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				First published: October 1, 2025 - Last updated: October 1, 2025
			TITLE INFORMATION 
			
			Author: Ruth Wehlau
			
 Title: The Power of Patient Kingship
 
 Subtitle: Supernatural Abduction in Sir Orfeo and the Third Branch of the Mabinogi
 
 Journal: Florilegium
 
 Volume: 38: Sexualized and Gendered Violence in the Middle Ages (Edited by Kathy Cawsey)
 
 Issue: -
 
 Year: 2025 (Published online: August 14, 2025)
 
 Pages: 4-15
 
 pISSN: 0709-5201 - 
				Find a Library: WorldCat | 
			eISSN: 2369-7180 - 
				Find a Library: WorldCat
 
 Language: English
 
 Keywords: 
				Medieval History: 
					11th Century, 
					14th Century | 
				European History: 
					English History, 
					Welsh History | 
				Victims: 
					Circumstances / 
						Abduction; 
				Representations: 
					Literary Texts / 
						Mabinogion, 
						Sir Orfeo
 
 FULL TEXT
 
			
			Links:
			- Project MUSE (Restricted Access)
 
 - University of Toronto Press (Restricted Access)
 
 ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
 
			
			Author:
				Ruth Wehlau, 
					Department of English Literature and Creative Writing, 
					Queen’s University
			
 Abstract: 
				»Sir Orfeo's tale of the abduction of a queen by a supernatural lord and her subsequent rescue by her husband is widely acknowledged to be analogous to similar narratives found in Celtic lore and literature. Most analogues proposed are Irish, yet another text mentioned less often in connection with Sir Orfeo is the classic work of medieval Welsh myth, The Four Branches of the Mabinogi. The Third Branch contains an interesting parallel to the Middle English poem. The Third Branch tells the story of Manawydan, a chieftain who is exiled from his land, and whose wife, Rhiannon, is abducted by an other-world lord. Manawydan waits seven years until he is able to bring about his wife's release through a trick that allows him to bind the other-world chieftain with an oath, just as Orfeo is able to force the Fairy King to release Heurodis using the Fairy King's oath. Furthermore, both texts highlight the heroes' avoidance of violence. In the Third Branch, this includes explicit mention of sexual self-restraint; in Sir Orfeo, Orfeo's patience is contrasted to the brutal force used by the other-world king in his abduction of Heurodis. In each text, the human hero's patience and superior power with words, rather than the strength in his arms, is what frees the queen. Both texts use the trope of fairy abduction to imagine lordship in terms of self-control rather than royal authority and might, ultimately revealing that patience and humility are forms of power in themselves.« 
				(Source: Florilegium)
 
 Wikipedia: 
				History of Europe: 
					History of England / 
						England in the Late Middle Ages | 
				History of Europe: 
					History of Wales / 
						Wales in the Middle Ages | 
				Literature: 
					English literature / 
						Sir Orfeo | 
				Literature: 
					Welsh-language literature / 
						Four Branches of the Mabinogi, 
						Manawydan fab Llŷr | 
				Sex and the law: 
					Sexual violence
 |