In Naples, Lybeaus’s mother is said to be “a giantis lady” (line 2249). Lambard has no associations with violence against women, treacherous and unchivalric behavior, or unorthodox fighting as do the stereotypical giants: instead he tests knights for the task of rescuing the Lady of Synadoun, and once defeated in combat by Lybeaus, he identifies Lybeaus (“Thowe arte of Sir Gawynes kynne,” Lambeth, line 1708) and with many expressions of courtesy welcomes him as the deliverer of his Lady. Lambard appears as a giant because of his size, and in this, he is more akin to Sir Valentine in Sir Launfal (lines 505–12). Although Lambard is called a “giant,” he has neither the feral characteristics of the malevolent red and black giants who threaten Violet nor the animal features of Maugis these are stereotypical giants of romance, and thus no match for Lybeaus. The French reads: "Molt estoit et laide et frencie!" (line 1727) "Amor ne l face bestorner / la laide fait biele sanbler, / tant set de guile et d’encanter" (lines 1733–35).ġ2 There are two orders of giants in Lybeaus Desconus, the typical villainous giant who often opposes the knight with unchivalric weapons, such as a club or a grilling spit, and the giant as merely an extraordinarily large human being, who retains chivalric values for the most part, such as Sir Lambard.
The French reads: "Cele qui l’esprevier ara / et a le perce le prendra / si ara los de la plus biele" (lines 1589–91).ġ1 Renaut de Bâgé, Le Bel Inconnu, p.
Dickson, “Female Doubling and Male Identity in Medieval Romance.”ġ0 Renaut de Bâgé, Le Bel Inconnu, p. For a recent discussion of the problems associated with the idea of popular romance audience, see Field, “Popular Romance,” and Radulescu, “Genre and Classification.”ĩ See M. 32).Ĩ Lybeaus Desconus and other verse romances are often categorized as popular romances, a frequently pejorative classification that colors both style and audience. Also, only major differences in plot and characterization are noted in this introduction minor variations and other details appear in the Explanatory Notes.ħ According to Carol Fewster, Traditionality and Genre, such invocations form part of the self-consciousness of English romances and constitute a deliberate realignment of the narrative away from the French tradition (p. 3.ĥ Still other analogues named as part of the Fair Unknown tradition with various degrees of resemblance include an Old Yiddish narrative called Widwilt, the Old French Le Chevalier du Papegau, Claude Platin’s L’hystoire de Giglan, Robert de Blois’s Beaudos, Le Roman de Belris, a 140-line fragment called “Gogulor,” Bel Gherardino, Ponzela Gaia, the English Ipomadon, and Ulrich Von Zatzikhoven’s Lanzelet.Ħ The two narratives resemble each other structurally in the first part only, as the Middle English romance omits the second part, which continues the story after the disenchantment of the Lady of Synadoun. Renaut drew on these, of course, but so did the Lybeaus poet and the Carduino poet (p.
Rajna.ģ Predelli, Bel Gherardino, argues that elements of the Fair Unknown story circulated in Europe earlier than Renaut’s version. Branca see also I Cantari di Carduino, ed. 1195.Ģ von Grafenberg, Wigalois Wigamur, ed. Renaut de Bâgé, formerly known as Renaut de Beujeu, is thought to have written his poem c.