Melion and Biclarel - University of Liverpool

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Two Old French Werwolf Lays intervention of another character by means of magic; these Smith designates as ‘involuntary’ (p. 5) and Ménard as ‘faux’ (p. 213). Yet, as Suard states, the act or fact of transformation ‘ne suffit … pas à définir le garou’ (‘Bisclauret et les contes du loup-garou’, p. 268): the basis of the distinction between them is behavioural. The ‘voluntary’ werwolf displays ‘bestial ferocity’, being ‘the most 42 horrible, the most dangerous of all such creatures’ (Smith, p. 4), a trait which is not seen in the general behaviour at court of the lays’ werwolves; conversely, the ‘involuntary’ werwolf is ‘kindhearted’ and ‘beneficent’ (Smith, p. 5). 43 Bisclavret is not the sole example of bestial metamorphosis among the Lais of Marie de France. The duplication of the motif sharpens the distinction between magical and inborn metamorphosis, for where the hawk-lover of Yonec manipulates his transformations into bird form by the employment of magic, 44 45 Bisclavret has no control over his metamorphoses. Smith’s use of ‘voluntary’ as an exact term is thus subverted, and the critic’s apparent recognition that the behaviour of Marie’s werwolf does not conform to the explanation of the type further undermines the definition of the class: ‘Exceptional is the fact that, in this case, the author takes the part of the werwolf … We must suppose … that she looks upon the Bisclavret’s transformations as an unfortunate necessity which 42 43 Compare Marie de France’s description of the generic werwolf (Bisclavret, vv. 5-12). Smith’s assessment of the ‘involuntary’ class is founded primarily on an analysis of the werwolf in Guillaume de Palerne, whose role in uniting the eponymous hero with his amie and restoring him to his rightful position is so significant that, on being knighted, Guillaume adopts the werwolf as his heraldic emblem (see William of Palerne, vv. 2193ff.). The wolf frequently occurs in heraldry, but this use of a werwolf as a device appears to be unique (Menuge, ‘The Ward as Outlaw’, a paper given to the Sixth Biennial Romance in Medieval England Conference, Robinson College, Cambridge, 1998. See also chapter 3 of Menuge, Medieval English Wardship in Romance and Law). 44 45 Neither the means nor the mechanics are detailed. Bloch (The Anonymous Marie, pp. 79-81) describes Bisclavret as a ‘species-traitor’ (p. 81), reading the early moves of the narrative in terms of double treachery, with the lady’s fear of her husband’s adultery echoed in ‘the fact that her husband is not just unfaithful to her, not just amorously double, but unfaithful to his species. And here there can be no doubt’ (p. 81). This comparison of the wife’s adultery and the husband’s therianthropy seems ill-founded: as Marie herself makes clear, both in Bisclavret and elsewhere, adultery is a choice and treachery a deliberate act; since Bisclavret’s metamorphosis is imposed on him by nature, it cannot be seen in the terms of choice fundamental to treachery. 30
Introduction nature has imposed upon his organization. He is to be pitied as an innocent 46 victim’ (‘An Historical Study’, p. 13). Ménard includes Bisclavret among the ‘véritables’ werwolves, but, like Smith, seems to recognise a need for qualification which is again based in the paradox of the ‘animal doux et sociable’ (p. 220) to which Marie clearly applies her sympathies: ‘Marie suggère que son personnage agit, poussé par une sorte de fatalité, puisqu’il disparaît périodiquement trois jours par semaine. Cette régularité laisse entendre qu’il est soumis à un destin inexorable’ (‘Les Histoires de loup-garou’, p. 220). Ménard also includes Melion among the ‘véritables loups-garous’, characterising the knight’s transformations as ‘volontaires et périodiques’ (p. 213); yet the lay, whose narrative provides a number of details about its protagonist’s life prior to the central werwolf episode, nowhere implies that the hero’s transformation is habitual, notwithstanding his possession of a magic ring which effects metamorphosis. Melion is unique among the medieval werwolf narratives in that, although the change of form is effected by means of magic (cf. Arthur and Gorlagon, Guillaume de Palerne) and the knight is trapped in wolf form by the malicious actions of his wife (cf. Bisclavret, Biclarel, Arthur and 47 Gorlagon), it is the hero himself who orchestrates the transformation, providing a closer analogue to the metamorphosis of the hawk-knight in Yonec than to Bisclavret in demonstrating a supernatural manipulation rather than a condition imposed by nature. Melion cannot, therefore, unequivocally be included with Ménard’s ‘faux loups-garous’, whose transformations the scholar specifies as both ‘uniques et involontaires’ and ‘due à l’intervention d’un tiers’ (p. 213). 46 Compare Edgard Sienaert’s statement that Bisclavret’s ‘joie lors de son retour (v. 30), comme sa peur de ne pouvoir recouvrir sa forme humaine si l’on venait dérober ses habits (vv. 72-77), laissent entendre qu’il souffre de son état périodique’ (1978, p. 89). Yet the reason for Bisclavret’s joy is not made clear in Marie’s text: is he glad to have returned to his human form and life, or are his good spirits due to three days free from human responsibilities? 47 In Arthur and Gorlagon, where transformation is achieved by means of a magic branch and a charm, and Guillaume de Palerne, where the shape-shift involves a magic ring amongst other items, the metamorphosis is precipitated by another character. 31
Page 1 and 2: MELION AND BICLAREL TWO OLD FRENCH
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Page 5 and 6: Contents Acknowledgements .........
Page 7 and 8: Introduction 1 Melion and Biclarel
Page 9 and 10: Introduction a complete edition of
Page 11 and 12: Introduction 19 innovation in her P
Page 13 and 14: Introduction in evoking the origina
Page 15 and 16: Introduction marries a lady. Biclar
Page 17 and 18: Introduction Bisclavret’s revelat
Page 19 and 20: Introduction enchanter transforms a
Page 21 and 22: Introduction Grimes follows Kittred
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