The configuration of the beloved body in medieval romance: idealization and eroticism in Le Chevalier de la charrette by Chrétien de Troyes (c. 1135-1185)
María ESTRELLA
Original title: La configuración del cuerpo amado en el roman medieval: idealización y erotismo en El caballero de la Carreta de Chrétien de Troyes (c. 1135-1185)
Published in The Medieval Aesthetics
Keywords: Body, Chrétien de Troyes, Medieval romance, Wound.
The main purpose of this article is to analyse the configuration of the body in Le Chevalier de la charrette (1176/1181), written by Chrétien de Troyes, which narrates the adulterous love of Lancelot and Queen Geneva. We are interested in observing the survival of the doctrine of courteous love in the construction of the chivalrous hero and the character of the beloved woman, who is worshiped as a superior being. A "religion of love" is outlined, which, according to Denis de Rougemont, is one of the axes that articulates this doctrine. At the same time, this idealization is combined with the physical presence of the body, especially in the description of the sexual encounter of the couple. We will explore a conception of love that is delineated as pleasurable suffering and characterized by an eroticism that combines joy and pain, which is represented in the topic of the wound.
Uses of the supernatural in the Middle Welsh Chwedyl Iarlles y Ffynnawn
Isabelle VALADE, Luciana CORDO RUSSO, Lee RAYE
Published in Ramon Llull. Seventh centenary
Keywords: Arthurian, Chrétien de Troyes, Medieval Welsh, Owein, Supernatural.
This paper examines supernatural episodes in the story of the Knight of the Lion. The story has closely related versions in French (Yvain, ou le Chevalier au Lion) and in Welsh (Owein: Chwedyl Iarlles y Ffynnawn), which allow for analysis and comparison. Even without assuming which author wrote first, we can still study how each text was adapted differently for audiences in Wales and France. This essay finds eleven episodes across both texts (eight in Yvain and nine in Owein). We categorise the supernatural in these episodes as mirabilia, magicus or miraculosus, after Le Goff, Kieckhefer and Sweeney. Our final analysis shows that miraculosus dominates in the French version, presumably due to a Christianising urge of Chrétien de Troyes which emphasises the agency of God in the text. This is not the case in the Welsh version where mirabilis episodes dominate, and the supernatural elements are kept separate from the religious aspects of the text. This analysis suggests that Welsh audiences were more comfortable with secular episodes of the supernatural than French audiences.
