THE FABLIAU IN MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

Jane Frank Allinson, Ph.D. The University of Connecticut, 1981

Fabliaux ace short narrative poems written in England and in France during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. In England they were composed in Anglo-Norman and in English verse. The Anglo-Norman fabliaux have received little critical attention. This dissertation establishes a corpus of nine Anglo-Norman fabliaux: Romaunz de un chiyaler et de sa dame et de un clere, Lai du Corn, Les .1111. souhais saint Martin, Le heron. De .III. dames, De le chevalgr e la corbaylle. La qaqeure, Le chevalier gui fist parier les cons, and La housse partie. Seven of the nine stories have continental fabliau analogues. A comparison between these insular and continental fabliaux indicates that insular stories consistently eliminated obscenity, elevated the social level of the characters, presented a more cordial relationship between the sexes and were less anti-feminine than their continental counterparts. Anglo-Norman fabliaux consistently introduced motifs from courtly literature.

A corpus of seven English verse fabliaux was established:

Dame Sirith, A Penniworth of Witte, and five stories from Jane Allinson — The University of Connecticut, 1981

Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales: The Miller's Tale, The

ESSYS's Tale, The Friar's Tale, The Surrmoner' s Tale and The

ShiEEDSD r§ These stories were discussed in terms of the characteristics of Anglo-Norman and continental French fabliaux. The examination indicated that fabliaux written in English verse incorporated fewer noble and more bourgeois characters than those composed in Anglo-Norman. English fabliaux were similar to the insular corpus in their relative lack of violence and anti-feminism. The English fabliaux reflect the influence of both insular and continental French fabliaux. It was concluded that the continental French genre influenced both Anglo-Norman and

English fabliaux from the mid-thirteenth through the end of the fourteenth centuries. There was also an indication of an Anglo-Norman fabliau tradition in medieval England.

Transcriptions of three Anglo-Norman texts are included in the Appendix: A "dit” appended to Les .IIII. souhais Saint Martin from oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Digby 86, and two fabliaux from London, British Library, ms Harley 2253: De le cheyaler e la corbaylle and La qaqeure. The Appendix also contains a list of the printed editions of Anglo-Norman fabliaux THE FABLIAU IN MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

Jane Frank Allinson D.S., Fairleigh Dickinson University, 1S6

M.A., Michigan State University, 1965

A Dissertation Sumbitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy

at

The Department of Medieval Studies

The University of Connecticut Copyright by

Jane Frank Allinson

1981 APPROVAL PAGE

Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation

THE FABLIAU IN MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

Presented by Jane Frank Allinson, B.A., M.A.

Associate Adviser

Associate Adviser i/^

The University of Connecticut

1981

ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This dissertation could not have been written without the aid of many helpful persons. First, I would like to thank my major advisor. Professor Charles Owen, Jr. for his continued support and advice. Professor Fred Cazel, Jr. read the draft several times and gave invaluable textual and bibliographical advice. Professor Michael McHugh aided with the Latin translations and background. Dr. Donald Maddox enriched the critical and literary background of the continental fabliaux. Professor Keith Sinclair, a former committee member, checked all of the transcriptions and gave valuable advice on medieval manuscripts.

Microfilm copies of medieval manuscripts have been invaluable in the dissertation. I would like to thank the following libraries for their prompt and courteous attention to microfilm requests: Deutsche Staatsbibliothek, Berlin (Hamilton 257); Burgerbibliothek, Berne (Bern 354); Bibliotheque Albert ler, Brussels (536); Niedersashsische Staats- und Universitatsbibliothek, Berlin (Codex Theol. 126 and 140); Bodleian Library, oxford (Digby 86, Rawlinson ill): Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris (BN fr. 837, 1593, 2173, 12603, and 19152).

iii The staff at the Wilbur Cross Library has cheerfully obtained numerous books and articles, often with a minimum of information. All of the librarians have been helpful, especially the Interlibrary Loan staff, Isabelle DiCenzo, Charles Searing and Robert Vrecenak. Richard Schimmelpfeng of special collections has also provided valuable advice. The staff at the computer Center has been most patient to a neophyte computer typist. Kevin Kearney, Joe Lubszewicz,

Steve Morytko, Jeff Smith and Don Proulx have been most understanding. Sally Stake and Linda Polcari gave up their time to help type the final corrections. My husband, Derek, and my daughters, Rebecca and Deirdre, have provided much needed moral support. Thank you, everyone.

iv TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter Title

I. Literary Criticism of the Fabliau The Continental French Fabliau 1 The Anglo-Norman Fabliau 21 II. The Vernacular Background of the Fabliaux in England Petrus Alfonsus 27 Le Castplement d^un pere a son fils.

Marie de France 42 Fables.

III. Anglo-Norman Fabliaux: Thirteenth-century MSS Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 50 56

Romaunz de uq ch^yalep et de sa dame et de un clerk 56

Oxford, Bodleian Library, ms Digby 86 72 Lai du Corn 73 Les .1111. souhais saint Martin 90 Clermont, Archives Departmental du Puy de Dome 99 Le heppn 99 IV. Anglo-Norman Fabliaux: Fourteenth-Century MSS London, British Library, MS Harley 2253 109 Qe •III. dames ill

De chevaler e de ja corbaylle 121

L2 qaqeure 129

Le chiyaler gui fist parler les cons 137

v Pieces in Harley 2253 related to the fabliau genre 145 Le roi d^nqleterre et le jongleur d‘Ely 147 LiSE^Ee de bel ayse 150 Ex-Cheltenham, Phillipps Library, MS 25970 153

L§ h2ii§§£ partie 153 V. Characteristics of the Anglo-Norman Fabliaux 161 VI. The Fabliau in English

Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Digby 86 170 Dame Sipi^h 172

Edinburgh, National Library, Advocates’ MS 19.2.1 178 A Penniworth of Witte 178

Aberystwyth, National Library of Wales Peniarth MS 392(D) 183 lb® Miller's Jale 186 The Reeve’s Tale 192 The Cook’s Tale 197 The Friar’s Tale 199 The Summoner's Tale 202

The Merchant *s Tale 207

IbS Shipmap's Tale 211 London, British Library, MS Harley 78 216

IbS LSjY Prioress and Her Three wooers 216 Edinburgh, National Library, MS Bannatyne 1568 220 The Freiris of Berwick 220 vii. Conclusion 224 vi Appendix I. oxfocd, Bodleian Library, MS Digby 86 Les .1111. sohaits saint Martin 232

Appendix II. London, British Library, MS Harley 2253 De le cheyaler et de la corbaylle 234

La gageure 240

Appendix III.

Printed editions of Anglo-Norman Fabliaux 243

Footnotes chapter I 245 chapter II 253 Chapter III 264 chapter iv 283 Chapter V 298 chapter vi 299 chapter vii 310 Bibliography

Primary Sources 311 Secondary sources 325

vii >

Chapter I

LITERARY CRITICISM OF THE FABLIAU GENRE

The Continental French Fabliau

Narratives have flourished in every literary epoch. During the European Middle Ages, the tale was popular in

numerous literary forms. Often the same story is found in more than one genre, in such diverse contexts as the prose exemplum and the verse fabliau; form rather than subject

differentiated the genres. From, the various literary types of the narrative emerged several closely related genres --

the long courtly romance and the shorter lai, dit and fabliau — that flourished in France and in England from the

twelfth through the fourteenth centuries. These closely

related genres are difficult to isolate for they were not seen uniformly as distinct forms during the Middle Ages. Paul Zumthor has argued that "entre les genres narratifs brefs traditionellement ecrits en cctcsyllabes, fabliau, lai et 'dit', il est impossible de relever des distinctions valables."1 Judging from the terminology in the bodies of the texts themselves as well as in the rubrics in the

manuscripts, there was no universally-held medieval idea of

1 2 cither a fabliau or a hit or a lai; the terms were used interchangeably. When the twentieth-century critic attempts to isolate one of these genres, he is faced with a problem. The body of material is too vast to discuss under the categorization of short narrative literature, yet consistent genre distinctions were not made during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. In effect the critic must make an artificial literary distinction and definition.

In this dissertation fabliaux will be defined as short narrative tales in verse, either humorous or serious, structured about one incident and its consequences. For the sake of analysis, fabliaux will be treated as distinct from the other genres. They will be distinguished from lais in that they take part in a pseudo-realistic world, usually devoid of supernatural and legendary characters; other-worldly figures and places are present occasionally, but they are not of interest in themselves and are subordinate to the essential irreverence of the theme.

Fabliaux are distinct from dits in that their language is colloquial rather than lyrical and their primary interest is in plot rather than dialogue. In the fabliaux, character and theme are usually subordinate to the plot. These distinctions are academic and are not always clear-cut. The absence of distinct literary genres is reflected by the absence of a standard medieval definition of the fabliau. 3

Literary critics have discussed the tabliau ns a genre since the eighteenth century. An examination of the critical commentary on the fabliau reveals considerable agreement upon both a definition of the genre and the corpus of fabliau texts. If one traces the views historically, it is evident that disagreement is largely a result of the refinement of a definition rather than a complete revision of it. In 1746 the Comte de caylus published the first critical study devoted solely to the fabliau, which he defined as follows: C'est un poem qui renferme le recit elegant d'une action inventee, petit, plus ou rroins intriguee, quoique d'une certaine etendue, mais agreable ou plaisante, dont le tut est d'instruire ou d'amuser.2 His essay was based upon a familiarity with a number of manuscripts, yet his definition of the fabliau is fundamental.3 Although some of the material that he included in the study would be excluded from the fabliau genre by twentieth-century critics, most of his selections would not be challenged. His essay is a testimony to a basic concurrence of opinion concerning the genre.

Between 1756 and 1760, E. Barbazan published four volumes, Fabliaux et contes des poetes franco!s des XII,

XIII# XIV et XVes siecles.* Devoid of critical notes and commentary but containing a glossary, the edition presented only the texts. One manuscript was used for each tale; 4 variant readings from other manuscripts were not noted. The edition first made available to the public hitherto inaccessible manuscript material.5 Texts were printed in the original language. None of the tales was abridged or bowdlerized. The material was not considered offensive by the editor, who printed his edition for the general public, not for the specialist. The texts were not popular with his intended audience, however, since the language was too difficult.

In 1779 and 1789, Le Grand d'Aussy published four, then five, volumes of Fabliaux ou contes, fables et romans en vers du Xlle et XITIe siecles, containing prose translations of fabliaux and fables, suppressing "des contes licencieux."6 The collection included such varied works as fabliaux, fables, lais , Le chastelement d'un pere a son fils and Le songe dj.enfer. Selections were based upon a broad definition of the genre: On nommait ces Contes, fables, Flabels ou Fabliaux, parce que la plupart ne sent que des fictions fableuses; les Auteurs s'appellaient Fableqrs ou Fabliers.7

The importance and popularity of this edition were great.

In his book, A Medievalist in the Eighteenth Century: Le Grand dJ_Aussy and the 'Fabliaux ou Contes,'8 Geoffrey Wilson points out that Le Grand d'Aussy, unlike most critics of the 5 period, was interested in the fabliaux not only for their historical but also for their aesthetic importance. The tales were interesting in themselves. His edition was a combination of translation, adaptation, condensation and commentary, designed to present the genre to the public, and the public responded. The edition was expanded, went through three printings, and was translated into English prose.9 The eighteenth-century interest in the genre prepared the way for the critical attention to the fabliau of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

In 1808, Meon republished Barbazan's texts and added further material from manuscripts in the Bibliotheque Imperiale.10 This edition was the most extensive to date, as it printed 130 texts, though not all of the pieces in the Fabliaux et contes des poetes fpanpqis des XI, XII# XIII, XIV et XVe siecles would be classified as fabliaux today.

The edition was prefaced with an essay upon the origin of the language and was given a glossary; there was an absence of a critical definition of the fabliau or of notes about the stories.

As interest in the genre increased, editions of texts proliferated; none of them was comprehensive. In 1872, Anatole de Montaiglon published an edition, completed by Gaston Raynaud, Recueil general et compilet des fabliaux,11 6 which remains the most complete collection of texts They defined the fabliau as: ...un recit, plutot comique, d'une aventure reelle ou possible, meme avec des exagerations, qui se passe dans les donnees de la vie humaine moyenne....c1est une situation, et une seule a la fois mise en oeuvre dans une narration plutot terre a terre et railleuse qu'elegante cu sentimentale.... Il est plus naturel, bourgeois si 1'on veut, mais il est foncierement comique....relativement court, sans former de suite ni de serie, un conte en vers....12

Although the definition essentially agrees with that of the Comte de Caylus, the standards here are more rigorous, based upon a more comprehensive selection of texts. The suggestion of a bourgeois element, here used in a pejorative rather than an historical sense, was to form the basis for a theory concerning the origin of the genre. The distinction between independent tales and those in a larger compilation was to become a matter of debate. Montaiglon and Raynaud established in these six volumes the basic corpus of 152 fabliaux that has been the point of departure for twentieth-century studies.

Unlike previous editions, the Recueil general contains a critical appendix that incorporates some corrections of faulty manuscript readings and variants, as well as brief notes. Although the apparatus was adequate at the time, it is incomplete for twentieth-century needs. All of the texts in the volumes were not edited by Montaiglon and Raynaud. 7

Many were taken from past editions -- especially Barbazan's and some were based upon previously unpublished manuscripts;13 therefore, the reliability of the texts is extremely varied. Where several manuscript versions of a fabliau are cited, the base text is not used consistently; it is difficult to reconstruct a given manuscript from the notes. For the most part, the texts are conflated; lines are altered, without indication in the notes. In fairness to Montaiglon and Raynaud, they compiled the most accurate collection done thus far; a complete critical editcn by twentieth-century standards would require a lifetime commitment. Despite its faults the Recueil general remains the standard text and is cited in most studies of the genre.

It is the reponsibility of the critic to check the accuracy of the texts cited in any study.

Fabliaux, the doctoral dissertation of Joseph Bedier, was published in 1893.14 The study relied upon the corpus and definition of Montaiglon and Raynaud. Bedier formulated the most widely-accepted definition of the genre, based upon that of Montaiglon; "Les fabliaux sont des contes a rire en vers."15 Although it is quoted frequently, the sentence is only a portion of Bedier's complete definition, which adds the qualifications;

...ils sont destines a la recitation publique; jamais, ou presque jamais, au chant; ils confinent parfois soit au dit moral, mais 1'intention plaisante y dornine; soit a la legende 8

sentirr.entale ot chevaleresque, mais ils se passent toujours dans les limites du vraisemblable et excluent tout surnaturel.16 Here the definition attempts to distinguish the fabliau from the related genres of dit, fable and romance.

Bedier used two dates to establish the time frame of the genre: 1159 (the date of Richeut, the earliest fabliau) to 1340 (the death of the last-known jongleur, Jean de conde).*7 Bedier revised the corpus of 152 fabliaux established by his predecessors and formed one of 147 tales. Like Montaiglon and Raynaud, he excluded stories from the compilation, Le Chastoiement d'un pere a son fils, and the Rallies of Marie de France. Bedier's corpus was not challenged effectively for sixty-three years. criticism of his dissertation focused upon two major issues: the fabliaux as a product of the bourgeois, and fabliaux as primarily a humorous, non-serious genre.

Half of Bedier's book was devoted to destroying various theories as to the origin of the fabliaux, notably the orientalist theory. By demolishing the arguments for the non-European origin of the genre and by stressing the medieval European background of the miajority of the tales, Bedier focused upon the fabliaux as part of the French literary tradition. He found that most were produced in northern France during the thirteenth century, the period of the rise of the bourgeois class, and he concluded that the 9

fabliaux were written for and by it. Then he contrasted

these tales, which he saw peopled with members of the lower social classes, to the roman and the chanson de geste that dealt with the nobility. The schema also fit the classical theory of genres, in which fabulge igngfci1ium contrasted with fabulae nobilium, depending upon the social rank of the personae involved.18

Bedier's theory appeared grounded upon historical and literary foundations. He realized the difficulty in attempting to isolate a class in medieval society and admitted that there was a "...confusion des genres et promiscuite des publics."19 Although he realized that his hypothetical bourgeois audience was a critical construct, he did not question the validity of an analysis of a genre in

terms of its audience; such a consideration is external.

Although Bedier devoted an extensive study to the fabliaux, he minimized the literary significance of the genre. His view of the bourgeois was pejorative, i.e., lower class as opposed to the refined courtly literature of

the nobility. His embarrassment at the obscenity of many pieces had been shared by previous critics.

Pietro Toldo did not dismiss the humor of the fabliaux as crude In a 1902 article, "fitudes sur le theatre comique frangais du moyen age,"20 he attempted to place the fabliaux in an historical and literary perspective. He tried to establish the genre as the source for the fifteenth- and sixteenth-century farce. He accounted for the differences between the genres as lying "...dans la mesure et dans la form exterieure plus que dans la substance."21 The article is more important for its emphasis on the continued circulation of comic motifs than for his conclusion that the later farce was a deliberate theatricalization of the fabliau. Although Toldo emphasized the farce rather than the fabliau, he recognized the influence of the genre in literary history.

Respect for the fabliaux increased. In 1904, August Andrae examined "Das Weiterleben alter Fablios, Lais, Legenden und anderer alter Stoffe."22 He traced plots of fabliaux and related narrative literature from their appearance in medieval works to their subsequent emergence in post-medieval literature, especially the short story and the drama, in England, France and Germany. The article is valuable as a source study for later literature rather than for the fabliau. It does place in perspective the popularity of fabliau themes, which evidently were not limited to one social class at a particular historical period, but were current during several centuries in various countries. Andrae showed that fabliau motifs were universal Edmond Faral also modified Bedier's study. Les jongleurs en France au moyen age,23 written in 1910, opposed the bourgeois origin of the fabliaux. Farel pointed out that people of all classes listened to the same stories;

therefore it was difficult to determine the origin of a fabliau upon the basis of its obscenity or morality. He distinguished two classes of jongleurs, one allied to a

court and subjected to its refined tastes and ideas, and the other a wandering set that reflected popular tastes. The

theory, while difficult to prove, attempted to account for the co-existence of various types of tales.

In "Le fabliau latin au moyen age,"24 Faral moved even further from the bourgeois theory. He believed the fabliau evolved from the Latin comoedia of the second half of the

twelfth century, v;hich in turn was derived from classical Latin comedy; indirectly the fabliau was a product of classical rather than popular literature. Faral pointed out the similarities between the genres in subject, tone and

stock, characters, and classified the Latin pieces as "contes"25 that belonged to narrative rather than dramatic literature. Here Faral's theory is weak. It might be more appropriate to regard the comoediae as literary exercises or medieval closet dramas, as they were academic pieces that contained puns and literary allusions which depended upon a knowledge of classical Latin literature. Puns and allusions in the fabliaux refer primarily to contemporary vernacular

literature. The importance of the article lies in

establishing the literary affinities of some fabliaux, and in placing the genre in its historical literary continuum.

Despite these critical studies, Bedier's theory of the fabliaux as a bourgeois genre held sway for a long period. There was objection to his view of the tales as "contes a rire." Although he admitted the existence of moral fabliaux, he claimed that "...1'intention morale n'est jamais qu'accessoire."26 Many critics agree with this point of view, but opposition has grown steadily. As early as

1896, Gaston Paris proposed a definition of "'contes' tout court, au lieu de 'contes a rire.'"27 Omer Jodogne (1966)

concluded that almost half of the fabliaux involved a moral in the text either in earnest or in jest: thirty-four works

termed fabliaux in the texts contained a moral in the text and another thirty-six utilized one as their central motif.28 Evidently there was a greater seriousness of intent than Bedier had allowed.

In 1969, Beyer challenged the seriousness of the moral

and pointed out that the fabliaux employed proverbs rather than the maxims of the exemplum. These proverbs undercut

serious didacticism; "the moral actually documents the unfitness of the fabliau for moralization.1,29 Beyer's view of the comic nature of the genre expands upon Bedier^

theory. In effect, the wheel has turned full circle.

Per Nykrog made the most serious challenge to Bedier's theories in his 1956 doctoral dissertation, Les Fabliaux.30

He rejected Bedier's theory of the bourgeois origin and found "...le point de vue du fabliau sur la societe medievale absolument identique a celui de la litterature courtoise."31 Fabliaux were the product of an aristocratic tradition, a "genre burlesque courtois. "3;,i The major weakness of the argument lay in Nykrog's failure to define the term "courtois" which he used both in a literary and a social sense. The burlesque of courtly ideals in a literary genre does not prove that it was composed solely for one audience. Essentially Nykrog substituted one social group for another, and thereby fell into the same critical trap as Bedier. The importance of Nykrog's approach lay in the conception of the fabliau as a literary rather than a

popular genre and its placement in a written rather than in an oral context.

Nykrog defined the fabliau by adopting Bedier's formula of "contes a rire" and adding the qualifications:

...qu'il doit appartenir a la litterature frangaise medievale et qu'il doit etre relativement court, tout au moins qu'il doit en principe se borner a raconter un seul incident et ses consequences immediates .33 He modified Bedier’s body of texts, excluded non-comic

tales, and he established a corpus of 160 fabliaux.34 Where Bedier, like Montaiglon, excluded stories that were part of larger compilations, Nykrog added selected tales from Le ^b^stoiement d'un pere a son fils and the Fables of Marie de France.35 Admittance of these stories has met with critical

opposition.

Omer Jodogne objected to the basis for Bedier's and Nykrog's classifications. He proposed a new standard for

the groupings, based upon motif rather than subject matter.36 Jean Rychner challenged the attempt to establish a fabliau corpus because "...il risque de prefer au genre une realite qu'il n'a pas eue dans la litterature du temps...."37 Rychner's objection has gained acceptance among French critics, but German writers have generally agreed with Nykrog. In view ot the divided opinion, it seems practicable to regard Nykrog's new inclusions as an attempt to incorporate the background from which the genre

developed, rather than to regard them as fabliaux.

Essentially Bedier and Nykrog agreed in their

classifications. Of a total 167 different tales, they both included the same basic 140. The tales in their ccrpuses upon which the two critics differed reflect Nykrog's addition of literary antecedents, his exclusion of non-huuorous tales, and discoveries of new texts.

Similarities in the lists reflect a basic critical concurrence.

As a corrective to fabliau studies based upon audience, Rychner published a study in 1960, contribution a Hetude des fabliaux: vaciantes, remaniements, degradations.38 He attempted to reconstruct the life of a medieval genre by

tracing the transformation of individual fabliaux through their textual history. When he compared successive versions of individual tales, he found that as the genre developed, stories were adapted for different publics. Early versions of fabliaux were of higher literary quality than subsequent versions. In no one manuscript, and consequently in no given period, were fabliaux of equal quality; pieces of varying merit existed in all of the compilations. Rychner posited no period of gradual growth and decline, but rather a continual development of the genre. without justifying his premise, Rychner assumed that earlier versions were superior and were intended for the nobility; later versions were inferior adaptations for bourgeois or popular audiences.

Although Rychner called for a return to the text, he did not eliminate the appeal to audience. He agreed with Nykrog as to the courtly nature of some fabliaux and with Bedier as to the bourgeois appeal of others. Rychner failed to establish an objective basis for dating the texts. His choice of the earliest text of a fabliau was not based upon the manuscript date but upon his personal evaluation. The foundation of his study is suspect, based upon circular reasoning.

Rychner included the texts of the fabliaux he discussed.

He did not rely upon the Montaiglon and Raynaud texts, but used more reliable editions or checked their readings against microfilm copies of the manuscripts. His call for the study of entire collections of fabliaux rather than of individual pieces should clarify the medieval conceptions of the genre. The most important aspect of his study is that he turned critical attention away from externals and returned it to the texts.

In a colloquium, Rychner discussed "Les fabliaux: genre, style, publics," and objected to the corpus of texts established by Dedier and Nykrog. Rychner thought such constructs were based upon a unity of style and an audience that did not in actuality exist.39 In view of the absence of a medieval definition of the fabliau, he proposed that the stories be termed "...bonnes histoires a servir apres le repas."*0 He felt the definition was as close to reality as

Nykrog's description of the genre as a courtly burlesque. Ee that as it may, Rychner's definition creates more problems than it solves, for it provides no basis to distinguish fabliaux from other narrative poetry. without such a distinction, critical analysis becomes impossible.

Hermann Tiemann stressed the close relationship cf the fabliau to other literary genres in a review of Nykrog's booh, "Bemerkungen zur Entstehunysgeschichte der Fabliaux."41 He agreed with Nykrog's view of the fabliau as

a courtly burlesque, but warned against a one-sided interpretation. Like Zumthor, he pointed out the lack of fine distinctions between the short narrative genres;

however he felt that they were justifiable if one remembered

that the isolation of a medieval genre "...ein modernes philolcgisches Laboratoriumsprodukt ist."4? He emphasized

the role of the clerics in the development of the fabliau, especially in the related genres of the exemplum and the

• His view is an extension of the works cf Faral, Zumthor and Nykrog, and is valuable for its view of fabliaux not as islolated stories, but as linked with the other literature of the period.

Hans-Robert Jauss (I960) also placed the stories in their contemporary milieu. In "Litterature medievale et theorie des genres"43 he pointed out that most medieval genres were not related directly to previous ones. Genres were not the result of a cyclical evolution involving a birth, maturity and decline, but were a succession of historical groups or families in a literary continuum. The view reinforces Rychner’s hypothesis of a continued modification of the

stories. Jauss' theory is highly flexible; it accommodates medieval differentiations between various types of literature, yet accounts for the lack of clear distinctions between the genres. Regrettably he regards the fabliau as stereotyped literature with little artistic value.4"

Hans-Dieter Merl (1972) also stressed the diversity of medieval genres in Untersuchungen zur Struktur, Stilistik und Syntax in den Fabliaux Jean Bgdels.45 He opposed a strict classification for the tales. In response to Nykrog's view of the fabliau as a courtly burlesque, he pointed cut the variety of themes, and re-classified as fabliaux several stories that Nykrog eliminated from Bedier's corpus. Merl also disagreed with Nykrcg's view of the courtly audience and stated that its nature -- courtly

or bourgeois — could not be determined upon the basis of the tales. Neither could any single source be found for the genre because of the great variety in the works. Like

Tiemann, he saw the fabliau as part of the larger category of short narratives. 19

Kiesow (1976) critizea both Bedier and Nykrog for basing their studies upon audience. In his study. Die Fabliaux: 7ur Genese und Typglogie einer Gattung der altfranzgsischen HUEzerzahlungen, he follows Rychner's theory that the stories were originally composed for the court and then adapted for the bourgeoisie.46 Kiesow found that almost three-fourths of the stories were written for a middle-class audience; yet the number of obscene stories directed at each audience was the same; consequently, obscenity was not a product of any one class. He examined the use of the term

''fabliau'1 in the manuscripts and found that during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, of the eighty-one stories termed fabliaux in the body of the texts, only twenty-one were so classified incorrectly, according to a modern definition. Most of the fabliaux are concentrated in five manuscripts; often the rubrics were added after the texts were written. Kiesow postulated that many of the fabliaux received their titles by association with surrounding works. It must be remembered, however, that the term "fabliau" is hot used consistently in a fourth of the works Kiesow examined; the rubrics carry weight only if they are contemporary with the manuscripts. The bock is important for its modification of the views of previous critics and for its use of the manuscripts in reassessing the texts 20

Les Genres cu discours, written ty Todorov in 1S78, examines the legitimacy of the idea cf literature.47 From the classical period until the middle of the eighteenth century, literature was considered specifically a fiction, and generically an imitation of truth. Todorov questions the theory of imitation in literature: "Si tout ce qui est habituellement considere comme litteraire n'est pas forcement fictionelle, inversement, toute fiction n'est pas obligatoirement litterature."48 Towards the end of the eighteenth century, the previous definition of literature as simultaneously instructive and pleasing gave way to the theory of art for art's sake; this idea became the basis for later theories that viewed literature as a structural linguistic system. Todorov challenges this concept and asks how one can distinguish literature from non-literature. Although Tcdorov does not discuss the fabliaux, his analysis of the different forms of discourse is applicable to the distinctions among the closely-related medieval genres.

The major critical studies are these by Bedier, Nykrog and Rychner. Bedier's definition and corpus of the fabliau, modified by Nykrog, provide the basis for any study of the genre. It is to these critics' credit that they admitted evidence ccntradictory to their theories, as testimony tc the complexity of the problem. 21

The major obstacle in dealing with the fabliaux is the lack of adequate texts. Until a reliable edition of all of the fabliau manuscripts is published, the critic must either transcribe his own texts, like Rychner, or rely upon editions in which the readings are not always those of the mansucripts. Any definitive study should be based upon the accurate texts that Victor Le Clerc called for in 1856: ...il est permis de desirer encore une edition collective, rigoureusement revue sur les manuscrits, correcte, methodique, bornee au seul genre des contes, enrichie et non surchargee d'eclaircissements, de gloses,de paralleles avec les conteurs des divers ages, et qui apprenne a la France quel rang elle occupait dans la poesie narrative au XHIe siecle.49

The Anglo-Norman Fabliau

host fabliau studies have dealt with questions of definition, corpus and origin of the genre. Anglo-Norman fabliaux have not been studied apart from the continental

French tradition. Such an omission is not surprising. Anglo-Norman literature received little critical attention before the late nineteenth century. To date no corpus of insular fabliaux has been established.

Dedier indicated that six fabliaux in his corpus came from England; one of them is from Normandy, not England.50 In Anolo-Norman Language and Literature, John Vising classified eight stories as fabliaux.51 His dating of the tales is suspect for he places the stories in the twelfth ana thirteenth centuries, irrespective of the manuscript dates. M. Dominica Leyge failed to discuss the fabliau in

£LEi2l2~h'2£C2Q Literature and its Background.52 In a subsequent article, ’’The Rise and Fall of Anglo-Norman

Literature," she wrote, "both lyrics and fabliaux were written in England,"53 but she did not list the pieces. Failure by such an important scholar to discuss the fabliau reflects its lack of esteem among British scholars.

Nykrog included six independent insular fabliaux in his corpus54 and added five tales from Le chastgiement d'un gere

2. 22D Iii5 and six of the Fabl_es of Marie de France;55 both of these compilations circulated in insular as well as continental manuscripts. Nykrog held insular fabliaux in less esteem than those composed on the continent. Rychner shared this view. He compared three insular fabliaux with their continental analogues and found all the Anglo-Norman versions inferior, the result of "la transmission memorielle."56 He labeled rr.ost of the insular fabliau versions "cegradees"57 and cited them as bad examples rather than as works of inherent interest.

Critical lack of esteem for the Anglo-Norman fabliaux has ignored an important aspect of the corpus. Both Bedier and

Nykrog discussed the fabliau in terms of a bourgeois or a 23 courtly public, but they admitted that the audience was difficult to isolate. The insular audience can be established with greater precision. In thirteenth- and fourteeth-century England, Anglo-Norman was the literary language of the nobility, not the middle class.58 Several differences between related insular and continental fabliaux can be explained in terms of adaptations for an Anglo-Norman public. Although a study of the fabliaux should not be based upon audience, the influence of the public upon the text should be noted.

If critical opinion concerning the Anglo-Norman fabliaux has been negative, much blame must be placed on the absence of accurate editions. The earliest insular fabliau texts were published by Sir Francis Palgrave in 1818.59 Montaiglon and Raynaud reprinted earlier editions and "corrected" the Anglo-Norman verse tc standard Old French; their texts are not reliable. Several insular fabliaux have been re-edited in the twentieth century. Two texts have been published60 and four are in an unpublished dissertation.61 Accurate new editions of the other insular fabliaux are needed. h The corpus of the fabliaux in English^in a disordered state. Neither definition nor corpus has been established, and no comprehensive study has been made. For the most part, English criticism has centered upon Chaucer's 24 fabliaux, has concentrated upon their continental French background and has ignored earlier works written in England. There has been no recognition that fabliaux were corrpcsed in England in Anglo-Norrr.an, or that these stories were part of the literary tradition within which Chaucer worked.

A study of the Anglo-Norman and English fabliaux is desirable for the following reasons: 1 ) there is sufficient material; 2) the texts involved are representative of the genre; 3) French critics have evaluated the insular fabliaux in terms of a continental context; 4) critics of

English literature have written about the genre largely in terms of Chaucer; 5) no corpus of insular fabliaux has been established.

This study will establish a corpus of Anglo-Norman fabliaux, based upon the studies of Bedier and Nykrog. Transcriptions of inaccessible texts will be included in the

Appendix. A comparison of insular with continental fabliaux will be made. No extant continental fabliau can be established as the direct source for an insular one, or vice versa. Extant versions will be compared, for that is the best way to establish a differentiation, or lack cf one, between the stories. Fabliaux will be dated by the period of the manuscript in which they are found.62 This is not the composition date of the stories, but it is the best date available. 25

Fabliaux written in English will be examined to ascertain whether an insular tradition existed, and whether continental influence continued. For the sake of analysis, English verse fabliaux will be discussed in terms cf the

Anglo-Norman and continental fabliau traditions. The English fabliau discussion will not include fifteenth-century printed texts unless they have earlier analogues. As there are only nine Anglo-Norman and seven

English fabliaux, generalizations made upon such a small body of texts are admittedly tenuous. Although there are consistent similarities in insular fabliaux, individual continental stories also have these characteristics. The characteristics of the Anglo-Norman fabliaux established in this dissertation must be a critical construct, and will be suggestive rather than absolute. Nevertheless, the individual fabliaux as well as the audience for which they were compcsed, illuminate problems in the total fabliau corpus. Chapter II

THE: VERNACULAR BACKGROUND OF THE FABLIAUX IN ENGLAND

Fabliau-like tales were not a medieval literary innovation. Stories of scheming women and romantic intrigue are universal. In England they circulated in narrative compilations. During the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries Cdo of Cheriton incorporated three fabliau plots in his didactic Latin prose Sermones and Parabolae.1 Anglo-Norman translations also disseminated tales of intrigue. During the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries the vernacular verse translations of the Latin Disciplina QlSEiSSliS of Petrus Alphonsus as well as Marie de France's Aesopic Fables circulated widely in England and in France. Both Le chestoiement d'un pore a son fils, as Peter's work was titled in French, and Marie's Fabulae disseminated fabliau-like tales during the formative period of the genre; consequently, they form an important part of the literary background of the fabliaux.

26 27

Petrus Alfcnsus: "Le Christoierect d'un ]_££e h son fils"

The DisciElina Clericalis is a collection of stories.

Its framework is that of a father instructing his son in the ways of the world, using tales as illustrations. The narratives are taken from a variety of sources including not only Arabic tales, but also classical fables, maxims and proverbs. In this collection, the stories are told in the context of teaching a lesson. The narrative portions cf the stories are developed freely and are not subordinated tc the moral.

The Latin Disciplina clericalis ("Clerical Instruction") was written by a Spanish Jew, Hoses Sefardi.2 In June of

1106 he was baptized and took the name Pedro Alfonso, which appears in his writings as Petrus Alphonsus or Alphcnsi. King Alfonso of Aragon, after whom he was named anew, was his sponsor and his godfather. Petrus Alphonsus was famous for his learning, especially in the fields cf medicine, astronomy, literature and theology. He acted as personal physician to Alfonso I and then to Henry I of England. While in England, he taught the Arabic system of astronomical gradation to Walcher, Prior of Kalvern.3 Petrus Alphonsus' Dialog! contra Jucaeos,* a theological treatise, was read widely. Likewise, his compilation of narratives, the Disciglina clericalis, circulated throughout 28 the Middle Ages. In this worh, as well as in his teachings on astronomy, Petrus Alphonsus rraoe available Arabic writings to a European audience.

The combination of entertainment with edification in the Disciplina Clericalis appealed tc medieval readers.

Sixty-two extant manuscripts of the Latin text date from the twelfth through the sixteenth centuries.5 The Latin text was translated into various languages. The French octosyllabic texts date from the beginning of the thirteenth century. These translations are referred to by modern critics by the title, Le Chastoiement o_|_un pere a son fils

("The father's instruction to his son," hereafter Chastoiement ). The French versions have been divided into two groups, A and B; the former is priiriarily in Norman dialect and the latter Anglo-Norman.6

Six manuscripts of the A version exist. Of the four thirteenth and two fourteenth-century compilations, two of the earlier texts are insular. Six manuscripts of the B version exist. Four are of the thirteenth and two are of the fourteenth centuries; five are insular.7 In all, seven of the twelve French versions are in insular manuscripts.

Several of the manuscripts that contain the Chastoiement include other narrative literature. Four of the continental 29 and one of the insular manuscripts contain independent fabliaux.8 In most of the insular compilations, the

Chastoiement is found with texts that reflect an Anglo-Norman preference for didactic literature.

The preponderance of insular compilations would favor the use of an Anglo-Norman manuscript as the base text of a critical edition. The major editions of A and B texts by Hilka and Soderhjelm use only continental manuscripts as the base texts for both versions. They used the only continental manuscript of the B text as the base, despite their acknowledgement that the scribe often tried to ’'correct" the Anglo-Norman rhyme.* Such practice reflects a lack of esteem for Anglo-Norman, based upon a preference for continental French dialects.

There has been a critical division of opinion as tc whether or not to classify tales from the Chastgiement as fabliaux. In 1746 the Comte de Caylus discussed the collection in his critical article on the fabliaux.10 Bedier considered the stories as translations from an eastern collection that was of literary origin, therefore distinct from the fabliaux, which he regarded as non-literary in origin.11 He excluded them from his fabliau corpus. Vising classified the collection under the category of didactic literature of the twelfth century and did not list any of 30 the stories as fabliaux.12 Nykrou listed five of the tales as fabliaux because their intrigue was typical of the scheming woman in the genre, and because three of the stories were termed ufableauxu in the body of the text (A version manuscript only).13 Kychner agreed with the admission of the tales to the fabliau genre on the basis of theme, but felt that since their style was different, "...leur admission etait done contraire a la demonstration generale."1 * Tiemann agreed with Nykrog and suggested that two more stories from the Chastgiement be classified as fabliaux.15 Beyer also agreed with Nykrog and felt the collection reflected the absorption of cchwank (fabliau) material into didactic literature.16 Most critical opinion stresses the relationship between the fabliaux and Peter's compilation.

A comparison of the stories from the Chastgiement with analogous fabliaux may help to see whether there is a genre distinction in the two versions. The first fabliau-like tale in the collection is La femme gui charma son mari ("The lady who laid a charm on her husband").17 (The Latin title is De yindemiatgre, the grape harvester.) The plot concerns a woman who summons her lover while her husband is away. The husband injures his eye on a branch and returns home early. The quick-witted wife hides her lover and offers to lay a charm on her husband's good eye to protect it from damage. she places her rnouth over it ana thus obscures her husband's vision so that the lover can escape unseen.

The A version is sixty-two lines long; it has a standard fabliau opening, "Uns prodome" (line 1175).16 The lover is termed a "lecheor" (1182) rather than the "amicum" (15) in the Latin. In both versions the tale closes with the narrative and there is no moral.

In the B versions, the tale is thirty-nine lines long, two-thirds the length of A. The opening, "uns prudhum" (1075) is the same as in A. Here, as in the Latin, the husband leaves to tend his vineyard; that detail is absent in A. In B, the lover is first called an "ami" (1079) corresponding to the Latin "amicum" (15) but he is later termed "li lecheres" (1114). There is no closing proverb.

Both A and B refer to the lover negatively; this reaction is unusual in the fabliau genre.

Latin and French versions of the story combine narrative with dialogue. Both vernacular stories have fabliau openings. Neither tale is as long as the average- fabliau (300-400 lines); neither contains a fabliau summary of the action or final observation. The fabliau schema of the romantic triangle follows closely the original Latin and is not an addition to the text. There is no development of the 32 narrative teyond the necessary action of the story and there are no digressions or additional details. Neither A nor E version differs from the Latin fully enough to he classified as a fabliau.

The second fabliau-like tale in the manuscript is Le ("The covering"). (The Latin title is De lintheo,

"Concerning the linen sheet.")19 The plot concerns a man who went on a long journey and entrusted his wife tc her mother. The wife revealed tc her mother her love for another man, whom they invited to dinner. During the meal, the husband returned and wished to go to bed. The mother-in-law held a linen sheet before him and pretended to display the handiwork, while the lover escaped.

The A version is sixty-nine lines long. Its incipit, "Or oiez" (1257) is found in numerous other openings.20 As in the previous tale, the lover is referred to as a lecher

(1279, 1314) as opposed to the Latin "alium" (37) and "amicus" (10). The major difference between this and the Latin lies in the conclusion, where the vernacular text adds the couplet: Par lor sens et par lor veisdie Le degurent en tel baillie. (1325-26) (By means of their wit and their cunning They deceived him in such a plight.) [All translations in this dissertation are made by the writer.] 33

The conclusion is similar to that in the fabliau. Do vilain mire.2* it reflects the widespread use of formulas in narrative literature during the period, just as is the case with the opening lines. The conclusion also represents the absorption of material in the various literary genres.

The D version of Le yelous begins v/ith "Uns hum" (1123), another standard opening. The wife's lover is called "sun ami" (1129) and "li lecheres" (1169) as opposed to the latin "alium" and "amicus." As in the A version, the use cf the derogatory term, lecher, reflects a moral judgment rather than a direct translation. Unlike A, the B version contains no concluding couplet; like the Latin text, it ends with the narrative: Tant I'unt de devant lui tendu Ke li lecheres est issu. (1161-62) (So they held [the sheet] in front of him While the lecher left.) Although the B version follows the Latin closely, in the link between this and the next tale it introduces new material. The son swears "par seint Denis" (1163).

Frequently fabliau characters swear by saints, some real (as is the case here) and some mythical. The comment reflects the addition of contemporary material to the translation.

B is shorter than A. Both indicate disapproval of the lover, a reaction atypical of the fabliau genre. Both 34 versions orr.it a line from the Latin, Cui maritus: "Et tu, dcmina, scis tale lintheum parare?" Et ilia: ”0 fili, irulta huius irodi paraui. ••( 112-13)

(And he said to his mother-in-law, "And you, madam, know how to Tiuhe such linen? She answered, "My sen, I have made many like this.") The comment is in the spirit of the fabliau. its absence in the vernacular versions is attributable to one of two reasons. Either it was absent in the Latin manuscripts upon which the Old French texts were based, or it was eliminated as being too licentious. In view of the generally close relationship between the French and the Latin versions, the latter reason is more probable. In the fourteenth century the jongleur, Jean de conde, wrote a 122-line fabliau, Le

Dli£2Q ("The petticoat")22 based upon a motif similar to Le yelous. The differences between the fabliau ana the Qdastoiement versions are such that no direct influence of the compilation can be posited.

The third fabliau-like tale in the Chastgiement is

L'esgee ("The sword"). (The Latin, De gladio, is the same.)

The plot concerns a man who went on a journey and left his wife in her mother's care. The wife revealed to her mother her love for another man, whom they invited to dinner.

During the meal the husband returned. As there was no place to hide the suitor, the mother-in-law gave him a sword and told the husband that they were providing refuge for the 35 man, who haa been pursued. Ihe husband approved of her actions and invited the man to remain and sit with him.

The A version is ninety-five lines long and has a standard fabliau opening, "Du predome ol* parler" ( 1335).23 In this case the opening is especially interesting as it indicates that the story is based upon an oral rather than a written source, which is not the case. Apparently "ox parler" is used loosely, as it is in the previous story, be yelous, which begins, "Or Oiez." In both stories, the lover is termied a lecher ( 1349 ) instead of the Latin "iuuenem" ("youth," 24). in the French version the husband and the youth dined together (1435). As in the Latin, there is no concluding summary.

The B version contains fifty-five lines and is consequently shorter than A. It begins in a similar manner, "D'un autre oi* cunter" ("I heard tell of another"). The opening is usual in fabliaux as well as of other genres. In this version the youth is not called a lecher as in A, but "un juvencel" (1173) as in the Latin. There is no summary or proverb; the narrative ends with the youth's departure. in the tail link, the father swears by "seint Omer" (1223), as in the previous link the son swore by "seint Denis." The oath is absent in the Latin text. 36

Although A and b follow the Latin text closely, there are slight divergences in details but no ir.ajor differences. The vernacular texts do not expand the dialogue or the narrative. The presence of fabliau elements in the tales, then, is the result of the Latin source. There is not enough additional development of the motifs to warrant the classification of the stories as fabliaux.

The fourth fabliau-like tale in the chastoiement is La vieille et la 1isette ("The old woman and the bitch"). (The

Latin is Ce canicula lacrimante, "Concerning the weeping dog.")24 The tale follows the previous two in the manuscript to form, a group of stories about deceitful women. The plot concerns a man who went to Rome and left behind his chaste, beautiful wife. A young man woced her unsuccessfully, and appealed to an old woman who agreed to help him. She fed her dog mustard so that its eyes would water, and took it with her to visit the wife. The old weman claimed that the weeping dog was her daughter, so transformed because she rejected the youth’s advances. Afraid of a similar fate, the wife agreed to receive him.

The A version is 369 lines long, the length of the average fabliau (300-400 lines). Its opening, "Un prodom"

(1581) is usual in fabliaux. In the A version there are several additions to the text, which is considerably longer 37 than the Latin. Half of the auditions take the form of a lover's monologue; the other half expand the dialogue between the characters.25 Although dialogue is characteristic of the fabliau, the lover's monologue is more frquently found in the roman. The additions do not alter the plot, which follows the Latin.

The conclusion of A adds to the Latin :

De celi li bailla saisine Qui de son mal ert medicine. (1949-50). (She, who was the doctor for his illness. Gave him possession of that.) The conclusion is reminiscent of the A version of Le yelous. Such comments are standard in the genre.

The 143-line B version of the tale is again shorter than A. The opening, "Un prudhum" (1327) is the same as A. In the B text there is no lover's monologue or expanded dialogue. B adds a conclusion absent in A and in the Latin: Tant fist la vielle mal artuse Ke putein fist de bone espuse: Ne se travailla pas en vein: De prude femme fist putein. (1067-70) (So the old woman was dishonest who made a whore of a good wife; She did not work in vain; She made a whore of a good woman.) Only B disapproves of the old woman. in the tail link the son swears "par seint Yleire" (1471), a parallel to that in the previous two narratives and found only in B. 38

A and B versions of this tale aiffer considerably. A is longer, but is not developed in terms of the fnblieu genre.

The conclusion of B is fabliau-like, but the rest cf the narrative is not so developed. Neither version would be appropriately classified as a fabliau. The weeping puppy motif was developed in an English verse fabliau. Dame Sirith. The work is found in England in Digby 86, a manuscript written between 1272-82, which also contains an Anglo-Norman verse text of the chastoiement.

Another story from the collection, that of a man who had half a friend, was incorporated into an English verse fabliau, A Penniworth of Witte. The earliest version of this English story is found in the Auchinleck manuscript, written between 1330-40. One thirteenth-century insular manuscript of the B text of the Chastoiement contains a condensed version of a story that also appears as a continental French fabliau, Le cuyier ("The tub"). The same motif is found in classical Latin literature in Apuleius*

Th£ Golden Ass.26 The different analogues reflect the widespread circulation of fabliau motifs before and during the Middle Ages.

The fifth story in the chastoiement that Nykrog considered a fabliau is La piere au puis ("The stone in the well"). (The Latin is De puteo, "Concerning a well.")27 It 39 follows the preceding nieces in the manuscript and completes the group of stories about the wiles of women. The plot concerns a young man who studied women's tricks. When he married he kept his wife locked in a tower. she fell in love with another man. In order to meet with him she made her husband drunk at night, then left the tower. Cne night the husband pretended to be asleep, then locked her out. She threw a stone into the well, whereupon he ran outside tc see if she had jumped in. She entered the tower, locked him out, and publicly accused him of meeting another woman.

The A version is 253 lines. Its opening, ''D'un dam^eisel oi’ parler" ("I heard tell of a youth," 1965 ) is common in the literature of the period. Plot follows the Latin. The only addition to the A version is the line "Que vos fereie longue fable?" ("Why should I tell you a long tale?" 2175).

The comment is conventional in French literature of the period.

The D version is 179 lines. Its opening, "D'un bacheler oi* center," is similar to A. B omits the youth's initial study of women's wiles and thereby eliminates the irony of the deception despite his education. The detail is not necessary to the action, and the B version is consequently more unified than the Latin or than A. Again B is shorter than A; both versions follow closely the Latin text.

Neither A nor B is developed in terms of the fabliau genre. 40

An overall coriiparison of A ana B indicates that the A texts are longer than B. Doth make minor changes in details but essentially follow the Latin plot. Alterations are not designed to develop the stories as fabliaux. They are changes made by individuals in the course of a free translation.

Nykrog based his inclusion of Chastoiement tales in the fabliau corpus in large part upon the use of the word fabliau; "...la version A se sert du mot fabliau pour designer trois de ces themes, exclusivement, parmi la trentaine de contes que le recueil contient au total.',28 In the A version links between the stories, three tales. La femme gui charma son mari, Le yelous and L'espee are called

"fableaus" (1147, 1333, 1449). There is no corresponding term in the Latin text. Nykrog fails to point out that in the translator's introduction to the A text he described the book of "Pierres Aufors:" Porce que plus s'i delitast I mist deduiz et beaus fableaus De genz, de bestes et d'oiseaus. (72-74) (Because it was delightful He placed therein amusements and good stories Of people, of animals and of birds.) "Fableaus" is used in the sense of a story, as it includes tales of people and animals. Application of the same term to three stories of feminine intrigue is an extension of the general sense of a story rather than a genre specification. 41

The other two tales Nykroy considered fabliaux were not so designated by the translation. The D version does not use the term fabliau, but "cunte" or story.29 Usage of "fableaus" in the manuscripts is not consistent or specific enough to support the medieval classification of the stories as fabliaux.

Nykrog's classification of stories from the chastoiement as fabliaux is open to question. Undoubtedly the collection contains fabliau-like tales; but if certain tales are fabliaux, why not include others that also deal with intrigue and with people? In all, Nykrog's classification here creates more problems than it solves. The narrative in the vernacular versions was not consistently expanded or developed in terms of the fabliau genre, but remained close to the original Latin text. Essentially the ft and B versions remain translations. It is more appropriate to see in the collection the dissemination of fabliau-like tales during the formative period of the genre. Although only two of the stories from the chastoiement are related directly to independent fabliaux, the collection influenced fabliaux as well as other narrative literature during the life-span of the genre. Marie de France: "Fatles"

Tales like fabliaux were not limited to the didactic • They also entered the Latin and vernacular Aesopic fable compilations. Like the Chastoiement, the fable collections form an important part of the literary background of the fabliaux. In England the most important vernacular collection was made by Marie de France.

Little is known about her life. Her words, "Marie ai nun, si sui de France" ("My name is Marie, and I am from France"),30 are the only definite biographical facts about her. Several tentative identifications have been proposed, the most widely accepted being that by John Fox, who claimed that she was the natural daughter of Geoffroi d'Anjou, father of Henry II, and therefore the half sister of Henry

II. Further, Fox thought that she was the Abbess of Shaftsbury between 1181 and 1215.31

Marie de France is considered the author of three works: the Lais, the Fables and L'Espurgatoire saint Patrice.32 The latter two works have a didactic emphasis. The order and dating of her writings have been a matter of controversy, usually the Fables are dated at 1180-90, the Lais earlier, and L'Fspurgatgire saint Patrice later.33 43

No twelfth-century manuscripts conteininq Marie's works have survived. Twenty insular and continental manuscripts of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries contain Marie's Fables.3* Seven of the continental compilations also contain fabliaux;35 none of the insular manuscripts does. Like the Chastoiement, the Fables circulated in England and in France during the period in which the fabliaux flourished.

Warnke edited the Fables in 1898.36 He chose an insular manuscript as his base text, but incorporated variants from continental manuscripts. Ewert and Johnston edited forty-six stories in 1942.37 Jambeck edited an additional twenty in an unpublished doctoral dissertation in i960.36 No complete twentieth-century edition is available.

The major question concerning the relationship between

Marie's Fables and the fabliaux is whether individual tales should be classified as fabliaux. In 1869 Oskar Pilz listed four of her fables as fabliaux.39 Dedier excluded fable collections because he regarded their origin as literary and distinct from the popular origin he posited for the fabliaux.*0 Nykrog stressed the influence of the fable both in the origin of the word fabliau, and in the presence of the moral lessons ostensibly taught by the fabliaux.*1 He considered the Aesopic fable, particularly in the collection 44 by Marie de France, as influential in the development of the fabliau, and classified six of her tales as fabliaux. He saw the difference between the two genres primarily in terms of plot development; the shorter fable lacked the detail of the fabliau.42 Marie used such fabliau phrases as ’’par essample’1 in her moral conclusions.43 Nykrog included in his fabliau corpus six of her rabies because three had the same themes as independent fabliaux and three had typical fabliau intrigue.44 He regarded these tales as "...des fabliaux avant la lettre."45 Tiemann agreed with the classification because the Fables were part of the short narratives to which the fabliaux were related.46 Beyer accepted Nykrog's classification of the six fabliaux and suggested that three other Fables contained schwank or fabliau themes.47

Several critics have disagreed. Togeby pointed out that these fables were considerably shorter than the fabliaux and that the moral was more closely allied to the fable than to the fabliau. If the fable is the most important model for the fabliau, it is not logical to mix them. The genres belonged to the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, respectively. If Nykrog admitted to the corpus some fables that had fabliau-related themes, then why not admit others that dealt with humans and that were humorous?48 Rychner objected to the inclusion of the Fables on the basis of theme; "...leur admission etait done contraire a la demonstration generale.,r49 Kerl agreed with Nyhroy and refuted Togeby’s objections.50 Since seven fabliaux in the corpus are as short as the fables in Marie, length is not an adequate criterion.51 The moral in the fabliau could be similar to that in the Fables, and there is little difference in wording. The major difference lay in the author's intentions. As for the inadvisability of mixing genres, there was no strict medieval differentiation of short narratives. Finally, Merl argued, the fabliau genre could be placed in the middle of the twelfth century, before Marie's Fables.

Nykrog's classification produced valuable critical debate. Evidently Marie's fable collection contains tales that, independent of the compilation, could be considered fabliaux. Fable and fabliau genres share similarities in length, motif and moral. Both genres circulated in manuscripts of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries; although fables and fabliaux were probably written earlier, no twelfth-century manuscripts are extant. The relationship between the fabliaux and Marie's Fables deserves close examination.

Nykrog includes La femme yui fist pendre sun mari in the genre because it has the theme of a fabliau, Celle oui se fist foutre sur la fosse de son mari ("Concerning the lady 46 who fornicated atop her husband's torrb,'' hereafter Celle). The story is found in Latin literature in the E«hulae of Phaedrus and the Satyricon of Petronius. It entered the classical fable collections before the Middle Ages and circulated widely in medieval fable collections.52 All versions of the plot concern a grief-stricken widow who is soon willing to disinter her husband's corpse to save the life of her new lover. In the classical fables the lover is a soldier who is guarding a crucified thief in the cerr.etery; in Marie he is a "chevaler" (7 ) who has buried a hanged relative. in all the versions the widow offers to replace the missing body with that of her husband. The Latin conclusion is anti-feminine: Tunc impudicum scelus Femina patrauit, et, quarruis ante casta esset, nefandi sceleris exerr.pluin se dereliquit.53 (Then a woman perpetrated a lewd deed, and although previously she was chaste, she abandoned herself, a model of unspeakable crime.) In Marie, the moral applies to both sexes: Par iceste signefiance Peot hum entendre queil creance Deivent aveir li morz es vifs; Tant est li mund faus e jolifs. (37-40) (Through this lesson One can learn what faith The dead may place in the living. The world is so false and frivolous.)

Marie's version shifts the blame from women to the living in general. Her didactic conclusion is characteristic of the fable genre. The motif of the casily-corisoled widow is adopted in the fabliau, belle cjui se fist foutre sur la fosse de sen irari (uThe lady who fornicated atop her husband's tomb.")54 Apparently it was one of the more popular fabliaux, as it survives in six different manuscripts.55 Only four other fabliaux are found in a larger number of manuscripts.56 The plot concerns a pregnant widow who mourns volubly and excessively at her husband's tomb, and refuses to leave it.

A knight and his squire pass by and wager that the squire can seduce the widow there. The knight watches while the squire approaches her. ostensibly sympathizing with her, he claims to mourn for a wife whom he killed through excessive lovemaking. The widow requests that he kill her in a like manner, and forces herself upon him.

Character and plot differ in fable and fabliau. In the latter the widow is an immoderate, almost comic figure. She is pregnant, and therefore should behave more decorously than she does. The serious relationship with the soldier in the fable is replaced by the casual one with the squire.

Her love in the fable becomes lust in the fabliau. The fabliau widow does not disinter her husband's corpse; this repugnant aspect of her character is eliminated. In Marie, she is neither an object of sympathy nor of ridicule. The moral of Celle, unlike that in Marie, is markedly anti-feminine:

Per ce tieng je celui a fol Qui trop met en fame sa cure. Fame est de trop foible nature: De noient rit, de noient pleure: Fame aime et hot en trop poi d'eure; Tost est ses deseres remuez. Qui fame croit, si est dervez. (115-20)

(For this reason I consider him a fool Who places too much trust in woman. Woman is too weak by nature: She laughs and weeps at nothing. Woman loves and hates within a few moments; Her desires are changed quickly. Whoever believes a woman is deranged. ) The intensity of the moral contrasts sharply to the flippant tone of the narrative. In the fabliau the widow's lust is far less offensive than in the fable, where she called for her husband's body to be disinterred and transferred to a place of public disgrace. The serious fabliau conclusion is a vestige of the fable tradition that was retained after the plot was altered.

In view of the differences in plot and moral, there is little basis for Nykrog's statement that Marie is the "modele directe" for the fabliau.57 Apparently she made deliberate changes in her tale, but she did not develop the narrative independently of the moral. The fabliau expanded the plot to 144 lines, in contrast to the thirty-six of the fable. Marie's version is no closer to the fabliau than is the corresponding Latin fable. Indeed, a Greek version in 49 the Vita Aeso^i is closer in tone to the fabliau.56 Celle typifies the development of the fabliau genre, where the narrative is expanded for its own interest. Although it retains a serious moral, its focus shifts from edification to entertainment.

Also from Marie de France's Fables, Nyhrog includes in his corpus Les trois orements59 because it is related to the theme of misapplied wishes that underlies four fabliaux.60 The foolish wish motif is not found in the classical fable tradition. Warnke attributed it to a folkloric rather than a literary source,61 but there is no evidence to support his view, in Marie's tale, an elf granted three wishes to a peasant, who returned home and gave two of them to his wife. She reserved them for an opportune occasion. When she wanted to obtain the marrow of a bone, unthinkingly she wished that her husband had a beak in order to get at it.

He used their second wish to remove the beak and to restore his nose. The third wish is not used; consequently Marie's version appears faulty.

Although the wife is responsible for the initial misuse 50 of the wishes, Marie does not condemn her in the conclusion:

A plusurs est si avenu(z): suventefez [i] unt perdu(z ) Ki trop crei[en]t autri parole, Que tut les deceit e afole. Li fous quide del veizie Quel voille aver conseille Si cume sei, mes il i faut, Kar tant ne seit ne tant ne vaut. (27-34) (It thus happens to the majority: Often they who believe the words of others too fully Are led astray. The fool thinks, in the case of a shrewd person. That he wants to have advice According to his wit, but he fails him in this. Since whatever a fool knows is worth nothing.) The moral occupies nearly a fourth of the fable. It reflects the didactic treatment of a non-classical story that was added to the fable corpus. Similarly fabliau-types incorporated into the corpus were developed in terms of the fable genre.

The motif of the wasted wishes is widespread in literature.62 Four fabliaux revolve about the theme: Le

£2Q¥oiteus St 1'envieus, Le schait desyez, Les sohais, and Les .1111. sohais saint Martin. Three of the four fabliaux develop the theme in terms of a husband-wife relationship. Of these three, Le sohait desyez and Les sohais do not have anti-feminine conclusions.63 The two continental versions of Les .1111. sohais saint Martin blame the husband for trusting his wife;64 the Anglo-Norman version has appended to the narrative a diatribe against women.65 Only the 51 insular version is Distinctly anti-feninine; the other fabliaux and the fable analoques are not. Fable and fabliau analogues of the motif differ prirrarily in narrative expansion and in the proportion of the moral to the plot.

In the Fables, the interest is primarily didactic.

A third fabliau-like fable in Marie's collection. La contrarieuse,66 is similar to Le pr£ tondu, "The cut meadow," hereafter £re). (Nykrog confused this fable with one that contains a related theme, but that is not found in a fabliau version.)67 The plot of Marie's fable concerns a husband and a wife who argued whether a meadow was cut with a knife or with a shears. At last the exasperated husband cut out his contentious wife's tongue and then asked her how the meadow was cut. Unable to speak, she maintained her opinion by indicating with her fingers that it was cut with a shears.

The same theme occurs in Pre found in one fourteenth-century manuscrip>t.6 8 Bedier and Nykrog classify the story as a fabliau.69 The work consists of 131 lines that contain not one, but three distinct narratives: a man who wished to set fire to the sea, a man with an argumentative wife, and the shorn meadow story. The narratives share the common theme of foolish people, tut are not linked in the text. Since Bedier and Nykrog considered 52 a fabliau to be a single narrative, the classification here is puzzling.

The cut meadow motif is shorter in Pre (75-101) than in Marie's fable. Both versions present the same motif. The wife in Marie is "cuntreriuse" (2); in the fabliau she is lovely, wealthy and of a good family, although she is "felonesse" (73-76). In the fable the husband cuts out the wife's tongue; in the other version he beats her, she faints and cannot speak upon her recovery (90-94). In both works, the wife continues to contradict her husband silently. Pre softens the husband's cruelty and gives the wife a higher social status. Here emphasis is upon entertainment. No moral is drawn frcm the narrative, which ends with the husband's exasperation: Bien voit qe ja ne la vaintra: A deiables la commanda. (100-01).

(When he saw that he would never convince her. He told her to go to the devil. )

The conclusion fails to link the separate narratives in the text, and is highly unusual in the fabliau. Marie's fable 53 has a didactic conclusion: Par ceste essarnple veut rr.ustrer, Eien le peot hum suvent prover. Si fols parole une folie £ autre vient que sens li die, Ne l'[en] creit pas, einz s*en aTre La u il set que I'en est pire, Veut sa men^unge mettre avant; Nul nel fereit de ceo taisant. (29-36) (This example shows, one can often prove it well. If a fool speaks foolishness And another speaks sense to him. He will not believe it, but grows angry; Although he knows that is worse for him. He wishes to make his lie prevail; Mo one can do this by remaining silent.)

The fable stresses the moral lesson to be learned. No such conclusion unifies Pre, which is not a cohesive narrative unit. The works appear unrelated.

The contentious wife motif also appears in prose versions70 as well as in a fourteenth-century octosyllabic poem, DS!I!£ d2£DD£# that Nykrog classifies as a fabliau.71 Here, as in Pre, the cut meadow theme is not the primary motif of the narrative, but is incorporated into the presentation of a strife-ridden marriage. Another similarity is that the husband in Dame Joenne commends his wife to the devil ("Et au deable la commanda," 292 ) at the conclusion of the tale. Again there is no moral observation to unify the work. It does not seem appropriate to regard Marie's fable, Le pre tondu or Dame Jcenne as fabliaux. 54

Nykrog classified Marie’s three fables as fabliaux because they were based upon the same theme as independent fabliaux. He classified an additional three of Marie's stories as fabliaux. In Vilain gui yit un autre heme cd sa fame and vilain gui g3 sa feme yit aler son dru,72 the schema in which an unfaithful woman caught by her husband extracted herself from the situation through her wits, is common in the fabliau genre.73 Nykrog also included L^homme gui aygit femme tencheresse because its theme of a contentious wife is close to a fabliau theme.74 There is little question that these themes are found in the fabliau genre; nevertheless they are developed differently. Marie's fables, unlike the analogous fabliaux, are didactic.

It is difficult to draw clear-cut distinctions in the amorphous category of the medieval short narrative. Distinctions between genres are often minimal. Fabliau-like tales, found in classical and in oriental literature, entered Latin and vernacular collections of stories in the Middle Ages. Two of the vernacular collections, Peter's Qdastqiernent and Marie de France's Fables, circulated in insular manuscripts during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Here the individual stories from the collections will not be treated as fabliaux. The stories in the Sbasigiement are essentially translations. Some do contain fabliau motifs, but are not developed as fully as fabliaux. 55

Marie's Fables are related more closely to the fable than to the fabliau genre. Her treatment of fabliau motifs is didactic, and lacks the irreverence of the later genre. Both of these narrative compilations are best seen in the context of the literary background of the fabliaux. They indicate that the potential for the fabliau was present in England. Chapter III

ANGLO-NORMAN FABLIAUX: THIRTEENTH-CENTURY MSS

Three thirteenth-century iranuscripts contain four Anglo-Norman fabliaux. Corpus Christi Collecje 50 and Puy-de-Dome have one fabliau each, and Digby 86 has two. All three manuscripts are insular. They were copied during the period that fabliaux circulated on the continent.

Cambridae, corpus Christi College, MS 50

Rgmaunz de un chiya1er e de sa dame e de un clerk

(hereafter RomaUDS)# the earliest extant Anglo-Norman fabliau, is found in Cambridge, Corpus christi College, MS 50. The manuscript, written in the second half of the thirteenth century, contains primarily Anglo-Ncrman vernacular literature, including the Brut of wace and the romance, Gui de Warwyck.1 in the compilation, the fabliau is preceded by an account of the kings of England from Egbert to Henry III, and is followed by the chanson de 57

Two editions of the fabliau have been published. Paul

Meyer first printed the text in 1872; his text was reprinted by Montaiylon and Raynaud, who "correctedM the Anglo-Norman dialect in the text and indicated the original readings in the Appendix.2 Since the Anglo-Norman readings cannot be reconstructed in the Montaiglon and Raynaud edition without reference to the notes, the Meyer text is preferable.

Rgmaunz is classified as a fabliau✓by Bedier, Vising and Nykrog.3 No genre is mentioned in the text itself. in the rubrics, the poem is entitled, Rgmaunz de un chivaler e de sa dame e de un clerk* The romance designation reflects a broad medieval conception of genre as contrasted with the more stringent modern categorizations. Although the poem has many romance elements, the intrigue is developed in accordance with the fabliau genre. No genre is designated in the body of the text; possibly the rubrics are scribal rather than authorial.

No direct source for EQEsiynz has teen established. The motif of the cuckold who is beaten, deceived, but happy, is found in European literature as early as the late eleventh century in Bruno's De Bello Saxonico.4 The Tristan romances also contain an episode wherein the husband, Mark, discovers the lovers' assignation, but becomes convinced of his wife's 58 fidelity.5 Several continental fabliaux revolve about the motif; two are close analogues to the insular fabliau. La tSULaeoise cPQjrleans (hereafter Rourgeoise ) is found in one thirteenth and one fourteenth-century manuscript, and La dame gui fist battre son mari (hereafter Dame ) is found in one fourteenth-century manuscript.6 Although the insular and continental analogues have several parallels, they do not appear to derive from each other, vising classified a prose analogue from the compilation, de langage as a fabliau.7 As the story is in prose, not verse, it will not be considered a fabliau in this dissertation. As was the case in the Chastoiement and the Fables, tales of deception were absorbed into collections of narratives.

Romaunz concerns a virtuous wife married happily to a knight. with them lives his sister. One of the parish clerks admires the wife and falls ill with love sickness, when the clerk confides his feelings to the sister, her love for him motivates her to bring her sister-in-law to see him.

The wife refuses to sleep with him; he claims he will die, and so she will be a murderer. Reluctantly she agrees to meet him, provided that he leave the country at once. The sister discloses to her brother the assignation plans; so the knight disguises himself as the clerk to meet his wife in their garden. She recognizes him, leads him to a rocii! to wait, then sleeps with the clerk. Later, accompanied by 59 members of the household, she returns to her husband, denounces him as a lecher, and has hirn beaten. He reveals his identity, confesses his error in judgment, and apologizes. Subsequently they live in harmony.

In most fabliaux that deal with the marital relationship, the wife contrives to outwit her husband. Often she makes him a cuckold as well. Both merchants' wives in Bcurqeoise and Dame typify scheming women. In Romaunz the lady is the wife of a knight; this elevated rank is reflected by her actions. She is established as a woman of impeccable behavior: De vilainie n'out unkes blame; Seint' eglise mult amoit, A mushter chascun jor aloit: Par matin i voleit estre Bien sovent ainz ke li prestre. Mult fu de grand religion; A nul[ui] ne vout si bien noun. La dame fu corteise e bele. (6-13)

(She never behaved dishonorably; She loved the Holy Church, Each day she went to the Church; In the morning she wished to be there Often before the priest. She was very religious; No one had such a good name. The lady was courteous and beautiful.) In the continental fabliau analogues there is no such description; the wife is simply a bgurgeoise. The wife in the insular poem is not aware of her admirer's feelings; her sister-in-law persuades her to visit the clerk twice (156-63, 244-46). Unlike the wives in the analogues who are 60 motivated to meet with the clerk out of lust, the lady here

agrees to sleep with him out of fear of causing his death and becoming a murderess (339-40). Wailes has pointed out that this argument is specious theologically.0 It is, however, a standard argument in courtly love literature, and is found in Andre le Chapelain's Li 1lyres d^amours.9 within

the framework of the fabliau, the threat appears real to the lady. She believes the clerk, therefore her actions are justifiable. She is not motivated by lust. when she visits the clerk she takes her sister-in-law and informs her of the assignation (351-56, 369-83); the usual secrecy is absent.

The wife denies anticipating any pleasure from the meeting, which is to take place within fifteen days (392). Wailes questions the sincerity of her denial and her motivation; "when [the clerk] says that he will be ‘Fort e vigorus* (v.390) within three days, she tells him to wait

for fifteen days — her concern must be to raise his desire and potency to the highest level."10 This interpretation is

contrary to both her concern for his welfare and her previously established character as a virtuous woman.

The assignation is not presented in detail. but is 61 described with a touch of humor:

Kant le clerk aveit tant fet, Servi la darne sis fez ou seet, Tant fu las ne pout avant. La dame li dist en riant: •'Ore en pernez tant com voudret, Kar james plus n'i avendret.*' Oue volez vus? il ne pout plus. Ele li dist: "Ore levez sus, Alez tost hors de cest pais, Kar si le sussent mes amis Tost serriez afole, De male gleive tut detrenche.” (505-16) (When the clerk had served the lady Six or seven times Until he could do no more, alas. The lady told him, laughing, "Now take as much as you wish. Because you'll never come here again" what can you expect? He could do no more. She told him, "Now get up. Get out of this country quickly. Because if my friends find you You will be killed. Cut to pieces with a dull sword.")

Wailes contends that she urges him on to more Icvemaking (505-11),11 but her laughter suggests that she does not take the clerk seriously. Her threat indicates that she wishes to see him no more, and is not consistent with a lustful nature. No such threat is present in the analogues, where the wife continues to meet the clerk until he leaves the country.12 In the insular version, the affair is clearly a one-time occasion.

The second element of the plot is parallel in all of the fabliaux. Once the husband is released from the room where he waits, he is beaten by members of his household for 62 supposedly suggesting the sin that the clech actually committed. In all of the versions, the wife has established a false innocence at her husband's expense, for he has been injured and cuckolded. Only in the insular fabliau is the wife exonerated by the narrator: Du su peche penaunce prist, Ama Deu sor tote rien. Unc puis ne mespriht de rien. Lung tens vesqui en vie bone Del pais dame e matrone, E Rant moruth la bone dame A Deu rendi sus sa alme. (580-86) (She did penance for her sin. She loved God above everything. And she never acted wrongly again. For a long time she lived a good life. Lady and matron of the land. And when the good woman died Her soul went to God.)

Here the adultery upon which the plot hinges is mitigated.

The conclusion is in keeping with her character as established in the opening of the poem. Wailes alleges that

"...the portrait of the heroine, a clever woman who knov/s how to preserve her repute while satisfying her desires, emerges gradually and consistently from the earliest moments of the story to the end."13 Neither the tone nor the conclusion describes a selfish, cunning woman. Bedier considered her the most sympathetic figure in the fabliau genre,14 and felt that her capitulation was "...non sans des hesitations et des combats intimes, dignes d'une heroine de la Table Ronde."15 such divergence of opinion reflects the 63

complexity of a character who is far removed frcm the one-dimensional woman of the continental analogues.

While such a characterization is unusual in the genre, it is not unique. The wife in Guillaume au faucon grants her favors for a similarly charitable reason, also in a courtly context. Sympathetic treatment of the wife in Romaunz reflects the influence of courtly literature.

The girl who informs the husband of the deception is not developed fully as a character. In Romaunz she is the husband's sister, where in the analogues she is his niece.

In the insular version, she loves the clerk (125, 195-96) and is her sister-in-law's rival. The irony of the situation is pointed out by the narrator: lei avoit estrange amur: Nul ne savoit de autri dolur; La dame del clerk ne sout novele, Ne li clerk de la dammoisele. (113-16) (Here is a strange love: No one knows the sorrow of the other; The lady does not know the clerk's feelings Nor the clerk those of the girl. )

The situation, unusual in the fabliau, is more common in the roman. It is not developed beyond this narrative comment. Because of her love, the sister persuades the lady to visit

the clerk twice; but she becomes envieus (359) and informs the knight of the assignation (419-21). He does not believe her and accuses her of lying (424-31). After the 64 assignation, believing in his wife's fidelity, he banishes his sister (572-74). within the framework of the courtly love situation, she is punished for informing the husband of the lovers' meeting. In the analogues no such punishment is given to the girl, who is bribed to act as a spy for the husband.16 Once she informs him of the meeting, she disappears from the tale. There is no interest in her as a character; she is a foil to the other figures.

The husband in Romaunz is treated more kindly than in the analogues. He is established as a knight who hunts and attends tournaments (20-25), and who lives harmoniously with his wife (28-30). In the analogues, he is a merchant who, suspicious of his wife's regard for the clerk, incites his niece to spy upon them.17 The knight does not so demean himself, where the merchant is not surprised at the news of the assignation, the knight is amazed, and argues with his sister when she tells him the news: "Foie garce," dist-il, "tu menz; Unc ma femme nel pensa. Pur nient le dites, nel creirai ja. Mau gre vus sai de la novele. La dame est tant [e] bone e bele Ke ele ne freit ceo pur nule rien. Vous estes foie, jeo le vei bien; Il semble que vus eiez la rage." (424-31) ("Foolish brat," he said, "you lie; My wife never thought that; You say that for no reason; I will never believe it. In spite of you I know the truth; The lady is both good and beautiful. She would not do that for anything. You are crazy, I see it truly. It seems that you are mad.") 65

Disbelief and anger give a dimension to his character absent in the analogues, where the husband is rrierely "anuitie" ("vexed, angered").18 In all four continental fabliaux, the husband tests his wife by telling her that he is going on a trip, and then disguises himself as the clerk. Each wife leads her husband to a room where he waits while she is unfaithful, and he is later beaten by members of his household. In the continental versions he is beaten severely and thrown on a dungheap.19 In the insular version, he reveals his identity and is not punished as severely;20 but he loses dignity by having to apologize publicly to his wife.21 The continental husbands endure severe punishment rather than reveal their identity. Although all of the husbands are deceived by their wives, the situation is not repeated in the case of the knight.

The clerk in Romaunz is also atypical of the conventional fabliau figure motivated solely by lust. He is the noble son of a knight, a handsome, pious youth, loved by the residents of the town (43-78); the description is that of a courtly suitor. His admiration for the lady is not the result of instant desire, but is of long standing (79-100). Like his courtly prototypes he does not disclose his feelings at once, but pines away (122). He reveals his love inadvertently when, weakened by a fever, he mistakes the knight's sister for the lady (176-94), and his feelings 66 become obvious. Not until the girl's second visit to his sickbed does he tell her that he could be well if the lady so wished (191-92). Similarly he does not reveal his feelings to the lady until her second visit, and then he does so in courtly terms reminiscent of Tristan and many other Old French romance Eersonnaqes: Si vus ne eiez merci de moi, Ke vus me grantez vos amurs, Ja sunt termine mes jours, Bien sai [ke] puis vivre avant. Ma vie, ma mort, a vus comant; Tut est a votre volente Ma maladie e ma saunte. (298-304) (If you do not have mercy on me, find grant me your favors. My days are ended; Know well that I cannot live any longer. My life, my death are at your command; Everything is at your will. My sickness and my health. ) The passage is conventional ovidian love posturing. when the lady does not respond to this appeal, the clerk takes an ungallant approach;

Si je meur pur vostre amur Jeo requer nostre creatur Ke il prenge de vus vengeance. (313-15)

(If I die for your love I will ask our creator To take vengeance upon you. ) The threat is a ploy to alter her decision rather than a sign of malice. During her second visit he begs, then faints (333), opens his eyes (362) and sighs (363). Such conventional behavior has so many courtly echoes that wailes considers it "...burlesque to the degree that it evokes the 67 traditions of chivalric literature • • • • »» 2 2 Elements of deliberate burlesque are dif ficult to establish; the situation reflects the absorption of courtly elements into the fabliau genre.

During his final meeting with the lady, the clerk, speaks no further -- in contrast to his previous loquaciousness. He makes love to the lady six or seven times (506), accepts twenty marks from her, and leaves permanently without protest. Twenty marks was a large sum of money, equivalent to the clerk's wages for several years, cook commented that the clerk "...behaves too much like a true courtly lover for him to be so easily satisfied with one night of love."23 The clerk's unromantic acceptance of the money is not that of the courtly lover. The gift can be viewed as a fee for his services or as payment for his silence. The latter is more in accord with the lady's established character. Apparently she gives him enough money to stay away for a long time. The clerk must abide by her terms because his continued presence would undermine both of their reputations.

In the analogues, the clerk is not made such an attractive figure. He is not a noble, esteemed resident of the town, but has arrived recently in the company of three of his fellows.24 The relationship between the clerk and 68

the wife is not described in detail, and the assignation is

arranged within a few lines ol their first meeting.25 After

the infidelity, in two of the analogues the clerh continues to see the wife until he leaves the country.26 He is not developed as a character, but is used as a means by which the wife can triumph over her husband. Unlike the Anglo-Norman poem, the analogues take no interest in fin amor and therefore have no need to develop the clerk as a courtly lover.

None of the analogues presents the characters

sympathetically; in the marriages there is initial suspicion and continued infidelity. only Romaunz begins and ends with marital trust and concord, and pictures a miore

ideal union than that of the continental fabliaux.

The different tones of the insular and continental fabliaux are due also to the presence or absence of courtly love elements. Courtly interest is achieved primarily through characterization. Romaunz is 586 lines long, almost double the length of the continental analogues.27 It is longer than the 300-400 line average for the genre,28 and it is more fully developed than its continental counterparts.

R£!i££i2oise and Dame have fabliau themes and settings, whereas RomauQZ combines a fabliau theme with a courtly £9 setting. This dichotomy has provchec various critical responses. Bedier found in the Anglo-Norman version "...un ennoblissement plus raffine et plus etrange encore....nous voici dans un monde non seulement chevaleresque, mais parfaitement moral."29 In contrast, Nykrog regarded the piece as an unsuccessful mixture of genres, the first 420 lines Leing "une nouvelle courtoise des plus exaltees," and the rest being a fabliau; he considered the consequent break in the unity of the characters "...typique chez les conteurs anglo-normandes."30

Questions of complex characterization are largely foreign to the fabliau as a genre where simple motivations are the rule. In the shorter fabliaux, stereotypes are usual, but in the longer fabliaux such as the Lai dJ_Aristctle and Guillaume au faucon, characters are further delineated. In the fabliaux that expand character, the influence of other genres is often evident. clearly there was no absolute criterion for fabliaux as a genre during the Middle Ages. In the rubrics of the manuscript, is termed a romance31 and is placed in the context of several pieces that would be so classified by modern critics. There is validity in considering the tale a fabliau because of its motif, and in view of the continental fabliau analogues (which are termed "aventures" in the opening lines). Other fabliaux such as Guillaume au faucon combine fabliau and 70

courtly elements; Le mantel meutaill £ ano Lai nu corn blend fabliau with Arthurian romance; Le chiyaler gui fist garler des cons combines fabliau and ,,lai.,,

If the characters in Romaunz are not developed consistently, neither are those in many other fabliaux. The lady in Guillaume au faucon is an aristocratic figure who

banters bawdy puns with a squire. The wife in Le chiyaler qui fist parler des cons makes an ignoble public wager with

a knight. Lack of unity in the characters is no more

characteristic of insular than of continental fabliaux.

Nykrog's ascription of such shortcomings to Anglo-Norman authorship is unwarranted in view of the similar examples produced on the continent.

Livingston asked whether "...the theme was composed originally for a bourgeois public and was arranged in the

longer fabliau to accommodate it to a courtly milieu?"32 In terms of the history of the theme and the manuscript dates, there is little basis for the theory. It is an interesting

contrast to Rychner's views of the various versions of a fabliau being "degraded" in its adaptations for a bourgeois audience.

Wailes regarded the introduction of Romaunz as humorous, and considered the text "...a unified and coherent literary 71 amusement....u33 Essentially his theory expands Nykxog's view of the fabliau genre as a literary burlesque. It is difficult to regard the essentially straightforward amalgam of fabliau and "roman" here as parody.

Some critics have held a high opinion of this fabliau.

Meyer considered the continental stories immoral and coarse

in contrast to the the insular version where "le tout est deduit et raconte de la fagon la plus naturelle et la plus gracieuse....34 Bedier termed the author of Romaunz "un conteur elegant."35 Perhaps Bedier's praise led to Nykrog’s reaction. Critical opinion of the fabliau has been divided.

In Romaunz a comic deception is worked out in a courtly rather than a bourgeois milieu, possibly to make the situation acceptable to a court circle. In England the audience for Anglo-Norman fabliaux was predominantly noble and consequently would be interested in the problems of fin

amor. The incorporation of courtly romance elements into this fabliau is parallel to that in the later £bSQ§2D2 In both cases the genres incorporated new influences but retained their integrity of form. 72

OXFORD, BODLEIAN LIBRARY, NS DIGBY 66

Digby 86 is a commonplace bock containing religious and secular pieces in verse and in prose written in French, English and Latin. Slightly more than half are in French

(forty-two works), with the remainder divided equally between English (nineteen) and Latin (eighteen). While most

of these works are found in other manuscripts, Digby 86 contains the unique copies of the English poems. Of the Fox and the Wolf and Dame Sirith, and the Anglo-Norman poems, De dames e darnmaiseles, Le fable 1 del Selous, La vie d^un ya1let amerous and Raqemqn le bon. The manuscript is important for the study of the short narrative, particularly the fabliau, in England.

Digby 86 was copied in the late thirteenth century. It can be dated fairly precisely by a list of the kings of England on fol.205v. The last two entries refer to Henry

III and his son, Edward l:

Henricus tertius Ivi annis G amplius. Edwardus filius eius x. ’’Filius eius xM was added over an erasure, possibly by a hand other than that of the original scribe.36 Probably the manuscript was written during the period between Edward's accession in 1272 and the end of the tenth year of his reign (November 15, 1282). 73

Internal evidence reveals that the manuscript was copied in the diocese of Worcester.37 Marginalia refer to several

local families.38 Whiting suggested that the original owner might have been John de Pendock (c.i264-1290);39 Miller disputed the attribution.40 Drown suggested that the manuscript might have been compiled by Dominican friars;41 Miller favored a secular origin and was followed by Meier-Ewert who pointed out that the penitential texts, which comprise half the manuscript, were intended for private devotion.42

Unfortunately, Digby 86 is incomplete; almost one fifth of the original leaves are missing.43 The text was copied by two thirteenth-century scribes, termed A and B. All of the rubrics were written by scribe A, probably after the

texts were copied.44 The same scribe copied most of the works; in only one work (not a fabliau) the writing changes back and forth between the two scribes.45 Brown ascribed the authorship of the three unique works in the manuscript to the scribe, but Miller questioned the assumption that the scribe was the author of any part of the text.46

In 1882, Stengel described and partially edited the manuscript.47 His transcriptions of Anglo-Norman works are not accurate, and his editorial emendations are not reliable; his titles have been verified by consulting a microfilm copy of Digby 86. A more reliable edition of the 74 manuscript is the 1971 3issertation by Meier-Ewert, in which she edited nine Anglo-Norman poems.48 Her complete description of the contents of the manuscript supersedes that by Stengel.

Two Anglo-Norman fabliaux are found in this manuscript, Lai du corn and Les .1111. schaits saint Martin, as well as the earliest fabliau in English, name Sirith. Other pieces in the manuscript related to the fabliau genre, indicate that between 1272 and 1282 there was interest in England in short narrative literature.

Lai du corn

Lai du corn (hereafter corn) occupies folios I05a-109c of the manuscript. It is preceded by an Anglo-Norman poem of continental origin, De roume e de gerusalem, directed against the Pope,*9 and it is followed by Le fablel del

QSiSUs. a unique Anglo-Norman poem centered about a less-than-flettering description of a jealous husband.50 (Although the poem is called a "fablel" or fabliau in the rubrics of the manuscript, it does not contain a plot; it is a "dit" that castigates jealous husbands. It will not be regarded as a fabliau in this dissertation. ) All three pieces, including the rubrics, were written by scribe A. corn appears in the context of satire on the one hand and an invective against jealousy on the other. As corn 75 contains the elements of satire, and pokes fun at jealous husbands,the placement in the manuscript is especially apt.

Corn has been edited five times: by Francisque Michel in 1841,51 by Fredrik Wulff in 1 888,52 by H. Dorner in 1907,53 by C.T. Erickson in 1973,54 and by Philip Bennett in 1975.55 The dialect of Corn has been a matter of controversy. Richter believed that the text revealed a Picard original, while Dorner felt it showed evidence of Norman elements.56 Legge thought that the writer was not

Anglo-Norman but that he probably worked in England.57

Erickson made a good case for Anglo-Norman upon the basis of rhyme, meter and dialect,56 but Bennett agreed with Dorner59 that Norman elements predominated. In view of the theory of a continental original for the poem, Legge has eliminated the piece from the Anglo-Norman canon.60 Her exclusion ignores the facts that no continental version of the poem exists and that the only extant copy of the work is in the Anglo-Norman dialect in an insular manuscript. In view of the manuscript evidence, one is justified in regarding the extant text as part of the corpus of Anglo-Norman literature.

Corn consists of 592 lines of verse. The first fourteen are written in octosyllables and the remainder in hexasyllables. As hexasyllabic verse was the earlier form, its use would suggest an early composition date for the 76 poem. Erickson disagreed and argued that the composer deliberately employed an archaic verse form used primarily in didactic works, to add a touch of humor.61 An alternate theory is that the initial fourteen octosyllabic lines reflect a scribal attempt to modernize the meter, one that was subsequently abandoned.62

The question of meter leads to the problem of dating the poem. Because of the early verse foriri and the Arthurian subject matter, many critics have dated Corn at the middle or at the third quarter of the twelfth century, before the Lais of Marie de France.63 Hofer challenged this theory by citing parallels in the poem to literature written later than the L§.iS*6* Similarly, Togeby placed the poem about 1200.65 Bennett dated it at the end of the twelfth century.66 Legge pointed out that the poem should be dated later, as it mocked Arthurian romance, which was not developed fully at an early period, and "...it is difficult to imagine that a burlesque should be composed of something which hardly existed."67 Erickson was sympathetic to a date of about 1200, but he pointed out that the only dates known with any degree of certainty are those of the manuscript, between 1 272 and 1 282.68

Another critical debate has centered about genre. Corn has been classified as both a lai and a fabliau because it contains elements of each. In the context of 77 thirteenth-century literature, a lai can be defined as a lyric poem played to a harp accompaniment. The events it depicts take place in an other-worldly, often Arthurian milieu. Corn, set in Arthur's court, exploits the n}atiere

<1§ but at the same time it burlesques the ideal of loyalty that was one of the foundations of the Arthurian legend. Its tone is closer to that of the fabliau than of the lai; consequently there is justification for considering the poem a lai or a fabliau, for it fuses the two. Many critics, notably Vising,69 Zumthor,70 Legge,71

Baader,72 Donovan,73 and Togeby7* considered it a lai. On the other hand, Foulet,75 Tiemann76 and Merl77 have regarded it as a fabliau. Bedier excluded it from his fabliau corpus, but did include a continental analogue, Le mantel

5I!2yt2iIi£78 (hereafter hantel), and noted, "il conviendrait peut-etre d'admettre aussi parmi les fabliaux le lai du corn."79 Nykrog did not include either tale in his fabliau corpus. while he felt that they fell within his definition of the fabliau as a burlesque courtly genre, he rejected both because of the Breton milieu, and regarded their; both as burlesque lais.80

Perhaps the most convincing evidence for classifying Corn as a lai lies in the rubric in the manuscript, where it is termed a "lay." Unfortunately medieval classifications are not clear-cut. The following poem in Digby 36, which we 78 would consider a "dit" is entitled a "fablel" by the same scribe. Since the titles were probably added later,81 they must be regarded as scribal rather than authorial; nevertheless they do carry the weight of thirteenth-century opinion.

In the text. Corn is called an "aventure”(1 ), a "lai" (583) and a "counte" (592). Ihe first and last of these terms are often used in fabliau designations, while "lai" is not. The text neither refers to the poem as a Breton lai nor indicates a harp accompaniment or an oral delivery. In context, "lai" is used in a broad sense and is not necessarily an indication of genre. one continental manuscript of tiantel labels the story, "Le lai du cort mantel" in the rubrics, while another terms it a "romanz."82 The other three manuscripts have no genre designation. In these manuscripts the rubrics are scribal rather than authorial. (.’one of the continental analogues calls it a "lai" in the text. A thirteenth-century list of

Breton lais does not include the poem.83 Contemporary manuscript evidence indicates a broad use of genre terms, and supports a classification of lai in the general sense rather than specifically a Breton lai.

There is evidence that in England the genre became increasingly generalized. By the fourth decade of the 79

fourteenth century, "lai" could refer to virtually any forir. of narrative, according to the description in the Auchinleck manuscript, written between 1330-40.84

We redeth oft & findeth [y-write,] 6 this clerkes wele it wite, Layes that ben in harping Ben y-founde of ferli thing: Sum bethe of wer & sum of wo, G sum of ioie 6 mirthe al-so, G sum of trecherie G of gile. Of old auentours that fel while, & sum of bourdes & ribaudy G mani ther beth of fairy; Of al thinges that men seth Mest o loue, for-sothe, thai beth. ( 1120-50 )85 (Often we read and find written. And scholars know this well. Lays that are played on the harp Are found concerning marvellous subjects: Some are of happiness and some are of sorrow. And some of joy and mirth also. And some of treachery and of guile. Of old adventures that happened a long while. And seme of jests and ribaldry. And there are many about enchantment; Of all things that men say Indeed most are about love.)

This medieval categorization includes a good deal of literature that would not be so classified by contemporary literary critics. The generalization that the term underwent is seen in Corn, which fuses the genres of lai and fabliau just as Romaunz combined the fabliau and romance elements.

Corn revolves about a magical drinking horn presented to King Arthur during a Pentecost feast held at his court.

Only the husbands or lovers of faithful women can drink 80 successfully from the horn, for otherwise, the contents spill; neither can jealous men drink from the horn. Arthur tries first and fails, as do all cf the knights of the court; only Garadue succeeds. Arthur is reconciled with his wife and gives her the horn.

The chastity testing motif has many analogues in European literature.66 Discussion of them all is out of place here. The most important ones for the present discussion are the continental fabliau analogues of Mantel, extant in five manuscripts — three of the thirteenth and two of the fourteenth centuries.87 The number cf copies over a long period indicates the continued interest in the tale. The continental texts have been edited by Michel,88 Wulff,89 Montaiglon and Raynaud,90 and Bennett.91

Mantel, like Corn, revolves about a test of chastity in King Arthur's court. Here the women are tested directly rather than indirectly in that the messenger brings a mantel, or cloak, that only chaste women can wear; on unfaithful ladies it becomes too long or too short. It fits only one wcman in the court, the amie of Caradoc Eriebraz. After the test the knight and his lady leave a disgruntled court.

A comparison of Mantel and Corn reveals differences in character and in tone. Continental and insular stories 81 employ mantel and horn, respectively, to test the women's chastity, with similar results. Plot and character parallels raise the question of borrowing. Corn refers to a previous story and the continental versions mention an unspecified earlier source.92 Dennett feels that the opening of Corn is based upon Mantel, but he further points out that a reading in one of the continental manuscripts is explicable only by a reference in Corn.93 Such evidence is contradictory. One can hypothesize only that scribes working in England and on the continent knew analogous versions of the chastity testing motif.

Corn is divided into five sections: the entry of the horn, the message of the horn, Arthur's attempt to drink from it, the other knights' unsuccessful attempts, and Garadue's successful effort.94 Each section is subdivided stylistically by a vers d'intonation, an opening line containing a proper name or title, which introduces that portion of the section.95 This pattern is not unique to

CO£n, but is found in three other horn poems.96 Mantel also utilizes this structure, but expands the central sections by adding three hundred lines (354-667) in which a lacy in the court is called upon to wear the mantel, fails, and derogatory commentary is made by one of the knights.97 This section gives Mantel an anti-feminine emphasis absent in corn. 82

In Mantel, the chastity of the wcnen is tested by the rriagic garment: La fee fist el drap un oeuvre C.ui les fausses dames descuevre. (201-02 ) (Ihe fairy made the garment a vehicle that revealed untrue women.)

The women in the court are not told of the garment's magical quality until after they have tried unsuccessfully to wear it. Their humiliation is intensified by the derogatory comments of the Knights. In Corn the test is made more ambiguous, for the horn tests both sexes: Cest corn fist une fee Raumponeuse e [i]ree E la corn destina, Que ja houm n'i bevra. Taunt soit sages ne fous, S'il est cous ne gelous, Ne Ki nule femme heit Qui heit fol pense feit Vers autre Ki a lui. (229-37) (A jeering and angry Fairy made this horn And placed a spell on the horn So that never could a man drinK from it However wise or foolish. If he is either a cucKold or a jealous husband, Or if he has a wife Who has had a foolish thought About anyone other than him.) If a man fails to drinK from the horn, either he or his wife could be at fault. Failure does not necessarily mean that adultery has been committed as the conditions cover such a broad range of behavior. The test here has an ambiguity absent in Mantel 83

Both in continental and insular stories, the ruen play a more active role than the women. Arthur, the most important character in the story,is presented in terms cf two literary traditions: the fabliau jealous and deceived husband, and the romantic head of a noble court. Arthur sets the scene for a traditional chivalric adventure by refusing to eat until something unusual has occurred. He welcomes the messenger and authorizes the test. The fabliau aspect of his character is illustrated by his anger when he hears of the horn's properties (281) and by his reaction when the contents of the horn spill over him. He tries to stab the queen, and is prevented frcm harming her by his knights (297-306). His extreme anger leads him to command that the other mien in the court also drink from the horn (411-14).

When they fail, his mood turns to laughter (457-61) and the jealous fabliau husband becomes the noble romance character in his gracious apology to the queen (481-32) and his generous gift to the successful Garadue.

Arthur's role in Mantel is similar in terms of the setting of the adventure; after that the romance elements are absent. He makes no comment when the mantel fails to fit the queen, and he calls upon several of the ladies to try on the mantel. After the test he is not reconciled with the queen, and he does not offer a gift to the successful party, although he approves the messenger's gift of the 84 mantel to her (837-49). Arthur is a more attractive character in the insular story.

In Huntel, the Knights Kay, Gauvain and Giflet have larger roles than in Corn, as they comment upon the failure of the ladies to wear the cloak. They are not individualized in insular or continental fabliaux. Garadue is described in Corn as resembling a fairy (512); this hint of the supernatural sets him apart from the other characters, who in their failure to drink from the horn reveal human frailties. He drinks willingly from the horn, and toasts Arthur with a dramatic "Kessail" (546). In he is a more human figure. When he hears of the garment's properties, he does not want his lady to try it on, but prefers to remain in doubt (795-805). The character in Corn is more vigorous and less unsure than his continental counterpart. None of the other knights is developed fully in either version.

For the most part, the women in the stories are not individualized. None of them is named in either version, although all of the men are identified. As most of the women are not important as characters, they are not developed, with the exception of the queen in Corn. After learning of the horn’s properties, she lowers her gaze in embarrassment (265-68) and thereby reveals her guilt.

After Arthur drinks unsuccessfully she offers to undergo 85 trial iy ordeal (323-30). She claims her only fault was to give a ring to a youth under highly extenuating circumstances ( 337-56 ) -and that she never did anything vile in her life (361-62) and demands to be revenged upon the horn (368-72). This aggressive self-defense is repeated in a second speech in which she continues to justify herself and condemn the horn (388-410). In view of her initial inadvertent admission of guilt as well as the traditional infidelity associated with her, the defense is as spirited as it is false. When Arthur later praises the horn, she blushes in silence (473-73), but accepts his apology (479-84). Her refusal to acknowledge the evidence cf the horn, despite its veracity, and the unexpected attack by Arthur, create an admiration for her spirit that is absent in the analogues. Despite her lapse, she remains an attractive figure. In Mantel, the queen is in another room when the garment is brought into the court; she does not know of its properties until it fails to fit. When she asks Kay why it is too long, he replies that it is because she is unfaithful (316-22). She hides her anger with a retort (334-40) and does not try to defend herself. No final reconciliation is made between her and her husband as in corn.

The other women are not developed as characters. In corn they are not humiliated directly because the men take the 86 test; in Mantel not only are they errbarrassed before the court, but they are also chastised publicly by the knights. Such treatrrent of women is more usual in the fabliau than in the romance. The women fare better in Coro.

After the testing, the court dines in both versions, while the mood at the feast is not specified in Corn, in MSDtel the glum knights '’i sist plain de corrouz et S'lce" ("sat there full of anger and rage," 881). The mood contrasts sharply with that of Garadue who left "liez et joianz avec s'amie" ("happy and joyous with his lady," 687).

In Corn, after the feast the knights return home with their ladies, "Cil ki plus les amerent"("they who loved them the most," 562). Here the rancor in Mantel is absent as the narrative concludes by emphasizing love.

The epilogues of both poems end with tongue-in-cheek comments. Robert Biket, composer of Corn, states that Garadue "trova" ("composed," 583) the lai during a feast at

Cirencester where the horn could be seen, and that he composed his poem at the request of an abbot (591-92). As a final note Biket admits he "mout par set d'abez" ("knew many tricks," 590). Since both Garadue and the horn are fictitious, the attribution of the poem to a character in it appears spurious. By extension the abbot is equally imaginary, and in the mention of him Biket could be 67 parodying the conventional veracity attached to the clerical origins of tales.98

also ends with a note of mock veracity, when the composer announces that the mantel, pieced in an abbey in Gaul, has been rediscovered. Although he wishes to inaugurate new tests, he is afraid because he fears the anger of the ladies. Women are still reproached for the transgressions of the past, and only God can say how justly

(888-912). Here the humor is directed against women, as it is throughout the poem, although it is not as harsh in tone.

A comparison of Corn and Mantel indicates that despite the similarities in theme and in structure, the stories differ in emphasis. Feminine chastity is challenged in both poems. Corn introduces ambiguity into the test. Women are not humiliated as severely as in Mantel, and the queen emerges as a sympathetic figure. in the continental analogues, only Garadue and his lady are happy; whereas in the insular story, Arthur and his wife are reconciled and the other men still esteem their wives. Mantel closes with general discord, while Corn ends in harmony.

The differences between insular and continental stories mirror those between Romaunz de un chiyaler et de sa dame et de un clerc and La bourgeoise dJ.Crleans. Both Anglo-Norman stories combine two genres in a single work. Fabliau 88

elements are subordinate to those of the other genres in the insular works, whereas they are predominant in the continental stories. The relationship between the sexes is more cordial in the Anglo-Norman version. Although the wife in both tales is unfaithful, in Romaunz, she is portrayed sympathetically; whereas in the continental analogues she is neither exonerated nor presented sympathetically. Both Anglo-Norman fabliaux conclude with a restoration of the status quo and a reconciliation between husband end wife. In Rourceoise the husband continues to be deceived, and in

ill_will prevails; the harmony that concludes the insular fabliaux is absent. In contrast to the continental analogues, the Anglo-Norman fabliaux are pro-establishment, an evident reflection of the society for which the works were composed.

The existence of Corn and Mantel as fabliaux as well as the analogues in the other genres, reflects the widespread currency of the chastity testing theme in European literature. The theme is found in England in post-medieval literature in two works in English, ’’The cockwold's Daunce” and ’’The Boy and the Mantel."

"The. cockwold's Daunce" is found in only one manuscript, dated at approximately the fifteenth century.9,i The poem is written in forty-one stanzas containing six lines, and a closing nine-line stanza, in this version of the horn test. 89

Arthur owned the horn and used its properties for his amusement. During a visit by the Duke of Gloucester, the king tried to drink from the horn for the first time, and failed. He joined his men to "daunce in the cockwold row." The last stanzas attribute the poem to "Syr corneus" (246), a pun on horn and cuckold. This poem lacks the symmetrical structure, the characterization and the noble milieu of Corn. The restrained burlesque of the earlier tale has been replaced by broad satire. Humor is not malicious and is not directed against women. The tone of the piece is genial, and is closer to the sprit of corn than of Mantel. while it cannot be established that a version of Corn was the direct model for "The Cockwold's Daunce," evidently the theme circulated in England in now-lost versions over a long period.

"The Boy and the Mantel" is found in the Bishop Percy Folio Manuscript, written about 1650.100 The ballad consists of forty-one four-line stanzas and three six-line stanzas. In May, a "child" (3) brings a magic mantel to

Arthur's court. The garment fits neither the queen nor the other ladies, except the wife of Craddocke (variant of Garadue). Before she tries it on she confesses her single sin — that of kissing her huband before they were married — in order to have the mantel fit. The child castigates the queen and produces a knife with which no cuckold can 90

carve, ana a horn from which no cuckold can cirink. Only

Craddocke uses both items. Evidently the ballad appends related tests to the mantel version.

In terms of plot, the ballad is closer to Mantel than to Corn; the plot is more condensed and the characters are sketched briefly. The emphasis upon love in corn is absent here. Unlike the fabliaux, there is no humor in the ballad. It is improbable that any of the fabliaux was a direct source for "The Doy and the Mantel." Some of the fabliaux are given contemporary designations as lais; but they show no evidence of being written for musical accomp;animent. The

later ballad reflects by its form that it was intended to be sung. Possibly the ballad was based upon now-lost oral versions of the chastity test that survived into the seventeenth century.

Les .Till, souhais saint Martin

The second Anglo-Norman fabliau in Digby 86, Les .Till, souhais saiQt Martin ("The four wishes of Saint Martin," hereafter, Souhais), occupies folios 113r to liav. The poem is incomplete because the leaf that contained the opening lines has been lost. Preceding Souhais is a "fatrasie" or pseudo-nonsense satirical Anglo-Norman poerr, La fe§iiournee.*0 * Appended directly to the fabliau and 91

incorporated with it is a "dit" castigating women; following that is "D'un vallet amerous,"102 a light-hearted

Anglo-Norman poem in which a youth recounts graphically his romantic encounters. Free use of language, the carre diem philosophy and the interest in seduction are usual in the fabliau genre. The youth’s prayer tc Saint Martin for less than saintly ends links the piece to Souhais. Apparently the compiler of the manuscript attempted to group related works here.

Souhais revolves about the theme of the mis-applied wishes, which is found in both oriental and Grecc-fcoman literature.103 In England it is found in the Fables of Marie de France.10* The Anglo-Norman fabliau does not derive from

Marie's version, but is closer to the continental fabliau, which is found in three other manuscripts of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries; only one of them is dated earlier than the Digby compilation.105 Essentially the difference between fable and fabliau versions lies in the wishes themselves, which are obscene in the latter.

In Sguhais, a man (called alternately a "vilein" and a "prudhoume"106) is rewarded for his devotion to st. Martin by being granted four wishes by the saint. The man reluctantly gives one to his wife who promptly wishes that he is "chargiez de viz" ("loaded with phalli," 46). In retaliation, he wishes she has "autaunt de couns" ("just as 92 rrany vaginas," 76). The husband then wishes all of the genitals to be removed, and must use his final wish to restore the status quo.

Souhais is not the only fabliau containing the theme of misapplied wishes. In Le conygiteus et lj.eny ieus, 10 7 saint

Martin grants a wish to two men, who finally lose one and two eyes, respectively. Gautier le Leu composed Les

SQUh^iS108 about a married couple whose wishes are also disastrous to themselves. Jean Bodel, earliest known writer of fabliaux, focuses Le sghait desyez109 about a wife who dreamed of purchasing a "vit" at a market. Souhais combines the motifs of the obscene wish with the gift of Saint Martin, who was "...celebre par tout 1'Europe au noyen age comme un patron de la bonne chere."110 This traditional association functions ironically, for his gifts cause discord. clearly the theme of the mis-applied wishes is part of the fabliau tradition from an early date; inclusion of Souhais in the fabliau corpus by Bedier and Nykrog is therefore appropriate.111 The piece is not listed by Vising.

The narrative portion of the insular fabliau is closely related to the continental analogues. Of the three extant continental texts, only one (BN fr. 837) is earlier than Digby 86. It is also the best text, and will be compared to the insular version. 93

The initial lines of Souhais are rrissing in the Digby manuscript, so no comparison of the openings is possible. An idea of the lost opening is seen in the continental analogue, where the wife is established as one "qui chauce les braies" ("one who wore the trousers," 32). At the point where the Digby text begins, the husband tells his wife of Saint Martin's gift of the wishes. In comparison tc the continental text, the Digby version abridges the husband's fears that his wife would misuse a wish if she were granted it (77-85). The insular version also omits some of the obscene aspects of the wife's wish, particularly the places she wanted the "vits" to appear upon her husband (96-99,

113-20). Much of the couple's conversation is abridged in the insular tale. Also absent are seme of the sarcastic retorts between husband and wife (ON 837, 101-02, 125-26, 132-36). Similar editing is seen in the husband's "gift" to his wife, in terms of its description (DN 837, 47-50), and his corrment( BN 837,59-64, 69-70). In general, the Anglo-Norman version eliminates many of the obscene descriptions and comments found in the continental text.

The conclusions of the two versions are slightly different. Both point out that the vilein neither lost nor gained from the wishes; but the continental text further states:

Por cest fablel poez savoir Que cil ne fet mie savoir Que mieus croit sa fame cue lui: Sovent 1'en vient honte et anui. (187-90) 94

(By this fabliau you can learn That he does not behave wisely Who believes his wife rather than himself. Often shame and annoyance come of it.) The genre description and the generalized conclusion are found frequently in the fabliau. Indeed, an earlier fabliau by Jean Bodel has a similar ending.112 In the Anglo-Norman version, the closing lines are not based upon either extant analogue:

Por ceo vous di, n'est mie fable Li vilein perdi par soun deable De estre riches touz jours mes. Si il eust garde ses suhes. (107-110)

(For I tell you this, it is not at all false. Through his devilishness the vilein lost the opportunity Of being rich forever. If he had taken care of his wishes.)

Here "fable" is not used as a genre but in the sense of a fiction, a tale that is not true. While the moral is drawn from the plot, it has a slightly different emphasis than that of the analogues. Both fabliaux have observations that differ from the related fables in Marie de France.113

There has been little critical discussion of the differences between the insular and continental versions of Rychner considered the omissions in the Anglo-Norman fabliau to be involuntary rather than deliberate, and he regarded the text as: une version orale degradee, transcribe ensuite de mdmoire. La refonte partielle et rnaladroite, abaissant le niveau litteraire du fabliau, pallie mal 11 imprecision du souvenir.11* 95

Such a view is consistent with Rychner's opinion of the Anglo-Norman fabliau, generally. His point that the insular version omits some lines and changes the order of others is accurate. The same statement could be made of the two later continental versions (although they are closer to each other than to the insular fabliau). Anglo-Norman emissions eliminate obscenity; only those portions of the narrative essential for coherence are retained. If one is offended by such material, its deletion could be regarded as an improvement. In view of the Anglo-Norman preference for edifying material, such alterations are not surprising.

Rychner's assumption that Digby 86 contains a version written from memory is unfounded. In the manuscript the poem does not conclude at line 110, as it does in Rychner's edition. On the same column in the manuscript, with no break in the text, is appended a poem that castigates women (see Appendix I). The material is integrated with the fabliau in terms of the opening, which extends the moral of the fabliau, and with the line "Pur ceo vous di par seint Martin" ("For I tell you this by St. Martin," 131). The text represents a portion of another poem, as noted by Montaiglon and Raynaud and by Vising.115

Appended to the fabliau is a poem, Le blasme des f emmes.116 that is found in eight versions in both insular117 and continental116 manuscripts of the thirteenth 96

through fifteenth centuries. continental texts of the poerr vary from seventy-six to 190 lines, compared with the

fifty-six in the Digby manuscript. fill of the continental versions begin similarly with a statement that one who Keeps

the company of women is foolish. The Digby text substitutes

a statement found later in the other versions, that one who believes in what a woman says, be she dead or alive, is unwise (111-12). In the other poems, this couplet is placed in the last quarter. Apparently the writer of the Digby version altered the order of his material in order to link logically the two texts. The changes bring forward the line swearing by St. Martin (131) and reinforce the link between the two.

None of the eight texts of Le blasme des fanjes is

parallel exactly to any other extant version. Both the material and its order in the uditu vary.119 Only the Digby

86 text changes meter from octosyllabic to decasyllabic back to octosyllabic. Material in the longer lines is based upon another anti-feminine poem, Le chastie musart, which is also found in thirteenth- and fourteenth-century insular and continental versions.120 The Digby pun upon women’s love of "bourse" (149), used in the dual sense of "money-purse" and "genitals", is found in this earlier poem.121 It links the wife's desires in the fabliau with those attributed to womankind in the "dit." 97

The Digty 86 text concludes with the advice that if a woman is treated severely, she will behave. Similar lines are found in earlier sections of seme of the analogues.

Again it appears that the lines were moved to reinforce the general lesson of the fabliau, thus giving continuity to the poem. The most invective sections in the "dit” analogues are not in the Digby text, just as bawdy material in the fabliau analogues is eliminated from the Digby version.

Portions of two poems were appended to Souhais as an extension of the fabliau's anti-feminine sentiment. The additions do not appear haphazard; rather, they reflect an attempt to join separate material into a single unit centered about the theme of feminine faults. Similarly the continental fabliau. La dame gui se yenja,122 appends anti-feminine material to a poem about a scheming woman. Such incorporation of material from various genres is found in two other Anglo-Norman fabliaux, and appears to be consistent with both insular and continental practice. The literary history of the material points to a written source, which is contrary to Rychner's view of the poem as an inferior oral version written from memory. Souhais reflects a literary rather than an oral adaptation.

A comparison of Cheyaler, Corn and Souhais indicates that all three insular poems comoine the fabliau with other short narrative genres. such practice points to a loose 98

concept of genre, far removed from modern categorizations.

While the themes of Anglo-Norman fabliaux mirror those P'-opuler on the continent, they reflect a modification of discordant and bav/dy elements in the genre that were not in accordance with insular tastes.

Digby 86 is an important manuscript for the history of the fabliau in England. It contains the earliest extant English fabliau, two of the earliest Anglo-Norman fabliaux, as well as vernacular pieces related to that genre. The

literary interrelationships of the Digby fabliaux are varied. Corn shares parallels with continental fabliaux, but is based upon a different source. appears to combine a continental fabliau with a "dit" to form a new work. These sources and analogues point to the influence of both Anglo-Norman and continental French literary traditions adapted to insular tastes.

The fabliaux in Digby 86 are copied in the context of short narrative literature. These wcrks vary in tone from the serious to the bawdy. Light-hearted, purely entertaining poems represent only a portion of the manuscript. inclusion of bawoy with religious works suggests that a medieval reader was not necessarily offended by obscenity. In the decade between 1272-82, fabliaux were not considered unworthy to be copied in a compilation that also contained religious and didactic works. 99

CLERMONT, ARCHIVES DEPARTMENTAL DU RUY-DF-dOmE

The archives at Puy-5e-Do,Tie preserve the fragments of a manuscript, written in the second half of the thirteenth century, that contains the only extant version of the

fabliau, ke heron ("The heron," hereafter LISE2D) •12 3 Another portion of the manuscript consists of fragments of two epic poems, Otinal and Aspremont.124 Judging from the surviving portions of the manuscript, it appears to have been a

compilation that contained vernacular Anglo-Norman verse.

R2E2D is classified as a fabliau by Vising and Nykrog.125 It is not mentioned by Bedier, as the text was published

later than his book. H222Q has been edited by Meyer,126 whose text was reprinted by Rychner.127 The plot cf the fabliau centers about a naive young woman who is raised in

an isolated tower by an old nurse. One day the nurse leaves for town and a "chivaler" rides by with a heron. The girl admires it and offers to purchase it; the price demanded is "por un croistre le vus gra[a]nt" ("i'll grant it tc you

for a hammering," 37). As the girl does not know what the

£§sideratum the youth enters the tower, shows her and leaves. When the nurse returns and discovers what has transpired, she laments but then turns her attention to the bird. Before cooking it, she decides that it needs pepper for flavoring, so she leaves the tower a second time, again with the doors ajar. Subsequently the girl sees the knight 1 00 ride by again and offers to re-exchange her ''croistre'' for the bird; he accepts. When the nurse returns, the heron is gone.

The tale of a naive girl who is seduced unwittingly is found in classical literature in the Life of Aesop,120 as well as in European literature.129 The closest analogue to Heron is a continental poem, De la grue ("Concerning the crane," hereafter Grue). classified as a fabliau by Bedier and Nykrog, it is found in five different manuscripts of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.130

The continental versions are related to each other, but not to the insular fabliau. Although all of the plots are parallel, there are no common lines between insular and continental texts, making it aoubtful that the insular fabliau is based directly upon any of the continental versions. in broad terms, the motif of the knight with the bird appears to parody the chanson de geste, Le chevalier au

There does not appear to be any reason for the difference in the birds named in the titles of the fablaiux. Cranes rather than herons are mentioned in many of the twelfth- and thirteenth-century bestiaries, where one crane in a group functions as a sentinel.131 The bird in Heron is not a guardian and has no allegorical significance. In cynegetic texts, the heron is overcome by the falcon in 1 01 mid-air in a sexually suggestive manner.132 In a political context the heron signified a cowardly, submissive bird. A continental poem written around 1340 recalls an incident in which Robert of Artois shot a heron and had it brought into the dining hall of Edward ill of England to shame him into invading France.133 The submissiveness of the bird in The vows of the Heron and in the hunting handbooks is reflected in the insular fabliau, where the heron that the ''chivaler" carries represents his sexual conquest of the girl.

The relationship of the fabliau analogues is difficult tc ascertain. Walberg viewed Heron as a remaniement of a continental fabliau.134 Likewise, Nykrog felt that Heron "n'est qu'une simple version de la Grue...."135 Meyer considered the two as independent versions of a story that circulated orally;136 Rychner agreed, but felt that the relationship could have a literary rather than an oral basis.13 7

Meyer's and Rychner's theories receive partial support from a reading in a fourteenth-century manuscript, Eerne 354, in which the composer says he heard the "matiere" of the story told at Vezelay in front of the exchanges.138 The Derne manuscript, which contains readings different from other fabliau compilations,139 is the only one that mentions

Vezelay. In addition it ascribes the poem to Guerin, author 1 02 of five other fabliaux.140 None of the other manuscripts mentions Guerin. The ascription appears added to the Berne manuscript; consequently the attribution of the fabliau to a known composer in the genre must remain suspect. In addition, the Berne reference to an oral source should not be regarded as authoritative. since the earliest manuscripts make no mention of Vezelay or of an oral provenance, there is little point in postulating a theory of oral transmission.

Grue has been edited twice. Barbazan and Meon printed a composite text using three manuscripts.141 Montaiglon and F;aynaud published the Berne text, which was reprinted by

Rychner.142 All the manuscripts contain similar versions of that vary from 140 to 160 lines.143 Heron contains 172 lines, and is consequently the longest text of the fabliau, while the continental versions are exactly parallel,144 the insular text omits some of the descriptions and adds others. For the most part, the changes modify the obscene sections of the poem. In the following analysis, the Berne text of Grue will be cited because it is the only accurately edited continental version, and because with the exception of the opening ten lines, it is virtually the same as the other continental texts.

All the analogues (except Berne 354) begin with the narrative, relating the actions of the chastelain who 103

enclosed his daughter in a tower. In the insular manuscript, the leaf containing the introduction to the

fabliau has been lost. The extant lines announce the

narrator’s intention to tell a story "par corto[i]sie"("about noble manners," 1). in terms of the

plot, this comment is ironic. Further, the narrative says the story is designed "por faire ces jeluz geler" ("Tc freeze up these jealous people," 4). similar lines are found

in another Anglo-Norman poem, Lai de Hoiselet.1 * 5 As the

fabliau touches upon the theme of jealousy (or in this case

over-protectiveness) marginally, such an introduction is not

especially appropriate. Viewed in the context of other narrative pieces, these lines point to the literary borrowings noted previously in the genre.

Insular and continental plots are parallel until the girl sees the youth carrying the bird. Where he is "un vaslet" (34) in all of the continental analogues, in the Anglo-Norman he is "un chevalir" (29) who is "bel e cortois e avenaunt" ("handsome, courteous and pleasing," 30). Such a description is characteristic of the romance genre. In the continental texts, when the girl asks the knight about

the bird, she swears "par 1'arme ton pere" ("by your father's soul," 42) and "en non Dieu” ("in the name of God," 46) and he swears by "toz les sains d'Crliens" ("all the saints of Orleans," 44). None of these lines is found in the 1 04 insular: manuscript* Additions and eliminations in the Anylo-Norman text tend to elevate the social level and the behavior of the characters.

While the price for the bird is essentially the same in all versions, the continental stories use the direct demand,

"Dame, por un foutre" (53), while the insular circumlocution is "por un croistre" ("for a hammering," 37). in the continental versions ensues a seduction scene (79-90) that Nykrog lists as one of the passages that gave the fabliau genre a "...reputation de devergendage scandaleux."146 Repeated use of the verb "foutre" offended some readers of the manuscripts to such an extent that in one text the word was effaced consistently1A7 and in the other the entire fabliau was rubbed out so that the text cannot be read.140 (The date of the bowdlerization is not known.) In the insular text, the passage does not appear, apparently because of its offensive nature.

In the continental analogues when the nurse leaves the tower a second time she apparently locks the door. The result is that when the girl offers to exchange the grue for the return of her "foutre" (133-34). she puts her legs through a window in the tower and he completes the transaction from his side of the window (139-43). m the insular story, the nurse leaves open the door, and the couple makes the exchange on the bed (119-22). Certainly the latter version is less ridiculous and less obscene. 1 05

Thereafter the Anglo-Norman fabliau is longer than the

continental: there is more dialogue between the girl and her nurse, and the final observation is more extensive. The continental versions conclude with the nurse's lament that she has been a poor guardian, having been responsible for the loss of the girl's virginity and also the grue. Her

final comment is a proverb, "La male garde pest lo loe" ("Poor protection befouls a place," 160). The proverb is also found in the Roman de Renart.1 *9 in Heron, the nurse's m«onologue is similar in spirit, although it is twice as long (159-172). She begins by citing a proverbial expression. Din est voirs ke grand desturbir/Avint entre buche e cuilir," ("Certainly it is true that often something is lost between hand and mouth," 159-60). The proverb is followed by puns upon the loss of the girl's virginity ("oiseau") and the loss of the heron. Such material leads to a concluding proverb that summarizes the nurse's deleterious effect upon the household: ("Car nul ne put guarder le con/S'il ne feit au cul sa mieison," 171-72). The proverb has not the literary echo of that used in the continental fabliau, but is reminiscent of a saying in Li

EE2V££te au yilain, "Mal est coverz cui li cus pert" ("He who loses his posterior is poorly protected").150 (The collection of proverbs, many of them obscene, circulated in England and on the continent during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. ) Proverbs are used in the conclusions 1 06 of Heron and Grue. A bawdy narrative is given an appropriate proverbial ending rather than a pseudo-moral closure. The proverbs also reflect the incorporation of elements from other genres in the fabliaux.

The major pun of the fabliau is based upon the interchangeability of the senses of "con" and "oiseau." The female organ is elsewhere referred to in this manner in another fabliau, Guillaume au Faucon,151 where the puns are part of the dialogue between a noble lady and a squire. Evidently such puns were not considered inappropriate for characters of noble rank. In comparison, the pun is no more surprising when made by the girl's guardian.

Both insular and continental fabliaux maintain the bawdy tone of the narratives. Neither conclusion is at all moral in tone or intent, yet each is appropriate in context. While the continental texts use "foutue" (157) in the close, the insular uses "con" (162, 163). Employment of a verb as opposed to a noun could hardly be termed more or less moral. Initially the insular fabliau modifies the obscenity of the continental version. Throughout the narrative, the insular version does not employ the word "foutre" which is found frequently in the continental fabliau. The seduction passage is modified and made less objectionable in the

Anglo-Norman tale, which contains bawdy puns rather than 1 07 graphic descriptions of lovemaking. Major differences between the insular and continental fabliaux lie in employment of plot and verbal details tc achieve humor.

The continental versions center the story about the seduction of a wealthy but naive girl who is seduced unwittingly. The Anglo-Norman fabliau elevates the social level of the seducer, and thereby intensifies the discrepancy between his courteous speech and his actions. Similarly, the insular fabliau, Homaunz d^un chivaler et de sa dame et d'un clerc, raises the social level of the characters from their bourgeois counterparts in the continental analogues. The courtly element in Heron is part of a literary parody. The lady enclosed in a tower is seen previously in insular literature in three lais by Marie de

France, Guigemar, Yonec and Laustic, 152 in L§ii§£i£» the lovers ccmimunicate through a window in the tower; their spiritual love is a counterpoint to the sexual activities of the couple in Heron. The fabliau also contains echoes of the chanson de tgile, in which a wandering cavalier woos a lovesick girl. The parallels extend to the point where the ''chivaler” in Heron ascends a staircase to visit the girl (43-46). While both insular and continental fabliaux parody other genres, the social elevation in Heron makes the satire more pointed. 1 08

Heron presents essentially the sarr.e plot and characters as the continental Grue. The Anglo-Norman version omits most of the obscene words and passages of the continental texts, but adds several bawdy puns. The literary echoes in the insular version enrich the story that, despite its condensations, is longer than the continental versions. In view of the differences in the texts. Heron is not a direct reworking of Grue. It reflects a literary and written, not an oral transmission of the text. The presence of one insular and five continental fabliaux based upon the same motif reflects its appeal. Evidently some medieval audiences found the piece amusing rather than offensive. Viewed in terms of the broad picture of Anglo-Norman literature. Heron indicates that insular taste was not limited to moral and religious literature, and indeed appreciated a parody of courtly literature. Further, Heron is important as an example of bawdy literature in the Anglo-Norman canon.

All four insular fabliaux in thirteenth-century manuscripts have continental analogues. The social milieu of the former is primarily aristocratic and that of the latter is largely bourgeois. Marital relationships are more harmonious in Anglo-Norman fabliaux. In every case, the insular version is more courtly and less bawdy than its continental counterpart. Insular fabliaux, unlike their counterparts, tend to support rather than to attack the establishment Chapter IV ANGLO-NORMAN FABLIAUX: FOURTEENTH-CENTURY MSS

Two fourteenth-century manuscripts contain more than half of the extant insular fabliaux. Harley 2253 has almost half the insular fabliau corpus, the largest number of any compilation. Phillipps 25970 includes only one such tale. Both manuscripts were written towards the middle of the century, a period during which the genre also circulated on the continent.

LONDON, BRITISH LIBRARY, MS HARLEY 2253

British Library manuscript Harley 2253 is the most important extant manuscript for the study of the Anglo-Norman fabliau. It contains five fabliaux as well as pieces related to the genre. Like Digty 86, Harley 2253 is a miscellany.1 It was written by two principal scribes at two different periods. Folios i-ag, written in the early fourteenth century, contain religious works in Anglo-Norman. Folios 50-142, written later in the century, contain religious and secular pieces in Latin, French and

Anglo-Norman, both poetry and prose.

1 09 1 1 0

Harley 2253 can be Sated fairly precisely. Mention of Bannockburn in one of the poems led Murray to date the manuscript at c.1314-25.2 An historical reference in one of the political p)oems led Miss Aspin to date the work, at about 1 338.3 Ker used paelographical grounds to place the manuscript in the fourth decade of the fourteenth century.4 Harley 2253 was written in Herefordshire. Wright suggested a connection with the Benedictine priory of Leominster,5 but

Ker posited a link with Adam de orleton (d. 1345), Bishop at

Hereford from 1317-27.6

Harley 2253 contains poems written in northern, western and southern English dialects.7 Apparently material from several parts of the country was gathered and copied in the Hereford area. Digby 86, which also contains a variety of genres, was copied in the diocese of Worcester, about twenty-five miles away. A relatively small percentage of works in common,8 as well as a difference of between forty to fifty years in compilation date, militates against the direct use of Digby 66 in the Harley 2253 text.

The major scribe of Harley 2253 also wrote part of another miscellany containing Latin, Anglo-Norman and English prose and verse.9 This compilation, London, British Library, Royal MS l2.C.xii, written about the same period as Harley 2253, also contains indications of a West Midlands origin.10 The existence of these important compilations 111 within a close area indicates a continuing interest in and transmission of material in the West Midlands during the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries. The works in Harley 2253 should not be regarded as an isolated example of insular interest in various types of literature.

•III* names

•III* Dames, ("concerning Three Ladies," hereafter. Dames) is found on folios noa-iioc cf Harley 2253. It should be noted here that the titles of the fabliaux have been supplied by editors because there are no rubric titles in the manuscript. The fabliau consists of 106 lines in octosyllabic couplets. Preceding it in the manuscript is the satiric dialogue, Le rgi dlAngleterre et le jongleur

2nd following it are two short poems about women, a laudatory Dit des femmes, and a derogatory Blasme de femmes. Lames is related by subject (namiely women) to the pieces following. As there are other works about women placed variously in the manuscript, no extensive grouping in terms of genre or subject can be postulated.

The Harley text of Dames has been edited twice. Paul Meyer provided a fairly reliable text printed in the Recueil general (some corrections were noted by Holbrook); Kennedy's edition was also accurate.11 Differences between 1 1 2 the printed texts are based primarily upon expansion of abbreviations.

Bedier, Vising and Nykrog all classify Darnes as a fabliau.12 Vising places the poem in the thirteenth century and describes it as a "remaniement of an older fabliau,"13 doubtless based upon the existence of a thirteenth-century continental version of the fabliau.14 Although insular and continental versions are similar, Bedier and Nykrog list them as separate tales in the fabliau corpus.15

Dames relates the adventures of three women who go on a pilgimage to Mont Saint Michel. One cf the ladies finds a "vit" which a companion immediately asks her to share.

Their ensuing dispute is adjourned to a nearby abbey where the abbess sees them after mass. She settles the argument by claiming that the object belonges tc the abbey. A nun.

Sister Helen, takes the object and leaves the three ladies to lament the loss of their treasure.

In both insular and continental fabliaux, the plot is the same. A high incidence of common lines and rhymes points to a close relationship between the texts. The major differences between the versions lie in the openings and the conclusions. In the insular fabliau, the introduction 11 3 provides a brief picture of an experienced storyteller: Puis que de fabler ay corr.ence Ja n'y ert pur moun travail lesse; De trois danes comenceroy ftsses brievement le countercy. (i-u)

(since I began telling stories Now that will not be lessened because of my sufferings; I will begin concerning three women, I will tell it very briefly.) Similar opening lines are found frequently in medieval French literature,16 notably in the lai, Vonec by Marie de France: Puis que des lais ai comencie, Ja n'iert pur mun travail laissie.17 (1-2) (Since I began telling lais Now it will not be lessened because of my labors.)

It cannot be established that the insular fabliau deliberately echoes the fable; however the parallel is interesting, especially as it is different than the continental opening, which is longer and more technical: [M]a paine metrai et m’entente, Tant com je sui en ma jovente, A center .1. fabliau par rime Sanz colour et sans leonime; Mais s’il i a consonancie, II ne m'en chaut qui mal en die. Car ne puet pas plaisir a touz consonancie sanz bons moz; or les oiez tex comme il sont.18 (1-9) (since I am in my youth I will take the trouble and concentrate upon Telling a fabliau in rhyme Without color and without leonine; But if there is consonance I don't care who speaks ill of it. Because consonance without witty sayings Cannot please everyone; Now hear them, such as they are. ) 1 1 4

The initial line is founcs in cne other fabliau.19

Frequently "paine" is an exordial term designating the clerical aEE>Ii£;i£.i°Q to composition. The rest cf the introduction is not found elsewhere. The continental narrator refers to another version of the story that he heard told ("puis oi' center," 12). No earlier source, written or oral, is mentioned in the insular version.

Plot development in both fabliaux is parallel. More than half of the lines contain the same rhymes. In contrast, the conclusions are as different from each other as the introductions. The insular ending returns to the pilgrimage 1 1 5 rriOtif : Les dames qe la chose troverent Quant le jugement entenderent. Molt sunt dolent e irrasuz Qe la chose est issi perduz, L molt marris s'en partoient, E la abbesse molt maldisoient E distrent qe james n'assenterount Ne jugement demaunderount De tiele chose apreser Ne en autre manere juger, Mes cele, qe la trovera, A tous jours la tendra Come relyke molt desirree E de totes dames honoree. (105-18) (The ladies who found the thing. When they heard the judgement Are very sad and angry That the thing is thus lost. And they left very vexed And cursed the abbess exceedingly And said that they would never agree Or seek a decision Or entreat for such a thing Or any other manner of judging; But she who finds it Will always retain it As a relic exceedingly desired And honored by all ladies. ) Satire upon the pilgrimage motif is continued by turning the uvit" into a saint's relic worthy of a pilgrimage. Kennedy points out that in the Roman de la rose, the term "relic" is a euphemism for testicles.20 Such a pun is an appropriate conclusion to a fabliau that consistently mocks both women and religion.

A linguistic term separates the conclusion from the body of the insular text. In the main section, the object found by the women is called plainly a "vit" (14,80,82,101), yet 1 1 6 in the conclusion, it is termed ”1& chose" (105, 108), another euphemism for genitals, and is referred to in the feminine for "chose" (115, 116) rather than in the masculine for "vit." in its use of a euphemism in one section, as well as the absence of a separate final observation, the insular fabliau differs from its analogue.

In the continental text, no mention is made of the "vit" as a relic. The abbess is accused of being a "...fausse tricherresse/Qui leur toli par covoitise" ("false traitor who robbed them out of covetousness," 106-07). Following the accusation is a condemnation of the sin of greed: three proverbs decry the vice. The serious tone of the ccnclusion is reinforced by the line, "Par essample vus mostre et preuve" ("By this example I show and prove to you," 117). A serious moral is drawn from a bawdy story. Such a change in tone is not unusual in the fabliau genre, and indeed is a legacy from the fable and the exemplum. Nykrog pointed out a parallel between the narrator’s condemnation of a judgement based upon covetousness and Marie de France's similar indictment in one of her Fables.21 In the fabliau, the conclusion appears to be an appendage rather than an integral part of the narrative, fer lust is a more appropriate vice to castigate. In contrast, the satiric thrust of the conclusion in the insular version is more appropriate to the story than the continental invective against greed. 1 1 7

A comparison of insular and continental stories reveals divergences primarily in the introductions and the conclusions. Although the bodies of the texts are parallel, the differences militate against the extant continental version being the basis for the Harley version. In view of the similarities to the continental text as well as the pilgrimage to Mont Saint Michel in Normandy, it is probable that the Harley fabliau was based upon an earlier continental fabliau.

It was typical of early French criticism to regard Anglo-Norman fabliaux as less correct than continental French ones. Such a view automatically relegated insular works to an inferior position. in this context, Montaiglon and Raynaud viewed the insular manuscript text as inferior to the continental: ...I’un, celui de Londres, nous presente, avec toutes ses fautes de langue et de versification, une piece anglo-normande, et 1'autre, celui de Paris, nous permit de lire le fabliau dans une forme correcte et facile.22

Rychner also considered the continental fabliau to be the better version, regarding the Anglo-Norman as the result of "la transmission m£morielle."23 Only the continental text specifically refers to an oral source ("Puis oi’ center," 12). The opening literary echo and the thematic conclusion in the Harley text do not point to an inferior oral version of the story. 1 1 8

Dames is one of the less moral tales in the fabliau corpus. Kennedy considered the piece to be a parody of a judgment upon lovers.2* Like the Latin Council of Love at

E§!2iE£{I:2Di»25 the fabliau presents a cynical picture of the morals in a convent. In Darnes, both the women going on the pilgrimage and those living in the abbey ideally should reflect upon spiritual matters and should behave chastely. Yet the woman who finds the item is pleased (18-19), wants to keep it for herself, and argues over it with her fellow travellers. The nuns behave even less admirably. One of them looks at the "vit" appraisingly ("de bon oyl," 85) and the abbess, instead of being shocked by the item, starts breathing heavily (88). She claims it as a previously stolen bolt of the abbey’s door (92-55) and calls upon

Sister Helen (101) to expropriate it. Possibly the name is a satiric reference to Helen of Troy. In all of these details, the discrepancy between the ideal of chastity and the reality of "luxuria" — one of the seven deadly sins — is mocked. Vice is presented humorously in the body of the text and is not condemned in either version.

Nykrog considered both insular and continental versions of the fabliau among the works that gave the genre a reputation for dissoluteness: Non seulement ces commeres trouvent I’objet menticnne dans le titre, mais elles se le disputent; non seulement dies se le disputent, mais elles portent la dispute devant un tribunal des religieuses; non seulement elles exhibent 1 1 9

1'objet du litige devant la prieure, mais toutes les sceurs du couvent affluent; et non seulement elles affluent, mais elles arrivent en sortant de la messe.26

There is no particular bawdy passage in the fabliau; rather the basic conception of the narrative is immoral. Evidently the situation was not offensive to seme medieval audiences, since the two extant manuscripts indicate that the tale circulated both on the continent and in England.

Dames shares a common element with the other insular fabliaux. All touch upon the theme of lust. Sex motivated the clerc in Romaunz, it was responsible for the wine-scak.ed husbands in Corn, it caused the wife in Souhais to wish for a well-endowed husband, and it prompted the exchange in

H§E2D* As all of these fabliaux have continental analogues, the interest in sex is not peculiar tc insular literature, but is common to the genre. Although numerous continental fabliaux satirize the clergy, Qam§5 is the only such Anglo-Norman fabliau.

Bedier located the place of origin of one anti-clerical fabliau, Le pretre et Alison (’’The Priest and Alison," hereafter Pretre),27 in either England or Normandy.28 There are several reasons for excluding the story from the insular canon. In the body of of the text, the narrator identifies himself as "Guillaume li Normanz" (439). Schmidt considered him to be a Norman who lived in England during the second 1 20

half of the thirteenth century.29 Such an identification would place the fabliau in the Anglo-Norman canon. The story is in a continental manuscript copied in the north of France.30 The manuscript contains continental French texts of the Chastelement, the Fables of Marie de France, La grue and Le chiyaler gui fist parler les cons, as well as other works that exist in insular versions.31 No Anglo-Norman fabliau texts are found in continental manuscripts.

The fabliau takes place in north-west France.32 There are only three references to England: the sum in pounds

sterling (190, 247), the name of Alison, and a reference to the Thames River. Pounds sterling were acceptable currency in France during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.

Alison in the tale is a prostitute. Her name and nationality reflect the insulting attitude towards the English that is also seen in the sexual innuendos in two other continental fabliaux in the same manuscript, Des .II. EQQloys et de Hanoi, and De la male Honte. The latter story is attributed to a Guillaume.33 The reference in ££££.££ to the Thames is employed as a cliche to measure distance, found in numerous fabliaux.34 In context, it is not surprising to find an English river mentioned by an

Englishwoman. None of the references suggests an insular origin for the fabliau. Since Pretre is not copied in an insular manuscript, since it is not listed by Vising, and since there is no proof of an English origin, it would be inappropriate to consider it an insular fabliau. It will not be included in this corpus of Anglo-Norman fabliaux.

De le cheyaler e de la corbaylle

De le cheyaler e ge la corbaylle (hereafter Corbaylle) occupies folios 115c to 117a of Harley 2253. Preceding the fabliau is a poem in English verse, Mon in the mgne, and following it is an Anglo-Norman version of an anti- feminine Latin poem, De conjuge non ducenda.

There is no systematic relationship between the fabliau and the material that surrounds it. corbaylle is not titled in rubrics; in the body of the text it is termed "De le chevaler e la corbaylle1' ("Concerning the knight and the basket," 2) and "De la veille e de la ccrbayle" ("Concerning the old woman and the basket," 264).

Corbaylle consists of 264 lines of octosyllabic verse. The text has been edited twice by Francisque Michel;35 one of his editions was reprinted by Montaiglon and Raynaud.36 Some of the latter readings were corrected by Holbrook.37 Since the printed texts consistently attempted to regularize 1 22 the Anglo-Norman octosyllabic verse,38 a new edition is desirable. Kennedy's text is more reliable than previous editions;39 because his thesis is not readily accessible, a transcription of the fabliau is included in Appendix II.

is classified as a fabliau by Bedier, vising and Nykrog.40 Vising lists it twice, under both the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. There is little basis for the dating since the manuscript is of the fourteenth century, and no earlier analogues exist. This is the earliest extant Anglo-Norman fabliau that has no parallels with a continental version.

The plot of Corbaylle revolves about "une dame de honour" ("an honorable lady," 6) and a knight, who arrange an assignation. Since the lady is guarded closely by her mother-in-law, the meeting is difficult. The knight gains entry to the castle by means of a basket that is lowered into the main hall of the castle through an upper window. While the knight and his lady enjoy themselves, they move the bedcovers and awaken the mother-in-law sleeping in an adjoining bed. In order to investigate the disturbance she goes to the kitchen for a candle. On the way she falls into the basket, which is then raised and lowered by the squires outside the castle. Terrified by her nocturnal ride, she suspects that devils are at work. Subsequently the helpers drop the basket so that it falls tc the ground, "e la veille 1 23 a une part vole" ("anc the old woman flies part of the way," 237). Returning to her bed, she curses the wife's cover and goes back, to sleep without further disturbing the levers.

Although there are no fabliau analogues to corbaylle. there are parallels in other literary genres. Kennedy points out the similarity to medieval romance, particularly to Chretien's Le chevalier de la charette, where Lancelot reaches the queen confined in a castle.41 In the poem, Lancelot bends the bars of the window to reach her; consequently the comparison with Corbaylle is not relevant. Nykrog suggests the influence of Floire et Blnncheflor for the motif of the hero who reaches the heroine by means of a basket.42 Togeby points out the parallel in the vulgate version of L^estoire del saint graal in which Hippocrates is tricked into entering a basket to visit a lady and is suspended in it all night.43 The basket motif is the main parallel between these various versions; plot and character differ. Adaptation of the same motif in various literary forms reflects absence of medieval distinctions between genres in terms of motifs.

No direct source for the fabliau is extant. The opening lines of the text hint that the plot did circulate previously; 1 24

Pur ce que plusours ount mervaille De le chevaler e la corbaylle, or le vus vueil je counter. (1-3)

(Because many people are astonished By the story of the knight and the basket. Now I wish to tell it to you.)

The first line is found frequently enough in medieval literature to be regarded as a conventional statement,4* but may refer to a previous version of the basket motif of which Corbaylle is the only fabliau version.

Since there are no fabliau analogues for £2£baylle, it would be useful to compare the situation and characters in the fabliau to others in the genre to determine whether or not the composition is characteristic of continental practice. The presentation of an assignation is widespread in the genre. In this particular story, the standard triangle of the lover, the husband and the wife is replaced by that of the lover, the guardian and the wife. The husband is humiliated indirectly when his mother is trapped in the basket. Often fabliau, like romance, lovers succeed in their meeting while the opposition is punished. In the old woman is more frightened than hurt. She is not banished as was the sister in Fomaunz for her attempt to stop the assignation.

None of the characters in the fabliau is named; such practice is usual in the continental fabliaux. Die wife is described as an honorable lady (6) but is not developed as a 1 25 character. Mo mention is made of the relationship between her and her husband, but he has her guarded strictly (12-13, 36-37), indicating some suspicion of her. The infatuation between the lady and her knight is indicated as one of some standing, although they have only talked. Both the situation and the characters are found throughout medieval love literature. When the lovers' assignation is discovered, the wife's response is quick-witted; when the old woman asks why the bed cover is shaking, the wife responds punningly that she is scratching an itch (194-96). The wife is not developed further in terms of the clever or scheming woman, either in actions or in dialogue. Neither is there any final narrative comment about her. The only such remark is found early in the tale when the narrator states that woman's wiles can overcome any obstacle (14-16). The comment recalls the Chastoiement observation; it does not individualize the wife any more than the statement that she was honorable. Both remarks are substitutes for character development, and the female protagonist is only a stereotyped figure found frequently in medieval literature.

The knight is neither named nor developed as a character.

As is conventional in the romance he is a person "de grant valour" (5), who loves a lady (6-8), attends tournaments (43-45), and talks of love with his lady (65-66). Cleverly he finds a way to enter the castle in order to visit her at 1 26 night. Beyond these traits, he is net individualized, and he does not emerge from a steretype.

The mother-in-law is the typical guardian appointed to watch over a younger woman. Like the nurse in Grue and

USE2D# she is not successful. Traditionally the guardian is not popular with lovers; this duena becomes the comic butt of the tale. The wife and the knight beiroan the mother-in-law's watchfulness (70-89), for justifiably she is suspicious of the knight (61-64, 67). She is cursed not only by the lovers (80-81 , 90-91 ), but also by the narrator

(68). She is pictured as someone "qe mout soud de art/ E d'engyn e de trycherye" ("Who knew a lot of cunning/ And scheming and treachery," 206-07). She is not a bawd, but a formidable opponent who suspects the movement of the cover (208-09) and arises to investigate. Despite her fright and her aerial descent from the basket, she is not injured seriously. When she returns to her chamber, she still has enough energy to curse the wife's bedcover (245-48) before she retires and leaves the lovers in peace. The moral of the fabliau concludes that she only got what she deserved ( 261-62 ).

Of the three figures in the fabliau, the old woman is the most important. Most of the lovers' conversation revolves about her; more description is given to her encounter in the basket than to their meeting, and the concluding proverb 1 27

refers to her. Where the opening lines of the fabliau describe the plot as concerning the Knight and the basket, the closing line refers to the story of the old Vvorran and the basket. The first description emphasizes the knight's use of the basket to reach his lover, while the latter focuses upon the basket as a vehicle to punish the auena. The descriptions mirror a story that begins as a courtly tale and concludes like a fabliau.

The fabliau ending is seen in both the narrative commentary upon the plot and in the proverbial conclusion. After the old woman returns to her bed, the narrator comments:

Les dames que errent par nuit Mout en urent grand desduit. Les deus amantz quant le oevre surent E ceux qe balaunce, le urent. (249-52) (Ladies who wander by night Often had great delight from it. When the two lovers and the helpers below Knew the undertaking, they did it.)

The first couplet, following directly the old woman's retort to the wife, functions as an ironic counterpoint tc her adventure. The subsequent comment upon the lovers summarizes the other result of wandering, from which the wife did indeed obtain pleasure. The tongue-in-cheek summary is reminiscent of that found in the conclusions of Corn and Mantel. 1 28

Another characteristic of the fabliau genre is seen in the concluding proverb: Pur ce est droit qe mal purchace Qe a la foiz mal ly face. (261-62) (For this reason it is just that He who seeks to work harm Is harmed in return. )

"Pur ce" is an dl2ib2Di!D£ that points out the lesson taught by the story. The narrative does not appear tc be structured about the proverb; nevertheless the proverb is a logical conclusion. Such endings cut across many genres in late medieval French literature.

does not appear to have been a popular fabliau in view of the lack of other manuscript versions. The basket motif continued to be utilized in post-medieval literature. It is found on the continent in a fifteenth-century Norman "chanson"*5 and in a sixteenth-century prose tale.*6 In Britain it is the subject of a Scottish ballad, "The Keach I' the creel" ("The Catch in the Basket"), which exists in four versions that were written down in the eighteenth century.*7 They do not appear to be based directly upon the fabliau, for the lover is a clerk visiting a girl who is guarded by her parents, and the castle is a house. "The Keach I* the Creel," like the ballad analogue of the Lai du corn, reflects the long-term appeal of motifs employed by the medieval fabliaux 1 29

may be considered as a representative fabliau. The structure of the romantic triangle, the lovers and their opposition, the way in which they outwit their guard, the courtly opening and the fabliau development and conclusion, are all standard in the genre. Stereotyped characters who are subordinate to narrative development are also commonplace. In terms of the corpus of tales, corbaylle compares favorably with other fabliaux. The romantic triangle is developed in terms of a widely-found literary motif. The narrative is presented succinctly; its 264 lines are slightly less than the 300-400 line average of the continental fabliaux. Its ingenuity and humor are clever, and are neither savage nor scandalous. The tale is an important Anglo-Norman contribution to the fabliau genre.

La qageure

La gageure ("The wager," hereafter Gaceure), occupies folios I18b-ll8d of Harley 2253. It is preceded by a poem in French verse imitating the Latin, Ce cgnjuge non ducenda, which presents reasons for avoiding marriage, and it is followed by a metrical treatise in English on dreams. The fabliau is not related to either piece.

Gageure was first edited by Sir Francis Palgrave in 1818, who entitled it Le dit de la gageure.46 Francisque Michel published an edition of the poem in 1835, probably based 1 30

upon the Pelgrave text, as Michel also entitles the poem a

"dit."*9 No such classification is present in the manuscript. In turn Montaiglon and Raynaud also entitled the piece a "dit," probably based upon the Michel edition.50 Their text of Gageure, like theirs of corbaylle, regularizes

the Anglo-Norman meter.51 The text printed by Kennedy is more faithful to the readings in the manuscript.52 As his thesis is not readily accessible, a transcription of the fabliau will be printed in Appendix II.

Gageure consists of 108 lines of octosyllabic couplets. The tale is classified as a fabliau by Bedier, Vising and

Nykrog.53 In the opening lines, it is termed a "fable" (1).

while three continental fabliaux use a similar terminology,54 Gageure is the only Anglo-Norman fabliau to use the term.

The plot concerns a lord and a lady. The lord's brother

is his squire and the lady's cousin is her lady-in-waiting. When the lady-in-waiting is offended by the squire's amorous advances, the wife devises a love test designed to humiliate both the squire and her husband. she instructs the lady-in-waiting to require the squire to kiss her posterior before granting him her favors. Then the lady informs her husband of the incident and wagers that the squire will perform the act. While the lord and lady look on, the squire and the lady-in-waiting meet in the garden beneath a 131 pear tree. she presents him her behind whereupon he holds her firmly and makes love to her. Good humoredly the lord urges him on by promising him a horse, and chastises his wife for her wish to humiliate him and his family. He has the squire marry the girl; the wife esteems his family from that moment on.

There are no direct analogues for the fabliau. The opening refers to an oral source (1-2) which either has not survived or did not exist, such a statement being conventional in medieval literature. In broad terms Gageure parodies two groups of poems, those belonging to the wager cycle and the chansons de geste. in the wager cycle, two men bet on the fidelity of a woman who appears to succumb, but who does not and who finally establishes her innocence.55 All of the wager poems are serious in their presentation of character and theme. Gageure appears to burlesque several of the conventions in that its husband and wife rather than the two rivals in love make the wager, and the girl in question does not remain chaste despite all obstacles. A more obvious parody in Gageure is that of the love test, in which a suitor must prove himself before obtaining his lady's affections. Here the test is far from exalted; the suitor does not behave in a chivalrous manner, he cannot be said to have passed the test. 132

Several terms in 222£i2E§ are taken from courtly literature. The squire loves the lady "de molt fyn cure"

(16), accordingly requests her love (19) and swears by his soul that he loves her (14, 48). such professions of love contrast sharply with his behavior in the garden, where the meeting is far from courteous. Here the assignation takes place during the day rather than at night, and is observed by onlookers. The pear tree under which they rr.eet ("le perer Jahenyn," 52) appears to have had illicit literary associations. Fenice and Cliges made love under a pear tree in an enclosed garden.56 May and Damien in Chaucer's also disported in the branches of such a tree,57 as did an unnamed couple in a tale attached to the

Bi§£iE2il!2 Clericalis and printed by Caxton.58

Nykrog considered the fabliau as a parody of courtly love in its use of the courtly code, vocabulary and characters. He saw the relationship between the squire and the girl as a reduction of the love between a knight and a lady.59 while

Pearcy also saw Gageure as a parody, he felt that it mocked the chanson de geste, first in its use of the "baiser honteux" motif and second in its structure.60 Four structural elements of the genre are: the family quarrel, the insult, the act of prowess, and the reward. Pearcy saw in the fabliau the wife's dislike of her husband's family as the quarrel, her scheme to have the squire kiss the girl's 1 33 behind as the insult, and both the gift of the horse and the reconciliation between husband and wife as the reward. He did not consider the meeting in the garden to be an act of prowess. Pearcy's theory lacks the comprehensiveness of Nykrog's, as all of the elements of the chanson de geste are not present in the fabliau. Where the courtly love theory can be applied to a large number of the fabliaux, Pearcy's only relates to two, Gageure and Berenqier au lone cul, and is consequently of more limited applicability. Both theories neglect the elements of the wager cycle, which the fabliau burlesques in part.61 Rather than posit Gageure as a parody of a specific work or genre, it seems more appropriate to see it as representative of the fabliau genre in its skeptical attitude towards love and its general mockery of human pretensions.

None of the characters in Gageure is taken from, the bourgeoisie; all are members of the lower nobility. The squire is sketched briefly. His behavior to the lady-in-waiting is that of the conventional lover until the meeting in the garden, when he responds in kind to her ignoble request. His action can be viewed either as vengeance or opportunism; his precise motivation is not clarified. In any event, he marries the girl, with his brother's approval. The counterpoint between the squire's different types of behavior is comic in this context. 1 34

Similarly, the object of his affections is not developed as a character. "Chaunbrere" can be translated to mean either ’'chambermaid'' or "lady in waiting;" both uses are

found in Anglo-Norman literature.62 As she and the lady are cousins, the latter meaning is more probable. The lady-in-waiting complains because the squire requested her love (20), but accepts the lady’s unorthodox advice unquestioningly, although she realizes that the request is humiliating. She is the victim of the meeting in the garden, but her feelings are not detailed. Despite the lady's request that she turn aside, the girl does not try to evade the squire’s advances. Like him, she functions to advance the plot and is not important as a person; consequently her feelings are not delineated.

The "dame" in the fabliau is also a shadowy figure. No reason is given for her dislike of her husband's family

("lygnage," 7); the emotion functions to provide her with a reason for staging the insult. By betting a tun of wine on the results of the meeting, she insures her husband's presence as a witness to the intended humiliation, and indicates a vindictiveness in her personality. when the lovers' meeting does not happen as she planned, she does not sympathize with her cousin, but curses her because she loses the wager (87-88). The tun of wine functions in one sense as a concrete object that the wife lost, and in a figurative 1 35 sense as the girl's virginity. At this point in the narrative, both women have suffered reversals in control.

Subsequently the wife's increased respect for her husband's family ( 1 03-06 ) does not appear to be internally rrotivated but is imposed upon the plot in order to provide a happy ending. The initially unhappy marriage ends in concord.

The husband in Gageure is not the usual fabliau victim, for he is not made the comic butt of the narrative. He does not appear until halfway through the narrative, once the meeting has been arranged. when informed that his brother will kiss the girl's posterior, he is astonished (65-66), and agrees to the wager. When the squire fails to bestow the kiss, the knight urges him on by premising him a valuable horse as a reward (90-94). At this point in the narrative the men take control of the events, whereupon they behave more generously than the women. The knight chastises his wife for her behavior and he points out that where she disliked his family, he esteemed hers (95-100). By bringing about a marriage between the lovers, he establishes concord in the family. The knight's behavior characterizes him as honorable and sympathetic, unlike the stereotyped fabliau husband. His portrayal appears to be influenced by the romance genre.

Gageure has not been the subject cf numerous critical studies. Bedier acknowledged its "vague lueur d*esprit et 1 36 de gaiete" despite the obscenity.63 Nykrog listed the lovers' meeting as one of the purple passages in the fabliau genre,64 and viewed the story as "...a la fois courtois et grossier."65 Pearcy's study also pointed out the combination of motifs. It should be noted that two of the motifs in that of the shameful kiss and that of a seduction in a garden near a pear tree, are present in two of Chaucer's fabliaux. The Killer^s Tale and The Merchant's Tale. Although it cannot be established that Chaucer was familiar with Gageure, the piece does indicate that

Chaucer's combination of motifs had precedents in the insular fabliau.

Although Gageure is approximately a third of the length of the average continental fabliau, it can be considered representative of the genre in its fast-paced narrative, plot and characters. Obscene passages are found in three other Anglo-Norman fabliaux -- Scuhais. Heron and Dames -- and are found frequently in continental and other insular fabliaux. The combination of fabliau with courtly romance motifs is also found in both insular and continental tales.

Despite the lady-in-waiting's crude request and the squire's coarse response, the fabliau does not involve adultery, the duping of a husband, or the satire of religion. The squire marries the girl and the lord approves of the union.

2S2SUEE is a remarkably pro-establishment fabliau. A pro-marriage fabliau is unusual. 1 37

Le chivaler gui fist garler les cons

Le chivaler gui fist garler les cons ("The Knight who made pudenda speak," hereafter chivaler) occupies folios 122d-l24c of Harley 2253. The fabliau is preceded by L2.grgre de be 1 ayse, a poem in French verse that satirizes the religious orders, and is followed by Of. rybaugz y ryrne ant rede o my nolle, a satire in English verse. Chiyaler is surrounded by satirical poems, and it is itself a satire; the placement is appropriate.

Chiyaler exists in several versions. The only

Anglo-Norman text is found in the Harley manuscript; there are six continental texts in manuscripts of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.fcb host of the continental texts have been edited adequately,67 as has the Harley text.68

Chiyaler is classified as a fabliau by Bedier, Vising and Nykrog.69 Both Bedier and Nykrog list the insular text separately from the continental, due to the differences between the versions, as well as the countries of origin.70 The insular text has 292 lines of octosyllabic couplets; the continental texts vary from 604 to 750 octosyllabic lines.71 Plots in all the versions are similar.

An impoverished knight journeys to a tournament in order to replenish his finances. on the way, he and his squire pass three fairies bathing in a fountain. The squire steals 1 38 their clothes, which the knight returns. As a reward, the fairies grant him magic gifts, which include in the continental versions: 1 ) a joyous reception by all who meet him; 2) the power to make pudenda speak; 3) the ability to make anuses speak (the Harley text has an additional gift, that will be discussed later). The knight encounters a priest who welcomes him; subsequently the knight tests the third gift on the priest's horse. When the knight and squire arrive at a castle, they are welcomed. During the night a lady-in-waiting visits the knight and discovers the power of his second gift. Frightened, she tells the countess about the knight's powers, and the lady wagers publicly that he cannot make her vagina speak. He accepts the challenge and she retires to so fill her vagina with cotton and wool that it cannot reply; subsequently he uses his third gift to make public the countess' actions. The knight receives the money from the bet and returns home, impoverished no longer.

Chivaler is not the only fabliau in which supernatural elements operate. Lai du Corn and Le mantel mautaille employ a magic horn and mantel, both wrought by fairies. In the Breton lai, Guinqamqr, the hero also seizes the clothing of a bathing fairy who consequently rewards him.72 The action takes place both in the real and the supernatural worlds, whereas in the fabliau the plot unfolds in the human 1 39 sphere. The fabliau, L^anel c^ui faisoit les viz grans et roiges, centers about a magic marital aid, and Le con gui fu fait a la besche employs a space for an obscene end. Les

.1111. sohaits saint Martin and a related group of fabliaux center about magical wishes that are granted but misapplied by the user, often in obscene ways. Supernatural elements

in these fabliaux are used in a totally human environment; they are not important for the element of fairy magic, but as vehicles to advance the plot. The literary motif of the talking pudendum is found in Le debat du cul et du cons,73 where it functions to satirize the debate genre. In all, Chiyaler has many literary analogues in fabliaux and other genres, but it does not have a specific source.

Cbiyaler is attributed to Guerin in Harley 2253 and in most of the other manuscripts.7A He is the author of five other fabliaux,75 most of which Bedier though were possibly composed towards the middle of the thirteenth century in the

Ile-de-France.76 Guerin seems to have been one of the major known contributors to the genre, as only two other authors are known to have written an equal or greater number of fabliaux — Gautier le Leu (six) and Jean Bodel (eight). Another fabliau possibly written by Guerin, De la grue, has an insular analogue, Le heron. Although several insular fabliaux are related closely to continental works, Guerin is the only author named in an Anglo-Norman fabliau. 1 40

Rychner divided the manuscripts containing into

three groups, A contains five continental texts, B contains

a single text with an expanded version, and C is the Harley version. Both B and C were based upon A.77 Rychner viewed the differences in the insular version as a result of memorial transmission,78 which was his explanation for all of the insular fabliau versions. Typical of his criticism, Rychner viewed the Anglo-Norman version as "abregee et degradee."79 In order to examine this statement, the Harley text of chiyaler will be compared to the major continental versions.

All three groups of manuscripts, while related, make changes in the narrative. Differences within the A group are not significant enough to be discussed in detail here.

B, the early fourteenth-century manuscript, uses the fabliau as the basis for a courtly story, and adds character descriptions and dialogue that are standard in the romance genre. In view of the scatalogical nature of the gifts and their use in the plot, these additions differ in tone from the fabliau core, and are not integrated successfully. The length of the new elements detracts frcm the swift pace of the narrative, and the courtly elements are ridiculous when used seriously in such a context.

In contrast to this expansion of the fabliau, the Harley

text is highly abridged; it is slightly less than half as 141 long as the ma^or group of continental texts. Basically the insular fabliau shares the same plot; it does not eliminate incidents tut condenses them. A comparison of the Harley text with the homogeneous group of five manuscripts reveals a pattern to the insular alterations.

The continental texts begin with a prologue describing the popularity of "fabliaus," which bring comfort to people; similarly the Harley text says that stories bring "solas" (2), but labels the tale "une trufle" (a trifle," 6). while both the prologues essentially make the same point, the versification and details are not related to each other.

Apparently the Harley opening represents a reworking of the prologue.

In all of the texts, the knight is poor because he has neither income nor lands. Only in the insular version is he described as "Molt vaillaunt e de grant pris/Hardi, pruz, bel bachiler" ("Very valiant and of great worth,/Bold, proud, a good young warrior," 14-15). The description, characteristic in the romance genre, elevates the knight. Whereas in the continental versions he has pawned his armor to obtain living expenses, and must sell his palfrey to redeem it, the knight in the insular versions has borrowed money to live but has not foolishly pawned his means of support. The insular text omits some of the dialogue 1 42 between knight and squire, as well as the continental localization of the story at Provins and La Haie. It will be seen that the insular version consistently omits many details and dialogue, that do not interfere with the narrative coherence.

Cnee the journey to the tournament begins, the Harley text condenses the preparations but introduces a reference to £lie of Winchester, who translated Cato's Di5li£b§ into Anglo-Norman verse,80 and a conventional description of the season (53-56). The additions to the fabliau point to a deliberate incorporation of non-fabliau literary motifs, and to the exclusion of dialogue between the knight ana the squire and some of the fairies' conversation. Only enough of the original details are retained to make the episode coherent.

The fairies' gifts to the knight are slightly different in insular and continental versions. To the three gifts in the continental texts, the Harley text adds another — that any woman he asks will grant him her love. The two scatalogical gifts of the continental texts are condensed into a single gift in the insular version. Its function will be discussed shortly.

The encounter between the knight and the priest (chaplain in the Harley text) is also more condensed in the insular 1 43 fabliau. Where the continental texts contain a good deal of dialogue, the insular version employs description. In the continental texts, the priest is sc frightened by the response of his horse's anus that he abandons the animal and flees on foot; in the insular version he escapes on horseback. In all of the versions he leaves the knight money (ten livres and ten marcs respectively, in the insular and continental versions).

The arrival of the knight and squire and their joyous reception at the "chastiel'^ 153 ) are described more fully in the continental texts. In them, the countess sends one of her ladies to sleep with the knight, as she cannot go herself. The Harley text eliminates this wantonness; instead, the knight requests the lady-in-waiting's love and she accedes (165-72). Thus he utilizes the additional fairy Gift, and it would appear that the gift was incorporated in order to remove such a blemish from the countess' character. During the seduction scene, the knight's actions are described graphically in the continental texts, but not in the insular. When he questions the girl's vagina as to why she visited him, in the continental text it replies that the countess sent her. In the insular version, the knight asks "daun coun," (178) whether or not the lady is a maid, and it replies negatively in a graphic manner (176-86). Such a response indicates that the knight has not tried to seduce 1 44 en innocent, and that the girl is net blameless in such matters. Her actions do not involve the countess in the Harley text.

When the girl reports the episode to the countess, the latter decides to test the Knight's unusual powers. In all of the analogues, she challenges the knight to prove his abilities with regard to her person before all of the company. While the count makes no reply in the continental versions, in the insular text he tells her to let the matter be (222-23). She ignores his advice and wagers money against the knight's armor (in the continental versions) or his horse (in the insular version). In the former, it is the second time that he is willing to deprive himself of his armor (previously he had pawned it), whereas he does not behave so foolishly in the insular text. The details of the wager are presented at greater length in the continental versions.

In all of the fabliaux, the countess retires to her chamber to "fix" the contest. when the knight attempts to conjure the voice he fails; the squire reminds him of the other rriagic gift that reveals to the company the countess' stratagem. After the knight wins the wager, the countess makes peace with him. This final episode is presented in greater detail in the continental texts. 145

The concluding observations of the fabliaux vary. Most of the continental versions make the conventional observation that the knight was born "ae bon eur” ( "at a good time"). The insular text dubs knight and squire

"Chyvaler de Coun, Huet de Culet" ("Knight of the Pudendum, Huet of the Little Anus"). No doubt the mock titles poke fun at such exotic names as the Chevalier au Lyon and Chevalier au cygne. These epithets add a touch of literary satire to the insular version of the fabliau.

Such a brief examination of the broader differences between the continental and insular versions of chiyaler reveals a consistent pattern in the Harley text. The Anglo-Norman fabliau condenses dialogue and narrative. It alters the fairy gifts and consequently makes the countess less ignoble. Several additional details -- the reference to £lie, the seasonal description, the naming of the knight and squire -- add literary echoes to the fabliau. For the most part, the changes in the insular version eliminate half of the lines in the continental analogues and minimize the scatalogical elements of the tale.

In view of the changes in the Harley version of Chiyaler, Rychner's estimate of the insular text as one that has undergone several memorial transmissions does not appear to be accurate. The alterations appear to reflect a deliberate effort to make one of the frequently-circulated tales 1 46 available to an insular audience. Apparently the tale was popular because only two other fabliaux are found in more manuscripts.s 1 F:ychner's theory of a coarsening or deforming oral tradition between the original fabliau and the Harley version82 does not account for the extant Anglo-Norman text as well as does the view of the text as an adaptation of a scatalogical text for a courtly audience that minimized insofar as possible the offensive plot elements. Such a change is also seen in the Anglo-Norman versions of Les .1111. sohaits saint Martin and Le heron. chiyaler follows a process seen in other insular versions of continental fabliaux.

Pieces related to the fabliau genre in Harley 2253

Several pieces in French verse related to the fabliau genre are found in Harley 2253. Gilcte et Johane (fols. 67c-68c)83 is in part a debate between two women in which one dissuades the other from a chaste life; ultimately the two convert other women in England and Ireland to their point of view. The theory of free love and the frankness with which the women discuss it, is reminiscent of the dialogue in the fabliaux. The carpe diem attitude that underlies the argument is also close to that expressed in the fabliaux. In the text, the story is dated September 15, the twenty-ninth year of King Edward (1301).84 The poem is 1 47

related to, but is not a reworking of, a similar debate in

Digby 86, LlS^trif de .II. dames.65 The Digby manuscript was copied between 1272-1282, but the poem was probably composed earlier. Both texts reflect the circulation and copying of related material in a geographically close area. Interest in such works was sustained over more than one generation of readers and scribes.

A group of poems relating to women is found in the manuscript. £ui a la dame de paradys,66 and Le dit aes femmes,87 are poems in octosyllabic couplets that praise women. Presenting the opposite point of view are poems that castigate women, Le blasme des femmes,86 De la femme et de iS ElS,89 Qe coniuge con augend a.9 0 Both views are found in medieval literature during the period. Le dit des femmes is also found in a shorter, differently-ordered version, attached to the fabliau, Les .1111. sohaits saint Martin, in Digby 86.91

Le roi d_|_Angleterre et le jongleur d * Ely

Le roi djAngleterre et le jongleur djEly (hereafter, Rgi), consists of 40b octosyllables; some are in couplets and some are in monorime stanzas. Foi occupies folios

I07c-I09d in the manuscripit. It is preceded by a poem in English, "Lustneth alle a lutel throwe,” and is followed by an Anglo-Norman fabliau, De .III. dames. There is no 1 U8 thematic link between the works, which appear to be copied with no predetermined order. The story is not titled in the rubrics.

In 1819 Sir Francis Palgrave, its first editor, called the fabliau Le Fablel du Jongleur de Ely e de Monseignpur le Roy de Engleterre.92 In 18 34 both the Abbe la Rue and Francisque Michel published editions of the text. Michel added a twenty-line prologue, followed by the lines "cy commence le Dit du Jongleur de Ely et de mon seignour le Roi de Engleterre."93 Both prologue and genre description appear to be derived from the Palgrave edition.9* Montaiglon and Raynaud reprint the prologue as part of the Harley text.95 Ulrich published a more accurate text based upon the Harley manuscript, and did not include the spurious prologue.96

Roi has been classified in various ways. Palgrave labelled it a "flabel" or fabliau; Michel followed by Le

Clerc and by Ulrich, termed it a "dit.1,97 Montaiglon and Raynaud considered it a fabliau, as did Redier and Nykrog.96 Vising classified it with satirical and humorous pieces as distinct from fabliaux The discrepancy is due to the lack of plot in the piece, which is presented almost entirely in a series of questicns and flippant answers between a king and a jongleur. Bedier differentiated it 1 49

from serious moral pieces upon the basis that it was intended to amuse rather than to instruct, and placed it "...a la limite des deux genres."100 Nykroy also saw the close relationship to other genres when he viewed Roi as a poem "qui n'est presque qu'un dit ou qu'un 1 jangle101

In the text, the poem is termed a "tresbon desduit" ("excellent amusement,"2) in the opening, and a "trufle" ("trifle" 400) at the close. No rubrics surround the text. There is no manuscript evidence to warrant the classification of Roi as a fabliau.

Roi in Harley 2253 is the only extant complete text of the poem. Numerous texts exist of a related prose version. La ripte du monde (hereafter. Rigte). A "riote" is a dispute or a "jangle" often centering about nonsense;102 here the term is also used in the sense of a quarrelsome debate. Riote texts in prose are found in insular103 and continental1manuscripts of the thirteenth and fourteenth

centuries. One late thirteenth-century verse fragment is extant; however, it is not parallel to Roi.105 A medieval insular version of unknown form has been lost.106 The extant texts indicate that the material circulated in England and on the continent in prose and in verse during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.

Prose and verse versions of Rgi contain numerous parallels. The two complete prose texts contain several 1 50 rhymes, especially in the opening lines. Kemble suggested ’’it is probable that these compilations were once metrical."10 7 If this assumption is accepted , the thirteenth-century prose texts represent un-rhymed versions of an earlier poem, of which Eoi is the only complete descendant.

Essentially the poem has no plot. The king's straightforward questions and the iongleur's punning responses in Roi reflect the influence of the debate, Salomon and MarcoIf.108 The humorous, often bawdy dialogue parodied the more serious Salomon and Saturn dialogues that circulated in Anglo-Saxon, Latin, German and French texts before and during the Middle Ages.109 The Roi and the Riote material derive from this, not the fabliau, tradition. In view of these literary affinities and the absence of a narrative, Roi will not be classified as a fabliau in this dissertation.

L^_ordre de bel ayse

Another work related closely to the fabliau genre is L^ordre de bel ayse ("The order of fair ease," hereafter, Qrdre), which occupies fol. 121a-l21c. It consists of 106 lines of octosyllabic couplets. Its placement in the manuscript before Le chiyaler nui fist parler les cons 151 reflects the satire found in both pieces. QE2ES has been classified as a fabliau by some critics of British literature.110 vising does not consider it a fabliau, but places it among satirical and humorous pieces.111

The Harley text of Qrgre has teen published and translated twice, in editions of Anglo-Norman political poems.112 in view of the critical divergence of opinion concerning genre, it appears appropriate to regard ordre as a short narrative work, related to the fabliau genre.

In the poem, a new religious order, limited to members of the nobility, is established. Men and women are admitted and allowed free access to each other as well as abundant food and drink with few responsibilities. The plot is structured about the rules of the order, each of which is based upon a vice — wealth, gluttony, lust, sloth — of one of the actual religious orders. Such satire is frequent in the fabliau genre, which does not treat members of the clergy with reverence. Often they successfully dupe husbands and seduce women. Qrdce is related to the fabliaux in terms of this attitude rather than in the development of the narrative. Its criticism of lust in the religious orders is similar to that in Dames in the Harley manuscript, the only insular fabliau to satirize the clergy. Crdre reflects a critical attitude towards monastic abuses, crystallized in a pointed parody of the orders. 152

QLQIS in the Harley text has no direct continental analogues. While there was previously satire of the religious orders in the writings of Gerald of Wales, Walter Mapes and Nigel wireker, none of them has direct parallels with the Harley piece. The composition date of the poem has been placed at 1 300.113

Another poem that satirizes monks and nuns. The Land of Cokaygne (hereafter Cokaygne), is found in a manuscript close in date to the Harley compilation.11* Cgckaygne is an

English poem that also points out that wealth and lust had infected the religious orders. Like Crdre, it draws from the literary tradition of a utopia, or "coequaigne." This land of abundance is described in a continental French poem, Le fabliaus de Coquaigne (’’The Story of the Land of Profit"), which is found in three manuscripts of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, all of which contain numerous fabliaux.115 Despite the genre indication in the title, the poem is not considered a fabliau by Bedier or by Nykrog, doubtless because it lacks a plot. Only one insular fabliau. Dames, is anti-clerical. Ordre and cokaygne reflect the criticism of clerical abuses in England. They are closely related to the fabliau genre in form and in motif 1 53

Harley 2253 contains several short narrative works related to the fabliau genre. The material reflects the large fund of literary traditions upon which the fabliaux crew. fill of the fabliaux in the manuscript concern the relationship between the sexes. Two of these tales exist only in this manuscript; the others have continental French prose or verse analogues. The fabliaux in the manuscript indicate an interest in original stories as well as a continued demand for fabliaux that were popular on the continent.

EXzCHELTENHAM, £HILLIPPS LIBRARY, MS 25970

Phillipps MS 25970 is an incomplete manuscript written in the mid-fourteenth century that contains primarily secular works in Anglo-Norman verse.116 Among these poems is one fabliau. La hgusse partie ("The divided horsecloth," hereafter Housse), that occupies folios I6v-2lv. The fabliau is preceded by Les sept choses nue Dieu halt, a metrical paraphrase of the Biblical Bcok of Proverbs, and is followed by Les trois sayoirs, an Anglo-Norman poem based upon one of the tales in the Disciplina Clepicalis. All three pieces relate moral lessons; Housse and Les trois ^avoirs combine edification with entertainment. Placement in the manuscript underscores the didactic element of Housse. Two continental analogues of this fabliau are found 1 54 in continental manuscripts of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.117 The Anglo-Norman text has been edited partially by Meyer;118 no complete edition exists. Both continental versions are printed in full by Montaiglon and Raynaud.119

Hoy^se is a moral fabliau. Its opening lines describe the piece as an exemplum, a term found frequently in fabliau openings:120 Seignurs vous plest il escoter? Un ensaumple vous voille counter Kar de fables n’ad ore mestiers. (1-3) (Gentlemen, do you wish to listen to it? I wish to tell you an exemplum Because idle tales are not of use now.) "Ensaumple" is contrasted to frivolous tales here rather than to Aesopic fables, which were semi-didactic.

Both Bedier and Vising classified the tale as a fabliau.121 Nykrog excluded it from the genre because it is moral rather than comic.122 Togeby asked, if one eliminated moral tales from the genre, where one could place them. As they are short stories, it is better to include both serious and humorous stories in the fabliau genre.123 Merl followed this argument and viewed Housse as a moral story within the fabliau genre.124

revolves about the theme of filial ingratitude. It concerns a father from the house who gives his son all of 1 55

his wealth and possessions. After several years, the son banishes the father from the house at his wife's insistence, and sends his young son to get a horsecloth to protect the old man from the cold. The youth cuts the horsecloth in

half, saving one portion for his father's old age. The action causes his father to realize his error, and to

reinstate the old man as head of the household.

The theme proved extremely durable throughout the Middle Ages.125 in continental works it is found in the Exempla of Jacques de Vitry,126 in an Italian poem in ottaya rima,127 and in £tienne de Bourbon.128 In England the story is first found in the Latin Fabulae of Odo of Cheriton129 and later in the thirteenth-century Latin collection of tales, the Speculum Laicorum.130 Another version circulated in England

in William of waddington's thirteenth-century collection of

stories in Anglo-Norman verse, the Manuel des Peches.131

This work was in turn translated into English at the beginning of the fourteenth century.132 Different versions of the horsecloth tale circulated in England and on the continent in both Latin and vernacular versions during the thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries.

The fabliau does not appear to be based upon any of these insular versions of the theme. In them, the young son gives his grandfather a sheepcloth (Odo) or a sack (the other three insular collections), whereas the Anglo-Norman fabliau 1 56 follows the continental analogue in using a horsecloth.

Evidently the composer looked to a continental fabliau rather than attempting to recast an insular piece frcm an exemplum context. Although the story circulated in fourteenth-century collections, the insular version was based upon a fabliau that Holmes thought was composed in "...the first quarter of the thirteenth century or earlier."133

Another indication of the interrelationship among the fabliau versions is in the title, which centers about the term Housse in all three versions.134 While the fabliaux are similar in terms of title and of plot, they differ in ether respects. The Anglo-Norman text is 274 lines long135 while the continental versions are 184 (Turin) and 416 (BN) lines.

The latter text does not introduce changes into the basic structure of the fabliau, but adds narrative details and dialogue. Specific comparisons to the insular version cannot be made as the manuscript is now in private hands and in unavailable for consultation.136 The limited portions of the opening and closing lines that have been published can be discussed in terms of the continental texts.

In the BN manuscript, the tale is attributed to Bernier (414), of whom nothing else is known. In the Turin and Phillips texts, no mention is made of him.137 The BN manuscript refers to a written source for the story ("Ce 1 57 nous raconte li escris," 103); the Turin text mentions an oral one ("Ensi com il rne fu conte," 5). Corresponding lines in the insular version are unpublished. As the basic plot circulated so widely in the fable and the exerrplum contexts, both written and oral versions for the fabliau are highly probable.

In the introductions to the fabliaux, the Phillipps and Turin texts refer to the story as an ',exemple,,' while the BN text calls it an "aventure."138 Beth terms are used frequently in openings of fabliaux as well as other narrative pieces. in the BN and Turin texts, a three-line introduction precedes the narrative, whereas in the

Phillipps text, despite the lacuna caused by the absence of a leaf,is a twenty-two line prologue discussing the reasons a minstrel writes tales. Both Phillipps and Turin place the action of the tale in Poitiers (4); the BN version occurs in

Abbeville (25). Here the parallels between the versions end. In the insular fabliau, the father is a marshall ("mareschaus," 5) while in the BN story he is a merchant (57-62); his profession is not mentioned in the Turin text.

The insular text appears to change the social status from the middle to the upper class, an alteration found consistently in Anglo-Norman fabliaux. 1 58

All three analogues conclude with an epilogue that reinforces the moral of the story. The individual contexts and rhymes differ, and the lengths vary from nine (Turin) to twenty (EN) to twenty-eight (Phillipps) lines. Proportionate to the text as well as absolutely, the

Anglo-Norman version contains the longest moral.

Meyer considered the Anglo-Norman fabliau closer to the Turin than to the BN manuscript.139 On the other hand. Vising wrote that the insular piece was ’’a remaniement of a fabliau by Bernier,U1A0 who is named only in the BN manuscript. Upon the basis of the introduction and the conclusion, the insular text does not appear to be based directly on either continental analogue. Because the Phillipps text is only edited partially, no absolute conclusion can be drawn. While it dees have parallels with the Turin text in the opening lines and in the location, it differs in the father's occupation and the subsequent narrative development. There are no such parallels between the Phillipps and BN texts. The conclusions in all of the texts differ. While it is probable that the Phillipps and

Turin texts share a common source, neither appears to stem directly from the other. Like Heron, Housse appears to be an independent insular version of a popular continental fabliau 1 59

In the Phillipps manuscript, following the Housse is an Anglo-Norman poem, Les trois savoirs (Known also as Lai de IlSiselet), which Vising classifies as a fabliau.141 The story concerns a ’'vilein" (3)142 who captures a tiro that offers to exchange for its freedom three pieces of wisdom. When the "vilein" releases the bird it advises him: 1) don't believe everything that you will hear; 2) you will have what you are destined to have; 3) don't grieve for what you have lost. He ignores the advice and believes that he has lost a treasure. Neither Bedier nor Nykrog considered the story a fabliau. In view of the absence of a plot as well as the supernatural element of a talking bird that gives didactic advice, it seems more appropriate to consider the tale as related to but not part of the fabliau genre.

Les trois sayoirs is based upon the tale of the farmer and the little bird from the Latin version of the Disciplina clericalis.143 In the Phillipps text, the source of the story is stated as "Pieres Aufurs" ("Petrus Alfonsus," 1).

Apparently the story left the collection, developed independently, and was reincorporated into another larger group of stories, the Dgnnei des Arrants, which circulated in an insular version in a manuscript of the late thirteenth or early fourteenth centuries,144 and in five continental versions of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.145 In 1 60

the fifteenth centucy the story was turned into English verse by Lydgate and called The Cherle and the bird.146 Another tale from the Disciglina Clericalis incorporated

into the Ocnnei des Arriants is that of the Iran who had half a

friend. A similar motif is found in a iiioral English verse fabliau, A Penniworth of Witte.

Phillipps 25970 contains one fabliau. La housse partie, as well as other short narrative pieces related to the genre. The didactic theme reflects the Anglo-Ncrman interest in moral literature. Further, it indicates a continuing reception and adaptation of continental literature for an insular audience.

Manuscripts Harley 2253 and Ex-Phillipps 25970 contain

five fabliaux. Three have continental analogues and two are unique texts. The stories range from bawdy to didactic; the subject matter reflects that of the continental genre. The fabliaux in fourteenth-century manuscripts indicate that popular stories from the continent also circulated in England; yet there was also an insular interest in original composition. Chapter V

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE ANGLO-NORMAN FABLIAUX

There is a corpus of nine extant Anglo-Norman fabliaux: Romaunz ge un chivaler et de sa dame et de un clerc, Lai du corn, Les .1111. souhais saint Martin, Le heron, De .III. dames, De le chevaler et de la corbailie, La gageure , Le chiyaler gui fist garler des cons, and La hgusse gartie. Seven of the stories have continental analogues. The two unique Anglo-Norman fabliaux appear in one of the last extant insular fabliau compilations. During the life of the genre in England, continental influence continued, but was modified for insular audiences.

The social milieu of the Anglo-Norman fabliau is primarily that of the aristocracy. only one tale, Sguhais,

concerns the laboring class; no stories concern the bourgeoisie. The remaining nine pieces center about the nobility. This social distribution contrasts sharply with that of the continental fabliaux, where the middle class is predominant. Another group absent in the insular tales is the male clergy. Continental stories often make priests, monks and friars the butt of the humor; in the Anglo-Norman

fabliaux these characters are absent. Nuns are satirized in

- 161 - 1 62

Q§!D£§* This religious group plays a small part in the insular and continental corpus. The milieu of the

Anglo-Norman fabliaux is more circumscribed than that of the continental stories, an indication of the limited audience

for which the insular pieces were composed. In view of this audience, it is not surprising that Anglo-Norman fabliaux support the establishment.

Bedier noted in the genre a harsh anti-feminism: ... a cette grivoiserie superf icielle s'entrerrele une sorte de colere centre les femmes, haineuse, meprisante, qui depasse singulierement les donnees de nos contes. Il ne s’agit plus "de ce fond de rancune que I'hcmme a toujours centre la femme", -- mais d'un dogme bien defini, profondement enracine, que voici: les femmes sont des etres inferieurs et malfaisants.1

This attitude is not as marked in the Anglo-Norman fabliaux. In and Corn, the women are treated more sympathetically than in the continental tales. The heroine of Romaunz is one of the most attractive women in the fabliau corpus. In Chiyaler, the women are less unattractive than in the continental versions. Only Souhais is markedly hostile towards women. For the most part, the continental anti-feminism is absent in the insular texts.

Husbands also fare better in insular fabliaux. For the most part, continental fabliau husbands exist to be deceived by their wives, whom they frequently suspect and guard. For 1 63

their pains, they are usually outwitted, deceived and beaten. Insular husbands are treated less harshly in Rornaunz and corn than in their continental counterparts, and both men effect reconciliations with their wives. In QSEfeaYile, the husband does not appear; his mother, punished in his place, is more frightened than harmed. In the corpus of ten tales, the husband is deceived in three (less than a third) and in none of them does he receive harsh treatment. Clearly the husband is less of a comic butt in the insular than in the continental fabliaux.

Lovers in the fabliau genre usually win the objects of their affections and emerge triumphant. Often these lovers are clerks or members of the clergy. In the Anglo-Ncrman fabliaux, no clergymen are pictured as suitors. Only one clerk, is presented as a lover, in Romaunz. He is not the standard clever and scheming fabliau suitor, but rather is portrayed as a courtly lover, a type later parodied in Chaucer's The Miller^s Tale. The suitors in Heron, Gageure,

Qorbaylle and Chiyaler are all members of the nobility. Their social standing indicates the nature of the audience for which the insular fabliaux were written.

All the insular fabliaux deal directly or indirectly with the relationship between the sexes. Marriage is not presented as a battleground in most of the Anglo-Norman 1 64

tales, except in Souhais, where discord prevails. While the

husband suspects and guards his wife in CorbaYliS* the relationship is not presented explicitly. The husband in Chiyaler treats his wife equably in a bizarre circumstance. Concord is the closing note in Romaunz, Corn and Gageure. Of the six insular fabliaux that present marriage, five of them conclude harmoniously. None of them indicates a

continuing extra-marital liaison or continuing discord, as

is the case in several of the continental analogues. Anglo-Norman fabliaux present a comparatively favorable picture of the marital relationship. Possibly they reflect the influence of fin amor.

Violence in continental fabliaux has little insular counterpart. In contrast to the frequent beatings and occasional deaths in the continental fabliaux, there is one mild beating (Romaunz) and one frightening episode (SQrbay1le) in the Anglo-Norman corpus. Apparently the humor derived from conflict was not attractive to insular

audiences. Relationships between men, as those between the sexes, are presented in a more cordial environment in the insular fabliaux.

Perhaps the most surprising characteristic of the insular fabliaux is their obscenity. Traditionally Anglo-Norman literature has been viewed as didactic and moral. Five of 1 65

the insular fabliaux, more than half of the genre, contain considerable obscenity. Souhais, Heron, Dames, Gageure and Ghiyaler employ either obscene words, situations or a combination of both. Two of these fabliaux. Dames and Gageure, belong to a group of twelve pieces that Nykrog considered as responsible for giving the genre a scandalous

reputation; the other. Heron, is an insular analogue of a continental fabliau that is also part of this group.2 Almost all of the most obscene continental fabliaux exist in

insular versions; one unique insular composition, Gageure, is part of that group.

Obscenity in the Anglo-Norman, like the continental fabliaux, centers about vocabulary, situation or actions.

The obscene words in the insular tales are used as descriptions rather than expletives. "Vit," "coun1' or ,,culu do not appear at random, but are used to explain the plot development in Souhais, Dames, Gageure and chiyaler. "Foutreu is found only in Heron. Although the language is used in part for shock effect, it is not directed against any of the characters. Obscene curses are absent in the insular tales. Bawdy actions are found in only two of the Anglo-Norman tales. Spue and Gageure, where two not-unwilling girls are seduced. The plots of these five insular fabliaux, like the continental tales, are based upon an obscene premise that is their raison d^etre. The only 1 66 noticeable difference is the absence of obscene curses in the insular stories.

While bawdy fabliaux comprise a small part of the continental corpus, they make up half of the insular corpus. The conclusion would appear to be that Anglo-Norman audiences enjoyed obscene tales. Such a conclusion fails to take into account the differences between insular and continental versions of the same tale. souhais. Heron, Dames and Chiyaler exist in insular and continental versions. The insular tales, which are in later manuscripts, are less obscene than the corresponding continental versions. Insular reworkings of continental tales minimized the obscenity, and retained that which was necessary to make coherent dialogue and plot.

Only one of the bawdy insular fabliaux, Gageure, exists in a unique version. Dames and Heron each have one analogue, whereas Souhais and chiyaler have, respectively, four and five analogues each. Apparently insular audiences appreciated even bowdlerized versions of obscene tales.

Often the conclusions of fabliaux contain proverbs and morals or pseudo-morals. Three insular tales close with proverbial expressions (Heron, cqrbaylie, Chiyaler), and one

(Housse) ends with a moral. The rest conclude with some 1 67

type of narrative summary. corn and Dames also add

tongue-in-cheek comments by the narrators. RoiiaiiQZ» Souhais, and Dames end with proverbs. There is no essential distinction in the conclusions of insular and continental fabliaux.

Bedier considered the average fabliau to be between 300 and 400 lines.3 Insular fabliaux do not all follow this average, where insular and continental versions of the same piece exist, the former ace generally shorter (Hi£2Q» Souhais,'' Dames, Chiyaler). Only Rcmaunz is longer than its continental counterparts. In two (Corn, Housse), some of the analogues are shorter and some are longer. The average insular fabliau is 250-300 lines. The unique Anglo-Norman fabliaux, Corbaylle, (264 lines), and Gageure,

(108 lines) are equal to or shorter than this average. Brevity is characteristic of the Anglo-Norman fabliaux.

None of the Anglo-Norman stories is called a fabliau in the rubrics of the manuscript or within the body of the text. No genre statement of any kind is made in the texts of Romaunz, Heron, Dames and Corbaylle. The opening lines of Souhais and Heron, the usual place for a description, are lost. Genre terms in the insular fabliaux are those found also in continental tales: ’'ensaumple" (Housse), "aventure"

(Corn), "conte" (Corn, chiyaler), "trufle" (Chiyaler) and 1 68

"fable" (Souhais and Gageure). Since the two unique insular fabliaux, Corbaylle and Gaqeure, reflect a Knowledge of the genre, it would appear that there was in England an awareness of the fabliau, despite the absence of precise terminology.

The combination of genres in the insular fabliau militates against a fixed idea of the fabliau. Romance elements are present in Romaunz. Influence of the lai is seen in corn in chiyaler, and in the dit in Souhais. In insular fabliaux there were no rigid genre distinctions, but rather an absorption of elements from several other genres, similar to continental practice.

Most of the Anglo-Norman fabliaux are parallel to their continental counterparts in the use of a common literary language, themes and motifs. In that respect the insular corpus of tales is a microcosm of continental practice. The Anglo-Norman corpus differs primarily in its aristocratic social milieu, its benign attitude towards wives and husbands, its general absence of violence and hostility, and its amelioration of obscene elements. A general elevation of character, setting and tone differentiates the corpus of insular from continental fabliaux, although there are many tales in the latter group that share the same characteristics. Perhaps the difference can be attributed to the narrower audience in England for fabliaux. 1 69

The Anglo-Norman fabliau corpus is limited in number. Nine tales cannot prove the existence of an insular tradition for the genre. The extant works can only indicate an interest in England in the genre between the mid-thirteenth and mid-fourteenth centuries. Throughout this period continental stories were revised for insular audiences. Unique insular compositions appear only towards

the end of the period in which we find insular fabliau

manuscripts. Later fabliaux were composed in English, not Anglo-Norman verse. An examination of these works can indicate whether or not an insular fabliau tradition had

been established, and whether continental tales continued to be influential in England. Chapter VI THE FABLIAU IN ENGLISH

In England, fewer fabliaux were composed in English than in Anglo-Norman verse. One such tale, Game sirith, circulated in a thirteenth-century manuscript, and one, A

ESDQiySElh of Witte, was copied in a fourteenth-century manuscript. The other medieval English verse fabliaux were written by Geoffrey Chaucer towards the end of the fourteenth century, and are found in numerous manuscripts, the earliest of which date from the first decade of the fifteenth century. Chaucer composed the finest stories in the English fabliau corpus. After Chaucer, fabliaux continued to be written in English. Two stories in post fourteenth-century manuscripts will be discussed because they reflect the influence of English and continental fabliaux. Fifteenth- and sixteenth-century fabliaux in printed texts will not be discussed unless they have earlier manuscript analogues.

OXFORD, BODLEIAN LIBRARY, MS DIGBY 86

Digby 86 has been discussed previously as an important compilation for the history of the Anglo-Norman fabliau.

1 70 1 71

Both the Lai du cor and Leg .1111. souhais saint Martin as well as pieces related to the genre are found in the manuscript. In addition Digfcy 86 contains the unique text of the earliest fabliau in English, Dame sirith, as well as

the first Roman R§Da£t tale in English octosyllabic verse. Of the Fox and the Wolf. 172

Dane Sirith

Dane Sirith (hereafter Sirith), entitled in the rubrics Ci conence le fablel e la cointise de cane Sirith,1 occupies folios I65a-I68b of the manuscript. it is preceded by a Latin poem about truth. Hie demonstrat yeritatem isti and is followed by Les nouns de un leure en engleis, an English poem in couplets and four-beat alliterative lines that lists the various names of hares. Neither work is related to Sirith. scribe A, who copied the poem, also wrote all of the rubrics in the manuscript, which are probably scribal, not authorial. The medieval classification of "fablel” (fabliau) corresponds with the contemporary conception of the genre. The scribe did not classify either Lai du cor or Les .Till, souhais saint Martin as a "fablel." Dedier and Nykrog do not include the tale in the fabliau corpus, doubtless because it is not written in French verse. some critics of British literature classify the poem as an English fabliau,2 while others regard it as an oriental tale.3 Scribal and textual evidence allow the poem to be considered a fabliau.

Although no continental fabliau analogue is extant, some critics have considered Sirith a translation of a now lost continental fabliau.* The earliest European versions of the weeping puppy theme are found in the Latin Disciplina 1 73

Clericalis, and in its vernacular translation, the Cbsstoiement, both of which circulated widely in England.

Digby 86 contains the Chastgienient and consequently has two different versions of the same story. The direct source of Sirith is difficult to establish since the story is found in Latin and French versions as well as in the Fxempla of Jacques de Vitry.5 The theme circulated widely; consequently the hypothesis of a continental fabliau source is unnecessary. The piece illustrates the separation and development of a story from a semi-didactic compilation into an independent work.

The meter shifts throughout the poem. It begins with four-beat lines in tail-rhyme stanzas, ends with three-beat lines in tail-rhyme stanzas, and also employs four-beat lines in rhymed couplets.6 The couplets are neither octosyllabic nor decasyllabic; their irregularity suggests little influence of continental verse. As in the Lai du corn (also in the Digby manuscript), the poem opens with one meter and then shifts to another, as though the composer was uncertain of metrical techniques in English.

In the margins of Sirith in part of the manuscript are letters that identify the speakers of the dialogue in the poem and distinguish the narrative from the dialogue.7

These letters continue for half of the poem, but are dropped 1 74 after line 275. Because they appear to represent the initials of speakers, they suggest the drama rather than the fabliau, and raise the question as to whether Sirith was at one point intended to be performed. Indeed, a drama based upon the weeping puppy theme, loterludium de clericg et

is found in English couplets in an early fourteenth-century insular manuscript.6 It has not been established whether the interlude is based upon Sirithi or whether both derive from a common source, although it is apparent that Sirith was not based upon the interlude.9 The two works probably developed independently.

Sirith relates the tale of the weeping puppy found in the Disciplina clericalis and the Chastoiement, where the social milieu was that of the upper class. In the Latin version, the husband was a nobleman who went to Rome and the youth was not a clerk but obviously a member of the leisured class. In the Anglo-Norman versions, the husband is a "prudom" and the youth is variously a "damesiaus” (A-1613),

Uun bachelor” (B-1343, Digby 66) or ”un jovenciaux” (B-1342, continental MS). In Sirith the social milieu becomes that of the middle class. The husband, who is attending the fair at eostolf, appears to be a wealthy merchant. Margeri, the wife, is cordial and gracious, and wilekin, the lover, is a clerk. The romantic triangle in Sirith is found frequently in continental fabliaux. 1 75

Margeri, who is named in the fabliau and not in the analogues, is not the stereotyped scheming fabliau wife. Like the wife in the chastoiement, she wishes to remain faithful and is tricked into the liaison. An Anglo-Norman fabliau analogue is that of Rgmaunz de un chiyaler et de sa dame et de un clerc, where a clerk seduces a reluctant wife.

The character of Sirith has echoes of the bawd in classical literature. Such figures do not appear in the Anglo-Norman fabliaux, although they are found in the continental fabliaux Richeut and Auberee. in Sirith, the character is not developed sufficiently to indicate an influence of oriental, classical or continental literature. She is not presented unfavorably, and no diatribe is made against her, as it is in the Chastoiement where the old woman is castigated for turning the good wife into a whore. Instead Sirith gives bawdy advice to the clerk before he retires with his lady (440-44); its tene is typical of the fabliau. Sirith is presented as a lively, but not morally reprehensible figure.

The husband in Sirith, as in the analogue, does not appear in the story. His wife's praise of him, which is expanded in the fabliau, establishes their good marital relationship. Wilekin is not the clever. scheming fabliau 1 76 lover, as he does not rely upon his own wits but upon another party. At first he addresses his lady in pseudo- courtly terms, but quickly makes clear his desire for "derne love"(l30) rather than for romantic discussions. His desire is standard in the fabliau. The men in Sirith are neither as well developed nor as interesting as the women.

sirith is 450 lines long, an average length for the continental fabliaux, and somewhat longer than the insular pieces. It is longer than the versions in the Chastoiement. The major differences are in terms of characterization rather than plot expansion or the provision of additional details. Sirith is characteristic of the development of the fabliau genre in its character presentation,its tone and its extensive use of dialogue. The work indicates that by the period between 1272-82 an interest in and a potential for the fabliau had reached an English-speaking audience.

21 the Fox and the Wolf10 occupies folios I38d-I40d of

Digby 86. It is the earliest extant English verse version of a Homan de Renart tale. In the manuscript the poem is preceded by ci comence le cuntent par entre le mauuis et la russinole ("The Thrush and the Nightingale") an estrif or bird debate in rime couee that deals with the merits of women. Fox is followed by an English verse text of Heading the Hondo ("The Proverbs of Hending"). Genre does not 1 77 appear to have influenced the placement in the manuscript. The only common denominator is that all three works

represent genres that circulated widely during the Middle

Ages.

In the handling of the verse and in the swift dialogue. Fox is reminiscent of the fabliau genre. canby labelled the piece a "beast fabliau;"11 tut the classification has not been followed by other literary critics. Essentially it is contradictory because the fabliau genre centers about human, not animal, protagonists. Previously the Roman de

ESDSEi. was known and disseminated to some extent in England by Odo of Cheriton, and was also cited in other Latin works.12 In view of the high literary quality of the poem, it is possible that now-lost works based upon the Renart cycle circulated in England.

In retrospect, Digby 86 is an important manuscript for the history of the fabliau in English as well as

Anglo-Norman verse. The fabliaux it contains proceed from the combination of narrative and didactic literature that is seen in the classical fables and the Disciplina Clericalis and entered vernacular literature in England by the beginning of the thirteenth century. Sirith, the earliest fabliau in English, does not appear to be drawn from continental sources. Its form reflects an experimentation 1 78

in genre. Both Sirith and Fox indicate that, by the last quarter of the thirteenth century, continental French literary forms were utilized by composers who wrote in

English, not French verse.

EDINBURGH, NATIONAL LIBRARY, ADVOCATES^ MS 19.2.1

E Penniwgrth of Witte (hereafter Witte) occupies folios 256r-259r of Edinburgh, National Library, Advocates’ MS 19.2.1, better Known as the Auchinleck manuscript. The manuscript was written between 1330 and 1340. It contains, among other works, romances and lais, genres related closely to the fabliau.13 Witte is preceded by The wench that loved a l

Wells classifies Witte, like sirith and Chaucer's

fabliaux, as a humorous tale.1* The poem can be regarded as a fabliau, although it has no element of humor. A continental French fabliau analogue, De pleine bourse de sens ("Concerning the purse full of sense," hereafter Bourse) is found in four manuscripts of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.15 The French text circulated over a 1 79 long period, and was apparently popular. Laing, the editor of the English poem, wrote that Witte was derived from a French fabliau; Wells felt that it was not.16 No full study of the relationship has previously been made.

The plot concerns a merchant who has both a wife and a mistress. He lavishes jewels and expensive clothing on the mistress rather than on his wife. When he leaves on a business trip, his wife gives him a penny and asks for a penny's worth of wisdom ("witte"). The merchant consults an old man who understands the wife's request and devises a plan by which the husband can test the loyalty of his two women. He returns and tells each woman that he has lost his wealth, slain a man, and that he needs shelter. Where the mistress refuses him admittance and threatens to call the authorities, the wife welcomes him and offers help. Thereafter the husband recovers the gifts he gave the mistress, leaves her, and gives everything to his wife, to whom he thenceforth remains faithful.

bourse has essentially the same plot. Both insular and continental stories have a bourgeois social milieu. The husband is a merchant who gives expensive gifts to his mistress. The setting of £enniworth is not specified but it appears to be England as the husband makes his business trip across the sea. Bourse takes place in France; the merchant lives in Nevers and journeys to Troyes. 1 80

The wife in Eenniworth is not a we11-aeveloped character. She does not complain to her husband about his mistress as does the wife in the analogues. Where the wife in Eourse is called Felise, the wife in the English tale is not named. The wives in both tales request similar gifts from, their husbands: a penny’s worth of wit (sense. Knowledge) and a purse full of sense, respectively. When the husband returns and claims that he is destitute, his wife helps him. In

she offers to buy the King's peace for the supposed murder he committed and is willing to sell her valuables; Felice tells him to sell her inheritance and her possessions. Although each wife responds favorably to her husband's distress, neither is drawn fully. Similarly the mistresses in both stories are not important as characters.

Mabile, the "other woman" in Bourse, is the daughter of a knight (164), but she is deceptive (17). She is seen only once in the story, when she refuses the husband help. in

the unnamed mistress is labelled a "fals schrew" (382). She appears twice -- when she refuses to see the husband and when she brings out his previous gifts to her.

In neither story is she a sympathetic figure.

The husband is presented as a misguided rather than an unpleasant character. In both English and French versions, he cares more for his mistress than for his wife. in Bourse the man is called Reniers, but he is not named in witte. 1 81

Neither figure is developed. The marital relationship is not presented in detail, but the wife's loyal response to her husband's troubles reinforces the stability of the union. Because marriage is presented as a desideratum, the anti-feminism found frequently in the fabliau genre is absent. The mistress is not castigated severely and the wife is pictured as a selfless, loyal figure. The moral conclusion of the continental fabliau underscores the didactic nature of the piece.

Although there are evident parallels between English and French versions of the stories, it is difficult to establish a direct relationship. All the versions are similar approximately 400 lines of narrative.17 The English poem does not name the characters, adds the supposed murder, and lacks the closing moralization of the continental versions.18 The continental stories are attributed in the text to Jehans le Galois of Aubepierre (in Champagne). No other fabliaux are ascribed to him. Since the continental manuscripts were written before the Auchinleck, the English version is not likely to have influenced the continental. Several parallels indicate that the author of ditte could have been familiar with Bourse, but the English fabliau expands the plot. Witte introduces a second test -- the husband's fabricated tale of the slain man. A similar test is found in the tale of the half friend in the D25£iE.iiD3 1 82

Ql§Ei£«Ii]5* Here a youth tests his friends' loyalty by Killing an animal and pretending that the body is of a person whom he has slain. Two "friends" refuse him admittance to the house, but the person he considered a half friend aids him.19 In view of the plot expansion of the

English fabliau as well as an absence of continental place references and names, it is better to regard witte as an analogue of Bourse than to consider the English tale as derived directly from the continental fabliau.

Three serious moral tales are found in the continental fabliau corpus -- La bourse pieine de sens. La housse partie and La fpile largesce. In England, the analogues of the

first two circulated in English and in Anglo-Norman verse. respectively. Moral tales form a small percentage of the continental fabliau canon. but a large proportion of the insular one. Witte appealed to English audiences • The fabliau circulated in the fifteenth century in two other English verse fabliau versions, as well as in sixteenth- and sevent^eenth-century chap books.20 As was the case with Lai du corn, the fabliau theme continued to circulate long after the Middle Ages.

The Auchinleck manuscript and Harley 2253 both contain fabliaux. Harley 2253 was copied in Herefordshire in the fourth decade of the fourteenth century and the Auchinleck 1 83

manuscript was copied in London during the same period.21

The presence of two such important compilations during a

similar period in a close area indicates a strong interest

in vernacular literature in south-west England during the fourth decade of the fourteenth century. Loomis postulated that Chaucer read at least part of the Auchinleck manuscript

and that one of its romances, Guy of Warwick, influenced Sir Thopas.22 It does not seem likely that witte influenced any of Chaucer's fabliaux. After the Auchinleck manuscript, there are no extant fabliaux in English until The Canterbury Tales.

ABERYSTWYTH, NATIONAL LIBRARY OF WALES, £ENIARTH MS 392(D)

Aberystwyth, National Library of Wales, Peniarth MS 392(D), better known as the Hengwrt manuscript, was written between 1400-1uio, in the decade following Chaucer's death. It is one of the earliest of the numerous manuscripts that contain Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales.23 The number and the high quality of the fabliaux in The Canterbury Tales indicates that Chaucer was working in a literary genre that was of interest to an English audience.

Chaucer's fabliaux are generally considered to be The

LiillSEls Jdif! / The Reeyej_s Tale, The Cookes Tale, The

EEiar^s Tale, The Summoner_|_s Tale, The Shipman^s Tale and 1 84

The Merchantls Tale. Six of these seven tales are complete

£22lSl§ Isis is a fragment. The complete fabliaux represent a fourth of the total number of finished tales; the incomplete cooh^s Tale brings the proportion of fabliaux higher. In view of this number, it is apparent that Chaucer had considerable interest in the genre. It is significant, however, that the tales are assigned to the less reputable pilgrims, and that Chaucer explicitly calls the first two fabliaux ucherles" tales (3169).

Chaucer's use of the fabliau genre has puzzled critics of

English literature. Brewer summarizes the problem: It is essential to grasp the apparent contradictions here to understand Chaucer's achievement: first, a subject matter of apparently universal appeal, set out in a form which persisted in French little more than a century; secondly, an English author succeeding supremely with a French literary form effectively dead before he was born.24 Both of these assumptions are tenuous.

Fabliaux were written in French possibly as early as the mid-twelfth century and well into the fourteenth century.25 There is no proof that the genre had died half a century before Chaucer wrote fabliaux. The last Known French fabliau composer, Jean de Conde, died in 1 340 ;26 however only one third of the fabliaux can be attributed to known authors.27 The remaining two thirds of the tales are anonymous. The tenuous assumption that the genre ended 185 with the death of any composer is underrrdneQ further by the manuscript evidence, which indicates that fabliaux texts were copied throughout the thirteenth and fourteenth and into the fifteenth centuries.28 There is no proof that the genre had died half a century before Chaucer wrote fabliaux.

Chaucer did not write the first fabliaux in English verse. Dade sirith is found in a late thirteenth-century manuscript copied nearly a century before Chaucer's fabliau compositions. A £enniworth of Wit, copied in the fourth decade of the fourteenth century, is an English verse analogue of a continental fabliau. In addition to derivative stories, unique fabliaux are found in both Anglo-Norman and English verse. Chaucer would appear to have worked in an insular literary tradition that dated from the middle of the thirteenth century and continued into the fourteenth century. Although no English or Anglo-Norman fabliaux have survived to brioge the gap between the mid-fourteenth century manuscripts and The Canterbury Tales, there is no reason to believe that s uch tales ceased being composed and suddenly reappeared half a century later. In view of the continuing influence of French literature in England, it seems reasonable that the fabliau genre was available to Chaucer and that it appealed to him. None of the other fourteenth-century English poets in the literary circle to which he belonged wrote fabliaux. 1 86

Little critical attention has teen paid to the Anglo-Norman fabliau and its relationship to Chaucer; more interest has been focused upon the continental fabliaux. In this study, Chaucer's fabliaux will be discussed with regard to the characteristics of the insular pieces to ascertain whether he was working in an Anglo-Norman or continental fabliau tradition.

Chaucer composed his fabliaux for inclusion in The

CSDiSEbyo Tel£s. Like the earlier collection of stories, Le chastoiement d_|_un pere a son fils, of Petrus Alphonsus, Chaucer's stories appear to have been envisaged as independent pieces gathered into a larger work. Chaucer's major innovation is his development of the relationship between teller and tale. In the Chastoiement, the dialogue between father and son serves to introduce or to comment upon the individual story. Chaucer establishes a tension between the tales and the tellers. The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales individualizes most of the pilgrims. The head and tail links to the stories expand this characterization. Finally, many tales become extensions of the tellers' personalities. This additional dimension in Chaucer's fabliaux is unique in the genre.29

The Miller's Tale 1 87

The Miller^s Tale is the first fabliau in The canterbury

Tales, ano is the second tale in the A manuscript group. The story which is the first of a group of three fabliaux, follows directly a courtly romance that has epic elements. The Knight^s Tale. In view of the popularity of the romance genre in England and on the continent, it is not surprising to find such a work given a position of importance in The Canterbury Tales. In view of the small number of fabliaux in English and Anglo-Norman, the position of The Miller^s Tale so soon after The KnightTale is unexpected. The fabliau contrasts to the idealism of The Knight^s Tale, just as the tellers of the tales are members, respectively, of the lowest and highest social groups on the pilgrimage.

Chaucer warns the reader that a "cherles tale" (3169) is to follow that will deal of "harlotrie" (3184).30 In this context, the fabliau is presented as the inverse of the romance.

It is common to find an introduction to the narrative in the fabliau. In The Miller^s Tale, the dialogue between the Host, the Miller and the Reeve introduces the subject matter; the drunken Miller announces, "For I wol telle a legende and a lyf/Bothe of a carpenter and of his wyf" (3141-42). Here the genre indication is comic, as the tale is hardly a saint's life. Chaucer's narrator warns the reader of the actual subject matter, but does not label the 1 88 piece a fabliau. This introduction can be seen as a variation of the traditional fabliau opening.

Although there are numerous literary analogues to The MillerJ.s Tale,31 there are no parallel fabliaux. The motif of the husband cuckolded by his wife and her lover is basic in the genre. Chaucer’s plot is unusually complex because he added a second lover to the romantic triangle, as well as the misplaced kiss motif. This combination of elements is found in some insular and continental fabliaux, but is not widespread in the genre.

Most Anglo-Norman fabliaux depict the upper classes. In The Miller^s Tale, Alisoun and John are members of the lower middle class, Nicholas is a student and Absolon is a member of the lower clergy. None of them is a part of the court circle. Their social status is below that of the

Miller/narrator. It would be inappropriate for him to tell a tale of the nobility. The social milieu reflects that of the continental fabliau.

The fabliau wife is stereotyped as a scheming woman who outwits her husband. Since her function is to provide plot intrigue, she is rarely important as a person, consequently she is not presented sympathetically or unsympathetically.

Where insular and continental analogues for the same fabliau exist, the wife is a more attractive figure in the 1 89

Anglo-Norman tales. Alisoun in The Hiller^s Tale is developed more extensively than is usual in the genre: she is given a name, an extensive physical description, and a lively sense of humor. She is the most attractive character in the story and is the only one who suffers no ill effects from the assignation. The sympathy for her is more usual in insular than in continental fabliaux.

John is the jealous husband found in many genres of medieval literature. Here he is also considerably cider than his wife. Usually the fabliau husband is the dupe who exists to be deceived, and is not presented sympathetically.

In the continental fabliaux he is often punished by a severe beating; in the Anglo-Norman tales he is less harshly treated. John in The Millerj.s Tale is not only deceived by his wife, but he breaks his arm and is humiliated publicly to become the laughing stock of the town. such treatment is more usual in continental fabliaux. Unlike the stereotyped jealous husband, he has genuine affection for his wife, and worries about her safety rather than his own when Nicholas tells him of the coming flood (3519-25).

Most fabliau wives have one lover. Alisoun is blessed with two admirers, a student and a parish clerk. These figures are found frequently in the continental fabliaux. There is no student lover in the insular tales, but the suitor in the Romaunz d1un chivaler et de sa dame et de un 1 90

£l£E£ is a parish clerk like Absolon. Aside from the similar status, the characters are not alike, where Absolon is a comic figure who is humiliated by his mistress, the clerk in the insular fabliau gains his desires. The latter character is depicted as a courtly lover whereas Absolon is presented comically in terms of both courtly and Biblical

traditions.32 Alison's suitors are both well-developed characters; such delineation is not usual in the fabliaux written either in England or in France.

Marital relationships in the fabliaux are rarely presented as blissful. Antagonism is usual between husband and wife in in the continental tales, whereas concord often concludes the insular tales. In The Miller^s Tale, the marriage is presented indirectly; the old husband is justly worried about being deceived by his wanton young wife who grants her love to Nicholas immediately and mocks her husband publicly. such a union is usual in continental fabliaux.

There is more violence in The Miller^s Tale than in any of the Anglo-Norman fabliaux. Nicholas is "scalded in the towte" (3853), an injury intended for Alisoun, and John breaks his arm. The injuries are not fatal, and they are less severe than those in the analogues. Apparently the violence in the story is close to continental traditions. while the diminution of the injuries is in keeping with insulur preferences.

While the plot of The Mi 1 lerTale contains bawdy elements, it does not abound with obscenity. the narrator uses the words "hole" (3732), "queynte" (3276), "ers" (3734,

3755) and "swyved" (3850), the English translations of the standard fabliau terms. As in the insular tales, the characters do not use such language in direct address.

Chaucer uses the words for comic as well as shock effect.

There is no concluding proverb or moralization in the story, but a summary of the results of the plot. Commentary is provided in the tail link by the reactions of the pilgrims. Most of them found the tale amusing (3856-59), but Oswald, the Reeve, did not (3860-96). The framework is that of an audience within the fiction that responds in diverse ways.

The MillerJ^s Tale, 677 lines, is longer than the average continental fabliaux. In general, the differences between Chaucer's presentation of plot and character are not assignable to either insular or continental fabliau models. The most striking divergence between his tales and the insular stories lies in his presentation of bourgeois rather than courtly characters. Such a shift does not indicate a 1 92

change in the insular audience, for the tale was written to be told by a coarse character who would appropriately tell a

ribald tale. The literary antecedents of The Miller^s Tale cannot be said to be exclusively insular or continental, but %

rather draw upon the outstanding characteristics» of the fabliau genre.

The Reeve's Tale

The Reeve's Tale follows The Ki 1 ler Tale and is

intended by its teller as a rebuttal. Like the Hiller, the Reeve is one of the rogues of the Prologue. He has

accumulated wealth by cheating his lord (593-612); nevertheless he is still a churl (3183) who tells a bawdy tale(3i84); in his own words, he speaks in the Miller's

"cherles termes"(3917 ). Chaucer uses the fabliau genre for its unrefined associations. The social level is that of the continental, not the insular fabliaux.

There are several analogues for The Reeve's Tale. The closest are two continental fabliaux, Le Meunier et les .II. clers and De Gombert et les .II. clers (by Jean Bode 1).33 The former is closer to Chaucer's tale, but the differences between the versions, especially in terms of character motivation, are so great that none of the fabliaux can be regarded as the direct source for The Reeve's Tale.34 1 93

Both women are presented in more detail by Chaucer than in the analogues. In both continental fabliaux, the wives are party to the miller's flour thefts, whereas in

Chaucer this is not the case. In The Reeve's Tale, the wife

becomes a comic figure, first in her pride in her fine upbringing, then in her futile attempt to help her husband fight the "false clerkes"(4291). Maleyn, the daughter, is not drawn as fully as her mother. In the analogues, she admits the clerk to her bed because he gives her a "magic" object that will restore her virginity; in Chaucer there

are no such preliminaries. The students in the analogues make no fond farewells to the girl, and refer to her

insultingly. In The Reeve's Tale Aleyn takes a conventional, if comic, farewell,35 and Maleyn responds by calling him her "lemman" (4240) and by helping him recover

his flour. Both mother and daughter are more sympathetic figures in Chaucer than in the continental analogues. Such an attitude towards women is seen in the insular fabliaux.

Symkyn is also developed more than his continental counterparts. Here he is characterized by pride, social

ambition, violence and greed, whereas he is motivated solely by greed in the analogues. In all of the versions he is beaten both physically and morally by the clerks. Like the miller in one of the analogues, Symkyn loses the flour he stole from the students. He is the aggressor. The sex is 1 94 part of the clerks' revenge, anO would not have occurred without his thievery. He is rrore fully drawn in Chaucer than the husband in the analogues; nevertheless he is not made a sympathetic figure, and fares no better than the continental fabliau husband.

The clerk lovers in The Reeve's Tales typify the scheming students in the continental fabliaux. The only student in the insular corpus is the clerk in Romaunz who gains his lady's favors. He is developed as a courtly lover rather than as the unsophisticated characters in The Reeve's Tale.

Chaucer's major addition is in their northern dialect, which is used to emphasize their rusticity and to add a comic touch to their characters. Dialect is not found frequently in the fabliau corpus, although it is used to satirize Englishmen in one of the continental tales.36 Chaucer's students volunteer to deal with the miller for the common good of their fellow students at Cambridge. They emerge triumphant. Chaucer appears to be working in the continental rather than in the insular tradition.

The marital relationship in the analogues is not developed at length. When the miller in Le meunier et les

•II* £l§£s discovers that his wife spent the night with one of the clerks he calls her "pute provee'1 ("proven whore,"

310), an epithet understandable in the circumstances, but 195 not one that sheds light on their previous relationship. Symkyn, like Gombert in the other analogue, apparently does not realize what happened to his wife because of the confused situation; although each man knows what happened to his daughter. In Chaucer's tale, the wife finds her clerk lover unexpectedly potent -- an indication of her husband's lack of prowess. The disparity in their childrens' ages — a marriageable daughter and an infant — is another such sign. Symkyn's wife calls upon him to help her when she awakens to witness the fight (4284-91). Their relationship is more amicable than that of the couples in the analogues, within the narrative, Symkyn is unaware of his wife's infidelity; consequently the final view of their union is not discordant.

Violence is not prevalent in The Feeye's Tale. in the analogues the students beat the miller severely in the closing fight; in Chaucer he is hit first by his wife when she mistakes him for one of the clerks, who then "teete hym well" (4308). Although the outcome is the same, the description of the blows is comic in Chaucer and harsh in the continental tales. Chaucer softens the violence, a practice of insular fabliaux.

The conclusions of insular and continental fabliaux differ. Gombert concludes with a pseudo-moral that a man 1 96

with a pretty wife should not welcome overnight guests; Le meunier et les .II. clers closes with plot summary and a praise to God. The Reeve's Tale ends with plot summary, a proverb, and the Reeve's thanks to God because he is able to repay the Miller. Chaucer's conclusion is standard in insular and continental practice.

lb£ Reeve's Tale is 400 lines long. While the length is average in the continental genre, it is longer than its

analogues — twice as long as Gombert and almost a fourth longer than Meunier. Chaucer's additions amplified the

characterization and the comedy, but they did not alter the essential brevity of the genre.

The Reeve's Tale is closer to the continental than the insular fabliau in its bourgeois social milieu. Chaucer's treatment of the women and the softening of the violence reflect the insular tradition. In all. The Reeye's Tale reflects both continental and insular practices.

An English verse analogue of The Reeye^s Tale circulated in England in two early printed texts after the Middle Ages. The story. The Miller of Abington, consists of 488 lines of

octosyllables.37 In the closing lines, it is termed "this mery jest"(485). The story of the two clerks takes place in Abingtcn, which is seven miles from Cambridge. The plot is 1 97 similar to Chaucer's; however, the characterizations are not as full and the dialogue is not as extensive. The later story also has parallels with the continental fabliau analogue, Le meunier et les .II. clers, especially in its octosyllablic verse form. The Miller of Abington reflects the continued influence of both English and continental fabliaux in England.

The Cookes Tale

The CogkVs Tale is the final fabliau found in the A group. The tale is incomplete in all of the extant sources. Apparently Chaucer left the story unfinished, because in the Hengwrt manuscript the scribe wrote, "Of this cokes tale rraked Chaucer na more."38 Since eighty-six lines of the narrative are extant, only a brief discussion of the broad outlines of the tale will be made here.

The story forms part of the A group that contains the

Prologue to The canterbury Tales, the romance. The Knight_|_s

Tale, and three fabliaux told by members of the lower middle class. Appropriately, they relate stories of bourgeois characters. None of these tales is labelled a fabliau. In the prologue, the Cook refers to the piece as "A litel jape that fil in our citee"(4343) and the narrator calls it a "tale"( 4364). Such terminology is standard in the genre. 1 98

There are no earlier or contemporary analogues for the tale, in uhich the characters are an apprentice, a gambler and a prostitute.39 Hogues appear in the continental fabliaux, but none of them appears to be the model for

Chaucer. The social milieu is below the level of respectability and is far from that in the Anglo-Norman tales.

The Cookes Tale fragment is too short to give insight into the characterization, violence, obscenity, conclusion or length of the tale. A comparison of the extant lines with the fabliau corpus indicates that this tale does not follow the insular fabliau tradition

The three fabliaux in the A group are related by genre and by miotif. Their order in The Canterbury Tales is determined by the interactions of the pilgrims. First the drunken Miller interrupts the Host's scheme to tell a tale. Then the Reeve takes exception to the Miller’story and relates a tale to "hym quite anon" (3916). Finally, the cook is so pleased by the Reeve's story that he wants to tell "a litel jape" (434-3). The moral level of their stories descends from assignation to casual coupling to prostitution. The idealism of the knight's spiritual lovers contrasts with the lusty activities in the three fabliaux. 1 99

Friar^s Tale

The Friar^s Tale is part of the D manuscript group that

contains The Wife of Bathes Tale, The Friarj_s Tale, ana The

SummonerXs Tale. As in the A group, two fabliaux are preceaed by a story with romance elements. In the prologue the friar calls the tale "a game"( 1279), a term that is not so much a genre description as a challenge to the Summcner, whom the tale is meant to insult.

There are exempla, not fabliau, analogues to The Friar^s

The classification of the tale as a fabliau rather than an exemplum is open to challenge; but since the piece has been considered a fabliau by Chaucer critics, the

classification will be accepted here. There are three such moral tales in the continental and one in the Anglo-Norman fabliau corpus.4*» The proportion of such tales is much higher in the insular than in the continental corpus.

The Friar belongs to the lower clerical orders. Chaucer uses the figure to symbolize the corruption of the mendicant orders. The character as developed in the Prologue (208-69) cultivates the wealthy, seduces women, frequents taverns, and uses his office for personal gain. In the headlink to his tale, he insults the Summoner, and is reminded by the

Host," A! sire, ye sholde be hende/ And curteys, as a man 200

of youre estaat" (1266-87). The Friar is far from an ideal figure. His tale both reveals his animosity towards the Summoner and symbolizes his own corruption. Stories of rogues are absent in the Anglo-Norman fabliau corpus.

Mabely, the old widow in The Friar^s Tale, is portrayed sympathetically. She greets the summoner courteously and wishes the devil to take him "But he wol hym repente!"(1629). Since she appears in only a small part of the tale, she is not developed at length. Her placement at the close of the narrative, and her role in helping to send the summoner to the devil, indicate that she is important despite her brief appearance. Old women in the fabliau genre can be divided into two categories: sympathetic figures who are mistreated by more powerful characters, and unsympathetic figures who guard younger women. Mabely falls into the first group. Only two old women are portrayed in insular fabliaux: the nurse in Heron and the mother-in-law in Corbaylle. Neither is a prototype for Mabely. None of the continental fabliaux has a similar figure. Since the helpless widow figure is also found in exemplum and fable collections, it seems more appropriate to view her as universal rather than to assign her to a specific genre.

Greed characterizes the archdeacon and his summcner.

Chaucer's summoner, like the clerks in The Reeve's Tale, is 201

from the north.42 He is not afraid of the devil and is

willing to travel in his comipany. Such boldness is an extension of his confidence gained from threatening and punishing with impunity people who are unable to retaliate. No sympathy is generated for him; his refusal to repent causes his own damnation as he sends himself to hell. The dimension of hell reflects in part the influence of the exemplum tradition. Additionally, it is an insult to the Summoner on the pilgrimage whom the Friar detested (1265-85). The dimension of the fictive audience's reaction is absent in the continental and Anglo-Norman fabliaux.

The Friar^s Tale is 364 lines long, shorter than the

continental and longer than the average insular tale. It is far longer than the average exemplum. The main difference between Chaucer's tale and the exempla lies in his extensive use of dialogue, which is typical of the fabliau. Despite

this expansion, the story retains the essential brevity of the fabliau genre.

The Friarls Tale is related more closely to the

continental than the insular fabliau. Character and setting are far from the courtly milieu of the Anglo-Norman

fabliaux. Both the moral tone of the tale and the combination of genres are found frequently in the total fabliau corpus. while The Friarj.s Tale has some insular 202 characteristics, it tends to follow the continental fabliau tradition.

The Surririoner^s Tale

The Summoner1s Tale is the third and final story in the D group. Preceding it is the fabliau. The Friar^s Tale. As with the fabliaux in the A group, the second tale is a rebuttal to the previous story. In this case, the irate

Summoner responds to the metaphorical placement in hell by the Friar. He does not call his tale a ''game" like the Friar did, but merely labels it "my tale" (1671).

The Summoner belongs to the final group of rogues in the Prologue. His skin disease (624-28) is a manifestation of his spiritual corruption. He is established as a fornicator (649-52) and a corruptor of justice (653-62). In the headlink to his tale, the Summoner is so enraged by the Friar's story that he prefaces his tale with an account of friars swarming out of Satan's rectum (1665-99). He tells a story in which a friar is humiliated by a fart. The

Summoner's preoccupation with bodily excretions mirrors his moral decay.

There are no direct analogues to The Summonerj.s Tale.*3 The closest is a continental fabliau, Le yescie a prestre 203

(The priest's bladder), by Jacques de Baisieux, who lived in the first quarter of the fourteenth century. The story,

found in a fourteenth-century manuscript,** employs the motif of an insulting gift awarded to a greedy friar and his

subsequent public humiliation. Plot and character in the stories differ. While Le yescie a prestre could have suggested The Summoner^s Tale, there is no evidence Chaucer knew it or used it.

The social milieu of The summonerJ.s Tale is mixed. Its northern setting recalls that of The Friar^s Tale and the clerks of The Reeve's Tale. Yorkshire is far from the sophisticated London court, and is probably introduced to suggest the characters' lack of social polish. The setting moves from the home of a well-to-do man, evidently of the middle class, to the court of the village lord. while the lord and lady behave politely toward the friar, the topic of discussion -- the division of a fart into thirteen equal parts -- is not courtly. Similar ignoble matters were introduced into a court setting in Le chevalier gui fist

£§El§E des cons, which exists in both insular and continental versions. In Le yescie a prestEe, the narrative takes place mainly in the home of the dying priest; Chaucer moves the action from the sick bed to the court. Within the framework of The Canterbury Tales, the vindictive Summoner humiliates the surrogate Friar twice, on two social levels. 204

Women in The Sunrngner^s Tale are net the main characters, consequently they are not drawn fully. When Thomas' wife complains of her husband's lack of amorousness, she indicates a sensuous nature. She is taken in by the friar's flattery and is willing to let him flirt with her. judging from the friar's description of previous repasts, she maintains a good table. These references suggest a sensual but not wanton character. The lord’s wife is drawn more briefly. She responds to the friar's anger by counselling charity towards Thomas: "I seye, a cherl hath done a cherles dede"(2206). Subsequently she joins the rest of the court in praising the squire's solution to the problem. She remains an attractive but vague character. Neither woman is presented unfavorably.

Like their wives, the husbands are not developed fully as characters. Thomas is presented as a hospitable "goode man"(1768) who on his sick bed became enraged by the friar's

"false dissymulacioun"(2123). Since his "gift" was provoked, he remains a sympathetic figure. The village lord is drawn humorously. Instead of sharing Brother John's indignation, he becomes preoccupied with the problem of dividing the fart into equal parts. Such behavior is less than courtly. His remarks to the friar and his praise of both the squire and Thomas indicate that he is an able judge of character. Thomas and the lord are portrayed sympathetically. 205

The Friar in the tale has parallels with clergymen in the continental fabliaux: he is concerned with money, goc3 food

and sex. After Thomas gives him the "gift," Brother John

complains to the lord's wife, "This false blasphemour, that

charged me / To parte that wol nat departed be, / To every man yliche, with meschaunce!" (2213-15). Certainly he would be outraged by the insult; but he would not be angry because he was given something indivisible. The Summoner's anger is distorting the character within the fiction.

Since The SummonerJ_s Tale does not concern adultery,

there is no lover. The central character is Brother John, who is motivated by greed. In addition, he commits the sins of lechery (in his too-friendly greeting to Thomas' wife), deceit (the lies to Thomas and his wife), and anger (in the over-reaction to the "gift"). Both Thomas' bequest and the reaction of the court indicate that none of the characters

respects the friar. While Brother John is humiliated publicly, he is not beaten as are some of his continental counterparts. In the context of the pilgrimage, the tale has another dimension. It is a devastating picture of a sycophantic friar who, like the Friar on the pilgrimage, frequents the wealthy rather than the poor.

There is neither violence nor obscenity in the story.

The fart-division motif is scatalogical rather than bawdy. 206 It serves a triple function - - to humiliate the friar, to

characterize the Summoner, and to poke fun at scholasticism( 2280-82 ). The latter element of satire is unusual in the fabliau genre.

The Sumrroner^s Tale contains 577 lines. It is longer

than the average continental or insular fabliaux. Le yescie i. the continental analogue, is approxirrately half as long. Chaucer's fabliau contains more characters and settings, and adds satire of scholasticism, and a long, sermon-like speech on anger (1954-2093). The speech, absent

in other fabliaux, prepares for the Friar's come-uppance and reflects the Summoner's anger. Significantly the angry

Summoner tells a tale in which his "victim" is possessed by anger. Such a dimension is unique to Chaucer's fabliaux.

The SurnmgnerJ.s Tale is closer to the continental than the

insular fabliaux in its subject matter, its social milieu, and its length. On the other hand, the comparatively gentle treatment of the characters is like that of the insular tales. Apparently Chaucer drew from a continental tradition, but he modified it in ways similar to those in the Anglo-Norman fabliaux. Such treatment is seen in both of the anti-clerical fabliaux in the D group. 207

The Merchant's Tale

The Merchant's Tale is the second and final tale in the E manuscript group. It is preceded fcy the allegory of the patient Griselda told by the clerk of Oxford. In contrast to the idealized Clerk who tells the story of a perfect wife, the disillusioned Merchant presents a world that shatters all of his ideals. The bitter tone of the story is unlike that of the fabliaux. No genre description occurs in the story, which the merchant labels his ,'tale,,( 2417 ). Actually it incorporates motifs from several genres. The initial section of the story is a monologue in praise of marriage.

It is followed by January's two consulatations cf his friends, the second consultation ending in a debate, and in a long description of his marriage to May, which includes a repulsively realistic account of January's love-making.

Only with the marriage does the plot involving the young squire, Damian, begin. There follows the description of the garden and a second debate, this one between the mythical characters, Pluto and Proserpine. The pear tree episode, the only genuinely fabliau element, is found in both medieval Latin drama and in the fable tradition. Numerous fabliaux share the basic intrigue, but there are no close analogues.45 Although Chaucer critics have regarded The Merchant's Tale as a fabliau, elements from other genres are predominant 208

The social milieu is that of the lower nobility. January is a wealthy knight who maintains an extensive household.

His court is located in Italy, a setting that keeps the action of the piece remote. As was the case in The SummgnerJ.s Tale, physical as well as ccmic distance removes the court from that in London.

May is a prototype of the scheming fabliau woman. Initially she is presented sympathetically by default in that her husband is repulsive. The incipient romance between her and the squire, however, is not the courtly relationship seen in the continental Guillaume au Faucon. The tone of the assignation is set when May reads the letter in the privy and disposes of it there. Any lingering empathy for her is destroyed by her protestation of fidelity to January which is followed by her immediate adultery. Her ability to convince her husband that he misunderstood what he saw is characteristic of the deceitful woman in the fabliaux. She is neither a comic nor a sympathetic figure.

Despite her responses, she remains shadowy because the narrative is rarely presented from her point of view and because her thoughts are not expressed.

Fabliau husbands, infrequently the object of sympathy, are generally treated poorly. Rarely are they the center of the story. January is the focal point of The Merchant's 209

Tale. His progressive moral blindness, symbolized by his physical blindness overshadows the importance cf the

adultery intrigue. Because January never changes, he fails to realize what has happened, and is deceived easily by his wife. The moral dimension that Chaucer adds to the character is absent in the fabliau genre up to this time.

The squire as lover is seen in the continental fabliau Guillaumg au Faucon and the insular La gageure. In the

former fabliau he is portrayed as a courtly lover. Following that tradition, Damon falls in love at first sight, becomes ill with love sickness, and does not recover until he gains his lady's love. Chaucer's description of him as a begging dog (2013-14) undercuts sympathy for him. The assignation is far from courtly. It is close to the

immediate sex in the garden in La gageure. The garden motif, like that in the insular fabliau, reverses traditional romance asociations. At the close of the story, Damon is left standing in the tree. He is neither a fabliau

nor a courtly lover.

The marital relationship in The Merchant's Tale is standard in the genre. The jealous husband guards his wife but cannot prevent her from deceiving him. May appears to be obedient, but is biding her time. The dialogue between the two indicates a surface concord that masks May's lack of 210 affection. while there is no verbal hostility, the relationship is not harmonious. Marriage between youth and old age is not presented in the insular fabliaux. The senex amans irotif is also used by Chaucer in The Mi 1 lerj.s Tale, where it is explored on another social level and and without the unpleasantness of the detailed description of January's wedding night (1821-56). The Merchant's own disastrous experience of marriage adds another dimension to the tale of an unhappy union.

Overt violence is absent in The Merchant's Tale. Rape is suggested in the description of the wedding night and in the figure of Proserpine. The motif is not common in the fabliau genre where women often succumb to their wooers immediately with little protest. Similarly, May is eager to meet with her lover in the pear tree. January is not physically beaten as is many a fabliau husband.

The Merchant's Tale is 1,173 lines, far longer than most insular or continental fabliaux. (The longest, Du yair is 1,342 octosyllabic lines, whereas Chaucer's tale is in decasyllabics.) The length is due primarily to the various motifs that Chaucer incorporates: January's opening monologue and the debate between Placebo and Justinian occupy over four hundred lines, and are longer than several insular and continental fabliaux. Similarly 211 the description of the wedding and the conversation between

Pluto and Proserpine expand the tale. Chaucer used literary motifs more extensively here than in his other fabliaux, canby points out that u...the story proper is 750 lines, while humor, wit, moralizing and suggestion of character employ 424.1,46 The tale is an important illustration of Chaucer's juxtaposition of genres. Incorporation of the various literary motifs is more complex here than in insular or continental fabliaux. Chaucer's experimentation in the genre suggests that it was neither dead nor obsolete at the time.

The Shipman^s Tale

Ib£ Shipmanls Tale is part of the E2 group that contains six tales. The fabliau is the first piece in the group and is followed by a miracle tale; the juxtaposition is startling. No genre is designated specifically; the teller calls it a "tale"(1213). Doth the original teller, the Wife of Bath, and the final narrator, the Shipman, are members of the middle class.

Of all Chaucer's fabliaux, this is the closest to the continental fabliaux. The scene is located in France at the home of a wealthy merchant. The lover is a monk. None of the characters belongs to the court circle. Several fabliau 21 2 analogues foe the tale exist, tut none is close enough to indicate that it was Chaucer's direct source.47

The wife in the story is the scheming fabliau woman who is able to extricate herself from an embarrassing situation by her wits. As is frequent in the genre, she is not named but is characterized by a penchant for sex and money. Her complaint about her husband's lack, of amorousness to Don John recalls that of the wife in The Friar^s Tale. Not lust but need for money to pay her debts prompts her proposition to the monk. In most fabliaux the man initiates the affair.

Although she is betrayed by Don John she maintains her composure, manages to keep the money and to secure more lovemaking from her husband. She claims she spent the money for his honor and "for Goddes sake" (1611). Both the actions of the monk and her lively response generate empathy; consequently she is more attractive than most of the wives in the continental fabliaux.

Fabliau husbands are usually stereotyped figures, but the husband in The ShigmaQls Tale is more developed than is usual. Although his wife complains about his lack of ardor, he is preoccupied with a business transaction; therefore his neglect is understandable. The friendship between him and the monk, and his concern for any insult in a business transaction (395-99) do not indicate coldness. His lack of 213 anger and acceptance of his wife's expenditure indicate that he is good-natured. Unlike many fabliau husbands, he is not jealous. In all, the sympathetic characterization is closer to that of the husband in the insular than in the continental fabliaux.

The monk as lover is found frequently in the continental fabliaux. Don John is representative of the stereotype in his willingness to abandon his vow cf chastity and in his amorous involvement with his host's wife. Here he does not instigate the proposition, whereas the clergyman often does so in the continental tales. In one of the analogues, Du prestre et de la dame, the priest seduces the wife in the husband's presence. Chaucer utilized that motif in The !_erchantj.s Tale, but placed it in a totally secular situation. Monks are not portrayed as seducers in the Anglo-Norman fabliaux.

The marital relationship in The Shipments Tale is not discordant. Despite the wife's standard complaints about her husband, no animosity between the two is evident; the husband is neither jealous nor susp>icious. In the conclusion of the tale, the wife gains both of her desires — money and sex. Her discovery of the monk's perfidy ends any further involvement. The narrative concludes on a note of concord that is found in insular fabliaux. 214

Neither violence nor obscenity is found in The Shipiran^s Tale. A bawdy element is introduced in the final section of the narrative in the pun cn sex and money in utaillynge"(416, 434).48 A similar pun is found in the use of ,'bourse,, (purse) to signify both money and genitals in the insular and continental analogues of Les .1111. souhais saint Martin and La bourse pieine de sens. The presence of the pun in the humorous concluding prayer in Chaucer's fabliau is reminiscent of the tongue-in-cheek conclusions found in both insular and continental fabliaux.

The Shipments Tale consists of 434 lines. It is longer than most insular tales and the average length of continental stories; in this case it is longer than the continental analogues. As in Chaucer's other fabliaux, the major additions are to character and dialogue. In this tale he did not add other literary motifs. While this tale is the closest of Chaucer's stories to the continental fabliaux, treatment of the characters and their relationship is closer to that of the Anglo-Norman fabliau. Influence of the continental tradition is strong, tut not all-pervading.

Chaucer employed fabliau motifs in two other stories. The Tale is an exemplum; tut its description of the vices of the tavern (463-82) is found in some continental fabliaux.49 The canon's Yeoman's Tale is found in the 215

Ellesmere, not the Hengwrt manuscript. The story introduces but does not develop an illicit relationship between a priest and a woman. He lives with her; she provides free room, board and spending money (1012-18). In the continental fabliaux numerous clergymen have affairs, and are often entertained lavishly by their paramours. None of them, however, is supported by a woman; each clergyman derives his living from the Church. Chaucer drops the relationship in favor of the priest's deception by the canon. In both of these stories from The canterbury Tales, the fabliau motifs are related to the continental, not the insular canon.

There is little doubt that Chaucer was influenced by the

continental fabliau tradition. There are no extant fabliau parallels for most of his tales — an indication that he did not follow specific models, but worked freely within the genre. while it cannot be proved that he worked in an insular tradition, his treatment of character and his depiction of the relationship between the sexes, and the limited incidence of violence and obscenity, the absence of anti-feminism, are all in line with the presentation in the insular fabliaux. In view of the number and the quality of Chaucer's fabliaux, there is little reason to believe that he worked in a "dead" genre. It is more reasonable to assume that he worked with a literary formi that continued to 21 6 be appreciated both in England and cn the continent, and that he was familiar with both insular and continental models.

LONDON, BRITISH LIBRARY, MS HARLEY 78

British Library manuscript Harley 78 is a miscellaneous collection of literary and historical writings.50 The manuscript is not dated in the catalogue because it was not copied at a given period by scribes, but contains independent, often unrelated items added to the compilation at different periods. One of the pieces. The Lady Prioress and Her Three Wooers (hereafter Prioress), is ascribed in the manuscript to John Lydgate, a monk of Bury St. Edmunds, and a friend and literary follower of Chaucer. That section of the manuscript has not been dated and consequently cannot be assigned with certainty to the fourteenth century.

In accordance with the manuscript ascription, two early editors of Lydgate's works. Bishop Tanner and Halliwell, attributed the poem to Lydgate.51 The poem is not part of the canon established by the writer's early critics, John Bale and John Stow; consequently the most recent editor,

MacCracken, does not regard it an authentic Lydgate work; further, he considers the Harley manuscript to be a later one (although he does not give a date for it) and finds the 21 7

poem's humor "...rough and high, the rhymes rude...."52 In

view of MacCracKen's objections, EEiSESSS cannot be attributed with certainty to Lydgate, but it can be viewed as evidence of a continuing interest in the fabliau in England after Chaucer.

The tale, which is written in nine-line rhymed stanzas, concerns a prioress who is propositioned by a knight, a parson and a merchant ("burgess"). She agrees to meet each

one on the same night in a chapel if he follows certain conditions. First the knight must sew himself in a sheet

pretending to be her dead cousin and lie in the chapel all

night. The parson must say mass for and bury her "cousin" lying dead in the chapel. Finally the merchant must dress up like a devil to frighten the priest away in order to recover her money from the "dead cousin." All three subsequently frighten each other. In the ensuing escape the knight falls into a deer trap, the parson into a bramble bush and the merchant is tcsssed into a mire by a bull. Each goes home "begyled and beglued." When each demands the lady's favors as his reward, she sends him away permanently;

in addition she forces the merchant to pay twenty marks for her silence. Subsequently she endows the religious house with the money and continues to live chastely. 21 8

Halliwell considered the story to be a translation of an unknown French fabliau.53 No identical continental version is extant; but a fabliau analogue, constant gu Hamel (hereafter Constant), is found in four manuscripts of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, indicating that the tale enjoyed a continued circulation.54 In the story a married woman named Constant is propositioned by a priest, a provost and a forester. When she rejects them they gain revenge by falsely accusing her husband of violating ecclesiastical and civil law. She appears to relent and invites them separately to bathe with her. They remove their clothing and enter the tub. While all three look on, her husband invites their wives to the house, seduces them and lures them into the tub of water. All six then jump into a tub of feathers and run through the streets of the town pursued by barking dogs, in view of the townspeople.

The social milieu of the insular tale is more elevated than that of the continental. The prioress is a lady and is consequently of a higher level than the bourgeois Constant. The prioress' knightly suitor is on an equal social level. The whole town is involved in the continental version; only the four characters involved figure in the insular tale. where the scandal is self-contained 219

None of the characters in either version is well developed. The husband and wife of the continental tale have a valid reason for entrapping the three men who threaten their lives. The prioress is not in danger; consequently her treatment of the men can be presented in a comic rather than harsh light. The severity bordering upon violence of the continental story is absent here. The only jarring note is the prioress' demand of a bribe from the merchant. It adds an anti-bourgeois element to the plot. None of the figures is well developed in either version. Emphasis is on plot rather than character.

The plot of the English tale is less complex and less resonant than that of the French fabliau. In the latter the situation is established and reversed for both husbands and wives; the ramifications of the action are presented in a more comprehensive social setting. On the other hand,

£Ei2E§§s is developed skillfully, and reflects a taste for the comic that borders on burlesque. Its differences from the continental tale in social level and in tone are in accord with those of the Anglo-Norman fabliaux.

Another English version of the virtuous woman motif is found in Lambeth Palace MS 306 (mid 15th century), fol. 178-87.55 The piece. The Wright^s chaste wife, was written in English verse by Adam of cobsam. Essentially the plot 220

revolves atout a wife who retains her virtue by tricking

three suitors into falling through a trap door into an underground room. In order to eat they must work by

spinning flax — doubtless a jibe at those who do no manual

work to earn a living. Although the story shares the chastity-testing motif of PEioress, it is closer to a tale

in the Latin Gesta Rgmanorum, which in turn has parallels in oriental literature.56 Emphasis in both stories is on plot rather than character.

EDINBURGH, NATIONAL LIBRARY, BANNATYNE MS 1568.

The fabliau continued to circulate in Britain into the sixteenth century. The Freiris of Berwick (hereafter

) is a fabliau written in English decasyllabic couplets. It is found in both the Bannatyne and the

Maitland Folio manuscripts, written in the second half of

the sixteenth century.57 Both manuscripts contain, among other works, poems by William Dunbar (1460-after 1520), who

was influenced greatly by Chaucer. EEEiEi§ is not assigned specifically to Dunbar in the manuscripts. In the Bannatyne manuscript the fabliau follows a poem by Dunbar; in the

Maitland Folio manuscript no poems by Dunbar precede or

follow it.58 Most critics have rejected EE£i£i§ from the Dunbar canon.59 As the author of the work cannot be determined, the piece must be viewed as an example of the 221 fabliau genre that circulated in Scotland before 1568, the year in which the Bannatyne manuscript was compiled. Assuming that the monastery at Berwick was extant when the fabliau was written, the composition date must have been earlier than 1539, the date by which the monasteries were disestablished there.60

EESiEiS centers about two Jacobin friars, Allan and Robert, who seek shelter at the home of symon Lawrear, who is out of town. Aleson, his wife, allows them to stay in the loft from which vantage point they watch her prepare a feast for her lover. Brother Johine, a grey friar. When Symon returns unexpectedly. Brother Johine hides in a trunk while Aleson hides the fine food and gives her husband a cold supper. Symon invites the friars in the loft to join him. Robert ’'conjures" a feast, namely the food hidden by Aleson, and responds to symon’s request to see the magic servant by producing Brother Johine, who in his escape is beaten and falls into the mire.

Although the plot of Preiris is not found in Chaucer, the poem reflects the influence of the English poet. Most of the characters’ names are found in Chaucer's fabliaux:

Symon, Symkyn and John (The Reeve's Tale), Aleson (The MillgEls Tale), Don John (The SummonerTale, The Shipman

Tale). Likewise, the characterization is reminiscent of 222 that in Chaucer. Brother Robert who "wes young and verry hett of blude" (39), recalls the clerks in The Reeve's Tale.

Symon, like his prototype, has a sore head after the evening, but the Scottish husband is saved from cuckoldry — at least on this occasion— by the friars, a reversal of the usual fabliau situation. Aleson is not dishonored, but is thwarted in her plans for an assignation, as is her lover. These characters typify the scheming wife and the adulterous friar found in the fabliau.

Freiris has a continental fabliau analogue, Le poyre

£i§rc, which is found in a fourteenth-century manuscript.61 In this story, a single clerk, forced by poverty to leave Paris and return home, is refused shelter by the wife and is befriended by the husband. In return he reveals the treachery of the wife and the priest, and enjoys a feast with the husband. Rreiris appears to enrich the plot of the continental fabliau with additions based upon Chaucer's tales. The poem is written in heroic couplets, the verse Chaucer used, rather than in the continental octosyllabic meter. Its 567 lines are longer than the average insular and continental fabliaux. A complete discussion of the changes has been made by Hart, and is not appropriate here.62 The important point is that the fabliau continued to be written in English verse, influenced by examples both from the continent and from England. 223

Fabliaux appear erratically but consistently in medieval Fngish from the last quarter of the thirteenth century through the sixteenth centuries. They indicate that there was a continuing interest in the fabliau genre in England, the court circle. Chaucer, the only known author of English fabliaux, produced more such stories than all of the other surviving pieces. Chaucer did not create but rather exploited interest in the genre. He drew upon the continental fabliaux; their influence can be seen in the analogues, the plots, the social milieu, the length and in the antipathy towards the clergy in Chaucer's tales. There is also a reflection of the insular fabliaux in Chaucer's comparatively benign treatment of characters, absence of anti-feminism, and mitigation of the violence and obscenity found in many of the continental works. Chaucer's individual contribution to the genre lies in the areas of characterization, complexity of motifs and satire. In turn, Chaucer influenced the English fabliaux written after him, although the writers continued to look to France. The history of the fabliau in English reflects the presence of the continental corpus of tales modified consistently for insular tastes Chapter VII CONCLUSIONS

Fabliaux in Anglo-Norman and English verse circulated in England from the mid-thirteenth through the sixteenth

centuries. A corpus of nine Anglo-Norman (Romaunz de un

chiyaler et de sa dame et de un clerc, Lai du corn, Les .1111. souhais saint Martin, Le heron, De .1111. dames, De le cheyaler e de la corbaylle. La gaoeure, Le chiyaler gui fist parler les cons and La hgusse partie) and seven English fabliaux (Dame Sipith, A Penniworth of Witte, The Miller^s Tale, The Reeye^s Tale, The Shipmanis Tale, The FriarJ.s Tale,and The Summoner^s Tale) can be established. The number of tales and the duration of time during which they circulated indicates that the genre generated a continued, if modest, interest.

Continental fabliaux continued to influence those written in England. Seven of the nine Anglo-Norman and four of the seven English stories have closely-related continental fabliau analogues. None of them was copied

exactly. All of the Anglo-Norman and English stories make changes; often the alterations are major. The social

224 225 milieu of the Anglo-Norman fabliaux is largely aristocratic; that of the English stories is primarily bourgeois. Apparently by the end of the fourteenth century in England, the genre incorporated fewer courtly motifs and became associated, especially in Chaucer, with the middle and lower classes.

Fabliaux written in England are less anti-feminine and picture a more cordial relationship between the sexes than do those on the continent. Anglo-Norman stories do not criticize the establishment as do those written in France. Chaucer's fabliaux, like the continental ones, point out abuses within the system. All of these groups of stories contain some bawdy tales. The proportion of such fabliaux in the English and Anglo-Norman corpus is higher than that of the continental group; nevertheless, Anglo-Norman analogues are less obscene than their continental counterparts. Further, the proportion of moral fabliaux is higher in the insular corpus. Chaucer's fabliaux reflect the whole range from bawdy to moral; however, they are rarely obscene. Since the fabliaux found in the greatest number of copies are for the most part bawdy, the evidence points to the universal popularity of such stories during the Middle Ages. The large proportion of such tales in the Anglo-Norman and insular canon indicates that obscenity was not limited to stories directed at middle class audiences. 226

The length of fabliaux written in England differs. Anglo-Norman tales tend to be shorter than continental stories; English verse tales are longer. Most of the latter group were written by Chaucer late in the fourteenth century, and reflect the development of the genre from brevity to complexity. Incorporation of elements from other genres and experimentation with form characterize fabliaux written in England.

The major difference between the Anglo-Norman and Chaucerian fabliaux lies in their relationship to the surrounding text. £rhe f ramework of The Canterbury Tales establishes an interaction between the tales and the tellers that sets up a resonance absent in the earlier stories Although there was a limited relationship between the stories and the narrators in the Chastoiement dJ_un pere a

S2D Ills, the dialogue between father and son introduced the tales and made no extended commentary. lll§ canterbury the tellers' personalities are reflected by the kinds of stories they tell.^j In England the circulation of fabliau-like tales essentially begins and ends and reaches its highest development with frame stories. The extensive relationship developed by Chaucer mirrors the growth of the genre from a slightly developed to a complex story. 227

In the insular manuscripts, no story is labelled a fabliau in the body of the text. In the manuscript rubrics, the only tale so identified is siriz. Also in the rubrics, fabliaux are termed "lai" (Lai du Corn) and ,,rcmance',

(Romaunz de un chiyaler et de sa came et de un clerc). Generic terms reflect no consistent definition of the genre. Usage, like that on the continent, was neither restrictive nor academic.

Most of the insular and continental fabliaux, with the single exception of Chaucer, are centralized in a comparatively limited number of manuscripts. Four continental and two insular manuscripts contain most of the fabliaux. The continental analogues of insular fabliaux are found in the major continental compilations. Insular and continental fabliau compilations contain other secular genres; no extant manuscript contains only fabliaux. Like the continental counterparts, one of the insular fabliaux manuscripts — Digby 86 -- includes the vernacular

Chastoiement dj_un pere a son fils. Unlike some of the continental fabliau manuscripts, none of the insular ones contains the Fables of Marie de France; otherwise there are no outstanding differences between insular and continental compilations that contain fabliaux. 228

In view of the continues close relationship tetween fabliaux written in England and on the continent, it is appropriate to examine critical theories concerning insular fabliaux. Anglo-Norman metrics have not been discussed in this dissertation, as the underlying principles have not been established authoritatively.1 There is little point in assuming that insular writers deliberately composed metrically defective lines. Before criticizing verse mechanics, it is best to remember that Chaucer was reproached for his "rimes so rude"2 before Middle English metric principles were explored. Critical assumptions that Anglo-Norman fabliaux are inferior to their continental counterparts because of their imperfect rhymes and their irregular rhythms are therefore suspect.

Meyer felt that insular fabliaux were unsuccessful: On salt que beaucoup de tableaux composes en France ont ete recrits et remanies pour le fond et pour la forme en Angleterre. Generalement ils n'y ont pas gagne.3

Doubtless his opinion was based upon the condensation in the insular analogues. Most of the changes eliminated obscenity and elevated the social milieu and tenor of the story. If one is offended by obscenity, the changes improved the stories. In either case, it is more important to recognize the basis for the changes than to make judgments based upon personal preference. 229

Nykrog found the ''break in the unity of the characters1'

in Rcrraunz "typique chez les conteurs anglo-normandes."4 None of the other insular fabliaux has such inconsistency, therefore the characteristic is not the rule. Several continental fabliaux also reflect such a disunity. The practice finally is not typical of either group.

Essentially there have been two different views about the audience for which the insular fabliaux were written. Bedier thought they were composed by and for the bourgeoisie, while Nykrog felt that they were directed at

the nobility. The audience of the Anglo-Norman and the English fabliaux was upper class. Anglo-Norman fabliaux could be seen as lending support to Nykrog's theory of the genre as a courtly burlesque; English verse fabliaux indicate that the literary burlesque element did not persist through the life of the genre.

Rychner's theory of the degeneration of the fabliaux written first for the nobility and then for the bourgeois,5

is not borne out by the the stories written in England. The continental analogues of insular stories all appear in earlier manuscripts; nevertheless the later Anglo-Norman and English stories were not directed at middle-class audiences. Fabliaux written in England were largely directed at the upper classes throughout the circulation of the genre. In 230

England the social level of the fabliau characters changes,

yet the audience remains the same.

Rychner found that insular analogues of continental fabliaux were largely "degradees," and were the result of memorial transmission.6 The examination of the fabliaux in this dissertation has established that the changes in the Anglo-Norman stories reflect a deliberate and consistent

alteration that minimized obscenity ana added literary resonance to the tales. The consistency of the changes does not relfect haphazard alterations, and indicates a written rather than an oral transmission. Similarly, the faliaux in English verse, outside of Chaucer's, reflect a written, literary transmission.

Insular analogues of continental fabliaux and the two

unique Anglo-Norman fabliaux -- Cgrbaylle and Gageure— modify but are neverthelss representative of continental

practice. English verse fabliaux also adapt but work, within

the continental tradition. Both Anglo-Normand and English fabliau corpuses contain some weak and some superb examples of the genre. Most critics agree that Chaucer's fabliaux represent the pinnacle of the genre.

The unfavorable critical view of Anglo-Norman fbaliaux is undeserved. It is based upon an inadequate study of the 231 stories as well as upon an incomplete understanding of insular metrics. In view of the absence of a definitive metrical study and of the absence of adequate critical texts, the negative appraisals are understandable.

Hopefully future Anglo-Norman scholars will establish a more accurate basis upon which to judge the texts. At present, it is important to realize that fbaliaux were written in England from the mid-thirteenth to the middle of the sixteenth centluries. Although continental stories continued to influence those written England, there is evidence of an insular tradition that lasted beyond the

Middle Ages. The high quality of the finest Anglo-Norman and English verse fabliaux equals or surpassesthat of the works composed on the continent. Fabliaux written in England are an important contribution to the medieval fabliau genre. 232

APPENDIX I. OXFORD, BODLEIAN LIBRARY MS DIGBY 86

The texts in the appendix are transcriptions, not

critical reconstructions. common abbreviations have been expanded. Punctuation and accents have been added.

LES .1111. SOHAITS SAINT MARTIN

Ne est mie saje qui femmes creyt [fol. 113d] Korte ou vive qu'ele que seyt. Car li sage Salamoun Qui de sen out si grant resoun Qui plus sage de li ne fu (115) Fust par sa femmes deceu. Ausi fu Samson fortin Car sa femmes par soun engin Tout en dormaunt oves forces Toundi, pus si perdi ses forces. (120) En femmes ad mauveis veisin Car li empereres Coustentin Hout par sa femme tel hountage Qu'ele se coucha par sen folage Au neym de lede figure (125) Si cum I'em treve en escripture. E li bons mires Ipocras Qui taunt savoyt d'engins et d'ars Fust par sa femmes decu. Ceo est chose ben aparceu. (130) Pur ceo vous di par seint Martin Que femmes sount de mal engin; Nuls houmes ne poureit a chef trere [fol. 114a] Trop ad en femmes mal afere. Plus ad en femmes males teches (135) Que il n'i ad en la mer des seeches. Femme est de male atret e de mal nature Quant celui qui la eime ne ne prise ne n'a cure, Mes cil qui la fest vilenie e leidure Celuy tent ele cher e vers luy a mesure. ( 140 ) Leoun, lepart, gopil, singe, chat et chen Daunte I'em et aprent et justise ben, Mes I’em ne poet male femmes a ceo mener pur ren Qui ele ne vus face hounte, si vus la fetes ben. Qui tele femmes eime grant peine li est sourse; ( 145 ) car femmes bee a prendre plus que a mel ne fount ourse. 233

Ceo n'est pas bon amouc leal, einz est retourse; L'arr.our ne vent du quer, einz de la bourse. Qui veust resun fere, I'en deust par seint Gile. (150) Riche femmes qui sert de baret et de gile, E qui pur argent gainer vent sun ccrs ou auile Ausi cum un mesel mestre hors de la vile. L'em soloit iteus femmes par rrieintes enchessuns Mestre hors de vile, quar ben fu reiscuns. (155) Mes ore est venu li tens e ore est la seisouns Par tout ad plus des bordeus que des autres meisouns. Hens ne veil ore plus mesdire, A meint horn fount del e ire. E si vous di ben, n'est mie fable. (160) Femmes ad un art plus que nul deble; Mes qui en vodereit ben joir Jeo li loreie saunz mentir Que il li donast poy a manier, E mal a veiter e a chaucer (165) E batust menu e sovent Dounhe freit femme soun talent. [fol.il4b] 234

APPENDIX II. LONDON, BRITISH LIBRARY, -IS HARLEY 2253

DE LE CHEVALER E LA CORBAYLLE

Pur ce que plusours ount mervaille [fol.115C] De le chevaler e la corbaylle, ore le vus vueil je counter Si vus plest a escoter. Un chevaler de grant valour ( 5 ) E une dame de honour S1entreamerent jadis d'amour Leaument ou grant doucour; Mes il ne se poeint assembler Ne pur geiter ne pur embler (10 ) Eors a parler taun soulement, Qar molt estoit estreitement La darne close e enmuree. Mesone ne clos ne ount duree vers femme, qar son engyn pase (15) Tot ce qante engyn compasse. Le chevaler I'out d'amour prye E la dame s'ert otrye A ly qant vendreint en eyse, Mes mester est qe urn se teyse (20 ) vers pucele e chaunbrere E qe ele se tienge en sa barrere En pes, qar soun mary la geyte, E fet geiter a grant deceyte; E mes qu'il geytee ne la ust ( 25 ) Si ne say come I'em pust Approcher a tiele chasteleyne Si ce ne fust a tro grant peyne Qar trop y a murs e fosseez. Cil qe tous les aveit passeez ( 30 ) E feist taunt qu'il poeit estre De denz cele chambre le plus mestre ou la dame dort e repose; Uncore ne serreit legere chose D'aver tote sa volente, (35 ) Qar en yver e en este La gueyte une veele talevace; E si la dame remuer se face Une houre qe ele ne la veist Meintenaunt ele deist (40 ) A le seigneur qu'estoit soun fis; [fol.Hid] E il crerroit bien tost ces dys. Le chevaler mout sovent Soleyt aler a tornoyement Sicome ryche baroun deit fere. (45 ) Le chevaler de basse affere Qe longement se avoit mussee E en mussaunt soun temps usee. 235

Un jour se purpensa Qe la came vere irra. ( 50 ) Quaunt erre fust le chasteleyn Le porter ne fust mie vileyn; Eynz son message a la dame fist E meintenant al porter oist: "Amis, lessez sa eynz venyr, ( 55 ) Qar a counsail le vueil tenyr De un affere qe je pens." fi taunt entra saunz defens; E les chevalers qe leynz furent Ly fyrent joie, qe ly conurent. (60 ) La dame m[e]lt bel le recust, Mes la veeille ne ly pust Saluer si a grant peyne noun Qar ele le avoit en suspecioun. Desus un tapit se assistrent (65 ) D'amours un parlement y mistrent. Trop fust pres la veeille frouncie, Que male passioun la ocie! Qar de parler ont poi d'espace. ,,Dame/,' fet il, uja Dieu ne place (70 ) Qe ceste veille vyvre puisse, Que ele n^it bruse ou bras ou quisse, Que ele soit clepe ou contrayte! Quar si ele ust la lange trayte, Certes se serroit charite (75 ) Qe mensounge ne verite Ne issent james de ces denz." __ Sire, mout ad en le cuer dedenz,” Fet la dame, "feloun corage; [fol, 116a] Mort la prenge e male rage! (80 ) Trop ad en ly male racyne; Mes qui m'enseignast la medicine Par quei ele fust asourdee, Je I'en donasse grant soudee Qar petit dort e longes veyle (85 ) Si a tro clere I'oreyle Auxi de nuytz come de jours. Urn dit qe veeille gent sunt sourdz Mes ceste ad trop cler I'oye." --La male goute, bele amye," (90 ) Fet il, "nous empusse venger! Je ne vus say autre enseigner; Mes, pur Dieu, qe frez vus de moi, Qe taunt vus aym en bone foy? Grant piece a e bien le savez. ( 95 ) Grant pechie de moy avez." __ Peche," fet ele, "bels amis chers? Ja estes vus ly chevalers Que je plus aym si je pusse, E je le loyser usse, ( 100 ) Veiez tauntz barrez e tanz murs. 236

Je vodroi estre ou vus aillours En Espaigne ou en Lunibardye ." __ Dairie,*' fet il, "par coardye. Si Dieu pust mon cors salver, (105 ) Ne lerroi je pas a entrer En cet hostel e tant feroi Qe uncore anuit seynz serroi Si de vus quidoi esploiter." __ Venez dcunt saunz respiter," (110 ) Fet ele, "a nuit, bels douz amis, Quar si saeynz vus estoiez mis Qe de nul aparsu fussez, Mon cors gayne averez; Qar pus ne faudrez vus ja (115) De venir desque cel us la ou je serroye countre vus." __ Ensi" fet il, "le ferrom nous. Je y vendroi anuit sauntz faile." [fol.116b] __ Bien," fet ele, "vus y vaile." (120) fitaunt lessent le conciler, De le oriller e d'escoter Molt fust la veeille entremise. Mes n*out pas la chose aprise. La dame demanda le vyn; (125) Le chevaler, ce fust la fyn, En bust, e ne mie grantement; Eynz regarde ententivement La sale qe ad murs feytis Estoit assis e apentis (130 ) Devers le mur fust descoverte. Si ja ne fust fenestre overte. Si pout urn vere de louer; Qar urn porroit un bouer Launcer parmi ou tous ces buefs; ( 135 ) E pensa qe ce serroit a soun oefs. Un soun esquier apela Privement le councila Qu'il s'en isse, e s’en aut muscer Joste la sale en un ligner ( 1^0 ) Q'estoit apuez al mur E soit la des qu'il soit obscur, E que la gent se soit cochie; Puis mounte le mur tot acelee. Si le atende a un kernel, (145 ) cely, qe ne fust gueres bel De remeyndre en si grant doute, Graunta sa volente toute; Qar ne le osa fere autrement. Vers le ligner va belement, (150 ) Enfcuchez est de denz la buche E tint en sa meyn une rusche. E qant la gueyte avoit cornee Le chevaler se ert atornee. 237

Quant quida qe fust endormie (155) La gent, lots ne se oblia mie, Le chevaler ad fet taunt Que grant piece apres la nuytant Sy vint dehors les murs ester; [fol.116c] E urn ly fet aporter (160 ) Une corfcaille bien tornee, Des cordes bien avyronee, Ou la aye cely desus. Le chevaler qe remist jus S'est de denz la corbaille cochee, (165 ) E cil I'ount sus le mur sake E molt tost I'ount mis a vale De le m.ur desqe en la sale; Bien ad deservy son deduit. E la dame unqe cele nuit (170) Ne dormi, einz fust en entente, Tant q'ele oie ou qu'ele sente De son amy 1'aviegnement. Vers la chaunbre va belement Ou la dame 1'entendoit. (175) Bon guerdoun rendre I'en doit La dame, qe grant joie en a; Dedenz la chaunbre le mena E firent qanque fere durent. A molt grant joie ensemble furent (180 ) Mes la veille gysoit molt pres, Qe molt avoit le cuer engres, E n'ert pas uncore endormie. Entre lur deus litz n'i avoit mie Une teyse, ce m'est avys ( 185 ) Un soul covertour coveroit lur lis, Qe bon e bel e graunt estoit; Le covertour qe les deus litz coveroit. Come le chevaler fist son mester Le covertour comenca crouler; (190 ) La maveise veille demaunda, __ Pile, ton covertour, qu'ey a Qe tant le oie aler e venir?" Dame, je ne pus tenir" Fet ele, "de grater une houre. (195) Seigne, ce quid, me demoure." Cele quid qe voir ly dye, Mes longes ne demorra mie Que il ne fist le covertour crouler. Bien sout les coupes le roy doner (200) [fol.1163] Le chevaler, mien esscient, Qar il ne se repose nent, Molt ert vaillaunt en cel estour. Sovent fesoit le covertour Crouler e torner de une part. ( 205 ) E la veille, qe mout soud de art, E d'engyn e de trycherye. 238

Pensa qe unqe pur graterye Ne ala le covertour ensi. De son lit la veille issi, ( 21 0 ) Une chaunaele prist desteinte, E de aler suef ne se est feynt; Vers la cusyne tint sa voie; Mes parmi la sale forvoie. Taunt q'en la corbaille chay. (215 ) Cil quiderent estre trahy Qe les corder braunler sentirent, Vistement la corabille tyrent; Sus trehont la veille chanue. Le ciel fust estoille saunt nue, ( 220 ) Qant cele vint pres de le lover, Donqe conurent 1'esquier Qe ne n'est mie lur seignour. Donqe la demeynent a dolour, Quar la corbaille balauncerent, ( 225 ) De tref en autre la launcerent; Unqe la veille ne ala a tiele hounte. Primes a val e pus a mounte. En tele peyne e torment La ont demenee longement, ( 230 ) Purpoi ne la ount toly la vie; Bien quide qu'il la eyent ravye Deables ou autre malfees. Qant il furent eschaufeez De crouler les cordes guerpissent. ( 235 ) La corbaille a terre flatissent, E la veille a une part vole; Qant ele leva se fist que foie. [fol 117a] A quoi ferroi je long sermoun? Taunt hordly par sa mesoun ( 240 ) Qu'a son lit est venue Tremblaunt come fueille menue Que le vent de byse demeyne. Si come poeit parler a peyne Dit a la dame a grant tristour, ( 245 ) __ Mal feu arde ton covertour! Tele noise ad anuit demenee, Malement me ad atornee." Les dames que errent par nuit Mout en urent grant desduit. ( 250 ) Les deus amantz quant le oevre surent, E ceux qe balaunce, le urent. Ensi le chevaler ala e vynt. Unque plus a la veille ne avynt Que ele levast puis qe fu cochee. ( 255 ) Qant ly sovynt de sa haschee. N'avoit talent de hors issyr; Unque puis taunt ne oy crouler Le covertour, qe se remust Pur nulle fcosoigne qe ele ust. (260 ) Pur ce est droit qe mal purchace Qe a la foiz mal ly face Ataunt finist sauntz fayle De la veille e de la corbayle. 240

lr gageurk:

Une fable vueil comencer [fol 118b] Qe je oy 1'autrer counter De un esquier e une chaunbrere Que coir.ence en ytiele manere: Un chevaler jadis estoit (5) Que une tresbele femme avoit Mes ele n'amoit pas soun lygnage; De ce ne fist ele que sage. Son frere estoit son esquier. Si ly servy de tiel mestier (10) Come a esquier apent, E la dame ensement Avoit une sue cosyne Qe molt estoit gente meschyne; E I'esquyer la daunea (15) E de molt fyn cuer la ama. Avynt issi par un jour Que 1'esquier la requist d'amour E cele a sa dame counte Coment 1'esquier requist sa hounte. ( 20 ) E dit la dame, "Savez bien Qu'il vus ayme sur tote rien?" __ Oil, certes, ma dame, Ce me jure il par s'alme." __ Or arere, tost va, ( 25 ) E ditez vostre amour ne avera, Qar vus ne poez saver Qu'il vus ayme de cuer enter. Si il ne vus feist une rien E de ce vus asseurist bien ( 30 ) Vostre cul beiser primerement. Si que ne sache pas la gente. E qant avera toun cul beis [fol 118c] De toi f[e]ra sa volente E pus me dirrez la verite ( 35 ) Qant il vus avera ce graunte." La pucele ne s'est oblie, A 1'esquier est repeyre Que li dit tot son talent. La pucele dit erralment (40 ) Que ele ne puet crere ne quider Qu'il 1'ayme de cuer entier. Pur ce, si il velt s'amour aver S'il le covent son cul beyser, E ce si privement (45 ) Qu'il ne soit aparsu de la gent __ Qar de ce m'averez ja blame." __ Volenters," fet il, "par m'alme! Ore tost terme me metez." __Tantost" fet ele "si vus volez ( 50 ) La sus en cel jardyn 241

Desouz le perer Jahenyn. Alez e ileque m'atendez. Je y vendroi, ce sachez." L'esquier avant ala (55 ) E la pucele retorna A sa dame, si I'a countee Que molt ad joie demenee. A l'esquier le envoia E a soun seigneur meismes ala (60 ) Ou bele chere ou Lei semblant. __ Sire," fet ele, "venez avaunt Si verrez vostre frere Beyser le cul ma chaunbrere!" ____ certes," dit il, "je ne quid mie (65 ) Qu'il f[e]reit tiele vyleynie. __ Si f[e]rez par seint Martyn, Ce mettroi un tonel de vyn." La gagure ount affermee E as fenestres sunt alee. ( 70 ) La damoisele se est venue A l'esquier que la salue. Y1 leve sus les dras derer [fol.118d] Pus pensout si a bon mester; L'esquier a soun voler (75) De son affere ne vodra failler. Yl sake avaunt bon bourdoun Si I'a donne en my le coun. Un gros vit long e quarre. Si ly a en my le coun done. ( 80 ) Si la ensi a ly de ces bras afferma Qu'ele ne poeit gwenchir sa ne la. E la dame ly escria E hastivement a li parla Ou grosse voiz e longe aleyne: ( 85 ) __ Gwenchez trestresse, gwenchez puteyne! Gwenchez! Dieu te doint mal fyn! J’ay perdu le tonel de vyn!" E ly sire ly dist en riaunt: __ Tien tei lere, je te comaunt, (90) Frapez la bien e vistement; Je te comaund hardiement. De lower averez par seint Thomas, Un cheval qe vaudra dis mars! 242

Ore dair.e, ire diez par amour, (95) Ay je gayne le wagour? E dame, vus ne fetez mie qe sage De haier ceux qe sunt de mon lynage, De pus qe je tendrement Aym les vos entierement.u (100) Le prodhome fist son frere Esposer cele chaunbrere, E pus apres ycel jour La dame ama par tendrour Ceux qe soun seygneur ama; (105) E molt de cuer les honora. De la chaunbrere e l'esquier N'est ore plus a treter. 243

APPPENDIX III. Printed editions of Anglo-Norman fabliaux

I. Romaunz de un chivaler et de sa dame et de un clerc.

Paul Meyer, "Le chevalier, la dame et le clerc," Romania 1 (1872): 69-87.

Anatole de Montaiglon and Gaston Raynaud, Recueil general et complet des fabliaux, (Paris, Librairie des Bibliophiles, 1872-1890), II, pp. 215-34, 352-55. They reprint the Meyer edition.

II. Lai du corn.

Francisque Michel. In Uber die Lais, Seguenzen und

Leiche, ed. Wolf (Heidelberg, 1841). F. Wulff, Lai du Corn (Lunde-Paris, 1888).

H. Dorner, "Robert Biquets Lai du cor, nit einer Einleitung uber Sprache und Abfassungszeit," (Ph.D. dissertation, Strasbourg, 1907).

C.T.Erickson, Le Lai du Cor, Anglo-Norman Text Society (London, Basil Elachwell, 1973).

Philip Bennett. fjaQtel et Cor (Exeter, Exeter University, 1975).

III. Les .1111. sguhais saint Martin. E.Stengel, Codicem Manu Scriptum Digby 86 (Halle, Libraria Orphanotrophei, 1882), pp. 36-40.

Montaiglon and Raynaud, Recueil general, V, pp. 201-07. 244

Jean Eychner, Contributions a 1 tudc des fabliaux1 yar iantes , rernaniements, oograda tions Neuchatel, Faculte des Lettres, I960), II, pp. 173-83.

IV. Le baron

Paul Meyer, uLe tableau du Heron ou la fille mal gardee,” Romania 26 (1897): 85-91. Rychner, contributions, II, pp. 9-13. Rychner reprints the Meyer text.

V. De .III. dames

Montaiglon and Raynaud, Recueil general, IV, pp.

128-32.

Thomas Kennedy, "Anglo-Norman Poems about Love, Women and sex from British Museum MS Harley 2253" (Ph.D. dissertation, Columbia University, 1973), pp. 220-29.

VI. De le chevaler et de la corbaylle. Francisque Michel, Romans, Lais, tableaux, Contes, liQral i tes et Miracles inedits ges XI le et XI lie si eel es (Paris, 1833), pp. 35 ff. Francisque Michel, Gautier d_|_Aupais et Le chevalier a la corbeille (Paris, 1835), pp. 35-44.

Montaiglon and Raynaud, Recueil general, II, pp. 183-88.

Kennedy, "Anglo-Norman Poems, " pp. 199-219. 245

VII. La gageure Sir Francis Palgrave, Signsuyt une chanson moult £itovafcle des orievouses oppressions cue la poyre commune de EQQlcterre souffre soubz la cruelte des Justices de lESYiifeSstgn....Cy ensuyt le dit de la Qageure Comment un

Fsguyer ot sa yolente de sa mie (London, Shakespeare Press, 1818). Francisque Michel, Le Dit de la Gaoeure (Paris,

Plassan, 1835). Montaiglon and Raynaud, Recueil general, II, pp. 193-96, 336-38.

Kennedy, '’Anglo-Norman Poems," pp. 230-37 .

VIII. Le chevalier gui fist parler les cons Montaiglon and Raynaud, Recueil general, VI, pp. 198-205.

Rychner, contributions, II, pp. 38-79. Kennedy, "Anglo-Norman Poems," pp. 238-53.

IX. La housse partie

Paul Meyer, "Notice du MS. 25970 de la bibliotheque Phillipps (Cheltenham)," Rojrjania 37 ( 1908 ): 209-35. 245

FOOTNOTES

CHA£TEH I: LITERARY CRITICISM OF THE FABLIAU

'Paul Zumthor, Histoire littcraire de la France EDedieyale (Paris, Presses Universitaires de France, 1 954 ), p. 2 3 9. 2Le Comte de Caylus, "Memoire sur les fabliaux,” Merroires de 1 i11erature tires des registres de lj.Academie

Rgya1e des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres 20 (1774-76), p. 357; Le castoiement ou instruction du pere a son fils (Lausanne and Paris, 1760).

3Ibid, pp. 356, 374. St. Germain de Pres MS 1830 (now Bibliotheque Nationale frangais 19152), Bibliotheque du Roi 7218 (now BN fr.837) and 7633 (now EN fr. 1635). 4£tienne Earbazan, Fabliaux et contes des Pcetes francgis des XII, XII# XIY et XVes siecles, tires des mei1leurs auteurs, 3 vols. (Paris and Amsterdam, 1756).

5BN fr. 837, 1593, and 25545. 6Le Pere Pierre-Jean Baptiste Legrand d'Aussy, Fabliaux gu contes, fables et romans du Xlie et du Xllle siecles, traduits gu extraits, 4 vols. (Paris, Eugene Onfroy, 1779-81 ).

7Ibid, (2nd ed., Paris, Eugene Onfroy, 1781), I, p. xl. 246

8Geoffrey Wilson, fi Medievalist in the Eighteenth Century: Le Grand D^Aussy and the "Fabliaux ou Contes”

(The Hague, Martinus Nijhoff, 1975). ^Gregory Lewis Way, Tales of the XIIth and XIIIth Centuries, from the French of M• LeGrand, 2 vols. (London,

W. Bulmer and Co., 178b). Way’s translation went through several editions: Norman Tales from the French of M.

LeGrand (London, 1789); Fabliaux or Tales, (London, R.

Faulder, 1796); Tales of the Minstrels (4th. ed., London, 1800); Fabliaux or Tales, 2 vols. (London, R. Faulder, 1800) — this edition contains additional translations; Fabliaux or Tales, 3 vols. (London, Weybridge, 1815) -- this edition contains corrections by Way; The Feudal Period: illustrated by a series of tales romantic and humorous, ed. by w.c.Hazlitt (London, 1873). 10M. Meon, Fabliaux et Contes des goetes franggis, des XI, XII, XIII, XIV, et XVe siecles, tires des meilleurs auteurs, publies gar BARBAZAN, nguyelie edition, augmentee et revue sur les manuscrits de la Biblicthegue Imgeriale gar

M. Meon, emgloye aux Manuscrits ne la meme Bibliothegue, 4 vols. (Paris, 1808).

11Anatole de Montaiglon and Gaston Raynaud, Recueil general et comglet des fabliaux, 6 vols. (Paris, Librairie des Bibliophiles, 1872-1890). 12Ibid, I, pp. vii-viii.

13wilson, A Medievalist, p. 228. 247

14 Joseph Bedier, Les FahiiSL5^ (5th ed., Paris, Librairie Ancienne fidouard Champion, 1825). 15Ibid, p. 30.

16Ibid, p. 37. 17Ibid, pp. 40-41.

18See Vergil’s wheel in the study by Edmond Faral, Les Arts poetigues du XIle et XIIIe siecle, Bibliotheque de l’£cole des hautes etudes 238 (Paris, 1923), p. 87. 19Bedier, Les Fabliaux, p. 385. 20Pierre Toldo, "fitudes sur le theatre ccrrique frangais du moyen age,*' Studi di Filologia Romanza s ( 1 902 ): 181-355. 21Ibid, p. 182. 22August Andrae, "Das weiterleben alter Fablios, Lais, Legenden und anderer alter Stoffe," Romanische EQE^uchungen 16 (1904): 321-53. 23Edmond Faral, Les Jongleurs en France au moyen age

(Paris, Librairie Honre Champion, 1910). 24Edmond Faral, "Le fabliau latin au moyen age," Romania 50 (1924): 321-85. 2slbid, p. 381.

26Bedier, Les Fabliaux, p. 311.

27Gaston Paris, "Les Fabliaux," Romania 25 (1896), p. 604 .

280mer Jodogne, "Considerations sur le fabliau," in

Melanges gfferts a Rene Crozet, ed. by Pierre Gallais and 248

Yves-Jean Biou, 2 vols. (Poitiers, Societe d'Etudes

Medievales, 1966), II, p. 1053.

29jurgen Beyer, "The Morality of the Amoral," in The MyCSE of the Fabliaux, ed. by Benjamin Honeycutt and Thomas cook (Missouri, University of Missouri Press, 1974), pp.

15-42. This article is a summary of the major points of Beyer's book, Schwank und Moral, Studia Romanica 16 (Heidelberg, Carl winter, 1969). 30Per Nykrog, Les Fabliaux, Publications Romanes et Frangaises 123 (2nd. ed., Geneva, Librairie Droz, 1973). 31Ibid, p. 139. 32Ibid, p. 230. 33Ibid, p. 15. 34Ibid, pp. 311-24. He excluded La bourse pleine de sens. La housse partie. Both stories have insular analogues, the former in English verse and the latter in Anglo-Norman verse. 35Ibid, pp. 15-16.

36Jodogne, "Considerations," II, pp. 1045-55.

37Jean Rychner, "Les Fabliaux," Romance Philology 12 (1959), p. 339. 30Jean Rychner, contributions a lj.etude des fabliaux: yariantes, rernaniements, degradations, 2 vols. (Neuchate1, Faculte des Lettres, 1960).

39Jean Rychner, "Les fabliaux: genre, styles, publics," in La litterature narratiye 2imagination (Paris,

Presses Universitaires de France, 1961). 249

«0Ibicl, p. 51.

<*1 Hermann Tiemann, "Eemerkunrjen zur

Entstehungsgeschichte der Fabliaux," Rorranische Forsuchungen

72 (1960): 406-22. 42Ibid, p. 411.

43Hans-Robert Jauss, "Litterature medievale et theorie des genres," Poetigue 1 (i960): 79-101. 44Ibid, p. 86.

4 5Hans-Dieter Merl, Untersuchungen zur Struktur, Stilistik und Syntax in den Fabliaux Jean Bodels (Berne, Herbert Lang, 1972). 46eeinhard Kiesow, Die Fabliaux (Berlin, Reihe Romanistik im Schauble Verlag, 1976).

47Tzvetlan Todorov, "La notion de litterature," in Les genres du discours (Paris, Editions du sueil, 1978), pp. 1 -26. 48 Ibid, pp. 16-17. 49Victor Le Clerc, "Fabliaux," in Histoire 1itteraire France, 40 vols. (Paris, Imprimerie Nationale, 1895), XXIII, p. 88.

50Bedier, Les Fabliaux,p. 43. De le chevaler et de la corbaYlle, #28; Le chevalier gui faisait parier les cons.

#31; Le chevalier, sa dame et un clerc. #34 ; Les trois dames gui treverent up vit, #51 ; La gageure. #69 . He placed the origin of Le pretre et Alison, #95, in Normandy or England, but the piece is not in an insular manuscript. He also 250 neglected to give an insular provenance for #117, Le roi

3.L£[12i£terre et le jongleur djEly which is found in Harley 2253, the insular manuscript that contains four fabliaux that Bedier places in England. 5‘John Vising, Anglo-Norman Language and Literature, (London, Oxford University Press, 1923; reprt. Westport, Connecticut, Greenwood Press, 1970). Le chevalier a la corbeille #43, 217; La housse partie; #216; Les .III. dames gui trgyerept un yit #218; Le chevalier gui faisait parler

#219; Le chevalier, sa dame et un clerc # 222; La gageure #221; Le heron #222. He also included Les trois savoirs (#42) which is part of a collection of narratives, Le Donnei des Amants, and is not considered a fabliau by any other critic. 52M.. Dominica Legge, Anglo-Norman Literature and its

Mc!i9Eoynd (oxford. Clarendon Press, 1963 ).

53M. Dominica Legge, "The Bise and Fall of Anglo-Norman Literature," Mosaic 8, no. 4(1975), p. 5. 54Nykrog, Les Fabliaux, pp. 311-24, Le chevalier a la corbeille, #24; Un chevalier et sa dame et un clerc, #25; Le chevalier gui fist les cons parler, #28; Les trois dames(gui treverent un vit, #55; La gageur, #73 ; Le heron, #78. 55Ibid, #60, 66, 99, 144, 147 from Le chnstgiemgnt gjun pere a son fils, and #39, 68, 79, 94, 157, 158 from the of Marie de France.

56Rychner, Contributions, I, p. 117. 5 7Ibid, pp. 118, 120, 121. 251

58Vising/ Anglg^Norrnan Languegc, pp. 8-27; M.

Dominica Legge, "Anglo-Norman and the Historian," History 26 (1941-42): 163-75; R.M.Wilson, "English and French in

England, 1100-1300," History 28 (1943): 37-60. 59Sir Francis Palgrave, Ci s^ensuyt une chanson moult pitoYat1e des orievouses oppressions ge la govre Commune de Engleterre souffre soubz la cruelte des Justices de

Icaxllbastun(...)cy commence le ffabel du Jongleur d^Ely e de Hgnseigngur le Roy de Engleterre( ... )Cy ensuyt le dit de la gageupe Comment un Esguyer ot sa yolente de sa mie(... ) (London, Shakespeare Press, 1818). This book has not been available for consultation. It was published in an edition of twenty-five copies. The only traceable copy at the British Library has been misplaced. M. Per Nykrog was kind enough to provide information about the volume. 6°C.T.Erickson, The Anglo-Norman Text of "Le Lai du

Cop," Anglo-Norman Text Society (Oxford, Basil Blackwell, 1973). Rychner, Contributions, II, pp. 173-78, partially edits Les .1111. sguhaits saint Martin. some of his readings are erroneous.

61Thomas Kennedy, "Anglo-Norman poems about Love, women and Sex from British Museum MS Harley 2253" (Ph.D. dissertation, Columbia University, 1973). Kennedy edits the fabliaux, Le chevalier a la corbeille. La gageure, Les .III. dames gui treverent un yit, and Le chiyaler gui fist parler les cons. 252

62Jeenne Legry-Rosier, "Manuscrits de contes et de fabliaux,” Bulletin dj_lnforrjnation de l^Institut de recherche et dJ|_histoire des textes IV ( 1955): 36-47. 253

CHAPTER II. THE FABLIAU BACKGROUND IN ENGLAND

Leopold Hervieux, Les Fabulistes Latins (Paris, 1893-99; reprt. ed. New York, Burt Franklin, 1964). The

Sermones contain prose analogues of the fabliaux Du vilain asnier (IV, p. 28 3 #47) and De la yielle gui oint la gaunie au chevalier (IV, p. 301 ). The Fabulae contain a prose analogue of La housse gartie (V, p. 245 #73b).

2Joseph Ramon Jones and John Esten Keller, trans.. The Scholar's Guide (Toronto, The Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies, 1969), pp. 14-16; William Hulme, ed., "Peter Alphonse’s Disciplina Clericalis," Western Reserve

LlDiversity Bulletin, new series 33 (May, 1919), pp. 5-7; H.L.D. Ward, Catalogue of Romances in the Department of id&nscrigts in the British Museum 3 vols. (London, Longmans and Co., 1693), II, pp. 235-38.

3Jones and Keller, p. 14, note 1, state that the

Prior's teacher was "Magister noster Petrus Alfunsus." The quote is taken from Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Auct. F. 1.

9.

4Petrus Alfonsi, Dialoqi lectu dignissimi, in guibus iffiEiae iydaegrum oginiones evidentissima cum naturalis, turn cgelestis philgsoghiae argument is confuntantur, quaedamgue DEQEhEiaEom obstrusiora Igca explicantur, ed. J.P. Migne,

E§£.E2l20ia Latina 220 vols. (Paris, Francis Gallicus, 1 885 ),

VOl. 157, col. 535-671. 254

sAlfons Hilka and Werner Soderhjelm, eds., Petri

Alfonsi ; Disciglina Clerical is , I. Ldifi inischer Text Acta

Societatis Scientiarum Fennicae, XXXVIII, no. 4 (Helsingfors, Druckerei der Finnischen Litter-Gesellschaft, 1911), pp. i-xiv. Hilke and Soderhjelm also edited a smaller edition of the text. Die Disciplina Clericalis des Betrus Alfonsi (Heidelberg, Carl winter, 1911). All references to the Latin text in this dissertation will cite this edition. 6Alfons Hilka and Werner Soderhjelm, eds., E£tri Alfonsi: Disciplina clericalis. III. Franzosische Vorsbearfceitungen, Acta Societatis scientiarum Fennicae,

XXXVIII, no. 4 (Helsingfors, Druckerei der Finnischen Litter-Gesellschaft, 1911), p. ix. Their edition is definitive and replaces previous editions. It will be cited in this dissertation. Edward Montgomery, Jr., Le ohastgiement d^un pere a son fils. University of North Carolina Studies in the Romance Languages and Literatures 101 (Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina Press, 1971), edited the text based upon BL Additional 10289, and added four stories from BL Harley 527. His edition is not critical and does not replace the Hilka-Soderhjelm text. 7The A version manuscripts are: London, BL, Additional MS 10289 (mid-13th cent.); Bl Royal 16 E. XII (13th century), Paris, BN fr. 12581 (13th cent.); BN nouv. acq. 1515 (mid-13th cent.); Pavia University, 255

Oettingen-wallersteinsche Library MS Cxxx E.5 (beg. 14th-cent. ). The manuscripts are described by Hilka and

S'dderhjelm, Franzosische, pp. x-xi, xxx. BN nouv. acq. 7515 and BL Royal 16 E. vm are insular. The B version manuscripts are: BN fr. 19152 (14th cent. ) ;Ex-Cheltenham, Phillipps 4156 (second half 13th cent.); Oxford, Bodleian Library Digby 86 (1272-82); BL Harley 4388 (mid 13th cent.); BL Harley 527 (13th cent.); Rouen 1425 0. 35 (14th cent.). The manuscripts are described by Hilka and soderhjelm, Franzdsische, pp. xv-xvi. Ex-Phillipps 4256, Digby 86, Harley 527, Harley 4388 and Rouen 1425 0. 35 are insular.

8Ibid, III, pp. x-xi. The continental A version manuscripts that contain fabliaux are: Pavia Cxxx E. 5(2 fabliaux); BN fr. 12581 (1 fabliau). The continental B version manuscript is BN fr. 19152 (27 fabliaux). The only insular B version manuscript that contains fabliaux is Digby

86 (2 fabliaux). The insular A version manuscripts contain no fabliaux. 9Hilka and Soderhjelm, Franzdsische, pp. xix-xx.

10Comte de Caylus, ,,Memoire,,' p. 357. 11Bedier, Les fabliaux, p. 37, n. 1.

12Vising, Anglo-Norman Language, #54. 13Nykrog, Les Fabliaux, p. 16.

14Rychner, "Les Fabliaux," p. 338. 15Tiemann, "Bernerkungen," p. 419, wished to classify as fabliaux Le larrgn gui embrace le rai de la 1une and Du 256 vilein et de Iloiselet, 11. 3818 and 3402 ff. from the

HilKa-Soderhjelm edition. it-Beyer, ’’The Morality of the Arroral," p. 27. 17Nykrog #66. A version 11. 1175-1242; B version,

11. 1075-1122; Latin text p. 15. The actual title in Digby 86 is De un proudoume e de sa male fame. Nykrog's title is from the Pavia manuscript, a continental French text of the A version. 18Arthur Langfors, Les Incipit des pgemes franpais au XVle siecle (Paris, Litrarire Honre Champion,

1917), pp. 430-31. All numbers within parentheses refer to line numbers in the text of the poems.

19Hilka and Soderhjelm, EEanzosische, A version 11.

1257, pp. 24-25; B version 11. 1123-1168, p. 58; Latin, pp. 15-16. Nykrog, Les fabliaux, #44. 20Langfors, Les Incipit, pp. 262-64. The fabliaux are

De porcelei and Le chevalier gui fist parler les cons. 21 BN 837, fol. 141b, concludes, "Par sa fame et par sa voisdie,/Fu bons mestres et sanz clergie" (393-94); Berlin,

Hamilton 257, fol. lid, published by Johnston and Owen, P« 66,concludes, "Par sa fame et par sa fcoidie/Fu puis bon mire sanz clergie." 22Montaiglon and Raynaud, Recueil general, VI, pp. 260-63. 23Nykrog, Les fabliaux, #60. A version 11. 1335-1465, pp. 24-27; B version 11. 1169-1248, pp. 98-100; Latin, pp. 257

16-17. Langfors, pp. 109-14. The combination of "Cun" and a noun is found frequently. The exact line in this text is not listed elsewhere. 2* HiIke and Soderhjelm, ftanzcsische, A version 1. 1581, pp. 29-35; B version 11. 1327-1476, pp. 100-04;

Latin, pp. 18-19. 25The lover's monologues are as follows; 11. 1635-94 detail the suitor's sufferings for love; 11. 1727-66 concern a lover's behavior. Expanded dialogue is as follows: 11. 1781-1600 are between the suitor and the old woman; 11. 1830-1944 are between the old woman and the wife. 26A Penniworth of Witte is discussed in chapter VI. The other tale is found in BL MS Harley 527(i3th cent.). The continental French fabliau, Le cuyier ("The tub") is found in BN fr. 837 (13th cent.), fol. 234r-234v, and is published by Montaiglon and Raynaud, Recueil general, I, pp.

126-31. The classical Latin version of the tub story is found in Apuleius, The Golden Ass, l.ix.v, ed. S. Gaslee, Loeb Classical Library (New York, G. Putnam, 1935), pp. 406-1 1 .

27Hilka and sSjerhjelm, Franzosische, A version, 11. 1965-2227, pp. 35-39; B version, 11. 1477-1680, pp. 104-07; Latin, pp. 20-21. 2eNykrog, Les fabliaux, p. 16. 29There is no genre terminology after La femme gui charma son mari and Le yelgus. Lj_espee is introduced by the 258 translator as a story: "Un autre cunte li cunta" ("He told him another story," 1168). At the conclusion of the tale the father tells the son: Des femmes t'ai assez jangle: Treis cuntes t'ai jo ja cunte. (1235-36)

(I have already railed against wcmen enough; I have already told you three stories.) The translator comments in the introduction of La vieille et I§ "Un merveille li cunta" ("He told him an astonishing story," 1325). There is no use of the term "tableaus" in the B version. 30Marie de France, Fables, eds. A. Ewert and R.c.

Johnston, (Oxford, Basil Blackwell, 1942), p. 61. 31 Sir John Fox, "Marie de France," English Historical 25 (1910): 303-06; and "Mary, Abbess of shaftsbury," English Historical Review 26(1911): 317-26.

32Marie de France, Les Lais de Marie de France, ed. Jean Rychner (Paris, Honre Champion, 1973); Das Buch yom Fspurgatoire S. Patrice der Marie de France und seine e3* Karl Warnke (Halle, Max Niemeyer, 1938).

33Ewert and Johnston, Fables, p. x, n. 2; Rychner, Lais, pp. ix-xii. 34Ewert and Johnston, Fables, p. xiii; Legry-Rosier, "Manuscrits."

35Fabliaux are contained in the following manuscripts: BN fr. 12603, 1593, 1446, 2168, 2173, 14971 and 19152. 259

36Karl Warnke, Die Fahe In der Marie de France (3rd. ed., Halle, 1935). 37Ewert and Johnston, Fables. This edition will be cited in the thesis. 38Karen Jambeck, ’'Les Fables de Marie de France, une edition critique de fables choisies" (Ph.D. dissertation. University of Connecticut, 1980). 39Oskar Pilz, Beitrage zur Kenntnis der

Altfranzosischen Fabliaux (Settin, R. Grassman, 1889), pp. 13-14.

A0Bedier, Les Fabliaux, p. 37, n.2. ANykrog, Les Fabliaux, pp. 3-9, 100-03, 248-54.

*2Ibid, p, 251. 43Ibid.

A4Ibid, #39, 68, 79, 94, 157, 158. The first three have the same themes as independent fabliaux; the second three have fabliau intrigue. 45Ibid, p. 16.

46Tiemann, ’’Bermerkungen," p. 409. 47Beyer, Schwank und Moral, p. 43, n. 1. He cites fables xlii, xliii and xlvii in the Warnke edition. 48Knud Togeby, ^es Fabliaux," Orbis Litterarum 12 (1957), p. 88.

49Rychner, "Les Fabliaux," p. 338. 50Merl, pp. 14-18. 260

51Ibid, p. 16. Nykrog #1, 32, 74, 81, 93, 108, 109.

He does not add #103, Le pre tcndu, which is coirposed of three short tales. 52Hervieux, Les Fabulistes Latins, II, pp. 534-35. Petronius Arbiter, Satyricon, ed. Konrad Muller (Munich, Ernst Heimeran, 1961), IX. The relationship between these two versions of the story and that in the Gospels is discussed by Alan Cabaniss, Liturgy and Literature (Alabama, University Press, 1970), pp. 72-96. For a discussion of Marie's sources, see Karl Warnke, "Die Quellen Des Esope

Der Marie De France," in Festgabe fur H. Suchier: Forsuchungen zur Romanischen Philologie (Halle, Max Niemeyer, 1900), p. 182. 53Hervieux, Les Fabulistes Latins, I, pp. 503-602. s*Montaiglon and Raynaud, Recueil generale, III, pp. 118-22' Norris J. Lacy, "La Femme au Tgmbeau: Anonymous Fabliau of the Thirteenth Century" (Ph.D. dissertation, Indiana University, 1967), p. 105.

55BN fr. 837 (13th cent.), fol. I6la-I66c; BN fr. 1593 (13th cent.), fol. 185d-186c; BN fr. 2173 (beg. 13th cent.), fol. 95b- 96b; Berne 354 (14th cent.), fol. 59d-60d; Hamilton 257 (2nd half of the 13th cent.), fol. 26c-27a; Bodmer 113 (15th cent.), fol. 29c-30b. 56Nykrog, Les Fabliaux, p. 324, lists: Auberee (8 MSS), Sacristan (8 MSS), La couille noire (7 MSS), Le chiyaler gui fist les cons parler (7 MSS). 57Ibid, p. 144. 261

58Ben Edwin Perry, Babrius and Phaedrus (Cambridge,

Mass., Harvard University Press, 1966), p. 493; Ben Edwin Perry, "Demetrius of phalerum and the AEsopic Fable," Si the American Philological Association 93

(1942), pp. 329-30. The tale concerns a widow who is weeping at her husband's tomb. A passing ploughman sees her, desires her, feigns weeping and says that he is mourning for his dead wife. He suggests that they love each other and convinces the widow. After they make love he finds that his oxen have been stolen. He weeps for his loss and tells the widow that now he has a real reason to mourn. 59Nykrog, Les Fabliaux, p. 391; Ewert and Johnston, Fables, pp. 40-41, entitle it Del vile in e del folet, and Warnke, Die FabeIn, p. 191, calls it De rustico et nano. 60Nykrog, Les Fabliaux, p. 16. 61Warnke, "Die Quellen," pp. 203-04.

62Ibid, pp. 103-04. Bedier, Les Fabliaux, pp. 212-28. 6 3Le sohait desyez, published by Montaiglon and Raynaud, Recueil general, V, pp. 184-91, from Berne 354, concludes with the statement that Jehanz Bediaus (jean Eodel) knew the story. There is no moral observation. Les sohais by Gautier le Leu is edited by Charles Livingston, Le jongleur Gautier le Leu, Harvard Studies in Romance Languages 24 (Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 1951), pp. 139-46, from Ex-Middleton, Wollaton Hall MS. After the narrative concludes with the husband hitting the wife, comes the final observation: 262

Fortune qui les ot haucies, Les a laidement abascies. Poruec est drois, que que nus die, Que Damerdiex celui maudie Qui asses a et trop golose. Si confist li rois de Tolose Qui trai’ sa seror germainne por avoir le roi Karlemainne. (184-91) (Fortune, which raised them up, cruelly dropped them down. That is right, although we are told. That Mary curses those who have too much and desire too much. Just as the king of Toulouse Who betrayed his own sister In order to have the king, Charlemagne. )

The observation incorporates a literary reference to Renaud ^ool^yban. Again, material was not limited to specific genres, but was part of the general fund of works that could be mentioned or incorporated into any given piece.

64BN fr. 837 (1 3th cent.), fol. I89r-I90r, printed by Montaiglon and Raynaud, Recueil general, I, pp. 255-307, and by Rychner, contributions. il, pp. 173-78. The text in

Berne 354, fol. 167a-169a, is unpublished. Both texts have similar conclusions. The BN 837 text concludes: Par cest fablel poez savoir Que cil ne fet mie savoir Qui mieus croit sa fame que lui: sovent I'en vient honte et anui. (187-190) (By this little fable you can knew That he does not behave intelligently who believes in his wife more than in himself: Often he is brought to shame and sorrow. ) 65Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Cigby 86. See Appendix I for a transcription of the material added to the fabliau. 263

66Nykrog, Les Fabliaux, 1itigiosa #39; Warnke, Die

Fakeln #94; Ewert and Johnston, Fables, #43 Del vilein e de sa femme cuntrnriuse. 67Nykrog, Les Fabliaux, #95, pp. 16, 319, L^homrne gui aygit feme tencheresse.

68Berne 354, fol. 75a-75d, published by Montaiglon and Raynaud, Recueil general, iv, 154-57. 69Bedier, Les Fabliaux, #94; Nykrog, Les Fabliaux, #103. 70Warnke, "Die Quellen," p. 248; Crane, Exempla, p. 223 . 71Nykrog, Les Fabliaux, #45; A. Langefors, "Le Dit de Dame Jouenne, version inedite du fabliau du Pre Tondu," Romania 45 (1918-19): 99-107. 72Nykrog, Ibid, #157, 158; Warnke, Die Fabeln, #44,

45.

73Nykrog, Ibid, p. 16. 7‘‘Ibid, #79. 264

CHAPTER III. ANGLO-NORMAN FABLIAUX: THIRTEFNTH-CFNTURY MSS

1 Montague Rhodes James, A Descriptive Catalogue of the Manuscripts in the Library of Corpus Christi College, 3 vols. (Cambridge, University Press, 1909 ), I, pp. 101-03. The manuscript belonged to the Benedictine abbey of St. Augustine, Canterbury, but was not necessarily copied there. 2Paul Meyer, "Le chevalier, la dame et le clerc,"

Romania 1 (1872): 69-87. All references to the text in this dissertation refer to this edition. Montaiglon and Raynaud, Recueil general, II, 215-34, 352-55.

3Bedier #34, Vising #220, Nykrog #25.

* Johnston and Owen, Fabliaux, p. 91, write "... a story reminiscent of this occurs in the late twelfth-century Annales Palidenses, where it was taken over into the Sachsische Weitchronik. A complete study of the theme was made by W.H. Schofield, "The Source and History of the Seventh Novel of the Seventh Day in the Decameron," iidtryard Studies and Notes in Philology and Literature 2

(1893): 185-212. 5Schofield, ibid, pp. 191-92, n.2.

6La bourgeoise dlQrleans, BN fr. 837 (13th cent.), fol. I63a-164b, is published by Montaiglon and Raynaud, Recueil general, I, pp. 117-25, and by Johnston and Owen,

Eafeliayx, pp. 21-17: Berne 354 (14th cent.), fol. 78a-80c, 265 edited by Barbazan and Meon, Fabliaux, III, pp. 161-68): Hamilton 257, fol. 32c-34a, ed. by G. Rolfs, Sachs alltranzosische Fabels (Halle, 1925); Rychner,

Q2DtEibutions, II, pp, 80-99. La dame gui fist battre son

QiaEi# Berne 354, fol. 78r-80v, is published by Mcntaiglon and Raynaud, Recueil general, IV, pp. 119-43, and by Rychner, Contributions,11, pp. 80-99. A less closely-related fabliau analogue is Le chevalier gui fist sa femme cgnfesse.

Cambridge, Trinity college, MS E.14.39,40. The text of the analogue has been published by Paul Meyer, "Les manuscrits frangais de Cambridge,1' Romania 32 ( 1 903 ), pp. 59-62. Vising, Anglo-Norman Language (#224) classifies it in the thirteenth century under the heading "Fabliaux,

Ballades," and considers it a translation from Boccaccio. 8Stephen Wailes, "The Unity of the Fabliau yn Chiya1ier et sa Dame et un Clerk," Romance Notes 14 (1973), pp. 594-95. 9Robert Bossuat, ed., Li liyres dj.amours de Drouart I§ Vache (Paris, Honre Champion, 1926), p. 25. In the dialogue between the nobleman and the middle-class woman, he says: 266

"Si vcus pri, com vous tanz aies. Sans raison ne me aelaies, Mais oe moy vostre ami facies, car, se vous ainsint m'enchacies, vous me verres la mort encourre. Adont ne me porres secorre, Ains serez de moi homicides. Par defaute de vostre aide." (2575-82) ("So I ask. you, as you are alive. Don’t keep me waiting unreasonably; But make me your lover. Because if you send me away Without the hope of your love, You will drive rne to an early death. Then you will be a murderess because of me Since you did not help me.")

10Wailes, "Unity," p. 596. 11Ibid, p. 596.

12BN fr. 837, 11. 246-48; Berne 354, 11.296-98;

Hamilton 257 does not mention the clerk after the assignation. 13Wailes, "unity," p. 596.

l4Bedier, Les Fabliaux, p. 300. 1slbid, p. 301. 16BN fr. 19152, fol. 62c-62e, published by Mcntaiglon and Raynaud, Recueil general, II, pp. 92-113; Reid, Jwelve Fabliaux, pp. 83-98.

17BN fr. 837, 11. 29-34; Berne 354, 11.31-34;

Hamilton 257, 11. 33-36. The Berne text cited is that of the fabliau. La dame gui fist battre son mari. The other two references are to the fabliau. La bcurgeoise d^crleans. 18BN fr. 837, 1. 50; Berne 354 , 1. 51 ; Hamilton 257, 1. 58 267

196N fr. 837, 11. 186-99; Berne 354, 11. 198-220;

Hamilton 257, 11. 222-33, 160-61. 20Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 50, 11. 547-55, 562-63. 21Ibid, 11. 568-73. 22Wailes, "Unity," p. 596. 23Thcmas cook, The Old French and Chaucerian Fabliaux

(Columbia, University of Missouri Press, 1978), pp. 197-98.

2«BN fr. 837, 11. 11-12; Berne 354, 11. 10-12;

Hamilton 257, 11. 10-13.

25BN fr. 837, 11. 17-22; Berne 354, 11. 18-23;

Hamilton 257, 11. 18-24.

26BN fr. 837, 11. 246-48; Berne 354, 11. 296-98; Hamilton 257 makes no mention of him after the assignation. 27BN fr. 837, 248 11; Berne 354, 298 11; Hamilton 257, 324 11.

28Bedier, Les Fabliau^, p. 32. 29Ibid, p. 300. 30Nykrog, Les Fabliaux, p. 68.

31 James, Descriptive Catalogue, p. 101.

32Charles Livingston, "Per Nykrcg. Les Fabliaux," Speculum 33 (1958), p. 314.

33Wailes, "Unity," p. 593. 34Meyer, "Le chevalier," p. 71. 35Becier, Les Fabliaux, P. 300. 268

36B. Miller, "The Early History of the Bodleian MS Digby 86," Annuale Medieyale u (1963), P.29; charity

Meier-Ewert, "A Study and a Partial Edition of the Anglo-Norman Verse in the Bodleian Manuscript Digby 86" (Ph.

D* dissertation, Oxford, 1971 ), pp. 10-11.

37Carleton Brown, English Lyrics of the Thirteenth

QSDtaEX (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1932), pp. xxx-xxxii; Miller, "Digby 86," p. 29.

38Brown, English Lyrics, pp. xxix-xxx.

39B.J. Whiting, "English Lyrics of the Thirteenth Century," Speculum 9(1934), pp. 221-25.

^OMiller, "Digby 86," p. 23, n. 5. 41 Brown, English Lyrics, p. xxxii. 42Miller, "Digby 86," p.25, n.S; Meier-Ewert, "Digby 86," pp. 7-8.

43Miller, ibid., p. 25. 44Miller, ibid., pp. 25-26. Scribe A had "a bold, irregular, unprofessional hand of the late thirteenth century." He wrote folios 1-80 verso, 97-207 verso, scribe

B had "a smaller, neater contemporary hand." He wrote folios 81-96V. Meier-Ewert, "Digby 86," p. 13, feels that inappropriate titles and occasionally incorrect initial capitals indicate that the rubrics were later additions. 45Miller, "Digby 86," p. 25; Meier-Ewert, "Digby 86," p.15, points out that the writing changes from scribe A to B in the Chastoiement cPun pere a son fils. 269

*6Brown, English Evrics, p. xxxiv; Miller, ’’Digby 86,” p. 25. 4 7E. Stengel, Codicern Manu Scriptum Digby 86 (Halle,

Libraria orphanotrophei, 1882).

4eMeier-Ewert, "Digby 86,” edits nine of the

Anglo-Norman poems: Bone preere a ngustre Seingngur Jhesu Christ, Chauncgun de ngustre Seingngur, Les Ayes ngustre

Dame, Opeisun de ngstre Dame, De dames e dammaiseles, Le fablel del gelgus, La beitournee, D^un ya11et amerous, Rggemgn le bon. 49Stengel, Digby 86, pp. 27-28: Meier-Ewert, "Digby 86," refers to a continental origin, and cites an earlier edition by A. Dinaux, Les trguyeres brabanggns, hainuyers, 1iegegis et namurgis (Brussels. 1863).

50Meier-Ewert, "Digby 66," pp.219-20. slFrancisque Michel, Lai du Corn, in Uber die Lais, Seguenzen und Leiche, ed. wolf (Heidelberg, 1841 ).

52F.A.Wulff, " Le cgnte du Mantel, texte frangais des dernieres annees du Xlle siecle, edite d'apres tous les manuscrits," Rgmania 14 (1885): 843-80. 53H. Dbrner, "Robert Biquet's Le Lai du cgr," (Ph.D. dissertation, Strassbourg, 1907).

54C.T.EricKson, Le Lai du cgr, Anglo-Norman Text Society (London, Basil Blackwell, 1973). This edition will be cited in the chapter. 270

55Philip Bennett, MaDtSl §1 £££ (Exeter, Exeter

University, 1975). 56Paul Richter, "Versuch einer Dialekt Bestiirmung des Lai du Corn et des Fabliau du Mantel Mautaille" Ausgaten und

Abhandlungen aus dein Gebiet der Romanischen Philologie 38 (Marburg, N.G.Elwert'sche verlagsbuchhandlung, 1 882 ), pp. 10-18; Dorner, cor, p. xxix.

57Legge, Anglo-Norman P* 133. 58Erickson, Cgr, pp. xvi-xxiii. 59Bennett, Mantel et cor, p. xxiii. 60Legge, Anglo-Norman Literature, pp. 132-33. 61Erickson, cor, p. xx. 62Erickson, cor, pp. xviii-xxii, discusses the ways in which previous editors emended the text. 63Wulff, ’’Mantel," p. 344 ; Gustav Grobner, Grundriss ger Romanischen Philologie, 2 vols. (Strassbourg, Trubner, 1904-06), II, p. 600; Ernest Hoepffner, "The Breton Lais," in R.S.Loomis, Arthurian Literature in the Middle Ages (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1961), pp. 12-13; Nykrog, Les Fabliaux, p. 256; Raphael Levy, Chronologic approximative de la litterature prangaise du rr.gyen age, Beiheste zur Zeitschrift fur Romanische Philologie 98 (Tubingen,

Niemeyer, 1957 ), p. 56; Tiemann, "Berrrerkungen," p. 413. 64Stefan Hofer, "Bermerkungen zur Beurteilung des Horn- und des Mantellai," Romanische Forschungen 65(1953-54): 38-46.

65Togeby, "Les Fabliaux," pp. 95-96. 271

66Bennett, Mantel et cor, p. xxii. 67Legge, Anglo^Noriian Lilnnature, j. 133.

68Ecickson, Cor, p. 23. 6 9Vising, Anglo-Norrrian Language, #40. 70Zurr,thor, Histgire litteraire, p. 177. 71Legge, Anglo-Norman Literature pp. 132-33. 72Horst Baader, Die Lais (Frankfurt, Klostermann, 1966), p. 283. 73Mortimer Donovan, The Breton La^ (Notre Dame,

University of Notre Dame Press, 1969), p. 94. 74Knud Togeby, "The Nature of the Fabliaux," in The

Humor of the Fabliaux, ed. by Thomas Cooke and Benjamin

Honeycutt (Columbia, Missouri, University of Missouri Press, 1974), p. 8.

74Lucien Foulet, "Marie de France et les Lais bretons," Zeitschrift fur Romanische Philologie 1 9 (1 905 ), p. 54, n. 1. 76Tiemann, "Bermerkungen," pp. 410-15. 77Merl, "Untersuchungen," p. 13. 78Bedier, Les Fabliaux, #82. 79Ibid, p. 10, n. 1 . 80Nykrog, Les Fabliaux, pp. 15, 196, 228, 256.

81Meier-Ewert, Digby 86, p. 13. 82Wulff, "Mantel," p. 348. For a complete description of the MS BN fr. nouv. acq. fr. 1104, see Gaston Paris,

"Lais inedits de Tyolet. de Doon, du Lecheor et de Tydgrel," 272

Fornania 8 ( 1879 ), p. 33. Berne 354 terns it a ’'rcmanz’' in the rubrics. 83Georgine E. Brereton, " A Thirteenth-Century List of French Lais and other Narrative Pcerrs," Modern Language Review 44 (1950): 40-45. The manuscript is insular.

84§iE 2El§9» e<3* A.J.Bliss (2nd. ed., Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1966), pp. ix-x. e5Ibid, p. 23.

86Por a discussion of the analogues, see Erickson,

Q2E# PP* 4-6: Bennett, Mantel, pp. xviii-xix; T.P.Cross, "Notes on the Chastity Testing Horn,” Modern Ehilglogy 10

(1912-13): 289-99; G. Cederschiceld and F.A.Wulff, Versions ngrdigues du fabliau fraD£§is, ”le Mantel mautaille"

(Paris, Nilsson, 1878); Edmund Heller, "The story of the Magic Horn: A Study in the Development of a Mediaeval Folk Tale," speculum 9 (1934): 38-50 discusses variants on the drinking horn theme; Karl Polheim, "Der Mantel," in corona £uernea, Festgabe fur K. Strecker (Stuttgart, Hiersemann,

1962): 41-64, traces the history of mantels that change length.

87BN fr. (13th cent.), fols. 27r-3lr; BN fr. 1593 (13th cent.), fols. 112d- 115d; BN nouv. acq. fr. 1104 (end of 13th cent.), fols. 48v-54v; BN fr. 353 (end of 14th cent.), fols. 42-55; Berne 354 (14th cent.), fols.

9 3V-100V 273

e8Francisque Michel, "Du Mantel hautaille," uses DN 837 as his base text. 89Wulff, "Mantel," used BN nouv. acq. fr. 1C4 as his base text. 90Montaiglon and Raynaud, Recueil general. III, pp. 1-29. Their edition is based on that of Michel, using DN fr. 837 as the base text. 9Bennett, "Mantel" used DN nouv. acq. fr. 1104 as his base text, as did Wulff. The Bennett edition of Le mantel rnautai^le will be cited in this chapter. 92The opening lines of Corn, as they appear in the manuscript are: De une adventure qi avint A la court al bon rei qi tint Bretaine et engletere quite Si cum lem treue escrite. (1-4) (Concerning an adventure that happened At the court of the good King who held Britain and England freely. As one finds [it] written.) The opening lines of Mantel are: [D]une aventure qui avint en la cort au bon roi qui tint Bretaingne et Engleterre quite, por ce qu'el n'iert pas a droit dite vos veil dire la verite. (1-5)

(Concerning an adventure that happened in the court of the good king who held Britain and England freely. Because it was not told correctly I wish to tell you the truth.) For a full discussion of the openings, see Gaston Paris, "Le lai du cor," Romania 17 (1888), p. 301; Erickson, corn, p.

49; Bennett, Mantel, p. xvii. 274

93Dennett, MDiSl* PP* xvii-xviii. The line is in Berne 354, a fourteenth-century manuscript that frequently has readings that differ from those in other manuscripts.

9*Erick.son, corn, pp. 8-9. 95Ibid, p. 8.

96Erickson, Corn, pp. 7-9, discusses the similar patterns in Lanzelet and the Liyre de Carados.

97Bennett, Mantel, pp. xii-xiii. 9eIbid, p. 63. "Oxford, Ashmolean MS 61 (now Bodleian Library 6922 ), fol. 59b-67a; printed by Bev. Charles Hartshorne, Ancient Metrical Tales (London, w. Pickering, 1829) pp. 209-21: William c. Hazlitt, Remains of the Early Popular Poetry of (London, Smith, 1864; reprt. ed.. New York, AMS Press, 1966), I, pp. 35-49; William Black, A Descriptive, EQ3 ly t ica 1 ajad critical Catalogue of the Manuscripts Begueathed unto the University of Oxford by Elias Ashmole,

Esg., M.D., F.R.S. (Oxford, University Press, 1845), col. 106, dates the manuscript "... in or before the time of

Henry vn" ( 1457-1 509 ). Another version of the poem, "Seynt Ewstas," fol. 1a-5b, in this MS, is also in Digby 86. 100John Hales and Frederick Furnivall, eds.. Bishop £orcyls Folio Manuscript, 3 vols. (London, Trubner, 1868), I, p. xiii. The text of the ballad is printed in II, pp. 301-311 275

10 lMeier-Ewert, "Digby 86," pp. 72-60 , 221-27. Another text of the poem is found in BL Harley 978, a thirteenth-century insular miscellany that contains, among other works, the Lais and the Fables of Marie de France.

10 2Ibid, pp. 81 -83, 228-37 . 103Bedier, Les Fabliaux, pp. 212-228, makes the most extensive study of the analogues. 104See Chapter III, pp. 48-50, for a fuller discussion of this version. 105BN fr. 837 (13th cent.), fol. 189r-l90r, published by Mcntaiglon and Raynaud, Recueil general, V, pp. 201-07, and Rychner, Contributions, II, pp. 173-78; BN fr. 12603 (13th-l4th cent.), fol. 244d, contains only the first 24 lines as the following leaf is missing; the text is not published, and has been consulted from a microfilm of the manuscript kindly provided by the Bibliotheque Nationale. Berne 354 (14th cent.), fol. I67v-I69r is not published, and has been consulted from a microfilm of the manuscript kindly provided by the Burgerbibliothek, Berne. Digby 86, fol. 113r-l14v, has been edited poorly by Stengel, Digby 86, pp.

36-40, and more accurately by Rychner, Contributions, II, pp. 173-78. The Rychner editions of BN fr. 837 and Digby 86 will be referred to in this chapter. BN fr. 837 is the earliest of these manuscripts.

106BN fr. 837, "un vilain" (1); DN fr. 12,603, "un preudomme" (1), Berne 354 "un vilain" (1). in Digby 86 the 276

opening lines are missing, but the man is later referred to as both a "vilein" ( 50, 105, 1 08 ) and ’'proudoume1' (74,93, 97). in BN fr. 837 and in Berne 354, both designations are used to describe him.

107Edited by Reid, Twelve Fabliaux, pp. 5-7. 108Livingston, Le Jongleur Gautier le Leu, pp. 1 39-46. 109Montaiglon and Raynaud, Recueil general., v, pp. 184-191, from Berne 354, fol. I00v-i02v. The manuscript also contains a continental version of Souhais. 110Bedier, Les Fabliaux, p.472. 11‘Ibid, #126; Nykrog, Les Fabliaux, 136. 112Le vilain de Bailleul, printed by Mcntaiglon and Raynaud, Recueil general, V, p. 291, concludes: Mes li fabliaus dist en la fin Con doit por fol tenir celui Qui mieus croit sa fame que lui. (121-23) (But the fabliau concludes That one ought to consider him a fool Who believes his wife rather than himself.) 113See Chapter II, pp. 49-50, for a fuller discussion of fable analogues.

114Rychner, Contributions, I, p. 121. 11sMontaiglon and Raynaud, Recueil general, VI, p. 368 Vising, Anglo-Norman Language, #60.

116The title is from the rubrics of BN fr. 837 and DN fr. 1593.

117BL Harley 2253 (fourth decade of the 14th cent),fol. Illc-llld, edited by Achille Jubinal, Nouveau Recueil de 277

Contes, Oils, Fabliaux et autres poesies inedites des Xllle, XIVe et XVe siecles (Paris, 1839), II, pp.33^-38; Thomas Wright and James Malliwell, Heliguiae Antiguae, 2 vols.

(London, Pickering, 1 843; reprt. ed., New York, AMS Press, 1966 ), II, p. 330; Kennedy, ''Anglo-Norman Poems," pp.

103-18; Cambridge University Library Gg.I.i (early 14th cent.), fol. 627, extracts printed by Paul Meyer,

"Manuscrits frangais de Cambridge," Romania 15 (1886), p. 339. Westminster Abbey 21 (mid-fifteenth cent.), is noted but not edited by Paul Meyer, "Notice d'un recueil manuscrit des poesies frangaises du Xllle et du XV siecle, appartenant a Westminster Abbey," Bulletin de la Societe des Anciens Textes Frangais 1 (1875), pp. 27, 34. (The Westminster Abbey MS appears to be insular. )

118BN fr. 837(13th cent.), edited by Achille Jubinal, Jongleurs et Trguyeres, ou choix de Saluts, £pitres, Reveries et autres Pieces legeres des Xllle et XIV siecles

(Paris, J.A. Merklein, 1835), pp. 79-82; BN fr. 1593 (13th cent.), fol. 153, is not published, and has been consulted from a microfilm copy kindly provided by the Bibliotheque Nationale; Florence, Laurentian Library Plut. XLII, fol.

83d-84d, edited by Paul Heyse, Romanische inedita auf italignischen bibligtheken (Berlin, w. Hertz, 1856), p. 63; Rouen, Bibliotheque de la Ville 67 (anc. A.454), partially edited by Paul Meyer," Notice du manuscript A.454 de la Bibliotheque de Rouen," Bulletin de la Societe des Anciens 278

E£0Q££Li£ 9 ( 1883 ), p. 98; Cembridge University Library Gg.I.i. fol. 27 has not teen edited.

119For a fuller discussion of the dit, see Kennedy, "Anglo-Noriran Poems," pp. 58-60 . * ^0 Paul Meyer, "Le Chastie Musart d'apres le MS. Harleian 4333," Romania 15 (1886), p. 605. 121 Ibid, p. 606: Tiex anmors n'est pas droite, ainz est vix et refcorse, El[le] ne vient pas de cuer, aincois vient de la torse. (149-50).

(Such love is not right, but is base and hostile; It comes not from the heart, but from the [money]bag. ) The corresponding lines in the Digby 86 poem are printed in

Appendix I, 11. 148-49. Another version of the poem is in BL Harley 2253 (see chapter 4, p. 146). 122Montaiglon and Raynaud, Recueil general, V, pp.

24-33, 11. 244-79. 123Title absent in the manuscript due to the loss of the first leaf containing the fabliau. Title given by Paul

Meyer, "Le Tableau du Heron ou la fille rr.al gardee," Romania 26 (1897), p. 85.

12*Ernest Langlois, "Deux Fragments Epiques. Qtinel, Asgremoot" Rgmania 12 (1883); 433-58; Paul Meyer,

"Fragment d' Aspremont conserve aux archives du Puy-de-Dome," Romania 19 (1890); 201-36. Langlois dates the first fragment to mid-thirteenth century (p. 434); Meyer, p. 205, considers the other fragment to be later but still of the thirteenth century. 279

125Vising, Anglo-Norman Language, *222; Nykrog, Les

Fabliaux, *222. 126Meyer, ’’Heron," pp. 88-91.

127Rychner, Contributions, II, pp. 9-14. 126Perry, Babrius and Phaedrus, p.492.

129Bedier, Les Fabliaux, p. 463. 130Ibid, *73; Nykrog, Les Fabliaux, *76. The poem is found in the following manuscripts: BN fr. 837 (13th cent), fol. 188b-189a; BN fr. 1 593 ( 1 3th cent),fol. 15 2b-153a; BN fr. 12603 (13th/14th cent), fol. 277c- 278b; BN fr. 19152 (early 14th cent), fol. 56d-57t; Berne 354 (14th cent), fol. 4ic-42b.

131M.R.James, The bestiary: being a reproduction in full of the manuscript Ti.4.26 in the University Library, Cambridge, with supplementary plates from other manuscripts of English origin (Oxford, University Press, 1928); Florence McCulloch, Mediaeval Latin and French Bestiaries,

Studies in the Romance Languages and Literatures 33 (Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina Press, 1962), pp. 105-06, 125-26. 132Gunnar Tilander, ed., Li Liyres du Roy Modus et de la

E2YQ§ 2 vols. (Paris, Societe des Angiens Textes Frangais, 1932), I, pp. 194-96. The text is of the fourteenth century. i33»xhe vows of the Heron," ed. Thomas Wright, Political Poems and Songs relating to English History 280 corn£osed During the Period from the Accession of Fdward III to that of Richard III, Rolls Series 14, 2 vols. (London,

Longman, Green, Longman and Fioberts, 1859 ), I, pp. 1-25. 13*E. Walbery, £uelgues aspects de la litterature

§QSi2ZD2E!2SDde (Paris, Librairie E. Droz, 1936 ), p. 123. 135Nykrog, Les Fabliaux, p. xliv.

136Meyer, "Heron," p. 87. 137Rychner, contributions, I, pp. 17-18. 138Ibid, II, p. 9, Berne 354, 11 . 1-10. 139Rychner, contributions, I, p. 138, cites Langefors, Vaananen and Livingston, but disagrees with their condemnation of the Berne scribe. 1 *°Berangier au lone cul, Le chevalier gui fist les cons parler, La dame gui fist entengant son mari gu^il sgnjoit, Le prestre gui abeye te, Du prove ire gui menga les rneures.

1<*1Barbazan and Meon, Fabliaux, IV, pp. 250-55, used BN

fr. 837 as the base text and added variants from BN fr. 1593 and BN fr. 19152. 142Montaiglon and Raynaud, Recueil general, V, pp. 151-56; Rychner, contributions, II, pp. 9-14. 1430N fr. 837, 140 lines; BN fr. 1593, 144 lines originally (2 are omitted by the scribe) with a possible 2 additional lines at the conclusion (these lines are illegible); BN fr. 12603, 146 lines; BN fr., 19142, 147 lines; Berne 354, 160 lines. These manuscripts have been made available through microfilms graciously provided by the Bibliotheque Nationale and the Burgerbibliothek, Berne. 281

J4*There are differences in the version in BN fr. 12603; however the text has been so scraped and erased that

it is no longer legible. A comparison between it and the other versions indicates that there are differences in the

lines, and especially in the final rhymes. Unfortunately the exact differences could not be ascertained.

14SGaston Paris "Le dgnnei des QjTja n t S ," Romania 25 (1896), pp. 509-10, 11. 543-88 expand upon the idea that "Gelus ist nome de gelee " (Jealous is so called after •geler' -- i.e., to freeze). 146Nykrog, Les Fabliaux, p. 213, lists eleven passages

found in one hundred sixty fabliaux; such a percentage is small.

1 * 7BN fr. 19152.

148BN fr. 12603. Perhaps the text could be recovered with the aid of ultra-violet light. 149Montaiglon and Raynaud, Recueil general, v, p. 37, state "Le Liyre des Proyerbes frangais de Leroux de Lincy cite un example de ce proverb dans le Reman de Renart."

is°Adolf Tobler, Li Proverbe au vilain (Leipzig, S. Hirzel, 1895), p.l, #2. The proverb is in all six manuscripts containing the text: BN fr. 17177 (end of 13th cent.). Arsenal fr. 3142 (end of 13th cent.), BN fr. 837

(end of 13th cent.), BN fr. 19152 (beg. of 14th cent.), Hamilton 257 (2nd half of 13th cent.), Digby 86 (2nd half of

13th cent.). Only one of the manuscripts that Tobler lists. 282

Digby 86, is insular. There is another insular text of the proverbs in Oxford, Bodleian Library, Seld supra, 74.

151F

CHAPTER IV: ANGLOZNORMAN FABLIAUX: EQURTEENTHzCENTyRY MSS

1H. Wanley, D. Casley, et al., A Catalogue of the harleian Manuscripts in the British Museum, 4 vols. (London, 1808), II, 585-91; Neil Ker, Facsimile of British Museum MS. Harley 2253, Early English Text society 255 (London,

Oxford University Press, 1965). 2James Murray, The Romance and £rorhecies of Thomas of

ESSlSsyQS* Early English Text Society 61 (London, Trubner, 1875), pp. xviii-xx. 3Isabel Aspin, AnglozNorman Political Sengs,

Anglo-Norman Text Society 11 (Oxford, Basil Blackwell, 1953), pp. 105-07; Ker, Harley 2253, b p. xxi and n.6.

4Ker, Harley 22S3, pp. xxi-ii. 5Thomas Wright, The Political Songs of England, Camden Society 6 (London, Nichols and Son, 1839). 6Ker, Harley 2253, pp. xxii-iii.

7Brown, English Lyrics, pp. xxxv-vi. 8Ibid, p. xxxvii, lists: Harrowing of Hell; Sayings of St. Bernard; Dialogue between cur Lady; Sweet Jesu, King of Bliss; Maximian; Proverbs of Bending; Debate of the

Body and Soul. To Brown's list should be added the Dit des femmes, and Gilgte et Johane. 9Ker, Harley 2253, p. xx.

10Ibid, pp. xx-xxi; Sir George Warren and Julius Gilson, Catalogue of Western Manuscripts in the Cld Royal 284 antf KingIs Collections, 4 vols. (London, Longmans, Green and Co., 1921), II, pp. 26-29, describe the contents of the manuscript and date its compilation at c. 1320-40. 11Hontaiglon and Raynaud, Recueil general, IV, pp. 128-32; Richard Holbrook, "The Printed Text of Four Fabliaux in the Recueil general et complet des fabliaux compared with the Readings in the Harleian MS. 2253," Modern Language Notes 20 (1905), pp. 195-96; Kennedy,

"Anglo-Norman Poems," pp. 220-29. A transcription based upon a photocopy of the manuscript edited by Ker, Harley 2253, will be cited in this dissertation. 12Bedier, Les Fabliaux, #50; Vising, AnglozNorman Literature, #218; Nykrog, Les Fabliaux, #55. In Nykrog, the manuscript sigla for continental and Anglo-Norman texts are reversed.

13vising, ibid, p. 61.

14BN fr. 1593, fol. 146a~i47c, not I47v-I48v as listed by Mcntaiglon and Raynaud, Recueil general, v, pp. 32-36. Their edition, corrected by a microfilm copy of the manuscript, will be cited here.

15Bedier, Les Fabliaux, #50; Nykrog, Les Fabliaux, #54 (see above, note 12). 16Langefors, Les Incipit, pp. 29 3-98. 17Rychner, Les Lais, p. 102. 18Montaiglon and Raynaud, Recueil general, V, p. 32,

1.9; "teus" in the printed text is "tex" in the manuscript. 285

19£2D2i2Di <22 H&rnel, "Ma paine vueil metre et rra cure,1' (1), ibid, IV, p. 166, and Langefors, Les Incipit, p. 215.

?0Kennedy, uAnglo-Norman Poems,1' p. 229, citing the

Roman de la Rose, ed. Felix Lecoy, 2 vols. (Paris, Honre Champion, 1965), I, 11. 7081-82, "coilles reliques apelasse/et reliques coilles clamasse." 21Nykrog, Les Fabliaux, p. 101; Marie de France,

Fables, "Le loup et I’agneau." 22Montaiglon and Raynaud, Recueil general, IV, pp. 274-75. 23Rychner, Contributions, I, p. 117. See also his similar comment on p. 119. 24Kennedy, "Anglo-Norman Poems," p. 185. 25Xhe text is edited and translated by Reuben Lee, "A New Edition of The Council of Remiremont (Ph. D. dissertation. The University of Connecticut, 1981). He dates the poem "...within the years 1140-61/4," p. 5.

26Nykrog, Les Fabliaux, pp. 212-13. 27Montaiglon and Raynaud, Recueil general, II, pp. 8-23 .

28Bedier, Les Fabliaux, p.43, assigns an insular provenance to six fabliaux. In his fabliau corpus, pp. 436-41, he places five fabliaux in England, and places Le gretre et Alison in England or Normandy. 29Ibid, p. 481. Bedier cites a study by Adolf Schmidt in Romanische Studien 4. The article is not in any issue of that journal, and I have been unable to locate it. 286

30Faral, Le rnanuscrit 1915 2, p. 13. 31Ifcid, pp. 17-48.

32The characters are placed near the Oise River (8),

St. Cire (28), Ardres (64), Calais and St. Omer (65). 33In EN fr. 837 and 12603, another version of the fabliau is attributed to Huon de cambrai. 34Dartlett whiting, Chaucerls Use of Proverbs, Harvard Studies in Comparative Literature 11 (Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 1934). Whiting lists essentially the same formula used in ten of the fabliaux in Mcntaiglon and Raynaud: "De Montpellier dessi a Rcu," II, 46,89; "Qui sont mananz de si a Homme," I, 145,266; "Entre si e Leons sur Rone," II, 246, 167; "Il n'a homme dusqu'a Samur," III,

164,287; "Ne de ci jusqu'en Loheraine," I, 35, 326; "Il n'a home jusqu'a Neele," I, 5 116; "N'a tel larron jusqu'a Nevers," IV, 96, 123; "De Paris jusqu'en Angleterre," III,

263, 21; "Ne de ci jusqu'en Alemaigne," I, 35, 340. 35 Francisque Michel, Romans, Lais, Fableaux, Contes, Moralites et Miracles inedits des XIle et Xllle siecles, 4 vols. (Paris, 1833), I, p. 35, cited by Nykrog, Les Edtliaux, pp. xv, 312; Francisque Michel, Gautier dlAupais et Le chevalier a la corbei1le (Paris, 1835), pp. 35-44.

36Montaiglon and Raynaud, Recueil general, II, pp. 183-88.

37Holbrook, "The Printed Text," p. 195. 287

38Montaiglon and Raynaud, Recueil general, I, p. 333, state, ''Nous avons essaye, pour ce fabliau et le suivant

1L£ 2S2§ilE6j[ de rendre aux vers leurs huit syllabes reglementaires; mais les corrections a faire a ces vers anglo-normands sont si nombreuses qu'cn peut se demander s'il n'eut pas ete preferable de laisser les vers tels quels." 39Kennedy, "Anglo-Norman Poems," pp. 199-219. *°Bedier, Les Fabliaux, #28; Vising, Anglo-Norman Language, #s 43, 217; Nykrog, Les Fabliaux, #24. ^Kennedy, "Anglo-Norman Poems," pp.179-80.

42Nykrog, Les Fabliaux, p. 122.

4 3Togeby, "Les Fabliaux," p. 88. The Vulgate Version Qi the Arthurian Romances, ed. H. Oskar Sommer, 8 vols.

(Washington, Carnegie Institution, 1909), I, pp. 171-77. 44Langefors, Les Incigit, pp. 282-86. 4SArmand Caste, Chansons ngrmandes du XVle siecle (Caen, Le Gost-clerisse, 1866), p. 15, #19, MS de Vire. 46Henri Estienne, Apologie pour Hergdote (1566), ed. P. Ristelhuber, 2 vols. (Paris, I. Liseux, 1879), I, p. 282. 47Child, Ballads, V, pp. 121-25. 48Palgrave, cy ensuyte. 49Francisque Michel, Le Dit de la Gageure (Paris, Plassan, 1835).

50Montaiglon and Raynaud, Recueil general, II, pp.

193-96, 336-38; corrections by Holbrook, "The Printed Text," pp. 194-95. 288

5Mcntaiglon ana Raynaud, ibid, II, p. 333.

52Kennedy, "Anglo-Norman Poems," pp. 230-37. 53Bedier, Les Fabliaux, #68; Vising, Anglo-Norman Language, #221; NyKrog, Les Fabliaux, #73.

54Nykrog, ibid., p. 12. 55Gaston Paris, "Le cycle de la gageure," Romania 32 (1903): 481-555; V.F.Koenig, "A New Perspective on the wager Cycle," Modern Philology 44 (1946-47): 76-83.

56Alexandre Micha, ed., cliges (Paris, Honre Champion, 1970), p. 192, 11. 6304-29. 57Geoffrey Chaucer, The SSDtorbury Tales, ed.

F.N.Robinson, 2nd ed. (Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 1957), p.

126, 11. 2330-55. For a discussion of the etymology, see pp. 684-85, and Kennedy, Anglo-Norman Poems, p. 234. seHulme, Disciplina Clerical is, pp. 8-10; CaxtgnM AEsgp, ed. R.T. Lenaghan (Cambridge, Harvard university Press, 1967), pp. 210- 11. 59Nykrog, Les Fabliaux, p. 74. 60Roy J. Pearcy, "Chansons de geste and Fabliaux: La Gageure and Berenger au long cul," Neuphiloloqische Mitteilungen 79 (1978): 76-83. blSee above, note 55. Neither article mentions the fabliaux.

62Louise Stone and William Rothwell, BQQl2zNcrman Dictionary, Publications of the Modern Humanities Research

Association 8 (London, W.S.Haney, 1977), I, p. 98. 63Bedier, Les Fabliaux, p. 325. 289

b<,Nykrog, Les Fabliaux, p. 212. b5IbiG, p. 64.

b 6 BN f r. 837 (13th cent.), fol. 14 8v-l49v; BN f r. 1593

(13th cent • ) # fol. 208r-212r; BN fr. 19152 (beg. 14th cent. ), fol. 58r-60r; BN fr. 25545 (14th cent. ), fol. 77v-8 2v; Hamilton 257 (2nd half 13th cent. ), fol. 7 V -1 0V; Berne 354 (14th cent.), fol. I69r -174V. 67Darfcazan and Meon, Fabliaux et contes, III, pp.

409-36, print a composite text based upon the four BN manuscripts; Mcntaiglon and Raynaud, Recueil general, VI, pp. 68-89, use the Hamilton 287 text, and print parts of the

BN fr. 25545 text in VI, pp. 176-87; Rychner,

£2DiEifey^i2Ds, II, pp. 38-79, prints the texts of Hamilton 257, EN fr. 837, BN fr. 1593 and EN fr. 25545. This dissertation will utilize the Rychner edition. b8Montaiglon and Raynaud, Recueil general, VI, pp. 198-205; Rychner, Contributions, II, pp. 38-79; Kennedy, "Anglo-Norman Poems," pp. 238-53. This dissertation will cite the Rychner text. b9B£dier Les Fabliaux, #31; vising, Anglo-Norman

Language, #219; Nykrog, Les Fabliaux, #28. 70Bedier, ibid, # 30; Nykrog, ibid, #27.

71 BN fr. 837, 260 11. (several MS leaves are missing);

BN fr. 1593, 604 11; BN fr. 19152, 615 11; BN fr. 25545, 750 11; Hamilton 257, 610 11; Berne 354, 616 11. 72Paris, "Lais inedits," pp. 59-64. 290

73Montaiglon and Raynaud, Recuei1 cnneral, II, pp. 133-35. S'7 74BN fr. 827, 1. 12; BN fr. 2253, 1. 4; Hamilton 257, 1.12; Berne 354, 1. 12; Harley 2253, 1. 4. There is no attribution in BN fr. 25545. 75Le chiyaler qui fist par1er les cons, Le pretre gui apeyete, perengier au lone cul. La dame qui fist son marl entenqant gu^il sonjoit, Du prqyoire gui menqa les meures.

One manuscript of La grue mentions him as the author, but

the earlier manuscripts do not. 76Bedier, Les Fabliaux, p. 48. The exception is La grue. 77Rychner, Contributions, I, pp. 46, ill. A group: BN fr. 837, 1593, 19152, Berne 354, Hamilton 257; B group: BN fr. 25545; C group: Harley 2253. 78Ibid, pp. 117-18. 79Ibid, p. 46.

80Kennedy, “Anglo-Norman Poems," p. 241, n., assigns

the reference to £lie of winchester, who translated the Latin Disticha Catgnis into French: Le tuen despent sanz ultrage Sulunc co kil valt; Kar tu en auras damage, S'al busoigne te faut. De poi de ioie e de surfait N'aiez unkes cure; Kar nef qu'en petit ewe vait Plus est aseure. (45-52) ( Spend your money without excess According to how it is useful Because you will suffer If it is lacking when you need it. 291

Never worry about A little or a lot of happiness. Because the boat that travels in a little water Is the safest.) 81Nykrog, Les Fabliaux, p. 324, writes that fluberee and Sacristan are found in eight rr.anuscripts. La couille noire, like Chiyaler, is found in seven manuscripts.

82Rychner, Contributions, I, p. 118. 83Jubinal, Nouveau Recueil, II, pp. 28-39; Kennedy,

’’Anglo-Norman Poems,” pp. 146-177 e*Ker, Harley 2253, p. x, places the date at 1293; Kennedy, "Anglo-Norman Poems,” pp. 176-77, n., places it at 1301 .

85Fcl. 192c-195c, edited by Stengel, Cgdicem, pp. 84-93; Jubinal, Nouveau Recueil, II, p. 28; Kennedy, "Anglo-Norman Poems," pp. 146-77. 86Fol. 49r-50v; ed. by Thomas Wright, Specimens of

LYEi£ £2§try, Percy Society 4 (London, T. Richards, 1842); Kennedy, "Anglo-Norman Poems," pp. 74-94. 87Jubinal, Nouveau Recueil, n, p. 334; Wright,

Reliquiae Antiguae, II, pp. 261-68 ; Kennedy, "Anglo-Ncrman Poems," pp. 95-102. 88Ibid, pp. 221-23; Kennedy, "Anglo-Norman Poems," pp. 103-18.

89Wright, Specimens, «38, p. 107; Kennedy, "Anglo-Norrrian Poems," pp. 119-26. 292

9°Thomas Wright, The Latin Poems Commonly Attributed to Holier Mages, Camden Society 16 (London, Nichols and Son, 1841), p, 292; Kennedy, "Anglo-Norman Pcems," pp. 127-45.

91 See Chapter III, pp. 94-96, for a discussion of the material. 92Palgrave, Cy ensuyt, cited by Nykrog, Les Fabliaux, pp. xv, 293. 93Abbe Gervais De La Rue, ea. Essais historigues sur les bardes, les jongleurs, et les trguyeres normands et anglg^ngrmands Caen, Mancel, 1834); Francisque Michel, La Riote du Monde (Paris, Silvestre, 1834), pp. 27-28. 94Ibid, pp. vii-viii. 95Montaiglon and Raynaud, Recueil general, II, pp. 242-47, 356.

96J. Ulrich, "La riote du monde," 2eitschrift fur Romanische Philolggie 81 (1884), pp. 275-79.

97Ibid,p. 275; LeClerc, "Fabliaux," p. 103. 98Bedier, Les Fabliaux, #117; Nykrog, Les Fabliaux, #1 26. "Vising, Anglo-Norman Language, #268. 100Bedier, Les Fabliaux, p. 34. 101Nykrog, Les Fabliaux, p. 57. 102Frederic Godefroi, Dietignnaire de Ijancienne langue lE2Qgaise, 10 vols. (Paris, Librairie des Sciences et des Arts, 1938), VII, pp. 199-200. 293

103Trinity College Cambridge 0.2.45 (13th cent., after 1 248 ), Fol. 331 a-b published by Ulrich, "La riote," pp.

279-81; Stratford- upon-Avon, Gild Records, Division XII,

No. 206 (14th cent.) published by G.E. Brereton, "La Riote cu Monde - - A New Fragment," Medium AEyum 4 (1935):

95-99;BL Arundel 220 (early 14th cent.), fol. 303d, published by Francisque Michel, La riote, p. 416. 10*Berne 113 (13th or 14th cent.), fol. 20ia-202a, edited partially by Ulrich, "La riote," pp. 281-89; BN fr. 1553 (13th cent.), edited by Ulrich, "La riote," pp. 279-89; Michel, La riote, pp. 1-10.

105BN fr. 1 588 (1 3th cent., after 1278 ), published by

Michel, La riote, pp. 1-10, and by Ulrich, "Neue Versionen," pp. 117-19.

106BL Arundel 292 ( 1 3th cent.), fol. I15r, formerly contained an item listed in the manuscript's table of contents as De Rege et Joculatore, which has been lost. 107John Kemble, Salomon and Saturn (London, Aelfric Society, 1848), p. 223. 108Ibid, pp. 113-33; there is a text in the fabliau compilation, BN fr. 19152. 109Ibid, pp. 134-97.

110 Wi11iam Schofield, English Literature from the

Norman conquest to Chaucer (London, Macmillan, 1906), p.325; A.W.W. Ward and A.R.Waller, eds.. The Cambridge History of English Literature. 14 vols. (New York, G. Putnam, 1907), I, pp. 409-10. 294

111 vising, Anglo-Norman Language, #285. 112Thomas Wright, The Political Songs of England, pp.

137-48; Isabel Aspin, Anglo-Norman Political Songs, Anglo-Norman Text Society il (Oxford, Basil Blackwell, 1953), pp. 132- 41.

ll3Aspin, Political Songs, pp. 130-31. 114BL Harley 913 (1st quarter of the 14th cent.), fol. 3r-6r, ed. Rossell Hope Robbins, Historical Poems of the XIVth and XVth centuries (New York, Columbia University Press, 1959), pp. 121-27, 317-19. 115BN fr. 837 ( 1 3th cent.), fol. 167c-168b; BN fr.

1 593 ( 1 3th cent.), fol. 147d-148c; Berne 354 ( 13th/14th cent.), fol. 67a-68a. Barbazan and Meon, Fnhliaux et contes, IV, pp. 175-84, print a text based upon BN fr. 837 and 1593. li6Paul Meyer, ''Notice du MS. 25970 de la bibliotheque Phillipps (Cheltenham)," Romania 37 (1908), pp. 209-10.

117bn fr. 837 (13th cent), fol. I50r-I52r; Turin University Library L.II.14 (14th cent), fol. 585c-566c. 118Meyer, "Notice," pp. 216-19. 119BN fr. 837 is published by Barbazan and Meon, E^bliaux et Contes, IV, pp. 472-83, and also by Montaiglon and Raynaud, Recueil general, I, pp. 82-96. The latter edition also contains the Turin text, II, pp. 1-7. izopor a discussion of the use of the term in the openings of fabliaux, see Nykrog, Les E§felisii!2£» PP* 9-13. 295

121Bedier, Les Fabliaux, #74, 75; Vising, Anglo-Norman Language, #216.

122Nykrog, Les Fabliaux, p. 15. 123Togeby, ’’Nature of the Fabliau," pp. 7-6; see also his corrments in "Les Fabliaux," p. 87. 12*Merl, Unterschungen,pp. 13, 33. 125Bedier, Les Fabliaux, pp. 465-66. 126Crane, Exempla, pp. 121, 260.

127P.Rajna and Gaston Paris, "Una versione in ottava rirr.a del libro dei, Sette Say i," Romania 9 (1881): 2-9. 128£tienne de Bourbon, Tractus de diversis

praedicabilibus, ed. A. Lecoy de la Marche, Anecdotes bisterigues, Legendes et Apologues, tires du recueil inedit d2_£tienne de Bourbon, Societe de I'histoire de France

(Paris, 1877), #163. 1290do of Cheriton, Fabulae, ed. Hervieux, Les Fabulistes Latins, IV, p. 245, #73a. 130Herbert, Romances, pp. 370-73, 398 #448. 131.us Robert of Brunners "Handlyng Synne, A.D• 1303, with those parts of the Anglo-French Treaties on which it was founded, william of Waddingtcnls "Manuel des Pechiez,” Early English Text Society 119, 2 vols. (London, Triibner and Co., 1901-02), I, pp. 119-21, 11. 1121-32.

l32Herbert, Romances, pp. 370-73. l33Urtan Holmes, "Notes on the French Fabliaux," Middle

Ages -- Reformation -- VoIkskunde. Festschrift £or John J. 296

Kunstman. Studies in the Romance Languages ana Literatures 26 (chapel Hill, University ol North Carolina Press, 1959), p. 40 . 134BN fr. 837, opening lines and rubrics are missing from the manuscript, but after the fabliau are written the rubrics, "Explicit de la Houce partie;" Turin, "Chest de la Houce;" Phillipps, "Coment le naturel pere e son denaturel filz departirent la houce."

135lnformation graciously provided by Dr. Ruth Dean in a private letter. 136The New York book dealer, H.P.Kraus, kindly forwarded a request to consult the manuscript to the new owner, who refused to reply. 137Meyer, "Notice," p. 216. i aephiHipps, 1.2; Turin, 1.1; BN, 1.523. 139Meyer, "Notice," p. 216. 140Vising, Anglo-Norman Language, #216.

141Ibid, #42. 142Meyer, "Notice," pp. 219-21 prints extracts from the text.

143Hilka-Soderhjelm, EE

144Paris# ibid, dates Phillipps 3713 in the late thirteenth or early fourteenth century. 1'*5Gaston Paris, Le lai de l^oisel et (Paris, Depret-Bixio, 1884), publisher the continental text. 146John Lydgate, The Chorle and the Bird, ed. James

Halliwell, Percy Society 2 (London, C. Richards, 1840), pp. 179-93. 296

CHAPTEF V: CHARACTERISTICS CF ANGLO-NORMAN FABLIAUX

^edier, Les Fabliaux, p. 321.

2NyK.rog, Les Fabliaux, pp. 212-13. 23Bedier, Les Fabliaux, p. 32.

4The actual narrative portion of Souhaits is shorter than its analogues, although the addition of the uditu makes the total length longer. 299

CHAPTER VI: THE FABLIAU IN ENGLISH: 13TH;1STH CENTURY MSS

1J.A•w. Bennett and G.V.Smithers, eds., Earlx MiS^le

English Verse and Prose (Oxford, clarendon Press, 1966), pp.

77-95.

2Thcmas Wright, ed., Anecdota Literaria (London,

J.R.Smith, 1844), p. 1; Canfcy, "The English Fabliaux," p.202; Albert C. Baugh, A Literary History of England (2nd. ed., London, Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1967), p. 198; John Edwin Wells, Manual of the writings in Middle English, 1050-1400, 1 vol. (New Haven, Yale University Press, 1916), p. 177.

3ward and Waller, Cambridge History, I, pp. 409-10, and Schofield, English Literature, p.321, classifiy it as an oriental tale.

4Wright, Anecdota Literaria, p. 2; Victor LeClerc, "Fabliaux," p. 77; Whiting, "English Lyrics," p. 21, considers the names Margeri and wilekin and the reference to the fair at Bostolf as evidence that the poem is not a translation of a French original. 5Crane, Exempta, #250; ward, Romances, n, pp.

197-239; Herbert, Romances, III, pp. 21, 197, 239. For a further discussion, consult Haim Schwarzbaum, "International Folklore Motifs in Petrus Alfonsi's Disciplina Clericalis," lefarad 22 (1962), pp. 245-28. Also see Antti Aarne and Stith Thompson, The Types of the Folktale. Folklore Fellows Communications 74. (Helsinki, 1928), p. 301, #1377. 300

6E!ennett and smithers. Middle English Verse, p.77, n. 4-6. 7Ibid, pp. 78, 80-93; F.C.Vries, "A Note on Dame Siriz,'* Notes and Queries 22 (1975), pp. 386-8 7.

eBL Additional 23986 (end of 13th or beg. of 14th cent.). The interlude is written on the reverse in a different and later hand. According to W. Heuser, "Das Interludium de Clerico et Puella und das Fabliau von Dame

SiEiZ/" Boalia 30 (1907), p. 310, the dialect of the scribe was that of the north-east midlands, south Yorkshire or north Lincoln.

9Bennett and Smithers, Middle English Verse, p. 197; Heuser, "Das Interludium," pp. 312-19. 10Bennett and Smithers, ibid, pp. 67-76. 11 Henry S. Canby, "The English Fabliaux," Eublications of the Mode£Q Language Association 21 (1906), p. 205. 12Fernand Mosse, "Le Roman de Renart dans I'Angleterre du Moyen-fige," Langues Modernes 45 (1951): 70-84.

13 Edinburgh, National Library, Advocates' MS 19.2.1. The contents of the manuscript are described by E. Kolbing,

"vier Romanzen-Handschriften," Englische studien 7 (1884): 177-201; H.A. Bliss, "Notes on the Auchinleck MS," Sgeculum 26 (1 951 ): 652-58. A listing of early editions that take up the dating of the manuscript is in J.M.Booker, A Middle English Bibliography (Heidelberg, carl Winter, 1912), pp. 54-55 301

14Wells, Manual, *' pp. 1 79-80 . Schofield, English

P* 15, also considers it a fabliau. 15BN fr. 837 (13th cent), fol. 68V-70V; BN fr. 1593 (13th cent), fol. I25v-i28r; Hamilton 257 (13th cent.), fol. 35c-37c; Pavia, University Library, Aldini 219 (beg. 14th cent), fol. I5r-I8r. The text is printed by Montaiglon and Raynaud, Recueil general, III, pp. 88-102. Their text is conflated, but since it it the only one published, it will be referred to in this dissertation. 16A Penni-worth of Witte, Florice and Blancheflour, and other Pieces of Antient English Poetry, ed. David Laing, Abbotsford Club 29 (Edinburgh, 1857), p.iv; wells. Manual, p. 180. I7Hamilton 257: 435 lines; BN fr. 837 and 1593: conflated text of 434 lines; Pavia 130.E.5: 436 lines. 18Hamilton 257: 35 lines of moralizing and summary; BN 837 and 1593: 33 lines of moralizing and summary. The Pavia text is not published in full.

19Hilk.e and Soderhjelm, Qhastoiement, A version: lines 230-336, pp. 7-9; B version: lines 106-304, pp. 81-84.

20The text exists in two fifteenth-century manuscripts, Cambridge, UL Ff. II. 38 (136 couplets) and 3L

Harley 5396 (175 couplets). The Cambridge text is published by Joseph Ritson, Ancient Popular £cetry from authentic manuscripts and old printed copies, revised by Edmund 302

Goldsmid (2nd ed., Edinburgh, Private printing, 1884). The

Harley text is printed by Hazlitt, Early Popular Poetry, I, pp. 196-208. Hazlitt also discusses the chap boohs, pp.

194-9S. Carleton Brown and Rossell Hope Robbins, Id2§^ Middle English Verse (New York, Columbia University Press,

1943), #1897, list a third manuscript that contains the poem, Aberystwyth, National Library of Kales, Porkington 10, fol. 207b ff. In the manuscript, the poem is imperfect. Brown and Robbins do not date the manuscript. 21Ker, Harley 2253, p. xxii, discusses the Harley manuscript's Herefordshire provenance. Karl Brunner, ed., seven Sages of Rome, Early English Text society 191 (London, 1933), p. xxv, argued the London origin of the a scribe. Ewald Zettl, ed., An anonymous short English Metrical Chtonicle, Early English Text Society 196, (London, Oxford

University Press, 1935), p. cxxi, established the London origin of the y scribe. Judith Mordkoff, "The Making of the

Auchinleck Manuscript: The Scribes at work" (Ph.D. dissertation. The University of Connecticut, 1980), establishes that the Auchinleck manuscript was a late product of the traditional monastic scriptoria and was copied in a London-area house, not in a commercial bookshop. She refutes Loomis' theory that the manuscript was produced in a London bookshop; cf Laura Hibbard Loomis, "Chaucer and the Auchinleck MS: 'Thopas' and 'Guy of Warwick,'" Essays and Studies in Honor of carleton Brown (Freeport, New York, 303

Books for Libraries Press, 1940). Loomis' theory is supported by Derek Pearsall in The Auchinleck Manuscript, intro, by Derek Pearsall and I.c.c.Cunningham (London, The Scolar Press, 1977), pp. viii-xi. Another view that supports Mordkoff and refutes Loomis is expressed in "The production of copies of the Canterbury Tales and the confessio Amantis in the early fifteenth century," in Scribes, Manuscripts and Libraries: Essays Presented to N.R.Ker, ed. M.B. Parkes and Andrew Watson

(London, Scolar Press, 1978). The authors of the article, A.I.Doyle and M.B.Parkes, write, "...we can find no evidence for centralized, highly organized scriptoria in the metropolis and its environs at this time other than the various departments of the central administration of government, and no evidence that these scriptoria played any part -- as organizations — in the copying of literary works." 22Loomis, "Chaucer and the Auchinleck MS," pp. 111-28. 23John Manley and Edith Rickert, The Text of the

Canterbury Tales, 8 vols. (Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1940), I, p. 268. 24D.S.Brewer, "The Fabliaux," in companion to Chaucer Studies, ed. Beryl Rowland (London, Oxford University Press, 1968), pp. 247-48. 25Bedier, Les Fabliaux, pp. 40-41, dates the genre between 1159 and 1340. 26Ibid 304

27Nykrog, Les Fabliaux, p. 43, lists the known authors of fabliaux,who composeci among them fifty-two stories, 2eLegry-Rosier, "Manuscrits,'' pp. 37-46; Frangoise Vieilliard, ed., Manuscrits frangais du moyen age, 2 vols.

(Cologny-Geneve, Fondation Martin Bodmer, 1975), II, p. 109, describes a fifteenth century manuscript. Codex Bodmer 113, that contains the Fables of Marie de France as well as five fabliaux: Celui gui bouta la pierre, La male honte, Celle gui se fit fputre sur la fosse de son mari, Le pretre crucifie, and La yieille gui oint la paume au chevalier. 29Charles Owen, Jr., "Chaucer's Canterbury Tales: Aesthetic Design in Stories of the First Day," English Studies 35(1954): 49-56, discusses the relationship between the tales and the tellers. 30Robinson, The H2EiS§ of Geoffrey Chaucer. All quotes from The Canterbury Tales will be from this edition. 31william Bryan and Germaine Dempster, eds.. Sources and Analogues of Chaucer^s ’'Canterbury Tales" (Chicago, 1941), pp. 106-23; Larry D. Benson and Theodore M. Andersson, The Literary Context of ChaucerJ.s Fabliaux (New York, Bobbs-Merrill, 1971), pp. 6-77. 32Paul Beichner, "Absolon's Hair," Medieval Studies 12 (1950), pp. 222-33.

33Le meunier et les .II. clers is found in Berne 354 (14th cent.) and Hamilton 257 (second half of the 13th cent. ) The Berne text is published by Montaiglon and 305

Raynaud, Recueil Qeneral, V, pp. 83-94; the Hamilton text is published in Bryan and Dempster, Sources and Analogues, pp. 124-147; Benson and Andersson, Literary Context, pp.

79-201. De Gombert et les .II. clers is found in BN 837 (13th cent.), Berne 354 (14th cent.), Hamilton 257 (13th cent.), and BN 2168 (13th cent.); the text is published by Montaiglon and Raynaud, Recueil general, II, pp. 238-44. Rychner, Contributions, II, pp. 152-59, prints the Berne 354 and the Hamilton 257 texts. 3*Walter Morris Hart, "The Reeve's Tale; A Comparative Study of Chaucer's Narrative Art," Publications of the Modern Language Association 23 (1908): 1-44;

Germaine Dempster, "On the Source of the Reeye^s Tale," Journal of English and Germanic Philology 29 (1930) 473-88; Roger T. Burbridge, "Chaucer's Reeye^s Tale and the Fabliau, "Le meunier et les .II. clers," Annuale Medievale 12 (1971): 30-36; Betty Hill, "Chaucer's The Miller^s and Re eye j_s Tales," Neughilogische Mittelungen 74 (1973): 666-75;

Glending Olson, "The ReeyeJ^s Tale as a Fabliau," Modern Language Quarterly 35 (1974): 219-30.

35R.E.Kaske, "An Aube in the 'Reeve's Tale'," Journal of English Literary History 26 (1959): 295-310.

36J.R.R.Tolkien, "Chaucer as Philologist: The Reeyej_s Tale," Transactions of the Philological Society (1934): 1-70, analyzes the clerks' northern dialect. French spoken by Englishrr.ent is parodied in the continental fabliau, Les 306

.II. anglgis et le anel. For other representations of French spoken by Englishmen, see John E.Matzke, "Some Examples of French as Spoken by Englishmen," Modern

Ehii2l£SY 3 (1905-06): 47-60. 37The texts are printed by Wright, Anecdota Literaria, pp. 105-16, and by Hazlitt, Early £gpular Poetry, III, pp.

100-129. The two extant texts were printed in London by Wynkyn de Korde and by Rycharde Ihones. 38Manley and Rickert, Canterbury Tales, I, p. 274. 39Bryan and Dempster, Sources and Analogues, pp. 148-54.

40Ibid, pp. 269-74 ; Robinson, H2ElS§# P* 704: D.C.Baker, "Exemplary Figures as Characterizing Devices in the Eriar^s Tale and the SummonerJ.s Tale," University of Mississippi Studies in English 3 (1962): 35-41. *1 La housse partie. La bourse pleine de sens. La fpile l2E2S2£e are the three moral continental fabliaux. La housse partie is found in an Anglo-Ncrman version and La bourse pleine de sens is found in an English verse analogue.

*2Robinson, Works, pp. 704-05: "The language in both

Libs Friar^s Tale and The Summonerj.s Tale2 though not out-and-out dialect, as in the speech of the Cambridge students in the Reeye^s Tale, points to a northerly locality."

43 Bryan and Dempster, Sources and Analogues, pp.275-88: Frederick Tupper, "Chaucer’s Sinners and Sins," Upurpal of English and Germanic Philology i5 (1916): 56-106. 307

4<*Turin University Library L.II.14, printed by Montaiglon and Raynaud, Recueil general, II, 1-7. *5Bryan and Dempster, Sources and Analogues, pp. 333-56; Benson and Andersson, Literary context, pp. 206-73.

The pear tree episode is found in the Fables of Adolfus, written in 1315 and dedicated to Ulric, professor at the university at Vienna. The text of Adolfus' pear tree fable is edited by Thomas Wright, A Selection of Latin Stories, Percy Society 8 (London, T. Richards, 1842), who considers it "the original of the Marchantes Tale in Chaucer." *6Canby, "The English Fabliau," p.209.

47Bryan and Dempster, Sources and Analogues, pp. 439-46; Robinson, Works, pp. 732-33 Benson and Andersson, Literary Context, pp. 275-337. *eRobert Caldwell, "Chaucer's taillynge ynough, Canterbury Tales B2 1624," Modern Language Notes 55 (1940): 262-65; C. Jones, "Chaucer's Taillynge Ynough," Modern Language Notes 52 (1937): 570; Albert H. Silverman, "Sex and Money in Chaucer's Shi gmanj.s Tale," £bil2l29iS§.i Quarterly 32 (1953): 329-36.

*9La Plantez, Montaiglon and Raynaud, Recueil general. Ill, pp. 170-74, and St. Pierre et le jongleur, Owen and Johnston, Fabliaux, pp. 67-77, contain descriptions of tavern life. 50Wanley, Catalogue of the Harleian MSS, I, p. 20. 308

51 Jarr.es Halliwell, A Selection frorr the Minor Pcenis of

BSD iiSbD By^liate, Percy Society 2 (London, C. Richards, 1840), pp. 107-17; Henry MacCracken, The Minor Poems of John

Lydgate, Early English Text Society 107, 2 vols. (London, Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner and Co., 1911), I, pp. xli-ii.

52M.accracken, Lydgate, pp. xi-xl, xlii, note 1. 53Halliwell, Lydgate, p. 107. fr. 837 (13th cent.), fol. I4r-I9r; 1553 (13th cent.), fol. 488v-93r; 19152 (14th cent.), fol. 77r-80r; Berne 354 (14th cent.), fol. 80v-88v. The text is published by Montaiglon and Raynaud, Recueil general, IV, pp. 166-98. 55Adam of Cobsam, The WrightChaste Wife, ed. Frederick Furnival, Early English Text Society 12 (London, Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner and Co.; reprt. ed., New York, Greenwood Press, 1969 ).

5fcIbid, pp. 25-39; Rev. Charles Swan, ed. and trans., Gesta Romanorum (London, George Routledge, 1905), pp. 179-80.

57w.Tod Ritchie, ed.. The Bannatyne manuscript written

IQ tyme of pest, 1568, Scottish Text Society (Edinburgh, w. Blackwood, 1928-34), IV, pp. 261-77; Sir william craigie, ed., The Maitland Folio Manuscript, Scottish Text Society (Edinburgh, W. Blackwood, 1919-27), I, pp. 133-48. The manuscripts were written in the years 1568 and 1586, respectively. The latter manuscript is located at Cambridge, Magdalen College, Pepysian Library. 309

58In the Bannatyne MS preceding Freiris is The Goldin

Targe by Dunbar; the fabliau is followed by two poems added to the manuscript later. In the Maitland Folio manuscript, Freiris is preceded by The Ring gf_ the Roy Robert, a poem by

D. Steel, and is followed by the poem, Christ is Kirk, on the Grene.

59W. Mackay Kenzie, ed., The £oems of william Dunbar (London, Faber and Faber, 1932), p. xxxv; Florence H. Ridley, in A Manual of the writings in Middle English, ed.

Albert Hartung, 6 vols. (New Haven, Connecticut Academy of Arts and sciences, 1973), IV, pp. 1053-54.

60Ibid.

61The Berne 354 text is published by Montaiglon and Raynaud, Recueil general, V, pp. 192-200.

62Walter M. Hart, "The Fabliau and Popular Literature," Publications of the Modern Language Association 23 (1908): 329-74 310

CHAPTER VII: CONCLUSIONS

Wising, Anglo^NogmSD L3DQU§.a§» PP* 79-63; Paul Meyer, "Sur la versification gDglo^norrnange," Romania 15

(1886): 144-48. 2Edinuna Spenser, The Faerie £y eene, lll.ii.33, edited by J.C.Smith and E. De Selincourt, The Poetical Works of Edmund Spenser (London, Oxford University Press, 1921), p.

222.

3Meyer, "Manuscrit 25970,” p. 216.

^Nykrog, Les Fabliaux, p. 68. 5Vising, Anglo-Norman Language, pp. 8-27; Legge,

"Anglo-Norman and the Historian,” pp. 163-75; Wilson, "English and French in England,” pp. 37-60.

6Rychner, contributions, I, pp. 144-46. 7Ibid, pp. 46, 117-119, 143-44. 31 1

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