% 'ese wonderful bestes be dyuerse': Faeries and Faeryland in the Literature and Culture of the Late Middle Ages

Many modern critics, such as Derek rewer and !rec Auerbach, suggest that the literary "alue of medie"al romances is undermined by the #resence of the mar"elous$% &n Mimesis, a work largely res#onsible for #romulgating this "iew, Auerbach argues that the medie"al courtly romance has no interest in "erisimilitude, but instead o#ts for 'an esca#e into fable and fairy tale($) *e inter#rets 'fairy( merely as a de"ice em#loyed by romance writers to #ro"ide an esca#e from reality, concluding that the mar"elous elements of these romances had an 'unfa"orable( effect on the de"elo#ment of 'a literary art which should a##rehend reality in its full breadth and de#th($+ ,his analysis, howe"er, suffering from generali-ed and anachronistic e.#ectations, fails to account for the com#le.ities of the intellectual and cultural milieu in which these romances were written$ /here Auerbach sees a shar# distinction between 'reality( and the 'legendary, fairy tale atmos#here(,0 the medie"al mind saw an amalgam$ 1ure"ich argues for this assimilation of the mar"elous into the medie"al #aradigm, #ro#osing that mar"elous #henomena were an 'inse#arable #art of reality( during the Middle Ages, where the medie"al mind was '#redis#osed to belie"e in wonders(, and the collecti"e consciousness was characteri-ed by a 'willingness to acce#t any kind of fantastic news, 2and an3 inclination to belie"e in the su#ernatural($4 Le 1off reiterates this, #ro#osing that what is most disturbing about medie"al mar"els is

rewer, Tradition and Innovation, #$ %056 !rec Auerbach, Mimesis: The Representation of Reality in Western Literature, trans$ /illard $ ,rask 78rinceton, %9:;<, #$ %+;$ ) Auerbach, Mimesis, #$ %+;$ + &bid, #$ %0)$ 0 &bid, #$ %++$ 4 Aron 1ure"ich, Medieval popular Culture: Problems of belief and Perception 7Cambridge, %9;;<, ##$ %%, )+=0$

) '#recisely the fact that they merge so easily with the e"eryday life that no one bothers to >uestion their reality($: ,his belief in mar"elous #henomena, the #lace it occu#ied in both the #o#ular and learned cultures of the late Middle Ages, and the conce#tions of the mar"elous these cultures be>ueathed to their literature, is the to#ic of this #a#er$ A methodological note here may be necessary$ ?ome studies of folklore are concerned #rimarily with the genealogy of beliefs, with the transformation of gods into faeries, and though it is a legitimate and interesting field, the >uestion of origins is of little rele"ance here$ For this reason the work of @oger Loomis offers little hel#, for though his remarks ha"e great anthro#ological interest, they do not tell us anything significant about faery beliefs as they were com#rehended by the medie"al mind$A Accordingly, in order to better understand its #lace in literature, this #a#er will focus s#ecifically on the #lace of the mar"elous in medie"al thought$ &t intends to demonstrate that these beliefs were by no means uniform, nor did they remain static o"er time$ &nstead, medie"al attitudes toward the mar"elous were characteri-ed by a long=standing tradition of scholastic debate and a continuum of e"ol"ing #o#ular conce#tions that generated a com#le. system of beliefs$ &n the late twelfth and thirteenth centuries mar"els were a source of contro"ersy among scholastics$ A>uinas argues that mar"elous occurrences, e.cluding those worked directly by 1od, were the doings of demons, who fre>uently em#loyed magicians as their human intermediaries$ &n addition to demonic forces, A>uinas contends, the occult "irtues of #hysical obBects, sometimes in conBunction with the influences of the stars, were the cause of these magical occurrences$; For this reason &sidore of ?e"ille condemns the
: A

Cac>ues Le 1off, The Medieval Imagination, trans$ Arthur 1oldhammer 7London, %9;4<, #$ ++$ @oger Loomis, Celtic Myth and Arthurian Romance 7Dew Eork, %9)A<$ ; ,homas A>uinas, umma Theologi! 7ed$ and trans$< ,$ C$ F( rien 7London, %9A4<, %0: ;+=;A$ Also see Lynn ,horndike, A "istory of Magic and #$perimental cience 7Dew Eork, %9)+<, ): :5+=0$

+ #ractice of magic, but at the same time he 'saw no harm in holding that certain stones #ossess astonishing #owers, that the dog=star afflicts the body with disease, and that the a##earance of a comet signifies #estilence, famine, or war($9 Cohn of ?alisbury, on the other hand, condemns all magical #ractices, which, in his Polycraticus, he associates with 'disre#utable mathematica(, and sees them occurring out of a familiarity of men with demons$%5 ,hese writers, though not uniform in their attitudes toward the mar"elous, constitute mainstream a##roaches to such occurrences, condemning magic for its demonic affiliations, but regarding it as an integral facet of their reality$ Fthers, though, had begun to doubt the reality of such mar"els$ @oger acon(s enormously #o#ular mid=thirteenth century %pus Maius roundly reBects the e.istence of magic, stating: /hat men ought to belie"e toughing Figures, Charmes and such stuff, & shall deli"er my o#inion$ /ithout doubt there is nothing in these days of this kindG!.#erimental scienceGalone, therefore, knows how to test #erfectly what can be done by natureGso that all falsity may be remo"ed and the truth alone of art and nature may be retained$ ,his science alone teaches us how to "iew the mad acts of magicians, that they may not be ratified but shunned, Bust as logic considers so#histical reasoning$%% ,hat both acon and &sidore of ?e"ille were highly #o#ular and influential in the same #eriod should dis#el any sim#listic notions of medie"al ignorance or ingenuity regarding the mar"elous, a fact, as Finlayson #oints out, worth kee#ing in mind when making assertions about the effect of the mar"elous in medie"al literature$%) ,o com#licate matters further though, we may well remind oursel"es of acon(s comments on dragons: &t is certain that !thio#ian sages ha"e come into &taly, ?#ain, France, !ngland and these Christian lands where there are good flying dragons,
9

Lynn ,horndike, The Place of Magic in the Intellectual "istory of #urope 7Dew Eork, %954<, #$ %:$ ,horndike, "istory, ): %4;$ %% @oger acon, %pus Maius, 7ed$ and trans$<, @$ $ urke 78hiladel#hia, %9);<, ): 4;A$ %) Finlayson, 'Mar"elous in Middle !nglish @omance(, #$ +:;$
%5

0 and by an occult art that they #ossess, e.cite the dragons from their ca"es$ And they ha"e saddles and bridles ready and they ride the dragons$%+ Finlayson cites this #assage as e"idence that e"en a 'scientific( man in the Middle Ages, such as acon, inhabits a #aradigm much different than our own, further #roblemati-ing any sim#listic readings of literary mar"els written in an age in which someone may disbelie"e in magic, but belie"e in flying dragons$%0 /hen s#eaking of 'the mar"elous(, howe"er, there is a danger of creating the illusion of a cohesi"e set of #henomena$ ,o this #oint, the term 'mar"elous( has been used to denote both 'magic( and 'faery(, but a distinction here is necessary$ &n the Middle Ages mar"elous #henomena were subdi"ided into three categories: %< mirabilis, the une.#lained, unmoti"ated, and ine.#licable, corres#onding to our current notion of the mar"elous6 )< magicus, that is, the mar"elous controlled by man6 +< miraculosus, that is, the mar"elous controlled by 1od$%4 ,his third category, miracles, is outside of the sco#e of this #resent study, and the second category, the magical, will be addressed further in a later cha#ter,%: but the first class, the mysterious, is the category in which medie"al faeries find their #lace$ ,he word 'faery( denotes a distinct set of mar"elous beings$ Martianus Ca#ella calls them '8ans, Fauns, Fones, ?atyrs, ?il"ani, Dym#hs, Fatui and Fatuae(,%A while the twelfth century scholastic ernardus ?il"estris describes similar creatures as a class of sub=lunar s#irits who assume bodily e.istence and inhabit the earth$ *e calls them '?il"ans, 8ans, and Derei(, their bodies being of 'elemental #urity(, ha"ing a longer life
%+ %0

,horndike, "istory, ): :4A$ Finlayson, 'Mar"elous in Middle !nglish @omance(, #$ +:9$ %4 &bid, #$ +5$ ?te"ens #ro#oses a similar set of subdi"isions in his discussion of Middle !nglish romance$ ?ee ?te"ens, Medieval Romance, ##$ %55=%$ %: ?ee cha#ter fi"e$ %A Martianus Ca#ella, The even Liberal Arts &olume II: The Marriage of Philology and Mercury, 7ed$ and trans$<, /illiam *arris ?tahl and @ichard Cohnson 7Dew Eork, %9AA<, ##$ 40=4$

4 than our own$%; Later, Cohn ,re"isa, in his widely #o#ular %+99 translation of artholomaeus( mid=thirteenth century encyclo#edia, calls them fauni, satiri, incubi, and fatui, saying that 'ese wonderful bestes be dyuerse(, some assuming the 'likenesse and scha##e of men(, while others 'han crokede noses, and hornes in e forhede, and like to gete in here feet($%9 ,hese creatures limned the boundary between the known and the unknown, marking the outermost edges of the natural world$ ,o call them 'su#ernatural(, though, may be misleading$ ,hey were, as C$ ?$ Lewis #oints out, more 'natural( than other creatures, 'liberated from the beast(s #er#etual sla"ery to nutrition, self=#rotection, and #rocreation, and also from the res#onsibilities, shames, and melancholy of man($)5 1er"ase of ,ilbury, in the early years of the thirteenth century, makes a similar distinction, saying: 'we call mar"els those #henomena that sur#ass our understanding e"en though they be natural($)% ,hese beings occu#ied a liminal and often times indefinite #osition in the medie"al world$ Like all mar"elous and monstrous creatures they occu#ied the margins of the known world, and like all liminal personae 7'threshold #eo#le(<, they were necessarily ambiguous, eluding or sli##ing through the network of classifications that normally locate states and #ositions in cultural s#ace$)) *erein, though, lies their imaginati"e and #oetic "alue$ As a result of their liminality they were betwi.t and between the #ositions traditionally assigned and arrayed by custom and con"ention,)+

%; %9

ernardus ?il"estris, Cosmographia, 7ed$ and trans$<, /inthro# /etherbee 7London, %9A+<, #$ %5;$ Cohn ,re"isa, %n the Properties of Things 7ed$<, M$ C$ ?eymour 7F.ford, %9A4<, ): %%99$ )5 C$ ?$ Lewis, The 'iscarded Image: An Introduction to Medieval and Renaissance Literature 7Cambridge, %9:0<, ##$ %++=0$ )% 'Mirabilia "ero dicimus >uae nostrae cognitioni non subBacent etiam cum sint naturalia($ 1er"ase of ,ilbury, %tia Imperialia, 7ed$ and trans$< ?$ !$ anks and C$ /$ inns 7F.ford, )55)<, ##$ 44;=9$ Au>inas makes a similar distinction$ ?ee A>uinas, umma, %0: A9=;+6 ,horndike, "istory, ): :5)=+$ )) ,urner, Ritual Process, #$ 94$ )+ &bid$

: their #resence intruding u#on dominate discourse, #roducing mystery and ins#iring imaginati"e res#onses$ A look at the #eri#heral regions of the late thirteenth century *ereford ma# illuminates a series of monstrous races, remo"ed both geogra#hically and ideologically from the centrali-ed regions /estern !uro#e,)0 while the immensely #o#ular fourteenth century te.t Mandeville(s Travels illustrates these monstrosities in "i"id detail$ ,he monstrous bodies described are themsel"es liminal: fi.ed in transitory states, grotes>ue, yet oddly humanoid$ Among them herma#hrodites, skio#ods 7#eo#le with a single leg<, Cynoce#hali 7humans with dog(s heads<, Cyclo#es, and #ygmies$)4 ,hough not faeries, the descri#tions of these monstrous races e#itomi-e the liminal s#aces allocated to, and the liminal #hysicalities imagined for the ambiguous creatures in the medie"al #aradigm$ ?o ideologically similar were faeries and these monstrous races that Cohn ,re"isa grou#s them together under the same encyclo#edic headings, 'De faunis(, and later 'De #ilosis(, saying that both ty#es of creatures, des#ite their differences, are similar in that they both ha"e 'nought resoun of mankynde(, though they 'be like to mankynde in "oice and in many dedes($): Faeries occu#ied liminal -ones geogra#hically closer to home, making them more #al#able, more easily reali-ed in the folkloric imaginations of western !uro#eans$ ,hey could be encountered if one strayed too far from the "illage, too far into the darkness of the forest, their meetings being sometimes amorous, sometimes dangerous, and
)0 )4

?ee ?cott /estrem, The "ereford Map 7,urnhout, )55%<$ Cohn Mande"ille, Mandeville(s Travels, 7ed$< Malcolm Letts 7London, %94+<, %: %%+, %0%=+$ Harious accounts and descri#tions of the monstrous races e.isted in the Middle Ages$ ?ee es#ecially 1iraldus Cambrensis, The "istory and Topography of Ireland, 7ed$ and trans$<, Cohn F(Meara 7Dew Eork, %94%<6 ?aint Augustine, The City of )od Against the Pagans, 7ed$ and trans$<, !"a Mathews 7London, %9:4<, 4: 0+=4$ ): ,re"isa, Properties, ): %%99$

A sometimes an ambiguous mi.ture of both$ Ca#ella tells us that faeries crowded the s#aces of the earth, 'inaccessible to menGthe woods and forests, the gro"es, lakes, s#rings and ri"ers$()A ernardus ?il"estris locates them in similar s#aces, saying they may be encountered on a 'green hill(, or a 'flowery mountainside(, and that they inhabit ri"ers, and any site 'clothed in woodland greenery($); ,re"isa echoes Ca#ella and ?il"estris, though without the later(s floral imagery: And suche bestes be ful lecherous, in so moche at ey slee women in e dede of lechery if ey take hem walkynge in woodes$)9 ,re"isa calls these faeries 'satiri(, and later 'faunum ficarium( and 'incubi(, reminding us of one of the most common and #o#ular characteristics of faeries in the Middle Ages$ ,hese faeries were notorious for, as ,re"isa #ut it, 'doynge e dede of generacioun( with unsus#ecting women$+5 8robably the most well known sorcerer in the late Middle Ages, Merlin, is the offs#ring of such a union$ *e is half human, half faery, and as C$ ?$ Lewis notes, ne"er shown #racticing magic as an art$+% &n 1eoffrey of Monmouth(s "istoria Regum *ritannie, Maugantius >uotes A#uleius( 'e deo ocratis in e.#laining this #henomenon to Hortigern: &n the books written by our sagesGand in many historical narrati"es, & ha"e disco"ered that >uite a number of men ha"e been born this way$ As A#uleius asserts in the 'e deo ocratis between the moon and the earth li"e s#irits which we call incubus daemons$ ,hese ha"e #artly the nature of men and #artly that of angels, and when they wish they assume mortal sha#es and ha"e intercourse with women$+)
)A );

Ca#ella, even Liberal Arts, #$ 40$ ?il"estris, Cosmographia, #$ %5;$ )9 ,re"isa, Properties, ): %%99$ +5 &bid, ): %)+:$ +% Lewis, 'iscarded Image, #$ %+5$ ?ee cha#ter fi"e for a more thorough discussion of Merlin(s relationshi# with magic and faery$ +) '&n libris #hiloso#horum nostrorum et in #luribus historiis re##eri multos hominess huiusmodi #rocreationem habuisse$ Dam, ut A#ulegius de deo ?ocratis #erhibet, inter lunam et terram habitant s#iritus

1eoffrey(s account of incubi e#itomi-es the liminality ascribed to such faeries$ Like the monstrous races, they #ossessed liminal #hysicalities, being between men and angels, or as A#uleius says, they maintained a 'middle nature( #artly 'aIrial(, #artly 'animal( in body$ 1er"ase of ,ilbury cites Augustine in making a similar assertion, saying that 1od 'allows demons to #ut on illusory and s#ectral bodily sha#es, the sha#es as it were of lares, that is of household s#irits, so that they can #resent a familiar a##earance($++ ,hese faeries occu#y s#atially liminal regions as well, as they were not restricted solely to the earth, as they are in Ca#ella, ?il"estris and ,re"isa, but inhabit the liminal s#here between the moon and the earth$+0 ,he #o#ular thirteenth century outh #nglish Legendary furthers this conce#tion of incubi, #ro#osing an origin of such faeries well couched in Christian a#ocry#ha$ /hen 'e maister dragoun Lucifer( was cast out of hea"en, 'monye hulde faste wi him(, but these angels were not 'alle of one lore(, and, accordingly, the distance they fell from hea"en #aralleled their #artici#ation in Lucifer(s rebellion$ ?ome of these angels fell to the sublunary s#here, and in accordance with the faery tradition, they roamed 'in wode and eke in mede($+4 ,here, 'mankunne to bitraie(, some assumed the form of men and
>uos incubos demones a##ellamus$ *ii #artim habent naturam hominum, #artim uero angelorum, et cum uolunt assumunt sibi humanas figuras et cum mulieribus coeunt($ 1eoffrey of Monmouth, The "istory of the +ings of *ritain, 7trans$<, Lewis ,hor#e 7London, %9:9<, #$ %0:6 Deil /right, 7ed$<, "istoria Regum *ritannie 7Cambridge, %9;4<, #$ A+$ ?ee also A#uleius, ',he 1od of ?ocrates(, in ,homas ,aylor 7ed$ and trans$<, Apuleius( )olden Ass and %ther Philosophical Writings 7/iltshire, %99A<, ##$ )+0=44$ ++ 'ita et demons cor#orum formis fantasticis et laruatis, >uasi larium, hoc est domorum, familiaritatem in figura tenentibus indui sustinet, ut >uod mandatum in bonis o#erator ad bonum, hoc eius #acientia mali o#erentur ad nostre infirmitatis illusionem ac #enam($ 1er"ase of ,ilbury, %tia Imperialia, ##$ A):=A$ ?ee also Augustine, City of )od, ;: %:$ +0 A#uleius, ',he 1od of ?ocrates(, ##$ )0)=+$ +4 ,he mid=thirteenth century secular clerk /alter Ma# relates a similar account, saying that some angels, 'without abetting or consenting to the crime of Lucifer, were foolishly and unthinkingly carried away in the train of his accom#lices(, and as a result, 'the Lord allows them to suffer their #enalty in either the solitude of the desert or in inhabited #laces, de#ending on the degree of their transgressions(, their names being '/ood=men, Dryads, Freads, Fauns, ?atyrs, DaiadsG($ /alter Ma#, 'e ,ugis Curialium, 7ed$ and trans$<, M$ @$ Cames 7F.ford, %9;+<, #$ +)%$

9 'ligge ofte bi wymmen J as hi were of fleiss and blode($ &n addition to this, though, some of these fallen angels assumed the 'forme of woman J aday and eke ni2gh3t K *i lete men hom ligge bi J and bitraie hom outri2gh3t($ ,hese angels, howe"er, had a #erilous effect on their #artners, causing their 'membres toswelle sommeGAnd somme fordwine al awei J forte hi be2o3 ibro2gh3t to dee($+: ,hese faeries who assume womanly form a##ear again in the early fifteenth century treatise 'ives and Pauper$ After a discussion as to the #racticalities of an ethereal s#irit engaging in coitus with a human, in which 8au#er informs Di"es that these 'fendys( are ca#able of making a 'body of e eyr in what lycnesse 1od suffryth hym(, 8au#er e.#lains that these beings can transfigure into the 'lyknesse of man or of woman(, e.#laining further: And e fendis at tem#tyn folc to lecherie ben mest besy for to a#eryn in mannys lycnesse L womannys to don lecherye with folc L so bryngyn hem to lecherie, L in s#eche of e #e#le it arn cle#yd eluys$ ut in Latyn whan ei a#eryn in e lycnesse of man it arn cle#yd incubi, and whan ey a#eryn in o lycnesse of woman it arn cle#yd succuby$+A Aside from distinguishing between incubi and succubi, this #assage also illuminates another significant distinction between Latin and the 's#eche of e #e#le($ *ere, under#inning this scholastic treatise is a hint at a "ast folkloric tradition, where it is el"es who are the source of such 'lecherie($ ,his, howe"er, should not sur#rise us, for, as 1ure"ich notes, folklore in the Middle Ages cut across class boundaries, being as much a #art of learned culture as it was for #o#ular culture$+; ,he ele"enth century medical miscellany Lacnunga takes many of its #rescri#tions from #o#ular culture, being more a collection of folk remedies than a
+:

Charlotte D(!"elyn and Anna *ill 7ed$<, The outh #nglish Legendary, !!,? )+: 7London, %94:<, ##$ 05;=%5$ +A 8riscilla arnum 7ed$<, 'ives and Pauper, !!,? );5 7London, %9;5<, #$ %%;$ +; 1ure"ich, Medieval popular Culture, #$ )%$

%5 coherent treatise on medicine$ &t locates the mischief of el"es as one of the most recurrent sources of illness, gi"ing cures for 'elf=shot(, a disease caused by the in"isible but a##arently traceable attack of these el"es$+9 !.orcisms were also em#loyed to combat these male"olent el"es$ ,hese rites often in"ol"ed a com#le. mi.ture of liturgical and folkloric elements$ ,here was, as @ichard Mieckhefer notes, no firm distinction between official e.orcisms used by the higher clergy and #o#ular e.orcisms de"ised by lower clergy or e"en lay#eo#le$05 Fne such e.orcism begins by conBuring out 'el"es and all sorts of demons(, while another calls on all of 1od(s saints to cast the 'accursed el"es( into the eternal hellfire #re#ared for them$0% An e.orcism of this kind occurs in the 'Miller(s ,ale(, where Cohn, belie"ing Dicholas to be entranced, #erforms his 'nyght= s#el(: '/hatN DicholayN /hat, howN /hat, looke adounN Awak, and thenk on Cristes #assiounN & crouche thee from el"es and fro wightes($ ,herwith the nyght=s#el seyde he anon=rightes Fn foure hal"es of the hous aboute, And on the thresshfold of the dore withoute: 'Chesu Crist and ?einte enedight, lesse this hous from e"ery wikked wight, For nyghtes "erye, the white pater-nosterN /here wentestow, ?einte 8etres sosterO(0) ,his e.orcism demonstrates the mi.ture of Christian and folkloric elements characteristic of such a rite, and remembering Cohn(s social #osition as a car#enter illuminates the fact that rites such as these were, at least in Chaucer(s eyes, a #art of #o#ular folkloric culture$ Dot all faeries in medie"al #o#ular culture, howe"er, were une>ui"ocally male"olent$ 1er"ase of ,ilbury gi"es an account of 8ortunes, the !nglish e>ui"alent of
+9 05

!dward 8ettit 7ed$ and trans$<, Lacnunga 7Lewiston, )55%<$ @ichard Mieckhefer, Magic in the Middle Ages 7Cambridge, %995<, ##$ A)=+$ 0% ritish Library, M? ?loane 9:) and 9:+$ Puoted from Mieckhefer, Magic in the Middle Ages, #$ A+$ 0) 1eoffrey Chaucer, The Riverside Chaucer, ed$ L$ D$ enson, +rd edn 7F.ford, %9;A<, #$ A)$

%% ?cottish rownies$ ,hese faeries belong to the class of friendly house=s#irits, along with Disses, Mobolods, and *obgoblins$ 1er"ase associates them with the lower classes of medie"al society, hinting at their #o#ular folkloric roots, saying: /hen #easants stay u# late at night for the sake of domestic tasks, suddenly, though the doors are closed, they are there warming themsel"es at the fire and eating little frogs which they bring out of their #ockets and roast on the coals$ ,hey ha"e an aged a##earance, and a wrinkled face6 they are "ery small in stature, measuring less than half a thumb, and they wear tiny rags sewn together$ &f there should be anything to be carried in the house or any hea"y task to be done, they a##ly themsel"es to the work, and accom#lish it more >uickly than it could be done by human means$0+ 1er"ase goes on to e.#lain that it is a law of their nature not to cause harm to the #easants they a##eared to, but uncertainty arises in their relationshi# with humans when he notes a way in which they could be something of a nuisance: when on occasions !nglishmen ride alone through uncertain shadows of night, a 8ortune sometimes attaches himself to the rider without being seen, and when he has accom#anied him on his way for some time, there comes a moment when he sei-es the reigns and leads the horse into some nearby mud$ /hile the horse wallows stuck in the mud, the 8ortune goes off roaring with laughter$00 &t is im#ortant to note that both these accounts are set in darkness, the former occurring 'late at night(, and the later in the 'uncertain shadows of night($ ,his is highly significant, as medie"al faeries are always associated with either literal or symbolic darkness, an ambiguous state associated with slee# and dreams6 with the #al#able recognition of the subconscious, and also with the liminal hori-on between the known and the unknown,
0+

'cum nocturnas #ro#ter domesticus o#eras agunt uigilias, subito Q clausis ianuis ad ignem calefiunt, et ranunculas e sinu #roiectas, #runes im#ositas, comedunt$ ?enili uultu, facie corrugata, statura #usilli, dimidium #ollicis non habentes, #anniculis consertis induuntur6 et si >uid gestandum in domo fuerit aut honerosi o#eras agendum, ad o#erandum se ingerunt, cicius humana facilitate($ 1er"ase of ,ilbury, %tia Imperialia, ##$ :A:=A$ 00 'Cum enim inter ambiguas noctis tenebras Angli solitarii >uando>ue e>uitant, #ortunas nonnum>uam inuisus e>uitanti se co#ulat, et cum diucius comitatur euntem, tandem loris arre#tis e>uum in lutum ad manum ducit6 in >uo dum infi.us uolutatur, #ortunus e.iens cachinnum facit($ ,his #assage e.em#lifies the trickster #ersonae wides#read in #o#ular de#ictions of medie"al faeries, a characteristic ado#ted by later !nglish authors, re#resented most famously by ?hakes#eare(s @obin=1oodfellow$ &bid$

%) where wonders are likely to occur, and where fears and su#erstitions are more easily reali-ed in the folkloric mind$ ,he %%)A entry of the Anglo- a$on Chronicle, without calling them faeries, gi"es an account of such creatures likewise shrouded in darkness and mystery: Let it not be thought remarkable, the truth of what we say, because it was fully known all o"er the land, that immediately after 2the earl of Dormandy3 came thereGmany men saw and heard many huntsman hunting$ ,he huntsmen were black and huge and loathsome, and their hounds all black and wide=eyed and loathsome, and they rode on black horses and on black he=goats$ ,his was seen in the "ery deer=#ark of the town of 8eterborough, and in all the woods there were from that same town to ?tamford6 and the monks heard the horns blow that they blew in the night$ *onest men who ke#t watch in the night said that it seemed to them there might well ha"e been about twenty or thirty hornblowers$ ,his was seen and heard from when he came there, all that Lenten=tide right u# to !aster$04 ,hese creatures are a #erfect e.am#le of what are now classified as 'hunting faeries( or 'troo#ing faeries(, to which strange noises heard in the shadows of the forest were often attributed, as were sudden gusts of wind, which were su##osed to be caused by their fast riding$ *unting faeries of this kind a##ear later in the early fourteenth century Middle !nglish romance ir %rfeo, in which Ming Frfeo(s wife *erodis is taken underground by the faery king to the brightly illuminated and la"ishly arrayed realm of faery$ Frfeo then, o#ting to dedicate his life to searching for his abducted wife, abdicates his throne, and while wandering the forest, he encounters: Re king of fairy wi his rout
04

!all et he mihte taken wiSinnen, wiSuten, of lTred of lTwed, swa he sende ouer sT6 na god Tr ne dide ne na god STr ne lTuede$ De ince man na sellice et we soS seggen6 for hit wTs ful cuS ofer eall land et swa radlice swa he Tr comGa sTgon herdon fela men feole huntes hunten$ Ua huntes wTron swarte micele ladlice, here hundes ealle swarte bradegede ladlice, hi ridone on swarte hors on swarte bucces$ Ris wTs segon on e selue derfald in a tune on urch on ealle a wudes Sa wTron fram a selua tune to ?tanforde6 a muneces herdon Sa horn blawen et hi blewen on nihtes$ ?oSfeste men heom ke#ten on nihtes6 sTidon, es e heom uhte, et Tr mihte wel ben abuton twenty oSer ritti hornblaweres$ Ris wTs sTgon herd fram et he ider com eall et lente2n3tid onan to !astren$ Cecily Clark, 7ed$<, The Peterborough Chronicle: %5A5=%%40 7F.ford, %94;<, ##$ 4%=)6 M$ C$ ?wanton 7trans$<, The Anglo- a$on Chronicle 7London, %99:<, #$ )4;$

%+ Com to hunt him al about /i dim cri and bloweing And houndes also wi him berking6 Ac no best ai no nome, Do ne"er he nist whider ai bi=come$ And oer while he mi2gh3t him se As a gret ost bi him te, /ele atourned, ten hundred kni2gh3tes, &ch y=armed to his ri2gh3tes, Ff cuntenaunce stout and fers /i mani des#laid baners, And ich his swerd y=drawe holdV Ac ne"er he nist whider ai wold$ 7);%=9:<0: /alter Ma# gi"es an account of Ming *erla, whose tale shares affinities with both the re#ort of faries in the Anglo- a$on Chronicle, and with the faeries de#icted in ir %rfeo$ According to Ma#(s tale, *erla, 'a king of the most ancient ritons(, went underground with the king of Faery, and after an inter"al of darkness, arri"ed in faeryland, a brilliantly illuminated kingdom 'as comely in e"ery #art as the #alace of the sun described by Daso($ After a la"ish wedding feast, *erla was laden with #recious gifts, as well as a small bloodhound, and escorted out of faeryland under the instructions that no member of his retinue may dismount unless the hound Bum#s down from the la# of *erla$ ,he story holds that the hound remained in the la# of the king, who, after hundreds of years, 'still holds on his mad course with his band in eternal wanderings($0A ,he similarities between the occurrence in the Anglo- a$on Chronicle, the motifs ascribed to faeries and faeryland in ir %rfeo, and Ma#(s account of Ming *erla, suggest a close relationshi# between #o#ular faery beliefs and their re#resentations in literature$ &n >uoting Likhache", 1ure"ich makes a similar assertion, saying: 'howe"er different folklore and literature were in the Middle Ages, they had many more #oints of contact
0:

A$ H$ ?chmidt and Dicolas Cacobs 7ed$<, Medieval #nglish Romances: Part %ne 7London, %9;5<, ##$ %:5= Ma#, 'e ,ugis Curialium, ##$ ):=+%$

%$
0A

%0 than in modern times$0; Le 1off argues that in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries the mar"elous made its most #rominent a##earance in high culture,09 and it is not sur#rising that the literature of this #eriod echoed this #henomenon$ y this time romance had become the dominate #o#ular form, in which mar"elous elements were both essential and ubi>uitous$45 Accordingly, the historic romances of 1eoffrey of Monmouth, as we ha"e already seen, made full use of the faery element, along with those of /ace and Layamon, while the French Arthurian romances of ChrWtein likewise abound in mar"elous #henomena$ ,his trend continued into the fourteenth century: the )a.ain=8oet(s 1reen Mnight may be the most famous medie"al faery, while C$ ?$ Lewis notes that 1ower(s 'fairy way of writing( e.ceeds that of any other medie"al !nglish court #oet$4% Furthermore, romances during this time maintained their #o#ular a##eal$ ,he Auchinleck Manuscri#t, a mid=fourteenth century miscellany that Chaucer may ha"e had in his #ossession at one time, contains a number of romances, such as ir %rfeo, that fre>uently make use of faeries, faeryland, and other mar"elous #henomena, #ro"iding e"idence for both the wides#read #o#ularity of these romances during this #eriod and the ubi>uity of their em#loyment of the faery element$4)

0; 09

1ure"ich, Medieval popular Culture, #$ )%$ Le 1off, Medieval Imagination, #$ )9$ 45 Finlayson, ',he Mar"elous in Middle !nglish @omance(, #$ +:40 4% C$ ?$ Lewis, The Allegory of Love: A tudy in Medieval Tradition 7F.ford, %9+:<, #$ )%5$ 4) ,hough there is am#le e"idence to su##ort this, no #roof is #ossible, and all that can be ultimately said, as 8earsall notes, is that both Chaucer and the Auchinleck Manuscri#t were in London at the same time$ Derek 8earsall, '&ntroduction(, in Derek 8earsall and &$ C$ Cunningham 7ed$<, The Auchinlec/ Manuscript: ,ational Library of cotland Advocates( M 0 120301 7London, %9A9<, #$ .i$ Laura *ibbard Loomis #ro"ides the most con"incing argument for Chaucer(s familiarity with the Auchinleck Manuscri#t$ ?ee Laura *ibbard Loomis, 'Chaucer and the Auchinleck M?: Thopas and )uy of War.ic/(, in Laura *ibbard Loomis 7ed$<, #ssays and tudies in "onor of Carleton *ro.n 7Dew Eork, %905<, ##$ %%%=);6 'Chaucer and the reton Lays of the Auchinleck M?(, tudies in Philology +; 7%90%<: %0=++6 ',he Auchinleck Manuscri#t and a 8ossible London ooksho# of %++5=%+05(, PMLA 4A 7%90)<: 494=:)A$

%4 According to Le 1off, howe"er, the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries saw a maBor intellectual and cultural shift, the 'aesthetici-ation of the mar"elous(, in which the mar"elous ceased to hold a significant #lace in the medie"al #aradigm and became increasingly em#loyed merely as a literary and artistic ornament$4+ &nitially, this hy#othesis seems highly #lausible6 a look at the Canterbury Tales shows all of Chaucer(s mar"els either s#atially or chronologically remo"ed from his fourteenth century !ngland$ ,he 'land fulfild of fayerye( 7;49< in the '/ife of ath(s ,ale( occurs 'manye hundred yeres ago( 7;:+<, and the 'contree of fairye( 7A%9< in '?ir ,ho#as( is found '&n Flaundres, al biyonde the see( 7;5+<, while the 'Merchant(s ,ale(, with the king and >ueen of 'fayerye(, takes #lace in 'Lumbardye($ Likewise, the mar"elous e"ents of the '?>uire(s ,ale( occur in the e.otic east, while the 'magic( of the 'Franklin(s ,ale( takes #lace in ' ritayne($ ,hese associations, howe"er, may be more com#le. than they initially seem$ Cohn(s aforementioned reaction to Dicholas( feigned illness in the 'Miller(s ,ale( must be ke#t in mind, as should the fact that the /ife of ath, the Merchant, the ?>uire, the Franklin, and e"en 'Chaucer( himself all tell tales of mar"elous occurrences demonstrates the ubi>uity of the #resence of the mar"elous in the #o#ular folkloric minds of the Canterbury #ilgrims, who themsel"es are tra"eling to a shrine rich with mar"elous affinities$ Le 1off(s 'aesthetici-ation(, moreo"er, is a dangerously sim#listic tool for a##rehending the #resence of the mar"elous tradition in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries$ /hile a mo"ement towards aesthetici-ation may ha"e been #resent during this #eriod, mar"els, es#ecially faeries, still maintained a significant #osition in both learned and #o#ular cultures$ ,he Catholicon Anglicum, an !nglish=Latin wordbook of %0;+
4+

Le 1off, Medieval Imagination, #$ )9=+5, 05$

%: gi"es Latin e>ui"alencies for both '!lfe( and '!lfe Lande(,40 while in the fourteenth century, the Lusignan family boasted a 'water=fairy( among its ancestresses$44 Additionally, in her %0+% trial, e"idence against Coan of Arc included allegations of dancing around a 'fairy tree(, to which, in a #ublic session on )0 February, she answered: Ees, near to DomrWmy there was this tree$ ,hey called it the ,ree of the Mistresses or sometimes the ,ree of fairies$ Dearby was a s#ring$ ?ick #eo#le are su##osed to go there to scoo# u# water to drink, in order to get well$ & ha"e seen that myselfG& often amused myself there with the other girlsGMy brother told me that in DomrWmy they said: 'Coan recei"ed her commission under the Fairy ,ree($4: ,his testimony can tell us much about Coan(s belief in faeries, but more im#ortantly, it can also tell us much more about the beliefs of her !nglish in>uisitors$ Faeries in the fourteenth century then, were not merely literary motifs, ornaments issued sim#ly for the sake of style, but like literary re#resentations of faeries in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, their #lace in literature echoed from their dee#=seated #osition in the #o#ular and intellectual cultures from which their re#resentations were deri"ed$ ,hese faery beliefs were neither homogenous nor consistent, for while scholastics debated o"er the #resence, attributes, and function of faeries in the medie"al cosmic "iew, #o#ular beliefs were characteri-ed by e"er e"ol"ing conce#tions and attitudes$ ,his howe"er, seems highly a##ro#riate, for faeries always inhabited and embodied liminal states$ As ambiguous beings they occu#ied the margins of the known world, their #resence intruding u#on dominate discourse, #roducing mystery and ins#iring the imagination, and though we are often only gi"en glim#ses of their e.istence, these glim#ses are of great worth, as they #ro"ide #aths into otherwise uncharted terrains$

40 44

?idney *eritage 7ed$<, Catholicon Anglicum, !!,? A4 7London, %;;%<, #$ %%+$ ?te"en @unciman, A "istory of the Crusades 7Cambridge, %94A<, ): 0)0$ 4: /$ ?$ ?cott, 7ed$ and trans$<, The Trial of 4oan of Arc 7London, %94:<, #$ )A$

%A

8rimary ?ources A#uleius, ',he 1od of ?ocrates(, in ,homas ,aylor 7ed$ and trans$<, Apuleius( )olden Ass and %ther Philosophical Writings 7/iltshire, %99A<$ A>uinas, ,homas, umma Theologi! 7ed$ and trans$< ,$ C$ F( rien 7London, %9A4<$ Augustine, The City of )od Against the Pagans, 7ed$ and trans$<, !"a Mathews 7London, %9:4<$ acon, @oger, %pus Maius, 7ed$ and trans$<, @$ $ urke 78hiladel#hia, %9);<$ arnum, 8riscilla, 7ed$<, 'ives and Pauper, !!,? );5 7London, %9;5<$ Cambrensis, 1iraldus, The "istory and Topography of Ireland, 7ed$ and trans$<, Cohn F(Meara 7Dew Eork, %94%<$ Ca#ella, Martianus, The even Liberal Arts &olume II: The Marriage of Philology and Mercury, 7ed$ and trans$<, /illiam *arris ?tahl and @ichard Cohnson 7Dew Eork, %9AA<$ Chaucer, 1eoffrey, The Riverside Chaucer, ed$ L$ D$ enson, +rd edn 7F.ford, %9;A<$ Clark, Cecily, 7ed$<, The Peterborough Chronicle: %5A5=%%40 7F.ford, %94;<$ D(!"elyn, Charlotte and Anna *ill 7ed$<, The outh #nglish Legendary, !!,? )+: 7London, %94:<$ 1eoffrey of Monmouth, The "istory of the +ings of *ritain, 7trans$<, Lewis ,hor#e 7London, %9:9<$ 1er"ase of ,ilbury, %tia Imperialia, 7ed$ and trans$< ?$ !$ anks and C$ /$ inns 7F.ford, )55)<$ *eritage, ?idney, 7ed$<, Catholicon Anglicum, !!,? A4 7London, %;;%<$ Mande"ille, Cohn, Mandeville(s Travels, 7ed$<, Malcolm Letts 7London, %94+<$

%; Ma#, /alter, 'e ,ugis Curialium, 7ed$ and trans$<, M$ @$ Cames 7F.ford, %9;+<$ 8ettit, !dward, 7ed$ and trans$<, Lacnunga 7Lewiston, )55%<$ ?chmidt, A$ H$ and Dicolas Cacobs 7ed$<, Medieval #nglish Romances: Part %ne 7London, %9;5<$ ?cott, /$ ?$, 7ed$ and trans$<, The Trial of 4oan of Arc 7London, %94:<$ ?il"estris, ernardus, Cosmographia, 7ed$ and trans$<, /inthro# /etherbee 7London, %9A+<$ ?wanton, M$ C$, 7trans$<, The Anglo- a$on Chronicle 7London, %99:<$ ,re"isa, Cohn, %n the Properties of Things 7ed$<, M$ C$ ?eymour 7F.ford, %9A4<$ /right, Deil, 7ed$<, "istoria Regum *ritannie 7Cambridge, %9;4<$ ?econdary ?ources Auerbach, !rec, Mimesis: The Representation of Reality in Western Literature, 7trans$<, /illard $ ,rask 78rinceton, %9:;<$ rewer, Derek, ymbolic tories: Traditional ,arrative of the 5amily 'rama in #nglish Literature 7Cambridge, %9;5<$ === Tradition and Innovation in Chaucer 7London, %9;)<$ Finlayson, Cohn, ',he Mar"elous in Middle !nglish @omance(, The Chaucer Revie. ++ 7%999<: +:+=05;$ 1ure"ich, Aron, Medieval popular Culture: Problems of belief and Perception 7Cambridge, %9;;<$ Cackson, @osemary, 5antasy: The Literature of ubversion 7London, %9;%<$ Mieckhefer, @ichard, Magic in the Middle Ages 7Cambridge, %995<$ Le 1off, Cac>ues, The Medieval Imagination, 7trans$<, Arthur 1oldhammer 7London, %9;4<$ Lewis, C$ ?$, The Allegory of Love: A tudy in Medieval Tradition 7F.ford, %9+:<$ === The 'iscarded Image: An Introduction to Medieval and Renaissance Literature 7Cambridge, %9:0<$ Loomis, Laura *ibbard, 'Chaucer and the Auchinleck M?: Thopas and )uy of War.ic/(, in Laura *ibbard Loomis 7ed$<, #ssays and tudies in "onor of Carleton *ro.n 7Dew Eork, %905<, ##$ %%%=);$ === 'Chaucer and the reton Lays of the Auchinleck M?(, tudies in Philology +; 7%90%<: %0=++$ === ',he Auchinleck Manuscri#t and a 8ossible London ooksho# of %++5=%+05(, PMLA 4A 7%90)<: 494=:)A$ Loomis, @oger, Celtic Myth and Arthurian Romance 7Dew Eork, %9)A<$ 8earsall, Derek, '&ntroduction(, in Derek 8earsall and &$ C$ Cunningham 7ed$<, The Auchinlec/ Manuscript: ,ational Library of cotland Advocates( M 0 120301 7London, %9A9<, ##$ "iii=.i$ @unciman, ?te"en, A "istory of the Crusades 7Cambridge, %94A<$ ?te"ens, Cohn, Medieval Romance: Themes and Approaches 7London, %9A+<$ ,horndike, Lynn, A "istory of Magic and #$perimental cience 7Dew Eork, %9)+<$ === The Place of Magic in the Intellectual "istory of #urope 7Dew Eork, %954<$

%9 ,odoro", ,-"etan, The 5antastic: A tructural Approach to a Literary )enre, 7trans$<, @ichard *oward 7&thaca, %9A5<$ ,urner, Hictor, The Ritual Process: tructure and Anti- tructure 7London, %9:9<$ /estrem, ?cott, The "ereford Map 7,urnhout, )55%<$