Emaré
Encyclopedia
Emaré is a middle English Breton lai
, a form of Mediaeval Romance
poem, told in 1035 lines. The author of Emaré is unknown and exists in only one manuscript, the Cotton Caligula A. ii, which contains ten metrical narratives. Emaré seems to date from the late fourteenth century, possibly written in the North East Midlands. The iambic pentameter is rather rough.
It tells a version of the popular "Constance-saga".
, but one of uncommon length; it may be the longest one in English romance.
We are then told of Sir Artyus, an Emperor. His wife gives birth to a beautiful baby girl but dies shortly afterwards. The daughter, Emaré, is sent to live with a lady named Abro who raises her and teaches her manners and sewing.
Some years later, the King of Sicily
comes to see the Emperor, bringing with him a beautiful cloth set with precious stones, woven by the daughter of the heathen Emir
as a wedding gift to her betrothed. It depicts four scenes of lovers in the corners. The King had won it from the Sultan of Emir in war, and presents it to the Emperor as a gift.
The Emperor sends for his now grown up daughter, and, pleased with her beauty, becomes enamored by her. He decides he wants to marry her, and sends to Rome
for Papal dispensation to marry his daughter. When the Papal Bull
arrives, he has the elaborate cloth tailored into a garment (kyrtle) for Emaré. She wears it and is bedazzling in her beauty. The Emperor tells her she is to marry him, but she refuses, saying it is an affront to Christ. He grows angry and has her put out to sea, still in the beautiful kyrtle, with no food or drink.
A powerful wind blows the boat away. The Emperor, on seeing this, weeps and castigates himself. Emaré is blown to the kingdom of Galys. The King of that country's steward, Sir Kadore, finds her in the boat. He asks her name and she changes it, telling him it is Egaré. She is nearly dead with hunger so Sir Kadore takes her to his castle and revives her. He throws a feast for the King at which Emaré serves, wearing her kyrtle. The King is overcome, and later asks Sir Kedore who she is. He tells the King that she is an Earl's daughter from a distant land, and that he sent for her to teach his children courtesy, as well as how to sew, as she is the finest embroiderer he has ever seen.
The King then presents Emaré to his mother. His mother thinks that she is the most beautiful woman in the world, but tells her son that she must be a fiend in a noble robe, and forbids him to marry Emaré. He ignores his mother, earning him her anger, and weds Emaré regardless. They have a loving marriage and eventually Emaré conceives.
The King of France, meanwhile, has been besieged by the Saracens, and the King of Galys goes to his aid, leaving his wife, Emaré, in the care of Sir Kadore. She gives birth to a beautiful son she calls Segramour, and Sir Kadore writes a letter to the King telling him of the event. The messenger stops off at the King's mother's castle on the way. He tells her of the news, and she proceeds to get him drunk. Once he is unconscious, she burns the letter and writes a new one to tell her son that his wife had given birth to a demon
. The next day the messenger continues on his way and gives the message to the King. On reading it the King weeps, and curses his fortune. However, he writes a letter ordering Sir Kadore to offer any and all support to Emaré and to refuse her nothing.
The messenger sets off with this message and again stops off at the mother's castle. She again gets him drunk, and again burns the letter, and writes a new one informing Sir Kadore to exile
Emaré. When Sir Kadore receives this letter he is shocked, and swoons. Emaré hears the lamentation in the hall and asks what the problem is. When Sir Kadore explains, she decides that the King has ordered this because she is not a worthy Queen for him, being a simple lady, and agrees to go into exile. Again, she is put out to see wearing her kyrtle with her baby son. For more than a week she drifts, suckling her son to keep him quiet and cursing the sea, until she arrives at Rome.
A merchant of Rome, Jurdan, finds her in her boat. Again, Emaré names herself as Egaré, and the merchant takes her and her son into his home.
Seven years pass, and the baby has grown into a fine, wise boy. The King of Galys has returned home from the siege
, and asks Sir Kadore for news. He grows angry that Sir Kadore does not first tell him about his wife and child, which confuses Kadore, who tells the King that he had followed his orders and exiled them. The King reads the false letter and says that he never wrote it. They interrogate the messenger who says that he stopped at the King's mother's castle. The King is furious and says he will burn her at the stake, but his lords decide instead that she should be exiled, and she flees across the sea.
The King decides to go to Rome to seek penance
from the Pope
. He comes to stay at the same merchant's house who has taken in Emaré. Emaré tells her son that the next day, at the feast, he will serve whilst wearing her kyrtle, and that he must tell her everything the King says to him. At the feast all admire the boy for his beauty and courtesy. The King asks him his name, and, upon learning it, grows melancholy as it is the same name as his son. He asks the merchant if the child is his, and when the merchant replies that it is, the King offers to adopt him and make him his heir.
Segramour goes to his mother and tells him of this, and she tells him to go back to the king and tell him that he should come speak to Emaré, who changed her name to Egaré in the land of Galys. He does so, and the King disbelieves him, but follows him anyway. He discovers it is his wife and all rejoice.
Meanwhile, Emaré's father, the Emperor, now an old man, decides to come to Rome to seek penance in order to get to Heaven. He sends messengers to Rome to let them know he is coming, and Emaré tells her husband to go meet the Emperor, ride in with him and show him respect, and tells her son to go as well, win the heart of the Emperor, and, once he has arrived, to ask him to come speak with Emaré. The Emperor cannot believe this, but on meeting Emaré has a joyful reunion with his daughter, the King and his grandson.
The lay ends with Segramour becoming Emperor after his grandfather, and a final thanksgiving to Christ.
s and chivalric romances. The commonest form of this in fairy tales is the tale of persecuted heroine, Aarne-Thompson type 510B, such as Allerleirauh
, The King who Wished to Marry His Daughter
, and The She-bear
, where the escaped heroine proceeds to Cinderella
-like attend three balls and win a princely husband. However, the exact form of this tale—the heroine who flees, marries, and is then exiled after accusations at the time of the birth of her child—is also found in many fairy tales, such as Penta of the Chopped-off Hands
, and many fairy tales, such as The Girl Without Hands
and The One-Handed Girl
, feature the exile, marriage, and second exile while offering a different reason for her alienation from her father. This tale, and this only, was taken up into romances. It continues the folkloric motifs by having her mother-in-law be the one to persecute her again, by setting her and her baby adrift.
The oldest such retelling appears in Vitae Duorum Offarum
, naming the king Offa; the king himself appears to be historical, but the details of his kingdom are inaccurate. A second English version is the "Constance" tale, in Nicholas Trivet
's Chronique Anglo-Normane, the source of both Chaucer's The Man of Law's Tale and John Gower
's variant in Confessio Amantis
; the common name for this tale type, the innocent accused queen, in romance is the "Constance cycle". Attempts have to been made to link it to the Old English The Wife's Lament
, but owing to the lack of detail about the cause of the wife's suffering—neither who the malevolent relatives were, who separated her from her husband, nor what was their accusation—no definitive connection can be made.
Unlike many variants of the Constance tale, and unlike the fairy tales, Emare is not mutilated at any point, nor is there any heavenly vengeance on her persecutors.
Other romances that use the plotline of this fairy tale include Mai and Beaflor, and La Belle Helene de Constantinople. La Belle Helene de Constantinople indeed features a similar woman raising the heroine. Sir Degaré also features it, and it also shares motifs with such romances as Lay le Freine, Octavian
, Torrent of Portyngale, Sir Eglamour of Artois
, Le Bone Florence of Rome
, Generides
, and the Chevalere Assigne.
While Le Bone Florence of Rome
suffers because of her wicked brother-in-law who tries to seduce her and abandons her in the forest while she frees him, her tale has many common points with Florence's: both women are noted for their beauty and magnificent clothing, both are taken as evil for it, and both suffer not for their own instruction, being models of virtue, but to demonstrate God's providence. Emare's robe is a key image of the romance. It also resembles the marvelous gowns obtained by the heroines of the fairy tale
variants, as in Allerleirauh
, Donkeyskin
, Catskin
, The King Who Wished to Marry His Daughter
or The Princess That Wore a Rabbit-skin Dress
.
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 , rhymed tales of love and chivalry, often involving supernatural and fairy-world Celtic motifs...
, a form of Mediaeval Romance
Romance (genre)
As a literary genre of high culture, romance or chivalric romance is a style of heroic prose and verse narrative that was popular in the aristocratic circles of High Medieval and Early Modern Europe. They were fantastic stories about marvel-filled adventures, often of a knight errant portrayed as...
poem, told in 1035 lines. The author of Emaré is unknown and exists in only one manuscript, the Cotton Caligula A. ii, which contains ten metrical narratives. Emaré seems to date from the late fourteenth century, possibly written in the North East Midlands. The iambic pentameter is rather rough.
It tells a version of the popular "Constance-saga".
Plot summary
The text begins with a standard invocation to ChristChrist
Christ is the English term for the Greek meaning "the anointed one". It is a translation of the Hebrew , usually transliterated into English as Messiah or Mashiach...
, but one of uncommon length; it may be the longest one in English romance.
We are then told of Sir Artyus, an Emperor. His wife gives birth to a beautiful baby girl but dies shortly afterwards. The daughter, Emaré, is sent to live with a lady named Abro who raises her and teaches her manners and sewing.
Some years later, the King of Sicily
Sicily
Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...
comes to see the Emperor, bringing with him a beautiful cloth set with precious stones, woven by the daughter of the heathen Emir
Emir
Emir , meaning "commander", "general", or "prince"; also transliterated as Amir, Aamir or Ameer) is a title of high office, used throughout the Muslim world...
as a wedding gift to her betrothed. It depicts four scenes of lovers in the corners. The King had won it from the Sultan of Emir in war, and presents it to the Emperor as a gift.
The Emperor sends for his now grown up daughter, and, pleased with her beauty, becomes enamored by her. He decides he wants to marry her, and sends to Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
for Papal dispensation to marry his daughter. When the Papal Bull
Papal bull
A Papal bull is a particular type of letters patent or charter issued by a Pope of the Catholic Church. It is named after the bulla that was appended to the end in order to authenticate it....
arrives, he has the elaborate cloth tailored into a garment (kyrtle) for Emaré. She wears it and is bedazzling in her beauty. The Emperor tells her she is to marry him, but she refuses, saying it is an affront to Christ. He grows angry and has her put out to sea, still in the beautiful kyrtle, with no food or drink.
A powerful wind blows the boat away. The Emperor, on seeing this, weeps and castigates himself. Emaré is blown to the kingdom of Galys. The King of that country's steward, Sir Kadore, finds her in the boat. He asks her name and she changes it, telling him it is Egaré. She is nearly dead with hunger so Sir Kadore takes her to his castle and revives her. He throws a feast for the King at which Emaré serves, wearing her kyrtle. The King is overcome, and later asks Sir Kedore who she is. He tells the King that she is an Earl's daughter from a distant land, and that he sent for her to teach his children courtesy, as well as how to sew, as she is the finest embroiderer he has ever seen.
The King then presents Emaré to his mother. His mother thinks that she is the most beautiful woman in the world, but tells her son that she must be a fiend in a noble robe, and forbids him to marry Emaré. He ignores his mother, earning him her anger, and weds Emaré regardless. They have a loving marriage and eventually Emaré conceives.
The King of France, meanwhile, has been besieged by the Saracens, and the King of Galys goes to his aid, leaving his wife, Emaré, in the care of Sir Kadore. She gives birth to a beautiful son she calls Segramour, and Sir Kadore writes a letter to the King telling him of the event. The messenger stops off at the King's mother's castle on the way. He tells her of the news, and she proceeds to get him drunk. Once he is unconscious, she burns the letter and writes a new one to tell her son that his wife had given birth to a demon
Demon
call - 1347 531 7769 for more infoIn Ancient Near Eastern religions as well as in the Abrahamic traditions, including ancient and medieval Christian demonology, a demon is considered an "unclean spirit" which may cause demonic possession, to be addressed with an act of exorcism...
. The next day the messenger continues on his way and gives the message to the King. On reading it the King weeps, and curses his fortune. However, he writes a letter ordering Sir Kadore to offer any and all support to Emaré and to refuse her nothing.
The messenger sets off with this message and again stops off at the mother's castle. She again gets him drunk, and again burns the letter, and writes a new one informing Sir Kadore to exile
Exile
Exile means to be away from one's home , while either being explicitly refused permission to return and/or being threatened with imprisonment or death upon return...
Emaré. When Sir Kadore receives this letter he is shocked, and swoons. Emaré hears the lamentation in the hall and asks what the problem is. When Sir Kadore explains, she decides that the King has ordered this because she is not a worthy Queen for him, being a simple lady, and agrees to go into exile. Again, she is put out to see wearing her kyrtle with her baby son. For more than a week she drifts, suckling her son to keep him quiet and cursing the sea, until she arrives at Rome.
A merchant of Rome, Jurdan, finds her in her boat. Again, Emaré names herself as Egaré, and the merchant takes her and her son into his home.
Seven years pass, and the baby has grown into a fine, wise boy. The King of Galys has returned home from the siege
Siege
A siege is a military blockade of a city or fortress with the intent of conquering by attrition or assault. The term derives from sedere, Latin for "to sit". Generally speaking, siege warfare is a form of constant, low intensity conflict characterized by one party holding a strong, static...
, and asks Sir Kadore for news. He grows angry that Sir Kadore does not first tell him about his wife and child, which confuses Kadore, who tells the King that he had followed his orders and exiled them. The King reads the false letter and says that he never wrote it. They interrogate the messenger who says that he stopped at the King's mother's castle. The King is furious and says he will burn her at the stake, but his lords decide instead that she should be exiled, and she flees across the sea.
The King decides to go to Rome to seek penance
Penance
Penance is repentance of sins as well as the proper name of the Roman Catholic, Orthodox Christian, and Anglican Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation/Confession. It also plays a part in non-sacramental confession among Lutherans and other Protestants...
from the Pope
Pope
The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, a position that makes him the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church . In the Catholic Church, the Pope is regarded as the successor of Saint Peter, the Apostle...
. He comes to stay at the same merchant's house who has taken in Emaré. Emaré tells her son that the next day, at the feast, he will serve whilst wearing her kyrtle, and that he must tell her everything the King says to him. At the feast all admire the boy for his beauty and courtesy. The King asks him his name, and, upon learning it, grows melancholy as it is the same name as his son. He asks the merchant if the child is his, and when the merchant replies that it is, the King offers to adopt him and make him his heir.
Segramour goes to his mother and tells him of this, and she tells him to go back to the king and tell him that he should come speak to Emaré, who changed her name to Egaré in the land of Galys. He does so, and the King disbelieves him, but follows him anyway. He discovers it is his wife and all rejoice.
Meanwhile, Emaré's father, the Emperor, now an old man, decides to come to Rome to seek penance in order to get to Heaven. He sends messengers to Rome to let them know he is coming, and Emaré tells her husband to go meet the Emperor, ride in with him and show him respect, and tells her son to go as well, win the heart of the Emperor, and, once he has arrived, to ask him to come speak with Emaré. The Emperor cannot believe this, but on meeting Emaré has a joyful reunion with his daughter, the King and his grandson.
The lay ends with Segramour becoming Emperor after his grandfather, and a final thanksgiving to Christ.
Sources
According to the poem itself, it is based on a French poem, L'Egaree, which is very probable; the poem may or may not have been Breton, but Emare does preserve a large number of French terms and proper names.Motifs
The king who wishes to marry his own daughter is a common motif in both fairy taleFairy tale
A fairy tale is a type of short story that typically features such folkloric characters, such as fairies, goblins, elves, trolls, dwarves, giants or gnomes, and usually magic or enchantments. However, only a small number of the stories refer to fairies...
s and chivalric romances. The commonest form of this in fairy tales is the tale of persecuted heroine, Aarne-Thompson type 510B, such as Allerleirauh
Allerleirauh
Allerleirauh is a fairy tale recorded by the Brothers Grimm. Since the second edition published in 1819, it has been recorded as Tale no. 65. Andrew Lang included it in The Green Fairy Book....
, The King who Wished to Marry His Daughter
The King who Wished to Marry His Daughter
"The King Who Wished to Marry His Daughter" is a Scottish fairy tale collected by John Francis Campbell in Popular Tales of the West Highlands, listing his informant as Ann Darroch from Islay.It is Aarne-Thompson type 510B, unnatural love...
, and The She-bear
The She-Bear
"The She-bear" is an Italian literary fairy tale, written by Giambattista Basile in his 1634 work, the Pentamerone.Ruth Manning-Sanders included it in A Book of Princes and Princesses....
, where the escaped heroine proceeds to Cinderella
Cinderella
"Cinderella; or, The Little Glass Slipper" is a folk tale embodying a myth-element of unjust oppression/triumphant reward. Thousands of variants are known throughout the world. The title character is a young woman living in unfortunate circumstances that are suddenly changed to remarkable fortune...
-like attend three balls and win a princely husband. However, the exact form of this tale—the heroine who flees, marries, and is then exiled after accusations at the time of the birth of her child—is also found in many fairy tales, such as Penta of the Chopped-off Hands
Penta of the Chopped-off Hands
Penta of the Chopped-off Hands or The Girl With the Maimed Hands is an Italian literary fairy tale written by Giambattista Basile in his 1634 work, the Pentamerone....
, and many fairy tales, such as The Girl Without Hands
The Girl Without Hands
The Girl Without Hands or The Handless Maiden or The Girl With Silver Hands or The Armless Maiden is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm, tale number 31. It is Aarne-Thompson type 706.-Synopsis:...
and The One-Handed Girl
The One-Handed Girl
The One-Handed Girl is a Swahili fairy tale, collected by Edward Steere in Swahili Tales. Andrew Lang included it in The Lilac Fairy Book.It is Aarne-Thompson type 706...
, feature the exile, marriage, and second exile while offering a different reason for her alienation from her father. This tale, and this only, was taken up into romances. It continues the folkloric motifs by having her mother-in-law be the one to persecute her again, by setting her and her baby adrift.
The oldest such retelling appears in Vitae Duorum Offarum
Vitae duorum Offarum
The Vitae duorum Offarum "The lives of the two Offas" is a literary history written in the mid-thirteenth century, apparently by the St Albans monk Matthew Paris.-Account:...
, naming the king Offa; the king himself appears to be historical, but the details of his kingdom are inaccurate. A second English version is the "Constance" tale, in Nicholas Trivet
Nicholas Trivet
Nicholas Trivet was an English Anglo-Norman chronicler.Trivet was born in Somerset and was the son of Sir Thomas Trevet , a judge who came of a Norfolk or Somerset family...
's Chronique Anglo-Normane, the source of both Chaucer's The Man of Law's Tale and John Gower
John Gower
John Gower was an English poet, a contemporary of William Langland and a personal friend of Geoffrey Chaucer. He is remembered primarily for three major works, the Mirroir de l'Omme, Vox Clamantis, and Confessio Amantis, three long poems written in French, Latin, and English respectively, which...
's variant in Confessio Amantis
Confessio Amantis
Confessio Amantis is a 33,000-line Middle English poem by John Gower, which uses the confession made by an ageing lover to the chaplain of Venus as a frame story for a collection of shorter narrative poems. According to its prologue, it was composed at the request of Richard II...
; the common name for this tale type, the innocent accused queen, in romance is the "Constance cycle". Attempts have to been made to link it to the Old English The Wife's Lament
The Wife's Lament
The Wife's Lament or The Wife's Complaint is an Old English poem of 53 lines found in the Exeter Book and generally treated as an elegy in the manner of the German frauenlied, or woman's song. The poem has been relatively well-preserved and requires few if any emendations to enable an initial reading...
, but owing to the lack of detail about the cause of the wife's suffering—neither who the malevolent relatives were, who separated her from her husband, nor what was their accusation—no definitive connection can be made.
Unlike many variants of the Constance tale, and unlike the fairy tales, Emare is not mutilated at any point, nor is there any heavenly vengeance on her persecutors.
Other romances that use the plotline of this fairy tale include Mai and Beaflor, and La Belle Helene de Constantinople. La Belle Helene de Constantinople indeed features a similar woman raising the heroine. Sir Degaré also features it, and it also shares motifs with such romances as Lay le Freine, Octavian
Octavian (Middle English verse romance)
Octavian is a 14th-century Middle English verse translation and abridgement of a mid-13th century Old French romance of the same name. This Middle English version exists in three manuscript copies and in two separate compositions, one of which may have been written by the 14th century poet Thomas...
, Torrent of Portyngale, Sir Eglamour of Artois
Sir Eglamour of Artois
Sir Eglamour of Artois is a Middle English verse romance that was written sometime around 1350. It is a narrative poem of about 1300 lines, a tail-rhyme romance that was quite popular in its day, judging from the number of copies that have survived – four manuscripts from the 15th century or...
, Le Bone Florence of Rome
Le Bone Florence of Rome
Le Bone Florence of Rome is a medieval English chivalric romance. Featuring the innocent persecuted heroine, it is subcategorized into the Crescentia cycle of romances because of two common traits: the heroine is accused by her brother-in-law after an attempted seduction, and the story ends with...
, Generides
Generides
Generides or Generydes is an English verse romance, originating in the English Midlands and dated to the end of the 14th century. It survives in two different lengthy forms...
, and the Chevalere Assigne.
While Le Bone Florence of Rome
Le Bone Florence of Rome
Le Bone Florence of Rome is a medieval English chivalric romance. Featuring the innocent persecuted heroine, it is subcategorized into the Crescentia cycle of romances because of two common traits: the heroine is accused by her brother-in-law after an attempted seduction, and the story ends with...
suffers because of her wicked brother-in-law who tries to seduce her and abandons her in the forest while she frees him, her tale has many common points with Florence's: both women are noted for their beauty and magnificent clothing, both are taken as evil for it, and both suffer not for their own instruction, being models of virtue, but to demonstrate God's providence. Emare's robe is a key image of the romance. It also resembles the marvelous gowns obtained by the heroines of the fairy tale
Fairy tale
A fairy tale is a type of short story that typically features such folkloric characters, such as fairies, goblins, elves, trolls, dwarves, giants or gnomes, and usually magic or enchantments. However, only a small number of the stories refer to fairies...
variants, as in Allerleirauh
Allerleirauh
Allerleirauh is a fairy tale recorded by the Brothers Grimm. Since the second edition published in 1819, it has been recorded as Tale no. 65. Andrew Lang included it in The Green Fairy Book....
, Donkeyskin
Donkeyskin
Donkeyskin is a French fairy tale told by Charles Perrault.Andrew Lang included it, somewhat euphemized, in The Grey Fairy Book.It is Aarne-Thompson folktale type 510B, unnatural love...
, Catskin
Catskin
Catskin is an English fairy tale collected by Joseph Jacobs, in More English Fairy Tales. Marian Roalfe Cox, in her pioneering study of Cinderella, identified as one of the basic types, the Unnatural Father, contrasting with Cinderella itself and Cap O' Rushes.It is Aarne-Thompson type 510B,...
, The King Who Wished to Marry His Daughter
The King who Wished to Marry His Daughter
"The King Who Wished to Marry His Daughter" is a Scottish fairy tale collected by John Francis Campbell in Popular Tales of the West Highlands, listing his informant as Ann Darroch from Islay.It is Aarne-Thompson type 510B, unnatural love...
or The Princess That Wore a Rabbit-skin Dress
The Princess That Wore A Rabbit-Skin Dress
"The Princess That Wore a Rabbit-skin Dress" is an American fairy tale from Kentucky, collected by Marie Campbell in Tales from the Cloud Walking Country, listing her informant as Uncle Tom Dixon.It is Aarne-Thompson type 510B...
.