Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 9.djvu/151

 LEGENDS

124

LEGENDS

fluenoe of popular tradition. Moreover, the material has been entirely transformed under the influence of the ideals of knight-errantrv and courtly love. These deeds dominated all the Arthurian romances, and gave them their immense vogue with the poUte society of the Middle Ages. Arthur plays but a pajssive role in them; the c^ef stress falls on the adventures of the Knights of the Table Round. Of these Gawain (Gwalchmai, Gauvain) already figured prominently in the history of Godfrey, where he is called Walgannus. Perceval, the Peredur of Welsh folk-tales and of God- frey, has become especially famous as the hero of the Quest of the Holy Grail. Originally his legend, like tnat of the Grail, was whoUy independent of that of Arthur (for the Perceval legend see Grail, The Holt). Other famous legendary heroes like Lancelot and Tristram were also joined to the company of the Table Hound, and their legends likewise mcorporated into that of Artliur. So the great cycle of Arthurian romances gradually came into existence.

Through French mediation these romances spread through Europe. In Germany they inspired the courtly epics (see Germany, sub-title Literature ^ III). They also came to Italj', Spain, and Norway. In England Sir Thomas Malory gatnered them and used them for his famous prose romance "Morte Arthure" (finished 1470, printed by Caxton, 1485). To Malorv the legend of Arthur owes its popularity in England. Its influence is felt in Spenser's " Faerie Queene", and Milton, as is well known, thought of writing an Eng- lish Arthuriad. In modern times Tennyson has re- vived the legend in his " Idylls of the King".

Consult the bibliography appended to the article on the Holy Grail. Many of the works there cit«d treat abo of the Arthu- rian legend. See abo Zimmer, Nennius vindicatua (Berlin,

1893)

legend.


 * llHTS,

Studies in the Arthurian Legend (Oxford. 1891);

Newell, King A rthur and the Table Round (Boston, 1897). On the question of the origin of the " mati^re de Brctagne " see Vor- BTESCH, Einfijhrung in das Studium der altfranzdsiKhen Literatur (Halle, 1905), 339-352, where the literature of the subject is

fliven in full. Useful also for the later literature is Maccallum, Tennyson* 8 Idylls of the Kinff an ' teenth Century (Glasgow, 1894).

ennyson*s Idylls of the King and Arthurian Story from the Six-

Tristan and Isolde. — Among the knights of Arthur appears also Tristan (Tristram), whose love for Isolde and its tragic end are the subject of some of the most famous romances in literature. Here, too, we have an originally independent legend of Celtic origin, but elaborated by French poets into a love romance. The names Tristan and Mark point to Celtic heroic saga as the root of the story — Drust or Drustan as a name of Pictish kings can be traced as far back as the eighth cen- tury. The name of Morholt is probably Germanic; so is Isold (i. e. Iswalda) or Isclt (i.e. Ishilt). These Ger- manic elements date from the period of Viking rule in Dublin during the ninth and tenth centuries. The legend, no doubt, took shape in Britain and then wan- dered to Brittany, experiencing in the course of its development various modifications. New motifs, like that of the love potion, the story of the vicarious woo- ing, the trick whereby Isolde successfully imdergoes the ordeal, were added. They are familiar from story-literature. Other motifs, such as the ship with black sails, are clearly traceable to antique romance, in this case to the Theseus legend. By the middle of the twelfth century a full-fledged Tristan romance existed, but the literary versions that we possess are of a later date. It is known that Chrestien de Troyes wrote a poem about Mark and Isolde, but it is lost. The French versions extant are those of B&rol, a Bre- ton jongleur, or glee-man, and of Thomas, an Anglo- Norman trouvbre, who wrote between 1160 and 1170. B^rol's version, the date of which is a matter of dis- pute, is the basis of the German "Tristan" of Eilhard von Oberg, while Gottfried von Strassburg followed Thomas. Both versions agree for the main traits of the legend, however much they differ in detail.

For the content of the legend and its bibliography see the article on Gottfuied von Strassburo.

Lohengrin, the Knight of the Stoan, — ^In Wolfram's ''Parzival", where a brief outline of the story of Lohengrin is given at the close, the legend appears as a part of the Grail cycle, and therefore also of the Ar- thurian cycle. But originally it was wholly inde- pendent of both. In the oldest literary versions, the French poems of the " Chevalier au cygne " (the ear- liest dates from the beginning of the Uiirteenth cen- tury), the tale of the ICmght of the Swan is connected with Godfrey of BouiUon, and the French poems them- selves are part of an epic cycle dealing with the Cru- sades. How this connexion came about is not known. But it was certainly well known by the end of the twelfth century, as is proved by an allusion to it in the history of the Crusades written by Bishop William ol Tyre (d. about 1184). The purpose was evidently to glorify the House of Bouillon by ascribing to it a super- natural origin. The story as given in the FiBnch poems is as follows: before Emperor Otto hokiing court at Nymwegen the Duchess of Bouillon pleads for justice against the Saxon Duke Renier, who has maae grave charges against her. She cannot find a champion to prove her innocence in single combat, when suddenly an unknown knight appears in a skin drawn by a swan. He defeats her opponent and marries her daughter Beatris. But he miiposes the condition that his wife must never ask his name or lineage. When, after seven years of wedded life, she breaks this command, the unknown knight leaves her. A daughter named Ida has resulted from this union. She marries Count Eustache of Boulogne and becomes the mother of Godfrey of Bouillon.

The kernel of this legend seems to be an old genea- logical myth, such as that told of Scyld in " Beowulf "• A mysterious stranger arrives in a rudderless ship among a people, becomes their ruler and the ancestor of the reigning house. When his time is fulfilled, he departs as mysteriously as he has come. Such a myth was current among Germanic tribes inhabiting the sea-coast. Possibly the mysterious stranger originally was a solar deity and the swan a s3rmbol of the cloud. The story was designed to show the divine descent ol the ruling house. Its origin, whether Celtic or Ger- manic, is in dispute. The theme of the Lohengrin legend, the union between a supernatural being and a mortal, is of frequent recurrence in mythology and folk-lore.

With the tale of the swan-knight was combined an old Germanic fairy tale of some children changed into swans by the evil arts of a wicked stepmother. Only the little girl escapes, and becomes the means of res- cuing her brothers. This story is familiar to readers of Grimm's fairy tales. In the French poems on this subject, the children are the offspring of a union be- tween a king and a fairy, and the king's mother plays the villain's part. Their transformation into swans is the result of their being deprived of the necklaces which they had when they were bom. When these are re- stored they regain their human form, all but one, who has lost his necklace. He remains a swan and hence- forth draws the skiff of his brother, who is therefore called the knight of the swan. It is clear that this story was add^ to account for the mysterious origin of the hero. Its earliest literary record occurs in the Latin romance "Dolopathos", a collection of stories, mostly of Oriental origin, written by Jean de Haute- seille (Johannes de Alta Silva) at the beginning of the thirteenth century. Here the characters are as yet imnamcd. In the French poem known as "Elioxe" (end of twelfth century) the hero is a king named Lothair, the fairy is called Elioxe TEliouse). In the versions of the "Chevalier au cygne the king's name is Oriant, his wife is called Beatris, his mother Matabrune.

Through French mediation the legend passed into other lands. In England we have the poem of the "Chevalero Assigne" and the prose romanoe of " llcl-