Acheflour and Blauncheflour: Mothers and Wives in Sir Percyvell of Galles and Sir Tristrem
-
Aude Martin
Abstract
The Middle English characters of Acheflour, the hero’s mother in Sir Percyvell of Galles, and Blauncheflour, the hero’s mother in Sir Tristrem, share their actively voiced concern for their sons. In doing so, they are granted greater prominence in these Middle English narrative contexts than their counterparts in other linguistic traditions. In this article, I argue that the figure of Acheflour, whose agency has been acknowledged in scholarship, sets up a standard for Blauncheflour, whose role in the story has been, on the contrary, rather overlooked. Acheflour and Blauncheflour have in common that they are sisters to a king – Arthur and Mark respectively – and young widows. I argue that the strategies that they develop in order to protect their sons from the dangers of knighthood are comparable and create stronger relationships with these young knights.
© 2023 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Titelseiten
- ‘Que nus contes de ce n’amende’: Chrétien de Troyes and the assertion of copyright
- Arthurian intertexts: Le Roman de Laurin, the First Continuation of Perceval and the Prose Tristan
- Acheflour and Blauncheflour: Mothers and Wives in Sir Percyvell of Galles and Sir Tristrem
- Petrine Failings and Broken Pentangles: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight’s Chivalric Felix Culpa
- Eric fighting in Guatemala. Adaptation and proximation of medieval Arthurian literature in Manuel Vázquez Montalbán’s Erec y Enide
- Von den nahtweiden. Mythologische Subtexte in der Crône Heinrichs von dem Türlin
- The Transmedial Knights of the Round Table: Character-Based Worldbuilding in the Manuscripts of Chrétien de Troyes
- Obituary
- Mary Dewey (1947–2023)
- Gilles Eckard (1949–2022)
- Amanda Hopkins (1962–2022)
- Freda Humble (1922–2022)
- Ian Lovecy (1947–2022)
- Roger Simpson (1938–2022)
- Notices
- XXVIIth International Arthurian Congress, Aix-en-Provence, France, 11–18 July 2024
- Biennial JIAS Essay Prize Competition 2024–25
Articles in the same Issue
- Titelseiten
- ‘Que nus contes de ce n’amende’: Chrétien de Troyes and the assertion of copyright
- Arthurian intertexts: Le Roman de Laurin, the First Continuation of Perceval and the Prose Tristan
- Acheflour and Blauncheflour: Mothers and Wives in Sir Percyvell of Galles and Sir Tristrem
- Petrine Failings and Broken Pentangles: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight’s Chivalric Felix Culpa
- Eric fighting in Guatemala. Adaptation and proximation of medieval Arthurian literature in Manuel Vázquez Montalbán’s Erec y Enide
- Von den nahtweiden. Mythologische Subtexte in der Crône Heinrichs von dem Türlin
- The Transmedial Knights of the Round Table: Character-Based Worldbuilding in the Manuscripts of Chrétien de Troyes
- Obituary
- Mary Dewey (1947–2023)
- Gilles Eckard (1949–2022)
- Amanda Hopkins (1962–2022)
- Freda Humble (1922–2022)
- Ian Lovecy (1947–2022)
- Roger Simpson (1938–2022)
- Notices
- XXVIIth International Arthurian Congress, Aix-en-Provence, France, 11–18 July 2024
- Biennial JIAS Essay Prize Competition 2024–25
