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Cligès

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Cligès is a poem by the medieval French poet Chrétien de Troyes, dating from around 1176. It is the second of his five Arthurian romances; Erec and Enide, Cligès, Yvain, Lancelot and Perceval. The poem tells the story of the knight Cligès and his love for his uncle's wife, Fenice.

Background

Cligès has come down to us through seven manuscripts and various fragments. The poem comprises 6,664 octosyllables in rhymed couplets. Prose versions also exist since at least the 15th century.

There are many stylistic techniques that set Chrétien de Troyes and his work Cligès apart from his contemporaries and their work. Chrétien used many Latin writing techniques such as nature topos, portraiture, conjointure, amplificato and interpretatio to convey a realistic romance story.[1]

Cligès can be better understood by dividing the text into two parts, or two nearly separate stories. The first story consists of Cligès's father's adventures and the second story consists of Cligès's adventures. Cligès scholar Z.P. Zaddy supports the dual story approach, but also divides the text even further as creates a new structure where the two stories are split into eight episodes.[2] This approach is intended to make the text read more dramatically.

Synopsis

Cligès begins with the story of the title character's parents, Alexander and Soredamors. Alexander, the son of the Greek emperor (also called Alexander), travels to Britain to become a knight in King Arthur's realm. While at court, Alexander gains favor with King Arthur, is knighted, and assists in retaking Windsor Castle when it is taken by the traitor, Count Angrès. During his time at court, Alexander meets Arthur's niece, Soredamors and falls in love but is unable to express his feelings to her. She feels the same, but neither party is able to tell the other how they feel. Queen Guinevere takes notice and encourages them to express their mutual love. They immediately marry and a child is born. This child is Cligès.

Alexander and his family then return to Greece and find out that Alexander's brother, Alis, has claimed the throne to Greece since their father has died. Although Alexander is the rightful heir to the throne, he concedes to Alis with the condition that Alis will not marry or have children so that the throne will pass to Cligès. Alexander dies and Cligès is raised in Greece.

Many years after Alexander's death, Alis is persuaded to marry and he chooses the daughter of the German Emperor, Fenice. Thus begins the story of Cligès and Fenice. Cligès falls in love with his uncle Alis' wife. She also loves Cligès but he follows in his father's footsteps to Arthur's kingdom to be knighted. Like his father, he does well in King Arthur's court, participating in tournaments and displaying courtly manners. He is knighted and returns home.

Cligès and Fenice still love each other and Fenice concocts a plan to use magic to trick Alis to escape. Using the magic of her governess, she fakes her death so that she and Cligès can runaway together. They succeed and hide in a tower but are found by Bertrand, who tells Alis; Cligès goes to Arthur to ask for help in getting his kingdom back from his uncle, but Alis dies while he is away. Cligès and Fenice are free to marry and Cligès is now emperor.[3]

Analysis

In Cligès and Courtliness, Norris J. Lacy examines the characters found in Cligès and argues that Chrètien uses the story as an ironic presentation of chivalric character. Although Cligès displays the ability to master the social forms and rhetoric of the court, it is without substance. Lacy claims that the actions of Cligès and Fenice may seem to represent courtliness or chivalric traits, but at their core they are not moral. Lacy believes that Chrètien's Cligès is meant to throw doubt on the value and validity of courtliness.[4][5]

Cligès scholar Lucie Polak verifies the Tristan and Isolde reworking found in the text, but also suggests that Cligès may be modeled after Ovid's character Narcissus.[6] Cligès opening lines give some of the only extant information on the creator's biography and earlier work.

Other versions

Another version of the romance is a Middle High German version known from a few fragments and references.[7] In the 15th century, an unknown Burgundian author created a prose version of Chrétien's Cligés, under the title Le Livre de Alixandre Empereur de Constentinoble et de Cligés Son Filz.[8] This prose version differs from the original in several aspects, and the story is thought to have been adapted to the cultural and political circumstances of the Burgundian court at the time.[9] Its first modern prose edition was written by Wendelin Foerster.[10]

Other appearances of Cligès

The character Cligès himself appears in other stories, including in the First Continuation of Chrétien's Perceval, where the father of Cligès is named as King Lac, and in Claris et Laris. In the Romanz du reis Yder, Cligès serves Queen Guenloie until he is expelled from her court after he criticizes her love for Yder, but Yder later promises to reconcile them.[11] In Les Merveilles de Rigomer, Cligès hails from Greece and participates in the quest to conquer Rigomer Castle as one of Gawain's many companions; he also defeats the undead knight in his own episode.[12]

See also

References

  1. ^ Luttrell, Claude. The Creation of the First Arthurian Romance: A Quest. (Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 1974).
  2. ^ Kelly, Douglas (January 1976). "Chrétien Studies: Problems of Form and Meaning in Erec, Yvain, Cliges and the Charrete. Z. P. Zaddy". Speculum. 51 (1): 159–162. doi:10.2307/2851026. ISSN 0038-7134.
  3. ^ Chrétien de Troyes; Owen, D. D. R. (translator) (1988). Arthurian Romances. New York: Everyman's Library. ISBN 0-460-87389-X.
  4. ^ Lacy, Norris J. "Cligès" and Courtliness". Interpretations, Vol. 15, No. 2 Arthurian Interpretations. 1984, pp 18–24.
  5. ^ Lacy, Norris J. (1991). "Chrétien de Troyes". In Norris J. Lacy, The New Arthurian Encyclopedia, pp. 88–91. New York: Garland. ISBN 0-8240-4377-4.
  6. ^ Polak, Lucie. Chrétien de Troyes: Cligés. (London: Grant & Cutler Ltd, 1982).
  7. ^ de Troyes, Chrétien (2006). Cligès, Auf der Grundlage des Textes von Wendelin Foerster (in German). Translated by Kasten, Ingrid. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter. ISBN 9783110201543.
  8. ^ Colombo Timelli, Maria. Le Livre de Alixandre Empereur de Constentinoble et de Cligés Son Filz. Genève: Librairie Droz, 2004.
  9. ^ "Le Livre de Alixandre empereur de Constentinoble et de Cligés son filz : roman en prose du XVe siècle - Librairie Droz". www.droz.org. Retrieved 2018-12-11.
  10. ^ de Troyes, Chrétien (2011). Chrétien De Troyes in Prose: The Burgundian Erec and Cligés. Translated by Grimbert, Joan T.; Chase, Carol J. DS Brewer. ISBN 9781843842699.
  11. ^ Adams, Alison (1983). The Romance of Yder. DS Brewer.
  12. ^ Summerfield, Giovanna (2010). Vendetta: Essays on Honor and Revenge. Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
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