“le morte darthur” : notes de lecture ; volet 21

7/27/2019 “Le Morte DArthur” : Notes de lecture ; volet 21

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Notes de lecture

21

Le texte de base est celui de l’édition de Janet Cowen, Penguin Classics (2 vol.).

BOOK I

CHAPTER 21. How Ulfius apeached Queen Igraine, Arthur’s mother, of treason; and how a knight1 came and desired to have the death of his master revenged

§ 1 Right so came Ulfius, and said openly, that the king and all might hear that were feasted thatday, ‘Ye are the falsest lady of the world, and the most traitress unto the king’s person .’

‘Beware,’ said Arthur, ‘what thou sayest; thou speakest a great word .’ ‘I am well ware,’ said Ulfius, ‘what I speak, and here is my glove to prove it upon any man that will say

the contrary, that this Queen Igraine is causer of your great damage, and of your great war. For, and shewould have uttered it in the life of King Uther Pendragon, of the birth of you, and how ye were begotten, yehad never had the mortal wars that ye have had; for the most part of your barons of your realm knew neverwhose son ye were, nor of whom ye were begotten; and she that bare you of her body should have made itknown openly in excusing of her worship and yours, and in like wise to all the realm, wherefore I prove her false to God and to you and to all your realm, and who will say the contrary I will prove it on his body .’

§ 2 Then spake Igraine and said, ‘I am a woman and I may not fi ght, but rather than I should be dishon-oured, there would some good man take my quarrel. More,’ she said, ‘Merlin knoweth well, and ye Sir Ulfius,how King Uther came to me in the Castle of Tintagel in the likeness of my lord, that was dead three hours to- fore, and thereby gat a child that night upon me. And after the thirteenth day King Uther wedded me, andby his commandment when the child was born it was delivered unto Merlin and nourished by him, and so I saw the child never after, nor wot not what is his name, for I knew him never yet .’

‘ And there,’ Ulfius said to the queen, ‘Merlin is more to blame than ye.’ ‘Well I wot ,’ said the queen, ‘I bare a child by my lord King Uther, but I wot not where he is become.’

Then Merlin took the king by the hand, saying, ‘This is your mother .’ And therewith Sir Ector barewitness how he nourished him by Uther’s commandment. And therewith King Arthur took his

1 Il faudrait a squire, voir№ 1.

V e r s i o n

1 . 1



mother, Queen Igraine, in his arms and kissed her, and either wept upon other. And then the kinglet make a feast that lasted eight days.

§ 3 Then on a day there came in the court a squire on horseback, leading a knight before himwounded to the death, and told him how there was a knight in the forest had reared up a pavilionby a well, ‘and hath slain my master, a good knight, his name was Miles; wherefore I beseech you that mymaster may be buried, and that some knight may revenge my master’s death.’ Then the noise was great

of that knight’s death in the court, and every man said his advice.Then came Griflet that was but a squire, and he was but young, of the age of the King Arthur,so he besought the king for all his service that he had done him to give the order of knighthood.

Ulfin accuse la reine Igraine, mère d’Arthur, de lèse-majestéet un chevalier1 vient demander que la mort de son maître soit vengée

§ 1 À cet instant, Ulfin s’approcha et déclara à haute voix, afin d’être entendu du roi et de tous sescommensaux : « Vous êtes la femme la plus perfide du monde et celle qui a le plus nui à la personne du roi.

— Prends garde à ce que tu dis, coupa Arthur ; tes accusations sont graves.— J’ en ai bien conscience, répondit Ulfin, et voici mon gant pour défier quiconque voudra me démentir : je soutiens que la reine Igraine est responsable de la grande guerre que vous avez menée et des grands dommagesque vous avez subis en conséquence ; en effet, si elle avait fait savoir, du vivant du roi Uther Pendragon, quelleétait votre naissance et dans quelles circonstances vous aviez été engendré, vous auriez évité ces guerres qui ont fait tant de victimes, car la plupart des barons de votre royaume ignoraient tout de votre filiation, de votre ascen-dance, et elle qui vous a porté dans ses flancs aurait dû s’en expliquer publiquement pour sauver son honneur etle vôtre à la face du royaume tout entier ; en foi de quoi, je la proclame perfide envers Dieu et envers vous ainsiqu’envers tout votre royaume, et si quelqu’un veut me démentir j’en apporterai la preuve aux dépens de son corps. »

§ 2 Prenant alors la parole, Igraine déclara : « La femme que je suis ne peut pas combattre et pour m’ épar-

gner le déshonneur il faudrait qu’un champion défende ma cause. En outre, ajouta-t-elle, Merlin sait pertinem-ment (et vous, sire Ulfin, tout autant) comment le roi Uther s’unit à moi au château de Tintagel en ayant prisl’apparence de mon seigneur qui était mort trois heures auparavant, et ainsi me rendit mère cette nuit-là. Etquatorze jours plus tard, le roi Uther m’épousa et, sur son ordre, l’enfant dès sa naissance fut remis à Merlin quil’éleva, si bien que je n’ai jamais revu l’enfant par la suite ni n’ ai appris comment il s’appelle, car je n’ai plus rien su de lui.

— Sur ce point, intervint Ulfin, s’adressant à la reine, Merlin est plus à blâmer que vous.— Je suis bien placée pour savoir, poursuivit la reine, que j’ai porté un enfant de mon seigneur le roi Uther,

mais j’ignore ce qu’il est advenu de lui. » Merlin prit alors le roi par la main, avec ces mots : « Voici votremère. » Sur ces entrefaites, sire Ector témoigna qu’il avait élevé l’enfant sur ordre du roi Uther ; au sude quoi, le roi Arthur serra sa mère, la reine Igraine, dans ses bras et la couvrit de baisers, et tous deux

fondirent en larmes. Le roi décréta alors des festivités qui durèrent huit jours.§ 3 Un jour arriva à la cour sur sa monture un écuyer qui conduisait devant lui un chevalierblessé à mort et qui apprit au roi qu’un chevalier avait dressé sa tente, dans la forêt, près d’unesource, « et il a tué mon maître, un chevalier brave, qui s’appelait Miles ; je vous supplie donc de faire inhu-mer mon maître, et demande qu’un chevalier venge la mort de mon maître. » Les commentaires des cour-tisans sur la mort du chevalier se donnèrent alors libre cours et chacun y alla de son avis.

Alors s’avança Griflet (il n’était encore qu’écuyer, encore tout jeune, de l’âge du roi Arthur)qui supplia le roi, pour prix de son service, de lui conférer l’ordre de chevalerie.

1 Lire : « un écuyer ».



Scène de « reconnaissance », d’anagnorèse (ἀναγνώρισις/anagnôrisis), visant à asseoirla légitimité du souverain :

Arthur sait qui sont ses parents et connaît ses origines.

№ 1 Le titre du chapitre comporte une ineptie que personne, à ma connaissance, n’aencore relevée : comme le montre le corps du texte, c’est l’écuyer qui réclame vengeance

pour la mort de son maître ; le chevalier serait hors d’état de le faire… № 2 apeached ‘impeached’ « mit en accusation » (procédure d’impeachment ) ∥ emploianglo-normand du verbe empescher ‘to prosecute’ : qe nul ercevesqe ne evesqe ne soit empeschezdevant noz Justices par cause de crime (‘Statutes of the Realm’, cité par le Anglo-NormanDictionary)

№ 3 (high) treason « crime de lèse-majesté »

№ 4 causer of your great damage nom d’agent de ‘to cause’ : One who is the cause (of sth.); author, originator, promoter, instigator (Middle English Dictionary).

№ 5 there would some good man take my quarrel Igraine, à la suite d’Ulfin, envisage laprocédure du duel judiciaire (variante de l’ordalie, cf. ‘ordeal’), dans laquelle, incapabled’ester en personne, elle se fait représenter par un « champion » qui combattrait en sonnom.

№ 6 a knight in the forest [Ø : absence de relatif] had reared up a pavilion by a well la des-cription correspond à ce que le lecteur sait de Pellinor

№ 7 his name was il s H. Oskar Sommer (1891):

The name of the knight slain by the knight of the fountain whose servant comes complaining to

Arthur, according to Malory “Mylis,” is not mentioned nor does the name occur in any shape inthe rest of the “Suite de Merlin.” It is Malory’s own, or he derived it from the MS. he had beforehim.

№ 8 Gri flet voir I, 10№ 22 et I, 17№ 3.

Voici ce qu’écrit Christopher W. Bruce, The Arthurian Name Dictionary (1999) :

Girflet

A Knight of the Round Table, son of Do, and brother of Lorete who first appears in Chrétien de Troyes’sErec . He is a ubiquitous character, but rarely a central one. He may have origins in the non-ArthurianWelsh hero called Gilfaethwy, son of Don. The Arthurian knights Jaufré and Jofrit are probably derivatives.His first notable adventure is provided by Chrétien’s Perceval, in which Girflet sets out to find adventure atthe Castle Orgeluse. He apparently failed and was taken prisoner, because in the First Continuation ofPerceval, Arthur and his knights embark on a mission to rescue him from the castle.

In Renaut de Bâgé’s Le Bel Inconnu, Girflet is noted as the lord of Becleus and overseer of a sparrowhawktournament (Thomas Chestre calls him Gyff roun). The most beautiful woman was supposed to win thesparrowhawk, but Girflet used his skill at arms to continually defeat every challenger and award the prizeto his lady, Rose Espaine, who was unattractive. Guinglain, Gawain’s son, eventually defeated him in thename of the lady Margerie.

In Girart d’Amiens’s Escanor , he has a brother named Galantivet, who serves a s Gawain’s squire. He be-comes captive, and then husband of the Queen of Traverses, who dies shortly after their marriage.

A combination of episodes from the Vulgate and Post-Vulgate romances provides the following biogra-phy: Girflet joined Arthur’s service at the beginning of the king’s reign. Arriving at Arthur’s court as asquire, he requested knighthood to avenge the death of his former master Mylis, at the hands of KingPellinore. He failed in this quest but earned a reputation as a valiant knight afterwards. He fought againstthe rebellious kings and the Saxons. After the battle of the Humber, Arthur promoted him to the Round



Table. His subsequent adventures consisted largely of various imprisonments, leading Gawain to remarkthat “there never was a man so frequently taken prisoner as Girflet has been. [Il n’y a jamais eu d’homme si

souvent fait prisonnier que Girflet ]” He was betrothed to one of Guinevere’s maidservants. During the GrailQuest, Palamedes, Galahad and Samaliel all defeated and wounded Girflet. Girflet and Lucan were the onlywarriors to survive the battle of Salisbury, and they bore the mortally wounded Arthur to the AncientChapel. Arthur ordered Girflet to throw Excalibur into a lake and, after twice hiding the sword and lyingabout it, Girflet complied. He saw Arthur’s body carried away by Morgan le Fay. Later finding Arthur’s“grave” at the chapel, he ordered it exhumed and found it empty. He died within a few weeks.

Malory says that Lancelot killed Girflet1

while rescuing Guinevere from the stake; Girflet’s role after thebattle of Salisbury is taken by Bedivere. [ChretienE, Beroul, Renaut , LancLac , VulgLanc , VulgMort , VulgMer ,Livre, PostMer , PostQuest , PostMort , Girart, Malory2]

Mylis

A knight slain by King Pellinore at Pellinore’s forest pavilion. Mylis’s squire Girflet, brought his body toKing Arthur’s court at Caerleon and pleaded with the king to bury Mylis and to make Girflet a knight sothat he might avenge his master’s death. [Malory]

Le texte de Malory ne permet pas cette interprétation, due à la contamination de réécri-tures modernes.

Il y a, concernant Griflet, des incohérences chez Malory : le personnage, qui a fait plu-sieurs apparitions en qualité de chevalier (16 mentions avant le présent chapitre),intervient ici en tant que simple écuyer qui aspire à devenir chevalier ; il n’y a pas de rai-sons de penser qu’il puisse s’agir d’homonymes. “This discrepancy is typical of Malory. The facts seem incongruous but Malory presents them because the conflicting sources cannot properlybe reconciled. We do not know if the adventures are placed out of sequence or if the stories areabout diff erent men”, écrit Jim Donaldson, sur son site Gordd Cymru.

№ 9 besought ‘beseech’ est la forme attendue représentant le vieil-anglais sēċan ; c’est‘seek’ qui est divergent.

1 XX, 8.2 Chrétien de Troyes Erec , Béroul Tristan, Renaut de Bâgé Le Bel Inconnu, Lancelot do Lac , Vulgate Lancelot , Vulgate Mort Artu,

Vulgate Merlin, Le Livre d’Artus, Post-Vulgate Suite de Merlin, Post-Vulgate Queste del Saint Graal, Post-Vulgate Mort Artu, Girart

d’Amiens Escanor , Sir Thomas Malory Le Morte Darthur

“le morte darthur” : notes de lecture ; volet 21

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