Yvain, the Knight with the Lion is a
romanceAs a literary genre of high culture, romance or chivalric romance is a style of heroic prose and verse narrative that was popular in the aristocratic circles of High Medieval and Early Modern Europe. They were fantastic stories about marvel-filled adventures, often of a knight errant portrayed as...
by
Chrétien de TroyesChrétien de Troyes was a French poet and trouvère who flourished in the late 12th century. Perhaps he named himself Christian of Troyes in contrast to the illustrious Rashi, also of Troyes...
. It was probably written in the 1170s simultaneously with
Lancelot, the Knight of the CartLancelot, the Knight of the Cart is an Old French poem by Chrétien de Troyes. Chrétien probably composed the work at the same time as or slightly before writing Yvain, the Knight of the Lion, which refers to the action in Lancelot a number of times...
, and includes several references to the action in that poem. The main character,
YvainSir Ywain is a Knight of the Round Table and the son of King Urien in Arthurian legend...
, is derived from the historical
Owain mab UrienOwain mab Urien was the son of Urien, king of Rheged c. 590, and fought with his father against the Angles of Bernicia. The historical figure of Owain became incorporated into the Arthurian cycle of legends where he is also known as Ywain, Yvain, Ewain or Uwain...
.
Poem
In the poem, Yvain seeks to avenge his cousin
CalogrenantSir Calogrenant, sometimes known in English as Colgrevance, or, in ancient Welsh, Cynan ap Clydno, is a Knight of the Round Table in Arthurian legend. He is a cousin to Sir Ywain, and his courtesy and eloquence were known throughout the kingdom....
who had been defeated by an otherworldly knight
EscladosIn Arthurian Legend, Esclados was a knight who defended a magical fountain in the forest of Brocéliande. Esclados was subsequently slain by Ywain who then married his widow, Laudine. In Chretien's The Knight with the Lion, Esclados is referred to as "Esclados the Red"....
beside a magical storm-making stone in the forest of
BrocéliandeBrocéliande is the name of a legendary forest that first appears in literature in 1160, in the Roman de Rou, a verse chronicle written by Wace....
. Yvain defeats Esclados and falls in love with his widow
LaudineLaudine, also known as the Lady of the Fountain, is a character from Arthurian legend who appears in Chrétien de Troyes' poem Yvain, the Knight of the Lion and all works based on it, such as the Welsh tale Owain, or the Lady of the Fountain and the German Iwein by Hartmann von Aue...
. With the aid of Laudine's servant
LuneteLunete, in Arthurian legend, was the handmaiden and advisor to the Lady of the Fountain . She is described in Chrétien de Troyes' Yvain, the Knight of the Lion as being "a charming brunette, prudent, clever and polite..."...
, Yvain wins his lady and marries her, but
GawainGawain is King Arthur's nephew and a Knight of the Round Table who appears very early in the Arthurian legend's development. He is one of a select number of Round Table members to be referred to as the greatest knight, most notably in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight...
convinces him to embark on chivalric adventure. Laudine assents but demands he return after one year, but he becomes so enthralled in his knightly exploits that he forgets his lady, and she bars him from returning. Yvain goes mad with grief, is cured by a noblewoman, and decides to rediscover himself and a way to win back his Laudine. A lion he rescues from a serpent proves to be a loyal companion and a symbol of knightly virtue, and helps him defeat both a mighty giant and three fierce knights. After rescuing Lunete from being burned at the stake, she helps Yvain win back his wife, who allows him to return with his lion.
Source
Chrétien's source for the poem is unknown, but the story bears a number of similarities to the
hagiographicalHagiography is the study of saints.From the Greek and , it refers literally to writings on the subject of such holy people, and specifically to the biographies of saints and ecclesiastical leaders. The term hagiology, the study of hagiography, is also current in English, though less common...
Life of Saint MungoSaint Mungo is the commonly used name for Saint Kentigern . He was the late 6th century apostle of the Brythonic Kingdom of Strathclyde in modern Scotland, and patron saint and founder of the city of Glasgow.-Name:In Wales and England, this saint is known by his birth and baptismal name Kentigern...
(also known as Saint Kentigern), which claims Owain mab Urien as the father of the saint by
DenwTeneu Sant is a legendary 6th/7th century Scottish saint. She is the reputed mother of Saint Kentigern and is largely known through his hagiography. This related that she was the daughter of King Lleuddun of Gododdin, an ancient kingdom located in Lothian...
, daughter of Lot of Lothian. The similarities suggest the works had a common
LatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
or
CeltThe Celts were a diverse group of tribal societies in Iron Age and Roman-era Europe who spoke Celtic languages.The earliest archaeological culture commonly accepted as Celtic, or rather Proto-Celtic, was the central European Hallstatt culture , named for the rich grave finds in Hallstatt, Austria....
ic source.
Yvain survives in seven manuscripts and two fragments. It comprises 6,808
octosyllableThe octosyllable or octosyllabic verse is a line of verse with eight syllables. It is equivalent to tetrameter verse in iambs or trochees in languages with a stress accent. It is often used in French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese poetry...
s in
rhymeA rhyme is a repetition of similar sounds in two or more words and is most often used in poetry and songs. The word "rhyme" may also refer to a short poem, such as a rhyming couplet or other brief rhyming poem such as nursery rhymes.-Etymology:...
d
coupletA couplet is a pair of lines of meter in poetry. It usually consists of two lines that rhyme and have the same meter.While traditionally couplets rhyme, not all do. A poem may use white space to mark out couplets if they do not rhyme. Couplets with a meter of iambic pentameter are called heroic...
s. The first modern edition was published in 1887 by Wendelin Foerster.
Yvain had a huge impact on the literary world;
GermanGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
poet
Hartmann von AueHartmann von Aue was a Middle High German poet. He introduced the courtly romance into German literature and, with Wolfram von Eschenbach and Gottfried von Strassburg, was one of the three great epic poets of Middle High German literature...
used it as the basis for his masterpiece
Ywein, and the author of
Owain, or the Lady of the Fountain, one of the
Welsh RomancesThe Three Welsh Romances are three Middle Welsh tales associated with the Mabinogion. They are versions of Arthurian tales that also appear in the work of Chrétien de Troyes. Critics have debated whether the Welsh Romances are based on Chrétien's poems or if they derive from a shared original...
included in the
MabinogionThe Mabinogion is the title given to a collection of eleven prose stories collated from medieval Welsh manuscripts. The tales draw on pre-Christian Celtic mythology, international folktale motifs, and early medieval historical traditions...
, recast the work back into its Welsh setting. The poem exists in several versions in different languages, including the
Middle EnglishMiddle English is the stage in the history of the English language during the High and Late Middle Ages, or roughly during the four centuries between the late 11th and the late 15th century....
Ywain and Gawain.