Western Civilization Romance Medieval Times Katrin Roncancio Unilatina International College
Romance is the name we give to a kind of story-telling that flourished in Europe in the late Middle Ages in poetry and prose, in popular and rarified forms. Like folk tales, romances are grounded on relationships between parents and children, the monstrous and the familiar, and between triumph and disaster. While romances often tell stories of love or loyalty, not all do: in medieval French, to write en romans can simply mean to use the vernacular language, not Latin. No kind of writing is an island, entire of itself: romances incorporate motifs and settings from epic poetry, Norse sagas, Middle Eastern tales, saints lives, chronicles, and lyric love poetry. Most of all, romances are impelled by the narrative shape of a life, tracing an arc from orphaned child to emperor, from exile to return, or from slandered daughter to revered queen. In this way, they create person-shaped narratives that satisfy our repeated desire to learn about ourselves through telling stories. This exhibition reveals the Bodleian s outstanding holdings of manuscripts and printed books containing medieval romances. We have matched these books with works of art inspired by romance narratives, before following the story of romance itself, through its constantly shifting presence in literature and art up to the present day. Romanticism in France was developed quite late compared to England and Germany due to their preoccupation with the Revolution. During the time of the Revolution, France produced very few literatures. It was not until 1820's that Romanticism flourished in France. During this period, French literature returned to the genre of romantic love. The Romantic Movement in literature is the revival of the past, or rather, the multiple pasts which preceding centuries had neglected (Peyre, 91). The notion of romantic love typified in the Middle Ages is restored. For instance, Gustave Flaubert's Madame Bovary undeniably one of the greatest works of French literature. The heroine in this novel struggles through the conflict between the ideal of passionate, romantic love and her unsatisfactory marriage. The novels of adventure and chivalry Emma read in her adolescene are the direct descendents of the Tristan legend. Through her literary ideal of the Medieval love, Emma finds disillusionment not only in her marriage, but also in her adulterous liaisons as well.
However, due to the rising faith in religion, the literature based love on marriage more and more. Marriage was the ultimate goal instead of love but marriage involve romantic love as well. Although the Romantics revived the notion of romantic love, they also modified it as well. Adultery is considered sinful and abstinence is put on the pedestal. Similar to the Middle Ages, Romanticism placed woman on the pedestal. In Les Miserables, a woman is described as "the angel spirit.we feel the approaching warmth [of woman], and, with [her] coming, serenity, our gaiety and estacy overflowed; we [men] are radiant in our darkness." (Hugo, 162). Throughout the history of French literature, love and marriage have been the main topics written about. The Middle Ages invented the notion of romantic love full of gallantry and chivalry. It also places love more important than marriage. The literatures after the Renaissance France placed less value on love. Rather, love was less tradegic and less idealized. Love in the idealized sense is revived during the Romantic Movement in 19th century. Although love was romanticized as in the literature of Medieval Age, it was also modified to which love and marriage go together. By the 17th century, the popularity of the genre was already dwindling, and writers were beginning to explore other avenues of expression. You might say that medieval romance literature received its final deathblow in 1605 and 1615 when the two parts of Don Quixote were published. The most notable work of Miguel de Cervantes is actually a satire that contrasts the chivalrous deeds performed in previous romance works with the bounds of reality. Let's take a look now at some of the characteristics of medieval romance literature that Cervantes would have satirized. Many (though certainly not all) of the works of medieval romance belong to one of three distinct cycles, or groups of tales based on the same frame story. In other words, a cycle uses the same essential story through all its permutations. Two of the story cycles are the Matter of Britain and the Matter of France, denoting their countries of origin. However, there's also the Matter of Rome, which is not so much regional as topical in its reference, as we'll discuss momentarily. The practice of producing verse romances owes its origins to early oral epics, as well as to the tradition of the chansons de geste (Old French for 'songs of deeds'). Much of the source
material for works in the genre comes from mythology, legends, and folklore, such as the Arthurian legends that provide most of the framework for the Matter of Britain. Medieval romance writers also frequently reworked historical events, as with much of the Matter of France and its focus on Charlemagne and his knights. Of course, we can't forget the works of Classical authors (e.g. Virgil, Ovid) as sources for these authors, and the Matter of Rome owes the majority of its framing material to stories surrounding Alexander the Great or the Trojan War. The most prominent subject matter of medieval romance literature is knightly exploits, like chivalry and adventure, but to what end are such feats attempted? Perhaps the primary motivator in the genre is the pursuit of courtly love, though this aspect is not what gives the genre its name. Romance is actually Old French for 'from the Romantic tongue' (i.e. Latinderived languages). Within these stories, there is also a prevalence of improbable, miraculous, or even mystical events, objects, and people. The most notable feature of the genre's style is the authors' use of elevated, what we might call exaggerated, language. Authors of medieval romance literature typically used elevated language because they saw their work as thematically on par with their ancient epic predecessors. While employing such florid and lofty speech, it's no far stretch to imagine that the dialogue and pronouncements of the characters are rather melodramatic. There are also stock scenes that are typically inserted into these works; for instance, there's the 'knight's triumph' or the classic 'damsel-in-distress,' either of which can usually be a great source of the story's improbability. This sort of hyperbolic, high-stakes action, though, was purposeful since authors knew it would draw readers in. Let's take a look at some examples of medieval romance literature that have been drawing readers in for centuries.
References Thomson Wadsworth, Western Civilization (6th ed., Charapter 12, pp. 313-345)