Rewriting Arthurian Romance in Renaissance France: From Manuscript to Printed Book

298 Pages·2014·46.481 MB·English

by  Jane H. M. Taylor

Gallica
Volume 33
RewRiting ARthuRiAn RomAnce
in RenAissAnce FRAnce
Gallica
issn 1749–091X
general editor: sarah Kay
Gallica aims to provide a forum for the best current work in medieval and Renais-
sance French studies. Literary studies are particularly welcome and preference is
given to works written in english, although publication in French is not excluded.
Proposals or queries should be sent in the first instance to the editor, or to the
publisher, at the addresses given below; all submissions receive prompt and
informed consideration.
Professor sarah Kay, Department of French, new York university, 13–19 univer-
sity Place, 6th floor, New York, NY 10003, USA
the editorial Director, gallica, Boydell & Brewer Ltd., Po Box 9, woodbridge,
suffolk iP12 3DF, uK
Previously published volumes in this series
are listed at the end of this book.
RewRiting ARthuRiAn RomAnce
in RenAissAnce FRAnce
FRom mAnuscRiPt to PRinteD BooK
JAne h. m. tAYLoR
D. s. BReweR
© Jane h. m. taylor 2014
All Rights Reserved. except as permitted under current legislation
no part of this work may be photocopied, stored in a retrieval system,
published, performed in public, adapted, broadcast,
transmitted, recorded or reproduced in any form or by any means,
without the prior permission of the copyright owner
The right of Jane H. M. Taylor to be identified as
the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with
sections 77 and 78 of the copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
First published 2014
D. s. Brewer, cambridge
isBn 978–1–84384–365–8
D. s. Brewer is an imprint of Boydell & Brewer Ltd
Po Box 9, woodbridge, suffolk iP12 3DF, uK
and of Boydell & Brewer inc.
668 mt hope Avenue, Rochester, nY 14620–2731, usA
website: www.boydellandbrewer.com
A catalogue record for this book is available
from the British Library
the publisher has no responsibility for the continued existence or accuracy of
uRLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this book,
and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is,
or will remain, accurate or appropriate
Papers used by Boydell & Brewer Ltd are natural, recyclable products
made from wood grown in sustainable forests
Printed and bound in great Britain by
cPi group (uK) Ltd, croydon, cR0 4YY
For John, with love

contents
List of illustrations viii
Acknowledgements xi
Abbreviations xiii
introduction 1
1 Pierre sala, Poacher 11
2 ‘Books Printed here’: the Business of the Print shop 38
3 ‘A condition of survival’: Lancelot and Tristan 61
4 ‘skimble-skamble stuff’: Meliadus, Merlin, Greaal 91
5 ‘imperious seductions’: Giglan and Perceval 119
6 ‘satyric scenes in Landscape style’: Amadis de Gaule 147
7 ‘Fruitlesse historie’: maugin’s Tristan, Rigaud’s Lancelot 183
Afterword 215
Appendix 1: Rough chronology of Publication 217
Appendix 2: Sainct Greaal (1516) v. Vulgate Queste 221
Appendix 3: structure of the Roman de Giglan 233
Bibliography 241
index 269
iLLustRAtions
Fig. 1 grail frontispiece, from a book of hours published by Vérard 2
in 1506
Fig. 2 guinevere talking to courtiers, from Pierre sala’s Yvain 32
Fig. 3 tristan and Yseut in a garden, from Pierre sala’s Tristan 34
Fig. 4 Ysaÿe le Triste: the besieged draw up provisions in a basket 36
Fig. 5 Vérard presents Lancelot to charles Viii, from his 1494 39
edition of Lancelot
Fig. 6 Lancelot and guinevere surprised by gauvain and his 64
brothers, from the 1488 editio princeps of the Lancelot, vol. ii
Fig. 7 A Renaissance print shop in operation, from Le Doctrinal 72
sans macule
Fig. 8 Lancelot and morgue la Fée, with Lancelot’s paintings 82
behind them, from Vérard’s 1494 edition of Lancelot, vol. ii
Fig. 9 Vérard’s Prophéties de Merlin: mise en page 103–4
Fig. 10 Amadis de Gaule, Book i, editio princeps, title-page 148
Fig. 11 Amadis de Gaule, Book V: esplandian on the Rocher de la 154
Demoiselle Enchanteresse
Fig. 12 Amadis de Gaule, Book iV: plan of the Isle Ferme 179
Fig. 13 maugin’s Nouveau Tristan, title-page 201