''Partonopeus de Blois'' is a long poem in the

chivalric romance As a literary genre, the chivalric romance is a type of prose and verse narrative that was popular in the noble courts of high medieval and early modern Europe. They were fantastic stories about marvel-filled adventures, often of a chivalri ...

genre 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 the 1170s or 1180s. Its author is unknown, but some scholarly studies indicate Denis Pyramus.

Plot

Partonopeus is represented as having lived in the days of Clovis I, Clovis, king of France. He is seized while hunting in the Ardennes, and carried off to a mysterious castle with invisible inhabitants. Melior, empress of

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

, comes to him at night, stipulating that he must not attempt to see her for two and a half years. After successfully fighting against the Saracens, led by Sornegur, king of Denmark, he returns to the castle, armed with an enchanted lantern that breaks the spell. The consequent misfortunes have a happy ending. The tale had a continuation giving the adventures of Fursin or Anselet, the nephew of Sornegur.

Analogues

The tale is in essence a variant of the legend of

Cupid and Psyche Cupid and Psyche is a story originally from ''Metamorphoses'' (also called ''The Golden Ass''), written in the 2nd century AD by Lucius Apuleius Madaurensis (or Platonicus). The tale concerns the overcoming of obstacles to the love between Psy ...

."10.Zwei Parallelen zum Psychemärchen." In: Zinzow, Adolf.
Psyche und Eros: ein milesisches märchen in der darstellung und auffassung des Apulejus beleuchtet und auf seinen mythologischen zusammenhang, gehalt und ursprung zurückgeführt
'. Buchhandlung des Waisenhauses. 1888. pp. 306-321. The name Partonopeus (or Partonopex) is generally assumed to be a corruption of

Parthenopaeus In Greek mythology, Parthenopaeus or Parthenopaios (; ) was one of the Seven against Thebes, a native of Arcadia, described as young and outstandingly good-looking, but at the same time arrogant, ruthless and over-confident, although an unprobl ...

, one of the

Seven against Thebes ''Seven Against Thebes'' (, ''Hepta epi Thēbas''; ) is the third play in an Oedipus-themed trilogy produced by Aeschylus in 467 BC. The trilogy is sometimes referred to as the ''Oedipodea''. It concerns the battle between an Argive army, led by ...

, but it has been suggested that the word might be linked to Partenay, due to the points of similarity between this story and the legend of

Melusine Mélusine () or Melusine or Melusina is a figure of European folklore, a nixie (folklore), female spirit of fresh water in a holy well or river. She is usually depicted as a woman who is a Serpent symbolism, serpent or Fish in culture, fish fr ...

(see

Jean d'Arras Jean d'Arras ( 1392–1394) was a 14th-century writer from Northern France about whom little is known. He collaborated with Antoine du Val and Fouquart de Cambrai in putting together a collection of stories entitled ''L'Évangile des quenouilles ...

) attached to the house of

Lusignan The House of Lusignan ( ; ) was a royal house of French origin, which at various times ruled several principalities in Europe and the Levant, including the kingdoms of Jerusalem, Cyprus, and Armenia, from the 12th through the 15th centuries du ...

, as the lords of these two places were connected. The story has also been compared with the

Arthurian According to legends, King Arthur (; ; ; ) was a king of Britain. He is a folk hero and a central figure in the medieval literary tradition known as the Matter of Britain. In Welsh sources, Arthur is portrayed as a leader of the post-Ro ...

story of '' Le Bel Inconnu''. The romance, or a subsequent version of it, was translated into Old Norse as '' Partalópa saga''.

References

Bibliography

*Edition by G. A. Crapelet, with an introduction by A. C. M. Robert, as ''Partonopeus de Blois'' (2 vols., 1834)
Vol. 1
Gallica. * English ''Partonope of Blois'', by W. E. Buckley for the

Roxburghe Club The Roxburghe Club is a Bibliophilia, bibliophilic and Text publication society, publishing society based in the United Kingdom. Origins The spur to the Club's foundation was the sale of the enormous library of the John Ker, 3rd Duke of Roxburghe ...

(London, 1862), and another fragment for the same learned society in 1873 * German ''Partono pier und Melior of Konrad von Wurzburg'' by K. Bartsch (Vienna, 1871) * ''Icelandic Partalpa saga'' by O. Klockhoff in ''Upsala Universities Arsskrift'' for 1887. * H. L. Ward, ''Catalogue of Romances'', (i. 689ff) *

Eugen Kölbing Eugen Kölbing (1846-1899) was a German philologist, a specialist in the study of Nordic, English, and French language and literature and comparative linguistics and literature. Academic career Eugen Kölbing studied Philosophy, Classical Philo ...

, ''Die verschiedenen Gestaltungen der Partonopeus-Sage'', in German. Stud. (vol. ii., Vienna, 1875), in which the Icelandic version is compared with the Danish poem ''Persenober'' and the Spanish prose ''IIiitoria del conde Partinobles'' * E. Pfeiffer," Über die MSS des Part. de Blois" in Stengels Ausg. in ''Abh. vom phil.'' (No. 25, Marburg, 1885).

External links

An online edition

gallica.bnf.fr
{{DEFAULTSORT:De Blois, Partonopeus Medieval literature Male characters in literature Works of unknown authorship

Plot

Analogues

References

Bibliography

Further reading

External links