Some canon from King Arthur

[lobelia321]

A short excerpt from Chrétien de Troyes's Lancelot about a night of passion. Lancelot/Queen Guinevere, wife of Arthur. Het. Very sexy, mediaeval-style.



Now Lancelot possesses all he wants, when the Queen voluntarily seeks his company and love, and when he holds her in his arms, and she holds him in hers. Their sport is so agreeable and sweet, as they kiss and fondle each other, that in truth such a marvellous joy comes over them as was never heard or known. But their joy will not be revealed by me, for in a story, it has no place. Yet, the most choice and delightful satisfaction was precisely that of which our story must not speak. That night Lancelot's joy and pleasure were very great. But, to his sorrow, day comes when he must leave his mistress' side. It cost him such pain to leave her that he suffered a real martyr's agony. His heart now stays where the Queen remains; he has not the power to lead it away, for it finds such pleasure in the Queen that it has no desire to leave her: so his body goes, and his heart remains. But enough of his body stays behind to spot and stain the sheets with the blood which has fallen from his fingers.

If only thamiris were here to talk to me about this. She loved mediaeval language and literature.

Comments

[22by7.livejournal.com]

i love about that passage the fact that the lovemaking is agreeable and sweet, filled with marvellous joy. affectionate, un-emo sex is always great to read about. also, the last line. shiver.

i miss her (writing) very much, too. i remember once she posted a review of a book on science and passionately criticised its dismissal of the middle ages. it was a short, bubbling, beautiful little piece and the budding medievalist in me could only applaud.

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

I miss Thamiris terribly.

And what you love about the passage is just why I picked it. :-)

[anitac588.livejournal.com]

Oh, Thamiris would love Merlin!

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

I miss her awfully. :-(

But she would not want a :-(! She was so very, very :-)!

[msilverstar]

I looooove Chretien's Lancelot, Le Chevalier de la Charette! I wrote my independent study senior thesis on the feedback loop between courtly love and life, each imitating the other. The tournament in Lancelot with the sleeves as favors was very influential, lots of people imitated it!

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

Wow, Mislv. I did not know this! My flist never ceases to amaze. And people imitated Lancelot? Oh, I can believe it. It is very Mills and Boone!

We may be moving to California, you know...

[msilverstar]

Huh, the things I forget to say are legion. I thought you were only interested in 19th C. and more recent. Did I tell you I learned a hell of a lot about early and high gothic architecture too? at least I was with-it enough to do multimedia.

Apparently, a bit earlier, people started naming their sons Roland and Oliver. They didn't quite do it with Lancelot, but William the Marshall's biography shows a significant progression of tournaments from mob violence to pagentry.

I do know about the possible job, it would be fun to have you here!

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

Well, Gothic is nothing if not multi-media. And Baroque even more so! Oh no, I am interested in art all the way back to the caves, really. Some more than others but the more I wallow around in the 19th century for my research, the more I love fleeing into other realms for recreational purposes, as it were. The 18th century, too: I love the Enlightenment! Life before Freud: endlessly fascinating what went on in people's heads before the Oedipus complex was invented and spoiled us all. :-)

That is fascinating about naming their sons Roland and Oliver (why Oliver?). In Germany, the Hanseatic towns all have statues of a Roland in their marketsquares. The modern Lance, I presume, is short for Lancelot? Pity that Galahad never caught on. Dang, we missed that one when we were naming our sons. I think some girls (in Ireland?) are to this day called Morgan. A lovely name that the TV series bowdlerized.

Look, have some Baroque art! (by Artemisia Gentileschi)