See Renouard’sAnnales de l’imprimerie des Aldes(Paris, 1834); Didot’sAlde Manuce(Paris, 1873); Omont’sCatalogueof Aldine publications (Paris, 1892).
See Renouard’sAnnales de l’imprimerie des Aldes(Paris, 1834); Didot’sAlde Manuce(Paris, 1873); Omont’sCatalogueof Aldine publications (Paris, 1892).
(J. A. S.)
MANWARING, ROBERT,English 18th-century furniture designer and cabinet maker. The dates of his birth and death are unknown. He was a contemporary and imitator of Chippendale, and not the least considerable of his rivals. He prided himself upon work which he described as “genteel,” and his speciality was chairs. He manifests the same surprising variations of quality that are noticed in the work of nearly all the English cabinet-makers of the second half of the 18th century, and while his best had an undeniable elegance his worst was exceedingly bad—squat, ill-proportioned and confused. Some of his chairbacks are so nearly identical with Chippendale’s that it is difficult to suppose that the one did not copy from the other, and most of the designs of the greater man enjoyed priority of date. During a portion of his career Manwaring was a devotee of the Chinese taste; he likewise practised in the Gothic manner. He appears to have introduced the small bracket between the front rail of the seat and the top of the chair leg, or at all events to have made such constant use of it that it has come to be regarded as characteristic of his work. Manwaring described certain of his own work as “elegant and superb,” and as possessing “grandeur and magnificence.” He did not confine himself to furniture but produced many designs for rustic gates and railings, often very extravagant. One of his most absurd rural chairs has rock-work with a waterfall in the back.
Among Manwaring’s writings wereThe Cabinet and Chair Makers’ Real Friend and Companion, or the Whole System of Chairmaking Made Plain and Easy(1765);The Carpenters’ Compleat Guide to Gothic Railing(1765); andThe Chair-makers’ Guide(1766).
Among Manwaring’s writings wereThe Cabinet and Chair Makers’ Real Friend and Companion, or the Whole System of Chairmaking Made Plain and Easy(1765);The Carpenters’ Compleat Guide to Gothic Railing(1765); andThe Chair-makers’ Guide(1766).
MANYCH,a river and depression in S. Russia, stretching between the lower river Don and the Caspian Sea, through the Don Cossacks territory and between the government of Astrakhan on the N. and that of Stavropol on the S. During the greater part of the year it is either dry or occupied in part by a string of saline lakes (limansorilmens); but in spring when the streams swell which empty into it, the water flows in two opposite directions from the highest point (near Shara-Khulusun). The western stream flows westwards, with an inclination northwards, until it reaches the Don, though when the latter river is running high, its water penetrates some 60 miles up the Manych. The eastern stream dies away in the sandy steppe about 25 miles from the Caspian, though it is said sometimes to reach the Kuma through the Huiduk, a tributary of the Kuma. Total length of the depression, 330 m. For its significance as a former (geologic) connexion between the Sea of Azov and the Caspian Sea, seeCaspian Sea. By some authorities the Manych depression is taken as part of the boundary between Europe and Asia.
MANYEMA(Una-Ma-Nyema, eaters of flesh), a powerful and warlike Bantu-Negroid people in the south-east of the Congo basin. Physically they are of a light colour, with well formed noses and not over-full lips, the women being described as singularly pretty and graceful. Manyemaland was for the greater part of the 19th century an Eldorado of the Arab slave raiders.
MANZANARES,a town of Spain, in the province of Ciudad Real, on the river Azuer, a large sub-tributary of the Záncara, and on the railways from Madrid to Ciudad Real and Lináres. Pop. (1900), 11,229. Manzanares is one of the chief towns of La Mancha, and thus in the centre of the district described by Cervantes inDon Quixote. Its citadel was founded as a Christian fortress after the defeat of the Moors at Las Navas de Tolosa (1212). Bull-fights were formerly held in the mainplaza, where galleries to accommodate spectators were built between the buttresses of an ancient parish church. Manzanares has manufactures of soap, bricks and pottery, and an active trade in wheat, wine, spirits, aniseed and saffron.
MANZANILLO,a town and port on the Pacific coast of Mexico, in the state of Colima, 52 m. by rail W.S.W. of the city of that name. It is situated on a large harbour partly formed and sheltered by a long island extending southwards parallel with the coast. Southward also, and in the vicinity of the town, is the large stagnant, shallow lagoon of Cayutlán which renders the town unhealthy. Manzanillo is a commercial town of comparatively recent creation. Its new harbour works, the construction of which was begun in 1899, and its railway connexion with central Mexico, promise to make it one of the chief Pacific ports of the republic. These works include a breakwater 1300 ft. long, with a depth of 12 to 70 ft. and a maximum breadth of 320 ft. at the base and 25 ft. on top, and all the necessary berthing and mechanical facilities for the handling of cargoes. A narrow-gauge railway was built between Colima and Manzanillo toward the end of the nineteenth century, but the traffic was only sufficient for a tri-weekly service up to 1908, when the gauge was widened and the railway became part of the Mexican Central branch, completed in that year from Irapuato through Guadalajara to Colima. The exports include hides and skins, palm leaf hats, Indian corn, coffee, palm oil, fruit, lumber and minerals.
MANZANILLO,an important commercial city of Cuba, in Santiago province, on the gulf of Guacanabo, about 17 m. S. of the mouth of the Rio Cauto, on the shore of Manzanillo Bay. Pop. (1907), 15,819. It is shut off to the east and south by the Sierra Maestra. Besides the Cauto, the rivers Yara and Buey are near the city. Manzanillo is the only coast town of importance between Trinidad and Santiago. It exports large quantities of sugar, hides, tobacco, and bees-wax; also some cedar and mahogany. The history of the settlement begins in 1784, but the port was already important at that time for a trade in woods and fruits; French and English corsairs resorted thither for shipbuilding woods. The settlement was sacked by the French in 1792, and in the following year a fort was built for its protection. In 1833 it received anayuntamiento(council) and in 1837, for its “loyalty” in not following the lead of Santiago in proclaiming the Spanish Constitution, received from the crown the title ofFiel. In 1827 the port was opened to commerce, national and foreign.
MANZOLLI, PIER ANGELO,Italian author, was born about the end of the fifteenth century at La Stellata, near Ferrara. He wrote a poem entitledZodiacus vitae, published at Basel in 1543, and dedicated to Hercules II. of Ferrara. The poem is full of didactic writing on the subject of human happiness in connexion with scientific knowledge, and combines metaphysical speculation with satirical attacks on ecclesiastical hypocrisy, and especially on the Pope and on Luther. It was translated into several languages, but fell under the ban of the Inquisition on the ground of its rationalizing tendencies.
MANZONI, ALESSANDRO FRANCESCO TOMMASO ANTONIO(1785-1873), Italian poet and novelist, was born at Milan on the 7th of March 1785. Don Pietro, his father, then about fifty, represented an old family settled near Lecco, but originally feudal lords of Barzio, in the Valsassina, where the memory of their violence is still perpetuated in a local proverb, comparing it to that of the mountain torrent. The poet’s maternal grandfather, Cesare Beccaria, was a well-known author, and his mother Giulia a woman of some literary ability. Manzoni’s intellect was slow in maturing, and at the various colleges where his school days were passed he ranked among the dunces. At fifteen, however, he developed a passion for poetry, and wrote two sonnets of considerable merit. On the death of his father in 1805, he joined his mother at Auteuil, and spent two years there, mixing in the literary set of the so-called “ideologues,” philosophers of the 18th century school, among whom he made many friends, notably Claude Fauriel. There too he imbibed the negative creed of Voltairianism, and only after his marriage, and under the influence of his wife, did he exchange it for that fervent Catholicism which coloured his later life. In 1806-1807, while at Auteuil, he first appeared before the public as a poet, with two pieces, one entitledUrania,in the classical style, of which he became later the most conspicuous adversary, the other an elegy in blank verse, on the death of Count Carlo Imbonati, from whom, through his mother, he inherited considerable property, including the villa of Brusuglio, thenceforward his principal residence.
Manzoni’s marriage in 1808 to Henriette Blondel, daughter of a Genevese banker, proved a most happy one, and he led for many years a retired domestic life, divided between literature and the picturesque husbandry of Lombardy. His intellectual energy at this period was devoted to the composition of theInni sacri, a series of sacred lyrics, and a treatise on Catholic morality, forming a task undertaken under religious guidance, in reparation for his early lapse from faith. In 1818 he had to sell his paternal inheritance, as his affairs had gone to ruin in the hands of a dishonest agent. His characteristic generosity was shown on this occasion in his dealings with his peasants, who were heavily indebted to him. He not only cancelled on the spot the record of all sums owing to him, but bade them keep for themselves the whole of the coming maize harvest.
In 1819 Manzoni published his first tragedy,Il Conte di Carmagnola, which, boldly violating all classical conventionalisms, excited a lively controversy. It was severely criticized in theQuarterly Review, in an article to which Goethe replied in its defence, “one genius,” as Count de Gubernatis remarks, “having divined the other.” The death of Napoleon in 1821 inspired Manzoni’s powerful stanzasIl Cinque maggio, the most popular lyric in the Italian language. The political events of that year, and the imprisonment of many of his friends, weighed much on Manzoni’s mind, and the historical studies in which he sought distraction during his subsequent retirement at Brusuglio suggested his great work. Round the episode of theInnominato, historically identified with Bernardino Visconti, the novelI Promessi sposibegan to grow into shape, and was completed in September 1822. The work when published, after revision by friends in 1825-1827, at the rate of a volume a year, at once raised its author to the first rank of literary fame. In 1822, Manzoni published his second tragedyAdelchi, turning on the overthrow by Charlemagne of the Lombard domination in Italy, and containing many veiled allusions to the existing Austrian rule. With these works Manzoni’s literary career was practically closed. But he laboriously revisedI Promessi sposiin the Tuscan idiom, and in 1840 republished it in that form, with a sort of sequel,La Storia della Colonna infame, of very inferior interest. He also wrote a small treatise on the Italian language.
The end of the poet’s long life was saddened by domestic sorrows. The loss of his wife in 1833 was followed by that of several of his children, and of his mother. In 1837 he married his second wife, Teresa Borri, widow of Count Stampa, whom he also survived, while of nine children born to him in his two marriages all but two preceded him to the grave. The death of his eldest son, Pier Luigi, on the 28th of April 1873, was the final blow which hastened his end; he fell ill immediately, and died of cerebral meningitis, on the 22nd of May. His country mourned him with almost royal pomp, and his remains, after lying in state for some days, were followed to the cemetery of Milan by a vast cortège, including the royal princes and all the great officers of state. But his noblest monument was Verdi’sRequiem, specially written to honour his memory.
Biographical sketches of Manzoni have been published by Cesare Cantù (1885), Angelo de Gubernatis (1879), Arturo Graf (1898). Some of his letters have been published by Giovanni Sforza (1882).
Biographical sketches of Manzoni have been published by Cesare Cantù (1885), Angelo de Gubernatis (1879), Arturo Graf (1898). Some of his letters have been published by Giovanni Sforza (1882).
MAORI(pronounced “Mowri”; a Polynesian word meaning “native,” “indigenous”; the word occurs in distinction frompakeha, “stranger,” in other parts of Polynesia in the formsMaoiandMaoli), the name of the race inhabiting New Zealand when first visited by Tasman in 1642.
That they were not indigenous, but had displaced an earlier Melanesian or Papuan race, the true aborigines, is certain. The Maoris are Polynesians, and, in common with the majority of their kinsfolk throughout the Pacific, they have traditions which point to Savaii, originally Savaiki, the largest island of the Samoan group, as their cradleland. They say they came to New Zealand from “Hawaiki,” and they appear to distinguish between a large and small, or a nearer and farther, “Hawaiki.” “The seed of our coming is from Hawaiki; the seed of our nourishing, the seed of mankind.” Their great chief, Te Kupe, first landed, they say, on Aotearoa, as they called the north island, and, pleased with his discovery, returned to Hawaiki to tell his fellow-countrymen. Thereafter he returned with seven war canoes, each holding a hundred warriors, priests, stone idols and sacred weapons, as well as native plants and animals. Hawaiki, the name of Te Kupe’s traditional home, is identical with several other Polynesian place-names,e.g.Hawaii, Apai in the Tonga Islands, Evava in the Marquesas, all of which are held to be derived from Savii or Savaiki. Dr Thomson, in hisStory of New Zealand, quotes a Maori tradition, published by Sir George Grey, that certain islands, among which it names Rarotonga, Parima and Manono, are islands near Hawaiki. The Rarotongas call themselves Maori, and state that their ancestors came from Hawaiki, andParimaand Manono are the native names of two islands in the Samoan group. The almost identical languages of the Rarotongas and the Maoris strengthen the theory that the two peoples are descended from Polynesians migrating, possibly at widely different dates, from Samoa. The distance from Rarotonga to New Zealand is about 2000 m., and, with the aid of the trade wind, large canoes could traverse the distance within a month. Moreover the fauna and flora of New Zealand in many ways resemble those of Samoa. Thus it would seem certain that the Maoris, starting from “further Hawaiki,” or Samoa, first touched at Rarotonga, “nearer Hawaiki,” whence, after forming a settlement, they journeyed on to New Zealand. Maori tradition is explicit as to the cause of the exodus from Samoa, gives the names of the canoes in which the journey was made and the time of year at which the coast of New Zealand was sighted. On the question of the date a comparison of genealogies of Maori chiefs shows that, up to the beginning of the 20th century, about eighteen generations or probably not much more than five centuries had passed since the first Maori arrivals. There is some evidence that the “tradition of the six canoes” does not represent the first contact of the Polynesian race with New Zealand. If earlier immigrants from Samoa or other eastern Pacific islands arrived they must have become absorbed into the native Papuan population—arguing from the absence of any distinct tradition earlier than that “of the six canoes.” Some have sought to find in the Morioris of Chatham Island the remnants of this Papuan-Polynesian population, expelled by Te Kupe and his followers. The extraordinary ruined fortifications found, and the knowledge of the higher art of war displayed by the Maoris, suggest (what is no doubt the fact) that there was a hard fight for them when they first arrived, but the greatest resistance must have been from the purer Papuan inhabitants, and not from the half-castes who were probably easily overwhelmed. The shell heaps found on the coasts and elsewhere dispose of the theory that New Zealand was uninhabited or practically so six centuries back.
Any description of the Maoris, who in recent years have come more and more under the influence of white civilization, must necessarily refer rather to what they have been than what they are. Physically the Maoris are true Polynesians, tall, well-built, with straight or slightly curved noses, high foreheads and oval faces. Their colour is usually a darker brown than that of their kinsfolk of the eastern Pacific, but light-complexioned Maoris, almost European in features, are met with. Their hair is black and straight or wavy, scarcely ever curly. They have long been celebrated for their tattooing, the designs being most elaborate.
Among the most industrious of Polynesian races, they have always been famed for wood-carving; and in building, weaving and dyeing they had made great advances before the whites arrived. They are also good farmers and bold seamen. In the Maori wars they showed much strategic skill, and their knowledge of fortification was very remarkable. Politically theMaoris have always been democratic. No approach to a monarchy ever existed. Each tribe under its chief was autonomous. Tribal lands were held in common and each man was entitled to a share in the products. They had slaves, but so few as not to alter the social conditions. Every Maori was a soldier, and war was the chief business and joy of his life. Tribal wars were incessant. The weapons were wooden spears, clubs and stone tomahawks. Cannibalism, which earned them in earlier years a terrible name, was generally restricted to the bloodthirsty banquets which always followed a victory. The Maoris ate their enemies’ hearts to gain their courage, but to whatever degree animistic beliefs may have once contributed to their cannibalism, it is certain that long before Captain Cook’s visit religious sanction for the custom had long given place to mere gluttonous enjoyment.
The Maoris had no regular marriage ceremony. Polygamy was universal, and even to-day they are not strictly monogamous. The power of the husband over the wife was absolute, but women took their meals with the men, were allowed a voice in the tribe’s affairs, and sometimes accompanied the men into battle. Some tribes were endogamic, and there matriarchy was the rule, descent being traced through the female line. Ferocious as they were in war, the Maoris are generally hospitable and affectionate in their home-life, and a pleasant characteristic, noticed by Captain Cook, is their respect and care of the old. The Maoris buried their dead, the cemeteries being ornamented with carved posts. Their religion was a nature-worship intimately connected with the veneration of ancestors. There was a belief in the soul, which was supposed to dwell in the left eye. They had no doubt as to a future state, but no definite idea of a supreme being. They had no places of worship, nor, though they had sacred wooden figures, is there any reason to consider that they were idolaters in the strict sense of the word. The custom of taboo was very fully developed. Nowadays they are all nominally Christians. While they had no written language, a considerable oral literature of songs, legends and traditions existed. Their priesthood was a highly trained profession, and they had schools which taught a knowledge of the stars and constellations, for many of which they had names. All Maoris are natural orators and poets, and a chief was expected to add these accomplishments to his prowess as a warrior or his skill as a seaman. The Maoris of to-day are law-abiding, peaceable and indolent. They have been called the Britons of the south, and their courage in defending their country and their intelligence amply justify the compliment. By the New Zealanders they are cordially liked. At the census of 1906 they numbered 47,731, as against 45,470 in 1874; and there were 6516 half-castes. See alsoPolynesiaandSamoa.
Bibliography.—Sir G. Grey,Polynesian Mythology and Maori Legends(Wellington, 1885); A. de Quatrefages,Les Polynésiens et leurs migrations(Paris, 1866); Abraham Fornander,An Account of the Polynesian Race(1877-1885); Henri Mager,Le Monde polynésien(Paris, 1902); Pierre Adolphe Lesson,Les Polynésiens, leur origine, &c.(Paris, 1880-1884); W. Pember Reeves,New Zealand; A. R. Wallace,Australasia(Stanford’s Compendium, 1894); G. W. Rusden,History of New Zealand(1895); Alfred Saunders,History of New Zealand(1896); James Cowan,The Maoris of New Zealand(1909).
Bibliography.—Sir G. Grey,Polynesian Mythology and Maori Legends(Wellington, 1885); A. de Quatrefages,Les Polynésiens et leurs migrations(Paris, 1866); Abraham Fornander,An Account of the Polynesian Race(1877-1885); Henri Mager,Le Monde polynésien(Paris, 1902); Pierre Adolphe Lesson,Les Polynésiens, leur origine, &c.(Paris, 1880-1884); W. Pember Reeves,New Zealand; A. R. Wallace,Australasia(Stanford’s Compendium, 1894); G. W. Rusden,History of New Zealand(1895); Alfred Saunders,History of New Zealand(1896); James Cowan,The Maoris of New Zealand(1909).
MAP(orMapes),WALTER(d.c.1208/9), medieval ecclesiastic, author and wit, to whose authority the main body of prose Arthurian literature has, at one time or another, been assigned, flourished in the latter part of the 12th and early years of the 13th centuries. Concerning the date of his birth and his parentage nothing definite is known, but as he ascribes his position at court to the merits of his parents they were probably people of some importance. He studied at Paris under Girard la Pucelle, who began to teach in or about 1160, but as he states in his bookDe nugis curialiumthat he was at the court of Henry II. before 1162, his residence at Paris must have been practically comprised in the decade 1150-1160.
Map’s career was an active and varied one; he was clerk of the royal household and justice itinerant; in 1179 he was present at the Lateran council at Rome, on his way thither being entertained by the count of Champagne; at this time he apparently held a plurality of ecclesiastical benefices, being a prebend of St Paul’s, canon and precentor of Lincoln and parson of Westbury, Gloucestershire. There seems to be no record of his ordination, but as he was a candidate for the see of Hereford in 1199 it is most probable that he was in priest’s orders. The last reference to him, as living, is in 1208, when an order for payment to him is on record, but Giraldus Cambrensis, in the second edition of hisHibernica, redacted in 1210, utters a prayer for his soul, “cujus animae propitietur Deus,” a proof that he was no longer alive.
The special interest of Map lies in the perplexing question of his relation to the Arthurian legend and literature. He is invariably cited as the author of theLancelotproper (consisting of two parts), theQuesteand theMort Artus, all three of which are now generally found in one manuscript under the title ofLancelot. TheMort Artus, however, we know to be the prose working over of an earlier and independent poem. Sundry manuscripts of the yet more extensive compilation which begins with theGrand Saint Graalalso refer to Map as having composed the cycle in conjunction with Robert de Borron, to whom, as a rule, theGrand Saint GraalandMerlinare exclusively assigned. The curiousMerlintext, Bibl. Nat. 337 (fonds Français), refers throughout to Map as authority; and the enormousLancelotcodex, B. N. 112, a combination of theLancelotand theTristan, also couples his name with that of Robert de Borron. In fact it may safely be said that, with the exception of the proseTristan, always attributed either to Luces de Gast, or Hélie de Borron, the authority of Map has been invoked for the entire vast mass of Arthurian prose romantic literature. Now it is practically impossible that one man, and that one an occupier of court and public offices, constantly employed in royal and public business, very frequently travelling abroad (e.g.we know he was at Limoges in 1173; at Rome in 1179; in Anjou in 1183; and at Angers in 1199), could have found the necessary leisure. On this point we have the testimony of his one undoubted work,De nugis curialium, which he tells us he composed “by snatches” during his residence at court.De nugisis a comparatively small book; if it were difficult to find leisure for that, much more would it have been difficult to find the time requisite for the composition of one only of the many long-winded romances which have been fathered on Map. Giraldus Cambrensis, with whom he was on most friendly terms, and who frequently refers to and quotes him, records a speech in which Map contrasted Giraldus’ labours with his own, apparently to the disadvantage of the latter, “vos scripta dedistis, et nos verba”—a phrase which has been interpreted as meaning that Map himself had produced no literary work. But inasmuch as theDe nugisis undoubtedly, and certain satirical poems directed against the loose life of the clergy of the day most probably, his work, the speech must not be taken too literally. It seems difficult also to believe that Map’s name should be so constantly connected with our Arthurian tradition without any ground whatever; though it must be admitted that he himself never makes any such claim—the references in the romances are all couched in the third person, and bear no sign of being other than the record by the copyist of a traditional attribution.
A different and very interesting piece of evidence is afforded by theIpomedonof Hue de Rotelande; in relating how his hero appeared at a tournament three days running, in three different suits of armour, red, black and white, the author remarks,
Sul ne sai pas de mentir l’artWalter Map reset ben sa part.
Sul ne sai pas de mentir l’art
Walter Map reset ben sa part.
This apparently indicated that Map, also, had made himself responsible for a similar story. Now this incident of the “Three Days’ Tournament” is found alike in the proseLancelotand in the GermanLanzelet, this latter translated from a French poem which, in 1194, was in the possession of Hugo de Morville. TheIpomedonwas written somewhere in the decade 1180-1190, and there is no evidence of the prose romance having then been in existence. We have no manuscript of any prose Arthurian romance earlier than the 13th century, to which period GastonParis assigned them; they are certainly posterior to the verse romances. Chrétien de Troyes, in hisCligés(the date of which falls somewhere in the decade 1160-1170), knew and utilized the story of the “Three Days’ Tournament,” and moreover makes Lancelot take part in it. Map was, as we have seen, frequently in France; Chrétien had for patroness Marie, countess of Champagne, step-daughter to Henry II., Map’s patron; Map’s position was distinctly superior to that of Chrétien. Taking all the evidence into consideration it seems more probable that Map had, at a comparatively early date, before he became so important an official, composed a poem on the subject of Lancelot, which was the direct source of the German version, and which Chrétien also knew and followed.
The form in which certain of the references to him are couched favours the above view; the compiler ofGuiron le Cortoissays in his prologue that “maistre Gautier Map qui fu clers au roi Henry—devisa cil l’estoire de monseigneur Lancelot du Lac, que d’autre chose ne parla il mie gramment en son livre”; and in another place he refers to Map, “qui fit lou propre livre de monsoingnour Lancelot dou Lac.” Now only during the early part of his career could Map fairly be referred to as simple “clers au roi Henry,” and both extracts emphasize the fact that his work dealt, almost exclusively, with Lancelot. Neither of these passages would fit the prose romance, as we know it, but both might well suit the lost French source of theLanzelet; where we are in a position to compare the German versions of French romances with their originals we find, as a rule, that the translators have followed their source faithfully.One of the references to Map’s works in theMerlinmanuscript above referred to (B.N. 337) has an interesting touch not found elsewhere. After saying how Map translated the romance from the Latin at the bidding of King Henry, the usual statement, the scribe adds “qui riche loier l’en dona.” It is of course possible that Map’s rise at court may have been due to his having hit the literary taste of the monarch, who, we know, was interested in the Arthurian tradition, but it must be admitted that direct evidence on the subject is practically nil, and that in the present condition of our knowledge we can only advance possible hypotheses.See art. “Map” inDict. Nat. Biog.De nugis curialiumand theLatin Poems attributed to Maphave been edited for the Camden Society by T. Wright (1841). For discussion of his authorship of theLancelotcf.The Three Days’ Tournament, Grimm Library XV. See also underLancelot. The passages relating to Map cited above have been frequently quoted by scholars,e.g.Hucher,Le Grand Saint Graal; Paulin Paris,Romans de la Table Ronde; Alfred Nutt,Studies in the Legend of the Holy Grail.
The form in which certain of the references to him are couched favours the above view; the compiler ofGuiron le Cortoissays in his prologue that “maistre Gautier Map qui fu clers au roi Henry—devisa cil l’estoire de monseigneur Lancelot du Lac, que d’autre chose ne parla il mie gramment en son livre”; and in another place he refers to Map, “qui fit lou propre livre de monsoingnour Lancelot dou Lac.” Now only during the early part of his career could Map fairly be referred to as simple “clers au roi Henry,” and both extracts emphasize the fact that his work dealt, almost exclusively, with Lancelot. Neither of these passages would fit the prose romance, as we know it, but both might well suit the lost French source of theLanzelet; where we are in a position to compare the German versions of French romances with their originals we find, as a rule, that the translators have followed their source faithfully.
One of the references to Map’s works in theMerlinmanuscript above referred to (B.N. 337) has an interesting touch not found elsewhere. After saying how Map translated the romance from the Latin at the bidding of King Henry, the usual statement, the scribe adds “qui riche loier l’en dona.” It is of course possible that Map’s rise at court may have been due to his having hit the literary taste of the monarch, who, we know, was interested in the Arthurian tradition, but it must be admitted that direct evidence on the subject is practically nil, and that in the present condition of our knowledge we can only advance possible hypotheses.
See art. “Map” inDict. Nat. Biog.De nugis curialiumand theLatin Poems attributed to Maphave been edited for the Camden Society by T. Wright (1841). For discussion of his authorship of theLancelotcf.The Three Days’ Tournament, Grimm Library XV. See also underLancelot. The passages relating to Map cited above have been frequently quoted by scholars,e.g.Hucher,Le Grand Saint Graal; Paulin Paris,Romans de la Table Ronde; Alfred Nutt,Studies in the Legend of the Holy Grail.
(J. L. W.)