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Module 7 Is an Extensive Discussion on Middle English Romances. It P MODULE 7 MIDDLE ENGLISH ROMANCES OBJECTIVES OF THE MODULE: Module 7 is an extensive discussion on Middle English romances. It points out the difference of these romances from Old English heroic poetry and deals with the salient features of the former. It specifies the various categories of medieval romances and discusses all those categories in detail. INTRODUCTION: The shift from Old English heroic poetry to medieval verse romance marks a remarkable transformation in temperament. While heroic poetry is realistic, romance is escapist in nature where characters fight either on principles or as a ritual and the primary emphasis is on the hero’s character. Customarily, the word ‘romance’ is integrally related to love story and since there are certain famous medieval romances involving palpable love elements like those of Floris and Blancheflour, Lancelot and Guinevere, it is assumed that medieval romances will always involve certain love interests. However, if we ponder over the romances of Alexander or Richard the Lion- Hearted, we will have no difficulty to understand that most of the medieval romances have no love element whatsoever. There are only a few exceptions where love story is the main theme; otherwise, even if the element of love is present in the story it is incidental as in Bevis of Hampton, or as the source of motivation for the hero’s adventure as in Guy of Warwick or is dominated by the adventurous elements as found in Erec, Yvain. CHARACTERISTIC FEATURES OF ROMANCES: In fact, the primary material of the medieval romances is the adventure of the chivalrous knights. These are imaginary narratives involving adventures, both in prose and verse. The earlier romances are composed in verse; the prose romances came in late. The verse romances usually vary from one thousand to six thousand lines and the metres normally used are eight-syllable couplet and a variety of tail-rime stanzas. These romances are marked by lack of unity of action and less defined characters. Usually the characters are types and conform to a definite pattern. There is not much scope for making the characters individual. The hero is delineated as an ideal knight who needs to prove himself superior to the other knights and thus the poet sometimes introduces a dragon or a giant as a staunch adversary of the hero in an attempt to bring some kind of variation to the plot. Initially the romance used to cater to the taste of the aristocratic upper class. When French was the language of the English ruling class, French romances were immensely popular in England. In fact, those which were written in England itself were also in French. This continued till the middle of the thirteenth century. The English romances came into existence only when English ousted French as the courtly language of England. Thus most of the English romances belong to the fourteenth century and are mostly translations or adaptations from the French ones. CATEGORIES OF MEDIEVAL ROMANCES: Medieval romance is divided into three categories- ‘Matter of France’, ‘Matter of Britain’ and ‘Matter of Rome’. This division was made by the late twelfth century trouvere Jean Bodel based on the subject matter of these romances. In Chanson des SaisnesBodel wrote: N’ensontquetriosmateres a nul home entendant De Freance, et de Bretaigne, et de Rome la grant. However, there is another matter- the ‘Matter of England’ which Bodel did not specify. POINTS TO REMEMBER Medieval romance was divided into three categories initially. These are: 1. Matter of France 2. Matter of Britain 3. Matter of Rome Another Matter which is included later is Matter of England MATTER OF FRANCE: The earliest amongst these matters is the ‘Matter of France’ which deals with the diverse activities of Charlemagne and his knights. Though the relationship between England and France was a sustained one and France was a storehouse of a huge collection of legends, there cannot be found an ample representation of these stories in English. The reason can be sought in the political rivalry between the two countries during the time the romances were being written in English. Moreover, the enthusiasm and appeal that the stories revolving around the French personas enjoyed in France were obviously less in England. The French chansons de geste which comprises more than one hundred poems can be categorised under three groups- geste du roi, geste de Doon de Mayence and geste de Garin de Monglane. The most popular among these is the geste du roi which is centred on Charlemagne and portrays him as the champion of Christendom who fights vigorously against the infidels. A brilliant example of this is Chanson de Roland. The epics of the second group focus on Charlemagne’s struggle with his vassals. The third group deals with the adventures and victories of William of Orange and his family members. Though all these French epics are immensely interesting, only the Charlemagne romances belonging to the first group can be found in English verses. Apart from the late RaufCoilyear where Charlemagne incognito is entertained by a farmer, all other Charlemagne romances can be subdivided into two groups- the Ferumbras group and the Otuel group. The Ferumbras group handles those events which are mentioned in two French chansons degeste- the Destruction of Rome and Fierabras. Although there are slight variations in these two writings, these are the definite sources of the English romances. The Sowdone of Babylone describes the achievement of Laban and his son Ferumbras in sacking Rome and getting hold of the cross, the crown of thorns and the nails of the Crucifixion and sending those to Spain. The second part is a quick coverage of the incidents that are treated in a detailed manner in Sir Ferumbras. Here the army of Charlemagne, during their journey to Spain, in order to retrieve the holy relics and to punish the Saracens, encounter Ferumbras who is a twenty feet tall formidable knight. The latter is defeated by Oliver and converts into Christianity. He begins fighting for the Christian cause henceforth. On his return journey Oliver is captured by a Saracen force. The major portion of the story develops from this capture and Floripas’ (the daughter of the Sultan) falling in love with Guy of Burgundy (a Charlemagne knight). Floripas becomes instrumental in the ultimate victory of the Christians who are successfulto recover the sacred relics.Sir Ferumbras is considered to be one of the best among the English Charlemagne romances. The effectiveness of certain scenes and the consciousness of the writer make this work remarkable. It is a sheer loss thata few leaves of the manuscript in which Sir Ferumbras are preserved are lost. There are five romances in the Otuel group. Among these only three deal with the story of Otuel in the true sense of the term. All these three narrate the same story with certain variations. Otuel is staunch to avenge his uncle Vernagu’s death and thus challenges Roland who has killed Vernagu. In the midst of his fight against Roland the Holy Ghost takes the shape of a dove and perches on his helmet. This inspires Otuel so much that he converts into Christianity. Meanwhile, King Charles offers her daughter Belesant’s hand to Otuel. After this Otuel undertakes a journey along with Charlemagne and the Christians emerge victorious. Then he gets married to Belesant and becomes the Lord of Lombardy. The oldest version of this story in English is Otuel written in four-stressed couplets. This is preserved in the Auchinleck MS. A better version is Duke Rowland and Sir Otuel of Spayne which is preserved in the same manuscript as the Sege of Melayne. This is composed in tail- rime stanzas. Another romance, Otuel and Roland, is considered to be a continuation of Roland and Vernagu and is different from the other Otuel romances because it continues with the story for another thousand lines and draws its material from Pseudo-Turpin. All these Otuel romances have certain characteristics in common and are assumed to be based upon an English romance which is lost. Apart from these three there is another romance, Roland and Vernagu which has been referred to earlier. It is marked by exaggeration. The early section narrates how Charlemagne assists the Patriarch of Jerusalem and receives different relics like the crown of thorns and the arm of St. Simeon. However, the romance receives its name from the latter part where Vernagu, a forty-feet Saracen throws a challenge to Charlemagne’s douzepers. This romance is incomplete and since it ends in the midst of mirth, it seems to give clue to the story of Otuel which is found in other versions. Another romance which is worth mentioning is The Sege of Melayne which has no correspondence in French literature. This romance is remarkable for the delineation of a particular character, Archbishop Turpin, who turns to the battlefield discarding his priestly attire. The interest in Charlemagne romance in England is essentially religious and focuses on the glorification of Christianity. Both the Saracen gallants, Ferumbras and Otuel, are converted into Christian faith and there are instances of divine intervention. These romances were sometimes produced by the monks who considered these romances to be a means to attract patronage by identifying their patrons with Charlemagne’s heroes.These romances seem to be composed with missionary zeal and are pietistic in nature. POINTS TO REMEMBER Some of the important romances belonging to the Matter of France are: 1. The Sowdone of Babylone 2. Sir Ferumbras 3. Otuel 4. Duke Rowland and Sir Otuel of Spayne 5. Otuel and Roland 6. Roland and Vernagu 7. The Sege of Melayne MATTER OF BRITAIN: The ‘Matter of Britain’ is centred on the Arthurian stories whose references can be found in the historic writings of Geoffrey of Monmouth’s History of the Kings of Britain and Layamon’s Brut.
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