Libeaus Desconus

(ca. 1375–1400)

   Libeaus Desconus is a 14th-century poem written in MIDDLE ENGLISH but drawing heavily on the French Le bel inconnu by Renaut de Bâgé. Although authorship is uncertain, it has been attributed to Thomas Chestre, the author of SIR LAUNFAL. Libeaus employs the “fair unknown” motif that emerged as an occasional theme in medieval ROMANCES. The poem follows the trials of an unknown youth as he ascends to knighthood at King ARTHUR’s court, and battles knights and giants in his quest to free an imprisoned maiden. The poem opens by explaining that although the knight’s name was Gyngalyn and he was the son of Sir GAWAIN, his mother called him Beau-fis due to his fair face, and he knew no other name. His mother is not identified but is said to have met Gawain by a forest side. Although some scholars have speculated that Dame Ragnell was his mother, in The WEDDYNG OF SYR GAWEN AND DAME RAGNELL, it is Arthur who meets Ragnell beside the forest, not Gawain, although the story does end with Gawain wedding Ragnell and freeing her from a curse.

   Gyngalyn approaches Arthur’s court and because he does not know his true name is named Libeaus Desconus by Arthur. After being knighted, he requests to be given the first fight asked of Arthur. Although Arthur has misgivings about Libeaus’s youthful state and inexperience, he grants the request. The maid Elene next appears at court, seeking a knight to free the lady of Sinadoun from imprisonment. Keeping his word to Libeaus, Arthur offers the services of Libeaus, but Elene laments his untested abilities.Nevertheless,Arthur is not persuaded to send another and Libeaus is armed and departs with Elene and her dwarf. True to the “fair unknown” motif, the lady Elene rebukes Libeaus constantly as they travel, mocking his knightly abilities.

   As the tale unfolds, Libeaus defeats two giants and numerous knights, granting mercy to the knights while dispatching them to Arthur’s court to pay homage to the king. Eventually, after many adventures and an interlude with La Dame d’Amour (from whose sorcery he escapes only by heeding the advice of the maid Elene), Libeaus arrives at Sinadoun to rescue the lady from her prison. There, he defeats the steward of the castle, Sir Lambard, who recognizes in Libeaus’s skill his relation to Gawain. The last two men that Libeaus must battle are the clerks, Mabon and Yrain, who have cast a spell over the lady and thus imprisoned her as a worm within the walls of the castle. Once the evil clerks are defeated, Libeaus falls to prayer, and the lady breaks free from the walls, winds her serpent body around Libeaus, and is transformed back to her female state.

   In a typical “fair unknown” tale, the protagonist, dubbed a fair-unknown because he does not know his name or his lineage, embarks on knightly adventures with the blessing of King Arthur, and in the course of the tale, proves both his knightly skills and nobility, and discovers his true identity. Deviations from the conventional theme are prolific, though, and many tales contain some but not all elements, or include a protagonist who knows his identity but simply does not divulge it. One example of the form a deviation may take is that Libeaus’s identity is not divulged at the conclusion of the tale. As is typical in fair-unknown romances, Libeaus weds the lady in the end. Notably absent from this tale is the revelation of the protagonist’s identity. Although he has proven himself a worthy knight, won the fair maiden he rescued, and the tale concludes with Libeaus wedding the lady and being properly revered in Arthur’s court, there is no mention of a reunion with Gawain or divulgence within the court that they are father and son.

   Other medieval romances employing the fairunknown theme include the aforementioned Le bel inconnu, Robert de Blois’s 13th-century Beaudous, the 13th-century German Wigalois, the 13thcentury French verse fragment Gogulor, the 14th-century Italian Cantari Di Carduino I, and two tales from Thomas MALORY’s Le MORTE DARTHUR, “The Tale of Sir Gareth of Orkeney” and “The Tale of La Cote Male Tayle.” The text of Libeaus survives in one 17th- and five 15th-century manuscripts, including the British Library MS Cotton Caligula A.ii, in which the only extant text of Sir Launfal is also found. The stanzaic TAIL-RHYME poem has been translated into modern prose by Jessie L.Weston and Middle English versions are available.

   Libeaus Desconus is unique in that it offers an early fair-unknown romance in Middle English, prior to more thorough treatment of the theme in English by Thomas Malory. In addition, Gawain scholars may be interested in points of the text that intersect with other Arthurian literature concerning Gawain, specifically, the tales in which Gawain, often a philanderer, marries and produces an heir.

   Bibliography

   ■ Bâgé, Renaut de. Le bel inconnu (Li biaus descouneüs; The Fair Unknown). Translated by Colleen P. Donagher. Edited by Karen Fresco.New York: Garland, 1992.

   ■ Mills, Maldwyn. “The Composition and Style of the ‘Southern’ Octavian, Sir Launfal, and Libeaus Desconus,” Medium Ævum 30 (1961): 88–109.

   ■ Sir Cleges; Sir Libeaus Desconus. Two Old English metrical romances rendered into prose by Jessie L.Weston, with designs by Caroline M.Watts. Translated by Jessie L.Weston. London: D. Nutt, 1902.

   Michelle Palmer