Arthur in the Medieval Low Countries

Abstract

Middle Dutch Arthurian romances often are translated from French sources, yet Flemish and Dutch poets also created their own Arthurian tales. What do these ‘Dutch originals’ contribute to European Arthuriana? They may, with a modern term, be seen as ‘speculative fiction’, exploring new and unexpected narrative possibilities. The source issue of the Torec romance and its meaning for the French tradition is discussed first, followed by an explanation of what speculative fiction entails. Three examples then demonstrate the ‘What if…?’ nature of the Middle Dutch Arthurian tales: (1) the threefold, rather than single, quest in the Roman van Walewein, (2) the appearance of, and reactions to, a black-skinned knight in the Arthurian setting (Moriaen), and (3) the experiment of creating a cyclic narrative from different kinds of romances (originating in prose and verse), with special attention to the development of the (emotional) self of main characters like Lancelot and Gawain in the consecutive stories of the cycle.