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Marie de France
Guigemar, a brave Breton knight, is the protagonist of Marie’s first lay. When Guigemar comes of age, he sets off for Flanders to win fame, and no other knight can equal him in skill or courage. Despite his renown, however, he also gains a reputation for his indifference to romance; because of this, everyone thinks there’s something wrong with him. But one day, while hunting, he shoots a hind in the forest. He gets injured in the process, and the magical animal utters a curse that Guigemar won’t heal until he falls in love with a woman, and until Guigemar and the woman suffer for each other. Then, Guigemar wanders aboard an enchanted ship that conveys him to an ancient city, where he falls in love with a beautiful young lady, an elderly lord’s wife, who offers to shelter him and nurse him back to health. After she reciprocates his feelings, they live together for a blissful year and a half. They also exchange love tokens as pledges of faithfulness to each other (a knotted shirt and a belt that only the two of them are able to undo). But after the elderly lord discovers them, Guigemar is forced to sail back to Brittany. Eventually, he finds the lady again at his friend Meriaduc’s castle, and they confirm each other’s identities using the love tokens. After laying siege to Meriaduc’s castle and killing him to win the lady for himself, Guigemar happily takes her away with him for good.
Guigemar Quotes in The Lais of Marie de France
The The Lais of Marie de France quotes below are all either spoken by Guigemar or refer to Guigemar. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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I. Guigemar
Quotes
The animal, wounded and in great pain, lamented in these words: ‘Alas! I am mortally wounded. Vassal, you who have wounded me, let this be your fate. May you never find a cure, nor may any herb, root, doctor or potion ever heal the wound you have in your thigh until you are cured by a woman who will suffer for your love more pain and anguish than any other woman has ever known, and you will suffer likewise for her, so much so that all those who are in love, who have known love or are yet to experience it, will marvel at it.
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But love had now pierced him to the quick and his heart was greatly disturbed. For the lady had wounded him so deeply that he had completely forgotten his homeland. He felt no pain from the wound in his thigh, yet he sighed in great anguish and asked the maiden serving him to let him sleep. As he had dismissed her, she returned to her mistress, who was, like Guigemar, affected by the ardour which had kindled within her heart.
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Guigemar besieged the town and would not leave until it was captured. His friends and followers increased in number so much that he starved all those inside. He captured and destroyed the castle and killed the lord within. With great joy he took away his beloved. Now his tribulations were over.
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Guigemar Quotes in The Lais of Marie de France
The The Lais of Marie de France quotes below are all either spoken by Guigemar or refer to Guigemar. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
I. Guigemar
Quotes
The animal, wounded and in great pain, lamented in these words: ‘Alas! I am mortally wounded. Vassal, you who have wounded me, let this be your fate. May you never find a cure, nor may any herb, root, doctor or potion ever heal the wound you have in your thigh until you are cured by a woman who will suffer for your love more pain and anguish than any other woman has ever known, and you will suffer likewise for her, so much so that all those who are in love, who have known love or are yet to experience it, will marvel at it.
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Explanation and Analysis:
But love had now pierced him to the quick and his heart was greatly disturbed. For the lady had wounded him so deeply that he had completely forgotten his homeland. He felt no pain from the wound in his thigh, yet he sighed in great anguish and asked the maiden serving him to let him sleep. As he had dismissed her, she returned to her mistress, who was, like Guigemar, affected by the ardour which had kindled within her heart.
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Explanation and Analysis:
Guigemar besieged the town and would not leave until it was captured. His friends and followers increased in number so much that he starved all those inside. He captured and destroyed the castle and killed the lord within. With great joy he took away his beloved. Now his tribulations were over.
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