«Le lyon de l’empereor est eschapez». L’inizio del ‘Roman de Meliadus’ e il motivo del leone evaso

The author of the Roman de Meliadus (first part of the Guiron le Courtois cycle) starts off with a narrative section dedicated to Palamède’s father, Esclabor. After being deported from Babylon to Rome as a slave, Esclabor kills a lion that has escaped from cage and endangers the emperor. By virtue of his courage, Esclabor is liberated from slavery and becomes one of the emperor’s favourites. In this contribution I will examine this narrative section, by discussing similar episodes in Arthurian literature (Lancelot propre, Tristan en prose) as well as parallel adventures in other Romance texts (Cantar de Mio Cid, Berte aus grans piés, Aiol ). Such an analysis reveals a significant set of interdiscursive (if not also intertextual) connections revolving around the motif of the escaped lion.