Introduction to the Poem
La Belle dame qui eut mercy (variously known as La Belle dame a mercy, Ung traittie en maniere de prieres en amours, Complainte d'amant a amye, Comment l'amoureux deprie la dame et est for repugnant a la belle dame sans mercy selon maistre Alain, and La Belle dame qui eut mercy de son amant) is known to have been preserved in eighteen manuscripts witnesses, outlined in Manuscripts & Texts. The vast majority of these manuscripts date from the middle to the end of the fifteenth century. The author of this poem is not known. Contemporary scribes and the compilers of many of the eighteen codices often attributed the poem to Alain Chartier, author of the similarly titled La Belle dame sans mercy (1424). Indeed, the two poems are frequently found in the same manuscripts and are reminiscent of each other, albeit with antipodal endings (as evidenced by the titles). Yet, others have attributed La Belle dame qui eut mercy to the 14th century Savoyard knight-poet, Oton de Granson, whose works are also preserved in many of the same manuscripts. If this were the case, however, it would be the only poem by this prolific writer, so well-known for his complaints on unrequited love, in which the lover is successful in his quest. Another possible author is Achille Caulier de Mons, author of L'Ospital d'Amours and La Cruelle femme en amours, works on a similar theme and coexisting in many of the same codices. At the present time, however, no conclusive evidence exists to assign authorship, hence no clear attribution will be made here.
Without being able to date or attribute the poem more precisely, therefore, it is difficult to know if La Belle dame qui eut mercy pre-dates or post-dates the more famous poem, La Belle dame sans mercy. Chartier's poem was extremely popular in its day, as attested by the great number of extant manuscripts which contain the poem (forty-four at last count) and the famous quarrel ('la querelle des femmes') which the poem provoked at the court of King Charles VII of France. It has been edited critically, is among the most frequently anthologized late medieval poems, and has been the focus of numerous scholarly articles, many of which comment on the proto-feminist nature of the lady's refusal of an unwanted suitor's request for her love.
What is, perhaps, less known is that La Belle dame sans mercy is not a unique and isolated entity, but constitutes only one in a group of poems on a similar theme. This group includes, but is not limited to La Belle dame qui eut mercy edited here, Achille Caulier's L'Ospital d'Amour and La Cruelle femme en amour, and Baudet Herenc's Le Parlement d'Amour. The twenty or so poems that have so far been identified in 'the cycle of La Belle dame sans mercy' range in length from 300 to 1400 lines, and are found in at least thirty-eight manuscripts and twelve incunabula, with many poems found in up to ten manuscript witnesses. This totals roughly 3500 manuscript folios of text.
In a series of articles which appeared in Romania at the beginning of this century, the Swiss medievalist, Arthur Piaget, introduced these poems, documented the manuscripts known then to contain them, and included partial editions of a few of the poems. Unjustly dismissing them, however, as mere ‘imitations’ of Chartier's more famous opus, Piaget effectively condemned them to oblivion. This present edition is, therefore, one step in an effort to make these poems more widely known to scholars of late medieval poetry. I chose La Belle dame qui eut mercy as the initial text to edit because it presents an opposing context into which one can situate Chartier's poem.
In La Belle dame qui eut mercy, a lover addresses a lady, praising her reputation, honor, and beauty, and proclaiming his long-hidden love for her. The lady claims not to be worthy of his praises and states that she is saving herself for her eventual husband and 'amy', whom she expects to find one day. Moreover, she points out that the lover is not without charm himself, and that he could have any other lady he might desire. After much back and forth along these lines, the lover finally proves his loyalty in love and his commitment to keeping her reputation from being sullied by gossips (the dreaded losengiers). The lady is the last to speak as she agrees to grant her love and describes a scene in which their two hearts will meld as one and live happily ever after.