Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 20.djvu/677

Rh 653 Adapted from a 13th-century poem, it has been considered as the work of Huon de Villeneuve based upon earlier chansons. Aymon de Dordogne, brother of Beuves d'Aigremont and of Girard de Rous- sillon, brings his four sons to the court of Charlemagne. They are knighted by the emperor, who makes a present of the marvel- lous steed Bayard to the eldest, Regnault. This is the charger pictorially represented as bearing all the four champions on his back at once. Bertholais, the nephew of Charlemagne, plays one day a game of chess with Regnault, and, losing, petulantly strikes his adversary, who smites him dead with the board. All the four sons of Aymon are compelled to fly and war is immediately declared against them as outlaws, in which their unhappy father, as the feudal vassal of Charlemagne, is obliged to take an active part. Numerous incidents of deadly peril and adventure on both sides are recorded, and Regnault displays so much daring, skill, and magnanimity as to create in the reader's mind a hatred of the ungenerous monarch who relentlessly pursues the brothers. It will be remarked how singularly the character of Charlemagne has deteriorated from the earlier type. The famous Bayard plays a notable part in the story. On one occasion, by the help of his cousin, the enchanter Maugis (son of Charlemagne's assassinated enemy Beuves), Regnault captures the emperor, Roland, Ogier, Naimes of Bavaria, and Turpin. Although they are in his power, the chivalrous knight and his brothers merely kneel to Charlemagne and beg for peace and pardon. The monarch's hatred is implac- able ; but Regnault nobly sets his captives free, and the war begins again. Regimilt, who is lord of Montauban, a castle given him by Yvon, sovereign of Gascony, for having repelled a Saracen invasion, retires from the strife and makes a pilgrimage to Pales- tine. On his return he goes as a simple mason to aid in the build- ing of Cologne cathedral, and is there slain by the treachery of his fellow-workmen. gis Maugis d'Aigremont. The special romance bearing this title gre- (first printed about 1520) is not the only one in which Maugis the t. enchanter plays a prominent part. He is originally derived from the 13th-century poem on the four sons of Aymon, to whom he furnished material assistance in the struggle against Charlemagne. He also appears as a comrade and helper of Renaud in the Conqiiest of Trcbisond, and again in the romance of Mabrian (1530), in which he is elected pope, and finally perishes in a cave to which Charlemagne sets fire. These are all three of late origin ; and the Conqueste de Trebisonde (s.a., about 1520) is not even of French com- position, but is adapted from the 14th-century Italian poem of Trabisonda. The four sons of Aymon, especially Regnault (Tasso's hero Rinaldo), and their kinsman Maugis seem to have been especi- ally dear to the Italian imagination. ird Gerard d'Euphrate. This, printed in 1549, and professedly trans- L- lated from a metrical Walloon original, is an absurd tale of magic, ,te. containing nothing except names to connect it with the ancient poem on Girard de Fratte, one of the vassals who warred against the emperor. Although split into two personages in course of time, Girard de Fratte (not d'Euphrate) and Girard de Roussillon seem to have been originally identical. Girard was one of the sons of Doon of Mayence, and therefore brother to Ayrnon. Con- sequently this romance may be placed in connexion with the Four Sons of Aymon, and also serves to link it with Garin de Montglane, as it is evident that Girard- de Vienne in the latter romance is only another form of the older Girard. n of Huon of Bordeaux. This interesting story was compiled in prose in 1454, from a late form of a poem which was current towards the ix. end of the 12th century, and which has often been attributed to the trouvere Huon de Villeneuve, but without reason. Huon, duke of Guienne, one of the paladins of Charlemagne, is on his way to Paris to pay his respects to his liege lord, when he is attacked by the malicious and envious Chariot, whom he kills in self-defence. The emperor" grieves so much for his son's death that he dooms the unlucky Huon to death also, notwithstanding the intercession of all the peers and councillors. At last Huon is pardoned, but only on condition that he shall make a journey to the East and bring back from Baghdad a part of the Saracen amir's beard and four of his back teeth, after having slain one of the Saracen lords and kissed the amir's daughter before his face. These impossible tasks he is enabled to accomplish by the help of the pretty dwarf Oberon, who presents him with a magical cup and horn. A loud blast upon the latter suffices to bring Oberon and 100,000 warriors to his aid. At the most critical instant his magic powers fail him, simply because he had been guilty of deceit in announcing himself as a Mohammedan in order to gain entrance. The princess Esclar- monde has, however, fallen in love with him and succours him. He is at length brought out to fight the giant Agrapard, who has invaded Baghdad ; he conquers him, and tries to persuade the amir to turn Christian. Again when he is in danger, Oberon saves him ; and the teeth and beard are taken from the dead Saracen. Then begins a series of adventures full of peril and distress. Huon over- comes strong temptations practised on his chastity and the deadly straits in which he is placed by Saracen foes and treacherous kins- men, and at last makes Esclarmonde his lawful wife and justifies himself before Charlemagne. Oberon always makes his appearance when the needs are sorest, and in fact plays the best part in the narrative. This romance has no connexion with the actual history of Charlemagne ; but it is an attractive work of imagination. Valentin et Orson. This well-known and charming story, first Valen- printed in 1489, relates the lives of two brothers exposed in in- tine and fancy, one of whom is suckled by a bear. After many adventures, Orson. they regain their rightful position and each learns his relationship. The events are supposed to take place in France in the time of Pippin. It is a composition of the 15th century. Octavien, or Florenl et Lyon, is a similar story, never printed in Octavien. French, although written in that language, probably in the 15th century, from an episode of the Rcali di Francia. Beuve d' Hanstone, or, as he is called in English, Bevis of Hampton, Bevis of is the subject of an old French story which was embodied in the Hamp- JReali, and is only connected with Charlemagne by the mention of ton. King Pippin and the hero's kinship with the sons of Aymon. As a French prose romance it was printed by Verard about 1500. It had been printed separately in Italian at Bologna in 1480. An old English poem on Bevis was in the 15th or 16th century turned into a prose romance, and was printed about 1560. Morgant le G&ant is only a translation of Pulci's poem Morgante Maggiore, and Guerin Mesquin is similarly translated from an Italian prose recomposition of an old Italian poem. Little more than the names was derived from the old Charlemagne chansons de geste ; and the same may be said of the famous poems of Boiardo, Berni, and Ariosto upon Roland (Orlando). Bibliography of the first printed Prose Romances, including Texts and Transla- tions. Reali di Franza, fol. , Modena, 1491. Psevdo-Turpini chronica, fol., Frank- fort, 1566 (forming a portion of Schard's Rerum German. IV. vetustiores chrono- graphi) ; Chronique composee par Turpin, fol., Paris, 1476 (forming part of the Chroniques de S. Denys ; first independent edition, Paris, 1527). Galien Rethore, fol., Paris, Verard, 1500. Fierabras le Geant, fol., Geneva, 1478 printed also under the title of Conqueste du grand roy Charlemagne, fol., Lyons, 1486 ; In English, Charles the Great, Caxton, 1485 ; in Spanish, 1528. Guerin de Mon- glave, fol., Paris, 1518. Doolin de Mayence, fol., Paris, Verard, 1501. Ogier le Danois, fol., Paris, Verard, c. 1498. Quatre Filz Aymon, fol., Lyons, c. 1480 ; in English, The Foure Sonnes of Aymon, fol., Caxton; in Spanish, Reynaldos de Montalvan, fol., Seville, 1525 (translated from an unprinted Italian ver- sion of the Quatre Filz and the Trebisonde united) ; Conqufste de Trebisonde (Regnaultde Montauban), 4to, Paris, c. 1520. Chronique de Mabrian, fol., Paris, 1530. Maugist d'Aygremont, 4to, Paris, c. 1520. Beuves d'Anthonne et la belle Josienne, fol., Paris, Verard, c. 1500; in English, Syr Bevis of Hampton, 4to, W. Copland, c. 1560. Roman de Meurvin, fils d'Oger le Danois, 8vo, Paris, 1531. Gerard d'Euphrate, fol., Paris, 1549 ; Gerard de Roussillon, Lyons, c. 1530. Milles et Amys, fol., Paris, Verard, c. 1503 ; in Italian, Milles e Amis, 4to, Venice, 1503 ; Jourdain de Slaves, fol., Paris, 1520. fluon de Bordeaulx, fol., Paris, 1516 ; in English, Huon of Bordeux, Copland, c. 1540. Valentin et Orson, fol., Lyons, 1489 ; in English, Valentine and Orson, 4to, ed. Copland, c. 1560 ; in Italian, Valentino ed Orsone, 8vo, Venice, 1557. Clamades et Clermonde, fol., Lyons, 1480 ; in Spanish, Clamades y Claramonda, 4to, Burgos, 1521. [Octavien :] Florent et Lyon, 4to, Paris, s.a. ; in German, Keyser Octavianus, fol., Strasburg, 1535. Morgant le Ge<<nt, fol., Paris, 1519. Guerin Mesquin, 4to, 1530; in Italian, Guerino Meschino, fol., Padua, 1473 ; in Spanish, Guerino Mesquino, Seville, 1512. (c) Spanish Cycle : Amadis and Palmerin. Arthur had become in Britain not only a national hero Amadis of romance but also a leading figure around whom might of GauL be grouped the adventures of subordinate knights. Charle- magne filled a similar place for French writers, but had the advantage of being a more distinct historical character than Arthur. In the Iberian peninsula, where we find the next great cycle of stories, the circumstances which pro- duced the national hero (the Cid) were still progressive, and his history was too real to melt into such romantic fiction as dealt in France and England with remote and shadowy paladins and the wonders of fairyland. There- fore, while the Cid had an ever-present reality in ballads, the earliest appearance of prose romance in Spain was in an artificial imitation of the Franco-British cycle. As it was a work of great merit, its fictitious hero became, as it were, the central figure in the stories which followed and which bore to one another a strong family likeness. Most of the chief heroes are illegitimate, like Amadis ; the adven- tures of two brothers are told ; and there is much similarity of incident and character. Many of the scenes are laid in Constantinople. Amadis de Gaula is the poetical sire of an extraordinary series of romances, which in the words of Cervantes 1 form an "inumerable linaje," and is itself the most interesting and remarkable of them. Although its reputation is due to the Spanish redaction of Mont- alvo, there was an earlier Portuguese version by Vasco de Lobeira (d. 1403), a gentleman of the court of Joao I. 1 Under AMADIS of Gaul (vol. i. p. 650) may be seen the different references in Don Quixote to the romance.