Yvain, the Knight of the Lion
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Yvain rescues the lion |
Yvain, the Knight of the Lion (
French:
Yvain, le Chevalier au Lion) is a
romance by
Chrétien de Troyes. It was probably written in the 1170s simultaneously with
Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart, and includes several references to the action in that poem. The main character,
Yvain, is derived from the historical
Owain mab Urien.
In the poem, Yvain seeks to avenge his cousin
Calogrenant who had been defeated by an otherwordly knight beside a magical storm-making fountain in the forest of
Broceliande. Yvain defeats this knight,
Esclados and falls in love with his widow
Laudine. With the aid of Laudine's servant
Lunete, Yvain wins his lady and marries her, but
Gawain convinces him to embark on chivalric adventure. His wife assents but demands he return after a set period of time of 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, but eventually decides to win back his love. A lion he rescues from a serpent proves to be a loyal companion and a symbol of knightly virtue, and helps him complete his altruistic ventures. In the end, Laudine allows him and his lion to return to her fortress.
Chrétien's source for the poem is unknown, but the story bears a number of similarities to the
hagiographical Life of Saint Mungo (also known as Saint Kentigern), which claims Owain mab Urien as the father of the saint by the daughter of
Lot of Lothian. The similarities suggest the works had a common
Latin or
Celtic source.
Yvain had a huge impact on the literary world;
German poet
Hartmann von Aue used it as the basis for his masterpiece
Iwein, and the author of
Owain, or the Lady of the Fountain, one of the
Welsh Romances included in the
Mabinogion, recast the work back into its Welsh setting. The poem exists in a several versions in different languages, including the
Middle English Ywain and Gawain.
*Chrétien de Troyes, D.D.R. Owen (translator) (1988)
Arthurian Romances, Tuttle Publishing, reprinted by
Everyman's Library. ISBN 046087389X
*Chrétien de Troyes, Burton Raffel (translator) (1987)
Yvain, the Knight of the Lion,
Yale University Press. ISBN 0300038372
*
Free ebook of Four Arthurian Romances by Chrétien de Troyes' at
Project Gutenberg (includes Yvain'')
