Châtelaine de Vergy

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The Châtelaine de Vergy or Chastelaine de Vergy is an anonymously-written short 13th century romance of courtly love in old French.

Overview

The romance consists of 968 lines of verse in 8 syllable rhymed couplets (the work is in the same poetic form as the majority of medieval French romans, although significantly shorter than the romances of Chrétien de Troyes). The work has come down to us in 10 manuscripts. The oldest extant version was written in 1288, and the presumed date for the composition of the work is 1271-1288. Some critics believe that the romance (other than the ending) is a roman à clé and that elements are based on true events.

The depiction of love in the work is exemplary of the courtly love tradition, with its emphasis on a relationship between a brave and handsome knight and a married woman, and on secrecy and utter commitment to a mistress' rules.

The Châtelaine de Vergy was apparently very popular in courtly circles. There exists, as well, a 15th century prose version of the tale, and the plot was reused by Marguerite de Navarre in one of her Heptameron short stories (tale LXX).

Plot

The Châtelaine de Vergy tells the story of an un-named knight in the service of the Duke of Burgundy who is the lover of the Châtelaine of Vergy (the wife of a châtelain and niece to the Duke). The Châtelaine has accepted this knight's love on one condition: that he must keep their relationship secret from everyone, and he is able to visit his mistress when, by their pre-arranged signal, she walks her dog alone in her garden.

When the Duchess of Burgundy falls in love with the knight, he is forced to spurn her advances. In her anger, the duchess then tells her husband that the knight is unfaithful and has tried to seduce her, and the Duke accuses the knight of treachery. To save his honor, and to avoid being exiled (and thus forced to distance himself from his mistress), the knight (once the lord has promised to keep his secret) reveals to his lord where his heart truly lies, thus violating his promise to his mistress.

The Duke reveals the truth of the knight's love to his wife, and, at the feast of Pentecoste, the Duchess makes a cruel inside joke to the Châtelaine about her lover and her "well-trained dog". The Châtelaine realizes her lover has not kept his promise and she dies in despair. The knight discovers her body and kills himself. The Duke finds both bodies, and exacts vengeance on his wife by killing her with the knight's sword, and then becomes a knight Templar.

References

• (French) Hasenohr, Geneviève and Michel Zinc, eds. Dictionnaire des lettres françaises: Le Moyen Age. Collection: La Pochothèque. Paris: Fayard, 1992, pp. 260-261. ISBN 2-2530-5662-6
• (French) Marguerite de Navarre. Heptameron. Paris: GF-Flammarion, 1982, p. 521 (notes).