The Wisdom of the Middle Ages by Michael K. Kellogg

Author:Michael K. Kellogg
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781633882140
Publisher: Prometheus Books
Published: 2016-11-03T16:00:00+00:00

THE EARLY ROMANCES

The opening of the first Arthurian romance, Erec and Enide, already strikes a note of decline and discord. Arthur wishes to hunt the white stag in order to restore a tradition from the reign of his father, the great King Uther Pendragon. Gawain is opposed, however, because he who kills the white stag must by rights kiss the most beautiful maiden at court. Gawain explains that each knight will feel obliged to insist, at sword point, that the maiden on whom he has bestowed his favors is the most beautiful. Chivalry has reached such a socially destructive point that an idyllic custom cannot be revived without bloodshed.

Yet Arthur insists on the hunt and, racing ahead on his powerful Spanish horse, takes the white stag. At Guinevere's suggestion, however, the contentious kiss is postponed pending the return of Erec, son of King Lac, who has set off to avenge an affront to her honor committed by a powerful knight and his dwarf companion.

The story then follows Erec, who duly defeats the arrogant knight and sends him and his dwarf as suppliants to Guinevere. In the process, Erec falls in love with Enide, the beautiful daughter of an impoverished vavasour (lesser noble), and he brings her back to the court. By universal acclaim she is awarded the ceremonial kiss, and Arthur presides over an elaborate wedding celebration. “Here ends the first movement,” Chrétien writes.62 It is a charming story, a perfect romance, complete in itself. But it does not stop there with a “happily ever after” tag. The marriage of Erec and Enide has only begun, and both characters must evolve and mature through a series of challenges.

The precipitating cause of these events is Erec's passion for Enide. He eschews the tournaments and other feats of arms that bring knights honor. He prefers to dally in bed with his beloved. Behind his back, the nobles lament his negligence and emasculation.

The late Karl Uitti, a leading scholar of Romance languages, rightly heard in Erec and Enide echoes of the story of Abelard and Heloise, which was well known to Chrétien.63 Abelard, too, renounced a life dedicated to arms. He, too, neglected his duties for sex. And he too was, quite literally, emasculated. Enide, like Heloise, insists that she is Erec's concubine, not just his wife. She is frank in her enjoyment of sex, but she bitterly laments the shame she has brought upon him. So bitterly, in fact, that her tears awaken him one night, and, when he presses her for the cause, she tells him that he is held up to ridicule and spoken of with scorn on her account.

Erec shares another trait with Abelard. He is proud and has a fierce, impetuous temper. Stung by Enide's confession, he requires her to put on her best dress and sets her upon her finest horse, knowing that her beauty and apparent wealth will attract challengers. In full armor he sallies forth alone with his bride, forbidding her even to speak to him unless first addressed, a thinly veiled reference to the silence of Heloise enjoined by Abelard.

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