[For the online reader's convenience, the list of Works Cited (pp. 86-88 in the printed edition)
appears at the end of the notes, where the page numbers are out of sequence.]
page 88
Notes
1. See Alain Guerreau for a discussion of the identity of "Renaut de Beaujeu."
2. The editor of Le Bel Inconnu places it prior to 1210, since it is considered to
predate the Roman de la Rose ou de Guillaune de Dole; Alice Colby-Hall says it could
have been written as late as 1230. See also the editor's introduction to Partonopeu.
3. Most of these sources, it must be remembered, are considered to be much more recent
than the stories themselves, which are thought to date from pre-Christian times. It is, therefore,
impossible to be certain what older versions of these stories were like, as well as what oral
versions might have been circulating as late as Marie's day.
4. See Cross's discussion of various examples.
5. See The Survival of Geis in Medieval Romance, a large section of which is
devoted to the fairy mistress theme. Reinhard also notes that the prohibition Chrétien's
Laudine makes to Yvain not to be away for more that a year is a kind of geis, and page 89
Laudine herself reminiscent of a Celtic fairy.
6. Actually, the matter was far from clear for the time. See, e.g., Stockoe, Wathelet-Willem, and Koubichkine for differing opinions.
7. An example of the disastrous effects of the breaking of a geis is "The
Destruction of Da Derga's Hostel, in Jeffrey Gantz s anthology.
8. See Cross for a discussion of this point.
9. For an extended discussion of love in the Lais, see both works by Emanuel
Mickel, Jr.
10. Colby-Hall and Haidu compare the possible situation set up at the very end of the
text with the traditional situation of the chanson. See also Boiron and Payen.
11. Newstead argues that the "surface" of the text is Graeco-Byzantine, while most of
the material is Celtic.
12. Lanval's lady, of course, is far from her own land, yet it is still to a place she herself
has chosen that her two servants lead Lanval. See, in this connection, Wathelet-Willem, who sees
in the "bacins" offered to I2nval a symbol of passage to the Celtic otherworld, which Marie was
able to combine with the contemporary custom of washing one's hands before dinner.
13. For instance, see Cross's discussion of Aidead Muirchertach mac Erca.
14. Though this study makes valid points about the dynamics of the lai, the argument for
Lanval's place of origin seems to be based on his name, which is interesting, but not wholly
convincing, evidence. Sienaut also believes that Lanval belongs in Avalon, an easier point to
argue.
15. Ironically, she also sets in motion the machinery whereby she will lose him to the
woman he rescues.
16. In contrast to the bumbling Welshman, Guinglain shows that "En lui n'avoit que
ensignier" (103); and, in contrast to Arthur's distractedness in dealing with Perceval, he responds
immediately to Guinglain: "Li rois li rendi ses salus,/ Qui de respondre ne fu mus" (80).
17. See Curtius's description of "The Ideal page 90
Landscape."
18. They say that the ending seems to be an attempt to please two components of its
audience--the bacheliers who might be seeking their own fortunes and the ladies who
might be pleased with the prospect of an adulterous liaison at the end, but that the romance "fails"
because it really pleases neither group. While this may be true as far as it goes (one extant
manuscript with lacunae might be considered good evidence that the text was hardly a "best-seller"), it does not address the most interesting aspects of the text.
19. There is, for instance, nothing in Chrétien to match the diabolical character of
Guinglain's adventures in the Gaste Cité, or the knight's terror in confronting these
adventures, which are more reminiscent of the black hands and dark chapels of the
Continuations that of anything in Chrétien. The knight's repeated crossing of
himself and his calling on God indicate a fear for his soul.
20. An example may be seen in the Grail literature, in the later Continuations and
in the Vulgate Cycle, in which the power of magic is gradually diminished and the power
of Christianity strengthened.
21. This is not, of course, to overlook the playful, ironic tone of Ariosto, who has
considerable fun with the sensuous encounters of Alcina and Ruggiero. The weighty moral tone of
Spenser's condemnation of Duessa is absent in Ariosto.
Works Cited
Boiron, Françoise, and Jean-Charles Payen. "Structure et sens du Bel Inconnu
de Renaut de Beaujeu." Moyen Age 76 (1970): 15-26.
Cixous, Hélène, and Clément, Catherine. The Newly Born
Woman. Betsy Wing, trans. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1986.
Colby-Hall, Alice M. "Frustration and Fulfillment: The Double Ending of the Bel
Inconnu." Yale French Studies 67 ( 1984): 120-35.
Jeffrey Gantz, ed. and trans. Early Irish Myths and Sagas. Middlesex: Penguin,
1981.
Grimes, Margaret, ed. The Lays of Désiré, Graelent, and Melior: Edition
of the Texts with an Introduction. New York: Institute of French Studies, 1928.
Guerreau, Alain. "Renaud de Bâgé: Le Bel Inconnu, structure
symbolique et signification sociale." Romania 103 (1982): 28-82.
Haidu, Peter. "Realism, Convention, Fictionality and the Theory of Genres in Le Bel
Inconnu." Esprit Créateur 12 (1972): 37-60.
Hodgson, Frederick. "Alienation and the Otherworld in Lanval, Yonec, and
Guingemar." Comitatus 4 (1974): 19-31.
Ireland, Patrick John. "The Narrative Unity of the Lanval of Marie de France."
Studies in Philology 74 ( 1977): 130-45.
Jackson, W.T.H. "The Arthuricity of Marie de France." Romanic Review 70 (1979):
1-18.
Jodogne, Omer. "L'Autre monde celtique dans la littérature française du xiie
siècle."
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et de Sciences Morales et Poétiques de l'Académie Royale de Belgique, Vol.
46, ser. 5 (1960), 584-97.
Koubichkine, Michèle. "Apropos du Lai de Lanval." Moyen Age 76
(1972): 467-88.
Mickel, Emanuel, Jr. "A Reconsideration of the Lais of Marie de France."
Speculum 46 (1971): 39-65.
---. Marie de France. New York: Twayne, 1974.
Newstead, Helaine. "The Traditional Background of Partonopeus de Blois."
PMLA 61 (1946): 916-46.
O'Sharkey, Eithne M. "The Identity of the Fairy Mistress in Marie de France's Lai de
Lanval." Trivium 6 (1971): 17-25.
Paris, Gaston. "Etudes sur les romans de la Table Ronde: Guinglain ou le Bel
Inconnu." Romania 15 (1886): 1-24.
---, ed. Guingamor. Romania 8 (1879): 51-59.
Patch, Howard R. The Other World According to Descriptions in Medieval
Literature. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1950.
Reinhard, John R. The Survival of Geis in Medieval Romance. Hulle: Niemeyer,
1933.
Renaut de Beaujeu. Le Bel Inconnu. Ed. G. Perrie Williams. CFMA Vol. 38. Paris:
Editions Champion, 1929.
Roach, William, ed. The Continuations of the Old French Perceval of Chrétien de
Troyes: The First Continuation. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1983.
---. The Continuations of the Old French Perceval of Chrétien de Troyes: The
Second Continuation. Phildelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1971.
---. The Continuations of the Old French Perceval of Chrétien de Troyes: The
Third Continuation by Manessier. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1983.
Schofield, William H. "The Lays of Graelent and Lanval, and the Story, of
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page 88
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---. Studies of the Libeaus Desconeus. Cambridge: Harvard University Press,
1895.
Sienaut, Edgar. Les Lais de Marie de France: Du conte merveilleux à la nouvelle
psychologique. Paris: Champion, 1978.
Sprenger and Institoris, Malleus Maleficarum. Montagne Summers, trans. London:
The Pushkin Press, 1928.
Stockoe, W.C. "The Sources of Sir Launfal, Lanval, and Graelent."
PMLA 63 (1948): 392-404.
Sturm, Sara. "Magic in the Bel Inconnu." Esprit Créateur 12 (1972):
19-25.
Wathelet-Willem, Jeanne. "Le Mystère chez Marie de France." Revue belge de
Philosophie et d'Histoire 39 (1961): 661-86.