Perceforest’ et ‘Zéphir’: propositions autour d’un récit arthurien bourguignon (review)

The Perceforest is a romance of the later Middle Ages that combines two important strands of medieval French literary tradition: the romances of Alexander the Great and King Arthur. Although the text has traditionally been dated to around 1340, it is generally accepted that the version contained in the surviving manuscripts is a fifteenth-century revision for Philippe le Bon, Duke of Burgundy. Christine Ferlampin-Acher’s study aims principally to challenge this notion, proposing and supporting the hypothesis that the extant fifteenth-century text is in fact the original, composed around the 1450s by the Duke’s scribe, David Aubert. Drawing parallels between the romance and the intertextual, ideological, and cultural trends of this period, Ferlampin-Acher suggests that the Perceforest was intended to glorify the Burgundian regime by establishing Philippe as the heir to both Arthur and Alexander. Although the author accepts that definitive proof as to the date of composition cannot be provided, her arguments are both thorough and convincing. Ferlampin-Acher integrates a vast range of literary and historical sources into her analysis of the text, which proposes the character of Zéphir — a fallen angel turned mischievous spirit — as a point of convergence between the text and Burgundian cultural reality. After demonstrating that the arguments placing Perceforest’s composition in the fourteenth-century are in no way definitive, the author goes on to discuss intertextual relations between the Perceforest and other texts thought to have been produced in its wake. Focusing principally on Jacques de Guise’s Annales du Hainaut, the works of Froissart, Antoine de la Sale, and Jean d’Arras, Ferlampin-Acher argues that Perceforest was inspired by these texts rather than the inverse. This later date is corroborated in Chapter 2, in which parallels between Perceforest and the culture and geography of the Burgundian Netherlands are identified: not only is the pseudo-historical character of the romance in keeping with Philippe’s taste for chronicles, but the representation of theatre and spectacles such as Royal Entries, tournaments, and banquets corresponds to Burgundian tastes in courtly entertainment. Furthermore, Perceforest’s toponymy superimposes Burgundian geographical space on the narrative, creating links between Arthurian Britain and Philippe’s territories. The second half of the study examines ideological parallels between the narrative and fifteenth-century cultural discourses, focusing on the figure of Zéphir and the intersection of various thought patterns he represents. Ferlampin-Acher argues that Zéphir is particularly evocative of the preoccupations of fifteenth-century Burgundian readers; combining elements of both contemporary folklore and clerical discourse, he invites reflections on sorcery and witchcraft, the relations between human beings and incorporeal spirits, and, by extension, the virgin conception of Christ. Whether or not the reader accepts Ferlampin-Acher’s hypothesis, this book offers an extensive and wide-ranging analysis of both the Perceforest and Burgundian society and culture. The author’s clarity and lively style also make this a very readable text.