Item 20, LYBEAUS DESCONUS: FOOTNOTE

1 Lines 2075–77: In truth, a woman so fair / In every way / He had never seen before

Item 20, LYBEAUS DESCONUS: EXPLANATORY NOTES

Abbreviations: CT: Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales; EETS: Early English Text Society; L: London, Lambeth Palace Library MS 306; MED: Middle English Dictionary; MWME: The Manual of Writings in Middle English; N: Naples, Bibliotheca Nazionale MS XIII B.29; NIMEV: A New Index of Middle English Verse.

Title Lybeus Dysconius. In brown ink (unlike the usual black) but in Rate’s hand. Rate follows this spelling (or slight variants of it) throughout. The text begins one-third down the page of fol. 38v.

7 Gyngeleyn. In Le Bel Inconnu the hero’s true name (Guinglain) is not revealed until the end. Gyngeleyn (Gyngolyn, Gyngalyn) appears in other Arthurian texts, including the Post-Vulgate Queste del Saint Graal (where he is defeated by Arthur the Less) and Malory’s Morte Darthur (where he joins the plot to trap Lancelot in adultery with Guinevere and is eventually slain by Lancelot); for further details, see the entry for “Guinglain” in Bruce, Arthurian Name Dictionary (pp. 246–47). In The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnelle, a version of the Loathly Lady folktale that resembles Chaucer’s Wife of Bath’s Tale, Gyngeleyn is mentioned as the offspring of Gawain’s marriage to Dame Ragnelle; see The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnelle, line 799 (Hahn, Sir Gawain, p. 69).

8 Getyn he was of Sir Gawyne. Gawain is one of the most complex Arthurian characters, changing dramatically in different contexts. As Arthur’s nephew and the sometime rival of Lancelot, Gawain plays a major role in many romances. Middle English literature tends to emphasize his courtesy and his embodiment of the chivalric ideal, though his frequent womanizing also receives attention as well. French romances discuss many of his sexual liaisons; some border on rape, but more commonly young maidens enthusiastically seek him out (see B. J. Whiting, “Gawain: His Reputation, His Courtesy and His Appearance in Chaucer’s Squire’s Tale”). The phrasing here suggests — but does not clearly specify — rape.

15 Basterd thoff he were. Bastardy was often imagined as manifesting itself in moral or physical defect.

16 His moder hym kepte with alle hyr myght. In Le Bel Inconnu, Guinglain’s mother is a fairy named Blanchemal, but no suggestion of her otherworldly power appears in Chestre’s text.

25 so feyr and wyse. Though Lybeaus has already been described as wytty (intelligent), this description of his wisdom seems to contradict the rash violence mentioned in the previous stanza as well as his nyse (ignorance) mentioned in line 28. This inconsistency runs throughout the text, perhaps because Chestre has diminished the hero’s tendency to rashness and uncouth outbursts but has not entirely eliminated his sources’ depictions of the sauvage youth.

26 Beuys. The name clearly should be “Beaufis” or “Bewfiz,” which would mean “handsome son.” Rate’s grasp of French seems tenuous, and he makes similar mistakes elsewhere. He may be evoking another famous romance hero, Bevis (or Beues) of Hampton, who is not otherwise connected to this story.

33 bename. “To take, to seize.” MED does not include this verb form, but it clearly comes from the common Middle English verb “nimen.” Rough play with wild animals is a common motif in stories of the enfant sauvage (wild child).

36 Sleyn and made full tame. In some of the sources and analogues to this story, the hero kills the knight in order to acquire arms.

38–39 Gyngeleyn shows his innate knighthood in intuitively removing the armor from the slain knight and putting it on himself. Perceval, in comparison, has trouble with the task (to great comic effect) in the Middle English Perceval of Galles, until he is helped by Gawain, who was sent by the king to report on the fight. Similarly humorous scenes occur in other versions of the Perceval story.

41 Glastunbery. Glastonbury, in the southwest of England, is only occasionally associated with Arthur’s court in the surviving Arthurian romances. But in 1191 the monks of Glastonbury Abbey claimed to have discovered Arthur’s grave in their graveyard, and Glastonbury has since then been an active center of the Arthurian cult.

80 Lybeus Disconyus. From Le Bel Inconnu, “The Fair Unknown.” These kinds of epithets for people and places are common in Arthurian romance.

91 He caste on hym in a pylte. The idiom here is not a common one, and seems to be the result of Rate having altered the rhyme of the couplet to conform with his spelling overgylte (instead of overgeld in the other manuscripts, where it rhymes with scheld).

98 Full sone the kyng a boune he bade. Asking a boon of the king (often the privilege of fighting a particular battle) is a common motif in Arthurian romance, and often is an example of “the rash boon,” a gift that immediately becomes embarrassing or difficult to give. See Sir Cleges (item 24) for another example (and also Frappier, “Le Motif du ‘don contraignant’ dans la littérature du moyen âge.”)

135 stowte. MED cites this line for stowte, meaning “noble,” “princely,” “splendidly adorned,” the latter sense being well attested by his finery. But the sense might also be “fierce,” an implication evident in the fury with which he approaches Arthur (lines 193–204), demonstrating well that he is “stowte in herte” (line 138).

163 Synadon. The city of Segontium, also known as Caer Seint, at the foot of Mount Snowdon (hence Synadon) in north Wales (see C. Loomis, “From Segontium to Sinadon — Legends of a Cité Gaste”).

181 The may began to chyd. Elyne embodies the romance motif of the demoisele mesdisante, a sharp-tongued maid who never hesitates to voice severe criticism, particularly when the hero engages in something foolhardy.

191 Persyvall. Perceval, a knight of the Round Table whose introduction to Arthur’s court resembles that of Lybeaus Desconus. In the various texts that treat his childhood, Perceval is raised by his widowed mother in the forest, barges into Arthur’s court demanding to be knighted, and subsequently overcomes his boorish manners. Perceval also becomes one of the central characters in the various romances of the Grail quest.

202–03 the Poynte Perelus / Besyde the Chapell of Antrus. Various bridges in Arthurian romance earn the name “Perilous Bridge,” including the famous sword bridge crossed by Lancelot in his attempt to rescue Guinevere. Antrus is a corrupt form of the name found in other manuscripts, Awntrous, and the Chapell of Antrus may be translated as “the Chapel of Adventures.” Chapels, often enchanted, are the sites of numerous encounters in Arthurian romance, including the Green Chapel in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and the Perilous Chapel governed by the enchantress Hellawes in Malory’s Morte Darthur.

239 Tyll the bord was up-brayd. In medieval halls, the large dining tables were movable boards, taken up and stored after meals to make space for other activities.

256 Eweyn. A Middle English form of Yvain or Owein, the son of King Urien and a knight of the Round Table. Yvain is a prominent figure in various romances, including Chrétien de Troyes’s Yvain and its Middle English adaptation, Ywain and Gawain.

257 Geffreyn. A corruption of Agravain, Gawain’s brother and a knight of the Round Table who appears in many Arthurian romances. Agravain later earns notoriety for his betrayal of Lancelot’s affair with Guinevere.

265 his awne fere. The obvious gloss for fere is “companion,” in that Arthur had assigned Lybeaus to Gawain for training in “prinsys pley” (line 96). But it may also imply the yet-unknown kinship, as Gawain, his father, gives him an identifying coat of arms, as he hangs the shield emblazoned with a griffin over his neck. This later reading is supported by both L and British Library MS Cotton Caligula A.2, which read “his owne syre.”

293 Sone upon the knyght. Rate has omitted the final word of the line, “alweye,” and thus confused the sense of the passage; Elyne and Wendeleyn criticize Lybeaus continually for three days.

374 With suerdys on to dynge. This is an example of eyeskip; Rate has replaced the line ending of his copy-text, “out to flynge,” with the ending of line 376.

396 That many a man it syghe. Since no one else is present besides Wendeleyn and Elyne, the expression is merely figurative.

411 Thow schall to Arthor wende. Arthur acts as both a lordly receiver of tribute and as a recording authority or audience who validates the accomplishments of the hero. See Maddox’s discussion of this arrangement in The Arthurian Romances of Chrétien de Troyes, pp. 14–25.

474 Game and grete solace. As M. Mills notes, these lines certainly suggest “a night of love-making,” unelaborated otherwise (Lybeaus Desconus, p. 58).

485 Skarlyon. Caerleon, in Wales, one of the traditional locations of Arthur’s Round Table, though perhaps not yet added to his realm in this romance (see line 573).

502–03 anone / And lefte hym ther as lame. Line missing, presumably the line that follows in N: “And brake in two his thigh bone.”

616 Two gyantys. This episode has roots in the twelfth-century Roman de Brut by Wace, one of the seminal accounts of Arthurian legend. In Wace’s Brut, Arthur travels to Mont St. Michel and attacks a giant who has raped and killed a young woman as the giant roasts pork over a fire (Wace, Roman de Brut, lines 11319–11552).

699 In Frenche boke as it is in found. Though this phrase suggests that Chestre is working directly from a French source, several factors limit the certainty of this interpretation. Several other manuscripts preserve entirely different readings of this line, and it is a common formula used by many other Middle English romances.

716 Anter. A character with a similar name (Antor, Antour) appears in several Arthurian romances as Arthur’s foster father and the father of Kay the Seneschal. See The Erle of Tolous (item 19), line 853 and note. Perhaps the name is meant to evoke loose associations of benevolent paternity.

717 Vyolete. A name that suggests her narrowly-avoided fate as a violated woman.

745 Gafe Lybeus to mede. In British Library MS Cotton Caligula A.2, another stanza describes Earl Antore’s offer of his land and daughter as reward for Lybeaus’s valor, prompting Lybeaus to declare that he is not yet ready to marry.

772 A joly faucon whyte as fome. The most famous version of this motif appears in Erec et Enide by Chrétien de Troyes, where the hero wins his wife in a similar contest of beauty.

775 Gefferon. Chestre’s text introduces the name of this knight rather haphazardly, only providing his full name, Gefferon LeFroudeus (given as LeFlowdous in some other manuscripts) at line 795.

797 begyle. As M. Mills notes in his edition, this description of Gefferon seems unjustified, since he fights honorably (Lybeaus Desconus, p. 221). It may simply suggest that Gefferon has been consistently triumphant, the ruin of many a knight.

844 Cardull. Possibly Carlisle, in northern England, but, as M. Mills argues, the Welsh city of Cardiff is more likely (Lybeaus Desconus, p. 222). As in many romances, the geography of the poem bears only a distant connection to reality.

953 Betwyx them is partye. In comparison to other versions of this motif, the outcome here is surprising. Usually the hero’s lady is judged more beautiful, prompting a combat to settle the dispute. Though Elyne has been described as bryght, schene, and sembly (lines 120–32), perhaps her beauty is downplayed here so that Lybeaus’s attempt to win the falcon seems all the more rash. Since Lybeaus does not ultimately marry Elyne, the judgment against her may also remind the audience that Lybeaus’s fortunes in marriage have yet to be determined. The phrase betwyx . . . is partye is not entirely clear, and does not appear to be a common expression, though the context makes it clear that the spectators prefer Gefferon’s lady.

1030 Lucas. Other manuscripts name him Gludas, Cadas, Claudas, and Clewdas.

1038 In the left margin of the leaf, a contemporary hand, very possibly Rate’s, has written Nota by this line. It is not clear what this annotation means to emphasize.

1069 a rache. This recalls a similarly multicolored dog, Peti-Greu or Peticrew, given as a love token to Isolde by Tristan in the various Tristan romances, including the Middle English Sir Tristrem (see Lupack, Lancelot of the Laik and Sir Tristrem, pp. 224–25, lines 2399–2420).

1110 Otys de la Byle. Other manuscripts name him Otes de Lyle.

1120 Rate’s spelling of the insult, carle, and the place name, Carlehyll has created a little joke here, perhaps inspired by another Middle English romance, Sir Gawain and the Carle of Carlisle.

1196 In romans to rede ryght. See note to line 699 for the difficulties in interpreting this line.

1210 hys sonnys fowre. The appearance of Sir Otys’s sons is not otherwise mentioned, and seems an afterthought on the part of Chestre.

1245 Under a cheston tre. M. Mills (Lybeaus Desconus, p. 230) notes the romance motif of one character (often supernatural) overcoming another under a tree, as in Sir Orfeo (see item 39, line 57).

1323 Magus. In the French Le Bel Inconnu, one of the probable sources for Chestre’s poem, the defender of this island is a knight (not a giant) who guards a causeway for seven years so that he might win the love of the Lady of the Isle of Gold.

1326 pyche. Rate or his copy-text has also omitted the following line here, perhaps “Lybeus saw never non syche” (as in N).

1362 stylle. Rate or his copy-text has also omitted a line here, perhaps “Thoughe that I be lyte” (as in L).

1373 Fowre mawmentys. The Middle English word mawment (idol, pagan god) derives from the prophet Mohammed, though the implication that the giant Magus is Muslim is only vague.

1375 sone he rode. In line 1389, Magus is described as advancing on foot, a more likely method for a giant. The seeming discrepancy can be traced back to Chestre’s inconsistency in transforming his sources.

1399 Termegant. A god wrongly (but widely) supposed to be worshipped by Muslims; see note to line 1373.

1444 Magus grantyd hys wyll. This recalls a corresponding episode in the Anglo-Norman and Middle English romances known as Guy of Warwick. In those stories, Guy fights the giant Amourant, until the giant becomes thirsty and asks for a chance to drink. Guy agrees, but the giant later attacks Guy as he takes his own turn to drink. When Guy recovers and strikes back at the giant, he makes a similar reference to his “baptism” (see lines 1457–61 below, and see Zupitza, Romance of Guy of Warwick, 3:481–83). See also Spenser’s Faerie Queen 1.11.29–34, where the Redcrosse Knight falls into a “Well of Life” during a fight with a dragon and later rises up healed as if baptized.

1455 Now ame I to thee lyght. Rate’s revision misses the little joke present in the other manuscripts, which read “Nowe am Y two so light,” (i.e., twice as light without his armor).

1499 Denamowre. A badly corrupted form of the name given in other manuscripts, La Dame d’ Amoure (the Lady of Love). Rate’s form loses the erotic power inhering in the name.

1511 caste. Two lines are missing after this line, perhaps (as in L) “For sche was bright and shene. / Alas she hadde be chaste!” Though the lines may have been missing in Rate’s exemplar, it is also possible that he omitted them due to their sug-gestion of a sexual liaison. But line 1513 — “sche dyde hym traye and tene” — nevertheless hints at Denamowre’s seduction of Lybeaus.

1552 Syr Gesloke. This steward is named “Gyffet” in British Library MS Cotton Caligula A.2 and “Turfete” in L. Robert W. Ackerman suggests a link with Girflet, son of Do of Carduel, who became a knight of the Round Table and was slain by Lancelot in the abduction of Guinevere (Index of the Arthurian Names in Middle English, p. 112).

1574 Lamberte. Rate’s presentation of this character resembles the depiction in N, but differs from that in other manuscripts. He is not described as a giant elsewhere and other manuscripts describe a brutal custom of the residents of Synadowne, in which the knights defeated by Lamberte are covered with filth. Neither version is entirely coherent in its portrayal of Lamberte. Knight suggests that the name evokes the Lombards, the great bankers of the later Middle Ages, and their powerful importance to aristocratic landholders (“Social Function of Middle English Romances,” pp. 106–07). Lombardy is the setting of Sir Launfal’s great tournament with a giant prior to his return to Arthur’s court in Chester’s Sir Launfal.

1624 thre lionus. The line has been emended on the basis of N, L, and the other related manuscripts, but Blanchfield argues that Rate’s reading, “thre loxus” (i.e., salmon), is intended to recall his own drawings of fish scattered throughout Ashmole 61 (“Idiosyncratic Scribe,” pp. 133–34).

1697 Peyzen, vynteyl, and gourger. The pisane is a piece of metal or mail attached to the helmet and covering the neck and upper breast; the ventail, sometimes attached to the helmet, protects the lower face, upper chest, and upper back, while still allowing the knight to breathe; and the gorger also covers the neck.

1699 upryght. This stanza and the following are defective, with several lines missing (describing Lambert’s unsteadiness in the saddle and the crowd’s reaction); Rate’s copy-text may have been damaged here or he may have been abridging the story.

1717 Yyff thou were of Gaweyns kynne. Another reminder of Lybeaus’s unrevealed ancestry.

1765 Klerkys of nygromansye. The term clerk often refers to anyone of considerable learning. Though magic is a common feature of romances and can be employed by good and bad characters for a variety of reasons, when it is described as necromancy it usually implies either evil sorcery or dangerous meddling with divine secrets.

1790 To weld all with wyne. Rate has omitted three lines completing Sir Lambert’s description of the Lady of Synadone, present in L and the other related manuscripts: “She is meke and bonoure; / Therfor we ar in spere / Luste they done hir synne.” He has also omitted three lines at the end of the stanza; see note to line 1793.

1793 That lady wyll I wynne. Rate has omitted three lines from the end of this stanza; present in L and the other related manuscripts: “Bothe Mabon and Irayne / I shall hewen in the playne, / The hedys by the chynne.”

1823 Yyf he wold ther abyde. Some of the analogues and possible sources for this story make it clear that Lybeaus must undertake this final adventure by himself, but in Chestre’s version, his dismissal of Gesloke seems only another example of Lybeaus’s rash bravery.

1831 the pales. The haunting description of the enchanted palace recalls descriptions of similar palaces, including the Fairy King’s palace in Sir Orfeo (item 39). See Patch, Other World, pp. 290–94.

1896 the feld. Since the battle seems to be taking place indoors, this reference and subsequent references to “the field” apparently simply mean a place of battle, whether indoors or out. Chestre is considering the hall a “battlefield” in the general sense, and relying on various formulas for descriptions of battle.

1959 Lybeus faught with them bothe. A line is missing here, present in L and the other related manuscripts: “Though they weren wrothe.”

2009–11 Like N, Rate’s copy-text had these lines instead of three lines present in the Cotton MS and in L explaining that Mabon has poisoned the swords. As a result of this foul play, Lybeaus’s refusal to spare Mabon’s life seems more explicable in those manuscripts.

2093–95 Tyll I had kyssed Gaweyn. The Lady of Synadone’s situation resembles many folk tales, including the legends of the “Loathly Lady,” a beautiful woman cursed to be an ugly hag until someone chooses to marry her. Chaucer’s Wife of Bath’s Tale and Gower’s “Tale of Florent” in Confessio Amantis are only two of the more famous versions of this legend; see also The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnelle (Hahn, Sir Gawain, pp. 41–80). Most versions of the influential Mandeville’s Travels feature a lady on an island in the Aegean who is cursed by a witch to be a dragon until a knight kisses her; though she promises suitors that she will turn back into a lovely woman and reward them with wealth, no one can withstand her hot breath or brave her appearance (see, for example, Seymour, Defective Version of Mandeville’s Travels, pp. 15–16).

2127 This confusion about the ultimate fate of Irain stems from various changes made in earlier copies of the text. An earlier reviser of the poem inserted the stanza describing Lybeaus’s discovery and decapitation of Irain, left unaccounted for in other versions, but failed to emend this line. That Irain has been killed is confirmed by lines 2137–39.

Item 20, LYBEAUS DESCONUS: TEXTUAL NOTES

Abbreviations: see Explanatory Notes.

1 MS: initial J is decorated with pen work and seven lines tall.

26 named. MS: naned.

38 he gane. MS: he gane he gan.

68 thing. MS: -ng cut off in margin, as this line is interpolated.

77 never his dame. MS: never dame.

101 fyrst. MS: fyst.

175 Quod. MS: Qud.

202 Perelus. MS: Perleus.

230 Here. MS: He.

233 Get. MS: Ge.

261 saun. MS: some.

276 lyon. MS: lygn.

277 knyght. MS: knyghtys.

281 MS: this whole line is written in the margin.

282 gone. MS: fone.

287 To. MS: T.

288 To. MS: T.

310 ought that may. MS: ought may.

313 Thei. MS: The.

318 Perelus. MS: Perleus.

325 When. MS: Whe.

327 Ho. MS: Thou.

375 Thei. MS: The.

395 two. MS: tw.

396 it syghe. MS: it.

421 MS: initial T is decorated with pen work and is five lines tall.

439 Dysconeus. MS: Dyconeus.

444 Thei. MS: The.

490 that meyd bryght. MS: that bryght.

523 poynt. MS: poyne.

577 Certys I schall. MS: Certys schall.

582 MS: initial L is decorated with pen work and is two lines tall.

624 yerne. MS: yene.

651 meydyn. MS: medyn.

672 The. MS: T.

682 he. MS: h he.

686 hys spyte brake. MS: hys brake.

693 caught. MS: caugh.

767 MS: for the love written in the margin following this line as a catchphrase.

779 To se in lenth. MS: In lenth.

792 By Jhesus. MS: a Jhesus.

801 This line begins more in the left margin than the rest of the text.

815 palace. MS: parlace.

829–30 MS: run together as one line.

839 I schall. MS: For to.

849 brown. MS: bowrn.

903 gan. MS: can.

914 border. MS: broder.

937 The here. MS: Ther.

947 soth. MS: sotht.

988 steke. MS: streke.

1011 as. MS: a.

1032 forth he. MS: for forthe.

1038 MS: Nota appears in the left margin here.

1044 honeste. MS: heneste.

1051 lefe to. MS: lefto.

1053 MS: Initial S is larger than usual.

1082 hym to meyd. MS: hym meyd.

1110 MS: a word has been scratched out before de la byle.

1129 thou lyste. MS: thou thinke beste lyste (thinke beste is marked for deletion).

1206 slew knyghts thre. MS: slew and the knyghts thre.

1229 basnet. MS: basnes.

1242 lenger. MS: leger.

1257 The. MS: Te.

1318 fyghtyng. MS: fyghyng.

1363 not. MS: no.

1380–82 MS: Rate’s exemplar has transposed these three lines before the preceding three.

1383 iplyght. MS: ai plyght.

1400 dey. MS: de.

1409 That Syr Lybeus was not smyte. MS: Ne that Syr Lybeus was smyte.

1414 tho. MS: the.

1455 Now. MS: No.

1487 That he sleyn schuld be. MS: That sleyn schuld be.

1526 when he saw. MS: when saw.

1544 that he herd. MS: that herd.

1545 wold. MS: wold wold.

1556 MS: Initial S is two lines tall.

1563 palsyd. MS: palyd.

1590 duerfe. MS: duefe.

1595 do. MS: de.

1624 lionus. MS: loxus.

1649 borderes. MS: brotheres.

1658 Tho. MS: Thoff.

1695 Syr Lybeus smote. MS: Syr smote.

1697 vynteyl. MS: wynteyn.

1703 grym. MS: gym.

1711 Syr Lybeus seyd, “Be not agravyd. MS: Syr seyd be not gramyd.

1773 Ther nis nether. MS: Ther nether.

1774 That. MS: Tha.

1800 When. MS: Whe.

1808 All the long. MS: All long.

1854 mynstrell. MS: mynstell.

1856 byrnand. MS: byrnand brynand.

1919 had. MS: herd.

1930 fell. MS: sell.

1931 saunfeylle. MS: samfeylle.

1946 grym. MS: gym.

1956 he. MS: they.

1969 lyre. MS: byre.

1990 slo. MS: slon.

1999 knyght. MS: knyht.

2002 MS: This line and line 2005 have been transposed.

2012 quod. MS: g.

2019 togeder. MS: go geder.

2030 when he come. MS: when come.

2075 MS: repeats this line at top of fol. 58r. So feyr also appears in the margin after this line as a catchphrase.

2120 Fro. MS: Fore.

2124 to. MS: two.

2133 aplyght. MS: pyght.

2142 Lamberd. MS: Lambed.

2180 myrthe. MS: mythe.

2202 hyre. MS: hym.

2208 under. MS: und.

2226 Gyngelayn. MS: Gyngelyan.