31. Silence: A Thirteenth-Century French Romance by Heldris de Cornuälle
translation: from Old French by Sarah Roche-Mahdi (1992)
OPD: 1200’s
format: 359-page facing-page translation paperback with original Old French and English translation on facing pages
acquired: April 2023 read: May 1-17 time reading: 7:33, 1.3 mpp
rating: 4
genre/style: Medieval French Roman theme: Chaucer
locations: mythical dark ages England and France
about the author: Heldris de Cornuälle is a fictional Arthurian character. The true author is unknown. The editor is active on Facebook, but has no bio pages online.

This is a delightful Arthurian romance about the female knight Silence. It was discovered in 1911 - one manuscript in 13th-century French verse in a box labeled, "Old papers - no value". (The box also contained letters from Henry VIII)

The style, here in English prose translation, read to me a lot like the Lais of Mary de France. It's quick and light with a fairy-tale feel. In the story Silence is the only child, and a daughter, of a large landowner in a time when women could not inherit in England. To save her inheritance, her parents presented her as a man, and she does all the male things, including becoming a prominent and admired knight. Her problems begin when the English queen tries to seduce her and then tries to punish for saying no, evening claiming rape, like Joseph experienced in Egypt. Within dragons are slain, Merlin makes an appearance as wild old man with a wild laughter. And there are long debates between Nature and Nurture. Some seriously disturbing misogynistic language doesn't sit well on modern ears, but we are talking about a 700-yr-old work.

Anyway, fun and easy read in translation. I enjoyed it.

2024
https://www.librarything.com/topic/360386#8544941 ( )

Silence is yet more proof that feminism, women's rights, and gender roles aren't some modern decadent concern, but have existed for as long as sexism and patriarchy have dictated lesser roles for women in society. Very likely whenever and wherever a woman in an oppressive country gains any ability to communicate in public, you will find straight away a discussion of the evils visited on women.

This is a 13th century poem about a count and countess who have a daughter in an England where women can't inherit, and so raise her as a boy. S/he learns to fight and play music and travels all over, runs afoul of the Queen who tries to have him killed, and is eventually unmasked by Merlin. But it's all ok because she ends up marrying the King (after he puts the Queen to death for her treachery).

It's a good story. Even knowing what happens (all of the above is discussed on the covers and in the introduction), I found myself reading quickly to see how it would come out. None of the characters are really characters in the modern sense; as the introduction describes, all of the names are indicative of roles (translating as "Silence" or "Woman" etc.). Nature and Nurture battling it out to decide who a person ultimately becomes was pretty fun.

My experience reading it was a lot like reading The Book of the City of Ladies (insert link function is not working; sorry): it was radical and revolutionary for its time, it was gender essentialist in a way modern feminism doesn't condone, and it was absolutely maddeningly tragic how contemporary much of the sexism in the book still is.

Radical and Revolutionary: this girl raised as a boy becomes the best knight in two countries. She's strong, skilled, brave, loyal, honest, and honourable.

Gender Essentialist: She is portrayed as an exception, often bemoans how awful it is not to know any of the things that women should in her society. The narrator makes it very clear that women as a whole are not like this, that Nature-the-character does not approve: Silence isn't "natural."

Same Shit Different Century: Take Eufeme, the Queen. She's beautiful, manipulative, extremely promiscuous, deceitful, and weak. When she doesn't get her way, she makes up rape accusations. The King patronizes her and pretends to believe them, while thinking about how awful women are and how they just make this shit up to ruin men's lives. And of course, after a lifetime of adventure, once Merlin unmasks her, Silence is happy and grateful to become the woman she was obviously supposed to be, marry the King, and spend the rest of her life embroidering on a divan somewhere.

It was amazing, in a terrible way. You could take the parts of Silence discussing Eufeme's false rape allegations and stick them in any #metoo article today and they would sound right at home. In 800 years, apparently the only progress we've made is that if 30-60 women make the same rape allegations, we'll reluctantly agree they might be true, and then about a year later start talking about the poor guy whose life is over and when can he get his job back exactly?

Yes, I know that in the story, they were really false accusations; the point is that the construction of her entire character and the discussion of women and what rape is and whether or not to believe women sounds exactly like the talking points on Fox news in October 2018. 800 years and we can't even invent some new ways of being misogynistic, apparently. ( )

Please understand Sir Gawain. I do not dislike the account of your adventures Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Indeed, I am one of your most enthusiastic supporters, and I find the Green Knight's parts quite pleasing to behold despite their green hue. Perhaps you will introduce us. But sir, respecting this, would you please share some of your glory with Silence the eponymous heroine of a romance not far removed in time from your own. By the holy virgin St. Mary, I know a noble knight such as you would not begrudge a song for a sister/fellow knight of bravery extraordinaire and of virtue unparalleled? As I recall dear Sir Gawain, you did have one minor slip. Silence had none. So if it please you sir, tarry a while and listen to a short recital of this brave and most interesting maid's life.

Read more at http://clubbalzac.blogspot.com/ ( )

In Silence, subtitled “a thirteenth century French romance”, a noble couple raise their only daughter as a boy so that she can recieve her inheritance. Their child’s name is Silence, and this long poem follows Silence as she grows up to become a famous warrior and admired courtier, all until a jealous queen sends her to capture Merlin, and there her real identity is unmasked.

Silence is an odd work. You don’t expect this kind of gender-bending from a medieval text, so Silence reads as surprisingly modern. The translation by Sarah Roche-Madhl is clear and distinct, easy enough to read, and not laden down by obscure references (which is my pet peeve). The plot is also straightforward, starting from Silence’s parents falling in love and ending with her resuming her female identity.

A lot of this poem deals with attitudes towards women, and the question of nature versus nurture, both of whom are personified. There is the character of Eufeme, who is the sexist portrayal of a fickle woman, and the anonymous author doesn’t hesitate to condemn Eufeme for the failings of her sex. But then there is Silence, who is the most admirable character in the entire poem. It’s funny because after her parents disguise her sex, the text refers to her using the male pronoun, so I’m not quite sure what the author is trying to say: that only by being male can a woman achieve perfection? Or is it more subversive than that?

It’s a very interesting poem, to say the least. ( )