[1]Professor Foerster’s edition of the poems of Chrétien de Troyes are
probably the most satisfactory critical texts we at present possess,
but the value of these is greatly impaired by the controversial use
made of the prefaces attached to them.
[2]These and other details will be found in Mr. Ward’s article on
‘Ipomedon,’ _Catalogue of Romances_, vol. i.
[3]_Ipomedon_ in drei englischen Bearbeitungen: Breslau 1889.
[4]_Supra_, p. xxix.
[5]The fact that, as we have pointed out, he sometimes agrees with one,
sometimes with the other version, seems to indicate that he knew the
common original of both.
[6]_Ipomedon_, A. l. 5500.
[7]_Lanzelet_, Von Zatzikhoven, ll. 2911-15.
[8]_Dutch Lancelot_, vol. i. ll. 42,819 _et seq._
[9]_Ipomedon_, p. xxviii.
[10]For the various epilogues and ascriptions of authorship, cf. _Die
Sage vom Gral_, Birch-Hirschfeld, chap. vii.
[11]Cf. Birch-Hirschfeld, _supra_.
[12]_Vide De Nugis Curialium_, ed. Wright, p. viii.
[13]Cf. _supra_, p. 5.
[14]Cf. P. Paris, _Romans de la Table Ronde_, vol. iii.
[15]Cf. _D. L._, vol. i. ll. 19,595 _et seq._; _Legend of Sir Lancelot_,
p. 235.
[16]Cf. _supra_, p. 5.
[17]_The Legend of Sir Lancelot du Lac_, Grimm Library, vol. xii.
[18]Cf. the reference to this adventure in _Morien_, quoted _supra_, p.
5.
[19]For these three colours in this connection, cf. my translation of
_Parzival_, vol. i. p. 317.
[20]P. 5.
[21]Cf. _Lanzelet_, ll. 9309 _et seq._
[22]Hucher, _Le Grand S. Graal_, vol. i. p. 421.
[23]Professor Foerster’s remark (_Charrette_, Introduction, p. xlvi),
that Hugo would, not improbably, take with him a copy of the last
romance which had created a popular _furore_, is one of those
gratuitous assumptions which, to the learned professor, assume the
virtue of facts, but which cannot be admitted, by any serious
critic, as a contribution to the argument. Professor Foerster seems
to imagine a twelfth century ‘Mudie’ with a ‘run’ on the latest
novel! If the source of the _Lanzelet_ had created in any sense a
_furore_, it would scarcely have disappeared so completely.
Considering the slowness of reproduction in those days, it is at
least as likely that the book was an old and valued favourite; but
as I said above, such hypotheses do not advance the question one way
or the other.
[24]Cf. _Cligés_, ll. 4575-4985.
[25]_Charrette_, p. xliii.
[26]P. cxxvi.
[27]P. cxxxviii.
[28]P. xix.
[29]I believe myself that the two works of the greatest importance for
determining the evolution of the Arthurian cycle are these lost
French sources of the _Lanzelet_ and of the _Parzival_. It is not, I
think, impossible that fragments at least may remain entombed in
some library. When their importance is more generally recognised
there may perhaps be an organised attempt made at their discovery.
[30]I have not seen either of these German fragments. Professor
Foerster’s tendency to claim as Chrétien’s undoubted property
everything that even remotely resembles the work of the French poet
makes caution needful. I give the statement entirely upon his
authority. With regard to the passage in the _Parzival_, Book XII.
l. 116, _et seq._, at first sight it seems clearly to refer to
Chrétien’s poem; but, as Professor Foerster himself admits, the work
clearly consists of two sections, and it seems quite possible that
the first part, the story of Alexander and Soredamors, may have been
known independently. As the testimony of the _Perceval_ poems
proves, there was current a love story connected with a sister of
Gawain. The weak point in this _Parzival_ allusion is, that the poet
is recalling the torments that Gawain and his kin have suffered
through ‘_Minne_.’ Now the love story of Cligés and Phenice is far
more tragic than that of Cligés’ parents; and it is difficult to
understand why, if the writer knew the _whole_ poem, he should refer
only to the weaker illustration, as both are equally connected with
Gawain. I suspect myself that the allusion was in Wolfram’s source,
and refers to the source of the _Cligés_.
[31]Printed in Weber’s _Metrical Romances_, vol. i.
[32]Cf. _Legend of Sir Lancelot_, p. 81.
[33]_Ibid._ p. 5.
[34]Chaps. ii and iv.
[35]Vol. ii. No. XLIII.
[36]_Tiroler Kinder- und Haus-Märchen._
[37]_Contes Lorrains_, vol. i. No. I.
[38]_Contes Lorrains_, vol. i. No. XII.
[39]_Contes Lorrains_, vol. ii. p. 96.
[40]_Op. cit._, vol. ii. No. LV.
[41]Grimm Library, vols. ii., iii., v.
[42]_Perseus_, vol. iii. p. 4.
[43]_Perseus_, vol. iii. p. 15.
[44]Cf. _The Cuchullin Saga_, Grimm Library, vol. viii. p. 81.
[45]Vol. i. p. 96.
[46]Cf. _supra_, p. 23.
[47]A reference to _Fortunio_, one of the tales of our group, included
in the fifteenth century collection of Straparola.
[48]The additions in italics are mine.—J. L. W.
[49]To this our present investigation enables us to add that while M.
Cosquin’s shepherd lad unites the pastoral features with the courtly
tournament, the Greek variant retains the flying steeds and gives us
the tournament to boot.
[50]The number is of course far greater, but Mr. Campbell unfortunately
did not live to know the _Contes Lorrains_ or the _Perseus_.
[51]_Popular Tales of the West Highlands_, vol. iv. pp. 277, 278.
[52]‘The Black Horse,’ _More Celtic Fairy Tales_, p. 226.
[53]Mr. Hartland also draws attention to the parallel between the three
disguises of the hero and the three dresses of the heroine in
certain variants of the _Cinderella_ story. In the _Aschenbrödel_
the robes are woven of sun, moon, and stars.
[54]Berlin, 1881.
[55]_Harvard Studies and Notes_, vol. v. pp. 94, 95.
[56]John Rous, _Life of Richard, Earl of Warwick_.
[57]I should like to draw the attention of readers to the fact that
these two ‘triplets’ of colours are also to be met with elsewhere.
Thus black, white, and red are found, as we have seen, in a famous
incident of the _Perceval_; and that curious book, _Durandus on
Symbolism_, gives them as the colours of the three veils covering
the altar at Passiontide. White, green, and red are found in the
legend of the Tree of Life, and Solomon’s Ship, preserved in the
_Queste_ and _Grand Saint Graal_. A friend, learned in such matters,
has informed me that these sets of colours represent certain
alchemical processes, and in that connection were well known in
mediæval times. It seems possible that there may have been some
hidden and mystical significance attached to their earliest use; we
have not fathomed all the secrets of folk-lore.
[58]P. 25.
[59]For details of Map’s life, cf. _Dictionary of National Biography_,
and the Introduction to Wright’s edition of _De Nugis Curialium_.
[60]I would draw the attention of students of the _Lais_ of Marie de
France to the fact that Map gives several versions of the wedding of
a knight with a fairy, or Otherworld, mistress. Also a version of a
visit to the Otherworld kingdom with an ending closely corresponding
with that of the _Voyage of Bran_, and _Guingamor_, and in each case
he locates the story in Wales. It is perfectly clear that tales,
such as we find in the _Lais_, were at least as well known in these
islands as on the Continent.
[61]_Legend of Sir Lancelot_, p. 83.
[62]_Legend of Sir Lancelot_, p. 11. The folk-lore allusions in the
_Lanzelet_ are worth following up.
[63]I am indebted to Mr. W. B. Blaikie for kindly verifying the
quotation for me.
[64]Cf. _Charrette_, p. lxxvii.
[65]_Legend of Sir Lancelot_, p. 46 _et seq._
[66]The theory which I advanced in chap. vii. of the _Legend of Sir
Lancelot_ with regard to the temporary disappearance of the
tradition of Guinevere’s infidelity is, I think, strengthened by the
evidence of the various ‘chastity-test’ _Lais_, Horn, Mantle, Glove.
We might reasonably expect Guinevere to come but poorly out of such
an ordeal; as a rule, however, she escapes very easily, far more
easily, indeed, than the majority of the ladies of the court. In one
case we are clearly given to understand that her sole error, a
trivial one, has been one of thought. Now the _lais_ represent, as
is generally admitted, an early stage of romantic evolution, and
taken into consideration with the evidence of the earlier poems,
they certainly appear to strengthen the argument tentatively put
forward in my _Lancelot_, _e.g._ that the tradition of the queen’s
faithlessness to her husband belonged to the _historic_ legend and
was, as such, preserved in the pseudo-chronicles; it had no
existence in the _romantic_ legend till introduced under the
influence of a special social condition, and in this its later form,
it is not to be regarded as a survival of the historic Modred story,
but as a later and independent development.
[67]Cf. _Popular Studies_, No. 10 (Nutt), _The Romance Cycle of
Charlemagne and his Peers_, where I have pointed out the fundamental
differences between the cycles.
[68]On this point, cf. Mr. Greg’s review of my _Lancelot_ studies,
_Folk-Lore_, December 1901.