French Literature: A Very Short Introduction Read Online Free

dishonour'
(Ne placet Damnedeu / Que mi parent pur mei seient blasmet / Ne
France dulceja cheet en viltet).
    This heroic, almost superhuman, unreasonableness is what
elevates Roland as a subject to be celebrated in song and worthy,
within the epic itself, to be the object of vast mourning on the part
of the Emperor and his army. And yet this pride is also a terrible
flaw that leads to the death of the twenty thousand members
of his detachment. The paradoxical nature of this dilemma is
emphasized by Olivier's change of attitude in the course of the
battle. Having at first urged Roland to sound the Olifant when
there was still the possibility of assistance, by the time Roland
realizes that defeat is imminent, Olivier veers to the opposite
position and argues that he should not call for Charlemagne but
recognize his own culpability: `The French have died because
of your irresponsibility' (Franceis sunt morz par vostre legerie).
Through the character of Roland, the anonymous writer presents
the burden of delegated authority in a feudal system, where
physical strength, skill, and courage are important, but where
the requirements of loyalty and individual and collective honour
create contradictory demands.

    Romance
    The protagonists of the romances have other problems and
quite different virtues - or, rather, loyalty and honour are tested
in different ways in a world in which the knight's relation to a
woman is at least as important as his relation to his lord and
his companions in arms. Originally, roman was simply a way of
designating the Old French vernacular language as opposed to
Latin, but by the late 12th century, it designated a type of story,
in which an individual hero, through a quest, grows in virtue and
self-understanding, and in which the love of a woman plays a large
role. Indeed, the status of women in the romance tradition, where
they are portrayed with respect and accorded great deference,
is one of its striking innovations with respect to most classical
models. The romances are traditionally divided into three groups
by subject matter: `The matter of Rome' (from antiquity, though
more often concerning Greek legend and history), `The matter
of Britain' (from Celtic and English sources), and `The matter of
France' (about Charlemagne and his knights).
    Erec and Enide is one of the five surviving romances by Chretien
de Troyes, whose name indicates his connection to the city of
Troyes, site of the court of the counts of Champagne. While
Chretien was at that court, it was essentially ruled by the regent
Marie de Champagne, daughter of Eleanor of Aquitaine. Like his
four other romances - Yvain, the Knight of the Lion; Lancelot, the
Knight of the Cart; Cliges; and Perceval, or the Story of the Grail -
Erec and Enide belongs to the Celtic repertory of tales of the court
of King Arthur, materials that had been translated into Latin and
French from Breton. Erec, a young knight at the court, is escorting
Queen Guinevere and her maidservant in the woods during a
hunt when they come upon an unknown knight accompanied by
a lady and a dwarf. The dwarf strikes Guinevere's maid with a
whip and subsequently also wounds Erec on the face and neck.
Erec is obliged to remedy this insult to the Queen, but he is not
armed for battle. There is an odd echo of Roland's situation in Erec's, since the two women and he are behind and out of touch
of the company of hunters with the King. In fact, they are so
far behind that they cannot hear the hunting horns, but unlike
Roland, Erec resigns himself to deferring revenge until he is better
armed, because rash courage is not real nobility (Folie nest pas
vasalages).

    Subsequently tracking down the knight with the dwarf and
defeating him, Erec falls in love with Enide, the daughter of
an impoverished nobleman who loaned the hero the necessary
arms and armour. Erec, blissfully married to Enide and living at
Arthur's court, would seem to