''Yde et Olive'' is a thirteenth-century ''
chanson de geste
The ''chanson de geste'' (, from Latin 'deeds, actions accomplished') is a medieval narrative, a type of epic poem that appears at the dawn of French literature. The earliest known poems of this genre date from the late 11th and early 12th cen ...
'' written in
decasyllabic
Decasyllable (Italian: ''decasillabo'', French: ''décasyllabe'', Serbian: ''десетерац'', ''deseterac'') is a poetic meter of ten syllables used in poetic traditions of syllabic verse. In languages with a stress accent (accentual v ...
monorhyming laisse A laisse is a type of stanza, of varying length, found in medieval French literature, specifically medieval French epic poetry (the ''chanson de geste''), such as ''The Song of Roland''. In early works, each laisse was made up of (mono) assonanced ...
s in a
Picard-influenced dialect of
Old French
Old French (, , ; Modern French: ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France from approximately the 8th to the 14th centuries. Rather than a unified language, Old French was a linkage of Romance dialects, mutually intelligib ...
. It is one episode in a cycle of sequels to ''
Huon de Bordeaux
Huon of Bordeaux is the title character of a 13th-century French epic poem with romance elements.
''Huon of Bordeaux''
The poem tells of Huon, a knight who unwittingly kills Charlot, the son of Emperor Charlemagne. He is given a reprieve from d ...
'' that follow various members of his family. Following the ''
Chanson d'Esclarmonde
Huon of Bordeaux is the title character of a 13th-century French epic poem with romance elements.
''Huon of Bordeaux''
The poem tells of Huon, a knight who unwittingly kills Charlot, the son of Emperor Charlemagne. He is given a reprieve from de ...
'', the story of Huon's wife and Yde's grandmother, and ''
Clarisse et Florent
Huon of Bordeaux is the title character of a 13th-century French epic poem with romance elements.
''Huon of Bordeaux''
The poem tells of Huon, a knight who unwittingly kills Charlot, the son of Emperor Charlemagne. He is given a reprieve from d ...
'', the story of Yde's parents, the story of Yde is punctuated by a poem titled ''Croissant'', which some scholars edit separately and which tells the story of Yde and Olive's son. The main story of Yde's adventures then picks up again. "Yde et Olive" is a relatively unstudied ''chanson'' compared with its counterparts in the Huon series.
It is sometimes considered the earliest Old French adaptation of the myth of
Iphis
In Greek and Roman mythology, Iphis or Iphys ( , ; grc, Ἶφις ''Îphis'' , gen. Ἴφιδος ''Ī́phidos'') was a child of Telethusa and Ligdus in Crete, born female and raised male, who was later transformed by the goddess Isis into a man ...
in
Ovid's ''
Metamorphoses
The ''Metamorphoses'' ( la, Metamorphōsēs, from grc, μεταμορφώσεις: "Transformations") is a Latin narrative poem from 8 CE by the Roman poet Ovid. It is considered his ''magnum opus''. The poem chronicles the history of the wo ...
'', though some scholars have questioned whether this ancient
cognate
In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words in different languages that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymology, etymological ancestor in a proto-language, common parent language. Because language c ...
is anything more than coincidentally similar. Likewise, it has been postulated that the story was worked into dramatic form in the ''
Miracle de la fille d'un roy'' (1454), but scholars have also rejected this hypothesis, claiming that the transference of the motif of a
cross-dressing
Cross-dressing is the act of wearing clothes usually worn by a different gender. From as early as pre-modern history, cross-dressing has been practiced in order to disguise, comfort, entertain, and self-express oneself.
Cross-dressing has play ...
heroine escaping her father's incestuous desires results from an oral tradition rather than direct textual influence. The play does not significantly deviate from the ''chanson'' except in its finale (the heroine Ysabelle's true sex is discovered at the end, where she restored to womanhood and married to the king instead of remaining married to his daughter). Caroline Cazanave's quintessential book
on the Huon sequels contains an extensive discussion of the text and the manuscript tradition.
Manuscript and editions
The story of Yde and Olive appears in two manuscripts:
* Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, français, 1451, f. 225r (short summary of the text)
* Turin, Biblioteca nazionale universitaria, L. II. 14, f. 389va-395va and 397rb-399va
The latter contains the only surviving complete version of the story of Yde and Olive. The Turin manuscript is an
illuminated
Illuminated may refer to:
* "Illuminated" (song), by Hurts
* Illuminated Film Company, a British animation house
* ''Illuminated'', alternative title of Black Sheep (Nat & Alex Wolff album)
* Illuminated manuscript
See also
* Illuminate (disambi ...
and beautifully decorated book that fortunately survived the fire that ravaged the library in 1904. The manuscript has since been restored several times, though some pages have been permanently damaged.
In the early sixteenth century the cycle of sequels was rewritten into prose as part of ''Les prouesses et faictz merveilleux du noble huon de bordeaulx'', which was then translated into
Middle English
Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English p ...
and printed as ''The Boke of Duke Huon of Burdeux'' by
John Bourchier, Lord Berners, for
Francis Hastings, Earl of Huntingdon, early in the century, to be printed twice more, c. 1570 and in 1601. The stories were developed into a novel-like retelling.
The first part of Yde's story was recently translated into
Modern English by Mounawar Abbouchi in ''Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality''. The translation is accompanied by a facing-page edition of the original text and i
accessible online The sequels have previously been edited twice, once by Max Schweigel's in 1889, and a second time in a 1977 dissertation by Barbara Anne Brewka at
Vanderbilt University
Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private research university in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and rail magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided the school its initial $1-million ...
.
Plot
The marriage of Florent to Clarisse is briefly recounted. A triumphant Florent returns to
Aragon
Aragon ( , ; Spanish and an, Aragón ; ca, Aragó ) is an autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces (from north to sou ...
and is crowned king after the death of his father, Garin. Shortly after, Clarisse finds herself with child, but fears her pregnancy, and with good reason as the queen dies giving birth to a daughter named Yde. Florent goes into prolonged mourning, ignoring his kingly and fatherly duties, and refusing to remarry despite the insistence of his barons. However, as Yde grows into a young woman and the resemblance to her mother grows more pronounced, her father falls in love with her and decides to marry her. Horrified by the prospect, Yde disguises herself as a man, steals her father's horse, and flees the country. She embarks on a series of
chivalric
Chivalry, or the chivalric code, is an informal and varying code of conduct developed in Europe between 1170 and 1220. It was associated with the medieval Christian institution of knighthood; knights' and gentlemen's behaviours were governed by ...
adventures that eventually lead her to
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
, where she begins to serve the king, Oton. Impressed by her valor, Oton decides to marry Yde to his one and only daughter, Olive, and make her his heir. Finding no other way out, Yde reluctantly agrees to wed Olive. The couple practices abstinence for fifteen days after their wedding, but Yde finally finds herself unable to resist her wife's urging that they consummate the marriage and confesses her secret to Olive. The latter reassures her that her secret is safe, but their conversation is overheard and reported to the king, who vows to have them both burned if the story is true. In order to learn the truth, Oton summons Yde to bathe with him. The two girls believe that all is lost and pray for salvation, and at the last minute, an angel descends from heaven to appeal to the king not to test such a tried and true
vassal
A vassal or liege subject is a person regarded as having a mutual obligation to a lord or monarch, in the context of the feudal system in medieval Europe. While the subordinate party is called a vassal, the dominant party is called a suzerain. W ...
. The angel then announces that Yde is now a man, that Oton will die eight days hence, and that Yde and Olive will conceive a child who will be named Croissant that very night.
The episode some scholars have called ''Croissant'' follows, telling of the deeds of Yde and Olive's son. The ''Yde et Olive'' narrative then picks up with Florent dead and Yde returning to Aragon as the rightful heir to claim his throne.
References
Citations
Bibliography
Editions & Translation
*Abbouchi, Mounawar. Abbouchi, Mounawar. "Yde and Olive." ''Medieval Feminist Forum. Subsidia Series'' no. 8. Medieval Texts in Translation 5. (2018).
*Brewka, Barbara Anne. "Esclarmonde, Clarisse et Florent, Yde et Olive I, Croissant, Yde et Olive II, Huon et les Géants, Sequels to Huon de Bordeaux, as Contained in Turin MS. L.II.14: an Edition." PhD Diss. Vanderbilt University, 1977.
*Schweigel, Max, ed. ''Esclarmonde, Clarisse et Florent, Yde et Olive: Drei Fortsetzungen der chanson von Huon de Bordeaux, nach der einzigen Turiner Handschrift''. Marburg: N.G. Elwert, 1889.
Adaptations
Prose
*''Les prouesses et faicts du trespreux noble et vaillant Huon de Bordeaux, pair de France et duc de Guyenne''. Lyon: Benoit Gigaud, 1587.
English Prose
*Lee, S. L., ed. ''The Boke of Duke Huon de Bordeux''. Done into English by Sir John Bourchier, Lord Berners, and printed by Wynkyn de Worde about 1534 A.D. 3 Parts. Edited from the unique copy of the first edition. Early English Text Society. Original Series 40, 41, 43. London: N. Trübner, 1884; New York: Kraus Reprint, 1975, 1981.
Miracle Play
*Paris, Gaston and Ulysse Robert, eds. "Le miracle de la fille d'un roy." ''Les miracles de Nostre Dames par personnages''. Vol. 7. Paris: Librairie de Firmin Didot et Cie, 1883.
External links
"Yde and Olive" full textin ''Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality.''
Arlima.
{{Authority control
French poems
Epic poems in French
Chansons de geste
Matter of France
Medieval literature
LGBT-related plays