The Genealogy of a Medieval Romance

[Note: the story of Grisandole has an interesting parallel to the Romance of Silence in the episode about the quest for Merlin and the revelation of Silence’s gender. Although this article is strongly focused on the sources, parallels, and variant versions of the story, it omits any mention of Silence for the simple reason that the article was published in 1907 and the single manuscript of Silence was only rediscovered in 1911.]

The story of Grisandole is a rather patchwork episode included in French and English versions of the prose Merlin. A young woman, separated from her parents when they are banished, disguises herself as a man, taking on the name Grisandole and takes service with Julius Caesar, the emperor of Rome. The emperor has a strange dream that can only be interpreted by the wildman of the woods (who is actually Merlin). The emperor promises half his kingdom and his daughter’s hand in marriage to whoever can capture Merlin, which Grisandole succeeds in doing. Grisandole’s gender is revealed, a convenient brother gets the daughter’s hand in marriage, and Grisandole is married to the emperor, whose queen has been executed for adultery.

The article explores in great depth and breadth the thematic connections to earlier sources and other medieval tales that include some subset or variation on the main motifs. The motifs shared with Silence—in addition to the gender disguise—include the queen having ladies-in-waiting that are men in disguise who are her lovers and the episodes of Merlin laughing at various sights that must be explained.

Grisandole does not include the motif of the queen’s attempted seduction of the cross-dressed heroine, although other variants of this tale-group do, nor the extensive meditations on the nature of gender. The earliest sources for a version of the tale, found in Asia, don’t necessarily include the cross-dressing motif, but do have a female figure as the catalyst for the story. The analysis shows how the specific figure of Merlin is a late addition to the tale, being attached to a pre-existing “wild man” or other supernatural figure.

This article is a great example of a complex thematic analysis of a medieval romance, showing how elements from multiple sources were combined and reworked, fit into popular national story cycles, and existed in many variants. But other than the cross-dressed heroine motif it has little relevance to the Project. I include it, in part, because more general discussions of cross-dressed heroines in romances mention Grisandole and I wanted to find a source that lays out the essentials of the story.