Jean d'Arras
Encyclopedia
Jean d'Arras was a 15th century North French
poet-composer (trouvere
) of whom little is known.
He collaborated with Antoine du Val and Fouquart de Cambrai in putting together a collection of stories entitled L'Évangile des quenouilles ("The spinners' gospel"). The frame story
is that these are the narratives told a group of ladies at their spinning, who relate the current theories on a great variety of subjects. The work dates from the middle of the 15th century and is of considerable value for the light it throws on medieval manners, and for its echoes of folklore, sometimes deeply buried under layers of Christianity
.
There were many editions of this book in the 15th and 16th centuries, one of which was printed by the early printer Wynkyn de Worde
in English, as The Gospelles of Dystaves. A more modern edition (Collection Jannet) had a preface by witty and cynical tale-teller Anatole France
.
Jean d'Arras, perhaps the same, wrote, at the request of John, duke of Berry
he says in his introduction, a long prose romance variously called the Roman de Mélusine or the Chronique de Melusine part of Le Noble Hystoire de Lusignan ("The Noble History of the Lusignans"), written in 1392-94. Leaning on oral tradition, it is one of the first literary versions of the tale of Melusine
the water-nymph with a serpentine tail who married a mortal and supernaturally guided the spectacular rise and subsequent fall of the House of Lusignan
with many digressions and inner stories. Rainmondin, the originator of the line, met the beautiful Melusine by a fountain in the forest, married her and had eleven brave sons, whose exploits in the Crusades brought them fame. The one promise Melusine extracted was that Raimondin never try to find her on a Saturday (when she reverted to her water-serpent
form). What she could not tell him was that if she were ever to be seen by a mortal in her changeling state, the curse would be eternal and she would never be able to seek the release of a Christian death and the promise of Heaven
. Each of the noble sons too had some secret defect.
Betrayed by Raimondin, who has broken his vow, Melusine is forced to return to her eternal nature:
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
poet-composer (trouvere
Trouvère
Trouvère , sometimes spelled trouveur , is the Northern French form of the word trobador . It refers to poet-composers who were roughly contemporary with and influenced by the troubadours but who composed their works in the northern dialects of France...
) of whom little is known.
He collaborated with Antoine du Val and Fouquart de Cambrai in putting together a collection of stories entitled L'Évangile des quenouilles ("The spinners' gospel"). The frame story
Frame story
A frame story is a literary technique that sometimes serves as a companion piece to a story within a story, whereby an introductory or main narrative is presented, at least in part, for the purpose of setting the stage either for a more emphasized second narrative or for a set of shorter stories...
is that these are the narratives told a group of ladies at their spinning, who relate the current theories on a great variety of subjects. The work dates from the middle of the 15th century and is of considerable value for the light it throws on medieval manners, and for its echoes of folklore, sometimes deeply buried under layers of Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
.
There were many editions of this book in the 15th and 16th centuries, one of which was printed by the early printer Wynkyn de Worde
Wynkyn de Worde
Wynkyn de Worde was a printer and publisher in London known for his work with William Caxton, and is recognized as the first to popularize the products of the printing press in England....
in English, as The Gospelles of Dystaves. A more modern edition (Collection Jannet) had a preface by witty and cynical tale-teller Anatole France
Anatole France
Anatole France , born François-Anatole Thibault, , was a French poet, journalist, and novelist. He was born in Paris, and died in Saint-Cyr-sur-Loire. He was a successful novelist, with several best-sellers. Ironic and skeptical, he was considered in his day the ideal French man of letters...
.
Jean d'Arras, perhaps the same, wrote, at the request of John, duke of Berry
John, Duke of Berry
John of Valois or John the Magnificent was Duke of Berry and Auvergne and Count of Poitiers and Montpensier. He was the third son of King John II of France and Bonne of Luxemburg; his brothers were King Charles V of France, Duke Louis I of Anjou and Duke Philip the Bold of Burgundy...
he says in his introduction, a long prose romance variously called the Roman de Mélusine or the Chronique de Melusine part of Le Noble Hystoire de Lusignan ("The Noble History of the Lusignans"), written in 1392-94. Leaning on oral tradition, it is one of the first literary versions of the tale of Melusine
Melusine
Melusine is a figure of European legends and folklore, a feminine spirit of fresh waters in sacred springs and rivers.She is usually depicted as a woman who is a serpent or fish from the waist down...
the water-nymph with a serpentine tail who married a mortal and supernaturally guided the spectacular rise and subsequent fall of the House of Lusignan
Lusignan
The Lusignan family originated in Poitou near Lusignan in western France in the early 10th century. By the end of the 11th century, they had risen to become the most prominent petty lords in the region from their castle at Lusignan...
with many digressions and inner stories. Rainmondin, the originator of the line, met the beautiful Melusine by a fountain in the forest, married her and had eleven brave sons, whose exploits in the Crusades brought them fame. The one promise Melusine extracted was that Raimondin never try to find her on a Saturday (when she reverted to her water-serpent
Serpent (symbolism)
Serpent in Latin means: Rory Collins :&, in turn, from the Biblical Hebrew word of: "saraf" with root letters of: which refers to something burning-as, the pain of poisonous snake's bite was likened to internal burning.This word is commonly used in a specifically mythic or religious context,...
form). What she could not tell him was that if she were ever to be seen by a mortal in her changeling state, the curse would be eternal and she would never be able to seek the release of a Christian death and the promise of Heaven
Heaven
Heaven, the Heavens or Seven Heavens, is a common religious cosmological or metaphysical term for the physical or transcendent place from which heavenly beings originate, are enthroned or inhabit...
. Each of the noble sons too had some secret defect.
Betrayed by Raimondin, who has broken his vow, Melusine is forced to return to her eternal nature:
- " Ah! Raymond, the day when I first saw you was for me a day of sadness! Alas! for my bane I saw your grace, your charm, your beautiful face. For my sadness I desired your beauty, for you have so ignobly betrayed me. Though you have failed in your promise, I had pardoned you from the bottom of my heart for having tried to see me, not even speaking of it to you, for you revealed it to no one. And God would have pardoned it you, for you would have done penance for it in this world. Alas! my beloved now our love is changed to hate, our tenderness to cruelty, our pleasures and joys to tears and weeping, our happiness to great misfortune and hard calamity. Alas, my beloved, had you not betrayed me I were saved from my pains and my torments, I would have lived life's natural course as a normal woman, I would have died in the normal way, with all the sacraments of the Church, I would have been buried in the church of Notre-Dame de Lusignan and commemorative masses would have been observed for me, as they should. But now you have plunged me back into the dark penitence I have known so long, for my fault. And this penitence, I must bear it until Judgment Day, for you have betrayed me. I pray God to pardon you."
- And she showed such remorse that there is no heart in the world so hardened it would not have relented." (Wikipedia translation)