Tristan et Iseut

Dr Helen Swift
St Hilda’s College
MT 11, Wks 1-8.
 Treatment of love narrative
• love narrative = love story:
– Thomas and co. (version courtoise);
– amor fine (Thomas = 69; Béroul = 3).

• love narrative = political story:

– Béroul’s innovation to version commune;
– feudal law and social organization;
– ≠ necessarily ‘more realistic’ treatment.
 Political context in Béroul
• domestic policy:
– auxilium and consilium (i.e. Marc’s subjects);
– escondit (concerns both Tristan and Iseut);
– Marc’s status as king.

• international affairs:
– relations with neighbouring kingdoms;
– overseas relations with Ireland.
 consilium and auxilium (1): barons
• epic motif of revolting barons:
e.g. Guillaume d’Orange cycle (c. 1130)
• courtly motif of losengiers:
e.g. Chastelaine de Vergi (before 1288)
• barons’ motivation in Eilhart:
– personal jealousy and familial spite.
• barons’ motivation in Béroul:
– more complex, developed in feudal terms.
 Judgments of barons
• reported dereliction of feudal duties:
– tryst: taisant et muz; fail to prendre ses adous;
– Cornish people: taisanz; n’ot un si hardi.
• jealousy:
– hatred of Tristan por sa prooise;
– hatred of Tristan por … la roïne, or of Iseut herself?
• justifiable motivations for wanting rid of Tristan?
– appearance of loyal conseil;
– moral reality of self-interest i.e. mauvais corage.
 Marc’s several ‘advisors’
• All who advise against lovers = ill intent:
– barons: specious feudal loyalty;
– Frocin: duplicity of the double agent;
– forester: self-interested cupidinous desire.

• Conspirers against lovers ≠ on same side:

– barons’ merciless treatment of informers;
– no honour amongst thieves.
 Barons’ bullying of Marc
• exploit his feudal obligation to seek advice:
– barons’ belligerence: or t’en conselle!
– Marc’s desperation: me devez…consellier.
• post-potion battle for King’s ear:
– Tristan calls for Marc’s decision: pren consel;
– Gué Aventuros: barons’ spurious arguments to
persuade Marc: consel te doron bonement.
• call for escondit …
 escondit
• Tristan = judicial duel:
– cf. Thierry vs. Pinabel in Roland;
– Marc denies Tristan right to prove himself;
– Tristan’s confidence that undefeatable;
– all barons deny Tristan an escondit.
• Iseut = oath guaranteed by higher authority:
– barons’ cowardly opportunism;
– Marc momentarily rumbles barons’ duplicity, but
unable to punish them directly …
Zones of cultural definition

space of court
vs.
space of forest

(cultured and familiar

vs. wild and alien)
 Showdown Marc vs. barons
• symbolic location: essart (‘razed field’)
– liminal space in which to push bounds of
authority to their limit.
• symbolic physical movement:
– forces barons to retreat sor un larri ;
– dismisses barons from presence.
but, Marc’s authority limited by system of
government: elective (i.e. by consent).
 Kingship by consent
i.e. Marc nominated leading peer by his fellow
peers (inc. three barons).
• barons’ threatened secession:
– mais nu consentiron (v. 614) = not consent to
Marc’s superiority.
• Marc’s worthiness of royal role:
– past military achievements (vv. 1962-64)
• question of primogeniture:
– not applicable to present context, where feudal,
rather than familial, bonds at issue.
 Other barons: Andrez and Dinas
• Re-modelled from Eilhart:
– D+A = absolute > equivocal supporters of T+I
• Andrez (Marc’s nephew):
– dramatic transformation from source;
– courage to challenge Marc’s decision to
banish Tristan: pragmatic, ‘bigger picture’;
– paired with Dinas to escort Iseut at Mal Pas;
– joust against ‘Tristan’.
amplification of D+A: develops political context;
nuances representation of court’s opinion; foils
for trio’s false feudal service.
 Political context: conclusions
• integral and essential to love narrative;
• expands feudal picture beyond les trois
felons;
• develops characters and settings to
contrive strategic parallels and contrasts.

=> Tristan et Iseut gets political!

 thematic approach…

Next week:
Looking back: seeing and reading in
Béroul