Floris and Blancheflour
Encyclopedia
Floris and Blancheflour is the name of a popular romantic story that was told in the Middle Ages
in many different vernacular
languages and versions. It first appears in Europe around 1160 in "aristocratic" French
. Roughly between the period 1200 and 1350 it was one of the most popular of all the romantic plots.
"aristocratic" version (Floire et Blancheflor) of the late 12th century.
The Middle English
version of the poem derives from an Old French "aristocratic" version but differs somewhat in details. The opening section concerning how the two are born is missing from the English versions. Originally it dates to around 1250 and was called Floris and Blanchefleur.
(Muslim
Spain
), on one of his ventures into Galicia in northwestern Spain attacks a band of Christian
pilgrims en route on the Way of St James to the famous medieval pilgrimage shrine of Santiago de Compostela
. Among the pilgrims are a French knight and his recently-widowed daughter, who has chosen to dedicate the rest of her life to the sanctuary. The knight is killed, and his daughter is taken prisoner to Naples
, where she is made lady-in-waiting to Felix's wife. Both women are pregnant, and the children are born on the same day, Palm Sunday
: Floris to the Muslim Queen, and Blanchefleur to her lady-in-waiting.
Floris ("belonging to the flower") and Blanchefleur ("white flower") are raised together at the court and grow close. King Felix fears his son may desire to marry the "pagan" girl and decides that she must be killed. However, he cannot bring himself to do the act and instead sends Floris away to school, then sells Blanchefleur to merchants traveling on the way to Cairo
(called Babylon
in the story), where she is then sold to the emir
. Felix constructs an elaborate tomb for Blanchefleur and tells Floris she has died. Floris's reaction is so severe that Felix tells him the truth. Distraught but encouraged she is still alive, Floris sets out to find her.
Floris eventually arrives outside Cairo where he meets the bridge warden named Daire who tells him about the emir's tower of maidens. Each year the emir selects a new bride from his tower and kills his old wife. Rumour has it that Blanchefleur is soon to be his next chosen bride. To gain access to the tower, Daire advises Floris to play chess with the tower watchman, returning all winnings to him until the watchman is forced to return the favor by allowing him entrance to the tower. Floris outplays the watchmen at chess, and according to plan, Floris is smuggled in to the tower in a basket of flowers, but is mistakenly placed in the room of Blanchefleur's friend Claris. Claris arranges a reunion between the two, but they are discovered two weeks later by the emir.
The emir holds off killing them on the spot until he holds a council of advisers. So impressed are the advisers at the willingness of the young lovers to die for one another that they persuade the emir to spare their lives. Floris is then knighted, he and Blanchefleur are married, and Claris marries the emir (who promises Claris she will be his last and only wife, forever). Soon after, news of Felix's death reaches Cairo and Floris and Blanchefleur depart for home where they inherit the kingdom, embrace Christianity, and convert their subjects as well.
s and raised with the pagan prince Flores ("belonging to the flower"). The two fall in love and separate. Blancheflour gives Flores a ring that will reflect her state, so that it will tarnish if she is in danger.
Blancheflour is in a different caliphate
from Flores, and there she is accused falsely and sent as a slave to a Tower of Maidens. The Emir
has within his garden a "Tree of Love" that determines a new wife for him every year. Its flower will fall on the destined maiden from the harem, and yet he can also magically manipulate the tree to cast its flower upon a favorite. He has decided to make it fall on Blancheflour, for she is the loveliest virgin in the harem. Flores, knowing that Blancheflour is about to be taken by the Emir as a wife, comes to rescue her from her peril. The reunited lovers are found in bed (though they were chastely together) by the Emir the next morning. When he hears their whole tale of chaste love and long promises to one another, he demands proof of her virginity by having her put her hands in a water that will stain if she has been with a man. She is proven pure, he pardons both lovers, and all is well.
), this Romance is, indeed, romantic. The older original "aristocratic" version does not contain knightly combat but the "popular" French version that would come later does contain some elements. The story contains themes of conflict between paganism and Christianity. Additionally, unlike other Romances, each section of the story is dependent strictly upon the previous section, so this poem has a linear plot. The poem also emphasizes the power of romantic love (rather than courtly love
or divine favor) over force of arms to preserve life and ensure a good end.
The Middle English version of the poem derives from an Old French "aristocratic" version (Floire et Blancheflor) of the tale. The story has analogs in India
n literature, particularly the Jatakas of the early fifth century. Many of the details, such as the Tower of Maidens (i.e. harem
), eunuch
guards, and the odalisques derive from material carried to the west via The Arabian Nights. The tale could be originally French, or possibly of Oriental origins, or a synthesis of motifs.
Boccaccio
tells a version of the same tale in his "Filocolo" in the Decameron. The tale has been a popular subject for later retellings, and it was treated by Swedish poet Oskar Levertin in the romantic ballad "Flores och Blanzeflor" in the collection Legender och visor (Legends and Songs) in 1891.
Its continuing popularity is demonstrated by an allusion to it in the romance Emaré
, where Floris and Blancheflour are one of the pairs of lovers embrodiered on a robe, along with Tristan and Isolt, and Amadas and Idoine.
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
in many different vernacular
Vernacular
A vernacular is the native language or native dialect of a specific population, as opposed to a language of wider communication that is not native to the population, such as a national language or lingua franca.- Etymology :The term is not a recent one...
languages and versions. It first appears in Europe around 1160 in "aristocratic" French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
. Roughly between the period 1200 and 1350 it was one of the most popular of all the romantic plots.
The story of Floris and Blancheflour
The following synopsis is from the original Old FrenchOld French
Old French was the Romance dialect continuum spoken in territories that span roughly the northern half of modern France and parts of modern Belgium and Switzerland from the 9th century to the 14th century...
"aristocratic" version (Floire et Blancheflor) of the late 12th century.
The Middle English
Middle English
Middle English is the stage in the history of the English language during the High and Late Middle Ages, or roughly during the four centuries between the late 11th and the late 15th century....
version of the poem derives from an Old French "aristocratic" version but differs somewhat in details. The opening section concerning how the two are born is missing from the English versions. Originally it dates to around 1250 and was called Floris and Blanchefleur.
Aristocratic French version
Felix, King of Al-AndalusAl-Andalus
Al-Andalus was the Arabic name given to a nation and territorial region also commonly referred to as Moorish Iberia. The name describes parts of the Iberian Peninsula and Septimania governed by Muslims , at various times in the period between 711 and 1492, although the territorial boundaries...
(Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
), on one of his ventures into Galicia in northwestern Spain attacks a band of Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
pilgrims en route on the Way of St James to the famous medieval pilgrimage shrine of Santiago de Compostela
Santiago de Compostela
Santiago de Compostela is the capital of the autonomous community of Galicia, Spain.The city's Cathedral is the destination today, as it has been throughout history, of the important 9th century medieval pilgrimage route, the Way of St. James...
. Among the pilgrims are a French knight and his recently-widowed daughter, who has chosen to dedicate the rest of her life to the sanctuary. The knight is killed, and his daughter is taken prisoner to Naples
Naples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
, where she is made lady-in-waiting to Felix's wife. Both women are pregnant, and the children are born on the same day, Palm Sunday
Palm Sunday
Palm Sunday is a Christian moveable feast that falls on the Sunday before Easter. The feast commemorates Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem, an event mentioned in all four Canonical Gospels. ....
: Floris to the Muslim Queen, and Blanchefleur to her lady-in-waiting.
Floris ("belonging to the flower") and Blanchefleur ("white flower") are raised together at the court and grow close. King Felix fears his son may desire to marry the "pagan" girl and decides that she must be killed. However, he cannot bring himself to do the act and instead sends Floris away to school, then sells Blanchefleur to merchants traveling on the way to Cairo
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
(called Babylon
Babylon
Babylon was an Akkadian city-state of ancient Mesopotamia, the remains of which are found in present-day Al Hillah, Babil Province, Iraq, about 85 kilometers south of Baghdad...
in the story), where she is then sold to the emir
Emir
Emir , meaning "commander", "general", or "prince"; also transliterated as Amir, Aamir or Ameer) is a title of high office, used throughout the Muslim world...
. Felix constructs an elaborate tomb for Blanchefleur and tells Floris she has died. Floris's reaction is so severe that Felix tells him the truth. Distraught but encouraged she is still alive, Floris sets out to find her.
Floris eventually arrives outside Cairo where he meets the bridge warden named Daire who tells him about the emir's tower of maidens. Each year the emir selects a new bride from his tower and kills his old wife. Rumour has it that Blanchefleur is soon to be his next chosen bride. To gain access to the tower, Daire advises Floris to play chess with the tower watchman, returning all winnings to him until the watchman is forced to return the favor by allowing him entrance to the tower. Floris outplays the watchmen at chess, and according to plan, Floris is smuggled in to the tower in a basket of flowers, but is mistakenly placed in the room of Blanchefleur's friend Claris. Claris arranges a reunion between the two, but they are discovered two weeks later by the emir.
The emir holds off killing them on the spot until he holds a council of advisers. So impressed are the advisers at the willingness of the young lovers to die for one another that they persuade the emir to spare their lives. Floris is then knighted, he and Blanchefleur are married, and Claris marries the emir (who promises Claris she will be his last and only wife, forever). Soon after, news of Felix's death reaches Cairo and Floris and Blanchefleur depart for home where they inherit the kingdom, embrace Christianity, and convert their subjects as well.
High Middle English version
The poem tells of the troubles of the two eponymous lovers. Blancheflour ("white flower") is a Christian princess abducted by SaracenSaracen
Saracen was a term used by the ancient Romans to refer to a people who lived in desert areas in and around the Roman province of Arabia, and who were distinguished from Arabs. In Europe during the Middle Ages the term was expanded to include Arabs, and then all who professed the religion of Islam...
s and raised with the pagan prince Flores ("belonging to the flower"). The two fall in love and separate. Blancheflour gives Flores a ring that will reflect her state, so that it will tarnish if she is in danger.
Blancheflour is in a different caliphate
Caliphate
The term caliphate, "dominion of a caliph " , refers to the first system of government established in Islam and represented the political unity of the Muslim Ummah...
from Flores, and there she is accused falsely and sent as a slave to a Tower of Maidens. The Emir
Emir
Emir , meaning "commander", "general", or "prince"; also transliterated as Amir, Aamir or Ameer) is a title of high office, used throughout the Muslim world...
has within his garden a "Tree of Love" that determines a new wife for him every year. Its flower will fall on the destined maiden from the harem, and yet he can also magically manipulate the tree to cast its flower upon a favorite. He has decided to make it fall on Blancheflour, for she is the loveliest virgin in the harem. Flores, knowing that Blancheflour is about to be taken by the Emir as a wife, comes to rescue her from her peril. The reunited lovers are found in bed (though they were chastely together) by the Emir the next morning. When he hears their whole tale of chaste love and long promises to one another, he demands proof of her virginity by having her put her hands in a water that will stain if she has been with a man. She is proven pure, he pardons both lovers, and all is well.
Analysis
The story contains elements of both older heroic sagas and romance. Unlike the usually bloody and martial Romances earlier in the period (e.g. Havelok the DaneHavelok the Dane
Havelok the Dane, also known as Havelok or Lay of Havelok the Dane, is a Middle English romance considered to be part of the Matter of England. The story, however, is also known in two earlier Anglo-Norman versions. Most scholars place Havelok the Dane at the end of the thirteenth century, between...
), this Romance is, indeed, romantic. The older original "aristocratic" version does not contain knightly combat but the "popular" French version that would come later does contain some elements. The story contains themes of conflict between paganism and Christianity. Additionally, unlike other Romances, each section of the story is dependent strictly upon the previous section, so this poem has a linear plot. The poem also emphasizes the power of romantic love (rather than courtly love
Courtly love
Courtly love was a medieval European conception of nobly and chivalrously expressing love and admiration. Generally, courtly love was secret and between members of the nobility. It was also generally not practiced between husband and wife....
or divine favor) over force of arms to preserve life and ensure a good end.
The Middle English version of the poem derives from an Old French "aristocratic" version (Floire et Blancheflor) of the tale. The story has analogs in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n literature, particularly the Jatakas of the early fifth century. Many of the details, such as the Tower of Maidens (i.e. harem
Harem
Harem refers to the sphere of women in what is usually a polygynous household and their enclosed quarters which are forbidden to men...
), eunuch
Eunuch
A eunuch is a person born male most commonly castrated, typically early enough in his life for this change to have major hormonal consequences...
guards, and the odalisques derive from material carried to the west via The Arabian Nights. The tale could be originally French, or possibly of Oriental origins, or a synthesis of motifs.
Boccaccio
Giovanni Boccaccio
Giovanni Boccaccio was an Italian author and poet, a friend, student, and correspondent of Petrarch, an important Renaissance humanist and the author of a number of notable works including the Decameron, On Famous Women, and his poetry in the Italian vernacular...
tells a version of the same tale in his "Filocolo" in the Decameron. The tale has been a popular subject for later retellings, and it was treated by Swedish poet Oskar Levertin in the romantic ballad "Flores och Blanzeflor" in the collection Legender och visor (Legends and Songs) in 1891.
Vernacular versions
Not a complete list.- Old FrenchOld FrenchOld French was the Romance dialect continuum spoken in territories that span roughly the northern half of modern France and parts of modern Belgium and Switzerland from the 9th century to the 14th century...
Floire et Blancheflor, ca. 1160 a "popular" French version appears around 1200. - Rhenish Floyris, ca. 1170
- Konrad FleckKonrad FleckKonrad Fleck was a thirteenth century German poet, who wrote in the Alemannic German dialect. Not much is known about his life: he may have been from Alsace or the Basel district.His works include a version of Floris and Blancheflour.-External links:*...
's Middle High GermanMiddle High GermanMiddle High German , abbreviated MHG , is the term used for the period in the history of the German language between 1050 and 1350. It is preceded by Old High German and followed by Early New High German...
Florie und Blansheflur, ca. 1220 - Middle Low GermanMiddle Low GermanMiddle Low German is a language that is the descendant of Old Saxon and is the ancestor of modern Low German. It served as the international lingua franca of the Hanseatic League...
Flos unde Blankeflos, after 1300 - High Middle English Floris and Blancheflour, before 1250
- Diederic van Assenede's Middle DutchMiddle DutchMiddle Dutch is a collective name for a number of closely related West Germanic dialects which were spoken and written between 1150 and 1500...
Floris ende Blancefloer ca. 1260 - ItalianItalian languageItalian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
Florio e Biancifiore, after 1300; Bocaccio The FilocoloThe FilocoloThe Filocolo is a novel written by Giovanni Boccaccio between 1335-36. It is considered to be the first novel of Italian literature written in prose. It is based on a very popular story of the time, Florio e Biancifiore....
, 1335-36 - Old NorwegianOld NorwegianOld Norwegian refers to a group of Old Norse dialects spoken and written in Norway in the Middle Ages. They bridged the dialect continuum from Old East Norse to Old West Norse.-Old Norwegian vs Common Norse:...
Flóres saga ok Blankiflúr, around 1300 - GreekMedieval GreekMedieval Greek, also known as Byzantine Greek, is the stage of the Greek language between the beginning of the Middle Ages around 600 and the Ottoman conquest of the city of Constantinople in 1453. The latter date marked the end of the Middle Ages in Southeast Europe...
Florios kai Platziaflora, around 1400
Its continuing popularity is demonstrated by an allusion to it in the romance Emaré
Emaré
Emaré is a middle English Breton lai, a form of Mediaeval Romance poem, told in 1035 lines. The author of Emaré is unknown and exists in only one manuscript, the Cotton Caligula A. ii, which contains ten metrical narratives. Emaré seems to date from the late fourteenth century, possibly written in...
, where Floris and Blancheflour are one of the pairs of lovers embrodiered on a robe, along with Tristan and Isolt, and Amadas and Idoine.