Chretien de Troyes - Part 2:
Erec and Enide
In what is claimed to be the very first Arthurian romance ever made, Arthur starts off the story by being an ass. Yes, you read correctly. You will see that as much as the French adore the Arthurian tradition it is the knights themselves that will soon get all of the attention. Arthur as well as his court continue to to be as proud and regal and famous as they have always been, if not more so, but Arthur himself, as a character, becomes an instigator. Sometimes he is no more than a living stage prop. He begins adventures; he makes them possible. He becomes a goal to be reached or a solution to a problem like a rich doting grandfather. This is not always the case of course, he still gets on a horse from time to time to go adventuring and he has not become a tyrant like he was portrayed in the Saints Lives. Nothing like that. He always redeems himself and by the end of the story we forget that the trouble was kinda his fault to begin with, albeit indirectly. Usually it's something he said or agreed to and that's what begins this story.
In Erec and Enide, Arthur begins the story by reviving the Hunt for the White Stag. The rules are whoever kills the stag can kiss, by royal decree, the most beautiful lady in the court regardless of the consequences. Gawain begs him not to do this because of all the fine lords and ladies in the court, all of whom think their bride beautiful, it is sure to cause trouble and anger. Arthur declares it done and that is that. Everyone has to do it. While the stag is being hunted, Guenevere, who is accompanied by the young knight Erec, runs afoul of a passing knight and his violent rude dwarf. They are all dreadfully and violently insulted by this passing party forcing Erec to begin his adventure. He must pursue this knight to challenge him but only has his sword so he hopes to find some armor on the way. He soon encounters Enide when he lodges with a local vavasour. Enide is supremely beautiful in paupers clothing and Erec learns that the family had been forced into poverty. Erec here obtains some armour, defeats the foul knight in a local tournament involving a sparrowhawk, and wins Enide's hand. He sends the Knight, who we now know is Yder, to Arthur as a prisoner and returns with Enide. Arthur has since killed the Stag but has been waiting on Erecs return. When Arthur meets Enide, he declares her the most beautiful and gives her the kiss, which everyone is ok with because she clearly is the most beautiful of them all. They soon marry with the full splendor of Arthurs' court. This ends the first section of the story.
The second section of the story is quite lengthy and encompasses multiple adventures with one overarching theme. I do not intend on relaying every adventure because it is the general purpose of them that is most important (also the summary of the adventures would fill multiple pages!) Since Erec has been married he has lapsed into uxoriousness and no longer performs the functions of a knight. (I wanted to throw in the word "uxoriousness" because I learned about it during my research. It means to have excessive or even submissive fondness for ones wife.) He has become especially clingy. Enide overhears some other knights talking about this and Erec becomes so offended by her words that he forces her to adventure with him and forbids her to speak. For a chain of several adventures he lashes out at her verbally everytime she speaks even though the only time she speaks is to save his life. It takes her revealing an adulterous marriage proposal by a lustful baron for Erec to see her true value and loyalty.
The third and final section of the story introduces them into and adventure referred to as "The Joy of the Court" They encounter a town with a curious custom called "The Joy of the Court" It is a garden with an invisible wall. Inside this wall is a silver bed and a year round supply of fruit that cannot be taken past the wall. There are many stakes mounted with the heads of dead knights and a single horn. The Joy was to sound the horn. Erec is immediately challenged by a knight. They fight and Erec wins after a long battle. We learn the knight's name is Maboagrain and that he had promised his love (without knowing) that he would never leave the garden and would kill any knight that approached and thus she tried to keep him there forever. Maboagrain tells him that blowing the horn releases him from his promise and allows him to leave. He hates that he was forced to kill so many fine knights. Erec blows the horn and the Court celebrates for 3 days. They return to Arthur and Erec eventually becomes King of his own land.
This story offers a sort of philosophical question for knights. Remember that knighthood was alive and well when this was written. The question is that if it is the goal of a knight to quest for the love of a lady, then what do you do when you achieve her? Do you fall into the love and comfort you you have sought for so long? Do you cease to be a knight when you stop doing knightly things or are you still a knight by default of your achievements? Is it even what your love wants? The story tries to answer this question by showing the same situation on the extreme. Maboagrain is chained to the garden by his promise because his love never wants him to leave. He is trapped and the only "knightly" thing he can do is kill worthy men tempted by the mysterious "Joy". It turns out the "Joy" was his ability to finally leave. Is the answer that a knight should continue to adventure and leave his wife alone? The answer is "yes"....sort of. We will soon discover in another of Chretien's tales, Yvain, that the opposite is also true. Erec and Enide also gives the reader a little marriage advice. Enide learns basically that she should be quiet and trust her husband, Erec almost died because of the quest she initiated. Erec learns that that he should trust the loyalty and heed the advice of his wife who had saved his life on multiple occasions by speaking out when commanded not to. True love is to be found in this mutual trust and respect.
This story also introduces a series of standard tropes that will become quite common in french and other romances. We encounter the "rash boon" which is a promise made before knowing the terms of the promise. We also encounter the ubiquitous "Vavasour" which in reality is a sort of sub-baron but in the context of the medieval romance they serve up maidens and armour, training and quests. They move the knight along to the next part of the story, usually in a positive way. The other tales feature other types of tropes which we will discuss as they come up and I plan on doing an article on these things later on.
One last thing I would like to add is that you will often see that this is the 1st Arthurian Romance, even in this blog, but that is not strictly true. Culhwch and Olwen is a romance that probably predates this, though less focused on love. Chretien himself states that he based this story on a pattern he liked in another story though it may be the medieval habit of inventing vague sources; originality was not praised. It has however been generally agreed upon by scholars that these stories are probably based on older texts that are now lost. If that is true then this obviously can't he "the 1st". I think it's only the earliest one we have in hand that fits a specific pattern. Since Culhwch and Olwen cannot be reliably dated, that makes this the winner.
In Erec and Enide, Arthur begins the story by reviving the Hunt for the White Stag. The rules are whoever kills the stag can kiss, by royal decree, the most beautiful lady in the court regardless of the consequences. Gawain begs him not to do this because of all the fine lords and ladies in the court, all of whom think their bride beautiful, it is sure to cause trouble and anger. Arthur declares it done and that is that. Everyone has to do it. While the stag is being hunted, Guenevere, who is accompanied by the young knight Erec, runs afoul of a passing knight and his violent rude dwarf. They are all dreadfully and violently insulted by this passing party forcing Erec to begin his adventure. He must pursue this knight to challenge him but only has his sword so he hopes to find some armor on the way. He soon encounters Enide when he lodges with a local vavasour. Enide is supremely beautiful in paupers clothing and Erec learns that the family had been forced into poverty. Erec here obtains some armour, defeats the foul knight in a local tournament involving a sparrowhawk, and wins Enide's hand. He sends the Knight, who we now know is Yder, to Arthur as a prisoner and returns with Enide. Arthur has since killed the Stag but has been waiting on Erecs return. When Arthur meets Enide, he declares her the most beautiful and gives her the kiss, which everyone is ok with because she clearly is the most beautiful of them all. They soon marry with the full splendor of Arthurs' court. This ends the first section of the story.
The second section of the story is quite lengthy and encompasses multiple adventures with one overarching theme. I do not intend on relaying every adventure because it is the general purpose of them that is most important (also the summary of the adventures would fill multiple pages!) Since Erec has been married he has lapsed into uxoriousness and no longer performs the functions of a knight. (I wanted to throw in the word "uxoriousness" because I learned about it during my research. It means to have excessive or even submissive fondness for ones wife.) He has become especially clingy. Enide overhears some other knights talking about this and Erec becomes so offended by her words that he forces her to adventure with him and forbids her to speak. For a chain of several adventures he lashes out at her verbally everytime she speaks even though the only time she speaks is to save his life. It takes her revealing an adulterous marriage proposal by a lustful baron for Erec to see her true value and loyalty.
The third and final section of the story introduces them into and adventure referred to as "The Joy of the Court" They encounter a town with a curious custom called "The Joy of the Court" It is a garden with an invisible wall. Inside this wall is a silver bed and a year round supply of fruit that cannot be taken past the wall. There are many stakes mounted with the heads of dead knights and a single horn. The Joy was to sound the horn. Erec is immediately challenged by a knight. They fight and Erec wins after a long battle. We learn the knight's name is Maboagrain and that he had promised his love (without knowing) that he would never leave the garden and would kill any knight that approached and thus she tried to keep him there forever. Maboagrain tells him that blowing the horn releases him from his promise and allows him to leave. He hates that he was forced to kill so many fine knights. Erec blows the horn and the Court celebrates for 3 days. They return to Arthur and Erec eventually becomes King of his own land.
This story offers a sort of philosophical question for knights. Remember that knighthood was alive and well when this was written. The question is that if it is the goal of a knight to quest for the love of a lady, then what do you do when you achieve her? Do you fall into the love and comfort you you have sought for so long? Do you cease to be a knight when you stop doing knightly things or are you still a knight by default of your achievements? Is it even what your love wants? The story tries to answer this question by showing the same situation on the extreme. Maboagrain is chained to the garden by his promise because his love never wants him to leave. He is trapped and the only "knightly" thing he can do is kill worthy men tempted by the mysterious "Joy". It turns out the "Joy" was his ability to finally leave. Is the answer that a knight should continue to adventure and leave his wife alone? The answer is "yes"....sort of. We will soon discover in another of Chretien's tales, Yvain, that the opposite is also true. Erec and Enide also gives the reader a little marriage advice. Enide learns basically that she should be quiet and trust her husband, Erec almost died because of the quest she initiated. Erec learns that that he should trust the loyalty and heed the advice of his wife who had saved his life on multiple occasions by speaking out when commanded not to. True love is to be found in this mutual trust and respect.
This story also introduces a series of standard tropes that will become quite common in french and other romances. We encounter the "rash boon" which is a promise made before knowing the terms of the promise. We also encounter the ubiquitous "Vavasour" which in reality is a sort of sub-baron but in the context of the medieval romance they serve up maidens and armour, training and quests. They move the knight along to the next part of the story, usually in a positive way. The other tales feature other types of tropes which we will discuss as they come up and I plan on doing an article on these things later on.
One last thing I would like to add is that you will often see that this is the 1st Arthurian Romance, even in this blog, but that is not strictly true. Culhwch and Olwen is a romance that probably predates this, though less focused on love. Chretien himself states that he based this story on a pattern he liked in another story though it may be the medieval habit of inventing vague sources; originality was not praised. It has however been generally agreed upon by scholars that these stories are probably based on older texts that are now lost. If that is true then this obviously can't he "the 1st". I think it's only the earliest one we have in hand that fits a specific pattern. Since Culhwch and Olwen cannot be reliably dated, that makes this the winner.
- Chretien changed the course of Arthurian literature with his romances as well as future literature as a whole.
- Erec and Enide is considered to be the 1st Arthurian romance.
- Many of Chretiens romances pose philosophical questions about love and knighthood. This one suggests that Knights should not dally at home with their wives. They should be doing knightly deeds.
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