CLCV 3880 Quiz 3

Medieval Legend: Sir Orfeo, Octavian, The Song of Roland, Orlando Furioso cantos 1-27

The Matter of Rome

Greek and Roman mythology told as if they are romance

Classical Orpheus, you know it but clarifyingly,

Eurydice was chased by Aristeaus the god of beekeeping before she ran into the snake

Orpheus died from

being torn apart by Maenads (female worshippers of Dionysus) because he rejected them

Octavian Augustus

a historical figure, a Roman emperor

Octavian and his wife cant have kids

they have no heir, a civil war waiting to happen once there is a power vacuum

octavian consult a soothe sayer

they should appeal to the virgin mary

the virgin mary, if a temple is built for her, she will

“persuade her son” to give octavian a worthy heir

it works and octavian’s wife,

gets pregnant with twins

Octavians mom is pissed about his wife being pregnant and

tries to convince him hes a cuckhold bc hes infertile

octavian’s mom “proves” it by

planting a servant naked next to octavian’s sleeping wife

octavian believes her, cuts off the head of the servant and

is going to put his wife to death

octavian cant bring himself to kill his wife so

he exiles her and her two kids

octavian’s wife falls asleep and

an ape steals one baby and a lioness steals the other

the lioness is picked up by a gryphon and the lioness

raises the baby instead, having lost her cubs too

the empress wanders around and sails to a desert island

she finds the lioness and her son, who hop on the ship

the lioness becomes the child’s

nursemaid

the other son and the ape fight a knight

the knight wins, the ape abandons the baby

robbers then assault the knight and the knight

abandons the baby and robbers sell him

the baby is sold to

a merchant named Clement the Villein

Clement names the son

Florent

The empress names her son

Octavian

Florent is fundamentally different than his adoptive family because

he was born of another class, so he acts naturally upperclass

Florent apprentices as a butcher but sells a cow for a

hawk, an upperclass animal

Florent is given 40 pounds to give to another apprentice but

buys a white horse with it

Clement always does what to Florent

beats him

an unnamed sultan does what in france

wages war

Octavian the emperor comes to the city defense but his troops can’t make much headway because

the sultan has a giant fighting for him

The giant claims he will take Paris single handedly if

he can marry the sultans daughter mirabelle and the sultan agrees

florent wants to fight the giant

clement gives him rusty armor

florent kills the giant and

wants to marry sultans daught mirabelle

but the sultan

puts mirabelle underground

florent is demanded his birth story after clement

disrupts a fancy party and they can’t possibly be related

after clement tells the story, emperor octavian realizes

florent is his son

florent takes up the new role as

heir

florent cant stop thinking about mirabelle so

he goes to find her in the sultans camp

florent defeats the sultant and

marries mirabelle

Orfeo, unlike Orpheus, is just a king with no relation to gods

he just plays the harp really well

Orfeo’s wife’s name is

Heurodis

Heurodis falls asleep in the woods and has a dream about

the fairy king, told her to return to the same spot the next day or else she’ll be punished

she tells orfeo and he sends her to the spot guarded by many knights but

she disappears anyway

orfeo goes into exile leaving one of his court as regent

and is away for 10 years, disguised as a wandering mistrel

eventually, he finds the fairy procession and follows them

he comes to the castle and requests to entertain the court

kidnapped humans in the fairy kingdom resemble

the dead of the underworld, referencing orpheus’ katabasis

orfeo does a good job and the king will let him have whatever he wants

orfeo chooses his wife

the king argues at first but

lets them leave together because of their agreement

orfeo returns to his kingdom disguised but

people recognize him and welcome him back

unlike orpheus, orfeo has a

happy ending

the matter of france

tales of charlemagne and his paladins

what is the evil trinity of french romance?

Mahon (Mohammad), Apollyon (Apollo), Termangant (demon)

Who is Charlemagne battling in the song of roland

Marsile, Saracen king of Spain

who leads Marsile’s embassy

Biancandrin

Charlemagne needs to council before he makes a decision about

Marsile’s deal on tribute and hostages

whos in Charlemagne’s council

Archbishop Turpin, Roland, Oliver, Ganglion

Roland is against the peace deal but

Ganglion is for peace

Charlemagne appoints who as ambassador

Ganglion, who is seen as expendable

Ganglion is furious about it and threatens

revenge on Roland

Ganglion is a traitor and

he and Marsile agree on a plan to destroy Roland

What is Ganglion and Marsile’s plan

to trick Charlemagne and ambush them as they return to Paris, attacking the rearguard

Ganglion names Roland to command the rearguard

Roland thanks him and insists on the job against Charlemagne’s wishes

Roland and Oliver take 20k in the rearguard with

the 12 paladins

once charlemagne and the main guard are passed the mountain

oliver sees the saracen army

oliver tells roland to blow his horn, oliphant but

roland refuses bc he is arrogant and will not blow his horn during the battle

there are too many spanish to fight off and

one by one the paladins of the rearguard are killed

when theres only 60 people left Roland says

that maybe he should blow his horn, to Oliver’s anger

charlemagne runs to the rearguard

but everyone is dead

Marsile though is scared of the french retaliation and

flees the field

the saracen is scared that all the french will return

and they all flee

Charlemagne, even though hes old,

defeats Marsile and Ganglion

orlando furioso is a sequel to

orlando innamrato

orlando furioso is set before

the battle in which roland dies

author ariosto is sponsored by

the este, Il Castello Estense, Ippolito and Alfonso

charlemagne wants to use angelica as a prize for fighting the saracen invaders but

aneglica runs away

she runs from rinaldo and furrau, the latter

killed her brother

rinaldo and furrau fight but realize shes gone so

they follow her on one horse

furrau runs into angelica’s brother’s ghost who is mad that

furrau took his helmet and then lost it

furrau is invulnerable so he doesnt need a helmet but

he vows to never wear one until he has orlandos (hectors)

rinaldo comes across his horse baiardo

who is friends with angelica and leading him to her

angelica meets sacripante, a knight from asia

she wants him to take her back to asia

sacripante wants to assault her but is humilated after

being defeated by female knight bradamante

sacripante and angelica run into baiardo and

angelica gives him to sacripante to ride

bradamante is the ancestor of who

the este brothers

rinaldo catches up and challenges sacripante

angelica flees again while that happens

angelica runs into a sorcerer who sends a messanger

to rinaldo and sacripante that she’s in paris a lie

rinaldo goes to paris doesnt find her but

charlemagne sends him to briton to get allies

meanwhile bradamante is looking for saracen ruggerio her lover

she runs into pinabello, looking for his lover

pinabello pushes bradamante

down a well

ruggerio is a descedent of

hector

bradamante runs into a witch named Melissa and the ghost of merlin who

tell her about her future greatness and her family

merlin also tells baradamnte how to get angelica’s ring from

brunello, who she has to trick, who got it from agramante

bradamante takes the ring and fights the sorcerer atlante

who tries to stun her

bradamante pretends the stun worked and

smacks Atlante down and takes his stuff

atlante is who to ruggerio

foster father

why does atlante want ruggerio in his castle

so he wont have to die young (similar to Thetis and Achilles)

bradamante takes the hippogriff and flies to the iron castle

uses the magic ring to free everyone

ruggerio reunites with her briefly until

he gets on the hippogriff and atlante sends it away with him on it

meanwhile rinaldo in england moves to scotland and

meets Ginevra, princess of Scotland

Polinesse was rejected by Ginevra and

staged a scene where she cheats on her fiancee, Ariodante

Ariodante throws himself into the sea and his brother Lurcanio

charges her with adultery and the death penalty

rinaldo fights on ginevras behalf because

he thinks the law is unfair

on the way he runs into Ginevra’s maid Dalinda from thugs and

she tells Ruggerio the whole story