Secular Medieval Drama: La Pastourelle - La Jeu De Robin Et De Marion

LA PASTOURELLE

 The "Pastoral" -- tales of shepherds and shepherdesses in love in the simple, beautiful, and often musical woods -- came to England from France. The oldest pastourelle is La Jeu de Robin et de Marion. Or The Game of Robin and Marion.

After resisting the advances of the knight (there is always a knight in these tales. . . and an "offer" of some sort of sexual activity), Marion remains true to her lover, Robin.

There is no evidence that this Robin and maid Marion are Robin Hood and Maid Marion.  But while Marion (from Mary) was a common name for the pure maidens in French romances, Robin here strikes me as a suggestive coincidence that this was an early Robin Hood tale. . . just sayin.

& CLICK HERE to play another sample of the music.

http://toisondor.byu.edu/dscriptorium/aix166/index2.html

Pages by Mrs. D

"One of the most admirable things about history is, that almost as a rule, we get as much information out of what it does not say as we get out of what it does say. . . . History is a frog; half of it is submerged, but he knows it is there, and he knows the shape of it."

"The Secret History of Eddypus", Mark Twain