette.

42 Gwennere: Contracted forms of Guenevere's name are common in ME (see lines 157, 164). In the Welsh tradition, references to her extend back to the Triads, collections of Welsh myth, history, and legend; there, her name is "Gwen-hwyfar" meaning "White Phantom." The standard edition of the Triads, including a discussion of the texts, is Trioedd ynys Prydein: The Welsh Triads, ed. and trans. Rachel Bromwich (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1961; 2nd. ed., 1978; 1991).

44 lykede. The implication is that Gwennere was displeased with Launfal and other Round Table knights, since "lykede" is usually impersonal in ME; however, like modern English "liked," it would mean that Launfal and the other knights disapproved of Gwennere because of her promiscuity (lines 46-48).

46-47 Early Welsh tradition, preserved within the Triads, ascribes "Gwenhwyfar" with a reputation of being adulterous. She is listed as more treacherous than any notorious woman named in the triad of "Three Faithless Wives": "and one was more faithless than those three: Gwenhwyfar, wife of Arthur, since she shamed a better man than any of them" (Triad #80 in Bromwich; also translated by John K. Bollard, "Arthur in the Early Welsh Tradition," in The Romance of Arthur, ed. James J. Wilhelm and Laila Z. Gross (New York: Garland, 1984), p. 25. Although Chrétien de Troyes and other high and late medieval authors frequently idealized Guenevere, the portrait of her in Chestre's poem is consistent with the earliest written records of her character; that is, Guenevere's affair with Lancelot is not mentioned in Sir Launfal.

50 Whitsunday, meaning literally "White Sunday," is another name for Pentecost, a high feast of the Christian calendar; it is often the day adventures begin in Arthurian romances.

56 baronette. A lesser noble, a diminuitive of "baron." R suggests "knight-landowner," Early English Romances (London: Chatto and Windus, 1908), p. 59.

57 A tag phrase. Bl translates: "There is no reason for concealment."

64 A boteler is a wine servant or cupbearer.

67-72 See Graelent, lines 151-62. In this source, Guenevere's motive for not giving Launfal a gift or payment is, perhaps, made clear. The queen advises the king not to pay Graelent so that he cannot leave the court. It may, then, be intended to make Launfal more vulnerable to Guenevere's promiscuity or punish him for his aloofness, although the text never explicitly explains the queen's move. See also lines 676-80 below. Spearing interprets Guenevere in Freudian terms "as a stepmother figure, an intruder into the family" (p. 108).

82 Sir Hugh and Sir John are not found elsewhere in the extant Arthuriana as nephews of Arthur. Bl suggests that these names may be corruptions of Ywain and Gawain, who were Arthur's nephews (1958, p. 86).

85-216 No parallels for this material exist in Landevale or Lanval, but Graelent contains some likenesses.

88 Karlyoun. Often identified with Camelot: see Derek Brewer, Arthur's Britain: The Land and the Legend (Cambridge: Pevensey Press, 1985), p. 109.

89 The romance of Graelent (lines 172-80) does not describe him as a mayor.

101 departyd. MS: þe party. Ri and Bl read thepartyth; so too F&H, with the gloss "departed."

103 Ne ther thar. Bl combines the first two words; so too F&H with thar glossed as "need." S reads Nether thare, with the gloss "nor/need."

112 MS: vij. The final -e in ynome has been trimmed from the MS.

118-20 Bl (p. 86) translates these lines: "Now you can see what it is like to be in the service of a lord of little importance, and how grateful the lord will be for your service." Launfal speaks with bitter sarcasm.

119 Under. MS: Unþer. The scribe often writes d for þ. E.g., 29, 202, 204, 209, 414, 450, 511, 530, 587, 594, 596, 598, 641 (unþer), 683, 763, 779, 780, 891, 905, 1021.

133 This marks one full year that Launfal has been away from court.

136 Syr Huwe and Syr John are Arthur's nephews mentioned in line 82 who accompanied Launfal "hom." See note to line 82.

137-49 See also Sir Amadas, lines 351-75.

140 tresour. MS: tosour. Ri emends to tresour. Emendation followed by F&H, Bl, Ru, and S.

142 MS: the -e on fre has been trimmed from the MS.

143 MS: Tellyd. Ri reads Tell yd; Ru emends to tellyth.

149 Glastonbury has long been associated with the island of Avalon. See Brewer, Arthur's Britain, pp. 60-62.

154-55 Retainers and servants were regularly provided with clothes and food by their lords. When Sir Hugh and Sir John return to Arthur's court wearing the same clothes they had on a year before, it would be immediately noticeable and evoke questions; these clothes are tattered and torn.

160 knytes. S emends to knightes.

162 See Lay le Freine, line 101.

164 MS, F&H, Ru, and Bl read: Gonnore; Ri, Gonere; S, Gwenere.

171 holtes hore is a common description found in romances (see line 230). It usually suggests grey, bare branches of a winter forest or lichen-covered trees. Here, however, the action is set in summer, where hore suggests shadowy.

174 wore. S: "A disputed line whose crux is 'wore,' either 'wore,' or 'were,' either interpretation being possible. The sense is probably '[dressed just] as we were in his presence"' (p. 208).

181 Trinity Sunday is the first Sunday after Whitsun and celebrates the Holy Trinity. In the time frame of the narrative, this happens one week after Sir Hugh and Sir John leave him.

185 borjaes. Bl reads boriaes; S, borieies.

191-216 See Graelent, lines 176-94.

202 MS: clodynge.

204 Though. MS: dough. See note to line 119.

211 A courser is a powerful horse used by knights in battle.

214 The image of a young dashing courtier riding a horse was a common iconographic image for the month of May. Consequently, the image of Launfal and his horse falling into the mud is potentially comic. This is a detail apparently added by Chestre. In Graelent 201-02, the onlookers stare because the knight's clothes are old and tattered. William J. Stokoe, "The Sources of Sir Launfal: Lanval and Graelent," PMLA 58 (1948), 398: "[In Marie de France's version,] the horse trembles because it feels the presence of the supernatural." Here, however, it falls in the "fen." Bl writes, "it illustrates the general lack of respect for the upper classes which is a feature of the poem" (p. 88).

222 Chestre's extant sources, Landevale and Graelent, both situate this scene near a river, as is consistent with Celtic mythology. William H. Schofield assumes a river is implied in lines 244-45 and that the maidens carrying the basin and towel are fetching water for bathing, "The Lays of Graelent and Lanval, and the Story of Wayland," PMLA, 15 (1900), 145. Here it seems the maidens have been sent to fetch Launfal, and, since he's hot and muddy, he would need washing.

227 Sitting under the shadow of a tree often leads to an adventure in the English lays: see Sir Orfeo lines 67-68. Constance Bullock-Davies, "Ympe Tre and Nemeton," Notes and Queries n.s. 9 (1962), 6-9; John Block Friedman, "Eurydice, Heurodis, and the Noon-day Demon," Speculum 41 (1966), 22-29. See notes to Orfeo, line 70 in this volume. See The Pistel of Swete Susan (also found partially in Cotton Caligula A.ii, fols. 3a-5a) where Susan, undressing to bathe, relaxes under a laurel tree at midday before she is trapped by the elders.

235 MS: felwet. S emends to felvett. The maidens are dressed in green, connecting this summons with Celtic folk materials. See Cross, "Celtic Elements" (p. 595 and fn. 3 on the same page). See also Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and Child, Ballad #37.

249 Just why Launfal would sigh isn't clear. Is he struck by the maidens' beauty? Is he embarrassed by his poverty and filth? Does he simply want to be left alone?

250 Instead of glossing hoth as "heath," as I have done, Bl (p. 89) assumes it designates an actual place. He cites A. Mawer and F. M. Stenton, The Place-Names of Sussex (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1929/30), p. 270, to support his reading.

255 Tryamour. The lady is not named in Lanval or Landevale. A number of meanings are suggested by this name. Obviously "try-amour" meaning "to test or try love" is one. But the first syllable also contains echoes of the prefix, "tri" meaning three. This association could be reminiscent of "Tir" or "Tyr" which in Saxon and ancient Cimbric was the name for Odin and sometimes other deities. Ri's notes on the name are informative: "Tyr," he claims, could be used for any great leader, prince, lord, emperor, and occasionally meant Creator or God. In Libeaus Desconus, found in the same manuscript as Launfal, "Termagaunt" refers to the God of the Saracens. The syllable "ter" also carries meanings of "very" as well as "three." The word "three" had, as Ri notes, mythic signification well before Christianity's Trinity. He cites Virgil's Aeneid IV: "Tergeminamque Hecaten, tria virginia ora Dianae." Closer to our fourteenth-century text, the name is given to a knight in the medieval romance, Sir Tryamour. In Sir Launfal the number "three" recurs in the three fairy images which adorn the magic purse Dame Tryamour gives to Launfal and the three ermines which are, apparently, her heraldric signs: see lines 328-30. Bl (p. 89) prefers a simpler explanation: in his notes to the line, he suggests it means "choice love." Although the fairy lover's name is Tryamour, she may have connections to Morgan le Fay. Bl (p. 20) argues for this connection by citing the association in Old French between Graelent, Guingamor, and Lanval, and by recalling that Morgan le Fay is the lover of both Graelent (a.k.a. Graillemuers) and Guingamor in Chrétien de Troyes' Erec. See also Laurence Harf-Lancner, Les Fées au Moyen Age: Morgane et Mélusine, La naissance des fées (Paris: Champion, 1984).

266 werk of Sarsynys. Romances often contain references to Middle Eastern, non-Christian characters, places, cultures, and objects. After Sicily was conquered by the Normans, the silk weavers found there traded their goods throughout Europe more easily.

271 carbonkeles: R (1908, p. 63) notes that in the lapidaries, carbuncles are noted for their light-giving qualities. F (1993, p. 286) notes: "A belief prevailed in the Middle Ages that precious stones, particularly carbuncles, shone with a light of their own. It has been suggested that descriptions of buildings surmounted by such refulgent gems may represent an attempt to interpret the lighthouse of Alexandria: see E. Faral, Recherches sur les sources latines des contes et romans courtois du moyen age (Paris: E. Champion, 1913), pp. 81-85. Descriptions of brilliant bejewelled cities and palaces occur frequently in Middle English romance." Compare castles in Libeaus Desconus line 1789ff.; Huon of Burdeaux XXV, p. 75, CXVII, 424; Sir Degrevant, lines 1425, 1473; and Reinbroun, stanza 79ff.; Le Bel Inconnu, lines 1877-1919; esp. lines 1913-16.

272 they schon. MS: the schon.

274 Alexander the Great, one of the nine worthies, a well-known hero of romances.

278 Olyroun. Perhaps the island d'Oleron off the coast of Brittany. Lanval, line 641, reads "Aualun" and Landevale (line 92) reads "Amylion." See Huon of Burdeux (EETS e.s. 40, 41, 43, 50) where Oberon's palace is across the sea and next to a large body of water (p. 597; see also pp. 358, 439, 379, 584). In Le Bel Inconnu, the caste of the Ile d'Or is also situated across water. Ri (p. 12) notes that maritime laws were called "la ley Olyron" and notes that Richard I revised the maritime laws on the island of Olyroun on his way back to England from the Holy Lands.

280 The consensus among scholars studying fairy lore is that the word fairy comes from Latin and French origins. Lewis Spence, Fairy Tradition in Britain (London: Rider, 1948), links "fairy" with Fata which is itself linked to both the Fates of classical mythology and the nymphic Fatuae. His opinion has been sustained more or less by subsequent scholars. See Laurence Harf-Lancner, Les Fées au Moyen Age (Paris: Champion, 1984). Jack Zipes, Breaking the Magic Spell: Radical Theories of Folk and Fairy Tales (New York: Methuen, 1984) and James Roy King, Old Tales and New Truths: Charting the Bright-Shadow World (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1992), consider the fairytale's cultural role in the contemporary West. Their analyses of the fairytale raise some provocative issues to consider in relation to Sir Launfal, particularly since it belongs to "popular culture." See also the notes to Sir Orfeo, line 10.

281 Occient. May mean "west" or "ocean," perhaps a reference to Avalon, a land or island associated with faery or the Otherworld.

292-300 The description of Dame Tryamour conforms to myriads of other medieval catalogue descriptions of women's faces and bodies. See D. S. Brewer, "The Ideal of Feminine Beauty in Medieval Literature," Modern Language Review 50 (1955), 257-69. See also Launfal, lines 934-45.

301-16 The wooing woman is a motif common in Celtic folklore. See Howard R. Patch, "The Adaptation of Otherworld Motifs to Medieval Romance," in Philologica: The Malone Anniversary Studies, eds. Thomas A. Kirby and Henry Bosley Woolf (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1949), pp. 115-23. See also Judith Weiss, "The Wooing Woman in Anglo-Norman Romance," in Romance in Medieval England, ed. Mills, Fellows, and Meale, pp. 149-61.

316-17 These words are close to contemporary betrothal vows. Vows spoken between two people, even when not witnessed, could constitute a valid marriage. The solemnization of marriage includes the following lines "wilt thou have this woman to thy wedded wife, wilt thou love her, honour her, keep her and guard her, in health and in sickness, as a husband should a wife, and forsaking all others on account of her, keep thee only unto her, so long as ye both shall live?" The Sarum Missal in English trans. Frederick E. Warren (London: Alexander Moring, 1911) and found conveniently in Chaucer Sources and Backgrounds, ed. Robert P. Miller (New York: Oxford University Press, 1977), pp. 373-84. Compare Chaucer's Tale of Sir Thopas, lines 794-95: "Alle othere wommen I forsake, / And to an elf-queen I me take."

319-33 The gifts Dame Tryamour gives to Launfal parallel quite closely the gifts Graelent receives. (See Graelent, lines 350-92.)

329 Ri's edition misnumbers the text hereafter, with line 329 as 330.

323 A mark is quite a sum of money. In the late fourteenth century, it signifies about eight ounces of gold.

326 Blaunchard is a white horse (OF: blanche). The white horse appears frequently as a fairy horse. See Sir Orfeo, line 146, Graelent, line 354, and the supernatural horse in Sir Amadas, line 427. Roger S. Loomis, in his book, Celtic Myth and Arthurian Romance (New York: Columbia University Press, 1927), pp. 88-89, 106-07, identifies many tales in which Morgan le Fay gives a knight a horse, particularly a white one. The correspondence may suggest a connection between Dame Tryamour and Morgan le Fay, although the gift of the white horse can be easily found occurring elsewhere as well. See Cross, "Celtic Elements," pp. 628-35.

327 Gyfre is not found in Landevale or Lanval, but the hero in Graelent (line 351) is given a servant, his "chambellanc."

328 pensel. A small pennon, a "favor" worn to signify allegiance to his lady.

336 kepte. Bl (p. 91) suggests the word is the past participle "embraced." Ru emends to klepte meaning "embraced." S glosses the line: "No better have I received," noting an obsolete sense of "to receive" for keep attested to here. F&H emend to chepe, which they gloss as "bargain." I have glossed the term as a form of keeping, with the implication of "provision" or "offering" being received.

343 Fairy food is often dangerous for mortals to eat. A number of medieval texts include in their descriptions of the Otherworld the imprisoning capacity of fairy food. In Chrétien de Troyes' Erec, for example, humans who eat fruit from King Evrain's garden are unable to find their way out of that kingdom. In the Irish romance of Connla the Fair, Connla eats a fairy apple and, from that moment on, wants no mortal food, and, for another taste of that magic fruit, follows the fairy away into the Otherworld. Although there is nothing in this text to suggest that the fairy food is dangerous, Launfal does, at the end of the text, follow his lemman into her otherworld.

344 Pyement and clare are both red wines mixed with honey and spices. Reynysch wyn is, apparently, Rhine wine. The MED gives the example from the Alliterative Morte d'Arthur, line 203: "Rynisch wyne," which indicates a rarer and more costly wine.

362 The fairy-lover puts a geis, or magic taboo, on Launfal, whereby he must never mention her name. This motif derives from folk materials. Its origin is disputed; J. G. Frazer, in his volume on "Taboo," writes that in some cultures "persons most intimately connected by blood and especially by marriage . . . are often forbidden, not only to pronounce each other's names, but even to utter ordinary words which resemble or have a single syllable in common with these names," The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion, 3rd. ed., 12 vols. (New York: Macmillan, 1911-15), II, 335. The name taboo suggests that anyone who possesses an individual's name may exert power over that individual. Thus, in some cultures, individuals have two names: one, the sacred name, known only to her/himself, and the other, the common name, used by the community.

373-420 Material not found in either Lanval or Landevale. Chestre draws, apparently, on Graelent to construct this episode.

394-95 This exchange between a boy of the town and Gyfre helps to reinforce the theme of generosity which is prominent in the poem.

409-14 Compare Chaucer's Parson's Tale X (I) 443: "Pride of the table appeereth eek ful ofte; for certes, riche men been cleped to festes, and povre folk been put awey and rebuked."

414 thyne. MS: dyne.

416 Wearing purple is a common sign of wealth in medieval literature.

417 Ermine fur, like purple cloth, indicates wealth.

419 It is amusing that Launfal is now so wealthy that Gyfre serves not only as his squire but as his accountant as well. Bl (p. 92) notes that the two nouns "tayle" and "score" are "identical in meaning." Each originally meant a notch in a stick, and each came to mean the stick that bears the notches. The reference is to the medieval system of book-keeping whereby the amount of debt was recorded by a number of notches cut into a stick; the stick was then split longitudinally; one half was kept by the creditor, the other by the debtor, so that neither could falsify the record."

421-32 David Carlson has examined these lines closely, identifying the way they echo Matthew 25: 34-40 and James I: 27. St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas cite these passages as the origin of the Seven Corporal Acts of Mercy. The passage from Matthew reads, "Then shall the king [Christ] say to them that shall be on his right hand: Come, ye blessed of my Father, possess you the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave me to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me to drink; I was a stranger, and you took me in: naked, and you covered me: sick, and you visited me: I was in prison, and you came to me. Then shall the just answer him, saying: Lord, when did we see thee hungry, and fed thee; thirsty, and gave thee drink? And when did we see thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and covered thee? Or when did we see thee sick or in prison and came to thee? And the king answering, shall say to them: Amen I say to you, as long as you did it to one of these my least brethren, you did it to me" (Douai translation). The passage from James reads, "Religion clean and undefiled before God and the Father, is this: to visit the fatherless and widows in their tribulation: and to keep one's self unspotted from this world." Carlson uses lines 421-32 in Sir Launfal and the corresponding lines in the other English versions to argue that the Middle English redactions derive, not directly from the Old French, but from another intermediate text, now lost. Marie de France's Lanval names only one act of Corporal Mercy - visiting the imprisoned:

Lanval donnoit les riches dons,
Lanval aquitoit les prisons.
Lanval vestoit les jugleors,
Lanval feoit les granz honnors . . .
(Lanval, lines 209-12)

See David Carlson, "The Middle English Lanval, the Corporal Works of Mercy, and Bibliotheque Nationale, Nouv. Acq. FR. 1104," Neophilologus 72 (1988), 97-106. Interestingly, Dame Tryamour also accomplishes works of corporal mercy, although no one has commented upon this, using the material rather to discuss Launfal. And, interestingly, Launfal may well create widows and orphans when he slaughters all the Lords of Atalye (lines 607-12); and, obviously, neither Launfal nor Dame Tryamour is chaste.

422-32 The repetition of the word "Fyfty" where Marie de France's Lanval repeats the hero's name has led Julian Harris, in "A Note on Thomas Chestre," Modern Language Notes 46 (1930), 24-25, to argue that Chestre "was apparently using a MS which contained the abbreviation L. for Lanval in lines 209-216 of Marie de France's Lanval." Harris speculates that Chestre mistook the "�" for "L" meaning fifty. Marie de France's lines read:

Lanval donnoit les riches dons,
Lanval aquitoit les prisons.
Lanval vestoit les jugleors,
Lanval feoit les granz honnors,
Lanval despendoit largement,
Lanval donnoit or et argent.
N'i ot estrange ne prive
A cui Lanval n'eust donne.

430 Here, as in other romances, the narrator calls attention to the generosity given by aristocrats to minstrels, perhaps a plea for the immediate audience to give generously to the minstrel performing or reciting the lay. It is, perhaps, a topos which marks the texts' original oral performance and need for patronage. See also Sir Orfeo (lines 25-38; 430-52; 515-18), and Sir Cleges (lines 49-54).

433-504 This material is unique in Chestre's version of the narrative. However, in line 474, he makes reference to "the Frenssch tale," which may be a now-lost source or it may be the conventional claim to authority. Bl suggests (p. 25) an analogue in Andreas Capellanus's Art of Courtly Love, trans. John J. Parry (New York: Norton, 1969), pp. 177-86.

450 MS: kyghtes wonþer.

467 The clever squire Gyfre claims the constable's horse.

470 MS: wreththe.

484 Notice that Blaunchard delivers blows alongside Launfal. The motif of the helpful animal-guide figure is common in folklore. See Roger S. Loomis, Arthurian Tradition and Chrétien de Troyes (New York: Columbia University Press, 1949), pp. 315-16. However, a well-accoutred war horse might wound men with spiked armor as it moved.

505-06 MS indents these two lines, as if to leave space for a rubricated A. Ri marks his text here as Part II.

505-612 Chestre's Valentine episode is paralleled in Graelent. It is also a tale told by Andreas Capellanus. Bl discusses the relationships between these versions of the story in his notes to lines 505-612 (pp. 93-94) and on page 25 of his critical edition. Eger and Grime locates Greysteel, the knights' supernatural combatant-adversary, in another land across a river, and Arthur, in the Alliterative Morte Arthure, must fight a giant who lives across the channel atop Mont St. Michael. The journey across water to fight a giant adversary on an island has a long tradition; see Tristan and Beowulf, for example. Spearing considers this episode "absurd" and evidence of the poem's failure (p. 106).

509 How that. MS: That that. S's emendation. Bl, Ru, F&H follow MS.

511 wonder. MS: wonther. Ru's emendation, followed by S.

527-28 See lines 1027-28. These lines are obviously intended to be insulting. The challenge is multivalent: challenging the knight's masculinity and challenging the court's "effeminacy."

530 do. MS: tho. Ru's emendation.

536 Bl glosses the line: "'skillful in every device,' or, in a free translation, 'up to all the tricks"'(p. 94).

541-43 Notice that Launfal does not reveal his lover's identity; he simply said "He wold wyth hym play."

561 Atalye. Bl (p. 94) notes: "according to the OF romance of Otinel, lines 190-92, the city of Atille was built by the 'pagans' in Lombardy, between two rivers."

569 Ri heads the line with And.

582 Gyfre apparently can make himself invisible as he helps Launfal out.

587 thonkede . . . sythe. MS: donkede . . . syde.

594 doune. MS: þoune.

596 sythe. MS: syde.

598 dere. MS: þhere.

606 To be "drawn" means to be torn apart by horses pulling in opposite directions. Arthur will threaten Launfal with the same punishment later in the poem (line 726).

610 MS: sclayn.

616 he let. MS: alet. Ri emends let to read "letter." I follow Bl who reads the a as the pronoun "he."

618 The feast of St. John the Baptist (June 24), yet another summer festival.

624 F&H add a pronoun to the line so it reads: "For he cowthe of largesse."

636 partye also means "country."

656 sche. MS: sch.

668 The citole is a flat-backed stringed instrument which is plucked like a guitar or lute.

669 MS: un rryght.

676-81 The inconsistency between these lines and Guenevere's treatment of Launfal earlier in the lay suggests that these lines are not to be understood as coy and disingenuous, but seductive. However, we could also read them back into the beginning of the poem as a reason why Launfal left the court and why Guenevere passed him over at the gift-giving. See notes to lines 67-72. Spearing (p. 108) argues: "I suspect that . . . Guenevere's promiscuity has come to symbolize the general problem of the mother's sexuality, which makes her both desirable and frightening to the son; and [this] encounter between her and Launfal, in which he perceives her as having attempted to seduce him while her story is that he has attempted to seduce her, is another way of treating the ambivalence of the son's desire for the mother."

683 day. MS: þay. Bl (p. 96) notes the similarity of this refusal to Amis and Amiloun, lines 598-609.

689 In this line Guenevere accuses the hero of homosexuality. Marie de France's Lanval (281-82) is more explicit: Guenevere accuses Launval of preferring boys to women; Laundevale (line 226) has the exact same line as Chestre's version here.

696 Nothing in the poem indicates the passing of seven years, until we reach this line. Of course, when Launfal visits the fairy Otherworld, time slows for him even though it has gone on as usual in this world.

697 MS: lothlokste.

705-08 The dynamic of the powerful woman who accuses a lower-ranking man of rape or of desiring her sexually can be found along a continuum of incest tales like the Seven Sages. In that text, the queen, desiring sex with her own step-son, is so outraged that he won't comply that she accuses him of rape and has him thrown in prison. The text records the debate in the court between the empress, who seeks her own step-son's execution, and the seven sages (councilors) who defend her step-son's life.

714 Although the usual phrase is "my heart will break in two," Bl (p. 96) notes "this rather ludicrous modification is necessitated by the rhyme."

715 Gwenevere accuses Launfal of two crimes: trying to seduce her and insulting her beauty. The ensuing trial actually revolves around the insult, since it is conventionally taken to be an attack on the king.

719 MS: lodlokest.

721 wroth. MS: worth. Bl's emendation.

724 F&H emend wente to sente.

730 The apparent dissolution of the fairy world happens suddenly. Compare Perceval who, falling asleep at the castle of maidens, wakes next morning to find himself under a tree, the castle completely vanished in Chrétien's Conte du Graal (lines 26971ff.). It is a common motif in folktales and legends.

733-44 This material is not in Lanval or Landevale. It is present in Graelent (lines 529-30). M discusses possible sources for the episode in "A Note on Sir Launfal, 733-744," Medium Aevum 35 (1966), 122-24.

738 Up. Ri emends to Upon, to improve meter and sense.

741 Romances often make reference to sources (real or imagined), as if to lend credence to the tale. The device is also found in early English hagiography and late classical literature. See H. L. Levy "As myn auctor seyth," Medium Aevum 12 (1943), 25-39. Most likely, it means a "French book" (see line 474). In this instance the tag is perhaps triggered by the veiled literary allusion to the ubi sunt trope - the "where are the sorrows of yesteryear" - in line 740, which puts the narrator in mind of literary conventions, and thus the tag acknowledging such tropes.

755 Launfal suffers from conventional lovesickness which afflicts many lovers in medieval literature.

760 The trial scene occurs in Marie de France with an emphasis on the legal maneuvers. Both Rychner, in his critical edition of Lanval, and E. A. Francis in her article, "The Trial in Lanval," in Studies in French Language and Mediaeval Literature Presented to Mildred K. Pope (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1939), pp. 115-24, assume that Marie de France based her representation of Lanval's trial on a real trial. Here, Chestre follows Landevale, thereby rendering the episode quite briefly. His interest seems, rather, on the passages describing the entrance of the maidens.

761 Bl translates "ataynte" as "convicted," stressing Arthur's hasty and angry judgment on Launfal (p. 97).

763 MS: lodlokest.

772 Sethe. The first word of the line has been deleted by the scribe; sethe is the second word.

772-83 Launfal denies the first charge Gwenevere has brought against him and, faced with the second charge, he stands by his word, leaving the court to decide.

779 MS: lodlokest.

780 MS: wordye.

783 The word "loke" resonates with several meanings: it can mean command and it can mean look. Just as Launfal "fell" under the scorn of many men in lines 209-19 and sprang to his horse, riding toward the west to escape their "lokynge," here, at the end of the poem, he falls under many men's "lokynge," and will eventually "sprynge" to his horse and ride "ynto a jolif ile" (lines 1015, 1022).

784-86 F&H translate: "They were forced to consult books to say what was law" (I, p. 371). Bl: "Twelve knights were compelled . . . to swear a Bible-oath . . . to judge truly what the position was in all respects" (p. 98).

790 Literally "bore repute (fame) of such a charge of infidelity."

800 MS: scluld.

811-16 Perceval and Gawain agree to serve as hostages or sureties for Launfal. They guarantee he will be present for his trial; it is a serious pledge of support, for if Launfal fails to uphold his word, the sureties could be executed.

831 Because recordede carries legal meaning far beyond what Chestre inscribes here, Bl (pp. 98-99) notes that an accurate translation of the line would be "The king had the charge and the defence read out from the record." Chestre's text, however, seems to omit much of the legality which Marie de France found interesting; consequently, the line could read "His [Launfal's] sureties brought him before the king; the king recorded that, and bade him [Launfal] to produce his beloved." Since sureties can guarantee the "word" or "truth" of the accused, their lives are on the line.

838 The Earl of Cornwall is mentioned in Landevale (line 335) and in Lanval (line 433), but the other three MSS call him a duke. Earlier Arthuriana refer to the "Duke of Cornwall," even though the Dukedom of Cornwall didn't formally exist until 1337. Consequently, Bl (p. 99) assumes that the scribe of Landevale wanted to reflect historical accuracy in his text and that Thomas Chestre simply followed suit. The last Earl of Cornwall died in 1237. The title Duke of Cornwall was revived in the fourteenth century and conferred on the Black Prince and his son, the future Richard II.

840-46 Bl (p. 99) notes, "Both Launfal and Landevale abridge, or rather omit the greater part of the long and reasoned judgment delivered by the Earl of Cornwall in Lanval." See Lanval, lines 433-60.

846 The threat of banishment is ironic, considering both Launfal's earlier choice to avoid Guenevere's advances by leaving the court and his later choice, at the end of the poem, to "flee" with his lemman into another world.

863 As Bl (p. 99) notes, only extremely high ranking guests would be housed in more private quarters; most would simply share the great hall.

876 We. MS: Whe.

877 Ru suggests that tale may mean "tally," in which case the sense would be "A new tally they took then."

891 MS: clodynge.

905 MS: clodes.

918 thou. Omitted in MS; supplied by Ri, F&H, Bl, and S.

925-72 Compare Libeaus Desconus (lines 925-48), Erle of Tolous, (lines 343-60), and notes to lines 292-300 above.

958 Paytrelle (or peitrel) is a word which can indicate either decorative trappings worn across the breast of the horse or an armor which protects the horse in battle. The image works either way. As ornament, it adds to the opulence of the fee; as armor, it adds to the image of the woman as a warrior coming to rescue her lemman. See Chaucer's Parson's Tale X (I) 431-33: "Also the synne of aornement or of apparaille is in thynges that apertenen to ridynge, as in to manye delicat horses that been hoolden for delit, that been so faire, fatte, and costlewe; / and also in many a vicious knave that is sustened by cause of hem; and in to curious harneys, as in sadeles, in crouperes, peytrels, and bridles covered with precious clothyng, and riche barres and plates of gold and of silver. / For which God seith by Zakarie the prophete, 'I wol confounde the rideres of swiche horses."'

961 The gerfawcon was usually carried by a king; the MED identifies it as a large falcon. Both Lanval and Landevale have Dame Tryamour carrying a sparrowhawk, a smaller hawk more commonly carried by priests or ladies. Chestre's iconography here may simply indicate Dame Tryamour's aristocratic rank as a king's daughter, but it may also add to the powerful warrior imagery already established in the description of Dame Tryamour's horse. See John Cummins, The Hound and the Hawk: The Art of Medieval Hunting (New York: St. Martins, 1988), pp. 188, 194.

970-72 Compare Landevale, lines 459-60: "Now I have her seyn with myn ee, / I ne reke when that I dye."

989 Cross, in "Celtic Elements," comments that "the dropping of the mantle as a sign of respect was common both among men and women in medieval courtly circles." He also notes, however, that the action can be meant to stun the onlookers with the power of the body's exhibition, in this case, because Dame Tryamour is so beautiful (p. 639).

997 MS: myne. F&H retain myne and gloss the idiom: "take good heed." S retains the MS spelling, but provides no gloss on the line. I follow Bl in emending to "nyme," as does Ru. Ri reads myne.

999 MS: lemmam.

1006-08 The blinding of Guenevere is unique to Launfal. It is foreshadowed in line 810 by Guenevere herself. Despite its uniqueness, Stith Thompson comments, "Medieval storybooks are filled with tales of persons who are deceived into humiliating positions. Such stories are usually purely literary and often go back to much older sources. Many of them . . . concern exposed adultery" [The Folktale (New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1949), p. 202]. A number of romances record narratives wherein the hero humiliates someone or a number of people. Sir Ipomadon tells the story of a knight who pretends not to joust (in fact, he jousts and wins each tournament incognito). The courtiers who laugh at Ipomadon are, themselves, the fools of the story. Guenevere and the mayor play similar parts here where they treat Launfal poorly, only to be repaid with a vengeance for their foolishness and for their attack on, or neglect of, the hero.

1015-17 In Landevale, the hero receives the lady's forgiveness only after she scolds him thoroughly (lines 503-28).

1021 Thorth. MS: dorþ.

1024 yer. MS: er. F&H's emendation, followed by Ru and S.

1025 See Graelent, lines 735-40, where the hero's horse is heard neighing in mourning for its master who, while riding across the river, was swept in and lost. Cross notes that the Irish Each Labhra (Speaking Horse) "was wont to issue from a mound on every midsummer eve, and answer questions regarding the events of the coming year" ("Celtic Elements," p. 634, fn. 3). Cross also cites Gervais of Tilbury's Otia Imperialia and the Gesta Romanorum for instances in the Cambridge region of "a supernatural warrior on horseback [who] meets all who challenge him on moonlight nights" (ibid., p. 635).

1027-28 An echo of lines 526-27 which were an insult to Launfal's manhood. Since they are first Sir Valentyne's challenge to Launfal and here Launfal's challenge to any other men, they suggest the possibility that Launfal has replaced Valentyne in the scheme of things as the one who tests mortal men. Compare Sir Bertilak, the Green Knight, in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and his subservience to Morgan le Fay. The mythic yearly return of the knight on horseback, the icon for the month of May, suggests correspondences between Launfal and season mythology like the Persephone myth. See Mircea Eliade, The Myth of the Eternal Return or, Cosmos and History, trans. W. R. Trask, Bollingen Series XLVI (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1954; rpt. 1964).

1042-44 As Bl (p. 102) notes, "the invocation of the Blessed Virgin . . . is surprisingly rare in the romances." Here at the end, Chestre provides the Christian prayer which conventionally closes literary works. The text is, however, over-whelmingly secular in its concerns and in its language.