View source for Yvain, the Knight of the Lion

{{Short description|Arthurian romance by Chrétien de Troyes}}
{{Italic title}}{{refimprove|date=May 2023}}
{{Infobox medieval text
<!----------Name---------->
| name                  = Yvain, the Knight of the Lion
| alternative title(s)  = 
<!----------Image---------->
| image                 = File:Iwein Rodenegg.jpg
| caption               = Anonymous 13th century fresco, depicting a scene from "Iwein" ({{Ill|Rodenegg Castle|it|Castello di Rodengo}})
<!----------Information---------->
| original title        = {{langx|fr|Yvain ou le Chevalier au Lion}}
| author(s)             = [[Chrétien de Troyes]]
| compiled by           = 
| illustrated by        = 
| patron                = 
| dedicated to          = 
| audience              = 
| language              = [[Old French]]
| date                  = between 1178 and 1181
| date of issue         = 
| provenance            = [[County of Champagne]]
| series                = 
| manuscript(s)         = 
| principal manuscript(s)= 
| first printed edition = 
<!----------Form and content---------->
| verse form            = [[Octosyllable]] [[Couplet|rhyming couplets]]
| length                = 6,818 lines
| illustration(s)       = 
| genre                 = [[Chivalric romance]]
| subject               = [[Arthurian legend]]
| setting               = 
| personages            = 
| personages (long list)= 
| sources               = 
| below                 = 
}}

'''''Yvain, the Knight of the Lion''''' ({{langx|fr|Yvain ou le Chevalier au Lion}}) is an Arthurian [[Romance (heroic literature)|romance]] by French poet [[Chrétien de Troyes]]. It was written c. 1180 simultaneously with ''[[Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart]]'', and includes several references to the narrative of that poem. It is a story of [[knight-errantry]], in which the protagonist [[Ywain|Yvain]] is first rejected by his lady for breaking a very important promise, and subsequently performs a number of heroic deeds in order to regain her favour. The poem has been adapted into several other medieval works, including ''[[Iwein]]'' and ''[[Owain, or the Lady of the Fountain]]''.

== Synopsis ==
In the narrative, [[Ywain|Yvain]] seeks to avenge his cousin, [[Calogrenant]], who had been defeated by an [[otherworld]]ly knight [[Esclados]] beside a magical storm-making stone in the forest of [[Brocéliande]]. Yvain defeats Esclados and falls in love with his widow [[Laudine]]. With the aid of Laudine's servant [[Lunete]], Yvain wins his lady and marries her, but [[Gawain]] convinces him to leave Laudine behind to embark on chivalric adventure. Laudine assents but demands he return after one year. Yvain becomes so enthralled in his knightly exploits that he forgets to return to his wife within the allotted time, so she rejects him. 

[[Image:Yvainlion.JPG|thumb|Yvain rescues the lion (Garrett MS 125 fol. 37r, c. 1295)]]

Yvain goes mad with grief, is cured by a noblewoman, and decides to rediscover himself and find a way to win back Laudine.      A lion he rescues from a dragon<ref>{{cite book|last1=de Troyes|first1=Chretien|title=Arthurian Romances|date=1991|publisher=Penguin Classics|location=London|isbn=0140445218|page=[https://archive.org/details/arthurianromance00chr/page/337 337]|edition=First|url=https://archive.org/details/arthurianromance00chr/page/337}}</ref> proves to be a loyal companion and a symbol of knightly virtue, and helps him defeat a mighty giant, three fierce knights, and two demons. After Yvain rescues Lunete from being burned at the stake, she helps Yvain win back his wife, who allows him to return, along with his lion.

==History and connections==
[[File:Jesus-College-MS-111 00308 154v (cropped) Owain.jpg|thumb|left|The opening lines of the Welsh version, ''Owain'' (pre 1382) from [[Jesus College, Oxford]] (MS 111).]]

''Yvain, the Knight of the Lion'' was written by [[Chrétien de Troyes]] in [[Old French]], simultaneously with his ''[[Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart]]'', between 1177 and 1181. It survives in eight manuscripts and two fragments. It comprises 6,808 [[octosyllable]]s in [[rhymed couplet]]s. Two manuscripts are illustrated,  Paris BnF  MS fr. 1433 and Princeton University Library Garrett MS 125 (c. 1295), the former incomplete with seven remaining miniatures and the latter with ten. Hindman (1994) discusses these illustrations as reflecting the development of the role of the knight, or the youthful [[knight-errant]], during the transitional period from the high to the late medieval period.<ref>Hindman, Sandra. ''Sealed in Parchment. Rereadings of Knighthood in the Illuminated Manuscripts of Chretien de Troyes''. University of Chicago Press, 1994. $16.95 (pb). {{ISBN|0-226-34156-9}}, review by M. McIlwain: [https://scholarworks.iu.edu/dspace/bitstream/handle/2022/4059/95.10.04.html?sequence=1] "She uses the motif of the knight, the profession common to all of Chretien's protagonists, to track this change. In each of five chapters she considers how distinct social identities for the knight seem to have dominated the way in which individual texts of Chretien's poems were illustrated, read, and understood."
</ref> The first modern edition was published in 1887 by [[Wendelin Förster]]. 

Chrétien's source for the poem is unknown, but the story bears a number of similarities to the [[hagiography|hagiographical]] ''Life of [[Saint Mungo]]'' (also known as Saint Kentigern), which claims Owain mab Urien as the father of the saint by [[Theneva|Denw]], daughter of [[Lot of Lothian]].<ref>Duggan, Joseph J. (1987). In Chrétien de Troyes; Burton Raffel, ''Yvain, the Knight of the Lion'', pp. 214–216. Yale University Press.</ref> The ''Life'' was written by [[Jocelyn of Furness]] in c. 1185, and is thus slightly younger than Chrétien's text, but not influenced by it. Jocelyn states that he rewrote the 'life' from an earlier Glasgow legend and an old [[Old Irish|Gaelic]] document, so that some elements of the story may originate in a British tradition. The name of the main character Yvain, at least, ultimately harks back to the name of the historical [[Owain mab Urien]] (fl. 6th century). Other narrative motifs in ''Yvain'' have been convincingly traced to early Celtic lore.{{sfn|Nahon|2022}}

''Yvain'' had a huge impact on the literary world. German poet [[Hartmann von Aue]] used it as the basis for his masterpiece ''[[Iwein]]'', and the author of ''[[Owain, or the Lady of the Fountain]]'', one of the [[Welsh Romances]] included in the ''[[Mabinogion]]'', recast the work back into its Welsh setting. The poem was translated into a number of languages, including the [[Middle English]] ''[[Ywain and Gawain]]''; the [[Old Norse|Old Norwegian]] Chivaldric ''Ívens saga'', and the [[Old Swedish]] ''[[Eufemiavisor|Herr Ivan]]''. The [[Valþjófsstaður door]] in Iceland, c. 1200, depicts a version of the ''Yvain'' story with a carving of a knight slaying a dragon that threatens a lion; the lion is later shown wearing a rich collar and following the knight, and later still the lion appears to be lying on the grave of the knight.
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==See also==
* [[Henry the Lion#Henry the Lion in folklore and fiction|Henry the Lion in folklore and fiction]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Bibliography==
*Chrétien de Troyes; Owen, D. D. R. (translator) (1988). ''Arthurian Romances''. New York:  [[Everyman's Library]]. {{ISBN|0-460-87389-X}}.
*Chrétien de Troyes; Raffel, Burton (translator) (1987). ''Yvain, the Knight of the Lion''. [[Yale University Press]]. {{ISBN|0-300-03837-2}}.
*Lacy, Norris J. (1991). "Chrétien de Troyes". In Norris J. Lacy, ''The New Arthurian Encyclopedia'', pp.&nbsp;88–91. New York: Garland. {{ISBN|0-8240-4377-4}}.

==Further reading==
* {{cite journal |last1=Adler |first1=Alfred |title=Sovereignty in Chretien's Yvain |journal=PMLA |date=June 1947 |volume=62 |issue=2 |pages=281–305 |doi=10.2307/459264 |jstor=459264 }}
* {{cite journal |last1=Brown |first1=Arthur C. L. |title=The Knight of the Lion |journal=Publications of the Modern Language Association of America |date=1905 |volume=20 |issue=4 |pages=673–706 |doi=10.2307/456487 |jstor=456487 |s2cid=163769665 }}
* {{cite journal |last1=Brugger |first1=Ernst |title=Yvain and His Lion |journal=Modern Philology |date=1941 |volume=38 |issue=3 |pages=267–287 |doi=10.1086/388483 |jstor=434378 |s2cid=161417913 }}
* {{cite journal |last1=Chaitin |first1=Gilbert D. |title=Celtic Tradition and Psychological Truth in Chretien s 'Chevalier au Lion' |journal=SubStance |date=1972 |volume=1 |issue=3 |pages=63–76 |doi=10.2307/3684168 |jstor=3684168 }}
* {{cite journal |last1=Harris |first1=Julian |title=The Rôle of the Lion in Chretien de Troyes' Yvain |journal=PMLA |date=December 1949 |volume=64 |issue=5 |pages=1143–1163 |doi=10.2307/459555 |jstor=459555 |s2cid=163664240 }}
* {{cite journal |last1=Johnston |first1=Oliver M. |title=The Episode of Yvain, the Lion, and the Serpent in Chrétien de Troies |journal=Zeitschrift für französische Sprache und Literatur |date=1907 |volume=31 |pages=157–166 |jstor=40613588 }}
* {{cite journal |last1=Malaxecheverria |first1=I. |title=El león de ''Yvain'' y la degradación del símbolo |journal=Romance Notes |date=1981 |volume=22 |issue=1 |pages=102–106 |jstor=43801757 }}
* {{cite book |doi=10.1017/9781787449091.001 |jstor=j.ctvxhrjbb.5 |chapter=Lion-Keu-Coupé: A Missing Link in Yvain or le Chevalier au Lion |title=New Medieval Literatures 20 |year=2020 |last1=Ovrom |first1=Lukas Hadrian |pages=1–45 |publisher=Boydell & Brewer |isbn=978-1-78744-909-1 |s2cid=218965052 }}
* {{cite journal |last1=Nahon |first1=Peter |title=À propos du chant des oiseaux dans le Chevalier au Lion et d'un passage de Clément d'Alexandrie |journal=Medioevo Romanzo |date=2022 |volume=46 | pages=180-184 [https://www.academia.edu/83550301/Peter_Nahon_%C3%80_propos_du_chant_des_oiseaux_dans_le_Chevalier_au_Lion_et_d_un_passage_de_Cl%C3%A9ment_d_Alexandrie_Medioevo_Romanzo_46_2022_180_184 full text]}}

==External links==
*{{wikisource-inline}}
*{{Commonscatinline}}
{{Gutenberg|no=831|name=Four Arthurian Romances ''by Chrétien de Troyes'}} (includes ''Yvain'')
*[http://www.princeton.edu/~rbsc/department/manuscripts/medieval.html Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts at Princeton University Library] (page has a links to a pdf file of a facsimile of Garrett MS 125)
*[https://i.4pcdn.org/tg/1481414635255.pdf ''Yvain, the Knight of the Lion'' in a freely-distributable PDF document]
* {{librivox book | title=Yvain, or the Knight with the Lion | author=Chrétien de TROYES}}

{{Chrétien de Troyes}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:1170s books]]
[[Category:12th-century poems]]
[[Category:Arthurian literature in French]]
[[Category:French poems]]
[[Category:Medieval French romances]]
[[Category:Love stories]]
[[Category:Works by Chrétien de Troyes]]
[[Category:Knights-errant]]