NIGHTBRINGER | The Arthurian Encyclopedia

Jeschute

Jeschuté

She is named by Wolfram von Eschenbach only as the daughter of King Lac and therefore a sister of Erec. Her husband was Orilus, duke of Lalander, in the tale about Parsifal. This story appears in works by both Wolfram and Chrétien de Troyes.

Parsifal, yet unknowing about the world and its ways, broke from his mother to go to king Arthur’s court, and on the way there he saw a glorious tent, standing on a field. In the tent was Jeschute sleeping with all her delight which could give a knight fever for love-making.

When Parsifal saw her he remembered his mother’s guidelines of life and threw himself over the lady; before she had gotten the chance to wake up he had kissed her, taken a ring from her finger and a bucklet from her shirt. When she “felt his young hunger” Jeschute hurried to direct it from her person to a set table and was astonished to see him guzzle the food and drink.

His manners were so bad she thought he were crazy and hurried to get him to leave before her husband returned. But the duke saw the youth’s footprints in the grass and accused his wife of being unfaithful. She defended herself by telling him that she had a visitor, a young beautiful maniac, who had stolen her ring and bucklet. Her husband answered angrily:

His limbs have pleasured You greatly, thee have been fornicated.

Now she should suffer from lack of love, her red mouth turned pale and her eyes red. She should be degraded. He put her to ride bareback on a horse and took her with him, set to mind to revenge Parsifal.

In time the couple did indeed meet Parsifal and Orilus attacked him furiously but Parsifal won, and he swore he had not violated Jeschute. Orilus then forgave his lady even though it should be the other way around and then Parsifal sent them both to serve King Arthur at his court.


See also
Herselojde | The Legend of King Arthur


Source
Parzival | Wolfram von Eschenbach, 1200–1210