The Middle English Melusine: Evidence for an Early Edition of the Prose Romance in the Bodleian Library

Abstract

The convergence of history, heroic action, and concerns with the fate of Eastern Christendom in Melusyne, reflected in Hodnett 902 (frag. 4ra), an image in which a small-statured Geffray battles a giant with orientalized weaponry and exoticized armor, virtually assured its appeal to early Tudor audiences of crusade romances in a period when the European West was refocusing its gaze on the Ottoman empire.38 In this context, Melusyne sat closely alongside de Worde's verse Rycharde Cuer de Lyon (1509) and Capystranus (first printed ca. 1515, STC 14649), while the work's penitential themes have been compared with those in Robert the Deuyl, printed by de Worde around 1500 and 1517 (STC 21070, 21071).39 Equally, Melusynes blend of the dynastic with the magical coincided with the primary tropes of its contemporary, Helyas, the Knight of the Swan, an account of the crusader Godefroy de Bouillon's legendary metamorphic ancestor, while Melusyne's fairy ambiance aligned it with Julian Notary's edition of Huon of Bordeaux (ca. 1515, STC 13998.5), in which the fairy king Oberon plays his first leading role in English.40 On the other hand, alongside the Morte d'Arthur, Historyes of Troye, and Caxton's translation of Four Sons of Aymon (1504-1505, STC 1008), Melusyne stands out among de Worde's publications in having been produced as a folio volume, a feature that contrasts with early criticism of Wynkyn's catalogue as having been predominantly comprised of popular quarto volumes.41 From a practical perspective, however, formatting Melusyne as a quarto volume would have produced a bulky volume, especially in view of de Worde's preference for heavily illustrated editions. [...]as Joseph Dane and Alexandra Gillespie suggest, the folio volume could offer printers a more economical format in terms of words per page and overall sheet usage, depending on the layout adopted. Fragments 1 and 2 (Q_[1]-2) recount Geffray of the Grete Toeth's battle with and defeat of the giant Guedon of Guerrand and delivery of Guedon's head to his father; the profession of Geffray's brother, Froymond, as a novice at the monastery of Maillezais; the approach of an embassy from Northumberland to Geffray to seek aid in ridding the region of another giant, Grimault; and Geffray's agreement to this but deferral of his journey in order to punish Maillezais for his brother's monastic profession, which he does by incinerating the monks in the abbey.45 Fragment 3, from which the outervertical third of the leaf has been cropped, narrates the immediate aftermath of Raymondin's climactic denunciation of Melusyne as a treacherous serpent, the court's grief, and Melusyne's departure and serpentine transformation.46 Fragment 4 (R1) recounts Geffray's encounter with Grimault and discovery of the subterranean tomb where lay King Elinas, Geffray's grandfather.47 The death of the Earl of Forest at Geffray's instigation, the latter's forgiveness by Raymondin, and Raymondin's pilgrimage to Rome and decision to enter a hermitage on Montferrat occupy fragment 5 (R3),48 while Geffray's own pilgrimage to visit his father and the shocked response of the local monks to his presence make up fragment 6.49 In analyzing the text of the printed Melusyne, it is difficult to determine the precise relationship between the printed edition's copy and the sole surviving manuscript of the Middle English romance in BL, MS Royal 18.b.II. Additionally, the eponymous fairy was ambivalently referred to as mystical in Wilfrid Holme's Protestant polemic, The Fall of Rebellion, written around 1537 and published in 1572.87 Notwithstanding the apparent absence of further evidence of later Tudor reception of the Melusyne romance, many of the technical features of the Bodleian fragments, such as the fonts, iconography, and orthography, point to their production by Wynkyn de Worde, whose commercial perspicacity has been increasingly recognized in recent years. [...]the conjunction of the themes of magic and marvels alongside crusade and heroic action in Melusyne aligned it closely with de Worde's romance catalogue, even if it shortly preceded what Douglas Gray terms the "last flowering of the French romance of wonders. Passages are occasionally clarified with the addition of articles, pronouns, and/or added detail. [...]the printed edition chooses "smyten Geffray at the herte" (frag. 2ra), compared with the potentially more metaphorical "trowed to haue smyte Geffray at herte" (BL, MS Royal lS.b.II, 178v); and in the same passages, Geffray "smote the gyaunt with his swerde vpon the legge" in the printed edition, lending depth to the manuscript's "smote the geaunt vpon the legge." Show more