Courtois d’Arras et le Jeu de la Feuillée

Abstract

The thirteenth-century secular theatre is particularly interesting insofar as it is a true literary laboratory based on texts with all kinds of plays whose purpose is not always easy to grasp. The introductory masterpiece of this tradition is Jean Bodel’s Jeu de saint Nicolas, written and performed around 1200. In its wake, two works appeared which represent two generations of plays within the thirteenth century : one, Courtois d’Arras, dating from the first quarter of the century, is a subtle variation on the parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32); in the other, Jeu de la Feuillée, performed on June 3, 1276, Adam de la Halle incorporates his own persona and his entire work, which he uses as subtext. But the two plays have most likely been modeled on the Jeu de St Nicolas, to which they make many allusions. From the start it should be pointed out that the Jeu de la Feuillée is based on the Jeu de St Nicolas, reworked and completed with Courtois d’Arras. In addition, if the latter text is given over to an up-dating of the prodigal son parable and a humanizing of religion as well as to an ironic use of courtoisie, the parody becomes generalized in the Jeu de la Feuillée and ends up totally subverting and destroying all hopes and dreams in a universe where God no longer appears, but where the all-powerful Fortune reigns in irrational and arbitrary triumph. The wheel of Fortune, which never stops turning, has influence over the powerful men of Arras, over the fairies (fées) and finally, more generally, over all the other characters, who come back one by one on the turning wheel which becomes more and more frenetic, each turn bringing a character to the front of the stage, to point out his decline and defeat.