Van slot tot scharnier (II)

Apart from a small fragment, Die Riddere metter Mouwen (‘The Knight with the Sleeve’), a thirteenth century Arthurian romance written in Middle Dutch, has only survived in the Lancelot Compilation (c. 1320-1330). Here, the story is presented as a narrative diptych, with two panels of comparable size. Differences between the two parts, as well as striking contradictions in mainly the second part, suggest that the Brabantine compiler profoundly adapted his Flemish original. He even appears to have altered the storyline, letting the hero and his beloved not marry at the end, but in the middle of the narrative. This reshuffling allowed for the interpolation of additional episodes in the second half of the story. Using entrelacement technique to interweave new adventures, in which Arthurian knights shine, the compiler aimed at aligning the romance’s form and content with the narrative concept of the Lancelot cycle. In this tripartite contribution, an attempt is made to substantiate these hypothetical modifications and to propose a reconstruction of the original storyline. Having discussed analogy, reduplication and questions concerning medieval literary coherence in my previous article, and before studying the second part of Die Riddere metter Mouwen in a final piece, I will now analyze the first part of the romance. The hero’s highly unexpected maltreatment of seneschal Kay, as well as a ‘pseudo-ending’ halfway the story which acts as a hinge for the current narrative’s two panels, appear to result from drastic alterations, deliberately made by the compiler.