Version 1

Notes de lecture
136

Le texte de base est celui de ldition de Janet Cowen, Penguin Classics (2 vol.).

BOOK VII
CHAPTER 17. How after long ghting Beaumains overcame the knight
and would have slain him, but at the request of the lords he saved his life,
and made him to yield him to the lady [the Lady Lyonesse]
1
And then thus they fought till it was past noon, and never would stint, till at the last they lacked
wind both; and then they stood wagging and staggering1, panting, blowing and bleeding, that all that
beheld them for the most part wept for pity. So when they had rested them a while they yede to battle
again, tracing, rasing, foining as two boars. And at some time they took their run as it had been two
rams, and hurtled together that sometime they fell grovelling to the earth; and at sometime they were
so amazed that either took others sword in stead2 of his own. Thus they endured till evensong time,
that there was none that beheld them might know whether was like to win the battle; and their armour
was so forhewen that men might see their naked sides; and in other places they were naked, but ever
the naked places they did defend. And the Red Knight was a wily knight of war, and his wily ghting
taught Sir Beaumains to be wise; but he abought it full sore or he did espy his ghting.
2
And thus by assent of them both they granted either other to rest; and so they set them down
upon two mole-hills there beside the ghting place, and either of them unlaced his helm, and took the
cold wind; for either of their pages was fast by them, to come when they called to unlace their harness
and to set them on again at their commandment.
And then when Sir Beaumains helm was o, he looked up to the window, and there he saw the
fair lady Dame Lyonesse, and she made him such countenance that his heart waxed light and jolly; and
therewith he bad the Red Knight of the Red Launds make him ready, and let us do the battle to the utterance.
I will well, said the knight.
And then they laced up their helms, and their pages avoided, and they stepped together and

1
2

Leon de Winchester, folio 128v, qui me semble prfrable au cateryng de Caxton, que suit J. Cowen.
Ni Winchester, ni Caxton nemploient la forme soude instead de la version de J. Cowen.

fought freshly; but the Red Knight of the Red Launds awaited him, and at an overthwart smote him
within the hand, that his sword fell out of his hand; and yet he gave him another buet upon the helm
that he fell grovelling to the earth, and the Red Knight fell over him, for to hold him down.
3
Then cried the maiden Lynet on high: O Sir Beaumains, where is thy courage become? Alas, my lady
my sister beholdeth thee, and she sobbeth and weepeth, that maketh mine heart heavy.
When Sir Beaumains heard her say so, he abrayed up with a great might and gat him upon his
feet, and lightly he leapt to his sword and gripped it in his hand, and doubled his pace unto the Red
Knight, and there they fought a new battle together. But Sir Beaumains then doubled his strokes, and
smote so thick that he smote the sword out of his hand, and then he smote him upon the helm that he
fell to the earth, and Sir Beaumains fell upon him, and unlaced his helm to have slain him; and then he
yielded him and asked mercy, and said with a loud voice: O noble knight, I yield me to thy mercy.
4
Then Sir Beaumains bethought him upon the knights that he had made to be hanged shamefully, and then he said: I may not with my worship save thy life, for the shameful deaths that thou hast caused
many full good knights to die.
Sir, said the Red Knight of the Red Launds, hold your hand and ye shall know the causes why I put
them to so shameful a death.
Say on, said Sir Beaumains.
Sir, I loved once a lady, a fair damosel, and she had her brother slain; and she said it was Sir Launcelot du
Lake, or else Sir Gawain; and she prayed me as that I loved her heartily, that I would make her a promise by the
faith of my knighthood, for to labour daily in arms unto I met with one of them; and all that I might overcome I
should put them unto a villainous death; and this is the cause that I have put all these knights to death, and so I
ensured her to do all the villainy unto King Arthurs knights, and that I should take vengeance upon all these
knights. And, sir, now I will thee tell that every day my strength increaseth till noon, and all this time have I seven
mens strength.

Au terme dun long combat, Beaumains, ayant vaincu son adversaire,

veut le tuer mais cde aux instances des seigneurs, lpargne
et lenvoie la dame [Lionne] reconnatre sa dfaite
1
Ils combattirent ainsi jusqu midi pass sans vouloir aucun prix faire de pause, jusqu ce
quenn ils soient tous deux bout de soule, chancelant, trbuchant, haletant, soulant, saignant, au
point que, pris de piti, la plupart des spectateurs en avaient les larmes aux yeux. Aprs un rpit, ils retournrent au combat, contrant, entaillant, chargeant comme deux sangliers. un moment donn, ils
prenaient leur lan et slanaient lun contre lautre comme deux bliers pour nir le nez par terre ;
un autre moment, ils taient tellement gars quils confondaient leurs pes. Ils tinrent bon ainsi jusquaux vpres, si bien quaucun spectateur ntait en mesure de dire lequel avait de meilleures chances
de lemporter. Leur armure tait tellement dchiquete quon leur voyait les ancs ; dautres parties du
corps taient dcouvert, mais ils les protgeaient constamment. Le Chevalier Rouge tait un guerrier
rus : ses manuvres et ses feintes furent autant de leons de prudence pour sire Beaumains, qui paya
cher ce que son adversaire lui apprenait en combattant.
2
Dun commun accord, ils rent une trve, sassirent sur deux taupinires proches des lieux du
combat, dlacrent leur casque et gotrent la fracheur de lair ; leurs pages se tenaient non loin, prts
accourir au moindre appel pour dlacer leur armure, puis lattacher nouveau sur nouvel ordre.
Une fois son casque retir, sire Beaumains leva les yeux vers la fentre o il aperut la belle,
dame Lionne, sur le visage de qui il lut une telle expression quil en eut le cur lger et gai ; du coup, il
dit au Chevalier Rouge des Landes Rouges de se tenir prt, ajoutant : et battons-nous outrance.
Jen demeure daccord, rpondit le chevalier.
Ils lacrent nouveau leur casque et, leurs pages ayant pris leurs distances, savancrent lun
vers lautre et se lancrent nouveau lassaut ; mais le Chevalier Rouge des Landes Rouges, lat,
lui porta une botte de ct lintrieur de la main [droite] qui lui t lcher prise, puis lui assena sur le
casque un second coup qui lui t mordre la poussire : le Chevalier Rouge sabattit sur lui pour le clouer
au sol.

3
La demoiselle Lionette scria alors dune voix forte : messire Beaumains, quest-il advenu de ton
courage ? Hlas ! ma dame, ma sur, qui te contemple, sanglote et pleure, ce dont jai le cur gros.
En lentendant tenir ces propos, sire Beaumains dans un sursaut de toutes ses forces se releva,
dun bond agile atteignit son pe et sen saisit, revint en un clair vers le Chevalier Rouge, et larontement reprit. Mais sire Beaumains redoubla alors ses coups et les t pleuvoir si dru que lpe sauta de la
main de son adversaire ; il lui assena alors sur le casque un coup qui lui t mordre la poussire. Sire
Beaumains sabattit alors sur lui et dlaa son casque pour le tuer : le Chevalier Rouge se rendit alors et
demanda grce, clamant dune voix forte : preux chevalier, je me rends merci !
4
Sire Beaumains songea alors aux chevaliers que le vaincu avait fait pendre avec ignominie et lui
dit : Il nest pas conforme mon honneur que je tpargne, en raison de la mort infmante que de nombreux
chevaliers de valeur ont connue par ta faute.
Messire, rpondit le Chevalier Rouge des Landes Rouges, retenez votre bras et je vous apprendrai
pourquoi je leur ai inig une n aussi ignoble.
Dis toujours, commenta sire Beaumains.
Messire, jaimai jadis une dame, belle demoiselle, dont le frre fut tu ; selon elle, lauteur de sa mort tait
sire Lancelot du Lac, moins que ce ne ft sire Gauvain, et elle me pria, si je jaimais du fond du cur, de lui
promettre sur ma foi de chevalier de dployer chaque jour mes talents de guerrier jusqu ce que je rencontre lun
deux, sans manquer diniger une mort dshonorante tous ceux dont je me rendrais vainqueur : telle est la raison pour laquelle jai excut tous ces chevaliers, lui ayant garanti que je ferais aux chevaliers du roi Arthur tout le
mal possible et que je tirerais vengeance deux tous. Et je vais tavouer maintenant, messire, que chaque jour ma
force ne cesse de crotre jusqu midi et pendant ce laps de temps jai la force de sept hommes.

forhewen cf. volet 23, 12

OED (extrait):
hew I.hew, v.
(hju)
Pa. tense hewed (hjud); pa. pple. hewn (hjun), hewed. Forms: 1 hawan, 3 huwen, 35 hewen,
(5 -yn), 36 hewe, (67 heaw), 4 hew. pa. tense and pple.: see below.
[A Com. Teut. vb.; originally reduplicated. OE. hawan = OFris. hawa, howa, OS. hauuan, hauwan
(MLG. houwen, howen, hoggen, MDu. hauwen, houwen, Du. houwen); OHG. houwan (MHG. houwen, Ger.
hauen), ON. hggva (Sw. hugga, Da. hugge), Goth. *haggwan (not recorded); pa. tense, OE. how, pl.
howon = OS. heu, pl. heuwun (MDu. hieu(w), (hau), houwen), OHG. hio, hiu, pl. hiowun, hiuwen (MHG.
hiu, hie, pl. hiuwen, hiewen, Ger. hieb, -en), ON. hj, pl. hjoggum; Pa. pple., OE. (e)hawen = OS. gihouwan (MDu. gehouwen), OHG. gihouwan (MHG. gehouwen, Ger. gehauen), ON. hgg(v)inn; OTeut. Type
*hauw-, pa. tense hehau-, pple. hauwan-:pre-Teut. *kou-, *kow-: cf. OSlav. , kovati, to forge,
Lith. kuju (kuti) to strike, forge, kov battle. The original reduplicated pret. appeared in OE. as
how. In ME., this fell together with the pres. stem haw-, under the form hew. But a weak pa. tense
hewede appeared in the 14th c., and by 1500 superseded the strong form. A weak pa. pple. hewed
also occurs from the 14th c., but has never been so common as the strong hewen, hewn. (The weak
pa. tense and pple. found in MHG., MLG., and MDu. are from the parallel weak vb. OHG. houwn:
some refer the weak tenses in Eng. to a wk. OE. *heawian.) Derivatives from the same root are hag
v.1, hag n.3, n.4, hay n.1]

allemand
nerlandais
vieux-norrois

hauen, hieb/haute, gehauen

houwen, hieuw/houwde, gehouwen
hggva, hj, hgginn

famille du latin cd

Le Morte :

2 he abrayed up

volet Winchester

Caxton

Janet Cowen

23

hew

hewe

hewed

45

hewyn

hewen

hewn

95

hew

hewe

hew

97

hew

hewe

hew

131

for hewyn

fer hewen

forhewn

135

hew

hewe

hew

136

for hewyn

forhewen

forhewen

142

hew

hewe

hew

161

hewyn

hewen

hew

184

hewed

hewed

hewed

196

to hew

to hewe

to-hew

197

hewyn

hewen

hewn

243

hewyn

hewen

hewn

257

hewe (2)

hewe (1)

hew (1)

268

hewe

hewe

hew

296

to hewe

to hewe

to-hew

347

hew

hewe

hew

386

hewen

hewn

cf., avec un autre prverbe, to upbraid ;

MED :

abreiden (v.(1)) Also abraiden, obreid, abrayen. Forms: p. abraid, abreid & abraide, (late) abreide; ppl.
abroden, abroiden, abrden, abrden & (late) abreid(e.
[OE bregdan, brdan; abrgd, abrd; brugdon, brdon; brogden, brden.]
1. To move (sth.) suddenly or violently: (a) thrust; snatch (away); lift; draw (a sword); raise (the
eyes or the eyelids); fig. save (sb. from sin); (b) to cast down, destroy.
2. (a) To move suddenly, start up; of sighs: to burst forth; ~ up; (b) ~ to, to move toward (sth.),
approach; ~ on, come close to, resemble.
3. (a) To start from sleep, recover from a swoon, awake; ~ out of slep (slumber, sweven, swough);
(b) to start up from a t of musing, recover from astonishment, shame, weeping; to recover ones
speech, break silence; ~ abak, ~ out of; (c) to start to speak; also, to speak, talk.

Seule la premire partie du titre correspond au contenu du chapitre ; la seconde

partie va avec le chapitre suivant.