Content Notice: Discussions of Violence
This article is in a series about five different Arthurian legends that have some connection to the production of Spamalot. The piece of folklore that is of concern in this article is the murder of Esclados the Red, by Knight Yvain and the marriage of the recently widowed wife of Esclados, Lady Laudine to Yvain from Chrétien de Troyes’ Yvain: The Knight of the Lion, written during the 12th century. Tragically, although a lion appears in the title of this piece of literature, the events that will be discussed in this article occur before Yvain befriends the lion.
Yvain’s Fight with the Knight:
Our story begins when our brave knight, Yvain has left Camelot to find a fancy mystical fountain (not the fountain of youth). On his way, he is confronted by a mysterious figure.
In classic Chrétien de Troyes fashion, 2 adversaries brawl one another before they even speak. They fight for quite some time and eventually, Yvain manages to mortally wound this odd foe. “At last my lord Yvain crushed the helmet of the knight, whom the blow stunned and made so faint that he swooned away” (14).Yvain rushes after the knight who leads him into a palace gate.
The Portcullis:
The knight leads him into a narrow entrance with two Porticullis’ on each end and they drop right as Yvain enters (15). The knight who is gravely wounded, manages to pass through the gates and later on, dies of his wounds. Trapped and with nowhere to go, a random Maiden approaches Yvain stating that he is in grave danger, the townspeople are furious that their Lord is dying. For some godforsaken reason, this young Woman offers to hide him from the angry townspeople. She describes in gruesome detail about the bloodlust that the grieving citizens have:
"’I fear you have come in an evil hour. If you are seen here, you will be all cut to pieces… My lady is in such a state of grief, and her people about her are crying so that they are ready to die with rage; moreover, they know you to be inside… The moment they come to attack you, they cannot fail to kill or capture you, as they may choose"’ (15-16).
Image: A Portcullis Image Source
Realizing that hundreds are people are out for Yvain’s head, he happily agrees to take her offer. However, before he can go with the Maiden, a group of pitchfork-wielding peasants go out looking for the man who killed their lord. The woman gives Yvain a ring that makes him disappear, so he is fine. Despite being unable to see Yvain, one of the peasants manages to beat Yvain. Honestly, I am impressed that some peasant was just swinging his club in the air and managed to hit him. That takes some skill and we ought to give props to this unnamed peasant.
“Then my lord Yvain was well struck and beaten where he lay, but not for that did he stir at all. And the people became more and more distraught because of the wounds which burst open, and they marvelled why they bled, without knowing whose fault it was” (18).
The Funeral:
The Maiden finally returns and brings Yvain to a safe location. She even manages to find him a very nice window, so he has something to look at. He thinks about immediately escaping but soon realizes that none of his fellow knights would ever believe that he killed this knight, so he sticks around to see if he can get some kind of trophy to prove that he murdered someone.
Thoughts of murder trophies aside, while the knight peers through the window, and sees the funeral procession of Esclados the Red, the man he murdered. While looking, he sees the mourning Lady, whom he immediately falls in love with.
“the more he looks at her the more he loves her and is enthralled by her. He would have wished that she should cease her weeping and reading and that she should feel inclined to converse with him. Love, who caught him at the window, filled him with this desire” (20).
Not creepy at all! He then realizes that it probably won't work out, just considering that less than 24 hours ago, he killed her husband, but you never know! He becomes determined to fall in love with this widow and asks his Maiden to become a sort of Wing-Woman for Yvain. For some reason, this girl agrees as if she is not already putting herself at risk for harboring a murderer.
The Original “How to Get the Girl” By Taylor Swift
Our fearless (pun very much intended) Wing-Woman speaks at some point (not now?) and declares to her Lady that the dude who just killed her husband is probably super rad and she should stop whining and go get wild with that guy. The Maiden is far too harsh with a grieving widow and attempts to logic bro her way out of the cycle of mourning. Surprisingly enough, most people aren’t convinced to fall in love with someone through facts and logic! The Lady is not too pleased with this prospect and the conversation goes something like this:
“'When two knights have met in an affray of arms and when one has beaten the other, which of the two do you think is the better?'... 'Upon my faith, you may rest assured that I am in the right….’Now,’ she (The Lady) replies, ‘I hear the greatest nonsense that was ever uttered. Begone, thou spirit charged with evil! Begone, thou foolish and tiresome girl!”' (23)
Our Wing-Woman reports back with her findings and Yvain is not dissuaded by the events. Eventually, the Lady and the Maiden agree to let Yvain speak to the Lady. It turns out that somehow, she was swayed by the Wing-Woman ’s insensitive argument. The Maiden tells Yvain that he will be a prisoner to her Lady and that he will never be free. Yvain counterargues that love is like a prison and that even though the Lady and the knight have some Bad Blood, he can still win her over. He goes to her and promises,
“‘I will not crave your pardon, lady, but rather thank you for any treatment you may inflict on me, knowing that no act of yours could ever be distasteful to me." "Is that so, sir? And what if I think to kill you now?" "My lady, if it please you, you will never hear me speak otherwise." "I never heard of such a thing as this: that you put yourself voluntarily and absolutely within my power, without the coercion of anyone." (26)
Lady Laudine is somehow moved by this and eventually, after several pages of flirting, the two marry and they all live happily ever after. Until Yvain runs off for an entire year to go on wild adventures with King Arthur. Overall, Lady Laudine should have higher standards for men and I declare that this story is the world’s oddest meet cute.
Image: Lady Laudine
Spamalot and Lady Laudine
Now, you may be wondering, what on Earth does this wacky tale about marrying the widow of the man that a knight killed have to do with Spamalot? Well, I have an answer, a several of Prince Herbert’s wedding guests are murdered by Sir Lancelot. Naturally, several people are upset about these gruesome murders. However, Herbert falls in love with the murderer and lives happily ever after. We can see traces of Prince Herbert and Lancelot’s relationship with the courtship of Yvain and Lady Laudine.
Works Cited:
Chrétien de Troyes’ Yvain: The Knight of the Lion, http://www.heroofcamelot.com/docs/Yvain-the-Knight-of-the-Lion.pdf