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How Does the Court Depicted by Béroul Differ from That of Walter Map? a Study Of

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How does the court depicted by Béroul differ from that of Walter Map? A study of courtly life in Béroul's Tristan et Iseut and Walter Map's De Nugis Curialium. Kathleen O’Neill © Kathleen O'Neill and The Victorian Librarian Blog, 2014. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Kathleen O'Neill and The Victorian Librarian blog with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. How does the court depicted by Béroul differ from that of Walter Map? In 12th century Western Europe, an extensive body of literature was written about contemporary royal courts, and about the real and fictional people who comprised them. The French writer Béroul wrote such a tale of courtly romance in his native language, while Map, a clerk and cleric at the court of Henry II, wrote his chronicles in Latin. Béroul was the author of what is considered to be the earliest version of the legend of Tristan and Iseut1, and Map of De Nugis Curialium, a selection of satirical tales examining courtly and monastic life. Both writers present life at court as violent, often bleak and miserable, full of intrigue, in a place where allegiances are constantly shifting. Relationships between the sexes are also fraught, sometimes falling prey to courtiers' plotting, and there are many illicit love affairs being conducted. Kings are suspicious of their wives, and as a result some queens are murdered. Noblemen force themselves upon women, and are later left bereft when their wives flee to their own homes. On a first reading of both Béroul and Map, it is very easy to conclude that they both despise courtly life - Map in the opening pages of his text goes so far as to compare the court to Hell, and spells out this comparison in the first chapter's title, 'A Comparison of the Court with the Infernal Regions'2. If existence at court is so miserable, it then must be asked why both writers attached themselves to such royal courts. Map in particular had a well-documented career at the court of Henry II, as a royal clerk, accompanying Henry on journeys 1 Norris J Lacy, ed., Béroul: The Romance of Tristan, (London: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1989), p. 11. 2 M. R. James, ed./trans., Brooke, C. N. L., and Mynors, R. A. B., rev., Walter Map: De Nugis Curialium; Courtiers' Trifles, (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1983), pp. 3-8. 2 abroad, and acting as the King's representative at the Third Lateran Council3. Like so many others, he forged a career for himself at court that brought him more rewards than he could have expected away from the court, first as a clerk, then as a canon, later as a chancellor, and had his own household, a gift from the King himself. There were ever more opportunities for advancement at royal and ecclesiastical courts and in the households of superior nobles4. Furthermore, for an writer like Map, the court was a rich source of stories on which he could draw. Yet the courts described by Béroul and Map prove to be less dark than they seem on the first reading. There are many noble and virtuous characters, including Sadius and Galo, in Map, and King Arthur and the hermit, in Béroul. Considering the prevalent suspicion with which women were viewed in the earlier Middle Ages, it is easy to see such misogyny reproduced in both texts, particularly in that of Map, who as a cleric could have been considered as particularly condemning of women. Only one female protagonist between the two books is absolutely innocent, and her death is supremely tragic as a result5. However, it is arguably the case that the writers create admirable female characters - Iseut is a brave, resourceful and intelligent young woman - or seek to address the wrongs perpetrated by men towards women - several male protagonists in Map are abandoned by their wives, who were kidnapped by said men in the first place. This paper focuses upon the central roles of Kings and Queens, both historical and literary, and applies these examples of kingship and queenship to the monarchs and their consorts in the stories of Map and Béroul. Both authors provide examples of 3 Ibid., p. xvii. 4 Ibid., p. xix. 5 Ibid., p. 33. 3 just, courageous, intelligent kings and queens, but also recognise the failings of their respective protagonists, in a study of the darker side of courtly life, of the pervasive vice, envy and plotting. Thus, the nature of kings and kingship, and of queens and queenship, is the primary focus of this discussion. There being such an emphasis by both authors upon the role of women in general at the court, and upon supernatural women (including queens) in particular, this paper further addresses their various roles and situations. Ultimately, through a study of Map and Béroul's presentation of these different components of courtly life, it becomes clear that, while their vision of the medieval court is superficially very negative, they also demonstrate that courtly life and people at court are more complex. Few characters are absolutely evil or perfectly good, and many seemingly straightforward situations are in fact highly nuanced. Their portrayal of female characters is the most surprising. Initially, the proposed position of this paper in this regard was that both authors were particularly condemning of their female protagonists. Yet further examination of the texts will prove that this is not the case; only one queen is beyond redemption6, and other women are innocent, display great potential, and/or are dynamic characters who actively take responsibility for their own lives, and those of others, into their own hands. While they do severely criticise elements of courtly life, in the end Map and Béroul present us with courts in which good and evil are not always absolutes, in which their seemingly-negative opinion of the court belies a greater, more intriguing complexity. Echard defines Map as one of the 'figures of the twelfth-century renaissance, participating in that literary explosion in the context of the courts'7. He was both a clerk 6 Ibid., pp. 210-247. 7 Siân Echard, Arthurian Narrative in the Latin Tradition. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998), p. 2. 4 at the Angevin court of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine, and a cleric. As a clerk at the courts of Louis VII and Henry II, as well as '[m]aster of a household so great that he can liken it to a petty court'8, he had a great deal of experience upon which to draw. The tales in De Nugis Curialium concern the secular court, a variety of religious orders, and Map's own household, as mentioned above, but only the court tales share certain themes with Béroul's Tristan et Iseut. Map is almost unremittingly critical of the court, famously comparing it to Hell in the opening pages, but as a cleric he is particularly renowned for his misogyny and misogamy, as demonstrated in A Dissuasion of Valerius to Rufinus the Philosopher, that he should not take a Wife. Béroul's version of the Tristan and Iseut tale is thought to have been composed between 1150 and 11909, in Walter Map's lifetime, and depicts King Mark's court, superficially, as a most miserable place, chaotic, ever-changing, and violent. The only two absolutely good, consistently admirable characters are remarkable for the fact that they are not in fact attached to the Cornish court. King Arthur is Mark's own overlord, a higher authority in the land, who comes to this court only for a short time, and the hermit in the woods, arguably Tristan and Iseut's spiritual advisor, never leaves the forest. The implication is that [i]n the Courts nothing prevails except envy and ill-will, wicked customs, dissolute living and every kind of vice.10 Although acknowledging that these elements exist in both authors' courts, herein it will be argued that there is more to the court than corruption, and that individual characters 8 Frederick Tupper and Marbury Bladen Ogle, ed., Master Walter Map's Book, De Nugis Curialium (Courtiers' Trifles), (London: Chatto & Windus, 1924), p. xiii. 9 Lacy, p. 11. 10 Baldesar Castiglione, The Courtier, trans/rev. by George Bull, (London: Penguin Books, Ltd, 1967), p. 109. 5 clearly demonstrate their nobility, goodness, intelligence and political acumen. In Map, King Herla, and the Queen of Portugal are two such characters11, and in Béroul, the titular characters prove that they themselves could rule over Mark's kingdom12. The nature of royal governance of kingdoms is a key aspect of both texts, and the King and Queen are accordingly key protagonists in Béroul and Map. Their relationships with one another and with their court drive the plots to their conclusion, which in these tales is frequently violent or tragic. The theories of kingship and queenship, outlining the various roles and types of Kings and Queens, can give the reader a greater insight into the true nature of Kings and Queens in Béroul and Map, as well as highlighting the kingly or queenly potential of other characters, such as Tristan. The nature of the royal court itself is also examined by both authors. For example, Béroul draws upon the courtly love tradition, using the locus amoenus, the lovers’ safe haven, usually a garden, or a forest, as in Aucassin et Nicolette13, but all romantic associations are put aside as he focuses on the harsh reality of their plight.
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