Verrassingen
Bedtime stories
In quite a few Arthurian stories, characters are misled in bed scenes. Merlin’s mother finds a potent devil in hers, even though her door was locked; Arthur is conceived by Uther disguised as Ygerna’s husband Gorlois, and Arthur himself lustfully climbs into the bed of Morgause, who mistakes him for her husband. Lancelot is the best example, tricked twice into sleeping with the Grail King’s daughter. His first misstep is ‘necessary’ since he fathers Galahad. The second time, shown in the meme, costs him his love and almost his life. Knowing the Queen expects Lancelot, Brissane (the girl’s governess) picks Lancelot up and brings him to the wrong bed. Sexually sated, he falls asleep. When he talks in his sleep, the Queen (sleeping in the same chamber, and waiting for him) hears him. She immediately understands the situation, drags him out of the girl’s bed and yells: “Out of my sight, lecher!” In just his night shirt, Lancelot flees into the woods. Soon his grief and the lack of sustenance drive him crazy. It takes the healing force of the Grail to restore his sanity.
Do these characters not feel that they are in contact with a different body? The stories do not bring this up, even when Lancelot’s first misstep is mitigated by him drinking a special potion and by the darkness in the bedroom. The image also gives a kind of explanation: there is nothing to feel under the blanket.
The image is from a 15th century manuscript of the Prose Lancelot: Paris, BnF 119, fol. 398v (Source gallica.bnf.fr / Bibliothèque nationale de France).
Frank Brandsma
Further reading
Stones, Alison. “The Lancelot-Graal Project.” New Directions in Later Medieval Manuscript Studies: Essays from the 1998 Harvard Conference, eds. D. Pearsall, A. Doyle, C. Benson et al. Woodbridge: Boydell & Brewer, 2000: 167-182.
Image
The image is from a 15th century manuscript of the Prose Lancelot: Paris, BnF 119, fol. 398v (Source gallica.bnf.fr / Bibliothèque nationale de France).