: The Book of the Duke of True Lovers by Christine De Pisan Kemp Welch Alice Editor Binyon Laurence Translator Maclagan Eric Robert Dalrymple Translator - Love poetry French Translations into English

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The Book of the Duke of True Lovers

This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.

THE BOOK OF THE DUKE OF TRUE LOVERS

NOW FIRST TRANSLATED FROM THE MIDDLE FRENCH OF CHRISTINE DE PISAN WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY ALICE KEMP-WELCH. THE BALLADS RENDERED INTO THE ORIGINAL METRES BY LAURENCE BINYON & ERIC R. D. MACLAGAN

THE MEDIEVAL LIBRARY UNDER THE GENERAL EDITORSHIP OF SIR ISRAEL GOLLANCZ, Litt. D., F.B.A.

NEW YORK OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS AMERICAN BRANCH

TRANSLATOR'S NOTE

The only two known MSS., both early fifteenth century French, of the love-story here rendered into English prose, are the one in the Biblioth?que Nationale , and that in the British Museum .

The principal facts which seem to afford strong evidence in favour of connecting this love story with the two princely houses of Bourbon and Berry are that the MS. originally formed part of the library of the Duc de Berry, and subsequently passed on marriage to that of the Duc de Bourbon; that although Christine's MSS. generally were so copied and multiplied during her lifetime that they number even now at least two hundred, there is only one other copy--the one already referred to as being in the British Museum--known of this particular MS., this alone seeming to indicate that its contents were regarded as of a private family nature; and that to add to the mystery, and to ensure secrecy, there is no definite ending to the romance. The story merely tells us that the ducal lover, harassed by mischief-makers, and unable to bear the pain of a separation in his own country which her position and his own gallantry alike demanded, departs with the army for an expedition in Spain. For ten years the lovers meet from time to time during the intervals between journeying and war, and further solace each other with short love-poems, expressive of pensive longing, and with these the story ends vaguely. But if we accept the story as being founded on real life, history supplies a more definite ending. As already stated, soon after the death of Marie's second husband, Philippe, the lovers are married, and spend a few happy years in their castle at Moulins, the chief town of the Duke's domains, surrounded by and enjoying rare works of art and literature, their happiness only marred by the unsettled state of France, and by consequent calls on the Duke to fight for his country. It was on one of such occasions--the memorable and decisive battle of Agincourt --that the Duke was made prisoner, and taken to London, where he died in captivity, and Marie, his Duchess, was left to mourn, and this time in real sorrow.

Thus ends the story, which Christine has told with her wonderful gift as painter-poet. Besides making the lovers, and that noxious growth of civilisation, the inevitable scandal-monger, intensely living through her womanly sympathy and psychological insight, and introducing, in the form of a letter, a most comprehensive and remarkable treatise on feminine morality, the dangers of illicit love, and the satisfaction of simple wifely duty, she takes us in imagination to a royal castle of the fifteenth century. There we seem to live the daily life of its courtly circle, and, through the vivid description of the sumptuous pageant, to take part in the three days' tournament, and in the merry revels which bring each day to a close. As we read, we realise the extraordinary power of this woman, who seems in description to use the exact and detailed brush of a Meissonier, whilst in her outlook on life she possesses the broader and freer touch of a Puvis de Chavannes. Truly is it a master-mind indeed which can see life largely, and see it well!

Much might be written about the interesting and talented Christine, but we must bid her farewell now and here. Still she must ever be held in remembrance for her untiring championship of two things very near to her heart--a patriotic love for the land of her adoption, and an ardent devotion to the cause of womankind. She had the happiness before her death, which occurred about 1430 in the Convent of Poissy, near Paris, to which she had retired, of seeing France aroused to patriotism, and that, too, by a woman--Joan of Arc.

THE BOOK OF THE DUKE OF TRUE LOVERS

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