Sir Orfeo and the Sacred Bonds of Matrimony
Sir Orfeo and the Sacred Bonds of Matrimony
by H. Bergner
The Review of English Studies, New Series, Vol. 30, No. 120 (Nov., 1979), pp. 432-434
SIR ORFEO AND THE SACRED BONDS OF MATRIMONY
ALL three versions of the Middle English romance Sir Orfeo contain a passage which is among the essential utterances of a verse-narrative praised so frequently by literary critics.[1] It refers to the moment when Queen Heurodis reports a sombre dream to her husband, King Orfeo, and tells him that their matrimonial bliss is soon to be destroyed by the dark powers of the underworld. Orfeo tries to soothe her, going on to say:[2]
Whider pou gost ichil wip pe,
& whider y go pou schalt wip me.
(11. 129-30, MS Auchinleck)
The other two versions are worded similarly:
Wher pou comest pou schalt with me,
Whider pou gost y wyl with pee.
(11. 127-8, MS Harley 3810)
and
Wer ]pou arte j be wyth the,
And wher j ame pou schall be wyth me.
(11. I 7-I8, MS Ashmole 61)
By virtue of these two lines, the romance assumes an especially dynamic aspect; for the firm conviction expressed in this formula, which shows the unflinching harmony existing between Heurodis and Orfeo, is, in the most upsetting manner, jeopardized and shattered in the course of the narrative by the cruel omnipotence of the inhuman fairy king.
None of the editors and commentators[3] has hitherto bothered to find out the source of the above-mentioned passage, which occupies such a significant position in the text. Its origins seem to be twofold, secular and religious. One cannot, it is true, establish any direct connections with the official vows of fidelity which were pronounced by medieval couples during the nuptial mass[4] and which, according to Canon Law, in general consisted simply of the two words 'accipio te'.[5] Considering the fact that no fixed form of the holy sacrament of marriage is known in the New Testament, the medieval church authorities found themselves in difficulties when they wanted to insist on the absolute legality of this formula. No wonder therefore that, besides this, there existed vows of matrimonial consent in medieval Europe, which, orally transmitted, were looked upon by many as being lawful,[6] especially in a more or less secular sense. These profane formulas were, as far as we know, deeply rooted in medieval judicial thinking and, distinct and clear-cut as they were, stressed the close relations existing between bride and groom. Although not tangibly present in the law-codes of the Early Middle Ages, they can be found frequently in medieval literature. Thus in the Middle Latin Ruodlieb:
Hqc suus, ille sua uocitabantur uice uersa[7]
in the Old French Chievrefueil of Marie de France:
'Bele amie, si est de nus:
Ne vus sanz mei, ne jeo sanz vus.'[8]
and in works of the Middle High German period, e.g.
Du bist min, ich bin din[9]
or
si ist min und bin ich ir.[10]
The passage initially cited from Sir Orfeo echoes these formulas of consent with their dialectical structure and the strictness with which the reciprocal duty of loyalty is emphasized. It is bipartite in form and focuses on the inseparable duality made up by Orfeo and Heurodis, thus reminding them anew of the marital obligations which they have irrevocably and mutually contracted.
Over and above this, our passage shows striking resemblance to a verse in Ruth (i: 16). The verse in question runs thus:
quocumque perrexeris pergam
ubi morata fueris et ego pariter morabor[11]
(whider euere pou gost I schal gon
& wher pou abidest & I to gidere
schal abidyn[12]).
It is of little importance that the context here is slightly different from that in Sir Orfeo,[13] since medieval poets were wont to use biblical quotations extracontextually and present them in new collocations. This passage, which was introduced in Sir Orfeo by the anonymous author to serve his particular ends, played a prominent part in the religious art of the Middle Ages whenever the depiction of matrimony, holy or secular, was concerned.[14] Its function is to underline the strong and sacred bonds by which Heurodis and Orfeo are connected. And it is only then that the romance takes on its coloration of moral seriousness and its gravity and, at the same time, tips over into a predominant mood of imminent catastrophe.
H. BERGNER
1. Cf. A Manual of the Writings in Middle English, 1050-1500, ed. J. B. Severs, fasc. I (New Haven, Conn., I967), no. 86, J. F. Knapp, 'The Meaning of Sir Orfeo', MLQ xxix (1968), 263-73, M. D. Bristol, 'The Structure of the Middle English Sir Orfeo',
Papers on Language and Literature, vi (I970), 339-47, T. B. Hanson, 'Sir Orfeo: Romance as Exemplum', Annuale Mediaevale, xiii (1972), 135-54, P. J. Lucas, 'An Interpretation of Sir Orfeo', Leeds Studies in English, NS, vi (1972), i-9, M. Masi, 'The Christian Music of Sir Orfeo', Classical Folia, xxviii (I974), 3-20, and N. H. Keeble, 'The Narrative Achievement of Sir Orfeo', ES Ivi (1975), 193-206.
2 Sir Orfeo, ed. A. J. Bliss, 2nd edn. (Oxford, I966), pp. 12 f.
3 Cf. C. Brown and R. H. Robbins, The Index of Middle English Verse (New York, 1943), R. H. Robbins and J. L. Cutler, Supplement to the Index of Middle English Verse (Lexington, I965), no. 3868, G. L. Kittredge, 'Sir Orfeo', American Journal of Philology, vii (I886), 176-202, C. Davies, 'Notes on the Sources of "Sir Orfeo"', MLR xxxi (I936), 354-7, and G. V. Smithers, 'Story-Patterns in Some Breton Lays', ME xxii (I953), 61-92 (esp. 85-8).
4. Apart from his comments on clandestine marriage, H. A. Kelly unfortunately does not deal with the legal bases of medieval matrimony (cf. his book Love and Marriage in the Age of Chaucer, Ithaca and London, 1975).
5. Cf. B. M. Faber, EheschlieJfung in mittelalterlicher Dichtung vom Ende des 12. bis zum Ende des 15. Jahrhunderts (Bonn, 1974), p. I49. The Missale Sarum ('Sarum Missal'), a missal widely used in late medieval England, contains similar formulations (cf. Missale ad Usum Insignis et Praeclarae Ecclesiae Sarum, ed. F. H. Dickinson (Burntisland, I861-83), col. 831* ff.).
6. Cf. K. Hadank, 'tber die Verbreitung der Verlobungsformel "Ich bin dein (und) du bist mein"', Forschungen und Fortschritte, viii (1932), 294 f.
7. Ruodlieb. Der alteste Roman des Mittelalters, Nebst Epigrammen, ed. F. Seiler (Halle, 1I882), p. 272, x, 27.
8. Les lais de Marie de France, ed. J. Rychner (Paris, 1966), p. I53, 11. 77-8.
9. Des Minnesangs Friihling, ed. H. Moser and H. Tervooren (Stuttgart, 1977), i. 21.
10. Hartmann von Aue. Erec, ed. Th. Cramer (Frankfurt, 1972), p. 286, 1. 6546. Further evidence in B. M. Faber, op. cit., pp. 153 ff.
11. Biblia Sacra Iuxta Vulgatam Versionem, rec. R. Weber (Stuttgart, I969), i. 359.
12. MS Bodley 959, Genesis-Baruch 3.20 in the Earlier Version of the Wycliffite Bible, ed. C. Lindberg (Stockholm, I963), iii. 57.
13. With these words Ruth proclaims her solidarity with Naomi, her mother-in-law.
14. Cf. Lexikon der christlichen Ikonographie, ed. E. Kirschbaum (Freiburg, 197I), iii cols. 574 ff.