Laüstic
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"Laüstic", also known as "Le Rossignol", "Le Laustic", "Laostic", and "Aüstic", is a
Breton lai A Breton lai, also known as a narrative lay or simply a lay, is a form of medieval French and English romance literature. Lais are short (typically 600–1000 lines), rhymed tales of love and chivalry, often involving supernatural and fairy-wor ...
by the medieval poet
Marie de France Marie de France (floruit, fl. 1160–1215) was a poet, likely born in France, who lived in England during the late 12th century. She lived and wrote at an unknown court, but she and her work were almost certainly known at the royal court of Kin ...
. The title comes from the Breton word for "
nightingale The common nightingale, rufous nightingale or simply nightingale (''Luscinia megarhynchos''), is a small passerine bird which is best known for its powerful and beautiful song. It was formerly classed as a member of the thrush family Turdidae, ...
" (''eostig''), a symbolic figure in the poem.Marie de France, "Les Lais de Marie de France", p. 211, traduits et annotés par Harf-Lancner, L., Livre de Poche 1990. It is the eighth poem in the collection known as the '' Lais of Marie de France'', and the poem is only found in the manuscript known as Harley 978 (also called manuscript H). Like the other poems in the collection, ''Laüstic'' is written in the Anglo-Norman dialect of
Old French Old French (, , ; ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France approximately between the late 8th -4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ...
, in couplets eight syllable">couplet">-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ...
, in couplets eight syllables long.


Plot summary

Two knights live in adjoining houses, in the vicinity of Saint-Malo in Brittany; one is married and one lives as a bachelor. The wife of the married knight enters into a secret relationship with the other knight, but their contact is limited to conversation and the exchange of small gifts, since a "high wall made of dark stone" separates the two households. Typically, the lady rises at night, once her husband is asleep, and goes to the window to converse with her lover; whenever her lover is home, she is kept under close watch. Her suspicious husband demands to know why she spends her nights at the window, and she says she does so to listen to the nightingale sing. He mocks her, and orders his servants to capture the nightingale. When it is caught he brings it to the lady's chambers, denying her requests to release the bird. Instead, he breaks its neck and throws it at her, "bloodying the front of her tunic just a bit above her breasts". After he leaves, the lady mourns the bird's death and the suffering she must accept, knowing she can no longer be at the window at night. She wraps the nightingale's body in silk, and embroidered with writing in gold thread, and charges her servant to deliver the bird and her message to her lover, who, in response, preserves the nightingale in a
reliquary A reliquary (also referred to as a ''shrine'', ''Chasse (casket), chasse'', or ''phylactery'') is a container for relics. A portable reliquary, or the room in which one is stored, may also be called a ''feretory''. Relics may be the purported ...
, a small vessel which he has encased with small jewels and precious stones, and carries it with him always.


Analysis and significance

The reference to a nightingale alludes to the tale of
Philomela Philomela () or Philomel (; , ; ) is a minor figure in Greek mythology who is frequently invoked as a direct and figurative symbol in literary and artistic works in the Western canon. Family Philomela was the younger of two daughters of P ...
in
Ovid Publius Ovidius Naso (; 20 March 43 BC – AD 17/18), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a younger contemporary of Virgil and Horace, with whom he i ...
's ''
Metamorphoses The ''Metamorphoses'' (, , ) is a Latin Narrative poetry, narrative poem from 8 Common Era, CE by the Ancient Rome, Roman poet Ovid. It is considered his ''Masterpiece, magnum opus''. The poem chronicles the history of the world from its Cre ...
'' on several levels. Philomela embroiders her story in a tapestry much like the lady of Laustic; Philomela herself is transformed into a nightingale at the end of Ovid's story; and as Michelle Freeman suggests, the broken body of the nightingale, which signifies the end of the lovers' communication, is symbolic of the cutting out of Philomela's tongue, which effectively silences her. The servants hide traps for the nightingale in hazel trees, a plant that is also found in Chevrefoil and Le Fresne, two of Marie's other lais. In 1950, William S. Woods commented that Marie's lais display "her feminine attitude and style in a great number of places", which he called "one of the most endearing" qualities of her writing, and says that she has "a true womanly love for forceful and superlative adverbs and expressions". In "Laüstic", he argues, "the climax of the vengeance is not the killing of the bird, but rather the fact that its dead body bloodied the waist of the woman--the body and blood of the bird which had been an excuse for communication between the two lovers". This is one of many examples of "feminine subtlety" Woods finds in the lais; Marie "reveals herself as a woman who appreciated and could use the ultimate in ruthless and cold-hearted poetic justice, and as possessing a cruel subtlety which few, if any, men could equal". In 1984, Michelle Freeman discussed the lai in a study that sought to investigate the position of a female author in a tradition of translating to and from Latin and the vernacular languages. She argues that the nightingale serves as a metaphor which constitutes a means for the lovers to communicate one last time; initially a metaphor, the nightingale becomes a narrative commentary of the events which have transpired. Marie as the artist serves to preserve the story of the two lovers through the act of writing, just as the servant is entrusted with the lady's message and enwrapped nightingale. Robert Cargo, in an article from 1966, focused on those messages, noting that there are two: first is the message conveyed by the servant, second is the embroidered message on the silk cloth; Marie is vague about the contents of both. Cargo concludes that the servant's message must be a simple one, "This is for you, from my lady", whereas the embroidered one, analogous to the message in the Philomena story, is likely "an embroidered scene depicting the story,
hich Ij () is a village in Golabar Rural District of the Central District in Ijrud County, Zanjan province, Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq ...
serves to communicate her undying love to the knight".


See also

*
Anglo-Norman literature Anglo-Norman literature is literature composed in the Anglo-Norman language and developed during the period of 1066–1204, as the Duchy of Normandy and the Kingdom of England were united in the Anglo-Norman realm. Introduction The Norman langu ...
*
Medieval French literature In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...


References


Notes


Bibliography

*"Laüstic". Edward J. Gallagher, ed. and trans. ''The Lays of Marie de France''. 55-57, 101-103. Indianapolis: Hackett, 2010. .


External links


Laüstic text in Old FrenchVerse translation by Judith P. Shoaf (pdf)
at the online Medieval Bestiary {{DEFAULTSORT:Laustic Anglo-Norman literature French poems Lais of Marie de France 12th-century poems