Marie de France Versus King Arthur: Lanval’s Gender Inversion as Breton Subversion

Abstract

The twelfth century, with its panoply of Arthurian chroniclers and romance writers, established King Arthur of England as a preeminent founder of a Round Table renowned for its chivalry and idealized masculinity to advance the prestige of the Plantagenet connection with the British throne. Although Breton Geoffrey of Monmouth had finished his popular Historia Regum Britanniae, with its chivalric rendition of King Arthur and his reign, between 1135–37, only in 1155 did its French verse-translation—the Roman de Brut by the Norman-French Wace, in which the invention of the Round Table prominently figured—make Arthurian exploits accessible to others aside from the predominantly male clergy. The octosyllabic translation—notable for its emphasis on courtoisie as much as on chevalerie—was also written for Wace’s royal patron, Henry II, who had married Eleanor of Aquitaine in 1152. Henry might thus see himself figured in the portrait of the generous and just Arthur, who because of his reputation draws knights to him from far-flung lands and creates for them a Round Table at which no one will be considered superior to another: N’oeit parler de chevalier Ki alques feïst a preisier, Ki de sa maisnee ne fust, Pur ço qu’il aveir le peüst; Si pur aveir server vulsist, Ja pur aveir ne s’en partist. KeywordsRound TableTwelfth CenturyFeudal SocietyFemale ProtagonistMale ProtagonistThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.