Abstract
Eleanor of Aquitaine has long been regarded by medievalists as a great patron of the literary arts at the Angevin court.1 One text frequently associated with her is Benoît de Sainte-Maures Roman de Troie, the roman d’antiquité that widely popularized the story of Troy in the Middle Ages.2 But the passage commonly cited as evidence of Eleanor s patronage does not appear in the poem’s prologue or epilogue, as might be expected of a dedication, but rather well into the poem s narrative. Having concluded his story of the inconstant Briseida—a woman who relinquishes Troilus, her Trojan lover, for Diomedes, her Greek captor—Benoît starts a lengthy diatribe against all faithless women who change their loves so quickly and so easily:
Femme n’iert ja trop esgaree:
Por ço qu’ele truist ou choisir,
Poi durent puis li suen sospir.
A femme dure dueus petit:
A l’un ueil plore, a l’autre rit.
Mout muënt tost li lor corage.
Assez est fole la plus sage:
Quant qu’ele a en set anz amé
A ele en treis jorz oblïé
One nule ne sot duel aveir.
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Since Eleanor of Aquitaine is likely to read his work, Benoit’s creation of Briseida and portrayal of Helen of Troy are attempts to praise Eleanor and avoid her wrath.
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© 2003 John Carmi Parsons and Bonnie Wheeler
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O’Callaghan, T.F. (2003). Tempering Scandal: Eleanor of Aquitaine and Benoît de Sainte-Maure’s Roman de Troie . In: Wheeler, B., Parsons, J.C. (eds) Eleanor of Aquitaine. The New Middle Ages. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-137-05262-9_14
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-137-05262-9_14
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