Young Knight Research Articles

The Quest of Bleheris

Written between May and October 1916, The Quest of Bleheris is an unfinished narrative romance of seventeen chapters concerning the adventures of a young knight, Bleheris, as he moves from the relative safety of civilized society to the challenges and dangers of a wilderness experience. At almost 20,000 words, Bleheris was Lewis’s first sustained effort at prose fiction.

The Persistence of Morpheus: Redcrosse’s Carelessness

Book 1 of The Faerie Queene constitutes Spenser’s most searching study of morbid sadness, which he associates with a wish for “careless” rest and, ultimately, for death. His account of Redcrosse’s disease makes use of medieval conceptions of acedia and Renaissance ideas of melancholy, but it diverges from both, as well as from modern conceptions of depression. From the opening stanza Spenser suggests that there are two Redcrosse knights, the one consciously aggressive and eager for glory, the other “too solemn sad,” desiring escape from the cares of the world. Spenser embodies this second impulse in the House of Morpheus. In the early cantos the Morpheus impulse remains accessible only in dream, but as Redcrosse deteriorates it becomes more dominant and more conscious. It next appears as Sans Joy, who undermines Redcrosse’s attempts at self-glorification in the House of Pride and who (despite the young knight’s seeming victory) forces him to recognize the emptiness of the ambition imaged in Lucifera’s palace. Having humiliatingly fled the House of Pride, Redcrosse allows himself to be seduced by Duessa to distract himself from his incipient despair—a despair he voices in Orgoglio’s dungeon as a desire for death. Despaire is the deadliest embodiment of the Morpheus impulse, no longer inchoate feeling but articulate sin. But Redcrosse’s experiences in the House of Holiness and afterward suggest that he will never in life lose this weight of grief, which is part of the human condition. Spenser revisits these attacks of morbid sorrow in later episodes of his epic.

WILLIAM MARSHAL IN BATTLE OF DRINCOURT (1166): THE BEGINNING OF FLOWER`S OF CHIVALRY CAREER

The article, based on an episode (the battle of Drincourt, 1166) from the biography of “the flower of chivalry" by William Marshall (set out in the “History of William Marshall” composed by the Anglo-Norman poet Jean in the first third of the 12th century), deals with the strategies and practices by which the young knight could earn social capital and military competence at the `proprietorial warfare`. Such kind of warfare completely dominated in the military culture of the Medieval West. This warfare was shaped by four main factors: a. the dominance of land as a form of wealth; b. the limited competence of government; c. the state of technology which, broadly, favoured defence over attack; d. the geography and climate of the West. The battle of Drincourt was a typical one for proprietorial warfare. The reason was the conflict over land ownership. The immediate cause of the conflict in 1166 on the border of the Duchy of Normandy was the deprivation by the English King Henry II of his old enemy William Talvas, count Ponthieu from his inheritance in South Normandy. The territory of the county of Ponthieu was located north of Normandy at the mouth of the river Somme. Talvas, along with his allies, counts of Flanders and Boulogne, invaded the Norman County of Eu. Drincourt, a frontier fortress that covered the Normandy capital Rouen from the north and expectedly was under attack. The seigneurs who defended it acted in very weak interplay with their monarchs. The chief royal military administrator in the region, Constable of Normandy Richard du Hommet, left Drincourt immediately after receiving news of the enemy's arrival. The battle took place around and inside the fortified settlement, the victory went to the side that was on the defensive. The terrain played a major role in the battle. William Marshall proved himself in it as a model knight, and his first success largely determined his further advancement on the social hierarchy in Western medieval society. Although the poet Jean's message is inscribed in the apologetic knightly biography, the author - or authors, if we agree with David Crouch that the poet put the original Marshall’s storytelling on the poem, it composed without any snobbery focus to proves of noble combatants. Poet described all military techniques of the day: from the iconic knight's mounted shock combat with couched lance to the use of household tools such as a hook to knock down walls in a fire. The poet colorfully conveyed the chaos and spontaneity of tactical concepts of the proprietorial warfare. Old feudal conflicts divide the leaders, the invaders enter the battle incoordination, giving the defenders time to regroup and even rest - the ambush of Marshall in the sheep detachment repeated twice confirms it. The poetic description of the Battle of Drincourt is also of key event to the understanding of William Marshall's fighting skills, for which he largely built his political career.

An Arthurian Knight in Ivory and Ink

Manuscript Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS fr. 12577 and ivory casket Musée du Louvre, OA 122, and are two of three extant fourteenth-century visualizations of Chrétien’s Le Conte du Graal, produced in Paris circa 1310-1330. Although the objects’ shared era of production suggests similarities of iconography, artistic influences, and production methods, little research has been conducted regarding visual and cultural connections between MS fr. 12577 and OA 122. Through iconographic and stylistic analysis of the scenes each artisan depicted within his respective medium, I elucidate how the casket and manuscript’s imagery personifies Perceval’s dual nature, a young knight symbolic of the secular and sacred. As visualizations of Chrétien’s most religiously-minded legend, MS fr. 12577 and OA 122 exemplify the intertwining of the sacred and secular within fourteenth-century French romantic art, specifically within illuminated manuscripts and carved ivory, materials that through their refinement, rarity, and expense, signified leisure, luxury, and nobility. By examining these two opulent objects, I provide insights into their purpose and significance in late medieval France, especially cultural crossover between the porous realms of sacred and secular medieval life.

The Holy Grail in Holocaust Literature: Skibell's A Blessing on the Moon and Wolfram's Parzival

The Holy Grail in Holocaust Literature:Skibell's A Blessing on the Moon and Wolfram's Parzival Ryan Muckerheide (bio) Elements of Yiddish and German folklore permeate many Holocaust narratives, but Joseph Skibell chooses perhaps the most potent Christian symbol of all as a key image in his 1997 novel A Blessing on the Moon. The legend of the Holy Grail has intrigued people of many nations since it acquired its modern form in the late twelfth century. In the early thirteenth century, the German poet Wolfram von Eschenbach produced his version of the Grail quest, named after its protagonist, the young knight Parzival. Wolfram's Parzival would become the standard German interpretation of the Grail legend for centuries and would be the foundation for Richard Wagner's opera Parsifal. Skibell also used many elements of the Parzival legend in his novel, but he transformed them in a unique and powerful way. A Blessing on the Moon is a novel of transformation and redemption, and in its use of the Parzival story, the novel brings into conversation the Jewish, Christian, and mystical paths to redemption. Theodore Adorno, in an oft-quoted and just as oft-misunderstood statement, once said that "[t]o write poetry after Auschwitz is barbaric" (34). Adorno did not mean that art was no longer possible, but that after the barbarism and horror of the Holocaust, "how could one continue to talk blithely of 'culture,' of artistic forms, of art, of beauty as though nothing had disturbed the value and significance of such discourse . . ." (qtd. in Schiff, xix). The term "Holocaust novel" itself reflects this loss of formal integrity through the blurring of boundaries between autobiography, fiction, and history. Skibell's A Blessing on the Moon further erodes these boundaries. Not only is the main character based on Skibell's own greatgrandfather, but the novel is fantastical—all of the action takes place in a surreal netherworld between death and life. Like many Holocaust novels, Blessing on the Moon is a profoundly Jewish text—and not only because of its subject matter. The events in the novel are set in a Hasidic context and based on a movement within Judaism dating from the eighteenth century and popular in eastern Europe. Two of the principal characters are Hasidim, a term which means "pious" and in this context is similar to the learned hermits of medieval romance. The title of the novel refers to a blessing given when the first crescent of the new moon is sighted. According to Arthur Green, the Jewish mystics, known as Kabbalists, viewed [End Page 39] the new moon as a time of relief from danger. The monthly diminishing of the moon until it is finally out of sight recalls an ancient legend about God punishing the moon because she wanted to rule equally with the sun. The moon is taken to be shekhinah [God's presence in the world] and her disappearance reflects her subjugation to the forces of evil, a condition that God is said to regret and mourn. The moon's reappearance at Rosh Hodesh is thus a time for rejoicing and hope for that day when 'she will no longer be diminished.' Redemption will mean that shekhinah will no longer vanish from view and that God's presence will be felt and seen throughout the universe. (165) In the novel, the moon is brought crashing to earth by the actions of the two Hasidim, Kalman and Zalman, who, while being chased by the Nazis, unintentionally travel to the moon in a mystical boat. Once there, they discover that the moon is covered in silver. They load as much as they can into the boat, which they have tied to the moon. When they get back in, the boat sinks back to earth and pulls the moon with it. The moon, which represents shekhinah, or the presence of God among humans, is lost, and thus the earth is thrown into the metaphorical darkness of Nazi atrocities. The Grail, like the moon, is a powerful and fluid symbol. It appears in many different forms, but all have certain characteristics in common: They provide food and drink, usually whatever food and drink one...

Gawain and the Nick of Time: Fame, History, and the Untimely in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

'Pag I be not now he ^at ge of speken.'-Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, l. 1242But sometimes the future is latent in us without our knowing it, and our supposedly lying words foreshadow an imminent reality.-Marcel Proust, Sodom and GomorrahWhen Gawain flinches before the first swing of the Green Knight's axe, Bertilak offers a harsh judgment, declaring 'Pou art not Gawayn' (1.227ο).1 In this climactic moment of the poem, Gawain's failures have become numerous. By not disclosing that he accepted the green girdle from Lady Bertilak, he violates the Exchange of Winnings game that he entered into with her husband. However, the rules of that game were devised in such a way that he could do nothing but fail: he must either reject the Lady's offer of the lace and fail to live up to his courtly reputation, or accept it under her terms (that he keep it to himself) and violate the oath he made to give his winnings to Bertilak in exchange for Bertilak's winnings during the day's hunt. Even more, in flinching before the swing of the ax, Gawain acts as a coward, a trait unbecoming a knight of his stature. He is neither the lauded Gawain of courtly romance, nor is he the virtuous Pentangle knight that the poem puts forth. The Green Knight's accusatory challenge to Gawain's identity is as biting as the nick that marks the third swing, for it claims that the young knight is a pretender to the name of Gawain and not the true Gawain of Arthur's court. This sort of taunt is common in medieval romance, but I argue here that it can be read in a more literal fashion, that Gawain is not, in fact, Gawain. The link between the proper name 'Gawain' and the fame attributed to him is in essence far more tenuous and slippery than it would, at first, appear. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight thus puts the category of fame under interrogation, revealing how it occupies and engenders heterogeneous temporalities which unsettle stable senses of personal identity and of history.Fame, so important to Arthurian texts, is already something polychronic in its very make up.2 Put simply, fame is the transmission of a name (and the narrative associated with it) over time. Its dissemination through the ages participates in a significant process of accretion; in a manner similar to Jonathan Gil Harris' discussion of the temporality of matter in the Early Modern period, fame 'collate[s] diverse moments in time.'3 The fame of Gawain gains new layers and narratives as time passes, while also maintaining earlier versions, amended ones, revised ones, and those that are nearly forgotten. Although fame is apprehended in the present, it originates in the past-or paradoxically, in the future. And, as something that bridges different moments in time, fame carries with it the traces of those other encounters, a palimpsest of narratives. The temporality of fame, therefore, is an untimely one; the untimely, as Derrida observes, is non-contemporaneous and out of joint with the present moment, a spectral presence that haunts and disturbs the now.4 Elizabeth Grosz further locates in the untimely 'that which is strong enough, active enough, to withstand the drive of the present to similarity, resemblance, or recognition, for the untimely brings with it the difference that portends the future.'5 These disruptive yet generative aspects of the untimely are most apparent in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight where the statements of non-identity that haunt Gawain throughout the poem gesture toward the non-simultaneity of his reputation with himself. Specifically, Gawain's virtuous presentation in the poem contradicts the worldlier version found in the French Arthurian romances and invoked by so many of the characters that he meets; the knight's presentation in this poem enacts a historical fantasy that attempts to conjure away the trauma of the inevitable downfall of the Arthurian order. In this essay, I argue that the untimeliness of Gawain's fame drags in its wake a future that the poem seeks to banish, yet cannot seem to forget. …

Allusive Fonteinnes: Love as Trouble in La Mort le Roi Artu

Allusive Fonteinnes:Love as Trouble in La Mort le Roi Artu David S. King Scholars have long noted how the first half of the thirteenth-century French prose romance, La Mort le Roi Artu, parallels the narrative of Béroul’s twelfth-century verse Roman de Tristran.1 David F. Hult, in the preface to his recent edition and translation of the Mort Artu, indicates the resemblance as evidence that the prose romancer sought to glorify the adulterous love between Lancelot and Guenevere. Hult, like many other scholars, sees the final installment in the Lancelot-Grail cycle as turning away from the ascetic concerns of its immediate predecessor, La Queste del Saint Graal (63).2 But one must not mistake the secular focus of the characters in the Mort Artu for that of the author. The same portion of the romance that resembles Béroul’s poem makes a number of smaller scale allusions to other texts that suggest kinship with the spirit of the Queste. These allusions center on the image of the fonteinne (fountain or spring), first evoked in a description of Guenevere recalling the lovers’ initial meeting in the Prose Lancelot. Following that point, two springs appear in the narrative. Lancelot stops to rest by one when chased from court by Guenevere’s jealousy, and again by another when drawn back by peril she faces. Elements of these scenes allude to the Narcissus myth, as told in the twelfth-century Lai de Narcisse, and to Biblical verses that associate fountains with marital fidelity/infidelity and the water from such sources with knowledge of the divine. The scenes also recall Lancelot’s oneiric encounter with the sole fountain in the Queste, a vision underscoring the knight’s unworthiness. With these references in mind, we may understand Lancelot’s behavior at the springs in the Mort Artu as suggesting his obsession with worldly matters and his neglect of the spiritual. The allusions encourage the reader to think of adultery as a source of turmoil [End Page 453] rather than as an inspiration, a message in harmony with the Queste’s attitude toward carnal passion. The description of the queen given in the opening folios of the Mort Artu recalls and recasts the one given on Lancelot’s and Guenevere’s initial meeting. In the Prose Lancelot, he steals furtive glances at her, losing interest in the beauty of all other women. The narrator endorses the young knight’s infatuation: “il n’avoit mie tort, se il ne prisoit envers la roine nule autre dame, car che fu la dame des dames et la fontaine de biauté. Mais s’il seust la grant valor qui en li estoit, encore l’esgardast il plus volentiers, car nule n’estoit, ne povre ne riche, de sa valor” (7: 274).3 The Mort Artu’s narrator, by contrast, tells us that: “la reïne estoit si bele que touz li monz s’en merveilloit, car a celui tens meïsmes qu’ele iert bien en l’aage de cinquante anz estoit ele si bele dame que en tout le monde ne trouvast l’en mie sa pareille, dont aucun chevalier distrent, por ce que sa biauté ne li failloit nule foiz, qu’ele estoit fonteinne de toutes biautez” (3-4).4 This narrator is less effusive in his praise. He attributes the fountain simile to others rather than vouch for its truth himself. The queen’s inner virtues merit no mention, and her beauty is a feature of this world, thereby hinting at the beauties of another world that escape the attention of those at court. What precedes the description motivates this inference. The narrator reminds us that “Lancelos se fust tenuz chastement par le conseill del preudome a qui il se fist confés quant il fu en la queste del Seint Graal et eüst del tout renoiee la reïne Guenievre” (3). We then learn of the hero’s surrender to temptation following the quest – “il rencheï el pechié de la reïne autresi comme il avoit fet autrefoiz” (3). Soon thereafter, Agravain denounces the lovers to the king. In this context, the allusion to the Prose Lancelot reads...

German romance, v.5: Erec

Erec is the earliest extant German Arthurian romance, freely adapted and translated into Middle High German by the Swabian knight, Hartmann von Aue, from the first Old French Arthurian romance, Chretien de Troyes' Erec et Enide. Hartmann's work dates from c. 1180, but the only (almost) complete manuscript dates from the early sixteenth century, copied into the huge two-volume Ambraser Heldenbuch, now housed in Vienna - the most comprehensive extant compilation of medieval German romances and epics, commissioned by Emperor Maximilian I. Otherwise, only a few earlier medieval fragments survive. Erec tells the story of a young knight at King Arthur's court, whose early prowess wins him high repute, and a beautiful wife, Enite. He falls into disrepute because of his excessively zealous devotion of his time to her. Alerted to his notoriety, he embarks on a series of symbolic adventures, which eventually lead to his achieving a new balance between the claims of love and those of society. Far more than a simple translation, Hartmann's first attempt at an Arthurian romance is notable for its zest and gusto. This is the first edition with a parallel text translation into English; it is presented with explanatory notes and variant readings. Cyril Edwards is a Senior Research Fellow of Oxford University's Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages, and an Honorary Research Fellow of University College London.

Variations on romance themes in the Historia Meriadoci

Abstract: The little known Latin Arthurian narrative Historia Meriadoci presents many challenges. Was it written in the twelfth century, in which case it is an early example of Arthurian romance, or is it later, in which case it reflects already developed motifs? It uses numerous romance themes – separated family, dispossessed heir, young knight arriving at Arthur’s court – but the protagonist leaves the Arthurian milieu quite early on, and pursues a military career more characteristic of epic on the continent. Arthur is presented in a rather disparaging light, as an unjust ruler (there is considerable emphasis on legal issues). This may reflect Welsh traditions in which he is not always an idealized king. But the story is written in Latin: who was the author, and what was the target audience? Does the fact that it was written in Latin, presumably for a largely clerical audience, explain the lack of interest in love, and in detailed accounts of courtly life, which one might expect to find in a vernacular romance? The author seems to draw on historical accounts of European wars as well as more legendary material. The mixture of romance and epic in this text may be compared with the Latin verse narrative Ruodlieb, produced in Germany in the late eleventh century. The Ruodlieb is much more elaborate in style and in plot, but also draws on a wide range of sources to produce a hybrid narrative which might be aimed at a similar audience, well-educated but ready to enjoy a range of heroic adventures, aware of Arthur but not averse to criticism of him.

Midnight Thief by Livia Blackburne (review)

Reviewed by: Midnight Thief by Livia Blackburne Kate Quealy-Gainer, Assistant Editor Blackburne, Livia. Midnight Thief. Hyperion, 2014. [384p] Trade ed. ISBN 978-1-4231-7638-1 $16.99 E-book ed. ISBN 978-1-4847-0628-5 $16.99 Reviewed from galleys R Gr. 7-10. A lifetime of thieving to make ends meet on the streets of Forge has left seventeen-year-old Kyra a bit morally flexible, so when she’s approached by the leader of the Assassins Guild to put her sneaking skills to use fighting the “fatpurse” nobles, she accepts. Her first kill, however, sends her into a guilt-ridden tailspin and she flees. When she’s eventually captured by the Palace Guard, she realizes (along with the help of a handsome young knight) that her activities with the Guild were actually assisting the advancement of the Demon Riders, a group of rebel barbarians responsible for brutal attacks in the countryside. Blackburne offers up a complex world where no one is entirely evil or good, and even those wrestling for power through less than civil means are inspired by noble intentions. Kyra is an appealing heroine, confident in her physical prowess but insecure in her identity, and teenagers in particular may relate to her increasing frustration as her attempts to establish her independence and her own beliefs are constantly thwarted by the powers that be. The romance between Kyra and Tristam, the knight, unfolds sweetly, but it’s Kyra’s journey toward self-discovery, especially as her childhood connection to the Demon Riders is revealed, that takes precedence. There are plenty of narrow escapes, thrilling chases, and tender kisses to accompany the more thoughtful elements here, too, and readers will be pleased with a satisfactory conclusion that leaves room for a sequel or two. Copyright © 2014 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

Heads Will Roll: Decapitation in the Medieval and Early Modern Imagination

Heads Will Roll: Decapitation in the Medieval and Early Modern Imagination

Gespiegelte Helden:

Abstract Jacques Lacan’s psychoanalytic ideas present a fruitful approach to Wolfram’s ›Willehalm‹ and Ulrich’s ›Lanzelet‹. Bypassing conventional applications of theory, this essay foregrounds the textual dynamics of language, showing how they generate against-the-grain readings or surprising connections. Vivianz’ battle against Noupatris can be read as a reflection of the young knight in his opponent; in Vivianz’ heroic and legendary story he is sometimes depicted in a female position. In ›Lanzelet‹ the hero’s missing image in the mirror in the tent, and his destruction of a knight who may be understood as his reflection on the ›Wachsende Warte‹, allow various views of his ego.

Patient Endurance in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the question of late medieval heroism is a central one. Morton Bloomfield, for instance, has argued that “The drastic ambiguity of the hero in the later Middle Ages is perfectly revealed in Gawain and the Green Knight where the problem of the hero becomes acute.” Like other romance protagonists, Gawain displays great martial courage. He accepts the Green Knight’s challenge, battles his way through a perilous forest, and jumps to fight the Green Knight as soon as he realizes that the latter has not beheaded him. However, Gawain’s opportunities to prove himself in battle are far outnumbered by the humiliations that he suffers during his adventure. Camelot’s code of conduct compels him to accept the Green Knight’s challenge, the narrative quickly summarizes his martial accomplishments in the forest, and the Green Knight responds with slight amusement to Gawain’s aggressive challenge after the young knight must submit to a third feint of his opponent’s axe. Furthermore, Gawain discovers that he has been the victim of an elaborate plot to humiliate Camelot and comesto realize that his acceptance of Lady Bertilak’s girdle has been an act of cowardice. In spite of these factors which would seem to diminish his heroism, the Green Knight refers to Gawain as “On þefautlest freke þat euer on fote Šede” (2363).

Operatic Sources for Death’s Jest-Book

IN June, 1825, Thomas Lovell Beddoes announced in a letter to his friend Kelsall, ‘I … am thinking of a very Gothic-styled tragedy for wh I have a jewel of a name—DEATH’S JESTBOOK’.1 The date is significant, for that month saw the staging of Meyerbeer’s opera Il crociato in Egitto at the Haymarket, a production that the poet would almost certainly have attended. (A letter to Bryan Waller Procter in 1824 shows him to be a connoisseur both of opera and of ballet, and his report on a production of Tancredi at La Scala also suggests familiarity with the repertoire of L’Académie royale de musique—the Paris Opéra. This in turn presupposes other continental trips before 1824, although there is no record of these in his patchy biography.) Here is an extract from the Haymarket programme Il Crociatio in Egitto: In an expedition to the coast of Egypt, which took place in the Sixth Crusade, in the neighbourhood of Damietta, a band of the Knights of Rhodes … was surprised, betrayed, and after a most heroic resistance overpowered, by the superior numbers of the enemy. Armand d’Orville, a young Knight of Provence, was one of this valiant band. Fainting from loss of blood, he remained among the slain. * * * Meanwhile, overtures were made to the Sultan by the Knights of Rhodes, for an exchange of prisoners: terms of peace were also offered, and an embassy from them arrived at Damietta. The action commences at the arrival of this embassy.2

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: a new verse translation

Promises to drive the green force of the old poem through the Armitage fuse and set it a-buddin' and a-bloomin' for the new millennium.-Seamus Heaney, Nobel Laureate, best-selling translator of BeowulfCom posed in the late fourteenth century by an anonymous author in the English provinces, this remarkable epic has enchanted readers for generations. The work itself is an unparalleled masterpiece of alliteration and rhyme, beginning at Christmastime in Camelot, when the festivities of the Round Table are interrupted by the sudden appearance of a fearful stranger, green from head to foot. A young knight, Gawain, rises to the challenge. What follows is a test of nerve and heart as Gawain travels north to meet his destiny at the Green Chapel in a year's time. Following in the tradition of Seamus Heaney, Simon Armitage, one of England's leading poets, has produced a virtuoso new translation that resounds with both clarity and verve.

The Fourteenth-Century Verse Novella Dis ist von dem Heselin: Eroticism, Social Discourse, and Ethical Criticism

Late-medieval German literature offers many highly intriguing examples of erotic narratives structured and motivated in the manner of the fabliaux and novelle. One of these maeren, Dis ist von dem Heselin, composed sometime around 1300, presents an account of a tryst between a naive peasant maid and a young knight who barters a hare for her love. The narrative lives from the charming contrast between this young woman's ignorance of the true meaning of the word minne, or ‘courtly love,’ and the moral decline of the nobility. Whereas she freely and openly grants her love to the knight and later tells everything to her mother, who severely punishes her for her seeming stupidity, the knight's noble fiancee proves to be highly cynical and morally untrustworthy. Mocking the peasant maid during the wedding celebration and emphasizing her own intelligent behavior in hiding her numerous sexual contacts with the family's chaplain, she deeply shocks her fiance, who then quickly changes the marriage arrangements and takes the peasant maid as his wife. The maid triumphs over the noble lady because of her simplicity, trustworthiness, and true love for the knight. Her moral infraction is easily forgiven because of her ignorance and naivete, whereas her highly respected competitor for the knight's hand loses because she knows nothing of true love and morality.

The Arthurian Annals, The Tradition in English from 1250-2000 edited by Daniel P. Nastali and Philip C. Boardman (review)

REVIEWS77 both can only be so when they have been at best tweaked—ot at worst sanitized—for younger audiences. In the case ofTwain, such teimaginings often produce an example ofjuvenilia far removed from its source in tone, content, and intent. Cindy L. Vitto next surveys children's versions ofSir Gawain andthe Green Knight, a popular, though 'enigmatic' (107), source for Arthurian juvenilia and wonders why it has remained so popular in that form: '[B]ecause it tells the stoty ofa young knight's testing. . .? Because it links sex and danger, even death? Because it is...a family romance...? Because it upholds the value ofkeeping one's word ...?' (118—19). Raymond H. Thompson then turns to a broader discussion ofthe sense of'place' in Arthutian fiction for younger readers by writers such asWilliam Maync, E.M.R. Dirmas, Rosemary Manning, Gerald Morris, Jane Yolen, Anne McCaffrey, TH. White, and Rosemary Sutcliff. Charlotte Spivack offers a close reading ofSusan Cooper's The Dark Is Rising, nicely linked to Raymond Thompson's interview with Cooper that follows. Dan Nastali surveys Arthurian poetry and drama for children. Alan Lupack, who has previously chronicled Arthurian youth groups in America, here expands upon that earlier work with additional discussions of the efforts ofWilliam Byron Forbush. Jerome V. Reel, Jr., offers an overview of Arthurian music for children; Michael A. Torregrossa chronicles 'the return of King Arhur in the comics' (243), and Barbara Tepa Lupack concludes this admirable collection with an essay that adds to the on-going discussion ofcinema arthuriana by analyzing Arthurian film for children. Lupack's collection is a handsome, nicely illustrated, and carefully edited volume. Throughout, the discussions are clear and succinct, again attesting to her skills as an editor and scholar. Adapting the Arthurian Legendsfor Children makes an important addition to the growing number ofstudies designed to heighten our awareness of the ubiquity and multi-faceted nature ofthe legend ofthe once and future king. KEVIN J. HARTY La Salle University daniel p. nastali and Philip c. BOARDMAN, eds., TheArthurian Annals, The Tradition in Englishfrom 1250—2000. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2004. 2 vols. Pp. 1,120. isbn: 0-19-860725-3. $450. Arthurian scholars and enthusiasts will forever be in Dan Nastali and Phil Boatdman's debt. A labot oflove and the product of more than twenty years ofexhaustive (and what must, at times, have been exhausting) research, The Arthurian Annals will long remain the major printed resource for information about the Arthurian tradition in English. The Annab is arranged chronologically, beginning c. 1250 with Layamon's Brut and ending in 2000 with Merlin: The Rock Opera with music by Fabio Zuffanti and story and lyrics by Victoria Howard using 'incidents from Geoffrey ofMonmouth' (1. 809). Entties follow a standard format beginning (when known) with the name ofan author, the title ofthe work, a briefpublication history, and annotations that provide, to quote the editors, 'a concise description of the work and its Atthurian content with additional information about other relevant matters: the author's intentions where known, Arthurian sources and influences, the social or literary 78ARTHURIANA significance of the work, and description of any other special aspect of the wotk such as notable illustrations' (l.xx). This extremely reader-friendly resource also provides abundant cross references. While some may balk at the price of The Annab—and it is to be hoped that Oxford will issue a less expensive edition in paperback—it really is a massive undertaking. Volume one, running more than 800 oversized pages with triple columns of text, includes a preface by Norris J. Lacy, a list of acknowledgments, details about the authors and the consultants to the project, guidelines for using The Annab, a table ofabbreviations, and the entries themselves. These entries cover Arthurian art, children's literature, comics, drama (broadly defined), editions and translations of medieval works, esotérica (New Age and otherwise), fiction, films, history and folklore, music, poetry, and television. Volume two, running more than an additional 250 pages, contains the indexes to the annals proper, again on oversize pages with triple columns oftext. Even allowing for the sorting features ofincreasingly sophisticated word processing programs, the indexes in volume two—by...

Briefer Notices: Books, Films, and Videos

126ARTHURIANA viewpoint is communicated directly to the Arthurian courtiers. These courtiers, however, construe ' the silken sash'—Gawain's emblem ofshame—as a 'token' of the young knight's 'valor' and 'victory.' Such conflicting perspectives, along with the Green Knight's view of Gawain's adventure, intensify the ambiguity pervading the original poem's conclusion. Finally, a shadowy, nun-like individual (Sally Mares)—a woman garbed in black—lurks in the background ofthe film. This character, however, is never identified in the movie with Morgan Ie Fay, the magical figure who creates Gawain's adventure. Apart from these individual flaws, the Thames Television film is certainly appropriate for classroom use on both the high school and college levels. Any lacunae in the cinematic narrative or in this movie's thematic framework can be filled in through judicious classroom lectures and discussion. ROBERT J. BLANCH Northeastern University BRIEFER NOTICES: BOOKS, FILMS, AND VIDEOS marie-françoise ALAMICHEL and derek brewer, eds., The MiddleAges after theMiddle Ages. Cambridge, Eng.: D.S. Brewer, 1997. Pp. ix, 166. isbn: 0—85991—508—5. $81.00 (cloth). This volume collects eleven papers delivered at a conference on the theme of the Middle Ages after the Middle Ages held in September 1994 at the Centre d'Études Médiévales Anglaises of the University of Paris IV-Sorbonne. Three of the essays address matters Arthurian: Claire Vial's 'From Written Record to Legend: The Receyt ofthe Ladie Kateryne as Retelling of the Morte Darthur; James Noble's ' The Mists of Avalon: A Confused Assault on Patriarchy'; and Sandra Gorgievski's 'The Arthurian Legend in Cinema: Myth or History?' All three of the essays still show tell-tale signs of having been delivered as conference papers and then published without extensive revision. Ofthe three, Vial's is the most interesting; the other two cover more familiar territory. The volume contains neither illustrations nor an index, making it more expensive and less user-friendly than it needs to be. Harold R. foster, Prince Valiant: In the Days ofKing Arthur. New York: Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 1997. 30 postcards, isbn: 1-55670-583-2. $10.95 (Paper). Fans of the long-running Prince Valiant comic strip will welcome this collection of thirty over-sized postcards depicting panels that originally appeared from 1944 to 1946. Because of their size, the postcards require first-class postage for mailing— conveniently, in 1996, the US Postal Service issued a series of32 cent stamps based on famous American comic strips, one ofwhich depicted Valiant. Thomas j. garbáty, ed., MedievalEnglish Literature. 1984; rpt. Prospect Heights, 111.: Waveland Press, 1997. Pp. xvi, 974. isbn: 0—88133-950-4. $49.95 (Paper; especially REVIEWS127 priced for students). Waveland Press has reprinted Thomas Garbáty's comprehensive anthology ofEnglish literature from 1100 to 1500. The anthology includes the following Arthurian texts: selections from Layamon's SrKi, the Alliterative Morte Arthure, and Geoffrey of Monmouth's History ofthe Kings ofBritain (translation); Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Marie de France's Lanval (translation); Thomas Chestre's Sir Launfal; The WeddingofSir Gawain andDame Ragnell; and a selection from Malory's Morte Darthur. Marginal glosses accompany all texts in Middle English, and explanatory footnotes thtoughout the anthology explain more difficult concepts and passages. Garbáty's anthology is an ideal text for both advanced undergraduate and graduate students. caitlìn Matthews and John Matthews, The Arthurian Book ofDays, The Greatest Legendin the WorldRetold Throughout the Year. 1990; rpt. New York: Barnes & Noble, 1997. isbn: 0-7607-0604-2. $12.95 (Cloth.) Barnes & Noble has reprinted and remaindered the Matthews volume in which each day commemorates an event in the Arthurian cycle. Clearly a volume intended for a general audience, the texts presented here—a different Arthurian tale for each day of the year—appear without citations to their sources, but with a generous selection of full-color reproductions of medieval Arthurian illustrations. john tyerman Williams, Pooh and the Ancient Mysteries. London: Methuen, 1997. isbn: 0—413-70740-7. £10.00 (cloth). In an earlier volume, John Tyerman Williams linked the story ofWinnie-the-Pooh to the world's greatest philosophies; here he does the same with the major ancient mysteries. In a chapter on 'Pooh...

Nouveaux regards sur "Le jeune chevalier" de Vittore Carpaccio

Carpaccio's Young Knight in the Collection of Baron Thyssen-Bonemisza in Lugano is usually considered the first known independent full-length portrait in Italian painting, its model being variously identified and the painting dated from 1495 to about 1520. Since the mere physical evidence which the work offers appears ambigous, this study tries to unravel its mystery by focusing on one of its major symbolic motifs - the combat between the f alcon and the heron waged high above the young hero. The motif figures in two late-sixteenth-century Nuremberg emblem-books, where it seems to have originated in the work of Albrecht Durer. Particularly the recto of fol. 12 of the so-called Prayer-book of Emperor Maximilian I (1515) shows a drawing which bears an amazing similarity, in both its overall conception and several conspicuous details, to the Lugano painting. This can be explained as follows: Durer's drawing represents a recollection of the painting by Carpaccio which the German master saw on his second sojourn in Venice (1505-1507), and which consequently must have already been, if not completed, then in an advanced state. For reasons unknown, the painting remained unfinished or unsigned until 1510 (or even later). For that matter, the period of 1505-1507 provides terminus ante quem for the decisive stage in the gestation of Carpaccio's Young Knight in Lugano. Of necessity related to this is the need to revise its status of a straightforward portrait painting.

Carpaccio's "Young Knight in a Landscape": Christian Champion and Guardian of Liberty

Previous articleNext article No AccessCarpaccio's "Young Knight in a Landscape": Christian Champion and Guardian of LibertyHelmut NickelHelmut Nickel Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Metropolitan Museum Journal Volume 181983 Sponsored by the Metropolitan Museum of Art Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.2307/1512800 Copyright 1984 The Metropolitan Museum of ArtPDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.