ABSTRACT
The fifteenth-century romance The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnelle recounts King Arthur’s encounter with Sir Gromer Somer Joure, a knight whose lands Arthur has appropriated and given to Gawain. Dressed for hunting, not battle, Arthur finds himself at Gromer’s mercy and manages to survive only by promising to return in one year to solve Gromer’s riddle about what women most desire. If his answer is wrong, Arthur will forfeit his life. Over the next months, Arthur and Gawain ride throughout the realm seeking the correct response. Each compiles a book of answers from those they question, but none seems satisfactory. With just a little time left before the year’s end, Arthur meets a foul hag, Dame Ragnelle, who informs him that she will provide him the answer he is searching for if, as her reward, she can have Gawain for her husband. The courteous knight asserts that in order to save the king’s life he would marry her “Even if she were as foul as Beelzebub” (1. 345).
