knights and performing good deeds. As the days go by,
Lanval is full of joy at his newfound love, who comes to
him anywhere, anytime he wants to see her.
This sequence of events is key to understanding sev-
eral different themes in “Lanval.” The lady (presumably a
fairy) is the complete opposite of the “femmes” Arthur
gives to his men at the opening of the story. The fairy
lady is clearly in control of her own life; she has made the
decision to seek out Lanval, and it is she who has vast
amounts of wealth to bestow upon him. Marie reverses
the typical gender paradigm by having this extraordinary
woman wield power over her own life. Lanval is her vas-
sal, in keeping with the tradition of COURTLY LOVE, yet she
does not maintain her distance from Lanval, instead
rewarding him as Arthur failed to do.
Lanval’s pleasure in his beloved continues until
sometime “in that same year... after St. John’s Day”
(ll. 219–220). A group of knights, led by the “noble
and worthy” Gauvain (Gawain), invites Lanval to go
with them to a garden near the queen’s tower. Guinev-
ere watches them from above. When she sees Lanval,
she summons her ladies to go down to the garden. This
is another of Marie’s gender reversals, as it is usually
the woman who is the object of desire for the man.
Guinevere approaches Lanval privately (he is alone,
wishing for his love) and addresses him: “Lanval, I have
honored, cherished and loved you much. You may have
all my love: just tell me what you desire! I grant you my
love and you should be glad to have me” (ll. 263–268).
Lanval refuses her invitation, saying that he does not
want to betray his lord. The queen’s wounded pride
makes her spiteful, and she accuses Lanval of homo-
sexuality. Lanval is driven over the edge by her jibe and
replies “in spite” (l. 289) that he has a lover whose low-
est handmaid is more beautiful and more worthy to be
loved than the queen. In tears, the queen fl ees to her
chamber and later tells Arthur that Lanval had attempted
to seduce her, then boasted of having a superior woman.
Infuriated, Arthur swears that Lanval must defend him-
self in court or suffer death. Lanval agrees to a trial,
though he knows he cannot prove his claims to be true:
Having revealed his secret, he has lost his lover forever.
Alone in his lodgings, he laments his rash words.
On the day of the trial, before this verdict is
announced, the proceedings are interrupted by the
appearance of beautiful, richly dressed maidens who
tell Arthur to make ready to receive their mistress.
Twice the court falls back to deliberation—which
angers Guinevere—until the majestic entrance of Lan-
val’s beloved astounds everyone. She announces: “King
[Arthur], I have loved one of your vassals, Lanval....
You should know that the queen was wrong, as he
never sought her love. As regards the boast he made, if
he can be acquitted by me, let your barons release
him!” (ll. 615–624). Lanval is promptly freed. As the
maiden leaves the hall on her white palfrey, he jumps
onto the horse behind her, never to return.
With these fi nal lines, Marie brings the central mes-
sage of “Lanval” to fulfi llment: that true love cannot
exist within the confi nes of feudal society. Marie con-
trasts its conventions and rules with the parameters of
love set out by the fairy woman. The queen, as the
fairy’s foil, is a sad example of the effects of such a soci-
ety: She is manipulative, jealous, and seemingly
unaware of the true meaning of love.
See also “GUIGEMAR.”
FURTHER READING
Bloch, R. Howard. The Anonymous Marie de France. Chicago:
University of Chicago Press, 2003.
Burgess, Glyn S., and Keith Busby, trans. The Lais of Marie
de France. 2nd ed. New York: Penguin Books, 1999.
Eccles, Jacqueline. “Feminist Criticism and the Lay of Lan-
val: A Reply.” Romance Notes 38, no. 3 (1998): 281–285.
Whitfi eld, Pam. “Power Plays: Relationships in Marie de
France’s Lanval and Eliduc.” Medieval Perspectives 14
(1999): 242–254.
Sierra M. Wilson and K. Sarah-Jane Murray“LAÜSTIC” MARIE DE FRANCE (ca. 1165) One
of MARIE DE FRANCE’s shorter lais, “Laüstic” tells the
story of a malmariée (unfortunately married woman),
her lover, and the husband that comes between them.
Like all of Marie’s lais, “Laüstic” is written in octosyl-
labic COUPLETs.
At the beginning of the poem, Marie refers to the
multicultural literary tradition in which she is operat-
ing. She tells us that this lai (LAY) was named laüstic by
the Bretons but is called rossignol in French and night-
ingale in English. She then proceeds to the story. At
Saint-Malo live two knights who had brought honor to“LAÜSTIC” 241