Yvain: The Knight of the Lion

   by Chrétien de Troyes

(ca. 1177)

   Yvain was probably the third of CHRÉTIEN DE TROYES’s five extant ROMANCES, written sometime before or after the author’s unfinished LANCELOT. Unlike the more complex and morally ambivalent CLIGÈS, in which Chrétien begins with a bibliography of his works, followed by a diptych (or double) structured romance of considerable thematic complexity, the narrative and thematics of Yvain are relatively straightforward, and the didactic elements are accessible to modern and medieval audience and reader alike. This is not to suggest that Yvain is entirely without complexity or depth of narrative and thematics; Chrétien was a masterful poet and social commentator and all of his extant romances testify to his deft handling of the balance between entertainment and education—the two elements required of all good literature. The clarity of Yvain is one of its strengths and we see this both in its clear narrative line and in the various tests with which the protagonist is challenged. One of the more popular of Chrétien’s romances, Yvain was adapted into German, Norwegian, and Swedish versions, and there is a 14th-century Middle English romance, YWAIN AND GAWAIN, which is a slightly revised version of the French romance. Although critical conclusions may vary widely as to the significance of various episodes, the didactic elements are undeniable, and relevant to a medieval aristocratic audience.

   After an introduction in which the poet, having set the scene in the fabled Arthurian court, laments the lost days when “true” love flourished, he proceeds to tell a story from those lost days, from that past time of idealized love and idealized knighthood. This kind of introduction is a convention in its nostalgia for a time that never was, and acts to set the scene for a romance in which honor, loyalty, nobility, and true service to the god of love reigned supreme. But it is important to keep in mind that the idealized introduction often functions as the template against which the action of the romance unfolds. In Yvain, this is certainly the case, and as we follow the story we are conscious of the ways in which characters do or do not fulfill the ideals set out in the introduction. The romance literally begins in Arthur’s court with a group of knights telling stories. One story in particular catches the attention of the Arthurian knight Yvain: a story in which the knight Calgrenant tells of an elaborate adventure of a magic fountain that raises a fantastic storm which, in its turn, provokes a challenge from an unknown knight whose property is damaged in the unearthly storm. Calgrenant fails in the hand-tohand battle, and thus is shamed. This is not the normal fare of tales told by knights who usually emphasize their prowess and success, and his cousin,Yvain, vows to avenge his honor by seeking out the adventure himself. Unfortunately the king hears of the adventure and vows to go with all the court to see the magic fountain and storm, and the mysterious knight.When Yvain learns of this he knows that the right of combat will fall to others (in the knightly hierarchy Kay and Gawain are above him), so he resolves to leave at night, in secret, and pursue the adventure alone.

   Not only does Yvain find the adventure but he prevails in every way. He withstands the storm, withstands the hand-to-hand combat, and kills the knight. Unfortunately in killing the knight, Yvain has followed him into his castle without a means of escape. A young serving girl, Lunette, offers him a ring to make him invisible, and so he survives the vengeance of the dead knight’s men and, after a period of time, succeeds in winning the heart and hand of the dead knight’s widow, Laudine. All of this action is prelude to the central substance of the romance: the oft-told story of the tensions inherent in balancing private and public, or marital and martial endeavors. This theme had been explored at length in Chrétien’s first romance, EREC AND ENIDE, and the poet returns to it here in a somewhat more complex form. After his marriage to Laudine, Yvain is delighted with the arrival of Arthur and the court, so delighted that he lets Gawain talk him into leaving Laudine to pursue knightly feats of arms and honor. Laudine gives Yvain leave to depart on the condition that he will return within the year. Of course the year passes in a series of fabulous jousts in which Yvain prevails, wins honor and acclaim, and becomes more than a little prideful. He is repaid for this lack of knightly courtesy when Lunette finds him to reclaim the Lady Laudine’s ring because Yvain, in his pride and success, has stayed away beyond the agreed-upon year.When he realizes his uncourtly disregard for Laudine, “such a storm broke / in his skull that he lost his senses” (2,805); like Lancelot’s madness over Guenevere, the love anger of Laudine “breaks” Yvain and he wanders like a wild man in the forest. Yvain is finally recognized and saved, and in this second part of the romance, his redemption back into the world of courtesy and honor takes the form of a series of adventures in which women need his help for various reasons. Accompanied now by a lion, whose qualities of loyalty and selflessness are both commentary on Yvain’s earlier behavior and indications of the qualities he begins to acquire, Yvain takes the name “The Knight of the Lion” and in this guise provides true and disinterested service to women in need. At tale’s end, having learned lessons of right conduct, courtesy, and the true balance between chivalric and marital duties, Yvain is reconciled with Laudine and all live happily ever after.

   Critical commentary ranges widely over this romance and its concerns: the balance between public and private lives; the knightly ideal and how it succeeds or falters in realistic settings; gender issues as they are played out in the various female characters, and most specifically in the subtle psychology of the characters of Lunette and Laudine. While Lunette is shown to be smart, calculating (in the best sense), and a lively and persuasive debater, the exploration of Laudine’s interiority or consciousness continues the focus on the interior lives of his characters that Chrétien first explored in Erec and Enide. The romance is rich in its comprehensive scope, and Chrétien does not neglect social issues. The position of women in his culture is thoroughly examined in Yvain’s redemptive adventures, including an adventure that leads to the liberation of women forced to work in what we would consider “sweatshop” conditions. The Celtic and mythic elements upon which this romance is constructed are also a fruitful area for commentary. In some ways a coming-of-age tale, Yvain is notable for its focus on courtly behavior, the nature of love and fidelity, and the ways in which social relations work. Less morally ambiguous than other works by Chrétien, Yvain (under the cover of a fashionable romance) offers a series of lessons and models for his 12th-century audience that has found a wide reception in many countries from the medieval period into the modern.

   Bibliography

   ■ Boase, Roger. The Origin and Meaning of Courtly Love. Manchester, U.K.: Manchester University Press, 1977.

   ■ Chrétien de Troyes. Yvain: The Knight of the Lion. Translated by Burton Raffel.With an afterword by Joseph J. Duggan.New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1987.

   ■ Duby, Georges. The Knight, the Lady, and the Priest: The Making of Modern Marriage in Medieval France. Translated by Barbara Bray. New York: Pantheon Books, 1983.

   ■ Frappier, Jean. Etude sur “Yvain ou le Chevalier au lion.” Paris: Société d’Edition d’Enseignement Supérieur, 1969.

   ■ Gantz, Jeffrey, trans. Early Irish Myths and Sagas. Harmondsworth, U.K..: Penguin Books, 1981.

   ■ Kelly, Douglas. The Art of Medieval Romance. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1992.

   ■ Maddox, Donald. The Arthurian Romances of Chrétien de Troyes: Once and Future Fictions. Cambridge Studies in Medieval Literature, 12. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991.

   Elisa Narin van Court