Gingalain
), also known as Le Bel Inconnu, or The Fair Unknown, is a character from Arthurian legend whose exploits are recorded in numerous versions of a popular medieval romance.
He defeats the enchanter Mabon and accomplishes the "Fearsome Kiss" upon a serpent[a] to dispel the transformation of the princess of Wales, after which a voice reveals to him his name, Guinglain, and his parentage.
The Fair Unknown has a chance of reunion with White Hands, but when Arthur calls a tournament to entice him back, she helps by magically sending him to the joust, and he takes this to be a rejection.
[9] Guinglain is the later revealed Baptised name[4] of the title character in Le Bel Inconnu, a 6266 line French poem by Renaut de Beaujeu, completed some time after 1191 and before 1212/13,[10][12] which survive in the unique Chantilly, Bibliothèque du Château/Musée Condé, MS.
[19] During the 19th century into the 20th, there was a plurality of scholars favoring the opinion that there was a lost original French version which was the common source for both Renaut's Bel Inconnu and the English Libeaus.
The view was held by Gaston Paris, Albert Mennung, William Henry Schofield,[c] and Emmanuel Philipot,[25] with Max Kaluza who edited LD named as detractor.
[28][26] That BI had borrowed material from Erec et Enide as suggested by Mennung, and later extensively demonstrated by Schofield,[26] is a point that is affirmed by recent authorities.
[30] In the BI, the mention of the name is withheld until midpoint into the poem after he completes the quest of the Kiss,[4] this delay being a deliberate ploy by the author to enhance the dramatic effect.
[8] A maidservant named Helie (or Hélie) from Wales (Gales) then arrives at court, seeking a knight to take up an adventure to rescue her master, the Princess/Queen.
[49] Bel Inconnu overspends his time here in leisurely amorous idleness (recreantise[50]), but leaves abruptly upon remembering his main quest/adventure, to complete his obligation to the Welsh princess.
[53][54] After completing his main quest, he will have a chance to revisit the Pucelle to apologise for his abrupt departure after their initial acquaintance, and she will then reveal she had been aiding him all along using her magical powers.
[60] In BI, the accomplishment of the "Fearsome Kiss" is followed by a revelation in the form of a voice in his head which told him his baptismal name was Guinglain, his mother was Blanchemal the Fay, and his father Gawain.
version, according to some commentators,[64] where the hero after fighting a dragon (unconnected with the enchanter), wakes from unconsciousness, finding himself stripped naked by robbers and not knowing his whereabouts, but is able to verify his own presence of mind, being able to recall that his mother was Queen Floriê of Syria and his father Gâwein.
[72] Bel Inconnu is having his reunion with the Pucelle à Blanches Mains when King Arthur holds a tournament with the intent to lure Gingalain back to court—and to steer his decision of marriage more towards the newly crowned Queen of Wales.
[73] This magical send-off by Blanches Mains is regarded by Bel Inconnu to be a gesture of final break-up and rejection, and he winds up marrying Blonde Esmeree, as was arranged for him to do.
§ Intervening adventures), he interprets this as her jilting him, and accepts Arthur's design to keep him at his court, relenting to his matchmaking with Esmeree the Queen of Gales as wife.
The Fair Unknown motif was very popular in medieval romance; Gingalain's story is clearly related to (if not the direct source of) the tales of Gareth, Percival, and especially La Cote Mal Taile.
[81] The heraldic device of Le Bel Inconnu is described as lion of ermine on field of azure colour, and this is observed to be an appropriation of the author's own Beaujeu (Bâgé) family coat of arms.
