Lanseloet van Denemerken
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Lanseloet van Denemerken (Lancelot of Denmark) is a Middle Dutch drama. It is one of the four abele spelen that are contained in the Hulthemse handschrift and consists of 925 lines in rhyme
The other abele spelen are: Esmoreit, Gloriant and Vanden Winter ende vanden Somer
The play Lanseloet van Denemerken deals with the (impossible) love between people of a different social class and is followed by the sotternie, the farce, Die Hexe.
Roles
- Lanseloet
- Sanderijn
- Sine moeder (Lanseloet'‘s mother)
- Een ridder (a knight, husband of Sanderijn)
- Reinout (manservant of Lanseloet)
- Des ridders warande huedere (the gardiner of the knight)
Plot
The nobleman Lanseloet is in love with the young maiden Sanderijn. He tries to seduce her, but she doesn’t want to get involved because of her own low standing fearing she would not come to marry Lanseloet.
Lanseloet’s mother wants to end this affaire and imagines that Lanseloet’s love would soon disappear once he has possessed Sanderijn. She thinks of a plan to make Lanseloet promise her he will let Sanderijn go forever after one night with her. Lanseloet agrees. Sanderijn feels humiliated and betrayed and leaves the court. After many journeys she meets a noble knight who marries her even after she has been dishonoured.
Lanseloet now understands how shamefully he has treated Sanderijn. He is still in love with her and sends of his manservant Reinout to find her. when he does she tells him she would never leave her husband for Lanseloet.
Trying to spare his master from suffering he tells him Sanderijn has died. At first Lanseloet distrusts this message, but after seeing evidence of their meeting he knows Sanderijn will be lost to him forever. Lanseloet dies of grief and unanswered love.
External links
Original Middle Dutch text
- Lanseloet van Denemerken (with line numbers) at the "Digitale Bibliotheek voor de Nederlandse letteren" (The Digital Library of Dutch literature)
- Lanseloet van Denemerken at Project Gutenberg