Hidden within this episode are some fascinating details of court life and manners, and echoes of previous events in the story.
A small party of knights travel ahead of the main group, heading to Carduel fully armed. This is to enable Jaufre to finally have his revenge on Kay, who you may remember insulted him when he first arrived at Arthur’s court, by suggesting that he needed a few drinks before tackling Taulat. The depiction of Kay as a boorish fool indicates that the creator of “Jaufre” has heard a number of other stories where Kay behaves in the same way, although in the first episode of “Jaufre” the narrator does insist that Kay is a fine man despite it all. Here Jaufre simply demonstrates his fighting expertise, unhorsing Kay with no trouble at all and then, for added emphasis, taking away his horse. Kay has not recognised Jaufre, but Gawain does, and everyone except Kay can see the funny side of what has happened. Arthur teases Kay – Kay is very definitely not amused.
Jaufre, Melian and Brunissen are welcomed to court. The king and queen show their favour to Jaufre and Brunissen by taking them to one side for private conversations, and by the seating arrangements at table. Once again you will notice how carefully the narrator describes how everyone washes their hands before eating, and how the meal is served, even if, as before, there is a shortage of detail about exactly what they had to eat. Jaufre tells the king about Brunissen’s immense wealth, which is, of course, exaggerated by the narrator, as is the size of Arthur’s court. Jaufre thinks that Brunissen could call upon the services of 100,000 knights, and Arthur summons an equivalent number to the celebrations, but to put this into perspective it is thought that Henry II of England, in the second half of the 12th century, could only count on 6,000 to 7,000 knights. We are in the realm of story, not real life, although of course another point to make is that very few of the listeners to the story would have any concept of numbers beyond 100! On a pragmatic level again, there is the other question of why Arthur has not come across Brunissen or her lands before, if she is indeed such a powerful, wealthy heiress. But let’s not spoil the magic of the tale…
Returning briefly to court life – the wedding festivities follow what appears to be a standard pattern. After the wedding itself there is a tournament, and then comes the feast, and then comes music and song and stories. Another Occitan tale (although not an Arthurian tale), “Flamenca”, contains a far more elaborate description of a great gathering with a tournament and a feast, and includes titles of tunes, songs and stories which were performed, many of which we no longer recognise, but it is clear that both storytellers and their listeners would have been familiar with a very wide repertoire indeed.
The festivities are interrupted by a terrified squire who rushes in, with a somewhat inarticulate account and description of a huge bird. I like the way it was “bigger than the largest piece of wood I’ve seen”, for example. The episode reminds us of how the story started, with Arthur dealing with the extraordinary beast at the mill. Cries for help, Arthur’s insistence on going alone to deal with the threat, his apparent mortal danger causing the court to shred their clothes and weep and lament his imminent death … and yet, once again, it’s the enchanter knight providing some additional entertainment. It’s worth noting that the antics of the bird, by dropping Arthur and then scooping him up again, would have been all the more alarming to people who had no experience at all of aeronautical displays. I admit I’m not sure when trapeze acts started! The overall plan of the episode is also similar to Jaufre’s recent adventure in the underwater kingdom, and the excessive lamentation, which turns out to be unnecessary, is a recurring feature of the whole story. It’s Guilalmier’s turn to be very unamused, both by this and by the enchanter knight. In the first episode all the courtiers stripped naked to give Arthur a soft landing. In this episode, the clothes of the courtiers are ruined by being shredded in grief, but Arthur demonstrates his generosity by summoning rich fabrics from the town, and getting a team of seamstresses to work on creating new clothes. The names of the fabrics are unfamiliar to us now, apart from satin, but you will hear mention of sendal (which is the “heavy silk” in which the pages were dressed at the feast), samite, scarlet and verts (the latter two not colours, but varieties of expensive fabric). Generosity is a quality much admired in monarchs, and Arthur is, of course, the finest of kings.
To end the wedding day, Jaufre introduces Arthur to Felon d’Albarua and to the lady he had been attacking. Tactfully, nothing is said about Arthur’s remarkable inability to assist this lady when she had begged him for a champion, but Jaufre can present the king with another bird, this time the extraordinary raptor that Felon had flown outside the lady’s castle. Arthur is delighted, and comments that he has never had so many gifts from a knight and given nothing in return – and again, gives nothing in return!
As they all head off to their beds, and there is no separate mention of Jaufre and Brunissen, they all partake of some wine. This nightcap of wine was also mentioned when Jaufre was staying at Augier’s castle, and was presumably a normal part of courtly routine.
You might have thought that this was the end of the story, as we have been brought back to Carduel and been told of a similar adventure to the first episode, but there is a little more to come in the last episode, as there are a few more loose ends to be tied off.