CHIVALRIC QUEST IN LATE MEDIEVAL FRENCH ALLEGORICAL LITERATURE: RETHINKING THE KNIGHT’S PATH AND TRANSFORMING THE COURTLY IDEAL

Abstract

The paper examines allegorical texts of late medieval French literature, in which the literary technique of allegory is combined with a plot reminiscent of a chivalric romance. The paper presents an analysis of how the plot model of the chivalric quest is transformed in works of Tommaso di Saluzzo, Rene d’Anjou and Olivier de La Marche. Particular attention is paid to the role that the literary technique of allegory plays in this transformation, as well as how the changing imagery of the knight’s quest transforms the concept of the ideal knight. Changes affect various levels of text: the plot (including key elements of the quest), the space, the system of characters, and the image of the main hero. The use of allegory allows the authors to give their texts additional meanings. The results of research show that the values of courtly love mostly lose their former significance for the ideal of chivalry; the image of a knight is correlated with the image of a “pilgrim”; the chivalric quest becomes more complex and is transferred to the spiritual sphere.