Tempering Scandal: Eleanor of Aquitaine and Benoît de Sainte-Maure’s Roman de Troie

Abstract

Eleanor of Aquitaine has long been regarded by medievalists as a great patron of the literary arts at the Angevin court.¹ One text frequently associated with her is Benoît de Sainte-Maures Roman de Troie, the roman d’antiquité that widely popularized the story of Troy in the Middle Ages.² But the passage commonly cited as evidence of Eleanor s patronage does not appear in the poem’s prologue or epilogue, as might be expected of a dedication, but rather well into the poem s narrative. Having concluded his story of the inconstant Briseida—a woman who relinquishes Troilus, her Trojan lover, for Diomedes, her Greek captor—Benoît starts a lengthy diatribe against all faithless women who change their loves so quickly and so easily:

Femme n’iert ja trop esgaree:

Por ço qu’ele truist ou choisir,

Poi durent puis li suen sospir.

A femme dure dueus petit:

A l’un ueil plore, a l’autre rit.

Mout muënt tost li lor corage.

Assez est fole la plus sage:

Quant qu’ele a en set anz amé

A ele en treis jorz oblïé

One nule ne sot duel aveir.

Since Eleanor of Aquitaine is likely to read his work, Benoit’s creation of Briseida and portrayal of Helen of Troy are attempts to praise Eleanor and avoid her wrath.