The structual arrangement of the Old French narrative lays

386 Pages·2009·2.1 MB·English

by  Silvie Sasková

THE STRUCTURAL ARRANGEMENT
OF THE OLD FRENCH NARRATIVE LAYS
A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the
Degree
of Doctor of Philosophy in French
in the University of Canterbury
by Silvie Sasková
University of Canterbury
2009

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements 1
Abstract 3
Introduction 5
The Old French narrative lays 5
Manuscripts, editions and dates of the lays analyzed within this thesis 20
Past research on the structure of the lays 23
Theoretical approach and context 24
The unity of the narrative 28
Thesis outline 32
Chapter One: Beginning and End 37
Medieval beginning: natural order 37
Medieval beginning: artificial order 44
Rhetorical beginning 63
End 75
Chapter Two: Abbreviation and Emphasis 84
Abbreviation: Emphasis and Metonymy 88
Ornamentation figure Emphasis 89
Emphasis: Ambiguity 91
Emphasis: Consequence 93
Emphasis: Analogy 100
Emphasis: Hyperbole 103
Emphasis: Understatement 117
Emphasis: Aposiopesis 117
Abbreviation: Implication 120
Abbreviation: Articulus 126
Abbreviation: Asyndeton 127
Abbreviation: Conciseness 129
Chapter Three: Amplification 135
Description 137
Comparison 159
Opposition 171
Personification 172
Apostrophe 173
Periphrasis 179
Chapter Four: Digression and Refining 186
Digression 186
Refining 200
Chapter Five: Repetition and Parallels 235
Repetition of the same or similar words: Reduplication, Transplacement and Paronomasia 235
Repetition of the same word at a specific place: Epanaphora, Antistrophe and Interlacement 255
Repetition of a motif 260
Parallel sections and Antithesis 264
Varied repetition of episodes: Transplacement and Paronomasia 270
Chastoiement 275
Chapter Six: the Recounting of Episodes 279
Refining through recounting 280
Summary and foreshadowing 295
The Refining of an idea through recounting 304
Chapter Seven: Argumentation, Reasoning and Persuasion 319
Judicial speeches 319
Premises and reasons: epicheireme 325
Premises and reasons: rhetorical argument 329
Premises and reasons: chria 331
Exemplum 332
Arguments from Analogy and contrary 335
Premises and reasons: two-sided arguments 338
Reasoning by Question and Answer 340
Appeal to Pity and rhetorical Amplification 342
Conclusion 346
Appendix 1: Brief Summaries of the Structure of the Lays Studied 351
Appendix 2: Rhetorical and Poetic Terms 370
Bibliography 374
Primary sources 374
Secondary sources 376

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Acknowledgements

I owe many thanks to my supervisor Margaret Burrell for introducing me to various
aspects of academic life, offering her advice and prompt assistance whenever necessary,
for her help with the translations of the Old French texts, for reading my numerous final
drafts, and for general support, whether in the matters related to my research or
independent of it.

I have been fortunate to have made the acquaintance of Glyn S. Burgess whose
research on the Old French lays has been invaluable for my study and who has given me a
broader understanding of the field. I thank Glyn for his positive encouragement, for
revealing to me the issues surrounding the edition of final drafts, and for the generosity
with which he provided me with books and other materials relevant to my study.

I am thankful to Alison Holcroft, who introduced me to the world of the rhetorical
figures, advised me in matters of rhetorical reasoning and arguments, and gave me access
to some important books and articles on rhetorical and poetic theory. Furthermore, I
appreciate the research material kindly forwarded to me by Prudence Tobin.

I would like to express my thanks to the School of Languages and Cultures and its
staff for providing me with a quiet study space, friendly support, help with administrative
and other tasks, and the financial assistance for conference travel and some research-
related expenses.

I acknowledge the important role that the staff of the Academic Skills Centre
(WASS), namely Stephanie Day and the late Sam Gill, have played throughout my
university studies by instructing me on how to structure my academic research, by
persistently commenting on the correct use of articles and on other grammatical challenges
that I was presented with, and by helping me to improve both my verbal expression and my
presentation skills.

I give my thanks to the organizations that have greatly facilitated my doctoral
research and enabled me to attend conferences through various scholarships and grants: the
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University of Canterbury for the Doctoral Scholarship (and specifically to the Scholarships
Office for their helpful service); Education New Zealand for covering the cost of my travel
to the 41st International Congress on Medieval Studies in Kalamazoo; and the McCarthy
Fellowship for enabling me to attend the 2007 ANZAMEMS Conference in Adelaide and
for contributing towards my travel to the Sydney Arthurian Colloquium.

Justin and Judy Cook deserve my thanks for allowing me to share their home and
their solar power for the final weeks of my writing. And finally, I would like my husband
Marcus Pedersen to know that I very much appreciate his patience and support during the
last three years, and that I am grateful for his invaluable input on the editing of my thesis.
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Abstract

When the Old French narrative lays were composed in the second half of the
twelfth and during the thirteenth century, the authors had access to the theory of classical
rhetoric and medieval poetics. This thesis investigates the correspondences between the
relevant theoretical concepts and the arrangement of the lays, and reveals in what manner
the authors of the lays employed certain techniques and figures in order to achieve the
unity of their works. The research is centred on Geoffrey of Vinsauf's Poetria nova and the
Documentum de modo et arte dictandi et versificandi, Matthew of Vendôme's Ars
versificatoria, and takes into consideration works of the classical origin, namely the
Rhetorica ad Herennium and the Ars poetica of Horace. The analysis comprises the lays
Aristote, Conseil, Cor, Desiré, Doon, Espervier, Espine, Graelent, Guingamor, Haveloc,
Ignaure, Lecheor, Mantel, Melion, Nabaret, Oiselet, Ombre, Trot, Tydorel and Tyolet.

The first four chapters discuss the theory on arrangement, assess the unity of the
beginning and end with the body of the texts, and examine to what extent the techniques of
abbreviation and amplification emphasize or amplify the overall idea. The remaining three
chapters demonstrate important structural features typical of the lay narratives which use
various rhetorical and poetic methods. Chapter Five analyzes the lay narratives from the
perspective of the figures of wordplay, as well as small and large-scale repetition and
parallels. Chapter Six examines the recounting of episodes, which coincides with the
amplification technique Refining. Chapter Seven exposes the persuasion and reasoning
techniques that the characters employ in order to prove or decide something.
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Introduction

The Old French lays are brief narratives about love and knightly adventures, which
were written in the second half of the twelfth and during the thirteenth century. Although
they are not very long or complex, they were skilfully structured in order to depict an
adventure, and, in many cases, to convey a meaning or a lesson. The authors' ability to
write indicates that they had some education, and therefore were likely to have had
knowledge of the trivium. The authors of the lays had access during their education to
several key works on classical rhetoric, namely the Rhetorica ad Herennium, Cicero's De
inventione, and also to another classical work, the Ars poetica by Horace.1 In addition, they
would have been aware of the contemporary treatises on poetics inspired by the classical
works. The best known among the early works on the poetics are Geoffrey of Vinsauf's
Poetria nova and Matthew of Vendôme's Ars versificatoria. When the Old French lays are
examined in light of the concepts expressed in the theoretical treatises, it is clear that the
authors of the lays were using these concepts in order to carefully arrange their narratives
and so achieve the unity of their works.

This examination of the Old French lays not only confirms that their authors used
the rhetorical and poetic techniques to a great extent, but also indicates that they were
skilled in using them. The authors' application of the techniques surpasses the theoretical
advice presented in the treatises, and I expose the inventiveness and imagination with
which the authors composed their works. My analysis of the structural arrangement of the
lays in the context of the rhetorical and poetic theory reveals the inner binding of
individual narratives, and indicates that these seeemingly simple works are carefully
designed and more complex than generally acknowledged.

The Old French narrative lays

In my examination of the lays, there will not be an analysis of Marie de France and
the lays of classical origin. These texts have already been widely studied, and their

1 For full bibliographical details of the works mentioned in this thesis please refer to the bibliography. Note
that throughout the references to the works on rhetoric and poetics indicate both the relevant section of the
original work, and the page number of its translation.
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inclusion would make the current study extensive and beyond the scope of a doctoral
thesis. I do, however, note the secondary materials on Marie's lays that relate to the topic of
structure, especially from the rhetorical perspective.

Rather than focusing on the lays of Marie de France, I analyze twenty lesser known
texts that were studied by Mortimer J. Donovan in The Breton Lay: A Guide to Varieties,
and that are included in Glyn Burgess's analytical bibliography. The texts include the
anonymous lays, which were edited by Prudence Tobin (Les Lais anonymes des XIIe et
XIIIe siècles: édition critique de quelques lais Bretons) over thirty years ago, and have
been recently re-edited and translated into English by Glyn Burgess and Leslie Brook in
Eleven Old French Narrative Lays. The alphabetical list of the twenty lays subject to this
analysis is as follows: Aristote, Conseil, Cor, Desiré, Doon, Espervier, Espine, Graelent,
Guingamor, Haveloc, Ignaure, Lecheor, Mantel, Melion, Nabaret, Oiselet, Ombre, Trot,
Tydorel and Tyolet.

The Old French lays, estimated to have been written in the second half of the
twelfth or during the first half of the thirteenth century, vary in length, form and content.
Haveloc alone exceeds a thousand lines, and Nabaret, the shortest, has forty-eight lines.2
They are generally written in octosyllabic rhyming couplets3 with only Robert Biket's Cor
written in hexasyllabic form.4 Their content varies so greatly that it is difficult to devise a
single definition of a "lay" or to determine the exact number of lays written. Some lays
recall fairy-tales and entertain the audience with their marvellous adventures, while others
are more realistic and rather than abound with physical action may rely on the characters'
verbal expression. The majority of the lay texts convey a message, but even those void of
an underlying lesson capture (or ridicule) the courtly ideal represented by honourable
knights and beautiful ladies. What all the narrative lays have in common is the necessity
for the characters to achieve a certain goal and/or some kind of refinement, whether it is
attached to the courtly setting in general or represented through noble deeds or eloquent
words.

Jean Frappier offers a useful description of narrative lays in his article 'Remarques

2 For typical elements of the lays and the discussion surrounding their number and definition see Burgess and
Brook, pp. 1-4.
3 Frappier, 'Remarques…', p. 23.
4 See Erickson’s edition, p. 49.
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