Floridan et Elvide : a critical edition of the 15th century text

57 Pages·1959·32.145 MB·English

by  Clive, Harry Peter

FLORIDAN ET
ELVIDE
A
critical edition of tbe rytb centuryt text,
willt an introduction
b1
H. P. CLIVE
II*ll
I-ecturer in Frewb, Uùaersiry oJ
BÀSIL BLACK§rELL
BROÀD STREET
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1
INTRODUCTIONX
\X/ITH one notâble exception, an interesting study by A. Coville,l
V Y the little tale of Floridan et Eluide, ttanslated into Ftench by a
certain Rasse de Brunhamel from aLatin story of Nicolas de Clamanges,
has attracted little âttention ftom students of fifteenth-centuqy Ftench
literature.z Such interest as it has evoked has been due, in the fitst place,
to the fact that in all the manuscripts in which it has sutvived, it accom-
panies the Petit Jehan de Saintré, to whose authot, Ântoine de La Sale,
it is moreovet dedicated; furthermore, it figures among the Cent
Nouuellu Nouuelles, where it appears as Numbet 98, ascribed to the
-Acteur, But if Rasse de Brunhamel has attained a cefiait fame, this is
due not so much to any medt inherent in his French ttanslation of
F/oridan et Elaide as to the mystery which suttounds his relations with
La Sale. §7as he La Sale's secretary? §7as he the smibe of the famous
Bibliothèque Nationale manusctipt n.a. roor 7, usually tefetred to as the
Barrois manuscript?3 In the latter case, he was also responsible fot one
of the manusctipts of La Sale's kennJort de Madame de Fresnea as well as
for one of those of his treatise Det anciens tournoh et faitT d'arnes,6 irr
both of which Desonay has tecognized the hand which executed the
Barrois manuscript.BIn addition, his writing would then also appeat in
certain of the matginal emendations in the Bartois manuscript, in which
rçr'o different hands have been identified: that of the scribe of the
original text of the manuscript, and that of La Sale himself.7 Both
Coville and Desonay, who have studied this mâtter at some length,s
ans§'er both questions in the affirmative; in their opinion, Rasse was
La Sale's secretâry and the scdbe of the Battois manuscript. Coville,
hon-er.er, goes still further and puts forward the theory that he sras not
merelv 'une main docile', but perhaps also 'un aide précieux pour cet
*
This edition has been made possible by grants from the Central Reseatch Fund of the Univetsity
oi London and the Fielden Fund, University College, London, which I gtatefrrlly acknowledge.
The rext of the edition, but with only a brief, fout-page introduction, has previously appeared in
)i:ditm.lùatm, XXVI, pp, t14-85.
: 5:r tm conte de Nicolat de Ckmanget in Covrr,r,r's Recbercbes sn Eolques éc'rivailt da XIVe et ds XVe
"*."! .rF, oPra rruisn h,qerll d(ipscpu. szsoio8n-4 o4)f, thheet esarofteryt rseefee rGre,d P taon rass: CLoav rrrc-wrre, lhR fpraEnç,aise aa XVe siècle et aa XVle
.--l;;e n Jornal des Sauants, r89r, pp. 29517, and lW. Soornupu'.r: La nowelle françaiæ at XVe sièele,
Piris r9ro, pp. t3618.
3 On this manuscript, see G, RrrNau»: Un nouueaa manuscrit du Petit Jeban de Saintré'tn Ronania
FX.- \DX:sI,o rre9or:z ,C pupnm, Senrt7 -utn6 ;,1 cPri.y aCinr rseev pcrootiNg:e aLite ama aXruVsec' ritti èdc'laet f'ine wR edwue P beetlgite t edhe apnh idkelo Sgiae inett rdé',bPi$xoisi rery,Y26l,;
:ç:-, pp.8r-rzr.
r ts::ssels, Bibliothèque Royale ro748. 5 Paris, Bibliot}èque Nationale fu. 5867.
! F. D:sos,r.y: Le Peiit Jeban de Sainlrd, ed, P. Champion and F. Desonay, Paris ry26, p. rxvii,
1 C-::,rp::o>;, o?. cil.
3 Coi::-:=: I: Petiî Jehan de Saixtrii, Rerhercltes complémentaires,Paris ry37 (hereafter refetred to as
Corrr-r-r, P-iJ.', pp. ;r-54, and RQE, zzz-3o; DrsoNey: Anloine de La SaJe, ar)entilreux et péddglgile,
Bibliotl:èque dc lz Fe^llté dN Philotopltie et Lettret de l'Uniaer$td de Liège, Fan, LXXXIX, t94o (heteaftet
referred to as Desox-rr-, A1Â),pp. r584o.
vl Floridan et Eluide: À Cnrrrcar. EortroN
auteur de plus de soixante-huit ans, et même un véritable collaborateur'
who may have been responsible fot what Coville considets the'mérite
littéraire supérieur de la demière partie' of the Saintré.s Desonay, on the
other hand, rejects the idea of any active collabotatiorl on the part of
Rasse de Brunhamel, and maintains that Rasse's shate in the Batrois
emendations consisted in taking down La Saie's dictation and supplying
the ttanslation for certâin Lzttn adages, and even then this translation
wâs stylistically imptoved by La Sale. Desonay also disagrees with
Coville's suggestion that one of the persons depicted in the miniature
of the Brussels manuscript Bibliothèque Royale 9287-8 of. La Sale
showing the presentâtion of the manuscript to Louis de Luxemboutg
is Rasse de Brunhamel.'o
These are views which, on the evidence we Possess, can be neither
completely proved nor completely refuted. They âccouflt, howevet-
and that is the point I wished to illustrate-fot the interest accotded to
Rasse de Brunhamel. And yet Floridan et Eluide has also, though in-
ditectly, a.far gr.eatet claim upon out attention than has been appteciated
so fat. I say indirutfu advisedly, fot it is riot so much the original trans-
lation âs the tevision to which this translation was subsequently sub-
jected, which is of intetest-for, like the Saintrd, Floridan et Eluide also
underwent complete revision, a fact which not even Coville r.ealized.
Now the ptimitive vetsion is the work of Rasse de Btunhamel; but the
revision, às I shall show, we cân with gteat probability attribute to
Antoine de La Sale himself. This fact, which is cleady of considerable
importance, is the immediate reason for the present edition.
Ôf Rasse de Brunhamel very little is known. He, ot a.îy rate his
^t
famlly, hailed from Eastern Picardy, since Brunhamel is situated to the
north of Rozoy-sut-Sierre, in Thiérache.'l The only infotmation we
possess about him other than that contained tnFloridan et Eluide occurs
in the Inaentaire sommaire of the Departmental Atchives of the Driparte-
ment of Âisne. The entry relating to item B *lz reads: 'Etat des cens et
rentes que les deux chapelains du château de Beautevoit percevaient à
Briastte (Nord) par les mains de Rasse de Brunehamel.' This EtaT was
âpparentiy attached to a copy of a census of the seignearie of Beauvoir
#È.h Louis de Luxemboui§ submitted to the kin§.rz Unfortunately,
the file B y1z which contained these two documents disappeared
dudng the First §7'or1d §7at, so rÿe are unable to leatn any more about
Rasse's ptecise status.ls Â11 that §/e cân conclude is that he was in the
service of Louis de Luxembourg, Comte de Saint-Pol, who became La
e Covrrr.r, PJS, p. S+, 10 Covrr-lr, kQE, p. zz1, n, 4; Drsorlet, ALS, p. 16o,
11 On Rasse ile Bruàhamel's name and otigins see R.a,rNeuo, art, îi1,, and M. PnrNrr: Sur le nom de
Ra1s2æ r ÿdee Bkrnuo.uwb atmhealt inL oRuoims adneia ,L XuxIeVmIbILou ttg9 zzin, hpepri.t e5d9 5B-9e8a.urevoir in r44r from his uncle, Jean de
Luxembourg-see PnrNrt, drl. îit., p, jg7,
1e The details dating to this file are taken from PtrNrr, art. ciL, p. 597.
Floridan et Eluide: Â Cnrrrcar- EorrroN vii
Sale's master tn t448,It was there, no doubt, that the t§/o men came
to know one another.
For the rest, $/e have to be content with such morsels of information
âs sre can glean ftom the dedication of Floridan et Eluide and from the
actval translation itself. In the first place, we must fetufn to the question
of Rasse's telations with La Sale-not, indeed, in order to indulge in
further specuiation as to their exact nature, which, as I have said, we
câffiot assess with any cefiainty, but in order to discuss the facts which
emerge ftom the text itself. §fihether Rasse 'ùrâs the scribe of the Barrois
manuscript or not is problematical;ta what is certain is that he translated
the Latin tale to please La Sale and, more impoftant, that La Sale had
previously requested him to prepare a Petit nupcial traictant des mariages
selon les decreTet les lo1s, which Rasse had duly frnished,ja soit ce que tres
radement.rs
One may wondet, in passing, why La Sale should have requited such
a treâtise-hatdly for himself, one would think, fot he had been married
since 1439 and was still living with his wife in r46o.1a In connection
with his litenry work, perhaps? Parts of La Sale, it is true, deal with
maniage and conjugal love; but they do not touch upon any legal
aspects. Ot perhaps for the instruction of his charges, the oldest of
v'hom, Jean, Comte de Marle, was alteady neady fifteen at the time of
the dedication of La Sale to their father?l? There may be ânother explana-
tion. In the years immediately preceding the date of the Barrois manu-
sctipt,l8 Louis de Luxembourg âppeârs to have been much preoccupied
n-ith the ptospective martiages of at least two of his children. In both
instances his efforts proved singulady unsuccessful. In the first case, he
ç-as anxious to gain the hand of Isabelle de Boutbon fot his afore-
inentioned eldest son Jean,le but his plans câme to rothing when
Philippe le Bon chose her as wife for his own son and heir, the Comte
de Chàrolais, the futute Chades le Hatdi. Isabelle, who was a niece of
Philippe, was alteady living ât the Cout of Burgundy at the time. The
:naniage was celebrated in the late autumn of r454.2o
In the second case, Louis de Luxembourg \r/as concerned, not with
:{ Incidentaily, the text of Floridan et Eluide in the Batrois manusctipt teveals no obvious traces of
!:;:rdisms, bui that, of coutse, is not conclusive evidence,
:5 See below text of Barois manuscript, lines 16-18.
: j :::5::i: l elDTa hrrrsercoç hoNe x avaYrch,t icAdhaL theSa o,v efp tpsh.ui s9r y2mi,v a1en6du7-s.icst ipOt cotof bLear Szaole, r(4B5rurs.sels, Bibliothèque Royale ro9yg)-the earlier
6, 1456 (n.st.).
:9 Louis de Luxembourg's negotiations with Isabelle's fathet, Chades de Bourbon, are mentioned
: -:;ier de La Mencsr, Mémoires, Bk. I, Ch. XXXI (Ed. H. Beaune and J. d'Arbaumont, Paris
:"r-,' -r. \-ol. II, pp. 395-96).
:: --.. -\:.e nBuultciehsomn etn ioCubrro idlq'ouec.tro bd'rEen',g aaecncaontddi ndge Mtoo uJatrcàqleute,s Poaud sC r1-8rnzc6q-7, , MVdoml.o iXre[sI, ,B pk.. .rII7Lr );C Mh.a XthVienu
- !r::-cav,.in his M,inoiri:, Ch. CXXII (Ed. G, du Fiesne de Beaüêoutt, Parié'*$-a, Vol. II,
: :--: :nentions'Toussaint' 1454.,Cnesrrr,rarN vrould appeat to be mistaken whenhe gives the
-: S::rdav in Lent as the date of the marriage (Mdnoirii, Bk. IV, Ch. V, in Oeaurcs di Georget
-::-;:.l,bin, ed. K. de Lettenhove, Brussels r863-6, Vol. III, p. z5).
Floridan eT Elaide: A Cnrrrcar- EortroN
v111
promotirrg a match, put with pteventing one. This affak had started
some yeârs previously,zl when Ânthoine de Croy, chamberlain to
Philippe le Bon, approached Louis with a view to arcangingthe marriage
of his ov/fl son Philippe to Louis's daughtet Rebuffed by
Jacqueline.
Louis, who considereà- his daughter too good for such an alliance, de
Ctoy succeeded in discrediting him with Philippe le Bon, with the result
that Louis eventually found himself fotced to agree to the engâgement,
'et furent lesdictes fiançailles faictes sur certaines et grandes paines de
repentizes'.zz The intended btide and bridegroom still being of very
teÀder age, Jacqueline rvas placed in the carc oî de Ctoy's wife, 'affin de
elle apprèndre et endoctrinet'.zB By theyear r45 5, the young people had
reachèd marriageable age and de Croy decided to proceed with the
wedding. §7hen Louis was infotmed of the date fixed for the ceremony,
he attempted, in despetation, to buy back his daughtet 6et envoya
devets le seigneut dè Ctoy presenter et offtit de paier les sommes
d'argent qui avoient esté dictel, ou traictié dudit matiage, devoit estre
paiez par. éellui qui de ce se repentiroit'.24 However, de Ctoy tefused the
ofet. As a last rtsott, Louis decided to tesort to force and dispatched
'une grosse armée' undet his son Jean to fetch back Jacqueline; but
before they could reach the town of Luxembourg, of which de Ctoy
v/as governot, they \À/ere met by two nephews of de Croy who informed
them that they were welcome to attend the wedding, but that if they
were bent upon less peaceful ptojects, they would be prevented from
entedng the'town. th.r.opoh retrirred to his iather, and the
Jêan
wedding took place as airan§ed.26In the citcumstances, it does not seem
unlikely that Ilouis may havè wished, at some point in one or othet of
these affairs, to study more closely the legal aspects of marriage laws
and contracts, and that Antoine de La Sale, anxious to oblige him, but
unable to do so himseH, turned to Rasse de Brunhamel to supply the
requited document. This may account for the drawing up of the Petit
nupcial, of which, unfortunately, no copy sutvives. In âny case, we know
frôm this that Rasse had some knowlèdge of law, and that he placed it
at La Sale's disposal on this occasion.
It is also worth noting that in the dedication of Floridan et Eluide
Rasse addresses La Sale as-vous noble homme et bienrenommé Anthoine
de la Salle, escuier', in vety respectful terms, yet làte\ moved by the-
torical fervour, he exclaims 'Dictes moy, Anthoine"6 which sounds
21 According to Du Clrncq (Ménoiret, Bk. IIL Ch. XXIX, ed. cit,,YoL XlI, p. zzr) Jacqueline
lived with the de Croy family for ten yeârs before the wedding.
22 Mathieu o'EscoÙcrr, Mémoires, Ch. CXXXN, ed. cit,,ÿol.II, p. 3o1.
2i lbid,,p.3o8. 2aIbid.,pp,3o8-9,
26 Du Cieréq gives 'Chtistmas' as the âàtoof the wedding @k. III, Ch. XXIX). The, chronology
or.fo tth 1is4 5c6h, aâpst eotn-ies mraitghhetr aint vfuoslvt etdh,i nbku.t a1 4c5lo5 sies satlusod yt hoef ytheea tt eexxpt üschiotlwy s stthaatet d- thbey yMea. rd_'mEusscto ubceh ry4,5 w5,h oasned
account of tlte afra* (Ch. CXXXN) is the most detailed of the vadous chtoniclets, See also Oiivier
de La Marche, Bk. I, Ch. XXXI.
26 It has been suggested that the Bibliothèque Nationale manusctipt fr. 15o6 gives 'Dictes non
Anthoine'. Commentlng on this in RQE (p. izo, n, 3), Coville writes: 'En effet dans le ms. ftanc.
Floridan et Eluide: A Cnrrrcer- EorrroN
1x
I
decidedly more familiar. do not think, however, that one is entitled
to argue that this necessadly indicates a. great degree of intimacy.
Ânother point arising directly from the text needs to be üscussed,
since Coville tegarded it as apossible pointer to Rasse's literary collabora-
tion with La Sale. In the course of his discussion of the Barrois maflu-
sctipt, Coville writes: 'Une hypothèse peut encore être faite. Btunhamel,
après l'Histoire de Floridan et d'Elaide, ilit: "Et cy donrrai fin a cest livret
de toiz histoites." Et plus loin il semble bien que c'est lui qui dit
encore: "Et cy donrai fin ad ce que j'ay ttaist des dictes croniques." Il
avait donc colnme une part personnelle dans le manuscrit. .. ."' Nov/
it is, of course, quite correct that at the end of the extract from the
chronicle of Flanders which concludes the manuscript, there âppear the
wotds 'Et .y donrai fin ad ce que j'ty trust des dictes croniques'; but
I fail to see how oûe can draw from them the inference Coville has
dtawn. §fhy should these be the words of the scribe? Such an inter-
pretâtiorr is surely contradicted by the terms of the dedication at the
very beginning of the manuscript, wherc La Sale offers the whole
collection to Jean de Calabre. For after bdefly referdng to the first two
stories (i.e. the Saintré and Floridan et Eluide), La Sale writes: 'Et la
troizime hystoite serâ une adicion que j'ay traicte des Cronicques de
Flandres . . .', i.e. the expression is very similat to that at the end of
the manuscript which Coülle quotes. There seems thus littie cause for
attributing the latter to anyone but La Sale. 'I1 avait donc comme une
pârt personnelle dans le manusctit' appears an unjustifiable conclusion
on this evidence.
The postscript to Floridan er Eluide raises a further point of interest
which has not been noticed before; yet ir seems vèry striking. As
Coville indicates, we find the words 'Et cy donrrai fin a cest livret des
troiz histoires',s ât the end of the tale. They are followed by a short
postscript, presumably addressed by Rasse to'Jean de Calabre, to whom
the whole Barrois manuscript \il/âs to be offered:
Otes, mon tres redoubté seigneur, sy tres humblement que ie sçây et puis
a jointes mains vous requier et supplie que prenez en gre du simple et povre
metcier la simple et povre mercerie, et du povre servânt Ia bonne voullenté en
moy tousdiz offrarrt aux loya:ulz et tres desirez seryices de tous voz cofiirrrafl-
demens. Et ce scet le Dieu des Dieux qui vous esüesse comme vous desirez.
(Barrois tr318)
But to which tltree stories caû the writer be refering? The Saintré and
Floridan et Elaide make only two. The third, the extract from the chron-
icle of Flanders, follows Floridan et Elaide and this postscript. The initial
15o6, à premièrc vue o! pourraitlirc mon pout moy.'Two years later, in the P/J (p. 53, n. r) heis
nore categorical: 'Dans le ms. r 5o6 français de la Bibliothèquè nationale, onht."Dites ioir Ânthoine",
ce qui est encore plus familier.' I have examined the manuscript in question. There is not the slightest
,joubt that the sctibe has written mo1 and not m07r. But even if hè had put mllr, this would mean
:orhing, for this text is quile untrustworthy bclow, pp. xv-xvi,
" P./i, pp, I l-;+. 28 'det' ân-dse neo t'de tioii histoires' as quoted by Coville.
Flaridan et Eluide: A CRrrrcer, EorrroN
tdheidsi coartdioenr. oAf t hfoeu mrtahn uitsecmrip, tt htoe J"teaalen odeî pCaarlaisb ree t avlsieon cnlee,a dwyh iecshta bitli swheass
originally intended should complete the collection, .was to fotm a second.
sepa{ate volume, as is shown by the terms of the deücation; in view
of the length of -Paris et_ vienie, this was a reasonable arrangement.
Howevef, âs \À/e know, this second volume §7'as never written?, This
much is clear. §7hat is not at all crea4 or ât leâst so it seems to me, is
this reference to tbree stories at the end of Floridan et Eluide. \7e âte
evidently not faced here with a mere sctibal error, three for. two, ior t]ne
manuscript, does not terminate there, âs the postscript suggests, rror '\^/as
rt proposed that it should.
one possible expianadon would appe t to be that the text oî Floridan
et Elaide in the Bairois manusoipt, Licluding this puzzling phrase, was
taken from an earlier manuscript', iince 1ostin wlich Ftoilàan et Étuide
l:ally did stand at the end of a collection of three stodes, with the
Flanders chronicle or some other text between it and the first item
(the.saintré?)." Tt-tg short postscript either akeady figured in the eadier
vetsion, or u/âs added speôially foi the Barrois mâno"script; if the later,
this would explain why there ii a dedication, at the b.ginÀing of Floridai
et Eluide,toLa Sale, and a postscript to Jean de CalaËre.
Ânother explanation mi§ht be that tÉe phrase 'Et cy donrrai fin a
cest livret des troiz histoiies' rogerher withihe lines foliowing it were
meant to be inserted on the finalpage of the manuscript, in *îi.h .r..
they wo-uld !. by La Sale himself. AT it is, there is the [enetal introduc-
tory dedicati-on zt the-beginning of the manusctipt, a léngthy epistle by
La sale at the end of tlle sain7r,i, and the lines^under irt.ossion nfti,
Floridan et Elaide. on the final page there is a space after the extiact
ftom the chronicle of Flanders, ànà at the bottoà of the page merely
the words: 'vostre treshumble et uesobeissant servirerrr Ântoîne de ia
Sale', in La Sale's own writing.r, A few lines rounding off the whole
volume would therefore not be out of place here.r, fhere âre some
obiections to this explanation, however. Ïn the firct place, it has been
pointed o-ut that, althbugh not dissimilar in phraseology fr.omLa sale's
usual drdications, the llnes at the end of Floridnn et""Eluide express â
deepet humility than La Sale as a rule displays;s3 and it is ttue tirat the
-mercier'
'jointes mains' and the 'simple et povre do not appear else-
where. But this argument dôes nof seem to me necessarily ôônclusive.
A sttonget objection, I think, would be that since La'Sale himself
2e For a discussion of the teasons which may have induced La Sale to abandon his proiect of
o-f f3e0t Iintlgs thinet ecroelsleticntgio nt ot on àJteea nin d teh iCsa rleasbpreé,c ts eteh aCto Cvrorrv-eili,e R dpiàE n,o 'pt'pco. nzszi6d-ezr8 .the Battois version of the
Sa;yt( tg be the original one, bur merêly'une copie, er même une copie d'une copie,. P/d p. 85.
31 P. Crrauproll, op. cit.
s2 The insertion of La Sale's long epistle after the Saintrd ruthet than after the last item in the
collection need,not surptise us, howèver, fot the Saintré teptesents La Sale's ooly original contdbution
to the proposed two volumes.
33 Covrrr,n, RQE, p, zzt,
Floridan et Eluide: A Cnrrrcer, EorrroN
x1
signed the last page, he would surely have noticed if his final dedication
had been misplaced. The first explanation appeârs the more likely
therefore. In any case, it is an intriguing enigma and one cannot help
feeling sutprised that it has gone uonoticed so fat.3a
§7hat further trâits cafl be added to the meâgre portrait we have so
{ar dr.awn of Rasse de Brunhamel? He knew Lztin, and knew it well, fot
the ttanslation, except fot a very occâsional lapse,36 renders the Latin
text effectiveiy. He \tr7as, moreover, possessed of literary ambitions, as
is shown by the way ia which he tackled his task. His translation is by
no meâns a narowly litetal one, but is liberally padded out with addi-
tional fiaffàtive; unfortunately, his efforts are not always crowned with
success.s6 His style, though often felicitous, tends to gro§/ laboured at
times. Occasionally he becomes bogged down in an interminable stdng
of sentences, bound togethet by an endless numbet of 'et's. Conciseness,
in fact, is not one of his more obvious qualities, and it is interesting
to note that in the hands of La Sale, himself not always a model of
clarity and breviry, the taie of Floridan et Eluide sheds about a sixth of
its total length.
Rasse was familiar with Boccaccio's De Claris Mulieribus and the
companion study of famous men, âs his reference to these two works
shows. Coville also claims that he had a cettain knowledge of Roman
histoty, 'puisque 1à où Clamânges patle du fiis du toi, il ajoute Sextus
fils du dernier roi des Romains';3? but âs this information is in fact
contained in Boccaccio's chaptet on Luctetia,s8 it is difHcult to draw
any gerreral conclusions from this addition. In âny câse, a teader of
Boccaccio would be bound to acquire some knowledge of the histoty
of Rome. Finally, we know that Rasse had read Nicolas de Clamanges,
ot àt râte some of his 'epistres en stille tres âutenticque'. And that
compl^ertteys what we know of Rasse de Brunhamel.
As to the date of the odginal Latin version or the circumstances of
its composition, nothing is known. The tale figures in certain manuscript
coilections of Nicolas de Ciamanges's letters, the eadiest of these manu-
scripts, to the best of my knowledge, being the Bibliothèque Nationale
fonds latsn 3128, dated r448.,t The story is not included in J. Lydius's
edition of Clamanges's works,ao but it appears in J. Hommey's Sapple-
mentum Patrum.al Thete seems no reâson to doubt its authenticity.o,
Clamanges presents the incident a" true story and Rasse de Brun-
hamel accepts it as such. §7e have^ sn o meâns of testing the truth of
this-unless rü/e are prepared to give credence to the fifteenth-century
Italian \üriter Masuccio, one of whose stories has a plot in many ways
3a The refetence to the tbree stories survives in the later manuscripts, even in the Btitish Museum
manusctipt which contains only two items, the Saintrri and Floridan et Elaidel
35 See p. xxii below. 86 See pp. xxiii-xxiv below. x7 RQE, p. zz3.
38 De Claris Malieribat, Ch. XLVI.
3e Others are Bibliothèque Nationale fonds latin 3rz7 and t3o6r, a0 Lyons, 1613.
11 Patis, 1684; p. 5o8. a2 See also Covnr, Rp.E, pp. zo8-ro.
Floridan et Elaide: Â Cnrrrcer- Eor:rroN
x11
similar to that oî Floridan et Elaide.aB This nouella opens as follows:
Àvendorni la fama, verissima reportatrice di vetusti fatti, manifestâtâto come
al tempo che nel reame di Francia suscitô laPolzeLLa, nella città di Nassi prima
e nobilissima fia le altre del ducato di Lorena, furono due molto geneiosi e
strenui cavalieri, ognuflo de ipsi antiqüssimo barone di certe castella e ville
poste de torno de detta città, dei quali l'uno era chiamato il signore de Condi, e
l'altro Misser Jannes de Bruscie. E come La fofiuna âvea concesso al Signore
de Condi una sola figliuola nominata Martina, secondo la sua teflera età di
virtu singolarc e ü laudevoli costumi ripiena, formosa di corpo e di viso oltre
a tutto il resto del suo paese, cosl anche a Misset Jannes dopo molti avuti
figliuoli un solo li n'era rimasto, per nome ditto Loisi, quasi di una medesima
età con laMattina, assai bello, de gran cuore, e d'ogni virtùr copioso.aa
Masuccio thus places the incident in the time of Joan of Atc, that is,
between r4z9 aîd 43t. Coville was reluctaflt to âccept this date, point-
ing out that Clamanges was then some seventy-five years old, and that
no trace survived of his literary activity after t4z4.a6 These àr.gu- i,
ments are oot, of course, conclusive. G_r9tol Par,is, who believed that
J
Clamanges had described a ttue event, with the help of fictitious nâmes, ;
evolved a tleory âccording to which Masuccio might have heard the ;
story in Naples from a Lorrainese member of René d'Anjou's suite at
Ë
the time of the expedition of 438-t442.a6 Pierre Champion, for his part, i,
claimed that the stoty 'était bien connue en Lorraine et sur les confins
F;
ddee lIaa CChhaammppaaggrrllee,, mmiisre" .e,n ùù-'vrlaatt:lttt ppaarr lleess mmoorraalliisstteess eett lleess pprrééddiiccaatteeuurrss i;
comme Clamanges poü illustter les dangers de l'amout même le plus
ppuutt'',,n:tl bbuutt iinn tthhee- aabbsseennccee ooff aannyy ssuuppppoorrttiirriigg eevviiddeennccee--aanndd CChhaammppiioonn e,
supplies none-this seems a rather wild statement. In aîy case, ea
Clamanges at no point in the story points that patticular moral. It seems
impossible to ârrive at afiy definite conclusion about all this, but there
is much to be said for Coville's suggestioîthat Masuccio, familiar with
the framework of the story,48 placed it in the time of Joan of Ârc for
gteatet effectiveness and added the names for the same reâsoo.4o Âil
The most intetesting feature of Floridan et Elaide is the moralizing dat
conclusion, in which Clamanges sets out to excuse Elvide's suicide. It
Ger
§/as no doubt this aspect of the story which caught Clamanges's interest I
in the first place, for these reflections upon Elvide's actions âre no of t
incidental random meditations, added as an aftetthought. Indeed, they the
seem so important that tf. there were any definite indications that the
story sÿas fiictional, one might well wonder if it w'as not invented to ;:f
illustrate these very arguments. In the absence of any such indications, .uuiel
4uüI §l eeti bpep.lt ixnxov 1dll-ix Mx1axs rbceiol oS'a§lerr7ni.t ano, ed. L. Settembtri,3rd ed., Naples r89r; \Ni^o-v^erll^a -X-X-X' I ogfat-h'l eitft
(pp. llS-+l),The 6rst edition was in t416. According to Settembdni, Masuccio was born shortly". 'z''r,r! :-lI /;
before r4zo and died soon after 1476. 46 RPE, pp. 2t2-t j, Clamanges died in 1437. -
a6 Art. cit. Coville was doubtful about this theory-RQB, p. 2t1, n. r, .il,
aaa??8 LLMeeatts uCCceecnnitto NN's oovmmeeerslllliuuo nNN soouhuuouewelllesles 4i, - peedd"..r tPP^.. iCC hhdaaifmmfèppreiioonnné,,e sPÉ, aahrtiisso wirq9é"zvd8e;; i .bp' .. S Iteiiiii.. pp. xxviii-xxix below. Fo9ttÿ tt:hhiÿe9,
rs RgE, pp. 242-43. s-hich
,