The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnelle is a 15th-century English poem, one of several versions of the "loathly lady" story popular during the Middle Ages. An earlier version of the story appears as "The Wife of Bath's Tale" in Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, and the later ballad "The Marriage of Sir Gawain" is essentially a retelling, though its relationship to the medieval poem is uncertain.

Text

Stories about the Arthurian court were popular in medieval England, and the worn condition of some of the manuscripts suggests that they were well read. The Ragnelle narrative may have been intended for a festive or less than serious audience. Thomas Garbaty sees the poem as a humorous parody of the Arthurian legend, where Arthur is cowed by both the challenging knight and Ragnelle, "passing the buck" to Gawain. However, the story is not presented in the same mocking tone as Chaucer's "Tale of Sir Topas". The Wedding of Sir Gawain survives in a poorly copied 16th-century manuscript located in the Bodleian Library (Bodleian 11951, formerly Rawlinson C.86) though it was probably written in the 15th century.

Plot summary

The story begins when the mystical knight Gromer Somer Joure challenges King Arthur to discover what women desire most, or face dire consequences. Arthur's nephew and knight Gawain sets out to answer the riddle for him, and eventually Gromer's sister, the hag Ragnelle, offers the solution if Gawain will marry her. Gawain selflessly consents to save his uncle, and Ragnelle reveals that what women desire most is sovereynté, to make their own decisions. With this answer Arthur wins Gromer's challenge, and much to his despair, the wedding of Gawain and Ragnelle goes ahead as planned.

Later, the new pair retire to the bedroom. After a brief pause, Gawain assents to treat his new bride as he would if she were attractive, but when he looks up, he is astonished to see the most beautiful woman he has ever seen standing before him. She explains she had been under a spell to look like a hag until a good knight married her; now her looks will be restored half the day. She gives him the choice to have her beautiful at night, when they are together, or during the day, when they are with others. Instead, he gives her the sovereynté to make the choice herself. This answer lifts the curse for good, and Ragnelle's beauty returns permanently.

The couple live happily, and the court is overjoyed when they hear Ragnelle's story. Ragnelle lives for only five more years, after which Gawain mourns her for the rest of his life. According to the poem, Ragnelle bore Gawain his son Gingalain, who is the hero of his own romance (though in most versions of his story, his mother is a fay who raises him ignorant of his father). The poem concludes with the poet's plea that God will help him get out of jail.

Notes

1. The Canterbury Tales, pp. 258–292.
2. Price, Jocelyn (1991). "The Marriage of Sir Gawain." In Norris J. Lacy (Ed.), The New Arthurian Encyclopedia, p. 310. New York: Garland. ISBN 0-8240-4377-4.
3. Thomas Garbaty (1984). Medieval English Literature. Long Grove, IL: Waveland. p. 418.
4. Sir Gawain: Eleven Romances and Tales, p. 44.
5. Price, Jocelyn (1991). "The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnell." In Norris J. Lacy (Ed.), The New Arthurian Encyclopedia, pp. 506–507. New York: Garland. ISBN 0-8240-4377-4.
6. Busby, Keith (1991). "Renaut de Beaujeu." In Norris J. Lacy (Ed.), The New Arthurian Encyclopedia, pp. 380–381. New York: Garland. ISBN 0-8240-4377-4.

References

• Chaucer, Geoffrey; and Coghill, Nevill (Ed.) (2003). The Canterbury Tales. New York: Penguin. ISBN 0-140-42498-5.
• Hahn, Thomas (2000). The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnelle. In Sir Gawain: Eleven Romances and Tales, pp. 41–80. Western Michigan University Medieval Institute Publications. ISBN 1-879288-59-1.
• Lacy, Norris J. (Ed.) (1991). The New Arthurian Encyclopedia. New York: Garland. ISBN 0-8240-4377-4.

External links

• The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnelle from the Camelot Project