《亚瑟王之死》与英国中世纪的司法制度

Le Morte Darthur and Medieval English Legal Institution

创作于15世纪的散文体传奇《亚瑟王之死》是研究中世纪后期英格兰历史与骑士文学传统的一部很有价值的文学文本。这篇论文重点从王权的司法职责、议会在立法过程中的作用,以及郡骑士在法律体系中的角色等三个方面讨论了作者马洛礼关于英国中世纪晚期司法制度之远见。通过对比《亚瑟王之死》及其素材、尤其是古法语《梅林传》中关于亚瑟王登基前后及建立圆桌骑士团的相应情节的叙述,本文详细探讨了文本间的差异,梳理了中世纪英国司法制度及早期议会下院功能的历史变化,并尝试辨明作者的创作意图。

Le Morte Darthur,a fifteenth-century Middle English prose romance,has been regarded as an indispensable literary text for studies on late medieval English history and chivalric literature.This essay discusses Malory's vision of late medieval English legal institution with emphasis on three aspects:the legal responsibility of kingship,the function of parliament in law formation,and the role of shire knights in late medieval English legal system.Through a comparative study of the episodes before and after the coronation of King Arthur as well as the establishment of the order of the Round Table in Le Morte Darthur and some of its sources,especially the prose Merlin,it attempts to discern the author's creative purpose behind textual manipulations while chronicling historical transformations of medieval English legal institution and the function of House of Commons in the early English parliament.