Gingalain [1] Gingelein [2] or Sir Gyngalyn/Gingalin [3] (French : Guinglain, Guinglan, [4] Giglan , [5] German : Wigalois, etc.), also known as Le Bel Inconnu, or The Fair Unknown, is a character from Arthurian legend whose exploits are recorded in numerous versions of a popular medieval romance. He was not even told his name, and unbeknownst to him, he is son of Sir Gawain and the fay Blanchemal.
The nameless youth arrives King Arthur's Court, and is granted a boon to be knighted. He earns the nickname "Fair Unknown", then accepts his main quest, to save the Princess/Queen of Gales (Wales), brought by the Welsh maidservant Hélie. He undergoes a number of side-quests, including his succoring of the Maid of the White Hands, (French : La Pucelle à Blanches Mains, aka the enchantress of the Ile d'Or) who becomes his mistress, but he leaves abruptly in un-chivalric manner to return to his main quest (at the city of Snowdon). He defeats the enchanter Mabon and accomplishes the "Fearsome Kiss" upon a serpent [lower-alpha 1] to dispel the transformation of the princess of Wales, after which a voice reveals to him his name, Guinglain, and his parentage. The princess discloses her name as Blonde Esmeree; she is Princess/Queen of Wales, [lower-alpha 2] and wishes to marry the hero. The Fair Unknown has a chance of reunion with White Hands, but when Arthur calls a tournament to entice him back, she helps by magically sending him to the joust, and he takes this to be a rejection. He is then married to Blonde Esmeree.
His nickname differs depending on the version and language; he is known in Middle English as Libeaus Desconus .
The Old French form is actually Li Biaus Descouneüs [8] compared with the Middle English poem's name "Libeaus Desconus". While "The Fair Unknown" may be the modern English translation of Li Biaus Descouneüs (modern French : Le Bel Inconnu), [8] this designation had already been used in the Middle English work, which appends the literal translated meaning of "Libeaus Desconus" as "Þe faire unknowe". [9]
Guinglain is the later revealed Baptised name [4] of the title character in Le Bel Inconnu, a 6266 line French poem by Renaut de Beaujeu, completed some time after 1191 and before 1212/13, [10] [12] which survive in the unique Chantilly, Bibliothèque du Château/Musée Condé, MS. 472. [13] [14]
The character's adventures were later retold in Robert de Blois's Beausdous (third quarter of 13th century). [15]
There are also cognate tales remade in English, Italian, and German. The Middle English version Libeaus Desconus (LD, of 2232 lines [16] ) by Thomas Chestre is arguably an adaptation from Renaut's Bel Inconnu (BI), [11] and scholars have disputed over this issue, [17] but one solution is that Chestre drew from multiple version of the story. [18] At any rate, the LD, BI, the Italian Carduino and German Wigalois share the same basic plot. [11] [19]
There is also the French romance Gliglois, reconstructed from a (destroyed) 13-century manuscript, [20] but this may not belong to the Bel Inconnu cycle after all. [22] [23]
The basic plot is shared by the various language versions, the Bel Inconnu, Middle English Libeas Desconus, Carduino (Car.), and Wigalois (Wig.), [11] but the differences are considerable, as shown in the comparative study. [19]
During the 19th century into the 20th, there was a plurality of scholars favoring the opinion that there was a lost original French version which was the common source for both Renaut's Bel Inconnu and the English Libeaus. The view was held by Gaston Paris, Albert Mennung, William Henry Schofield, [lower-alpha 3] and Emmanuel Philipot, [25] with Max Kaluza who edited LD named as detractor. [26] However, modern Arthurian reference material sides with Kaluza, describing the English work as an adaptation of Renaut, [11] though Thomas Chestre in crafting his Middle English version may have had recourse to multiple sources. [18] [lower-alpha 4] Schofield, whose works was most influential, also felt that a version of the Perceval/Peredur tale has been blended in. [28] [26]
That BI had borrowed material from Erec et Enide as suggested by Mennung, and later extensively demonstrated by Schofield, [26] is a point that is affirmed by recent authorities. [11]
In Bel Inconnu, a youth appears at Arthur's court in Caerleon and no knowledge of even his own name, and nothing of his youth is told to the reader at this point. The hidden identity constitutes a mystery or enigma element common to other medieval writings. [30] In the BI, the mention of the name is withheld until midpoint into the poem after he completes the quest of the Kiss, [4] this delay being a deliberate ploy by the author to enhance the dramatic effect. [31]
In contrast, the Middle English Libeaus Desconus immediately divulges the name of the youth as Gingelein and his father as Gawain to the readership in the opening scenes of the poem, [2] in the youth or enfance segment of the work. [33] The youth aims his travel to where Arthur holds his court which the Englishman places at Glastonbury. [17] Arthur's court also differs in other versions, Camelot in Car., and Karidôl (Carlisle) in Wig. [34]
The nameless youth abruptly asks King Arthur for an unspecified boon, which is granted. [35] The king sends out to discover the youth's name, but the youth cannot provide what he does not know, and he is given the nickname "Fair Unknown". [8]
A maidservant named Helie (or Hélie) from Wales (Gales) then arrives at court, seeking a knight to take up an adventure to rescue her master, the Princess/Queen. [lower-alpha 2] The adventure is that of the Fearsome Kiss (Old French : Fier Baissier [36] ). No knight seems willing, when the youth requests that his promised bonn be permission to accept this adventure. Arthur at first tries to dissuade, fearing it may be too dangerous, but relents, after enlisting the youth as a knights of his court. [37] Helie however is unhappy with the choice of an unproven knight, "the worst rather than best". [38] In the Middle English version, the messenger named Elene (Elaine) also complains that a child has been assigned to the task. [39]
But the youth will have the chance to prove himself in a number of adversarial encounters and adventures before arriving at the main quest in Wales. In the journey, he will be accompanied by Helie, her dwarf, and the squire named Robert assigned to Bel Inconnu by the king. [40] In LD, Car., and Wig., no obvious figure corresponding to this squire, which is taken as corroborative key evidence by Schofield and others that the Middle English version is based on some simpler original French version (unlike Renaud's which is padded with additional material such as the squire). [41]
In his first enemy encounter, Bel Inconnu defeats the knight Blioblïeris who defends the Perillous Ford (Gue Perilleus), [42] after which he is challenged by Blioblïeris's two (or three) cronies, including "Willaume de Salebrant". [43] LD sets the hero's first fight against William of Salebraunche at "Castle Adventurous.. upon the Vale Perilous" (or "Pont/Bridge Perilous"). [44] [45]
But the most significant of the side-quests is his aiding The Maiden of the White Hands (Old French : La Pucelle as Blances Mains), [46] foiling the plans of her unwanted suitor Malgier le Gris ("Malgier the Grey") [47] by defeating and killing him. [48] The victory earns him the title to this kingdom and claim to wed the Maid himself, and they are enamored of each other. [49]
Bel Inconnu overspends his time here in leisurely amorous idleness (recreantise [50] ), but leaves abruptly upon remembering his main quest/adventure, to complete his obligation to the Welsh princess. [51]
The Maiden of the White Hands is also called at one point "Lady of the White Hands" (Old French : Demoiselles as Blances Mains), [52] whom he had succored earlier.. [48] She is also referred to as a veritable "Fay" or "Fairy" of Ile d'Or by commentators as she was an enchantress manifesting magical powers. [53] [54]
After completing his main quest, he will have a chance to revisit the Pucelle to apologise for his abrupt departure after their initial acquaintance, and she will then reveal she had been aiding him all along using her magical powers. [51]
Arriving in Wales, Bel Inconnu accomplishes the "Fearsome Kiss", namely, the ordeal of breaking an evil enchanter's spell by exchanging a "Kiss" with a serpent and causing it to transform back into a woman's form. This dispelling of the snake-woman's curse is common to BI and LD, and also occurs in the second cantare of Carduino.
In BI, the serpent or rather guivre (cog. wyvern) [6] [7] draws near and kisses him. [31] The enchanted and transformed woman introduces herself as Blonde Esmerée of Gales(Wales), claiming to be the acknowledged queen (roïne) of Wales, whose [capital] city is Snowdon. [55] [31] [56] In LD, she is the Lady of Snowdon, [57] given in text as the Queen of Sinadoune (var. Lady of Synadowne), [58] [34] who had been transformed by two magicians into the shape of a serpent with a woman's face. [59] [57] In Carduino, the chained serpent becomes the beautiful Beatrice upon a kiss. [60]
In BI, the accomplishment of the "Fearsome Kiss" is followed by a revelation in the form of a voice in his head which told him his baptismal name was Guinglain, his mother was Blanchemal the Fay, and his father Gawain. [61] [31] Although the hero begins by addressing "Dear God,..", [62] the hero's amour, Lady of the White Hands, aka Fairy of the Ile d'Or (cf. § Love interests), later reveals it was actually her own voice that informed him of his name, after he despatched the enchanter Mabon (cf. § Messenger and enchanters). [63]
This is vaguely paralleled in the German Wig. version, according to some commentators, [64] where the hero after fighting a dragon (unconnected with the enchanter), wakes from unconsciousness, finding himself stripped naked by robbers and not knowing his whereabouts, but is able to verify his own presence of mind, being able to recall that his mother was Queen Floriê of Syria and his father Gâwein. However, this he already knew, and this was not the moment of revelation. [65]
The names of the female messengers and the enchanters imprisoning the ladies are also similar.
The acceptance of the ordeal of the "Fearsome Kiss" is beseeched at the beginning of the tale by a female messenger arriving at Arthur's court, namely Hélie, the lady-in-waiting serving the princess Blonde Esmerée in BI [66] [67] the female messenger is named Elene in LD, and in both works she is accompanied by a dwarf. [68]
There are two men with power to cast and remove the serpent enchantment; in the BI, an elder brother named Mabon (Old French : Mabons), [69] and the younger, a knight named Evrain the Cruel (Evrains li Fier). [70] In LD, the captors are named Mabon and Irain. [71]
When Bel Inconnu rescues the princess and out of gratitude, she offers herself to him in marriage. [56] But he had already been proposed marriage by the Maiden of the White Hands. [72]
Bel Inconnu is having his reunion with the Pucelle à Blanches Mains when King Arthur holds a tournament with the intent to lure Gingalain back to court—and to steer his decision of marriage more towards the newly crowned Queen of Wales. In joining the tournament, Gingalain would have to forfeit his love for Pucelle and never see her again. He decides to join the tournament regardless of the sacrifices he would have to make. Pucelle altruistically offers to aid him with her powers; she transports him out of her castle with a horse, a squire, and armour to be able to join the tournament. [73] This magical send-off by Blanches Mains is regarded by Bel Inconnu to be a gesture of final break-up and rejection, and he winds up marrying Blonde Esmeree, as was arranged for him to do. [51]
Although both women are enamored with the hero, the Fair Unknown's heart lies with Blanches Mains and he is only tepidly interested in Blonde Esmerée. But circumstances conspire otherwise. The Fair Unknown, having abruptly left Blanches Mains's company to tackle his main quest rescuing Blond Esmeree, is later reunited with Blanches Mains and is forgiven; but when Blanches Mains helps him with her magic to attend Arthur's tournament (cf. § Intervening adventures), he interprets this as her jilting him, and accepts Arthur's design to keep him at his court, relenting to his matchmaking with Esmeree the Queen of Gales as wife. [74] Yet the readership's expectation to grant Fair Unknown his requited love for the enchantress is addressed by the poet in the very end, in a tantalizing and frustrating manner, for he quip that he would be willing to compose such a sequel, if only his Fair Lady [lower-alpha 5] were to grant him with a "favorable glance (bel sanblant)". [lower-alpha 6] This "naughty ending" has disappointed modern critics, [51] who even accused him of flippancy on a sober romantic theme. [76]
As for the Libeaus desconus, Schofield categorically pronounced "[LD] marries the disenchanted lady gladly. He has no desire for anyone else. [77] Contrarily however, modern commentating explains that Chestre's Libeaus Desconus also dilly-dallies (recreantise [50] ) for a long while at the Ile d'Ore and "experiences the interrelations of knightly prowess and love" with the enchantress, there named Dame Amoure (dame d'amour). [lower-alpha 7] [18]
There is a prose rendering by Claude Platin (1530) entitled Hystoire de Giglan et de Geoffroy de Maience, which admixes the story of (Arthurian) knight Jaufre known from Provençal romance. [11] [5]
Gingalain also appears in Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur , in which he is killed along with his brothers Sir Florence and Sir Lovell when Mordred and Agravain expose Guinevere's affair with Lancelot. The Fair Unknown motif was very popular in medieval romance; Gingalain's story is clearly related to (if not the direct source of) the tales of Gareth, Percival, and especially La Cote Mal Taile. [81]
The heraldic device of Le Bel Inconnu is described as lion of ermine on field of azure colour, and this is observed to be an appropriation of the author's own Beaujeu (Bâgé) family coat of arms. [82]
Gawain, also known in many other forms and spellings, is a character in Arthurian legend, in which he is King Arthur's nephew and one of the premier Knights of the Round Table. The prototype of Gawain is mentioned under the name Gwalchmei in the earliest Welsh sources. He has subsequently appeared in many Arthurian tales in Welsh, Latin, French, English, Scottish, Dutch, German, Spanish, and Italian, notably as the protagonist of the Middle English poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Other works featuring Gawain as their central character include De Ortu Waluuanii, Diu Crône, Ywain and Gawain, Golagros and Gawane, Sir Gawain and the Carle of Carlisle, L'âtre périlleux, La Mule sans frein, La Vengeance Raguidel, Le Chevalier à l'épée, Le Livre d'Artus, The Awntyrs off Arthure, The Greene Knight, and The Weddynge of Syr Gawen and Dame Ragnell.
The Knights of the Round Table are the legendary knights of the fellowship of King Arthur that first appeared in the Matter of Britain literature in the mid-12th century. The Knights are an order dedicated to ensuring the peace of Arthur's kingdom following an early warring period, entrusted in later years to undergo a mystical quest for the Holy Grail. The Round Table at which they meet is a symbol of the equality of its members, who range from sovereign royals to minor nobles.
Gareth is a Knight of the Round Table in Arthurian legend. He is the youngest son of King Lot and Queen Morgause, King Arthur's half-sister, thus making him Arthur's nephew, as well as brother to Gawain, Agravain and Gaheris, and either a brother or half-brother of Mordred. Gareth is particularly notable in Le Morte d'Arthur, where one of its eight books is named after and largely dedicated to him, and in which he is also known by his nickname Beaumains.
Thomas Chestre was the author of a 14th-century Middle English romance Sir Launfal, a verse romance of 1045 lines based ultimately on Marie de France's Breton lay Lanval. He was possibly also the author of the 2200-line Libeaus Desconus, a story of Sir Gawain's son Gingalain based upon similar traditions to those that inspired Renaut de Beaujeu's late-12th-century or early-13th-century Old French romance Le Bel Inconnu, and also possibly of a Middle English retelling of the mid-13th-century Old French romance Octavian. Geoffrey Chaucer parodied Libeaus Desconus, among other Middle English romances, in his Canterbury Tale of Sir Thopas.
Curtana, also known as the Sword of Mercy, is a ceremonial sword used at the coronation of British kings and queens. One of the Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom, its end is blunt and squared to symbolise mercy.
Twrch Trwyth, is a fabulous wild boar from the Legend of King Arthur, of which a richly elaborate account of its hunt described in the Welsh prose romance Culhwch and Olwen, probably written around 1100.
Libeaus Desconus is a 14th-century Middle English version of the popular "Fair Unknown" story, running to about around 2,200 lines, attributed to Thomas Chestre. It is a version or an adaptation of Renaut de Beaujeu's Le Bel Inconnu though comparatively much shorter.
The Brut or Roman de Brut by the poet Wace is a loose and expanded translation in almost 15,000 lines of Norman-French verse of Geoffrey of Monmouth's Latin History of the Kings of Britain. It was formerly known as the Brut d'Engleterre or Roman des Rois d'Angleterre, though Wace's own name for it was the Geste des Bretons, or Deeds of the Britons. Its genre is equivocal, being more than a chronicle but not quite a fully-fledged romance.
Jaufre is the only surviving Arthurian romance written in Occitan. A verse romance approximately 11,000 lines long, its main character is equivalent to Sir Griflet son of Do, a Knight of the Round Table known from other literature. Translations of Jaufre were popular on the Iberian Peninsula; a version of the tale even exists in Tagalog, the language of the Philippines.
The Prose Tristan is an adaptation of the Tristan and Iseult story into a long prose romance, and the first to tie the subject entirely into the arc of the Arthurian legend. It was also the first major Arthurian prose cycle commenced after the widely popular Lancelot-Grail, which influenced especially the later portions of the Prose Tristan.
The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnelle is a 15th-century English poem, one of several versions of the "loathly lady" story popular during the Middle Ages. An earlier version of the story appears as "The Wyfe of Bayths Tale" in Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, and the later ballad "The Marriage of Sir Gawain" is essentially a retelling, though its relationship to the medieval poem is uncertain. The author's name is not known, but similarities to Le Morte d'Arthur have led to the suggestion that the poem may have been written by Sir Thomas Malory.
William Henry Schofield (1870–1920) was an American academic, founder of the Harvard Studies in Comparative Literature. He was professor of comparative literature at Harvard University, and president of the American-Scandinavian Foundation (1916–1919).
Palamedes is a 13th-century Old French Arthurian prose chivalric romance. Named for King Arthur's knight Palamedes, it is set in the time before the rise of Arthur, and relates the exploits of the parents of various Arthurian heroes. The work was very popular, but now exists largely in fragmentary form.
Renaud de Beaujeuor Renaut de Bâgé or de Baugé is the name of a medieval French author of Arthurian romance. He is known for only one major work, Le Bel Inconnu, the Fair Unknown, a poem of 6266 lines in Old French that was composed in the late-twelfth or early-thirteenth century. Renaud left us his name at the end of this poem: 'Renals de Biauju, or, as usually written, Renaud de Beaujeu', In modern French he is known as Renaut de Beaujeu. Le Bel Inconnu survives in only one manuscript: Chantilly, Bibliothèque du Château/Musée Condé, 472.
Octavian is a 14th-century Middle English verse translation and abridgement of a mid-13th century Old French romance of the same name. This Middle English version exists in three manuscript copies and in two separate compositions, one of which may have been written by the 14th-century poet Thomas Chestre who also composed Libeaus Desconus and Sir Launfal. The other two copies are not by Chestre and preserve a version of the poem in regular twelve-line tail rhyme stanzas, a verse structure that was popular in the 14th century in England. Both poetic compositions condense the Old French romance to about 1800 lines, a third of its original length, and relate “incidents and motifs common in legend, romance and chanson de geste.” The story describes a trauma that unfolds in the household of Octavian, later the Roman Emperor Augustus, whose own mother deceives him into sending his wife and his two newborn sons into exile and likely death. After many adventures, the family are at last reunited and the guilty mother is appropriately punished.
The Tristram and Isoude stained glass panels are a series of 13 small stained-glass windows made in 1862 by Morris, Marshall, Faulker & Co. for Harden Grange, the house of textile merchant Walter Dunlop, near Bingley in Yorkshire, England. Depicting the legend of Tristan and Iseult, they were designed by six of the leading Pre-Raphaelite artists of the day, to an overall design by William Morris. They were acquired in 1917 by Cartwright Hall Art Gallery, which is now part of Bradford Museums & Galleries. They can be seen on display at Cliffe Castle, Keighley.
Michèle Perret is a French linguist and novelist who was born in 1937 in Oran in Algeria.
Guiomar is the best known name of a character appearing in many medieval texts relating to the Arthurian legend, often in relationship with Morgan le Fay or a similar fairy queen type character.
Cortain is a legendary short sword in the legend of Ogier the Dane. This name is the accusative case declension of Old French corte, meaning "short".