De France: Wealth and Money

The story of Lanval was a totally new addition on our readings in some ways, and very similar in others. One pattern that I noticed in this text that did not appear nearly as much in Malory or De Troyes was the idea of money and wealth. Although Malory and De Troyes probably both reference money in some way, it does not come up very often at all. In fact, the only scene in which money is truly memorable is in Malory's take on Launcelot's relationship with Elaine, when he essentially bribes her to leave him alone. He offers a great quantity of money in this scene, but Elaine does not take it and no further mention is made of Launcelot's riches. In the Marie De France piece, however, many references are made to signify how rich the knights are, and a much greater emphasis is placed on wealth. In just a few short pages, money, wealth, riches, or land are mentioned 6 times explicitly. This pattern begins on 35, when De France introduces Lanval by saying, "He belonged to King Arthur's household, but he had spent all his wealth, for the king gave him nothing, and Lanval asked him for nothing." (35). Although other texts may have mentioned that a particular knight had come from a poor or wealthy household, De France focuses much more on the idea of Lanval's relationship with the king involving (and revolving around?) money. Such a focus did not seem to exist in the other pieces. De France also emphasizes the monetary values of the objects in this story, whereas in the past, the object's magical tendencies might be more important. For example: "They led him to the tent, which was beautiful and luxurious: neither Queen Semiramis, however much wealth, power and knowledge she had, nor Emperor Octavian could have afforded even the flap of the tent." (36). Why this shift from money as simply existing to money being "a big deal"? The most obvious shift seems to come on page 37, after Lanval has found his love, De France tells us: "Lanval gave rich gifts; Lanval pardoned prisoners; Lanval outfitted jongleurs; Lanval performed noble acts. There was neither stranger nor friend to whom Lanval would not give money." (37). Here, the implication is that Lanval has become a true and noble knight. But the qualities of "what a good knight should be" seem to have changed slightly. Lanval is not just noble and strong...but he is also a good money lender? What is the importance of such a trait to a knight? This seems to be a very interesting pattern that sets De France apart from Malory and De Troyes.