king’s judicial failure, as in Sir Launfal, comment on the entire system." In Thomas Chestre's poem, Queen Guinevere destabilizes the court by taking favourites and falsely accusing those who cross her, the king seems more willing to placate her than to see justice done and at least some of his noblemen are more concerned to see their king's desires blindly carried out than to see a fair outcome. There was undoubtedly dissatisfaction in some quarters with the legal system in England at this time. Marie de France's depiction of King Arthur's court in Lanval, two hundred years earlier, may have been intended to parody the court of King Henry II of England, who saw himself as a new Arthur. References Sources Shepherd, Stephen H. A. (Ed.) (1995). Middle English Romances. New York: Norton. . Laskaya, Anne and Salisbury, Eve (Eds). 1995. The Middle English Breton Lays. Kalamazoo, Michigan: Western Michigan University for TEAMS. Medieval Institute Publications. External links Sir Launfal. Original Middle English full text. Introduction to Sir Launfal. Edited by Anne Laskaya and Eve Salisbury. Originally Published in The Middle English Breton Lays. Kalamazoo, Michigan: Medieval Institute Publications, 1995. The published edition includes Sir Landevale. Sir Launfal. Translated by James Weldon; pdf format. Sir Launfal Modern English Translation. Medieval Forum Sir Launfal, a translation and retelling in modern English of the story found in British Library MS Cotton Caligula A.ii. 14th-century poems Arthurian literature in Middle English Lais (poetic form) Middle English poems