Descripción:
Jean d’Arras’ Mélusine (c.1387)-or Historia de la linda Melosina, in its Spanish translation-was a best-seller of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Jean d’Arras’ narrative tells the story of the fairy Mélusine, her union with her mortal husband, Raimond, their building up of the House of Lusignan, their line, and their conquests. The conflict of Mélusine centers on Raimond’s promise never to see Mélusine on Saturday when she secretly becomes transformed into a serpent from the waist down. His breaking of that promise causes Mélusine’s metamorphosis into a purely fairy state, her departure from the mortal world, and the eventual downfall of the House of Lusignan, a fief in southwestern France, in the province of Poitou. The narrative of Mélusine and Lusignan, with its themes of passion and tragedy, of fairies and supernatural metamorphosis, of battles and court life and kingdom-building, all makes for a compelling tale which was a favorite of the Middle Ages.’ With its realism, as well as mystery, the text resembles, on the one hand, the fifteenth-century chivalric romances, such as Tirant to Blanch, with intricate detail of courtly customs, life and military strategy, and, on the other, the earlier texts, such as Amadis, with reference to chronicles, ages past, and cruel beings (i.e., Endriago and Orrible) who need be destroyed.

The romance begins with the story of King Elinas and his meeting of Présine in the forest. He immediately falls in love with the lovely damsel, and she consents to marry him upon the condition that he not see her during childbirth. The king so promises, and they live happily until the king, tricked by his son from a former marriage, walks in on Présine immediately after she has given birth to their three daughters: Mélusine, Mélior, and Palestine. Présine, enraged at the king for having broken his promise, leaves for the Isle of Avalon, taking the daughters with her.

On Avalon, Présine raises her daughters, telling them sadly of their lost heritage. Mélusine, the eldest, with the consent of her sisters, takes revenge on their father by imprisoning him in the mountain of Brumblerio. Présine punishes the daughters for their cruelty by assigning them each a penance. Mélusine’s punishment is to be transformed into a serpent from the waist down every Saturday, a transformation she must hide from her husband should she ever many.
- From Introduction


CONTENTS:

Acknowledgments......I

Introduction......III

Notes......XI

Description of Witnesses......XIII

Editorial Standards......XVII

Historia de la linda Melosina (1489)......1

Variants and Emendations......194

Notes to the Edition......207

Glossary......211

Select Bibliography on Melusine......216