''L'âtre périlleux'' (
Old French
Old French (, , ; ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France approximately between the late 8th [2-4; 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 ...
''L'atre perillous'',
[Ms. 2168 fr. of the BnF]
f. 1r
at the top of the page. English The Perilous Cemetery
[N. Black, 1994.][M.-L., Charue, 1998.]) is an anonymous 13th century poem written in
Old French
Old French (, , ; ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France approximately between the late 8th [2-4; 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 which
Gawain
Gawain ( ), also known in many other forms and spellings, is a character in Matter of Britain, Arthurian legend, in which he is King Arthur's nephew and one of the premier Knights of the Round Table. The prototype of Gawain is mentioned und ...
is the hero.
[Ashe, Ilhe, Kalinke, Lacy, Thompson, 1996.] The name comes from just one of the adventures Gawain takes part in. Forced to spend the night in a chapel in a cemetery, he encounters a woman who has been cursed and is forced to spend the night with a devil each night. He defeats the devil and liberates her.
[G. Paris, 1888.] The story draws on influences from other Arthurian romances, such as those of
Raoul de Houdenc and
Chrétien de Troyes
Chrétien de Troyes (; ; 1160–1191) was a French poet and trouvère known for his writing on King Arthur, Arthurian subjects such as Gawain, Lancelot, Perceval and the Holy Grail. Chrétien's chivalric romances, including ''Erec and Enide'' ...
.
Plot
A knight (later named as Escanor) takes a woman from
King Arthur
According to legends, King Arthur (; ; ; ) was a king of Great Britain, Britain. He is a folk hero and a central figure in the medieval literary tradition known as the Matter of Britain.
In Wales, Welsh sources, Arthur is portrayed as a le ...
's court and defies any knight to take her back.
Kay initially pursues him but is defeated.
Gawain
Gawain ( ), also known in many other forms and spellings, is a character in Matter of Britain, Arthurian legend, in which he is King Arthur's nephew and one of the premier Knights of the Round Table. The prototype of Gawain is mentioned und ...
is distracted when he goes after him when he sees three women crying. They are lamenting the death of 'Gawain', their story is confirmed by a valet who has had his eyes gouged out.
Gawain leaves and, unable to find shelter, takes shelter in a chapel in the middle of a cemetery. It is revealed this is the 'perilous' cemetery. There he meets a woman who has unwittingly done a deal with a devil and, in order to have her released, Gawain battles and kills it.
Gawain takes the woman with him in his pursuit of Escanor, who he finds and kills, and takes both women back to the court of King Arthur. He leaves again. In a forest, he meets Raguidel, Espinogre, Cadrès and Cadrovain. Cadrès is crying because of his love for a woman, but in order to win her, he must defeat twenty knights in battle. They defeat the twenty knights between them.
Tristan invites them all to his castle, where Gawain finally learns the truth of his apparent death. Two knights loved two sisters. They, however, professed to love Gawain, despite having never met him. Gomeret and l'Orgueilleux Fée went in search of Gawain and, finding a knight wearing almost identical armor, killed him. Gawain tracks them down and defeats them both in battle. They return to Arthur's court where several marriages take place.
A plot summary in French, written by
Gaston Paris
Bruno Paulin Gaston Paris (; 9 August 1839 – 5 March 1903) was a French literary historian, philologist, and scholar specialized in Romance studies and medieval French literature. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1901, ...
, is available in ''Histoire littéraire de la France'', tome 30, 1888 (see below).
Manuscripts
*
Chantilly
Chantilly may refer to:
Places
France
*Chantilly, Oise, a city
** US Chantilly, a football club
*Château de Chantilly
United States
* Chantilly, Missouri, an unincorporated community
* Chantilly (Charlotte neighborhood), North Carolina ...
, ''
Bibliothèque et Archives du Château'', 472, f. 57r-77v.
*
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
, ''
Bibliothèque nationale de France
The (; BnF) is the national library of France, located in Paris on two main sites, ''Richelieu'' and ''François-Mitterrand''. It is the national repository of all that is published in France. Some of its extensive collections, including bo ...
'', français, 1433, f. 1r-60r.
** This is the only manuscript to include the story of ''La Rouge Chité'' (The Red City),
[M. Maulu, 2003.] and includes two
miniatures.
* Paris, ''Bibliothèque nationale de France'', français, 2168, f. 1r-45r.
Gallery
The following are from BnF fr. 1433, as it is the only manuscript to contain historiated letters or miniatures.
Ms. 1433 français de la BnF, fol 1ra. L’atre perilleus.png, Historiated ''M'' of ''Me dame'', f. 1r.
Miniature, ms. 1433 fr. of the BnF, fol. 55r.png, Gawain battles the Black Knight, f. 55r.
Miniature, ms. 1433 fr. of the BnF, fol. 60r.png, End of the romance, celebrations and music, f. 60r.
References
Bibliography
* Anonymous, ''Der gefahrvolle Kirchhof'', in Archiv für das Studium der neueren Sprachen und Literaturen, 42, 1868, pages 135–212. Available online a
archive.org
** Several sources name the author as Schirmer, notably
Tobler in ''Vermischte Beiträge zur französischen Grammatik'', 1902.
* Ross G. Arthur, ''Three Arthurian Romances : poems from Medieval France : Caradoc : The knight with the sword : The perilous graveyard''. London : Dent, 1996.
* Ashe, Ilhe, Kalinke, Lacy, Thompson, ''The New Arthurian Encyclopedia'', page 23, Routledge, 1996
Google Books(limited preview).
* Nancy B. Black, ''The Perilous Cemetery'' (''L'âtre périlleux''), New York et London, Garland (Garland Library of Medieval Literature, 104), 1994.
* Marie-Lise G. Charue, ''The Perilous Cemetery'' (''L'Atre Perilleux''): A Text Edition, Ph.D. dissertation, University of Connecticut, 1998.
* Marco Maulu, La "Rouge Chité", l'episodio « ritrovato » dell'Âtre périlleux. Con edizione critica, Annali dell'Università degli studi di Cagliari, 2003, pages 175–241. Available to download o
uniss.academia.edu
** The third edition of ''La Chité Rouge'', after Zingerle and Woledge.
*
Gaston Paris
Bruno Paulin Gaston Paris (; 9 August 1839 – 5 March 1903) was a French literary historian, philologist, and scholar specialized in Romance studies and medieval French literature. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1901, ...
, ''Le cimetière périlleux'' in Histoire littéraire de la France, tome 30, 1888. Pages 78–82. Available online a
archive.org
*
Brian Woledge, ''L'atre périlleux, roman de la Table Ronde'', Paris, Champion (Les classiques français du Moyen Âge, 76), 1936.
** Based on his PhD dissertation, it is the only edition published in book form. ''La Chité Rouge'' is covered in the appendix. The edited text is available o
Base de française médiéval though, it contains a few typographical errors.
* Wolfram von Zingerle, ''Zum altfranzösischen Artusromane Li atre perillos'', in Zeitschrift für französische Sprache und Litteratur, 36, 1910, pages 274–293. Available online at
archive.org
{{DEFAULTSORT:atre perilleux, l'
13th-century poems
French poems
Arthurian literature in French
Poetry based on works by Chrétien de Troyes