(ca. 1160 and 13th century)
This Old French idyllic verse ROMANCE exists in two different versions, the earlier one, sometimes called aristocratic, composed ca. 1160 (Manuscript A), and the later, called “popular,” composed sometime in the 13th century. The early version has come down to us in four manuscripts (A, B, C,V), the later is preserved as a fragment in one manuscript and contains a number of additional accounts about the male protagonist’s chivalric adventures, such as defending Babylon for the Emir, which gains him his favor and the privilege to marry Blancheflor.
Nothing is known about the original author. The narrative is based on a long literary tradition apparently harkening back to ancient Arabic literature, such as the account of “Neema and Noam” in THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHTS. Some scholars have also postulated ancient Persian or Indian sources, but we have no proof for that. The Old French version, in turn, spawned many translations into other European languages, especially Middle Dutch (Diederic van Assenede’s Floris eende Blanceflor), Middle High German (the Trierer Floyris, ca. 1170, and Konrad Fleck’s Flore und Blancheflur, ca. 1220),MIDDLE ENGLISH (Floris and Blanchefleur, 13th century), Old Italian, and Old Spanish.We also know of Norwegian (Flóres saga ok Blankiflúr, ca. 1300), Swedish (Flores och Blanzeflor, ca. 1311), and Danish versions (15th century). The 13th-century Old French version inspired BOCCACCIO to write his Il Filocolo (ca. 1340–50). A recently discovered 14th-century Spanish Crónica de Flores y Blancaflor confirms the universal popularity of this narrative. The 15th century witnessed a steady growth of additional translations and recreations into Early New High German, Yiddish, Czech,Greek, and Spanish (one version, today lost, was printed in 1512, the other ca. 1530). Basically the narrative relates the story of two children who are born on the same day, one to a heathen queen, the other to a Christian captive from the Galician coast (today, the northwest of Spain).The two children are brought up and are, upon the insistence of Floire, educated together. Soon enough they fall in love.When the heathen King Fénix—who in the 13th-century version is called Galerïn—observes their profound affection, he sends his son to a school far away from home, promising to let Blancheflor follow him in a fortnight. When this does not happen, Floire pines away and so is allowed to return home. Upon his wife’s advice, however, Fénix quickly sells Blancheflor to some Babylonian merchants who in turn sell her to their emir. To make up an explanation, the parents deceive their son into thinking that his beloved has died,which they prove with an elaborate tomb for the girl. In his despair Floire is about to commit suicide, but his mother quickly intervenes and later reveals the truth to him. This sets the young man on the search for his beloved, now supported and richly equipped by his father. Eventually Floire tracks down Blanchefloire and manages to enter the tower where she is kept along with all the other female slaves. Eunuchs guard the building tightly, but the young man bribes one of them into letting him enter hidden in a basket of flowers. Servants carry him up, but take him not to his beloved’s room, but to the room where a German princess, Claris, lives. Since Claris is Blancheflor’s friend, she helps Floire reunite with his beloved. After several days of happiness, however, Floire is discovered, and the emir orders a court date for them at which one of them shall be executed. Because of their deep love, Floire and Blancheflor plead to die for each other.When the emir observes their absolute dedication, and hears his councilors strongly advise him to show mercy and set them both free, he kind-heartedly consents and weds them as well. At the same time, upon Floire’s urging, the emir takes Claris as his wife. Soon news arrives that Floire’s father has died, so the young couple returns to his land and the new king, Floire, for his wife’s sake, embraces Christianity and makes his people convert as well. Remarkably, despite the fleeting reference to the Christian religion at the beginning (Blancheflor’s mother is a Christian) and the end (Floire’s baptism), the entire narrative is predicated on a surprisingly open-minded attitude toward Muslims. The only conflicts concern love and the disagreement between the older and the younger generation. Moreover, all female figures in this tale prove to be highly intelligent and admirable, and often serve as the most trustworthy advisers. Floire et Blancheflor shows intriguing parallels with AUCASSIN ET NICOLETTE, although there are no direct connections between the two verse narratives.
Bibliography
■ Le Conte de Floire et Blancheflor. Edited by Jean-Luc Leclanche. Paris: Librairie Honore Champion, 1980.
■ Grieve, Patricia E. Floire and Blancheflor and the European Romance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997.
■ Hubert,Merton Jerome, trans. The Romance of Floire and Blanchefleur: A French Idyllic Poem of the Twelfth Century. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1966.
Albrecht Classen