through grief and chagrin at having broken his prom-
ise. Arthur’s knights catch up with him and he is bound
and brought to the court.
Twelve knights are sworn in to act as jurors at the
trial, but everyone knows the queen’s reputation for
infi delity, so Launfal is acquitted of the fi rst charge.
The court says that if Launfal can produce his lover, he
will be judged innocent of the second charge, but if he
cannot, all agree that he should be hanged. Launfal
must give himself as a pledge, and the queen says her
eyes may be put out if Launfal produces someone more
beautiful than she. Sir Percevall and Sir Gawain stand
surety for the period of a year and two weeks.
On the appointed day, Arthur orders Launfal to pro-
duce his lover. Launfal says that he cannot, so he is
condemned to death. The earl of Cornwall speaks out
against the sentence and suggests that it be commuted
to banishment. As he is speaking, the barons see 10
beautiful maidens riding toward them, and the ugliest
could certainly be a queen. Gawain tells Launfal that
he does not need to be afraid because his beloved is
coming, but Launfal replies that none of the maidens is
she. The women ride to the castle and ask Arthur to
prepare a beautiful room for their lady, who is on her
way. Arthur agrees and then orders the barons to pro-
nounce judgment. Having seen the maidens, some
want to acquit Launfal, while others are convinced of
his guilt.
Everyone wants to see these beautiful women, but
Launfal observes wretchedly that he does not know
them. They go to the palace and again ask Arthur to
prepare a room. The queen suspects that Launfal will
be acquitted by Tryamour’s appearance and tells Arthur
that if he cares for her honor, she will be avenged. As
the queen is speaking, the barons see a beautiful grey-
eyed woman with hair like gold approaching on a
white palfrey. As soon as Launfal sees her, he cries out
that this is his beloved. Tryamour goes into the hall,
her maidens help her to dismount, and she removes
her mantel so that everyone can see her better. Try-
amour tells Arthur that she has come to liberate Laun-
fal because he never propositioned the queen. She
warns Arthur to look to his reputation, saying that it
was Guinevere who begged Launfal to be her lover.
Tryamour then blows at Guinevere, blinding her, and
leaps onto her palfrey. Gyfre appears with Launfal’s
horse, onto which Launfal springs, and he rides away
into the land of faery with his lover, never to be seen
again.
Sir Launfal is a RIME COUÉE romance and shares the
form with more than 20 other 14th-century romances.
Along with these, Sir Launfal has been seen by scholars
as a popular, rather than an aristocratic poem, which
contains a streak of unmistakeable bloodthirstiness.
This is especially noticeable in the episode involving
the killing of all the lords of Atalye. Several motifs,
such as the spendthrift knight, the fairy lover, combat
with a giant, the magical dwarf-servant, magical gifts, a
secret oath that is broken, and the cyclic return of the
knight’s spirit to this world each year, suggest a con-
nection to folklore. Chestre’s poem also fi ts into the
ARTHURIAN LITERATURE tradition, most notably in its
unquestioning acceptance of the king’s authority,
although, as in some other Middle English romances,
Arthur is depicted as somewhat inept and easily
manipulated, and the queen as promiscuous with his
knights. The blinding of Guinevere in fulfi lment of her
own careless words has no parallel in other Arthurian
materials, however, and seems rather to connect with
the folklore traditions present in the poem. The poem
has most commonly been read as an entirely secular
fantasy of wish fulfi llment.
See also MIDDLE ENGLISH POETRY.
FURTHER READING
Ramsey, L. C. Chivalric Romances: Popular Literature in
Medieval England. Bloomington: Indiana University Press,
1983.
Spearing, A. C. “The Lanval Story.” In The Medieval Poet as
Voyeur: Looking and Listening in Medieval Love-Narratives,
97–119. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993.
Louise SylvesterSIR ORFEO ANONYMOUS (ca. late 13th–early
14th century) Sir Orfeo, a Breton LAY written in
Middle English during the late 13th or early 14th cen-
tury, imaginatively retells the familiar Greek myth of
Orpheus and Eurydice as medieval ROMANCE. In the
poem’s fi rst 24 lines, the narrator establishes both its
genre and its specifi c origins in the narrative traditions414 SIR ORFEO