Marie of France: Lanval

I want to teach you the adventures of another Lai; it was composed about a rich knight that the Bretons call Lanval.

King Arthur, always valiant and courteous, had come to spend some time at Carduel, to chastise the Irish and the Picts who ravaged his possessions and particularly the land of Logres. At the feasts of Pentecost, Arthur held a great plenary court; he made magnificent presents, and spread his benefits to the counts, barons and knights of the round table. Finally there was never one so beautiful, since he gave lands and conferred titles of nobility. A single man who faithfully served the monarch was forgotten in his distributions. It was the knight Lanval who, by his valor, his generosity, by his good looks and his brilliant actions, was loved by all his equals, who only saw with sorrow anything unpleasant that could happen to him.

Lanval was the son of a king whose estates were very distant; Attached to Arthur's service, he spent his assets with all the more ease in that, receiving nothing and asking for nothing, he soon saw himself destitute of resources. The knight is very sad to see himself in such a situation; do not be surprised, sire, he was a stranger, and no one came to his assistance; after having carefully considered it, he takes the resolution to leave the court of his suzerain. Lanval, who had served the king so well, mounts his steed and leaves the town without being followed by anyone; he arrives in a meadow watered by a river which he crosses. Seeing his horse shivering with cold, he dismounted, unblooded it, then left it to graze at random. Having folded his cloak, the knight lay down on it, and sadly saw his misfortune. Casting his eyes towards the side of the river, he saw two young ladies of ravishing beauty, well made and very richly dressed in a gray purple blouse. The eldest carried a basin, of enamelled gold, of exquisite taste, and the second held a towel in her hands.

They come straight at him, and Lanval, like a well-behaved man, gets up at their approach. After having greeted him, one of them said to him: Lord Lanval, my mistress, as beautiful as she is gracious, sends us to beg you to follow us, in order to lead you near her. Look, his tent is near here; the knight hastened to follow the two young people, and no longer thought of his horse grazing in the meadow. He is brought to the pavilion which was very beautiful and above all very well placed. Queen Semiramis at the time of her greatness, and the Emperor Octavian would never have had a more beautiful drapery than that which was placed on the right. Above the tent was a golden eagle, the value of which I could not estimate, any more than the ropes and spears which supported it. There is no king on earth who could have had a fellow, whatever the sum he offered. In the pavilion was the young lady who, in her beauty, surpassed the fleur-de-lis and the new rose when they appeared in summer weather. She was lying on a magnificent bed, the finest castle of which would not only have paid the price for the draperies. Her dress, which was tight, revealed the elegance of a circumscribed waist. A superb cloak, lined with ermine and dyed in Alexandrian purple, covered his shoulders. The heat had forced her to part it a little, and through this opening which exposed her side, the eye perceived a skin whiter than the flower of a thorn.

The knight came up to the young lady! who, calling him, made him sit at his side, and spoke to him in these terms: It is for you, my dear Lanval, that I left my land of Lains, and that I came to these places. I love you, and if you are always valiant and courteous, I want there to be no prince on earth who is as happy as you. This speech suddenly inflames the heart of the knight, who immediately replies: Amiable lady, if I had the happiness to please you and if you wanted to grant me your love, there is nothing that you do not order me except my value. dare to undertake. I will not examine the motives of your commandments. For you I abandon the country which saw me born as well as my subjects. No, I never want to leave you, it's the thing I want most in the world to stay with you. The young lady, having heard Lanval's wish, grants him her heart and her love. She gives him a precious gift that no one else can benefit from. He can give and spend much, and will always find himself very rich. Ah! that Lanval will therefore be happy, since the more generous and liberal he will be, the more gold and silver he will have.

My friend, said the beauty, I beg you, enjoin you, even command you never to reveal our affair to anyone; let it suffice to tell you that you would lose me forever, and that you would see me no more if our love were discovered. Lanval swears to him to follow his orders entirely. They went to bed together and stayed in bed until the end of the day; Lanval, who had never been so well off, would have stayed much longer, but his friend asked him to get up, for she did not want him to stay any longer. Before leaving us, I must tell you something, she told him; when you want to talk to me and see me, and I dare to hope that you will only be in places where your friend can appear without blushing, you will only have to call me, and I will be near at once. from you. No one except my lover will see me or hear me speak. Lanval, delighted with what he learns, to express his gratitude kisses his friend and gets out of bed. The young ladies who had led him to the pavilion entered, bringing magnificent clothes, and as soon as he was dressed in them, he seemed a thousand times more handsome. After we had washed (t), supper was served. Although the meal was seasoned with appetite and good cheer, Lanval had a dish of his own which pleased him very much. It was to kiss his friend and hug her.

Leaving the table, his horse was brought to him, which was all dressed up, and after having said good-bye, he left to return to the city, but so astonished by his adventure that he still could not believe it, and that he looked from time to time backwards, as if to convince himself that he has not been deceived by a flattering illusion..

He returns to his hotel and finds all his people perfectly dressed. He spends a lot without knowing where the money comes from. Any knight who needed to stay at Carduel could come and stay with Lanval, who made it his duty to treat him perfectly. Besides the rich presents he made, Lanval ransomed the prisoners, clothed the fiddlers, there was not a single inhabitant of the town, even a stranger, who did not share in his liberalities. He was therefore the happiest of men, since he had a fortune, was respected, and could see his friend at all times of day and night.

In the same year, around the feast of Saint John, several knights went to recreate themselves in the orchard below the tower inhabited by the queen. With them was the brave Gauvain, who made himself loved by all, and his cousin, the handsome Yvain. Lords, he said, it would be wrong to entertain us without our friend Lanval, a man as brave as he was generous, and son of a rich king. We have to go find him and bring him here. Immediately they leave, go to the Hôtel de Lanval which they find, and by dint of prayers, they manage to take him with them. On their return the queen had leaned on one of her casements, behind her stood the ladies of her suite. Having seen Lanval, whom she had loved for a long time, Genevre called her maids, chose the prettiest and most amiable, there were at least thirty of them, and went down to the orchard to share the games of the knights. As soon as they see the ladies coming, they hasten to meet them as far as the steps to offer them their hand. To be alone, Lanval distances himself from his companions; he longs very much to rejoin his friend, to see her, to speak to her, to hold her in his arms. He cannot find pleasure where the object of his love is not.

Genevre, who was looking for an opportunity to find him alone, followed his steps, called him, sat down beside him, and spoke to him in these terms: Lanval, I have esteemed you for a long time, I love you tenderly, and he cannot it's up to you to have my heart. Answer me, because no doubt you must consider yourself lucky since I offer you to become my friend. Madam, deign to allow me not to listen to you, I have no need of your love. I have served the king for a long time with fidelity, and I do not wish to fail in the honor and the faith which I have promised him. Never by you or by the love of any other woman will I betray my overlord lord. The queen, angry at this answer, burst into invective. It seems, Lanval, and I'm convinced of it, that you don't care much for the pleasures of love. you preferred well-dressed young people with whom you had fun. Come on, wretch, come on, the king did a great mistake when he retained you in his service.

Stung by Genevre's reproaches, Lanval in anger made him a confidence of which he had much to repent. Madame, he said to her, I never committed the crime of which you accuse me. But I love and am loved by the most beautiful woman in the world. I will even confess to you, madam, and be persuaded of it, that the last of her servants is superior to you in beauty, wit, graces and character. Genèvre, furious at this humiliating response, retired to her room to cry, she said she was ill, went to bed from which she would not come out, she said, until the king, her husband, had promised to avenge her. Arthur had spent the day hunting, and on his return, still rejoicing at the pleasures he had tasted, he went to the ladies' apartment. As soon as Genèvre sees her, she comes and throws herself at her husband's feet, and demands revenge for the outrage she says she has received from Lanval. He dared to ask me for love, and according to my refusal, he insulted and degraded me. He dared to boast of having a friend of incomparable beauty, the last of whom was worth more than me. The king, inflamed with anger, swore that if the culprit did not justify himself at the assembly of the barons, he would have him hanged or burned.

On leaving the queen's, Arthur ordered three barons to go to Lanval, who was very sad and grieved. On returning home he realized that he had lost his friend for having discovered his love. Alone and shut up in his apartment, he thought of his misfortune. For a moment he called his friend who did not come, then he began to sigh and cry; often he even lost the use of his senses. It was in vain that he begged for forgiveness and cried thank you, his beauty still refused to show herself. He cursed his head and his mouth; his grief was so violent that one must consider it a wonder that he did not take his own life. He only moans, weeps, wrings his hands, and gives the marks of the greatest despair. Alas, what will become of this loyal knight whom the king wants to lose! The barons came to give him the order to go immediately to the court, where the king summoned him to answer the accusation made by the queen. Lanval follows them, despair in his heart, and desiring only death; he arrives in this state before the monarch.

As soon as he appeared, Arthur said to him with anger: Vassal, you are very guilty towards me, and your conduct is reprehensible? What was your design in insulting the queen, and making inappropriate speeches to her? You doubtless did not have very sound reason when, to praise the charms of your mistress, you asserted that the last of her servants was more beautiful and more amiable than the queen. Lanval defended himself on the first accusation of attacking the honor of his prince; he related word for word the conversation he had had with the queen, and the proposal she had made to him; but he recognized the truth of what he had said with regard to his lady, whose good graces he had lost. Moreover, he will rely entirely on the judgment of the court.

The king, still angry, gathers his barons to appoint judges chosen from among Lanval's peers. The barons obeyed, fixed the day of judgment, then they demanded that, while waiting for the day indicated, Lanval should turn himself in prisoner, or else give a respondent. Lanval, a foreigner, had no relatives in England; being in misfortune, he dared not rely on friends, he did not know whom to appoint as a guarantor, when the king had announced to him that he had the right to do so; but Gauvain immediately went to register with several other knights. Sire, he said, we answer for Lanval, and we offer our lands and our fiefs as surety. The guarantee having been accepted, Lanval returned to his hotel, followed by his friends who blamed him and reproached him for his extreme pain. Every day they came to visit him to find out if he took any food, and far from reproaching him, they urged him to take some food, for they feared that he would lose his reason entirely.

The barons assembled on the appointed day; the sitting was presided over by the king, who had his wife at his side. The snares came to place the accused in the hands of his judges; all were grieved to see him in this state, and prayed that he should be acquitted. The king sets out the grounds for the accusation, and proceeds to question the accused. The barons are then sent out to go to the opinions; they are generally grieved at the unfortunate position of a foreign gentleman who had such disagreeable business. Others, on the contrary, to pay their court to the monarch, desire to see him punished. The Duke of Cournouailles came to his defence. Lords, he said, the king accuses one of his vassals of felony, and because he boasted of the possession of a charming mistress, the queen grew angry. Please observe that no one here, with the exception of the king, accuses Lanval; but, in order to know the truth well, to judge with knowledge of the case, while preserving all the respect due to the sovereign, and the king himself will grant it, I propose that Lanval bind himself by oath to bring his mistress here, to judge if the comparison with which the queen is so greatly offended, agrees with her statement. It is probable that Lanval did not advance such a thing without being persuaded of the truth. In case he cannot show his lady, I think the king should dismiss him from his service, and dismiss him.

The assembly approved the proposal, and the pleges went to Lanval to inform him of the deliberation which had just been taken, and urged him to invite his mistress to go to court, in order to justify him and absolve him. He answered them that the thing requested was not in his power. The traps return to carry Lanval's answer, and the king, animated by his wife, urges the judges to pronounce. The barons were about to go to the vote when they saw two young ladies arrive mounted on white horses and dressed in silk dresses of a vermilion color. Their presence fixes the eyes of the assembly. So Gawain, followed by three knights, goes joyfully to find Lanval; he shows him the two young people, and begs him to tell him which is his mistress. Neither one nor the other, he replies. They go down to the bottom of the throne, and one expresses herself in these terms: Sire, have a room prepared and decorated where my lady can go down, for she wishes to lodge in your palace.

Arthur welcomes their request, and instructs two knights to lead the young people to the apartment they were to occupy. As soon as they had left the assembly, the king ordered that the judgment be resumed at once, and blamed the barons for the delay they caused. Sire, we interrupted the session because of the arrival of these two ladies; we will take it back and hasten. Already, and it is with regret, we collected the opinions which were very divided, when two other young people even more beautiful than the first, appeared. They were dressed in dresses embroidered in gold, and rode Spanish mules. Lanval's friends think when they see them that the good knight will be saved and rejoice. Gauvain, followed by his companions, comes to Lanval, and says to him: Sire, take heart again, and for the love of God, deign to listen to us. At this moment two young ladies, superbly dressed and of rare beauty, are arriving, one of them must be your friend; Lanval replies simply: I have never seen them, nor known them, nor loved them.

Scarcely had they arrived than the two young ladies hastened to descend and come before the king. All the barons hasten to praise their attractiveness, the freshness of their complexion. Those who were of the queen's party feared for the comparison. The eldest of the two young people, who was as amiable as she was beautiful, begged the king to be good enough to have an apartment prepared for them and for their lady, who wished to speak to her. The monarch had them conducted to their companions, and as if he feared that Lanval would escape his vengeance, he hastened the judgment, and ordered it to be rendered forthwith. The queen was angry that he was not yet.

They were therefore about to pronounce when noisy acclamations indicate the arrival of the lady who had just been announced. She was supernaturally beautiful and almost divine. She rode a white horse so admirable, so well made, so well trained, that under the heavens one never saw such a beautiful animal. The equipage and the armor were so richly adorned that no sovereign of the earth could procure such a thing without pledging his land and even selling it. A superb garment showed the elegance of her figure, which was lofty and noble. Who could describe the beauty of her skin, the whiteness of her complexion which surpassed that of the snow on the trees, her blue eyes, her vermilion lips, her brown eyebrows, and her blonde and crimped hair. Clad in a cloak of gray purple which flowed behind her shoulders, she held a sparrowhawk in her hand, and was followed by a greyhound. There was in the city neither small nor great, neither young nor old, who had not run to see her pass; and all those who looked at her were ablaze with love. Lanval's friends came immediately to warn him of the lady's arrival. For once, it's her, it's your mistress, you'll be freed at last; because this is the most beautiful woman in the world.

While listening to this speech Lanval sighed, he raises his head and recognizes the object with which his heart is in love. The red goes to his face. Yes, it is she, he exclaimed, on seeing her; I forget all my ills; but if she has no pity on me, I don't care what life she has just given me back. The fair lady entered the palace, and came down before the king. She drops her coat to better admire the beauty of her size. The king, who knew the laws of gallantry, rose when the lady arrived; the whole assembly did the same, and each hastened to offer his services. When the barons had examined her sufficiently, and detailed all her perfections, she came forward and spoke in these terms: King, I have loved one of your vassals, it is Lanval whom you see over there. He was unhappy at your court, you did not reward him; and today he is unjustly accused. I don't want any harm to happen to him. The queen was wrong; Lanval never committed the crime of which he is accused. As for the eulogy he made of my beauty, they demanded my presence, here I am: I hope your barons will absolve him. Arthur hastened to comply with the wishes of the lady, and the barons judged by common accord that Lanval had entirely proved his right. As soon as he was acquitted, the lady bade farewell and prepared to leave in spite of the pressing solicitations of the monarch and his court, who wished to detain her. Outside the room was a large gray marble porch, it was used for mounting on horseback or for descending from it to the lords who were going to court. Lanval rode on it, and when the lady left the palace, he jumped on his horse and went out with her.

The Bretons report that the fairy took her lover to File d'Avalon where they lived happily for a long time. Nothing has been heard of it since, and as for me, I have learned no more.