Novelistic projections of Midons: literary portraits of four ladies from the 11th and 12th centuries

Abstract

In this article I offer a reflection on the reception of troubador lyrical poetry on the basis of the literary influence of a number of French nobles of the 11th and 12th centuries, which manifested itself in the form of novels written in verse, designed to create a narrative from the poetry of fin’amor (courtly love). We will begin with Maria de Xampanya, to whom Chrétien de Troyes dedicated Le Chevalier de la Charrette, a controversial work, which will be examined also in the light of the satirical rewriting of certain episodes by Renaut de Bâgé. Then we will look at how the literary representation of Maria de Ponthieu constructed by Gerbert de Montreuil in Roman de la Violette reveals areinterpretation of fin’amor, to be developed from a monarchic and clerical perspective in works such as Cléomadès i Meliacin, composed in the literary circle of Maria de Brabantfrom a story by Blanca de França.