Durham E-Theses Daguenet le Fol: a lesser known representation of madness in the thirteenth century French Arthurian prose romances Lowson, Sarah Louise How to cite: Lowson, Sarah Louise (2004) Daguenet le Fol: a lesser known representation of madness in the thirteenth century French Arthurian prose romances, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/3026/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 For my parents, Charles and Linda Lowson. A copyright olf this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published without his prior written consent and information derived from it should be acknowledged. Daguenet le Fol: a lesser known representation of madness in the thirteenth century French Arthurian prose romances Sarah Louise Lawson submitted for the degree of PhD Department of French University of Durham 2004 Sarah Louise Lowson ca1 ~e~ser knowllil represellilta~tooiT1! of madness on the thurteerath cell1lbny IFif'ellileh ArthlUiriauril pr©se ~romau'iJces Abstract Whilst critical material on the subject of the heroes and other major figures in the Arthurian romances abounds, little attention has been paid to those who, although playing relatively minor roles in individual stories, pop up again and again across a wide range of such romances. The aim of this study is rehabilitate one such character who has received little critical attention, Daguenet le Fol, whose appearances in the French Arthurian prose romances are brief, but he is unique in that he owes his identity to his madness- his folie. Daguenet, for most modern readers, is a character who, due to the scarcity and brevity of his appearances, seems worthy of little more than a passing mention. However it is precisely the brief yet recurrent nature of his involvement with the romances which makes him so remarkable. Daguenet's increasingly detailed and significant appearances bear witness to the fact that, despite his apparently minor status, his relationship to folie caught the imagination of a number of medieval writers. By bringing together his appearances in four thirteenth century French Arthurian prose romances, the prose Lance/at, prose Tristan, Guiron le Courtois, and the Prophecies de Merlin, and looking at them in the chronological order in which they were composed, this study traces the evolution of the portrayal of that folie as different authors manipulate the material produced by their predecessors for their own ends, developing and adapting various aspects of Daguenet's character yet retaining an overall sense of continuity of his identity. Thus this study demonstrates the dangers of neglecting a wealth of characters whose potential to enhance our understanding of this body of work and the way in which it was composed remains largely untapped. Tab~e of Conten~ts Preface 3 Chapters 1 Introduction 7 2 Daguenet in the prose Lance/at 64 3 Daguenet in the prose Tristan 93 4 Daguenet in Guiron /e Courtois 137 5 Daguenet in the Prophecies de Merlin 187 Conclusion 259 Appendices 1 Table of Daguenet's appearances in the 264 French Arthurian prose romances 2 The manuscript tradition of the prose 266 Tristan 3 Transcription of Daguenet's third 272 appearance in the prose Tristan 4 The False Guinevere episode in the prose 301 Lance/at Bibliography 309 Declaration 2 Declaration None of the material contained in this thesis has been previously submitted for a degree at Durham or any other University. The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published in any form, including electronic and the Internet, without the author's prior written consent. All information derived from this thesis must be acknowledged appropriately. This copy has been supplied on the understanding that it is copyright material and that no quotation from the thesis may be published without proper acknowledgement. Preface 3 Whilst critical material on the subject of the heroes and other major figures in the Arthurian romances abounds, little attention has been paid to those who, although playing relatively minor roles in individual stories, pop up again and again across a wide range of such romances. The interest and value of tracing the development of such characters across the variety of texts in which they appear is highlighted particularly by the few studies which have been undertaken, such as those on the subject of Kay and Sagremor, 1 which trace the characters through their careers in different contexts, which in turn facilitates a clearer understanding of each individual appearance. The aim of this study is to follow in such illustrious footsteps and to rehabilitate another character who has received little critical attention, and who, in fact, many modem readers of the prose romances will not even remember. Daguenet le Fol's appearances in the French Arthurian prose romances are admittedly brief, particularly in relation to the total length of some of those texts. He does however have a unique selling point: hisfolie. Unlike his more well-known counterparts, such 1 I am thinking, for example, of the following: Linda Gowans' pursuit of Kay from his origins down to the present day in Cei and the Arthurian Legend (Cambridge: Brewer, 1988), a study which is complemented by Peter Noble's articles providing a fascinating insight into the development of Kay from Celtic hero through to King Arthur's seneschal: 'Kay the Seneschal in Chretien de Troyes and his Predecessors', Reading Medieval Studies, 1 (1975), 55-70; 'The Heroic Tradition ofKei', Reading Medieval Studies, 14 (1988), 125-37; and William W. Kibler's study of Sagremor in Chretien's work, 'Sagremor in the Arthurian Verse Romances', in 'Por Ia soie amiste': Essays in honor of Norris J Lacy, ed. by Keith Busby and Catherine M. Jones (Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2000), pp. 283-92. Preface 4 as Yvain, Tristan and Lancelot, Daguenet'sfolie is not merely a phase from which he eventually recovers, but, as his soubriquet suggests, it is integral to his identity. By bringing together all of his appearances in one study, I will trace the evolution of the portrayal of that folie as different authors manipulate the material produced by their predecessors for their own ends, developing and adapting various aspects of Daguenet's character yet retaining an overall sense of continuity in his identity. I shall begin by considering the wider context of folie out of which Daguenet emerges. What did the label fol mean to a medieval audience? What traditions might have contributed to the way in which he is portrayed? What expectations might this engender? What other contemporary examples of folie might inform our understanding of Daguenet? This introductory chapter will be followed by analysis ofDaguenet in each of the four romances in which he plays a part.2 In order to trace the evolution of his portrayal, I shall look at the romances in the chronological order in which they were written, beginning with the prose Lance lot in the first half of the thirteenth century, through the prose Tristan and Guiron le Courtois, and ending with the Prophecies de Merlin in the last quarter of the same century. From a close textual analysis of each appearance, I will consider not only Daguenet's relationship with the characters immediately around him, but his relationship to the narrative as a whole. What role does he play? What is the significance of his folie in each different context? How does this differ from earlier portrayals? Does Daguenet' s involvement in each romance have wider narrative implications than might first appear to be the case? All of this will allow us to build a picture of Daguenet, the nature of his folie and the development of his role in the prose romances. Armed with this fuller 2 See Appendix One for details of all of his appearances. Preface 5 picture, we will be able to see that scholars who, on the basis of his early appearances m one or two romances, dismiss Daguenet as merely a 'cowardly knight' 3 or 'the embodiment of cowardice and chivalric ineptitude' 4 underestimate him badly, failing to take account of 'son histoire ... riche et interessante' which 's'edifie peu a peu au fil des manuscrits' ,5 and which makes him a fascinating and rewarding subject of research. The completion of this study would not have been possible without the help and support of a large number of people, friends, family, academic staff and fellow post-graduates, who number too many to be mentioned here, but to each of whom I express my deepest gratitude. Firstly, I must express my gratitude for the financial support given to me by the University of Durham, whose generous award of a partial three-year PhD studentship enabled me to embark upon this work. To the Department of French, University of Durham, I owe a particular debt of gratitude for all its support, both personal and practical, especially in the provision of resources such as IT facilities, photocopying and inter-library loans as well as a travel bursary which made possible a research trip to Paris in the summer of 1999.