he was not the chivalrous king of the middle ages, nor the all-accomplished knight, nor the seeker of adventures. He was simply the patriotic and revengeful chief leading his faithful people to take dire vengeance on their foes. At times he protected his land (Brittany)* from the ravages of wild beasts and sea monsters-resembling in this the rude heroes of the Greeks, Hercules and Theseus. He is found doing duty in this fashion in the legend of St. Efflamm. This holy man, quitting his Irish home and his Irish bride, Enora, on the very night of their nuptials, sets out to dedicate his whole life to solitude and penance. Coming to the sea-shore, he cannot espy boat or ship, nothing but a chest pierced with many holes. Stepping fearlessly into this barge, he is wafted to the coast of Lannion, in Brittany. "Then was Brittany desolated By wild animals and dragons fierce; "But many of them were already slain "Said Efflamm-'With the aid of God, The Lord blessed for evermore, I will find for thee water.' "And with his strong staff Thrice he smote the rock, "And from that summit rushed a spring "Refreshed he then rushed on the beast, And deep in his throat he buried his keen glaive. A loud cry uttered the monster, The grateful hero invited the saint to come with him to Court, but the holy man knew better. He made a hermitage for himself near the spot, and there lived. At the conclusion of the legend, when the married saints receive their glorious rewards, the composer makes these remarks: "In order that no one may forget these things that have never yet been in any books, they are here put in verse, so that they may be sung in churches." On the front of the Church of Perros, by Lannion, where the combat was supposed to be fought, is still to be seen a bas-relief representing the rough patriot, crown on head and sword in hand, overcoming the dragon with the saint's aid. Its date is clearly established as the end of the eleventh or beginning of the twelfth century. The "Brut y Brenhined," already spoken of as having been brought from Brittany in 1125, and translated into Welsh by Walter Calenius of Oxford, is not in existence, but Welsh copies are extant. It has never been cordially cherished by the scholars of the principality, for the original compiler had more at heart the glory of his own country than that of Cambria. He sends Breton heroes to the mother country, to succour her struggling princes on the point of being defeated, and he objects to the Welsh that they lost the early proud name of the race, * As the Irish colony settled in the sixth century in the West Highlands gave localities in their new country to the Fians of their ancestors, so the Bretons connect some of Arthur's exploits with their own heaths, valleys, and rocks. +"Barzaz Breiz," par Villemarqué. One of these has been preserved in the "Myvyrian Archaiology," vol. ii., under the title of Brut Tysilio (the Legend of Sulio). An account of this saint, so devoted to sacred music, may be seen in a former article in the DUBLIN UNIVERSITY MAGAZINE. while those who sought refuge in Armorica bravely and nobly retain it for themselves and their new dwelling place. It is curious that something analogous happened amongst ourselves. The Scots of our country sent a colony in the sixth century to Alba or Caledonia, and this colony attached the name of their parent country and that of their ancestors to their new resting-place, and there it has become permanent. No Irishman at this day thinks anything about his island having lost its former name, and he and his countrymen their patronymic; while Highlanders, who have some right to be called Scots, and Lowlanders, who have no right at all, enjoy the full privilege and all the accruing advantages of the title. In the sketch of the life and exploits of Arthur, taken from the Latin chronicle of Geoffy, and which is substantially the same as the Welsh version of the Breton romance, it will be seen that the characters of Arthur and his Court, are essentially different from those that appear in the Welsh triads, and poems, and tales, and from what the French and English poets, later in time, took the liberty to present in a form altered for the worse. Instead of the struggling petty chief of some legends, or the inythological undefined demi-god of the others- "We find Arthur with the particular ex pression, animation, and relief which the popular paintings of Armorica have given him. He retains little of the king of the Welsh stories He speaks, he talks, he acts as a knightly king. He enters in full panoply into the world of chivalry, the dawn of which lumines his features. He belongs less to the Cambrians than to all civilized Europe. His knights, Kai and Beduvr, become French. One is of La Manche the other of Anjou. He has the cross engraved on his sword, and on his forehead the sign of the Christian, as a He is young, he is han some, he is good. The Britons love and follow him; the national saints protect and bless him; the Pagan Saxons fear him, and attack him only by treason. Brave as the Charlemagne of story, he is no less pious than that exterminator of the Saxon."(Count de la Villemarqu».) In the Breton chronicle he has several of the chivalric attributes. He goes on making conquests, less for power than glory. He holds high state in Paris and other continental cities; but his greatest merit, in the eyes of the zealous Count from whom we have quoted, is that, like Dante, he had put himself under the tutelage of the heavenly Patroness of Purity. Thus in the legend of the kings, we find the remark -"The ladies were chaste at the court of King Arthur, and through the love the knights cherished for them, they were ail valiant and virtuous." This purity of sentiment, investing the Armorican Arthur, and his court, sadly deteriorated when the NormanFrench poets took the chronicling of the court affairs in hand. Even the Cambrian chiefs and minstrels were not to be compared with their Armorican brethren in what may be considered the finest properties of the chivalric era. Caradoc, of Llancarvan, assures us that-"The Prince Rhys Ap Tudor returning in 1077 from a long sojourn in Gaul, brought back with him the habits, the sentiments, and the manners of the court of Arthur, which, having been lost in Cambria, had been religiously preserved among the Dukes of Brittany.t The reader may possibly wonder that as yet no mention is made of the Round Table; but, in reality, there is none made of it either in the old Welsh poems, in the triads, in the Welsh prose tales, or the Armorican manuscript, or its versions. Wace merely says that Arthur had a table made for his knights, but says not a word about its form. However, the French poets, who took Arthur and his court for their subject, insisted from the Welsh story-tellers, that they had heard of the article "Fist Arthur la roon le tale Dort linstons dient mainte fable."; In the "Book of Armagh" is an insertion made in the beginning of the eleventh century by the hand of the secretary of Brian Boroimhe. In it that monarch is styled **Emperor of the boots,” vran Archaiology," vol. ii., page 521; “Iolo Manuscripts,” page 391. made the Round Table, Britons tell many a fab r Referring to the enduring impression which the old Arthurian legends have left on the public mind, Count Villemarqué gives the following information. "The entertainments of the court of Arthur, have left in Armorica traces, very humble if you will, but very significant of their strong hold on the traditions of the land. Country children in Brittany knowing neither how to read nor write, and speaking the language of their parents, have often in their plays, revealed to me treasures of the old Celtic poetry. They had, thirty years since, and probably they have still, in some places, a play which they called the play of King Arthur. "They sought a large isolated stone, and st on it one of the gravest and steadiest of the troop. They crowned him with leaves, and the rest-boys and girls-taking hands formed a ring round him, singing this distich : 'Roue Arzur, me ho salud, Me ho salud, roue a Vrud.** "After making three rounds they applied their faces to the earth three times." Having, as in duty bound, given reasonable attention and space to the king, his knights claim our notice. Alas, if all were without fear, some were not without reproach. It will be more agreeable to writer and reader to get over the disagreeable portion of our task first, and have the satisfaction of ending with the career of the heroes commendable at all points. Our first election then falls on Tristan, with whom is eternally remembered the ill-starred Irish princess, Iseult. They are better known by the names of SIR TRISTREM AND THE FAIR Isoud. The story of these ill-fated lovers suffers some variation in the hands of the different relaters; but the following facts agreed on, stand out in the various versions. Tristan received his military education at the court of his uncle Mark (Marc'h, Horse), King of Cornwall. Morhoult, an Irish prince, appearing at the court, demanded tribute; but Tristan engaging him in single com bat, slew him. Being wounded by the poisoned weapon of Morhoult in the thigh, he proceeded to Ireland, and was healed by the fair Iseult, or Isoud. Returning home, he so exfair physician, that his uncle sent tolled the beauty and virtues of his him back to bring the charming lady to Cornwall to be his queen. Tristan faithfully performed his duty to a certain point. Iseult's mother intrusted a wonderful love - potion to her favourite maid Brangwen, to be delivered to the Equine King to be swallowed by himself and his bride. A strong mutual love would be the enduring result. Very unfortunately, Tristan was seized with thirst on the voyage, and coming at this liquor, drank some, and persuaded Iseult to finish the rest. They were ignorant of the quality of the beverage till too late, and each found it afterwards impossible to overcome a violent afSome time fection for the other. after her marriage with King Marc'h (ch guttural), the husband was informed of his wife's infidelity and his nephew's disloyalty. The unfortunate and guilty pair were seized and led to execution, but Tristan escaped, and in a short time effected her deliverance, and both fled to the woods. Marc'h tired of his enforced single life, recalled and pardoned his queen, but ordered Tristan to keep his distance. He, however, assuming the character of a fool, once more became a resident of the Court of Tintagel, and a favourite with his uncle. A new accusation, a new awakening of Marc'h's jealousy, and an appeal on the part of the lady to the protection of King Arthur and his knights. By an ingenious ruse she established her innocence to the full satisfaction of Arthur and everybody, and a grand tournament took place. In it all the knights of the Round Table were forced, by an unknown warrior, to bite the dust, but when the jousting was over he was not to be found. Knight after knight went in pursuit to induce him to return, and receive honours and rewards at the hands of Arthur, but he would not be per "King Arthur, I salute thee, + Local antiquaries assert that this hapless princess has left her name to the village of Chapelizod. VOL. LXV.-NO. CCCLXXXVII. 21 suaded he dreaded his uncle's resentment. At this time, owing to the philtre's having lost its power,* and to the counsels of a holy hermit, he repaired to the Court of Brittany, and became the husband of the daughter of King Hoel, an Iseult also. The memory of his former love somewhat troubled his new life, and he sought in dangerous adventures a distraction for his ennui. Receiving a dangerous wound he despatched a messenger to the Cornish queen, entreating her aid; but his wife having discovered his former misdeeds, bribed the messenger to say, on his return, that she would not contribute in the slightest degree to his recovery. He died, rather from chagrin at Iseult's alienation, than the effect of the wound. The story of "Tristan and Iseult," was in the repertory of the Northern Trouvères and the Troubadours of Provence, in the early part of the twelfth century. No specimens of the southern lays on the subject are extant. One of the earliest northern versions known was composed by a certain bard named Berox, about 1260. The next in order of time was versified by Thomas of Ercidoune, in the sort of English spoken at the court of Scotland in the first half of the thirteenth century. Concerning Thomas and his works and his times, ampie information is given in the "Sir Tristrem," edited by Sir Walter Scott. As the Trouvères had been exercising their wits on the subject nearly half a century before the time of Thomas, who was born in 1219, he must have laid the French poets under contribution, or have studied the "Legends of the Cymry of Westmoreland, Cumberland, and the South-west of Scotland."- See UNIVERSITY MAGAZINE for January last). The latter supposition is the more probable. Long after the first desent of the West Germans, there were three Celtie prine palities in the west besides Wales. These incinded :-- 1st., Cornwall and part of Devonshire; 21.d., Lancashire and Cumberand; 3rd, the district between the Sway Faith and the Frith of Clyde. Sole of the localities mentioned in the "Mort d'Arthur," belong to the border. Bamborough Castle was the Castle Orgeillous; Berwick, the Joyeuse Garde-Sir Launcelot's fortress. In the thirteenth century there must still have remained in some force, the British speech and a considerable portion of the old literature; and we find in the romance of Thomas, the localities, and most of the personages, undeniably Celtic. The action passes in Cornwall, Brittany, Wales, and Ireland; and the names Tristan, Morgan, Riis, Urgan (Urien), Brangwen, Ganharden, Marc'h, and Isoude, or Iseult, have Celtic roots. Thomas was living after the date 1254, and the existing MS. copy of his poem is supposed by Sir Walter Scott to have been written about 1330, in the reign of Edward III. It is called the Auchinleck MS., and was presented to the Advocates' Library by Alexander Boswell, of Auchinleck, lord of session, and father of Dr. Johnson's Boswell. There is nothing known of the early history of the precious manuscript. This verse will give an idea of the orthography of the English spoken at the Scottish court when Edward III, reigned in England, 1327 to 1357. For though Thomas wrote his poem in the reign of Henry III., we may suppose the spelling in the MS. to be that in use in the time of the copyist. "Thus hath Tristrem the Swete, Till mo castles were tan. He slough his fader Ban, This in the current hand of the nineteenth century will read— "The hath Tristrem the Sweet slain the Duke Morgan, nor would he ever stop till more castles were taken. Towns they yielded him qui kiy, and cities tout (or stiff! of stone; the folk fell at his feet, against him stood there none in the land; he slew his father han, all bowed to his hand " a love-postion was warranted to retain its virtue for three years. In some Irish i a mel, ameat in full vig ur for twenty-one. "Nel dient pas sulun Breri, Ki solt les gestes et les cuntes E sur que tut de cest ouraingne."* This would be as much of a puzzle to a modern French scholar as Thomas's verses to an English one. In a portion of this poem he quotes Thomas's authority, and a couple of fragments extant, in Mr. Dyce's possession, at the time when Scott was preparing "Sir Tristrem" for the press, tell the story in conformity with the plot of the English poem. Gottfried von Strasburg, who wrote a poem on the loves of Tristan and Iseult in the thirteenth century, also quotes Thomas of Britannia with great respect and honour, and follows his plot closely, but generally requires seven verses to render the sense of one. Death interrupting his work, it was completed, but in a very inferior style, by Heinrik von Vribert. A few lines are quoted of Gottfried's version, which will be found much more to resemble modern German than the language of Beauvais modern French. "Aber als ich gesprochen han, Der aventure meistr was (war?); A combination of happy circumstances, which we have not space to particularize, rendered the cultivation of such poetry as Thomas delighted in, a favourite exercise at the Scottish court in his time. But it was only at that period that the English of the south, treated so discourteously by the Anglo-Norman nobility, was assuming the form adapted for poetic purposes. The transition state from the Anglo-Saxon to Chaucer's English did not encourage-indeed was unfit for poetic composition. The French prose romances, which were merely the old metrical lays reduced to that easy form of composition, began about 1190. The first productions in that form were put forward by the good easy folk in cloisters and other retreats of lettered repose, as so many histories which they, the editors, pretended to have translated from some Latin or Greek or British original. "The minstrels, forsooth, who had sung on the same subjects, were not trustworthy they had been guilty of leasings innumerable." It was only in the prose narrative now issued that the genuine deeds of such and such heroes were narrated. Thus the author of "La Vraye Histoire de Troy" concludes his egregious narrative in these words -"I have thus brought to end the true history of Troy, in the manner as it was found written in the hand of St. Peter, in the Greek language, and from Greek put into Latin. And I have translated it into French, not Who had been in Brittany, And about the whole of this story (work)." + Lantheren, as quoted by Sir Walter Scott; evidently erroneous. But as I have said That they have not truthfully recited, That is, as I to you have told, Because they have not said truth As Thomas of Britain gives it, Who was master of adventure (romance), And in British books read All the lives of the nobles, And has made them known to us." |