Old French Literature Trivia Quiz

Answer: The matter of Occitania

Although the poetry of the Occitan "troubadours" heavily influenced the notion of courtly love, there is no such thing as the "matter of Occitania".

The "matter of Britain" (French: "matière de Bretagne") refers to stories based on Celtic subject matter, which take place in Cornwall, Wales, Ireland, and the Celtic region of Brittany, in France. They are part of the Arthurian legend cycle, with King Arthur's court at Camelot and his Knights of the Round Table.

The "matter of France" revolves around Charlemagne and his knights, and the "matter of Rome" includes stories about Troy, Thebes, Aeneas, and Alexander the Great.

Answer: He met his death in battle because of the traitor Ganelon

"The Song of Roland" is a "chanson de geste", an epic poem celebrating heroic deeds. It was written around 1100 and is based on the historical battle of Roncevaux Pass (778), where King Charlemagne's troops were attacked by Basques. In the poem, the enemy became Saracens (Muslims), which gives the episode the tone of a crusade.

Because of his old grudge against his stepson Roland, Ganelon betrays the secret of the army's passage through a mountain pass to the enemy. Roland realizes he has been set up to die, yet refuses to sound his horn to ask for reinforcement until it is too late. He bravely accepts his fate and dies saving his honour, for his king and for Christendom, after promising his soldiers a place in paradise as martyrs.

Answer: It is a message from Tristan asking to meet Iseult for a tryst

Marie de France was a noblewoman who lived at the court of Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine. She wrote lays based on songs sung by Breton musicians. They are tales of love which often include fantastic events, such as shape-shifters and talking animals.

The "Lay of the Honeysuckle" recounts an episode of Tristan and Iseult's passionate love story. One day when they are apart, Tristan leaves on the path of his lover a bough of hazel intertwined with honeysuckle, with his name carved on it, as a symbol that they cannot be separated. "I would die without you and you would die without me", so intertwined are their fates. Iseult correctly interprets the sign and meets Tristan secretly.

Answer: Renart and Hermeline

Courtly love originated in the courts of Aquitaine, Provence, Champagne and ducal Burgundy. "La fine amor" had proponents at the court of Eleanor of Aquitaine and later at the court of her daughter, Marie of Champagne. Love and the worship of the lady were supposed to take precedence over the service due to the feudal lord. This view originates from the poetry of the "troubadours" of Provence. The perfect realization of love often occurred outside the bonds of marriage.

Lancelot and Yvain are Knights of the Round Table. Lancelot tries to show himself worthy of his lady Guenièvre (Guinevere) by his devotion to her and his chivalric prowess. Guenièvre is King Arthur's wife, but the lovers manage to keep their illicit affair a secret.

The stories of Yvain and Laudine and of Erec and Enide illustrate the dilemma between Love and Adventure, domestic bliss and glory. Yvain asks to leave his wife Laudine in order to seek adventure, with the promise to return after a year. Erec, on the other hand, finds married life agrees with him, so much so that he never wants to leave his wife's side and neglects his chivalric duties: his reputation starts to suffer and Enide has to put her foot down. They finally decide to go looking for adventure together.

Although Renart is a tolerably good husband to his lady Hermeline, he has little in common with a chivalric lover: he belongs to a more realistic, comical vein. A reference to "la fine amor" would be made only in jest. It should be noted that Renart is once accused of raping Isengrim's wife, lady Hersent, although it appears to have been consensual. Whatever the case may be, "Le Roman de Renart" ("The Romance of Renart") shows a darker side of life, the reverse side of the refined world of courtly romance.

Answer: Chretien de Troyes

Chrétien de Troyes lived in the 12th century and was a poet at the court of the Count and Countess of Champagne. He invented the courtly romance. Some of his works are lost, including his version of Tristan and Iseult. His knights go on a quest for glory and adventure, fight magicians and unknown knights, rescue damsels in distress, and face all sorts of trials before finally proving their worth. Chrétien was extremely successful as a writer, and he has been often imitated in the century that followed, for instance by the German writers Wolfram von Eschenbach, who wrote a "Parzifal", adapted from "The Story of the Grail", and Hartmann von Aue, who authored an "Erec" and an "Iwein."

Answer: The Knight of the Cart

In Chrétien de Troyes's "Lancelot, or The Knight of the Cart" ("Le Chevalier de la Charrette"), Lancelot meets a dwarf driving a cart; the dwarf offers to bring him to Guenièvre, provided he accepts to travel in the cart with him. "In those days such a cart served the same purpose as does a pillory now (...). Whoever was convicted of any crime was placed upon a cart and dragged through all the streets, and he lost henceforth all his legal rights, and was never afterward heard, honoured, or welcomed in any court." (Translated by W. W. Comfort) This is a classic dilemma between Love and Reason. Lancelot hesitates but for a few seconds, yet he earns the displeasure of his lady Guenièvre, who reckons he shouldn't have hesitated at all. He shall have to redeem himself by accomplishing further acts of prowess and obedience.

"The Knight of the Lion" ("Le Chevalier au lion", also by Chrétien de Troyes) is Yvain: ever since he rescued a lion who was fighting a snake, the lion follows him wherever he goes.

"The Knight of the Parrot" ("Le Chevalier au papegau"), whose author is unknown, is an Arthurian romance from the late 14th or early 15th century. Arthur Pendragon, as a knight-errant, travels with a companion: a "papegau" (archaic English "popinjay"), a sort of parrot. The bird is very talkative and plays the part of a minstrel. He keeps singing the praise of his master and of the young lady he soon meets, stressing how each of them is a paragon and how perfect they would be for each other.

I do not know of any "Knight of the Unicorn", but there is a famous set of six tapestries called "The Lady and the Unicorn" ("La Dame à la licorne"), that portray a lady with a unicorn on her left and a lion on her right. It was said that only virgin girls could come near a unicorn.

Answer: Fabliaux

The fabliaux (from the word "fable") are short stories in verse, usually comical and satirical, and often bawdy or scatological. Like most medieval literature, they were meant to be listened to rather than read.

A "pastourelle" is a short poem whose theme is love for a shepherdess.

A "chantefable" is a kind of short tale with some parts meant to be sung. The only known example is "Aucassin et Nicolette" ("Aucassin and Nicolette"), whose author is unknown.

A "jeu" is a theatrical play.

Answer: "Brunain, the Priest's Cow" by Jean Bodel

"Brunain, la vache au prestre" ("Brunain, the Priest's Cow") is a fabliau. After hearing at mass a sermon, according to which everything one gives to God will be returned twofold, a peasant decides to give his cow Blérain to the priest. The greedy priest doesn't have any qualms about accepting such a great gift. He ties Blérain to his own cow, Brunain. But Blérain soon misses her home and doubles back on her tracks, with Brunain in tow. The peasant is delighted to see his gift returned to him twofold, just as the priest promised.

The fabliaux often portray cuckolded husbands, greedy priests, and dumb peasants, although they also show crafty peasants who get the better of the dull-witted nobility, depending on the target audience -- much like the wolf Isengrim, who is a greedy, brutal, dull-witted baron and constable to the lion, King Noble.

Answer: A fox

"Le Roman de Renart" ("The Romance of Renart") is a collection of tales in verse written between 1171 and 1250 by 28 different authors. There are versions of these tales from England, Germany, the Netherlands, and so on. Renart was a particular favourite among the monks, who translated the Latin tales in vernacular languages and added many new chapters (called "branches") to the stories, making it accessible to a wide audience. The tales were often read in public, in inns or on market places.

Renart is known in England as Reynard the Fox, in Germany as Reineke Fuchs, in France as Renart le goupil (old French for "fox", from Latin "vulpecula"). Such was the character's popularity that "renard" has since become the French name for the fox.

Answer: Suing him in a court of law

Renart is red, as foxes are. Red-headed people were often believed to be unreliable or even downright evil: one only needs to think that Judas is usually depicted as a redhead in medieval images. Foxes were also considered to be "stinking beasts" and pests.

"Le Roman de Renart" oscillates between a portrayal of animals behaving somewhat as animals and a mere satire of the human world, where animals are but very thinly disguised men. One of the latest "branches" (or chapters) thus has the animals go on a crusade, wear helmets and ride horses. The oldest branch on the other hand shows Renart trying to eat the cock Chantecler. This episode it well-known in the English-speaking world because of Chaucer's "Nun's Priest's Tale", Chanticleer and the Fox. The rooster outwits Renart and manages to escape, another instance of the smallest animal being the most cunning.

Hunger is one of the prominent themes of these stories. The characters are often famished and are usually looking for food, often gorging themselves until they nearly burst.

After so many mischievous acts, including the rape of two ladies of the court and the murder of a hen, Renart has to go on trial to answer for his many crimes. He is found guilty, but manages to find refuge in his castle, where he is able to withstand a long siege until things "cool down". On other occasions, Renart pretends to repent and offers to go on a pilgrimage to atone for his sins, which only shows how hypocritical and deceitful he is.