English Literature From the Norman Conquest to Chaucer - William Henry Schofield (1906)

in
Z39.48-1992 to
replace the
irreparably deteriorated
English Literature
of contemporaneous
works in
Old French
separately
Chaucer
part
literary
considering atten-
matter in
keep in mind the
familiarity
In
order
to
counteract
in
in which
that
the
details
are
to
studies
in
biblio-
the best
and all,
Per-
.
2.
Debates
the Hterary
written
people,
the
betray
important
superficially accepted.
definitely
artistic expression
English
vernacular
were
fiw
impression is
prosperous
books.
could boast
writings
of
the
remote
Norsemen
doubtless no
in England,
prose that
English, one
land
when
they
greatly
needed
an
external
stimulus
could not
but profit
and
to
revive
knowledge,
chroniclers
to
These gained
clergy
insisted
of French
as
a
means
in the
dom,
fought
for its
French
fashions without feeling that they did amiss. Thus not only the
bias
of
supreme
process
substitution
of
foreign
of literary inclination
that in the
and
influence
to
which
with
France.
By
reason
of
Charlemagne
imitators
imitated
but in
characteristics
peoples of Europe
race than another, nation
made
themselves
study
lines
to
been
indicate
prevailing
ideals,
tastes,
or
needs,
types
that
to study, as a
its
conditions
were not
they were, nevertheless, the heirs of much ancient lore which
delighted
them
worthily,
and
touched their
as
from the
of the different ranks of society
were not so unlike
lower
classes
enjoyed
the
same
land,
sentiment but
were-found
to
act
cratic
attitude
of its
the large
spirit
and
sensibility.
amount
of
writing
is
chronicles
so
minstrels adorned
performed.
Each
knightly
abode
was
a
stimulus
to
literary
production,
chivalry,
Christian
time
of
youths
were
and
studied
minutely
sensuality,
puffeth
up,"
neglected their
devotions as
England
in
1220,
the
adherents
thought
as
everywhere
of
Richard
RoUe,
find a
of
convenient, at first
of popular
original works
all who
of
and
long
sojourning
in
of
Afterwards to Rome came chivalry;
and the height of
so
Greeks
also
to
benefit
of
its
and
sententious
dispute,
rather
Bartholomew,
mother of
wants,
and
subjects
them
the
paradise
for the greatness
we
that
noble
university,
corner of the world, has grown luke-
warm, nay,
is all
begins to take place as a new author.
They wrap up their
mightily, that
she may
compositions.
The
knight's
priest
to
their
while
works
cherished,
one
generation
to
another.
The
so-called
Auchinleck
MS.,
written
between
1330
and
1340,
what sort of works
respecting
women,
satires
on
provenience.
of Le
Freine, Sir
Tristratn and Arthur
a
medical
prepared
simply
the
written
repertoires
The early
minstrels were
were
dis-
way, and
and feared by the
obscurity,
and
classes of society.
court, castle, or monastery. Some revelled in a free, Bohemian
life,
place
sang in
the market-
the manor,
in style and
unreliable in statement
exact. The
accomplished
Many times, by
class
maintained. Of a harper of Rochester, for example, they
related
bridge
harp,
dolphin when
found
that
open
war
their
Virgin
to hold poems
more
It
deserves
consideration,
chivalric
found in
court.
to
they
were
marriage
that
Adam
Davy
(ti3i2)
expressed
the harp,
question then (as now
Langland,
to
point
them at
minstrels.
Chaucer
let
man gave to
alle
maner
century it
Among
consent,
of
honour
manifested in
They
contributed
rising in
arms,
monk,
pleading hands
that speak
out exhorta-
the ecstasy of
faith,
the
foundation
principles
vision.
Whether
the
knights
in
ordinary
But
that
consent,
when
where
they
lead.
In
architecture,
age
exhibited.
The result
repose,
permanent awakening force.
were
so
many
other
of carefully
conditions
transformed
at
discredit of
their writers'
of
their
particular
ours
are
about us.
The services
Middle
in
glamour and mystery,
or relieved. A few who defied the Church suffered no
torture-
gated fabric as it was then. Only the
patterns
ours,
the
mediaeval
world
freedom. Literature
beings, actuated
like us
Furthermore, customs and tastes were not persistently
the
all-
embracing
confusion."
Study,
of
the
dark
is
a
warriors
transformed
in influence.
are
very
dissimilar
Romance
of
the
Rose
the Song
formula. Only
the
changing
It is
that then
some of
of native writers
keen. Alexander
ecclesiastics
towards
glory
were
and the
slight original
work
of
theology,
philosophy,
While
growth,
then
apparent
into
comparative
disuse.
I
The
after
he
rearetl
.1
days
was
rule
such
of
or
Under
such
conditions
as
of
Hereward's
youth,
with nearly everything
Purification of
song of the
all might attentively
he himself com-
Which
Hereward
betray
been others which were
to mirth.
therefore
. . .
moving impulses were
characteristic
quest wielded immense
Italian of
by
ambition
into
the
and learning, he
scholars, and one
established a new standard
"
desire
countrymen
his
more
penetrating
and
profound.
Cur
Abbot of Bee,
Alonologion and
develops
a
spiritual
of
Lanfranc
adopted,
were
learning
saints from
of
contemporary
conditions.
It
is
saints, Dunstan,
of his see. He
was a man of
good sense, and deserves
over three cen-
and some
of
students
in
these
documents
nor
original,
long
remained
up
surpasses the
son, and
the holy
His chief historical
He
also
new
nation.
So interrelated
chronographers and
contribution
of
in Latin
and French
as one
Geoffrey was alert to
but
afflicted
European fables,
amazing tissue
own
creation
to
an ancient book in
For
the
Walter,
Archdeacon
wished
again.
Its
statements
were
reproduced
literature and on
Merlin would
to
Barri, better
seeing
he went
a
1
184,
chaplains,
and
in
1185
when he
preached the
and
were
kinds,
but
of
genuine
interest.
His
Topography
of
Ireland
and
History
of
the
Conquest
of
Ireland
own wide-eyed
teachers and
most advanced
citizens, and the
soldiers of the
attracted large
audiences of
doctors and
thought it worth
have
occurred to
him, of
course, to
write in
Then,
keenest
of
—
ways
of no
and
associates
of
was less
the
record
of
to
value. William,
Newburgh,
York-
as
for
the
of
has
the
by-name
he
disguised
and
occupations
of Henry
Gervase
These writers bring us to the threshold of the thirteenth
century, when monastic annalists
are again supreme, and
For
and above
all the
(t
c.
1227)
chronicles
of
of
history
flourished
there,
1200 to
scriptorium
at
St.
manuscripts
amongst others
of
his alma
Other chronicles
of Gisburn
the most
form the
Iceland
was
then
as
preeminent
for
drama in
naturalness,
picturesque-
variety. Here is no
again
epics
women, whose individuality is made plain, and ever one's wonder
grows
at
been
accomplished
by
tongue. Ordinary
the
of
direction.
Yet
most
Anselm,
great Abelard
noted for its
theology before
it was
at
Bologna
together
under
abroad were partisans
possessed
from Oxford in
the old
traditional lines
arts. Based on them
was the work of the professional schools of divinity, law, and
medicine.
Particularly
were
the
so-
called
subject of"
universals." The
in
concep-
-
been summed up
with Seneca,
Quintilian, and
the two
more poorly
supplied. Caesar
and Tacitus
upon the later
was possible is
proof that the
and precision.
of
passed
clergy, scholar-
after
1
136,
Mont
St.
Genevieve,
and
Gilbert
de
member
Theobald of
Canterbury, to
He soon proved
helpers, and was engaged in
many kinds
Becket's
the best
Meta-
logicus,
John
defended
famous
whose love
Bernard, who, on
the other hand,
reason, and strength of
views of dogma.
Bernard, more powerful
heretical
by
thought. One can trace
; while
mysticism of
his opponent
fame has
John
of
of
God,
all
illustrious
pupil
was closely
connected all
(tii6o),
whose
Sententiae
his Eulogium
another
John
teachers, but
also as
qualities as a
a
score
of
Qpuscula
on
secular
of a very dull intelligence.
Priscian and Tally,
you
you
friend from
purely secular
you,
of
quoting
from
correspondent abroad,
of
referred
to
tis,
auditory,
each
are
aware
my pupil for a year
;
of
verse-making
he threw
away his
with the
day, constant conversation of the best scholars, and
discussion
of
This
remembered. The court
a
welcome
at
London,
The domains of the
none in power.
Beauclerc once
were steadily engaged
daring
exploits.
who angered
him
marvelled at
his extrava-
gance. The
figure of
appear
of
important
attitude
of
respect
for
bitterly,
which
undervalue
Exchequer
(1178-79),
was
urged
to
record
of
what
had
been
a
worth while. Map makes
modest parade of his lack of time. How," he writes to one
who had asked him
the
to
the court, for
was
probably
a
by
him
was the head of a large family of riotous and
unthrifty clergy,
Con-
fession,
to Map.
one hot summer's
to the gate of
churches
in
with
seven
chapters
set
over
the
Church.
As
one
part
after
another
prelates,
In the
some
degree
during
the
been
Giraldus Cambrensis
remain with you,
God"—
thus
secular
clergy
the twelfth
did not
well
Bicomis,
whose
tails
once
move.
but
on
one combining (he
his
order.
interrupted by
the arrival of his old master Bernard, who claims him as his,
and degrades
the light it throws
of
the time. It is written in elegiacs, and was very
often repro-
a
cock
who
avenged
of the period
political
Nature,
he
day
the students
will not
avoid
and
a noble wife.
Moderation, and sufficient
friars
about
to
be
Justinian
for
the
of
attract
our
at the
the
slaughter
large
numbers
of
Jews
in
sought
the
East.
written in the form
Toledo, the
England "a
Meir of
London, in
of the
was especially
prevalent among
important
Hebrew
Grammar
by a still more
whose
Fox
Fables
resemble
those
also
Out-
side
Spain
not
Abraham Ibn
together
with
instructive
works
of
greater
a few other Anglo-
concerning
the
Eastern
conceits
Becket is
His chief work
is interspersed
tinent,
lucky, we
invitation of the Abbot
was
a
circumstance
of
plays
in
connection
with
the
church
services
soon
became
regular,
and
William
of
altogether
in
of
elaborate
Christmas-
play
of
two of
acquaintance. Amongst
them an
his great
solely
Had they been
able
to
great love-poet
Eleanor,
and resided at her court. "Long did he dwell there,
singing
many
a
she
him
for
a
yet
applauded
as
the
entourage
were,
amongst
by way
of France.
tomb of the Conqueror), is said
by William of Malmesbury
arte
a sort fitted for such service are extant in French.
Most prob-
of Latin
to
liturgical
use.
Reginald
may have learned
his methods there.
assertion
wrote
school
to
the
prominent troubadour, was
the author
romance.
"lovers,"
and
version of the
the end
of the
love to a soldier,
by
the
more
allowable
of
Love
of the
falcons,
disputes adjudged by
the theoretic courts
English
poems.
The Owl and the
a
higher
stage
of
intellectual
of
the
Stephens.
Robert,
of
a
longest and best Welsh
most
original
writers reflect
Beves
Furthermore, close
races
Elizabeth. And
from them
is not
value.
of universal
shape the Nibelungenlied
and the Cid.
writers
of
book on
the subject
by an
Rhythmica
of
John
before
to
the
body
of
mythic and heroic lays (some of them written in the British
Isles) that bears by mistake the
same
is divided
establishment
of
artistic
by a
the English poets, as
decessors of the Augustan epoch of
the
particularly the wars
Piers, Gaveston,
and
luxury
of
the
Chaucer was
elaborate arrange-
"
fancy. Instead
of romances,
tales prevailed ;
added,
three languages there
nation had
great
world-
figures
began to be
or
least
were, in the fine garments which their patrician countrymen had
laid aside
they were worn threadbare.
mindedness, pride,
Innocent III. in
nominated Frederick
II., King
presided
at
State.
Yet
came
out
of
their
in
the
the mill where the world's corn is ground, and the
oven
where
"
English schoolmen,
teachers
of
new
types,
became Pope Boniface
of
organised
demo-
methods
of
dialectics
employed
in
the
to reconcile
orthodox.
The
German
works
dis-
putants.
only a little
lower than the
philosophy,
;
;
in
abstract
speculation,
recognise the
to embrace
the approbation
of the
of the time was
by them. Yet the history of the friars offers remarkable
contrasts
between
plan
of the
orthodox
fidelity
to
the
people,
theory
among
to
lepers.
Yet
quickly
change front.
; a large
novices,
principles
of
St.
Francis,
as
Roger
belonged the great mystic
beyond
compare
in
any
passed
the
money and their
and
chief
Robert
Grosseteste,
who
was
appointed
to
that
object of
from the
letters show him
music and
abuses of the
embolden him to
for more and
from English use in that way, and found that
alien
clerks
then
It cannot be that the most holy
apostolic see, to
"
any
attempt
a com-
the
was to
decease
never loved,
an
open
people,
the
persecutor
devout,
tearful,
penitent ;
as
a
prelate
hewas a
and
enlightenment,
as
his
numerous
vision that marks
specially celebrated
deserves
the penetra-
and
a
opinions of the scholars and the schools
of his day.
been
mere speculation in
an oppor-
been
with
for
1265,
0/us
Maius,
an
which
body of scholars
achievement
of
a
result
manner
the
head
it
credited
by
his
countryman
Gower
with
The
!
works of Gervase
fifteenth
(witness
Hawes),
the
poet
Virgil
was
tales were told
embodied in a
"
celebrated
perspective
glass.
Of
it
Gower
writes
In that mirror
the mirror of
gifts sent
by the
Westerners concerning the
doe
reare.
It
those of
a
was
who in the thirteenth century denounced the scientific researches
of
Prioress felt,
death
of
the"
innocent
Baldr,
the
which knowledge had not
detect
an
Oxford men,
fundamentally wrong, and had to be proved
so by
Arnold
of
the
treatise of the
1387,
Tales
and
John
of
tenth and
of
the
school
of
Salerno
same time
limbo, the first circle of hell,
"
lived
and
with me
Nicolete, my
sweetest lady.
leader
of
in
1277
and
secretly
century,
namely,
John
Duns
soul ;
was a sceptic in all came within the sphere of
the
God.
The
:
"
1265,
passing
more turned to social and political
problems
procedure
of
the
most
part,
mechanical
vision of the great
This century, famous for the colossal
monuments
of
the
also preeminent for magnificent
variously manifested
Parisian that brought to
in
with
having attracted him,
really
gives the explanation of want of sympathy with the In the
lie
de France art had grown up under a peculiar social stimulus.
Philip
against
cathedrals
were
artists arose
passion of the community
pressure of monastic
Channel. The monastic
was still the
afterwards
always with
increasing leaven
of the
native Saxon heritage that had come to it through the Celtic memories of
the
first
lives
of
saints,
metrical
a religious
there is hardly anything
the
Wolf)
Some of
the lyrics
we have
Cathedral
was
and harmonious as no other
productions of similar kind. And
the
Vertus, composed in
Philip III. of France, as the
Cathedral
inspired
by
of letters
Continental
artists,
which
were
ideals
Her track,
where'er the
Goddess roves,
The
only slowly
John's time
part
de
beloved leaders of the people ; but later the indignation against
the Poitevin
for foreigners.
position as the
Br^tigny,
noteworthy,
were
connected
with
Oxford,
which
1379.
Ockham
(i
270-1349?)
Franciscan house there,
evangelical principles of his
supported Louis
with
Pope
John
scholars
Wycliffe
than
bed,
in
preference
to
at Merton
lerne and
about
1290,
Causa
Dei
contra
Pelagium
was
treatise was published in 1618 in a folio volume containing
nearly
1000
pages.
the author
of The
In this matere,
and greet disputisoun,
finely
cultivated
men,
devoted
to
learning
and
yet
he was
residing so
to
spaie
from
business
Every
day
on the
of
Durham
before
him]
delighted
in
the
of
his
attract
;
;
would
books.
is led to detest
template
the
mirror
faithfully
I
Richard
the
money-making
and
granaries,
goblets, are
whom
that
dress, and of
antiquity
than
schoolmen
differentiated
by
epithets
characteristic
Hales
was
"subtle,"
these,
the
that he
upon his
of heterodoxy
his training
for
that
great
raged at the University
placed the
Having
reached
what
he
believed
to
and
he
soon
adopted
a
more
and
proud
and
hypocrites with
at
best
production.
The
prepared
an
Officium
et
Legenda
to
the
than
to
know
"go
tury,
John
of deserved repute. Gower
Clamantis,
remarkable alike
such
could
Jangle
should,
rough comrades.
The three
and
Milton
—are
alone
sufficient
to
attest
century.
Milton
renounced
Latin
as
he
over
English
thought
interest
those
;
It is well to
his
mother-
the courts up to
Chancellor
opened
Parliament
with
a
speech
III. The laws themselves were formulated in
French
patriotic unity,
popular
speech,
and
in
this
tried.
and
subordinates
because
to
national tongue ; hostility to the French
established mutual
Englishmen became
use of the ancient
It was
learned for
course, and
In the thirteenth century
aristocracy but
England
as
found.
provincial.
The
youth
well as
be
pre-
sumed
abroad.
The
persistent
of words, accentuated the differences between
the
in
not only
but in allitera-
estimating
the
intellectual
share
war and adventure
helped in their
fellow-countrymen of
adopted
as
a
that they
of all Arthurian
"
177-1203,
and about 11 86 received rewards from
Henry II." And these,
of
those
of
the
Celts.
Were
we
in
possession
of
all
hands the
Normans
in
England.
England French romances
fable,
which
by sermons and
A collection
edification, is the Manuel
1303.
in the sixth
former
duced. Doubtless the
in England than abroad had something to do with the
stimulus
Normans had no
importance of their position,
so
uncomfortable
at
he
afterwards
War,
of
des
Bretons,
almost
im-
mediately
reviler
his
life
;
whom
;
by
was
by
to
whom
a
literary
and
1 106. For some unknown reason
he
lost
the
favour
yet the
of Henry II. He
but followed his own
the well-known
author of
In this
the English
are occasionally
I.,
career, and descriptions
geste,
and
was
had had transcribed
work
(including
his
proposed
ever
was
that
we
accurately
the
literary
productivity
of
the
period.
II.
were
recorded
vulgar
tongue,
the
most
Another
(in
tail-
of
as he
sources,
may
be
accepted
as
essentially
as a
fairly true
picture of
and shortly
of
the
celebrated
Gilbert
de
does not carry
dealt
with
the
way of
the sixth
lovable
but
And
played the
leading part.
the
historian
of
the
social
and
political
life
fortunately
Earl's
eldest
son,
mainly
from
material
may
lives as these
in
the
historical
writing
become
a
Dominican
prior
at
well
with
clearness
French chronicle that here particularly
concerns
most popular sort, however, not only included much of Geoffrey
freely handled, but later, even recent, events. One
of these,
that
Another
{c.
1263)
regret
at
Edward's
loss
was
poet apprehensive
of the
time; another,
and
had
to
safeguard
grievance
to
"grow cold, but struck while the iron was hot and
with bold courage. Sometimes they suffered
sadly
knight,
Luc
de
torture,
the
des
Femmes
even
tried
their
meanness,
wars
between
the
monarch to war with
century the Bible was
versions of
Bible, in decasyllabic couplets
prayers on his behalf. In the
latter
half
Legends and Lives
legends
and
saints'
Nicholas
because
of
mariners,
to a nation
Italy
still echoed throughout
celebrated
by
According
to
St.
Adelaide.
Before
1
245
a
have
purely
tioned the poems
child Hugh
refers jn his tale
to
arouse
the
Cam
Chardri, the author of
confirm the miracle
significance
for
us
except
as
indicating
literature,
appear,
therefore,
inherent merit.
The oldest
French,
describing
and the pro-
Catonis
of medicine,
about
1300
by
a
knight
Walter
them
Philosophic, etc.).
the
Book
of
alle-
gorical
seven love-songs,
green at the
was
shining
white.
In the
high tower was a throne of white ivory, and a well
from which
towers,
three
the
sweet
maiden
Mary.
high
tower,
from
which
small towers
three foes
are
Sooth,
Right,
and
Peace,
delivery of
to take the thrall's
and Son. In symbolic form it conveyed devoutly and sweetly
to
as
concerned
de-
liberately
Latin
; and,
de Lorris
the
taste
for
discuss the
same ques-
tion as
Latin
favour
last stanza
of the
poem
was
written
first
in
English
by
one
Wanastre
and
translated
into
scene is laid
near Lincoln. The
acted by the clergy in
Latin
as
in
in
namely, which goes under the name of Adam. This remarkable
work is
and
the
mise
en
sdne.
; the
scene
of
the
and
much
prologue in which
it should
however,
he
was
was
century
la plus bel et la plus gracious language et plus
noble
prisee et amee que nul
autre
mesnies. Et pour
doulceur et
was
then
a
timid
sounded
was
under-
it alone
the
desire
of
only intelligible but wise.
common misapprehension
that the
French of
de
Aquitaine,
and
Poitou—
soldiers, artists, artisans, and traders,
to
are mirrored
in the
literature they favoured. It was not, above all, that which pre-
vailed
in Caen, Bayeux, and Rouen, but the style of Paris,
then the paradise
and
arches
yielded
pointed
type
alongside of
as the
marred by
Ages
the
dignity
of
French
romance
Chaucer
in
1400.
and
fourteenth
was essentially
with English
the situation
of
speech
a
common
Even at
the close
troubled
no
other
was
140
came
the time of
but as time went
and at
in general to
embraces
to state the
are
guesswork pure and simple.
to the student of
extant
Richard
of
translators,
and
transformers,
in successive
. . . Ah !
how
pass us
off as
sons who
are really
the
production
for
Carmentis
to-morrow
! how
ye
commit
us
to
treacherous
apparent in
as
had
emancipated
themselves
advantage
over
any
rival,
and,
and
Paris,
the
commercial
he occasionally
writers throughout England
to
ventions which had slowly
established themselves at the
is usually divided
language in the
still
much
The chronological
English
It
was
where literature,
stimulated by
early
years and more
permanently to dispel.
different
twelfth century,
of Charlemagne
significant words
words have been so often quoted that they have come
to be universally accepted
leading
divi-
the term
concerned with the
Finally, the "matter
it embodies deal
We begin
Here is
the
directness
of
their
thought,
extravagant and grotesque
cycles
of
of
inspire
been
said,
these
much
Franks. So,
likewise, not
less
conspicuous
in
foreign
redactions
"
Charlemagne,
what
are
called
chansons
de
name chanson de
professional
poets
personality. They
trouveres
contents of
with an "epic
the famous
above all his
of Charles's
campaign in Spain,
of the
he
Durendal and his own
the
encounter.
fleurie,
and has all the attributes of majesty. We see him
seated
—
seems,
in
Frenchman
of
the
ile
de
France.
was to make
displayed
great
expression
of
the intense religious
contains the finest
one
had plainly
place
An
incident
of
knights
with
Saracen
of
battle
for
their
inspira-
tion
was
treated
with
called
King
Arthur
minstrel
by
Guinevere's
but
will
not
two
make great brags,
they
managed
which in
ill-advised
the
many seem
in the adaption of
favoured
monarch. It
and the
examination
here.
personages.
entitled
been
given.
Roland
and
Ver.nagu
mighty
duel
two
days.
picturesque incident
and still rests
discomfort. Finally,
huge heathen
being in love with Guy
of
Burgundy,
baptized. In France
England
is clear from the striking passage in Barbour's Bruce, where the
hero is represented as
Lomond,
In the romances we have just examined are extant about
16,000
approximately
fraction of what formerly
existed. No poem is
peple ben for
embodiment of honour, and
achievements
is
greatly
enhanced
by
as
Renaud
is
be
heard
to
Cuchulinn, Sigurth, Launfal,
Beves, and others
not
on the
wars Charlemagne
he is
his
barons
despise.
This
evidently
due
the
infusion
longer war and
Huon is
when his
career resembles
that of
his Arthurian
favourite
origin. Shakspere was
thought. He
England
was
"
has
been,
race.
That
there
approach,
to
uplift
romance is a superb product,
yet
of Arthur with that of Charlemagne,
we see at once the basis
for
their
different
character
of
Charlemagne
is
a
men read the
Arthur and his knights they felt the glamour of mystery
; they
them
grasp
their
times
country
steadily
waned.
narratives of love and
illustrious
known
from
three
sources.
Around
of
a
valiant
leader
of
romance
have
woven
themselves
together
unwritten
annals
hero of a
sentiment
revolved,
we
a century and
the
this discussion
we need not here enter. Suffice it to state briefly a few facts
regarding it which seem fairly well
established.
The
Historia
800.
It
Germanus
one
Run
627,
prefixed an
been, on
the whole,
however,
was
soon
written
crushing defeat
comparative peace.
the
by Nennius
occupied
a
utter chaos did
land, and
rule. During the
memory of the
brave leader who
had previously brought
Britonum
of
the
that was to
mythological
tales.
deity
that
identi-
the fact
world,
invariably
been
glorified
shine
On
his hut on the
what he
member of the
of late
with
whom
they
gods were
repeated
over and over again, but they were no longer viewed in
the
same
that
the
Welsh
deities
.
in
case
he
was
though they saw
their thoughts
went
When
Arthur
had a short
ancient
Wales.
Such
traditional
He had to be
brought
for
an
embodiment
by
too
too
the
valour.
the
romantically
disposed
ladies
who
Arthur would
as
a
full-orbed
personality
with
a
national leader, a
a
romantic
adventurer,
a
it has undergone,
invaders
of
his.
country.
He
is
preeminently
fashioned for him
remarkable, and the historian was impelled
to take
those
of
Cormac, and many others, he is represented
as begotten out of
conceiving
a
duke, one
The
He
beauty,
courage,
and
generosity.
Immediately
chap.
the
Britain,
and
crossing
the
treasonable
wickedly
married
him."
He
up
the
yoke of the
Priwen.
an historical
dux bellorum,
Irish Cuchulinn,
a Welsh
knight. He
not only
to-hand combats
ladies.
His
romance,
which
might
the
him ;
and
refused
to
of the
same
colour
and
fashion
and
wit,
wore
chastity,
It is
obvious that
such a
word,
considerations. Arthur's
wars are
Anglo-Norman kings;
his doings
gave free
rein to
he
himself
knew
full
prevailed
before.
Because
for
ever
fixed
between
our
Arthur
without their
antecedent
in the eleventh
and later centuries
have come
learn
belief that
that
there
were
with the
in
England
after
borderland travelled minstrels and story-tellers who were able
to
make
welcomed
everywhere, at the hut of the peasant as well as in the lordly hall,
and
spread
occasion
for
the
dissemination
of
Welsh
popular
history and fortunes of
renounced their Northern speech when they
settled in France.
Many marriages, we
a
dear,
Baron,
count,
and
chevalier,
Applaud
In chief,
based on
ideas
of Arthurian
to the
the Round
by less famous heroes.
romance,
we
observe
service.
once
in
support of that
and his works
stories that
he found
favour of the Countess
banquets
and
tournaments,
and
analyse the
their shifting
nence,
and
and
them of
by
Crestien
by
the thirteenth
on the
result
of
accumulations
that they are
hole, an
each
meeting;
"and
at
an
Italian
marionette
show
to-day,
who
here or
adventures
or
the
prolixity
of
position of
metrical romances
appears everywhere
rather as
court is
leave
achievement
at
until, in
course of
charmed
by
Otherworld
Where
more
is
meant
Such joys as
that
originated
it,
twelfth
the
upper
classes
of
Anglo-Norman
beautiful
manuscript
(Harleian
798)
learn
be
later
studied,
all commented
on the
charm of
stood
to the form
the artistic
The fact is
romance,
as
were through
fountain-head of pure tradition,
matter of
at,
had
they
preserved
the
simplicity
that
the
best
faithful
reproductions
of
which they profess
couplets, not
its
lost
original.
the
later
whenever
he
desires,
imposing
He
who, like
Potiphar's wife,
whither Lanval
 
of
relenting helps him ashore, and lets him accompany her to
her
master;
they appeared together
wished
an
encounter.
Chestre
whatever of
poems
In Celtic tradition
Otherworld, and
transformed
it
in
spirit
dare not disturb her.
knights
to
a
only
morrow he
him
forever.
is
has
of
solitary
life
of
positions,
among
hearing. He makes
presents
of
ivory,
which
was
very
much to
kindred
theme,
the
who
makes
stories in fairy
lore, to be
almost
inevitably
do take place—in the gradual modernising of the char-
acters in
mythical tales
It will
then
properly
be
written
Orfeo,
the
poem
is
try them
on. She
confesses all,
and the
castle, falls in love with its
winsome mistress, and slays her hated suitor,
but
leaves
him in combat, but is recognised by his sword, and
the two rejoice. Father and mother
are brought
appears
to
a
lady in the likeness of her husband as she rests in
an orchard.
reveals himself
as a
be fearfully
 
virtue
that
he
for
black
monks.
by
means
prowess, and rescues
to lay
waste her
milk-white
—
hero
in popular
he
celebrated Robert
exploits, due
to his
angels,
and
seem that
in- -cheek) explanation of
an elf,
its substance
may be
mysteriouE
boat
approach.
Hastening
that it is
is so overcome by her
beauty
that,
although
he at once marries her.
The two
live in
adrift
Meanwhile, her husband,
treatment, has
sail for Rome
in
the
behave
of
in
carries
a
solitary
lamenting
of a
Their separation
creature
Christ it thee
in the
got
their
version
from
appears
Yet Constance too
she also is of
beginning
because
the
It deals
been
mother, is discovered
a
convent,
love with her
and
are
forced
When he tells her of his intention,
she
temporary misfortune
is the
pre-
served
enters
of
for
him to marry. She is re-established with increased honour and love
in
his
court,
Of which
Chaucer, of
course, was
is not a being of his or the Italian poet's
creation, but
some extent individualised.
In reality, she
explain
her
separation
from
her
parents,
of Holy
that the birth of more than one child at a
time
is
a
sign
of
and high
seems
also
devotion. AVhile he is absent
at war
her
to
grant
him
her
of him without unnecessary
on
obligations
but
treacherously
betrays
the
plan
to
covenant."
In
hermit's
garb,
appears
heart
so
together ith a ring she herself wore.
He discovers the
latter with rejoicing, and cherishes it in the hope of using
it
way home
opponents,
escapes
from
the
her lord.
two
knights
had she
This
fearing betrayal, accuse her
to
the
lady
whom
he
at
this
time,
dreams
is
about
to
con-
demn
the
reaches the
Earl of
where
him of the lady's
monk's
weeds,
and
she
confesses
to
only offence
her. The
The
sources
been complicated
in growth
the profit
determine
precisely,
so-called
Carlisle, when a youth
 
lover
before
marriage
"
boar's head,
a
whetstone :
Some
them upon
iron
and
The little boy had
rung.
He
said,
But he
;
man might him see.
various
romances from the
frequently
later,
while
stories
which
had
even
and Scottish
the
; but in numerous
cases the fundamental
lays and
were
fairy queens, and dwelt with them for a time, happy
and free
with
a
fays when their
death.
In
another
form. Young
she was
soon in
entered
her
associated by
minstrel,
gained
entrance
to
won
knights
appear
elsewhere
in
Lord
Lorn
develop-
knights in
Doon appears
that
a
lady
makes from her lover's heart, which is served up to her secretly
by
a
to give
over her
so
prominent
in
Sir
Orfeo,
to postulate
we
but on
but
by
the
home
of
these
and
to
trace.
They
singing the same
that go to
are repeated over and over again
with little
Breton lays,
indeed,
can
well
originating,
the
absorbing
tale
of
are
pretty
certain
was
born
French, or
King Mark as
is easily deter-
translation by
thirteenth
patronesses
un-
doubtedly
had
a
repugnance
Crestien may not
romance,
that
Malory
said to
represent .the
in
weight
of
a
great
authority,
Frenchman endeavours
worldly
public
more
than
He
full
emotion. It
won
he taught
the chords with
with delight. So, in
her
Douce la
attachment over which
known
poem
(in.
Miss
Weston's
the meadow where
waking the song of the birds by
their footsteps.
sat
heavens,
: its
branches
offered
them
those
time.
But
when
chap.
they
turn
sang the
Isolt
called the Love Grotto."
"
the lovers to be,
delight^ Isolt,
and deemed
that never
fair.
of mingled roses
on her cheek, and her red and glowing lips apart, a little heated by
her
morning
wandering
in
the
dewy
meadow
was a chaplet
pf sunlight
from the
never
had
now.
feared
her,
went
his
hero's life.
comes one day an Irish knight,
a former
After meat, the king bids him show
his
skill
He sings the king's
he
claims
the
queen.
Rather
than
his
boat
lies
the
reach
it was. If
and saw nought else, one had said 'twas
white as snow, yet its
thighs were
more yellow
somewhat of
all these
there
would
be
no
man
sadness
and
heavy
on
his
heart.
So
sweet
smooth was the
ever
win
Petit-Criu,
the
fairy
dog,
for
be
brought
about
either
by
craft
or
by
Gilan
would
not
he
will
rid
and do
Tristram, overjoyed, sends the
a lute,
won it, at
rejoiced
she
upbraided
neck, and no
Yet
Ysolt
was
now
the
better
pleased,
Northern English poem
minstrel
gives
of the
(private).
Who
Tristram
historical person living
won. She,
a
as
only
because
the
Anglo-Norman
author
chap.
And in their saying it seemeth
nought.
Thereupon
the
English
poem,
work
of
the
original
That
of
some
;
times
to the English poem.
rhymer, and
some passages
the
before, from
diversity
in
process was followed
"
"
from
present
our composite race before
though
to
to dispossess
probably born in Anglesey
these
neigh-
and
much equanimity
as any
The saga
uncivilised life in
using as
Might
seen
unveiled.
British,
typically from
With them both
moment
as
welcome
to trace
time,
Tennyson,
to
power.
one aspect of
the
stories
of
nobility.
on
instruments
applied
him in his youth for to learn. And after, as he
growed
in
might and strength, he laboured ever in hunting and hawking,
so that
chase,
these terms we have yet of hawking
and hunting. And therefore the book of venery, of hawking
and
hunting,
is
all
gentlemen
terms
doom, that
of worship may
dissever a gentleman
villain. For
gentlemen.
Chaucer
our
mediaeval
poets.
In
lived in
one
New
Year's
Day,
awaiting
some
adventure,
when
chap.
The
knights
rises
and
offers
to
Green
Knight
Green
Knight,
however,
speedily
mounts
invitation of his
entertained by his wife,
love,
and
starts
for
the
tries to
axe being sharpened on a grindstone. Soon the giant
appears, weapon in hand, and praises Gawain's fidelity in keeping his
word.
Gawain
makes
the
giant
at last lets the axe fall, in such a way, however,
as to do no
prepares
to
defend
Green
Knight
bids
him
not
be
disturbed
he and
fully aware of the
return with him
Camelot. He is
girdle,
and
ever
after
his
of Bricriu^s
Cuchulinn
tale
in
the same
Carl
of
Carlisle,
which
probably
was
story.
It
appears,
however,
companion,
a
from death. The
hero
to
enchantment.
tale
version begins in the
England.
He
speaks
Malory's
The
minstrel,
to identify.
one day
milk-white horse. All
alone
a
grows as dark as
flame
ghastly
But
Gawain,
undaunted,
boldly
conjures
of Guinevere,
can
lighten
her'
care,
and
nounces
a
shines brightly again.
accomplishes
her
vows
to
redeem
her
mother's
soul,
and
has
an
was
Launfal
she
It
and
both the
serious and
affected his
Germanic
past.
district,
notwittistanding
extant form
(1508).
length
great host, to
Kay snatches the
it,
when
appears. He reproves
speech,
he
and then withdraws.
to the King
and good.
crabbed of kind
read (counsel) ye make forth a man meeker of mood.
That will with
Arthur
a very powerful
the
price
was
founden
defaced
But,
despite
once
followers are
Golagros prefers
agrees to go with him to his castle, as if
he were
himself beaten.
Arthur is
overcome with
explains to
him.
and the
and
Sir
Baldwin
of
Britain
we
have
deals
the same
Inglewood Forest. Here
too is enforced
of
all
at
of
wise
to any
where Gawain will
—the
first
to Guinevere, and
at her
companion's rudeness by
of the
Round Table,
faithful
by the
figure than
usual. He
of the
late fourteenth
West
which
to
In the
which
several
English
versions
exist
Amantis. Gower appears
like a
Breton lay.
separated from
a
now to
to
slay
him
unarmed,
and
offers
to
dition
that
he return then to the same place, alone and in the
same array,
bring no
that will
to wed. He
devil, "or else were not
your
friend."
No
wonder
bore the
is made
to
desires
only
to
afflicted
by
marriage with
a valiant
attached to
to
all
the
in
Otherworld
numerous
other
with
her
in
her
localisations
of
his
grave
by
above any
this son of Gawain,
Libeaus Desconus
its
style.
uncommonly
primitive
material.
Apart
boyhood f the
adventures
performed
(like
Petit-
the fairy castle of the
Golden
Isle,
where
castle with a
serpent.
By
means
of
him as
his
sets
off himself to win the fay of the Golden Isle, with whom
he is
for his previous
time
has proclaimed in
back,
and
he
determines
him transported while
which
when
makes
is appointed.
There he
welcomed,
when
his
incognito
is
removed,
by
and
promised, if
The
as
the
later appear,
fight.
His
readily
a
dusk they give up the struggle, agreeing, however, to fight
to
Brandelis
to
befriend
his
gentle
is
gone,
Brandelis
treats
her
so
cruelly
that
The
English
its fiercest, Brandelis's
uncle
and
father
type
of
biographical
romance.
A
by
a
difficult
task
that
soon
surprising
bears
the
virtue of the
while
by
departing
from
it
of King
solitary retreat,
in the
entangled in
thinks one
of them
must surely
be the
King,
and
the
clad in goat-skins,
if he
overcomes a
his assembly
by an
youth rides after him
spear. Eager to get
the dead man's armour,
 
to
lady, Lufamour
has
been
reunited
vengeance
achieved.
was
a
143
evidence
with another
during the first half of the
fourteenth century
in a
The induction
of
it,
he
melody.
By
pouring
water
by
Ywain at last wounds
time,
for
Lunete,
who
conceals
him
by
her
with
for further
from
her
a
him
the lady's
for a
with
food
at
a.
lonely
hermitage.
He
is cured at last by a magic remedy, and after
many
valorous
deeds
in
French
romance
of
the
so-called
imrama,
or
Odysseys,
Mailduin.
The
and before the final reconciliation, was probably also present in
the version that Crestien
serpent, and
interesting
of
his
releases
poet,
of
Rhonabwy.
A
II.
's
is mentioned with Arthur and Gawain as resident in fairyland,
and this for equally
wounds healed
by "Argante,
the Fay.
This divine
in the
{Grim),
which
at
bottom
seems
Ywain
type,
though
amalgamated
passages
a
mysterious
He
returns
whose efforts his wounds are miraculously
healed,
shall
see,
popularity it enjoyed
less primitive than
1164,
however,
of the
three most
his
career.
Just
where
that he
had before
1170),
while
away
the
hands of
a
really
form
For Robert
countrymen
had
in foreign
it.
parti-
cularly
conspicuous
brought
up
in
solitude
by
mortal youth on whom she laid her love, and who
watched
over
from other youthful
the queen's rescue
he
was
given
to
play.
This
prisoners
in
his
domain,
and
that
from the
he finds that
him, and
court a twelvemonth
does not reach
party, to free,
as he supposes,
custodian
while
him
to allow himself
accepts his
opponent's blows,
she with-
draws her order, and he puts them all to shame. He then
returns secretly
until
the
absent.
freed,
restored
to
vigour,
and
equipped
favourite
ideas
of
courtly
into the
plan with
little heart,
Tristram
the
hero's
;
to
be
to
avoid
from
his
are
courtly lover of British
pursue a
well-regulated attachment.
In Le
the Idylls
guilty,
deed the hero
is restored to
the
lovers
later
whom
shall
discuss
the
Scottish
Lancelot
of
the
Laik,
he
Galiot, he
served the poet
seem
to
now, I daresay,
there
thou
;
that ever bestrode
lover
strake with
and
thou wert the goodliest person that ever came among press of
knights
to thy mortal foe
Perceval and
Holy
of
Galahad,
who
usurped
Perceval's
place.
of
English
confined
to
a
a
the story throughout
are in Britain,
chap.
English
poem
which
contains
ordinary material of
the Grail is
Britain, and the general
magic vessel of wonderful
no
than the culminating
The Fair Unknown of
the lady in serpent shape whom two magicians kept in bespelled
Snowdon. In
each case,
accomplishment
—the
rescue
spell—
he
seems
to
achieve
his
terminate.
The
master's
work,
however,
Perceval
seems
first
to
have
been
adequately
united
twelfth century, he planned and, at
least
in
comfort and sustenance
of his followers.
skilful
others, but
faith, but
no theologian.
of
none,
tending
Holy
Church,
but
not
it
alone.
elaborating
the
Grail
stories,
which,
the existence
of a
because that original
supporter of the house
whatever view
Angevins
at
Crestien.
He
had lived in the East, and was full of the Crusading spirit.
He
believed
in
knights. The
early history
Parzival,
and
hands,
and
inspired
his
counsellor
a
dominion
to be
the overweening
fit the rest. At
godfather
repre-
a
Lancelot
stories
secular
the monastic
conceptions of
to
the
redactor.
intervene
The Grail-Lancelot
cycle having
couplets by one Henry
But the most
tion,
but
honour his native
Quest
(such,
court, his
Perilous, the vision of
every reader
a
romance of
characterises
wantonness.
waged
that
pilgrims
struggling
to
reach
back
from
the
By
Geoffrey
and from
swallows up the next, so as to leave no trace
of their
he
sprinkles
the
stones
had a father,
a boy
messengers
confounds them
They
conduct
strange
to
Like all
he is
months
old
own
has
exhibited
successors,
behaves
he
who
arranges
the
sword-test
by
which
the
Leodegan,
constantly
of a long, and for the most
part
very
Arthur's wars
work
mechanically as to
French prose
translator of the whole,
century (like Lydgate, for
were
determined
by
his
perseverance,
His
we
an extensive work
Over
10,000
one
is
laden
with
his place
nation's
history.
When
Finding that
to
and
their
Truth
at
as
a
constantly
But
perhaps
Merlin's
influence
on
actual
way his
"
England
by
King
Arthur,
the
Welsh
precision
fourteenth century a
alliteration
seemed
appropriate
to
patriotic
the
most
interesting
duchess,''
later
passage
is
described
a
King.
In
the
final
and others,
repair them
bring
him
the
;
Thus ends King Arthur, as
authors allege, that was of Hector's
blood, the King's son
as
the
had never been
neutralised by foreign
is
find in
boast.
His
a chronicle of the
prose for a little, while he
bade
—the
scenes
that
Tennyson
Laureate's
ultimate
thirteenth-
amiss here to
how
And
again
unto
King
thrown the
"
command, as thou
;
he had been
waves wan."
thou
art
? But now go
again lightly, for
of
my
as I command thee, and if
ever I may see thee, I
shall slay
wouldst for my rich sword
see me dead."
lightly
And
I have tarried
back, and so went
the water's side, even fast
by
the
a
little with many fair ladies in it, among them all was
a
queen,
and
they
all
had
black
hoods,
and
said
softly;
queens sat
his head.
taken over
much cold. "
ladies
go
from
leave me here alone among
mine
enemies
mayest,
for
in
me
;
for
to
heal
me
if thou
never hear
as
Sir
BecUvere
; and so
purposes.
patronising
Scotch in the
fifteenth century likewise
poured into it
their bitterness against
whose
life
crime. The virulent
Hector Boece sneers
shall
greatly
desire
to
righteous-
prince.
And
honour,
the
occupies in
position somewhat parallel to.
could never
fabulous hero of their despised
Welsh neighbours would come to be exalted to so high a place
as
the rulers of England sang by
preference the
increasing
currency
were
repeated
with
delight,
especially
among
those
whose
blood-ties
were
strongest
not,
were
seized
upon
by
British
minstrels,
them alone.
in
French
in
the
likeness
in
a
These,
moreover, are very far apart in age ; and we must carefully
distinguish the various versions
estimate aright their real significance. In
the
hands
of
states
stories of Tristram
French, which,
story
of
Waldef
and
translated from English
summaries of the story, it was of the regular outstretched
and
extravagant
intrigue
it not, in
interweaving
advantage,
by
being
handled
by
British
minstrels,
we
chapter,
where
belongs. In
the beginning
it con-
tained Germanic
Rimenhild is as follows
Horn they set
kindness, and as time
land.
Before
they
departure
has
the
hero
is
restoring
returns,
gains
admittance
minstrels, and
rudderless boat carried the
the
Mersey,
Ireland
and
Ireland
familiar
to
Norsemen
striking
vikings in
by whom
to be
warriors travelled
from one court to
of calumny
traitor Denerey.
against
the close of
a
castaway
and
their
was yielding to
fifteenth
distinguished family.
instruction
of
noble
,
of
it
put
story of
married
as
his
second
wife
the
his death
out Olaf.
;
before being
dissemination have a
as
rehearsed
by
poets
slain in
mariner,"
to take her from the land. While at sea, they are overtaken
by
Grimsby (so
called after
as
youth
his foster-parents and
King
shire), whose sister Orewayn
serving him as
deeply her disgrace.
steward,
Norfolk
and
Lyndsey.
to
Denmark
to
demand
the
tribute
castle. It is
off
by
Grim.
The
story
develops
strongest
man
to
be
found.
Argentine
one
night,
bemoaning
whom
she
confides
her
parentage.
They
discover
the
the hero
to
England
after
four
dead
to
stakes),
and
different.
safe
to
style.
Like
Horn
Child,
it
is
probably
a
the reader's
time
primitive
form
(notably
the
transformation
other
originality
and
considerable
narrative
power.
The
English
tale
of
Havelok
No
such
uncouth and
sold
the
public
humble audience.
proverbs,
hurriedly
over
sentiment
to
example, and his auditors agreed
in thought, most
Skirming with talevas.' that men bear,
Wrestling with lads, putting of stone,
Harping and
And
SO
on.
Every
a
Danish
1
Skirmishing
Who was first
;
the story
hundred years and
single
efforts
the
integrity
The
account
usually
of his
Winchester,
by
the
Danes,
must
(Havelok)
receives from
dispense. He
her arms. Very shortly after,
she
too
two
champions
representing
the
rendered
Christendom
and not for
of a pilgrim
sins.
His
experiences
are
and brings succour to
Guy,
therefore given into
merchants and carried to
diligently, like Gouver-
nayl for Tristram.
their embracing
polite
amenities.
three
metrical
Redactions
Dutch, Irish, Slavic,
are the
This
latter,
4000
lines)
is in short couplets. This probably indicates the existence of
two
redactions
facts are not evident.
very like
style
by good
probation
he
—any
and
every
sort
of
commonplace.
simplicity
as Guy—his
as he
the
ordeal of fire. They walk
nine
fiery
accuser, who
his
inaccessible
retreat
of
with a
;
had
submitted
to
the
herpes in
be noted
family.
This
is
true
likewise
whose
father
was
reasons
for
the
love
of
whom
man in the
and
men generally, imparting
the rich. Courtesy,
for courtesy and
good-temper he is a popular Gawain. Yeoman as he is, he
has a kind
and degrees."
predicament
by
grain
; it
be sheen,
:
to the dale.
Under the green-wood
of Robin
deceived by
by
the
same
bold
pair.
Robin
The ballad
and
after
a
fine
display
win
it
through
the
to allay the
king's
wrath,
which
increases
when the news comes of the terrible slaughter of his men that
the
head. The
;
The placability of the king
is
is
to
have
been
a
If
mouth
of
the
thriftily; . . .
And
mighty
bowe.
It
would
surely
have
for
to shoot thereto,
So;
when
glad
accepts from
young
to have
wedded a
is intro-
duced to
as of
!
"
his
men,
teenth, but
Summaries of
of Professor
John
not
tune.
their
treatment
of
saw standing
on high
bore up upon
his shoulders the
Achilles,
stood
up Troye.
was
game.
Who
superiority
to
of
the
neglect
of
Homer
But
Eetwix hem
dispeopled
island
called
will
land
word that they pay tribute
as other nations
for fear we should
origin may
have engendered
Your demand, Caesar, is
band of firm union
a Latin poem
of the Latin
poets than the
War, which
redaction
participant
Phoenician language. It was
Emperor,
story
was
widely
credited,
work on
by
pre-
senting
the
matter
to
the
world
particularly,
where
Benoit
fresh,
and
flowing.
Eneas, remodellings of
picture
mediaeval
France.
allegiance to
his
contemporaries
almost entirely
and Britain
languages of Europe,
together in a
that the history was for centuries before familiar in French,
and also that in
derived
Virgil.
The
vigorous
and
impressive.
the heir of
excellent traditions from
the English past.
Benoit's
romance,
as
treats
a
whole,
the
best
Chaucer's
devoted
disciple,
John
his material with
the Troy-book,
to fill
were
become most popular in England, and supersede all the rest
but Lydgate's, was contained in Caxton's
Recuyell
of
the
Historyes
of
Troye, a translation from the French prose of Raoul le
Fevre.
less
enjoyed
great
popularity
in
abundant evidence
also have
known Dares
Troilus
he
who had
our great
indebtedness
to
have
now
Benoit,
and
was
the
Greek
capillo flauo et
Apparently
the
tale
of
her
what developed
which
Diomed
Troilus
he
him.
Slie,
 
form of her
frivolous
to the Trojan hero,
entitled // Filostrato, The
poems in
by
by
that
supposedly historical
theme had
that for
we
are
Troilus
was,
incident and emphasis,
consummate
skill.
He
is
true
lover
was
thought
unseemly
by
those
wretchedly,"
and
he
Be
authorised,
or
feigned
of
what
deid
(death).
He
among
whom
because, though
him of
breaks
out
A
mention
in
Henry
does not appear.
1679
under
further
deterior-
ated,
coarseness
;
Quod
Pandarus,
interpreting
story
the
Knight's
Tale
of
Falamon
and
Arcite
plan,
and
the
style
characteristic
detail,
to
make
governour.
And
in
under
the
sonne.
for the
several
own style.
Though his
Palamon and
episode
in
by
chance
tell
the
We cannot
avoid making
way
mentioned
by
Chaucer
as high on pillars in the House of Fame. Their works
cannot
occupy us long here because, though much read in Latin,
they were
and the
ancient account,
but it
because
some
of
its
offerings
England stories
Hath herd
after his
return journey
Campania, in
works
;
The
Alexander
left. Later, in
to be
perpetuate
fact
twelfth century
was
set
at
nought
by
an
English
clerk
bine with
provide an example for
might
be
encouraged
to
His work,
entitled the
the
in
both
in
the
in
Marie
And another chapter
:
Peculiar similes and
comparisons occur in
in
rank.
He
of an
length
(one
contains
5680
lines)
entitled
allurement
of
magic
and
that wax and wane
In an airtight
other
ancient
trusted
quake at his passing
in
a
closing
couplet
Gaza
especially distinguishes
most vigorously while his
be overcome
by their
this bird each
behave
how
in
the
accomplish
of
2500
lines
to
history,
in him because of
listened
eagerly
Orient.
They
heard
of
creatures
now as
ments still rivet
sighed for more lands
exemplified
by
Chaucer's
-Squire's
"great
bard"
that
Milton
specially
Chaucer
not the
early courtly
than
a
score
Except in a few
fiction.
was
englished
from
the
French
by
Lawrence
How
where the oldest
other lands,
appear
;
kings,
a
vehement
vigour.
It
was
the
The
Cupid
and
account
features
it
The Fair
vision.
It
superficially. Any one familiar
warrior of amazing
fairy boat which
from the incursions
Clotaire is
well as in England. The best English version
(in
rhymed
is
author, who wrote in the first half of the fifteenth
century,
refuses
spirit
; for
he
lady's dress,
without les
the Odyssey.
Similarly nationalised
was the
a
foster-brothers
is related in a really touching narrative. We remember the
two
with leprosy
from his
discovered in
life he
the
only
way
anointed
restores
bedside of the
hunt, such as we meet in
Marie's lay
unity and
Norman poem of the
fifteenth
century,
appears to have had no single original.
This is the story of a Squire in love with a king's daughter,
who agrees
false steward accuses
long
Squire
has
slain
him,
and
these
viands,
decadent chivalry,
In
one of
of the
Paul,
The
brightly-coloured bed
included every dainty.
novels
have
its metre
and dis-
tinguished patronage,
stands the
with the
murder,
swims
with
him
across
career helps him
woii
kingdom, has the werewolPs
Constance in
Kentish
version
may
considerable
vigour
character, is
of
to
learn
that
all
children,
made
him
endure
latter's pride may be
turn
to
heroes
of
actuality,
to
real
Crusaders,
of
custom to have
as a first
for the
other dainties
the
cannibal
return
Complying
with
barons that
the
fairest
woman
together
happily
for
John,
and
a,
and
urges
before
tale
of
into
him
in
148
1.
the
the
Alexander, -and Csesar, and
of
course,
had
different
personal
traits
and
a
in the
In the
text for
a homily
question,
served
to
dispel
any
doubts
that
sceptics
might
Bannockburn, corresponding
Bertrand du Guesclin
together,
Deem who
fable,
Then
should
romance, by influencing
helped
to
determine
not
Wallace, their chief
past, had not the founders of
their
literary
renown
sixteenth centuries,
successful publication of such
of each
took form
Richard
Johnson
are the popular
his assassination
a
romantic
swaddling-clothes
secular
only
in
separate
forln,
but
appears
romance,
chivalry.
embodiment in the mediaeval period, and shall try to discover
what
how
they
were
perpetu-
ated,
and in what mould they were made. Final results in these
inquiries are
uniformity
of
men's
conceptions.
In
endeavour
to
Dame
which
a
advances of a
clerk, but is
her
victim
fear
parish
church,
try
to
desires.
This
tale
in
one
and
the
tale
em-
bodying
the
world-wide
The
wit
took
the events are placed in the reign of King Uter,
though
the
or any British
garden at Christmas-
bough
astonished,
her
suggestion
unable
«
his
own
the first
on the
persecutors by
loses a game
all
requires
Again he
his five ships
The
in
it,
and
secures
heavy
thorns
in
the
side
with
or
obscenity
;
and
pleyde,
saugh
no
idleness
Friar
and
the
tive Hterature, they
tion
and
to
be
measured
Jews.
One
of
these
tells
because he communed with Christian children at Easter,
and
bed of flowers to
exasperated
certain
Jews
by
their own shame
(meaning
the
of
 
The
Knight
and
his
Wife
also
and there
makes
oiif
They find the lady
To inculcate the
he and his
church,
sermon,
he
inquires
hard penances
an easy one.
what
man
agrees
soon
overcome
by
wenches
his
his abode, and
he will
abandon his
end he
in heaven
carry
to our
advantage of
duties,
ill-gotten
gains
to
gained
shown by
these
than
and has
by
tale in the
immense,
one
would
understand
along
with
nature,
and
told
all
or
Buddhist
Birth
goes under
Many,
on
one
in
Romulus, the
prepared
by
not
whose fables were
This
translated
translation was
the Continent,
Aesopu!
large
part from Romulus and Avianus, and a portion from the Greek
text,
which
had
recently
been
printed
in
Italy.
the
was followed in England
what is known
the Romance
poem,
the
His
name
characteristic traits,
and
costuming
voice
the
fight
Teburgus
on a
perch with
with
leaps
caught,
and
begins
his
famished.
witty fox declares that he is enjoying the bliss of
Paradise—
no
;
"No," says the I
is
joy, and where there is plenty to eat." This stirs the
wolf,
"
The wolf
recounts his
familiar
the bliss
the fox.
matins.
The
chief
steward
goes
worthy predecessor of
Chauntecleer and
proprietress of the cock,
the cock and the hen after the dream, and the
lament
it
directly founded.
The
humour
That
known
as
the
anthropomorphic
his
bewilderingly
real
and
troubadour. And withal of
the
religious
document,
by
one
Theobald,
eagle, adder, ant, hart,
whose seven properties
we
and if he hear a man hunt, or by his
nose-smell
scent
his
approach,
by
whatever
fills
his
third
he is
of
:
Well high is that hill that is the kingdom of heaven. Our
Lord is the lion who liveth thereabove. Yet when it pleased Him to alight here
on
earth,
the
devil
came down, nor
mild
Him to the profit of men. When our
Lord was dead and buried,
as
His
will
third
day.
watches as
a shepherd
for his
nowhere astray.
out of the
elephant, and
the
might ; but
he can
accomplish it no whit. He can do then nothing else than roar with his
brother. Many and mickle
him
up. Then they
all with one roar like the
blast of a horn, or the sound of i bell. For
their
hunter's
Signification
: Thus
fell
Adam
through
After
Moses,
stood before, to have
thought
all on high to
heaven. For their care and their calling, Christ, the king
of heaven, came
thing certeyn," we
ell as
ecclesiastics
made
collections
which the
succession
Canterbury Tales, where
type.
When
originated
are
collection
cannot
be
far
from
the
close
the fact
tales for homiletic
every
story
a
moral
was
in any
called Arrius, "I
!
three
I will
solicited
little
of the Merchant
Continent men as
Boccaccio and
mentioned,
the
of
"
order. Of these, however, he
only
begun but lacked
of
the
Monk
it
a
short
way,
Legend
of
is dedicated
witness
to
many
popular
super-
fabulous anecdotes were favoured
and
professor
of
theology
at
Oxford.
as we
derived
detrimental to
the style
com-
but
the
Renardi, vel
Gospel
and
cite
examples,
to
the
extent
of
about
a
hundred
Unes,
of
dreams
with
So
every one,
human or
times prone to exclaim,
"
The Pardoner's harangue
digression
and
free
than
elegant
manu-
script.
wrote a similar work for the
guidance
of
of
Rome,
thirteenth century. There exist a host of versions of this
collection
of
one another.
the
same
youth
should
be
with plain
The Book
young
son,
Valen-
men one, until finally, on the
seventh day,
pre-
is able to speak, tells a pertinent tale, and denounces
the perfidy
sufi'ers
the
hard
fate
Oriental versions differ from
has only one preceptor, the
famous philosopher Sindibad, who is the
central figure through-
most
about the
last. Though
with twice
France but
poem is as
The streams
and
the
result
whose
story
in
the
collection,
in the
associate together in gaiety,
life of an
ordinary kind,
as will
shortly appear. The Canon's Yeoman's may be based on a real
experience.
The
due
time,
written in the vernacular were practically all in rhyme. But
in Italian
classic
have
Cento
Novelli
of
novels were
ready-made,
anticipated
mysteries,
will
yielded moralities.
Legends of
early
in dramatic
claimed
authority.
tions
documents
the acceptance of fanciful stories natural as an
act of faith. The
reward. For a proper
value of each,
no
one
is
inde-
of
lines)
they
the land
at Ernley,
noble deeds of England, what
the
men
were
Layamon
the noble
He
took
the
English
; the third
a French clerk
to him
and
the
bore him
be
the
Wace's
other books
if
anything.
be offered)
from Bede
in any
together all
strength, determined,
brook no
might. Wace
with the
giant Ritho,
j
but
Layamon
interesting
fight
with
a
asleep when the King
readily
reproached for
assertions
and
maintained
one
in
some
of
Bdowulf's,
may
be
given
in
the
fight
Cornwall
beheld
"
for them
all the
all the good laws of
Uter's
time.
And
sound, make me
sea a little boat
to
return. There is no man born of woman that can of
sooth say more of
(his
sayings
Britons.
Arthurian
are
Layamon's
far
as
fact
style of
his narrative,
Geoffrey's History of the Kings of
Britain
less
rhetorically
Geoffrey
he
described
oftener
He was
live real
fathers,
has
all
Anglo-Saxon
pure.
poet's
style
foreign foes.
tired
and
have
my
realm
and
my
kin
all
put
to
and fowls
slay him
Evidently in
the Brut
fancy free.
heed
the
southern
coast.
invaders'
depredation,
though
he
"
they slew
;
gleeds
the King, and said that they had won homes
that they would hold
summer
to
fight
they would make of his back a bridge, and take
all
the
golden
door,
the
King's
shame
;
His
mercy has
Together
they
stands
resplendent,
"heathen hounds"
speaks:
They
shall
as if we thought no evil, and when we come
to
them
I
:
'
one
of
works dire
in the
'
the
Avon,
Armed
shields
j
there
such
fishes
always in the
[this]
land
with
bliss.
not
Elsewhere Saxons and Saracens
not only as a national
champion,
amazing fame, and by
which Layamon wrote.
He makes no
Brut
to
the
chief monument of
had
more and more
the