ABSTRACT
Single combat with a worthy peer is the quintessential component of medieval romance: the performance of chivalric masculinity depends upon the chance to prove one’s strength superior, but that proof requires a fair opponent. To behave rudely toward a minstrel is a comparatively minor offense against chivalric values; however, Richard’s behavior escalates soon afterward. The minstrel—behaving treasonously in earnest now—reports the presence of Richard and his companions to the German king, whose territory the Englishmen are crossing when they stop at the tavern. Indeed, the preliminary debates that set the stage for Richard’s combat with the lion challenge Michel Foucault’s influential theory of sovereign power over life and death in pre modern cultures. One implication is that the lion may not be a match for Richard’s own viciousness unless driven to desperation by hunger. At the same time, the text draws a sympathetic equation of lion with Richard, who also has been starved for a period of time in captivity.
