'Ains auroie par carbonéesTrestout escarbelliè le mort,Que nule des armes enport;'
'Ains auroie par carbonéesTrestout escarbelliè le mort,Que nule des armes enport;'
which as it stands is decidedly difficult of interpretation; while in the English Sir Percyvelle we find the hero saying:
'My moder bad me,Whenne my dart solde brokene beOwte of the irene brenne the tree,'
'My moder bad me,Whenne my dart solde brokene beOwte of the irene brenne the tree,'
which evidently indicates the source of Chrêtien's curious remark. An examination of the different versions seems to show that, while the German is the fuller and more poetical, the French is here closer to the original form of the story.
Pages85and86, lines 635, 658—'Kay the Seneschal.' The character of Kay is one of the problems of the Arthurian legends. In all the tales he is represented as filling the office of Seneschal, and in all he is represented as a man of rough manners, violent temper, and bitter tongue. The Seneschal (Senes-schalh), the oldest servant, was master of theceremonies, one of the chief personages of a royal household, and not unfrequently the trusted confidant of the king; but such a chastisement as Kay here, and in other versions, inflicts upon Kunnewaaré, was distinctlyoutsidehis office, and, taking into consideration the standing of Kunnewaaré and Antanor, quite inconceivable. Here, as in other instances, we have traces of an original tradition dating from a time when a far rougher code of manners and customs obtained. Wolfram, while adhering closely to his source, and to the traditional representation of Kay's character, was evidently extremely puzzled by the undignified and discourteous part allotted to him, and in BookVI.(p. 169) he diverges from the story in order to explain what he feels to be a difficulty, and to defend Kay at some length. The Northern French poets apparently felt the same, and as Kay is generally represented as Arthur's foster-brother they invented the fable that the unknightly traits in his character were due to his having been committed to the care of a peasant nurse when his mother took charge of the infant Arthur.
Page85, line 652—'The maiden Kunnewaaré.' The 'laughing damsel' seems to be an archaic and misunderstood element in the Grail romances. A common incident of folk-tales is for the hero, fool, lout, or tatterdemalion, to win to wife a princess who has not laughed or spoken for years by inducing her to do either of these things. Some such incident has apparently been woven into an heroic romance, the main outlines of which were already fixed, so that the actual conclusion, marriage of the hero with the laughing damsel, has been disturbed. Note, however, the homage paid by Parzival to Kunnewaaré, and her evident affection for him (BookVI.pp. 181-185). Her name too is suggestive, it has been derived fromla pucele a la gonne vaire(the maiden with the coloured robe), but in its present form it is suspiciously like Kondwiramur, and it should be noted that it is the rejected lover of this queen whom Kunnewaaré eventually marries. Is it possible that the Perceval romance from which both Chrêtien and 'Kiot' drew contained doublets of this personage? In the one case in her original, in the other in a modified form. An instructive parallel may be adduced from the saga of Cuchulainn. He is the hero of an Andromeda episode and should by rights wed the delivered heroine, but the story being already fixed before the episode was assimilated, the heroine is passed on to a companion of the hero.—[A. N.]
Page89, line 766—'Maestricht, or e'en Cologne.' German art, in the early Middle Ages, reached its highest level in the Rhenish provinces, especially at Cologne.
Page91, line 828—'Gurnemanz of Graharz.' The old knight who instructs the hero in knightly duties is a traditional part of the story, and belongs to most of the versions. In Peredur, he is identified with the Fisher King, Perceval's uncle. In Chrêtien his name is given as Gonemans of Gelbort; in Gerbert, Chrêtien's continuator, he is,Gornemant(one of several points of contact between Gerbert and Wolfram's source).
Page91, line 847—'He bade them lead the guest in.' This is one of the many passages which afford an interesting glimpse of the manners and customs of a bygone age. It may be well to summarise here what we know of the reception and treatment of a guest in the Middle Ages. If a strange knight rode into the courtyard of a castle he was received by squires and pages, who held his bridle and assisted him to dismount. The guest was then conducted to a chamber where he was disarmed and provided with suitable robes. In every important household there was aKleider-kammer, or wardrobe, presided over by a chamberlain, whose office it was to see that all guests were provided with garments fitted to their station. The preparation of these dresses was the work of the women of the household, and it can have been no light task, as even if a whole company arrived they would all expect to be provided with the requisite dress. The guest, being robed, was then conducted to the great Hall, which was in the upper story of the castle. Half-way on the staircase leading to it, he would be met, and welcomed with the kiss of greeting, byboth host and hostess (cf. BookIV.p. 107), and led by them into the Hall where he would receive the greeting of the assembled company. When all were seated the guest would say who he was, and whence he came, but, if he kept silence on this point, it was not etiquette to ask him till the next morning (cf. BookIII.p. 95). The evening meal then followed, after which, on occasions of great festivity, such as that recounted in BookXIII.(marriage feast of Gawain and Orgeluse) there would be dancing, otherwise the time seems to have been spent in conversation till the appearance of the wine-cup,Nacht Trunk, gave the signal for separation. Then knights conducted the guest to his chamber, where pages disrobed him, and apparently waited with lighted tapers till he fell asleep. The account given here of Parzival's visit to Gurnemanz gives a very good idea of how the following day would be spent, indeed Wolfram's love for detailed description, and accuracy of statement render this poem peculiarly valuable to a student of the manners and customs of the Middle Ages.
From various hints in the Gawain episodes, notably BooksX.andXI., it seems as if the privilege extended to a guest might on occasion be construed with a freedom decidedly repellent to modern ideas.
Page96, lines 984, 985—'Full five shall thy senses be.' Cf. BookIX.p. 200.
Page98, line 1055—'The prince bade his daughter hither.' The introduction of Gurnemanz' daughter, and her incipient love affair with Parzival is peculiar to this version. There is a curious discrepancy to be noted between the apparent susceptibility of the hero here and in BookIX.pp. 260, 261, and his indifference to feminine charms displayed elsewhere, notably in his rejection of Orgeluse's advances and neglect of the Château Merveil adventure. The latter presentment seems most in accordance with Parzival's character; is the susceptibility to be ascribed to thepoet?
Page99, line 1080—'I lose once more a son.' The sons of the old knight are mentioned in other versions, but Wolfram alone names them. The circumstances of Schenteflur's death are recounted in BookIV.p. 121; the account given of the other two sons is largely borrowed from Hartmann'sErec, where the strife for the hawk at Kanedig, and the venture, Schoie-de-la-kurt (which is not a person, but an expedition), is fully recounted. Brandigan is Klamidé's kingdom, cf. BookIV.; Mabonagrein, his cousin, BookIV.p. 123. Mahaut is another form of the name Matilda. FromTiturelwe learn that Gurzgrei and Mahaut were the parents of Schionatulander, Siguné's lover, cf. also BookVIII.p. 245 and note.
Name of the maiden; Chrêtien, Blanche-fleur; Sir Percyvelle Lufamour; Peredur unnamed.
Page103, line 17—'Who rideth astray, etc.' According to Simrock this passage in the original contains a play upon words which cannot be reproduced in translation: Slegel—schlegel, the word employed foraxehere, signifying, in some parts of Germany, 'a fallen tree.'
Page104, line 26—'The city of Pelrapär.' In Chrêtien the name of the city is 'Beau-repaire,' of which this is evidently the German rendering. The substitution ofpforbis still a distinguishing mark of German pronunciation of French. InSir Percyvelleit is 'the maiden land.'
Page104, line 38—'The King Klamidé.' This character is named by Wolfram and Chrêtien only; inPeredurhe is the Earl; in Sir Percyvelle, 'Sowdane.' Chrêtien calls him 'Clamadex,' and it is worthy of note that inPerceval li Galloisthe son of the Red Knight slain by Perceval is called 'Clamadas,' evidently a variant of the same name.
Page105, line 78—'My lord the Count of Wertheim.' Wertheim is in Lower Franconia. Bartsch thinks either PoppoI.or his son PoppoII.is referred to here. From the expression used, 'my lord,' it seems as if Wolfram had at one time been in his service.
Page106, line 89—'Trühending.' There are three places of this name in the neighbourhood of Eschenbach: Hohen, Alten, and Wasser-Trühending. The latter is still famous for itskrapfen, a kind of pancake.
Page107, line 119—'Kiot of Katelangen(i.e.Catalonia)and Manfilot.' Kiot is the father of Siguné, and appears again in BookXVI.The account of his marriage with Schoisianè, her death, and his subsequent adoption of the life of a hermit will be found in Book IX. p. 274. From Wolfram's unfinished poem ofTiturelwe learn that Manfilot was his companion.
Page107, line 133—'The twain Isoldé.' An allusion to Isoldé la Belle, the wife of King Mark of Cornwall, and mistress of Sir Tristan; and Isoldé of the white hand, Tristan's wife.
Page109, line 208,seq.—'Till the cry of heart-sorrow woke him.' This nocturnal visit of the Lady of the castle to the hero's chamber seems to be part of the original tradition, and it is evident by the apologetic manner in which Wolfram tells the story that he is somewhat puzzled by Kondwiramur's conduct. From the Introduction to BookVII., and also from the blame he bestows on Chrêtien for having done a wrong to the story,Diese Märe unrecht gethan, we gather that Wolfram set a high value on fidelity to his source, and these and similar apologetic passages must be explained by the unwillingness of the poet to depart from the traditional form of the legend, while, at the same time, the story, representing as it did the manners and customs of an earlier and ruder period, was somewhat distasteful to him.
Page110, line 243—'Kingron the Seneschal.' This character is Aguigrenons in Chrêtien, elsewhere he is unnamed. Mr. York Powell points out that Wolfram's form presupposes an Aguigrenons, which would either indicate that the existing MSS. of Chrêtien, or Chrêtien himself, misreaduforn, or that Wolfram didnotget his version by ear as he maintains (or that Wolfram was following a source other than Chrêtien).
Page114, line 365, seq.—'The marriage night.' A similar account is given by Gerbert, one of the continuators of Chrêtien. (Chrêtien himself does not record the marriage, which takes place on a later visit of the hero to Beau-repaire.) In Gerbert's version we have an indication of later influence, as the motive-power is the recognition by both Perceval and his bride of the superiority of virginity to the married state. Wolfram's version seems far more in accordance with the character of the hero, and is probably closer to the original form of the story.
Page116, line 420—'Galogandres, Duke of Gippones.' This character and Count Narant only appear here. Uckerland is probably a corruption of Oultreland, as noted in BookIII.
Page118, line 505—'Gringorz.' The FrenchGringoire—Gregory. All this account ofKlamidé's arms, charger, etc., is peculiar to Wolfram; whose fondness for minute and descriptive detail is a noticeable characteristic.
Page121, line 598—'Dianasdron.' Dinaderon en Gales in Chrêtien, who does not mention Karminöl. In the roll of King Arthur's knights we find such names as Sir Dinas, Sir Dinant, Sir Dinadan; all of which seem to come from the same root. The name is probably Keltic, and belongs to the original version of the story.
Page123, line 660—'Mabonagrein.' Cf. BookIII.p. 108 and note.
(The reader will find all this part of the legend, the varying forms of the visit to the Grail Castle, the Fisher King, the Grail, etc., fully discussed in Mr. Alfred Nutt'sStudieson the Legend of the Holy Grail.)
Page131, line 58—'Abenberg's field.' Castle and town of Abenberg, in the neighbourhood of Eschenbach.
Page131, line 75—'Repanse de Schoie.' This name appears to signify 'Thought of joy.' The Grail maidens are not named in other versions.
Page132, line 87—'Then one to the host would call him.' This was evidently the Court Jester, always a privileged person.
Page132, lines 109, 110—'Lignum Aloe.' Bartsch holds this to be a mistake of the poet, who has misunderstood the old French wordAloer. Chrêtien has simplysecesboises. 'Wildberg' was the home of the poet, who is here making allusion to his poverty, as in BookIV.p. 106.
Page132, line 111—'And the host had bid them lay him.' 'The Maimed King' invariably figures in the Grail Romances, whether they deal only with the Quest, as here, or with the early history of the Grail. He is generally wounded through the thighs, either with a lance, or with a sword, but the circumstances under which he receives the wound vary greatly. In most of the versions he is met with while engaged in fishing, and is known as the Fisher King, or the 'Rich Fisher.'
Page132, line 125—'The bleeding lance.' This is a feature in most of the Grail Romances, and seems to have been an original feature of the story, though it had not the close connection with theGrail, which the fully developed Christian legend has given to it. In the earlier versions of the story it is the weapon with which the Maimed King was wounded; finally, it became the spear with which our Lord's side was pierced on the cross. Wolfram, who never appears to connect the Grail with the Passion, gives it the first meaning. The visit to the Grail Castle is told in varying forms, but the King, the Grail, Sword, and Lance almost invariably appear, and the hero is either Perceval or his companion Gawain, but Perceval is, undoubtedly, the original hero of the Quest.
Page133, line 137 andseq.—'The Grail Procession.' In Chrêtien this is much moresimply treated. There are two squires bearing candlesticks, and two maidens, one of whom carries the Grail, the other a silver dish,tailleor. Wolfram has evidently seized the opportunity to give play to his love of detailed description, and his account of the Grail Feast and the Grail Maidens is far more elaborate than any given elsewhere.
Page136, line 223—'The food-supplying powers of the Grail.' In other romances of the cycle we find similar powers attributed to the Grail. Malory, who borrowed largely from theQuesteandGrand S. Graal, gives a like account. There is evidently a connection between this feature of the Grail, and the food-supplying talismans which figure largely in the legendary lore of most countries.
Page137, line 247—'A squire who a sword did bear.' Cf. p.144, lines 472 andseq.This incident also occurs in Chrêtien, and in varying form in most of the versions. In this poem the meaning and use of the sword are somewhat inexplicable. In Chrêtien that sword will break inoneperil, known only to its maker, and then can be made whole by dipping it in alake. Wolfram's account seems to be based on a misunderstanding of a French original. In some of the other versions the sword is already broken, and can only be made whole by the achiever of the Quest. In Wolfram the sword is a very puzzling feature of the story, with which indeed it seems to have little or no connection. The sword, which breaks in Parzival's deadly combat with his unknown brother, is notthissword, but the one taken from Ither of Gaheviess.
Page137, line 267—'The fairest of old men ancient.' Titurel, cf. BookIX.p. 287.
Page137, line 273—''Tis a symbol good, the bowstring.' Introduction to BookI., line 9, and note.
Page139, line 325—'The garden of Paradise.' This is one of the allusions which seem to connect the Grail in Wolfram's version with an Oriental source, cf. p.135.
Page141, line 371—'A hidden hand drew the rope taut.' Chrêtien has the incident of the drawbridge rising, but in no other version are the reproaches addressed to the hero immediately on his leaving the castle, they are invariably put into the mouth of the maiden with the dead knight. In thePercevalthe maiden's words, 'The Lord hates thee,' recall Wolfram'sIhr sult varen der sunnen has, which Bartsch says is an ancient formula of declaring a person accurst, and unworthy of the light of day.
Page141, line 381—'Doubled the throw of sorrow.' Cf. BookIII.p. 100; BookII.p. 47. Similes borrowed from games of chance are not unusual in this poem.
Page141, line 397—'A woman's voice make moan.' This meeting with the maidenafterthe visit to the Grail Castle is in most versions the only one. In Chrêtien she now tells the hero his name which he learns or guesses for the first time. It was not improbably this incident which led either Wolfram, or his source, to place a first meeting earlier in the story while still retaining one in the original position. Wolfram, with characteristic love for detail, follows up the history of Siguné far more fully than other writers of the cycle.
Page142, line 427—'Monsalväsch.' Probably 'Mont Sauvage,' in allusion to its wild and lonely position. A full account of the Grail and its keepers is given in BookIX.pp. 270, 271.
Page143, line 463—'Lunete.' A character in Hartmann'sIwein, from which the episode is quoted. Cf. BookIX.p. 252, and opening of BookXII.
Page144, line 475—'Trebuchet.' This name is also given in Chrêtien; he is alluded to again p.147, and in BookIX.p. 281, in connection with the knives of silver mentioned in line 498 of this book.
Page147, line 595—'Tenabroc.' Also p.133, line 146. This name is borrowed from Hartmann's Erec. Chrêtien has 'Danebroc.'
Page147, line 601—'Beàlzenan.' According to Bartsch this name is combined fromProvençal,beal, fair;enan, height='the fair height,' which would suit very well with the position of Angers, the capital of Anjou.
Page152, line 760—'Wild Taurian, Dodine's brother.' Cf. Book IX. p. 265. Taurian does not seem to have been identified, butDodineappears, in many of the Arthurian romances, always with the title of 'Le Sauvage.' So we find him named in Malory. Wolfram seemed to have transferred the characteristic from one brother to the other.
Page155, line 849—'Iofreit the son of Idöl.' This is the French name Geoffrey. Mentioned again in Book VI. line 168. Most critics identify this character with Chrêtien'sGiflès li feus Do.
Page159, line 2—'From Karidöl and his kingdom.' Karidöl=Carduel or Cardoile, the Anglo-Norman form of Carlisle. This is undoubtedly Arthur's original capital, but throughout this poem Nantes seems to be regarded as the royal city. Curiously enough we find the two names combined in Gautier de Doulens, one of the continuators ofLiConte del Graal, who introduces, as one of hisdramatis personæ, Carduel of Nantes.
Page160, line 29—'Whitsuntide.' An examination of the Romances will show this statement to be correct; Pentecost and Christmas seem to have been the two feasts held in especial honour at King Arthur's court.
Page160, line 49—'Blood-drops on the snow.' Both Wolfram and Chrêtien insist only on thetwocolours, red and white, and the fact that they are puzzled by, and think it necessary to explain, the presence of snow at Whitsuntide shows that they are taking over the incident from an older source. As a matter of fact it is to be found in tales unconnected with the Arthurian cycle, and of varying nationality. In Peredur (Welsh) a raven has settled upon the body of a wild goose killed by a falcon, and the hero thinks ofthreecolours (black, for hair; white, for skin; red, for cheeks); in theFate of the Sonsof Usnech, an Irish tale written down before the middle of the twelfth century, and probably centuries older, these three colours are likewise present, but it is a calf instead of a wild goose that is slain, and it is the heroine, not the hero, who is fascinated by the colours. The incident has always been a favourite one with Celtic story-tellers (cf.ArgyllTales, M'Innes and Nutt, pp. 431-34), and curiously it is the slain-bird, instead of the slain-calfversion which predominates, although theFate of the Sons of Usnechis probably the most famous of all Irish stories, and no traceable literary influence of the Welsh tale upon Irish romance is known. Those familiar with Grimm's fairy tales will remember a similar incident in the story ofSnowdrop, where the queen pricks her finger, and wishes for a daughter with hair as black as the ebony window-frame, skin as white as the snow, and cheeks as red as the blood; but here, of course, the 'fascination'element is absent. I have attempted to show ('thelaiof Eliduc and the mürchen of Schneewittchen,'Folk Lore. iii.I), that the Gaelic version of the Schneewittchen type of story represents the earliest attainable form of the story.—[A. N.]
Page162, line 87—'Segramor,' or Saigremors. This knight is a familiar figure in the Arthurian Romances, and the episode is quite in accordance with his general character. Chrêtien calls him 'Le Desreè' (uncurbed, impetuous). In Malory he is 'Le Desirous.' Cf. also BookVIII.p. 241.
Page163, line 121—'To seek for the magic pheasant.' Simrock thinks this an allusion to a popular folk-tale, in which a magician, condemned to death, contrives to escape by setting his judges and executioner to seek for the fallen bird, by the irresistible strains of his magic pipe.
Page166, line 235—'Heinrich of Veldeck.' A German poet who lived towards the end of the twelfth century. His translation of theÆneid, founded on a French version of the poem, was extremely popular, and Wolfram frequently refers to it in hisParzival.
Page169, line 321—'Herman of Thuringia.' This Landgrave of Thuringia is well known to history as a generous patron of the literature of his day. His court at the Wartburg was the resort of all the leading poets, and it filled a place in the literary life of the twelfth century only comparable to that taken by the neighbouring court of Weimar six hundred years later. The terms in which Wolfram speaks of the guests at the Wartburg is quite in keeping with what is known of the Landgrave's lavish hospitality.
Simrock renders a passage from Walther von der Vogelweide which describes the tumultuous life of the court as follows:
'Wer in den Ohren siech ist oder krank im Haupt,Der meide ja Thuringen's Hof, wenn er mir glaubt.Käm er dahin, er würde ganz bethöret;Ich drang so lange zu, dass ich nicht mehr vermag,Ein Zug fährt ein, ein andrer aus, so Nacht als Tag,Ein wunder ists, dass da noch Jemand höret.'
'Wer in den Ohren siech ist oder krank im Haupt,Der meide ja Thuringen's Hof, wenn er mir glaubt.Käm er dahin, er würde ganz bethöret;Ich drang so lange zu, dass ich nicht mehr vermag,Ein Zug fährt ein, ein andrer aus, so Nacht als Tag,Ein wunder ists, dass da noch Jemand höret.'
TheWartburg-krieg, a poem of the end of the thirteenth century, in which the principal poets of the age are represented as competing in song before the Landgrave, supposes this contest to take place in 1207, and is doubtless an echo of what was no unusual incident at that date. Wolfram's poem ofWillehalmwas composed at the wish of the Landgrave, and in it he speaks of the death of his patron. Herman died in 1216, and the brilliant life at the Wartburg came to an end; his successor Ludwig, the husband of S. Elizabeth, having little taste for literature.
Page169, line 325—'And so Knight Walter singeth.' Walther von der Vogelweide, one of the most famous of German lyric poets, was of knightly birth but small means; he seems to have supported himself by his art, leading a wandering life at the principal courts of his day. Of his connection with Wolfram nothing is known, save the fact of their being together at the court of the Landgrave Herman in the early years of the thirteenth century. The line here quoted does not occur in any of Walther's extant poems.
Page169, line 328—'Heinrich of Rispach.' Nothing seems to be known of the character here referred to. From the fact that there is a Rispach in the neighbourhood of Eschenbach, Bartsch conjectures that it was some one personally known to Wolfram.
Page171, line 385—'The time when the knife's sharp blade.' Wolfram is here quoting from an unknown source. No such adventures are recorded in any Romance that has come down to us; but they are quite in keeping with Gawain's character.
Page176, line 529—'The right of the Round Table.' This custom is alluded to in other Arthurian Romances, and we meet with it again in BookXIII.Here Wolfram seems to imply merely that the king did not eat in public with his knights,i.e.at the RoundTable, before they had heard of some knightly venture; in BookXIII.he speaks as if no meal might be partaken of by any of the courtiers till this came to pass. The first rendering seems to be the correct one. [The whole incident is thoroughly in keeping with the conventions of early Irish romance, in which the personages are invariably subject to strict rules and obligations,geasa, to use the Irish word.—A.N.]
Page177, line 585—'The Grail Messenger.' This incident occurs in both Chrêtien and Peredur, but the messenger is unnamed, or simply termed 'The Loathly Damsel.' Such a damsel is met with in thePerceval, but when she reaches King Arthur's Court she is transformed into a maiden of surpassing beauty. It will be noted that one of the queens imprisoned in Château Merveil also bears the name of Kondrie (p.189). Mr. Nutt, in hisStudies on the Legend of the Holy Grail, suggests this was originally the Loathly Damsel released from the transforming spell. (It may be noted that Wagner has kept this idea, and in the first act his Kundrie is the Loathly Messenger; in the second, 'Kondrie la Belle.') Chrêtien's description of Kondrie's appearance is even more repulsive than Wolfram's. In BookX.we have a curious account of the origin of these strange people.
[The 'Loathly Damsel' is one of those personages that most clearly testify to the reliance of the romance-writers upon a traditional popular basis, and also in this instance to the specific Celtic origin of that popular basis. A commonplace of folk-tales of the 'task' class is that the hero is helped by a personage having private ends of his or her own to serve, as, until the hero achieves the Quest (which he never does unaided), the helper cannot be released from a spell, generally of transformation into an animal, but sometimes into a shape of surpassingly hideous ugliness. The oldest European variant of this latter type with which I am acquainted is to be found in an Irish folk-tale imbedded in the so-called Cormac's Glossary, a compilation of the tenth century. I have given this in full (Argyllshire Tales, M'Innes and Nutt, pp. 467, 468). In itsoutréhorror the description of the bespelled king's son strikingly recalls that of Kundrie. Such a task story, in which the hero is helped by a transformed personage, who cannot be delivered until the Quest is achieved, is one of the main staples of the Perceval cycle, but it is only in the Welsh tale ofPeredurthat the incident appears in a straightforward and intelligible form. The sudden transformation from foulness to radiant beauty is met with in another connection earlier in Ireland than elsewhere in Europe: the incident of the Perilous Kiss, in which the embrace of a courteous knight frees a bespelled damsel from loathly disguise, an incident frequently associated with Gawain, is, as I have shown (Academy, April 30, 1892), of early occurrence in Ireland. Another element which goes to the complex individuality of Kundrie can be paralleled from early Irish romance. As the female messenger of the fairy dynasty of Mazadan, she corresponds to Leborcham, the female messenger of the semi-mythic King Conchobor, the head and centre of the oldest Irish cycle of heroic romance. Like Kundrie, Leborcham was of startling and unnatural hideousness, and she is brought into special connection with Cuchulainn the chief hero of the Ulster cycle, as Kundrie is with Perceval the chief hero of one group of the Arthur romances.—A.N.]
Page181, line 697—'Château Merveil.' The adventure of this magic castle, achieved by Gawain, is related at length in BookXI.
Page184, line 806—'Kingrimursel.' The name of this character in Chrêtien is Guigambresil, of which this is evidently the German rendering. Here, again, Wolfram either heard or read Gingambresil.
Page185, line 839—'Tribalibot.' This is India.
Page186, line 859—'The heathen queen of Ianfus.' The name of this queen, we find from line 1009, was Ekuba; one of the few classical names we find in this poem.
Page189, line 977—'The Greek, Sir Klias.' This is Cligès, the hero of Chrêtien'spoem of that name, son of the Greek Emperor Alexander and Surdamour, sister to Gawain, cf. BookXII.Malory has Sir Clegis, probably the same name.
Page190, line 1002—'Twelve spears of Angram.' Angram was probably in India, and noted for its steel. Oraste-Gentesein seems to be the name of the country from which the reed, or bamboo, was brought. Cf. BookVII.pp. 218, 219.
Introduction, line 1-16—This passage is somewhat obscure, but the meaning appears to be that the poet thinks he may possibly be blamed for leaving the history of Parzival, his chief hero, to follow the fortunes of Gawain; and would excuse himself for so doing by the plea of fidelity to his source. Very few of the romances of this date can be consideredoriginalworks in the sense in which we would now employ that term; they were mostly a re-statement, or re-combining of traditional material, and it was a point of honour to adhere closely, in the march of incident, to the original form, though the poet was free to do as Wolfram has done, and introduce personal and contemporary allusions, or give his own interpretation of the meaning of the tale. The fact that Wolfram here so strongly blames those who depart from the traditional form of the story, and at the end of his poem specially accuses Chrêtien of having sinned in this way, seems a strong argument against the theory that Chrêtien, and Chrêtien alone, was Wolfram's source of information.
Page195, line 2—'Gawain.'Gauvain(French),Gwchlmai(Welsh). In all the earlier versions of the Grail story this knight plays a part only secondary to that of the chief hero Perceval. Certain episodes of which he is sole hero, in Chrêtien as in Wolfram, break the course of the Perceval story, though Wolfram, with considerable skill, has brought them into close connection with the main thread of the legend. With Chrêtien's continuators, too, Gawain is an important character, he also visits the Grail Castle and fails to ask the question; and a German version of the Grail legend,Diu Krône, by Heinrich von Türlin, makes him the chief hero, it is he who achieves the Quest and heals Anfortas. It is noticeable that none of the earlier versions know anything of either Lancelot or Galahad as Grail-seekers; Wolfram does mention the former, but only incidentally, and throughout his poem he evidently looks upon Gawain as the typical Arthurian knight, the pride and glory of the Round Table. It is curious that, though he feels himself compelled to apologise for some of the characters, to make an elaborate defence for Kay, and find excuses for Kondwiramur, Wolfram never has a word of blame for Gawain, and strong as the contrast is between his morality and that of Parzival, he certainly never draws a comparison to the disadvantage of the former; as husband of Orgeluse and lord of the Château Merveil, Gawain's lot in life is brilliant enough to awaken the envy of Kay who is jealous for King Arthur's honour. The whole presentment of Gawain in the poem is an eloquent commentary on the moral teaching of the original Arthurian legend, of which he is the oldest representative. Later compilers seem to have felt this, and as the legend gradually became ecclesiasticised, and assumed the form of a religious romance, so the original heroes of the story weregradually supplanted by others, whose characters, in the opinion of monkish compilers lent themselves more to purposes of moral edification. Thus Perceval the married man was forced to yield to Galahad the celibate, and, though he was never driven out of the story, was relegated to a secondary position; and Gawain, whose character in the early romances defied any attempt at converting him into a moral example, became merely a foil to the superior virtue of his companions, while the adventures originally ascribed to him were passed over to the repentant sinner Lancelot. The order of Grail heroes seems to have been as follows: Perceval, Gawain; Perceval, Gawain, Lancelot; Galahad, Perceval, and Lancelot. It is in this last order that they have come down to us through Malory's redaction of the legends.
Page196, line 34—'The steed from Monsalväsch came.' Cf. BookIX.p. 273, where Parzival's possession of a Grail-steed leads to his being mistaken for Lähelein.
Page198, line 96—'Meljakanz.' Cf. BookIII.p. 72 and note.
Page198, line 105—'Meljanz of Lys.' It will be seen, from the list of traditional events given above, that this character appears in other versions of the Perceval legends. Though the context is different, the name with but little variation appears in other of the Grail romances, Malory has Melias de Lile, in every instance the name indicates a French origin.
Page198, line 119—'Lippaut.' The name of this character in Chrêtien is Tiebaut of Tintaguel, the German is evidently a rendering of this French name. Tintaguel seems to point to a Keltic original.
Page199, line 124—'Obie and Obilot.' Bartsch considers that both these names are derived from a French source, Obie, from the verbobier, signifying excitable, passionate; Obilot, from the Frenchbelot, a fair child. In Chrêtien the sisters are unnamed, but the younger is calledLa pucièle as mances petites.
Page199, line 136—'Galoes and Annora.' Here we learn, for the first time, the name of Galoes' love, cf. BookII.p. 46 and note. Annora is the same name as Eleanor.
Page200, line 168—'Lisavander.' The French has several variations of this name, Teudaves, Travezdates, Trahedavet.
Page205, line 318, and p.219, line 781—'A charger the king bestrode.' This is an allusion to the captivity of Queen Guinevere and her rescue by Lancelot. Kay was among her would-be liberators, and was smitten by Meljakanz: 'enbor ûs dem satele hin, daz in ein ast der helm gevienc, und bi der gurgelen hienc.' This incident is related in Hartmann'sIwein; but the subsequent freeing of the queen by Lancelot, referred to on p. 219, is taken from Chrêtien'sChevalier de la Charrette. The adventure is again alluded to in BookXII.
Page210, line 493—'Gawain and Obilot.' Though Chrêtien and Wolfram agree here in the main outline of the story, yet the details differ completely, and the episode as related by the German poet is far more graceful and poetical in treatment. In Chrêtien the elder sister strikes the younger in the face, and it is in order to avenge this insult that the child begs Gawain to fight for her. It is the father, and not the child herself, who suggests presenting the knight with a token; he bids Gawain at first pay no attention to her request, and there is no trace of the pride and affection with which Lippaut evidently regards both his daughters, or of the confidence between father and child which is so charming a feature in Wolfram's poem. Gawain, according to Chrêtien, does not present his little lady with the captured monarch, but only with his steed, a compliment she shares too with his hostess and her daughters. In the French poet we have nothing of the amusing assumption of maiden dignity by the child Obilot, or of the graceful courtesy, half serious, half laughing, with which Gawain falls in with her whim, and sustains his part in the pretty play. Critics have bestowed much praise on this book, and on the character of the child Obilot, and some have thought that, in the picture of father andchild, and in the words put into Lippaut's mouth, we have a glimpse of the home life of the poet, and an expression of personal feeling. InWillehalm, Wolfram refers to his daughter's dolls, and throughout his poems he frequently alludes to children, their ways, and their amusements. However that may be, nowhere else in the poem doesGawainappear to so much advantage as in this episode.
Page211, line 522—'Parzival.' Cf. BookVI.p. 188, line 941.
Page216, line 668—'Even now shall the Erfurt vineyards.'etc.An allusion to the siege of Erfurt by the Landgrave Herman in 1203. As the poet speaks of the traces of strife as being yet visible, this book of the Parzival must have been written not long after that date.
Page217, line 715, andseq.—'The captive Breton knights.' It is doubtful to what romance Wolfram here makes allusion. Chrêtien, in hisChevalier la Charrette, relates the capture of some of Arthur's knights by King Bagdemagus-Poidikonjonz, when Meljakanz carried off Guinevere, but they were released by Lancelot. Wolfram seems to have known another version of the story, as he evidently did know a romance dealing with the fate of Arthur's son, Ilinot, of whom we know nothing. He refers to this at length in BookXII.Cluse seems to betoken an enclosed space, a ravine, Chrêtien calls itLe passage des pierres—The Gampilon was a fabulous beast of the dragon type, also mentioned in theGudrun.
Page218, line 733—'The Red Knight.' It is worth noticing that, throughout the Gawain episodes, Wolfram never loses sight of his principal hero; if Parzival does not appear personally, as he does in this book, he is always alluded to in direct connection with the development of the story,e.g., BookVIII.pp. 242, 243. This is not the case in Chrêtien, where the Gawain episodes are entirely independent. Some critics have evolved an elaborate theory to account for the importance assigned to Gawain in this and following books, and maintain that Wolfram felt that while Parzival was a prey to spiritual doubt and despair, it was more artistic to keep him in the background than to make him the hero of a series of chivalrous adventures. The more probable solution seems to be exactly the opposite, viz., that the Gawain episodes were already introduced into the legend, that Wolfram, or his source, felt it a flaw that they should have so little connection with the main thread of the story, and therefore conceived the idea of introducing the principal hero, and, by keeping him always more or lessen évidence, making it possible to weave the Gawain adventures into the fabric of the legend, instead of leaving them an excrescence on its surface—a conception which was finally perfected by the connection of Orgeluse, Gawain's lady-love, with both Parzival and Anfortas, thereby bringing all the different elements of the tale into touch each with the other.
ThePercevalgives an account of an adventure with a lady and a chess-board of which Perceval is the hero, but the circumstances differ entirely, being similar to those of an episode found inGautier de Doulensand also inPeredur.
Page229, line 14—'Askalon.' The name of this city in Chrêtien is Escavalon, apparently a variant of Avalon. The name in Wolfram may be either a misunderstanding of the French original, or it is not impossible that Askalon, being well known to the Crusaders of that time, was purposely substituted for a similar sounding-title.
Page230, line 26—'Æneas and Dido.' An allusion to theÆneidof Heinrich von Veldeck, to which Wolfram often refers. We learn from line 121 that the writer was already dead. Cf. note, BookVI.
Page230, line 41—'Where Mazadan reigned as Monarch.' Cf. BookI.p. 31, and BookIX.p. 263. There is evidently a confusion here between the fairy and her kingdom. Fay-Morgan is, of course, the fairy-queen, and the name seems later to have been transferred to Arthur's sister, who is called Morgan le Fay in Malory. Terre-de-la-schoie, given in BookI.as the name of the lady, is her kingdom; the confusion probably arises from a misunderstanding of the French source. We find, on p.240, that the mother of King Vergulacht, Fleurdamur, was sister to Gamuret, consequently Parzival and Vergulacht are first cousins, and we are meant to understand that Gawain, who, as a lad, had seen Gamuret at Kanvoleis (BookII.p. 39), was struck by the king's likeness to his uncle and cousin, though he evidently knows nothing of the relationship; cf. Appendix A for notes on the supposed origin of the Angevin race.
Page231, line 58—'Not such as in Karidöl.' This is the longest of the many allusions to theErecof Hartmann von Aue, and refers to the same incident as BookIII.p. 81, cf. note on passage.
Page232, line 106—'The Margravine of Heitstein.' This name varies greatly in the MSS., but both Lachmann and Bartsch give the reading in the text. The Margravine mentioned is identified with the wife of Berchtold von Chamm and Vohburg, who died in 1204.
Page233, line 146—'Of my father's sister,'etc.This line is curious as giving a very early instance of a play upon words familiar to us in modern puzzles. Gawain, of course, simply states that he is 'his father's son,' and gives the queen no information whatever as to his birth.
Page234, line 181, andseq.—'At length did she chance on some chess-men,'etc.It should be noted that chess-men, in the Middle Ages, were often of a very large size, and would form no despicable weapons. In Chrêtien's version of the incident he specially speaks of these as ten times larger than other chess-men, and of very hard ivory. Adventures in which a chess-board plays a part are of not infrequent occurrence in the Grail romances.
Page234, line 190—'The Burger maids of Tollenstein.' Tollenstein is a town in the neighbourhood of Eschenbach; the allusion is evidently to some kind of Carnival sports held there. Mock Tournaments, in which women took part, are often alluded to in old French and German poems. The point of the allusion evidently is that they fought for mere sport, while Antikonie fought in defence of her guest, and her action is therefore held the more praiseworthy.
Page235, line 221—'The knight who to battle bade him.' Cf. BookVI.p. 184 and note.
Page236, line 257—'With a lance-thrust by Ekunât.' Ekunât has been already named in BookIII.p. 99. It seems doubtful whence Wolfram derived this incident.
Page238, line 316—'As Kiot himself hath told us.' This is the first time Wolfram names the source whence he drew his poem. It has already been noted in the Introduction that the existence of this Kiot is a matter of debate, as no poem of his has come down to us, and apparently no other writer mentions his name. This passage should be compared with BookIX.p. 262, where the nature of the MS. in which Kiot found the story of Parzival and the Grail is stated. It certainly seems clear that Wolframhada source ofinformation other than the poem of Chrêtien de Troyes; his other statements as to contemporary events and contemporary literature are perfectly accurate, and we do not find him inventing feigned names for other writers of the day; it therefore seems somewhat unreasonable to conclude, simply because we know nothing of Kiot's work, that Wolfram here, and in other passages, is, to put it mildly, inventing an elaborate fiction. The fact of the great popularity obtained by Chrêtien's version of the Grail legend is quite enough to account for the disappearance of a version which, for some reason or other (very probably its curious account of the Grail), had failed to attract the popular fancy.
Page240, line 363—'If Turnus thou fain wouldst be.' An allusion to theÆneidof Heinrich von Veldeck, where Turnus reproaches Tranzes for cowardice, and is answered in much the same strain as Liddamus answers Kingrimursel.
Page240, line 387—'Nay, why should I be a Wolfhart?' This passage to line 398 is an allusion to the great German epic, theNiebelungenlied, the various lays composing which seem to have been brought into order and welded into a literary whole about this time. Wolfram's version of the cook's appeal to Gunther varies slightly from the received text and probably represents an older form.
Page241, line 407—'Sibech ne'er drew a sword.' This is an allusion to the story of Dietrich von Berne, parts of which were incorporated in theNiebelungenlied, where, however, this special incident is not to be found. Ermenrich was uncle to Dietrich and Emperor of Rome; Sibech, who seems to have been as faithless as he was cowardly, to avenge a personal injury, counselled the Emperor to a course which brought about the ruin of himself and his people.
Page242, line 452—'The wood Læhtamreis.' Tamreis, as we find from BookXII., is the name of a tree, this proper name seems to be combined fromLæh, old Frenchles= near, andtamreis(tamarisk?). The knight is, of course, Parzival. Chrêtien has not this incident; which is a proof of Wolfram's superior skill in controlling the thread of his story.
Page245, line 541—'At Schoie-de-la-Kurt.' Cf. note to BookIII., where we find the account of this venture, and of the death of Gurzgrei, son of Gurnemanz. Gandelus is the brother of Schionatulander, Siguné's love.
Page247, line 597—'To the Grail must his pathway wend.' It is a very curious feature, both in this poem and in that of Chrêtien, that the Grail Quest, undertaken by Gawain, is allowed to drop into oblivion. Wolfram only makes one more allusion to it, BookXI., and Chrêtien apparently ignores it altogether. In other versions of the story, and notably in Chrêtien's continuators, the achievement of the Grail Quest by Gawain is an important feature. It is true that Chrêtien's portion of theContebreaks off short before the end of the Gawain episode, and that those who maintain that Wolfram had no other source than Chrêtien point to this as a proof of their theory, urging that had Chrêtien finished the poem he would undoubtedly have brought Gawain to Monsalväsch, and that Wolfram, deserted by his source at this point, carried the Gawain Quest no further. But it must be noted that Wolfram, who, according to this theory, has hitherto followed Chrêtien with remarkable fidelity, shows no embarrassment at the loss of his guide, but, by bringing Gawain promptly into touch with Parzival, finishes his poem in a thoroughly coherent and harmonious manner, his conclusion agreeing, in certain peculiar features, with his Introduction, which, also, is unknown to Chrêtien. The simplest solution appears to be thatbothChrêtien and Wolfram were in possession of a common source, wherein the Gawain episodes were presented in an incomplete and abbreviated form. Mr. Nutt points out that the Gawain Quest, as related by Chrêtien's continuators, not only fails to agree with Chrêtien's commencement, but also presents features more archaic than those of the Perceval Quest.
Introduction to line 25. This spirited opening, with its invocation of the embodied 'Frau Aventiure,' is peculiar to Wolfram. The entire episode is much more briefly treated by Chrêtien, who brings his hero at once in contact with the pilgrims, and has neither the meeting with Siguné nor the combat with the Grail knight.
Page251, line 5—'Frau Aventiure.' This is a personification of the 'story' and of the spirit of romantic story-telling. Grimm (Kl. Sr.i. 83-112) claims that we have here a survival of the personifying instinct which led the northern poets to make 'Saga' a daughter of Odin. The word itself is simply taken over from French romance whereor dist l'Aventureis a standing initial formula, in whichAventureexactly renders themaereof the opening quatrain of theNiebelungenlied.—[A. N.]
Page251, line 6—'Whom Kondrie, to find the Grail.' Cf. BookVI.p. 187.
Page252, line 34—'The sword that Anfortas gave him.' Cf. BookV.pp. 137 and 144, and note.
Page252, line 47—'Schionatulander and Siguné.' This is Parzival's third interview with his cousin, who has a much more important rôle assigned to her in this poem than in the other romances. The hero meets her at every important crisis in his life; on his first entrance into the world, BookIII.p. 79; after his visit to the Grail Castle, BookV.p. 141; now, previous to his interview with the hermit; and finally, in BookXVI.after he has won the Grail kingdom and been reunited to his wife, he finds her dead, and buries her with her lover. Siguné's parentage is fully given on p.274of this book.
Page257, line 204—'The Templar bold.' This identification of the knights of the Grail with the Templars (Templeisen) is a marked peculiarity of Wolfram's poem. Nothing at all answering to the Grail kingdom and its organisation, as described in the Parzival, is to be found elsewhere. The introduction of this spiritual knighthood, chosen by Heaven, and, with special exceptions, vowed to celibacy, seems intended as a contrast with, and protest against, the ideal of worldly chivalry and lax morality portrayed in Arthur's court. Are we to attribute this feature of the poem to Wolfram himself or to his source? Judging from the value Wolfram placed upon fidelity to tradition it seems scarcely probable that he would have departed so far from his model as to introduce such an entirely new and striking element into the story; nor have we any trace of the poet-knight's connection with the order of Templars; but if the writer of the admitted French source was an Angevin, who had been in the East during the Angevin rule in Jerusalem, the connection is easily explained. Certainly, to judge from the freedom with which the introduction to the story has been handled, 'Kiot' does not seem to have been hampered with an undue respect for the traditional form of the legend.
Page258, line 223—'Nor Lähelein, nor Kingrisein, etc.' Kingrisein is the father of Vergulacht, supposed to have been slain by Gawain, cf. BookVIII.p. 240. King Gramoflanz plays an important part in the poem from BookXII.onward. Count Laskoit, cf. BookIII.p. 99.
Page258, line 230, andseq.—'One turning the ground was snow-clad.' Cf. reference to spring snow in BookVI.p. 160. The pilgrim train met by Parzival differs in the versions. The Montpellier MS. of Chrêtien has three knights and ten ladies; other MSS. one knight and twenty ladies. Wolfram's account is more natural and more poetical.
Page259, line 263—'Dost thou mean Him, etc.' The address of the knight in Chrêtien is longer and conceived in quite a different spirit. It contains one remarkable passage; speaking of the Crucifixion the knight says: 'Li fol Juis—c'on devroit tuer comme ciens,' a speech entirely out of keeping with the spirit of love and charity characterising Wolfram's Old Knight, and Hermit. The German poem is, throughout, remarkable for the wide spirit of tolerance displayed towards those outside the Christian pale; note,e.g., BookI.and especially the character of Feirefis as depicted in the two closing books of the work. The religious teaching in this ninth book is not only fuller than in Chrêtien, but seems based on a much clearer realisation of the position of theindividualsoul towards its Creator. The elementary truths of Christianity are much more fully stated, and display a familiarity with the theological speculations of the day which renders them peculiarly interesting. There is no parallel, either, in Chrêtien to the fine speeches which Wolfram puts into the mouth of his hero. The whole episode in the French poem lacks the dignity and impressiveness which stamp it in the German version; it is in this book, and in the account of Parzival's boyhood, that Wolfram's poetical genius touches its highest point, and his superiority to Chrêtien is most clearly seen.
Page261, line 337—'Towards Fontaine Sauvage,'etc.Cf. BookV.p. 151.
Page261, line 348—'Kiot.' Cf. note to BookVIII.It is noticeable that there is no corresponding passage to this in Chrêtien; the explanation of the Grail mystery given in theConte du Graalis due to Chrêtien's continuators, and occurs in the later part of the poem.
Page262, line 359—'Flegetanis.' A curious contradiction will be noted here. A few lines above we read that no heathen skill could have revealed the mysteries of the Grail, and yet apparently it was a heathen who first wrote of them. The whole account of the Grail reads like a not-too-successful attempt to Christianise a purely pagan legend.
Page263, line 383—'And in Britain, France, and Ireland, etc.' Cf. Appendix A and note on Mazadan, BookVIII.Nevertheless, the connection of the Grail race with the House of Anjou, save through Herzeleide's marriage with Gamuret, is nowhere stated, nor how Titurel was descended from Mazadan, the ancestor alike of Arthur and of Gamuret.
Page265, line 465—'The altar and shrine.' Wolfram appears to be absolutely correct here; during the Middle Ages, a shrine, or reliquary, was generally placed on the altar, the use of a cross was of comparatively late date. It is curious that Chrêtien, otherwise more ecclesiastical in his details than Wolfram, has missed the characteristic feature of the stripped altar; on the other hand, he notes that Perceval spendsEasterwith the Hermit, and receives the Sacrament, while Wolfram passes Easter over without mention. (It is rather odd to find Chrêtien's Hermit sayingMasson Good Friday!)
Page267, line 531—'Ashtaroth.' Bartsch says that these names are derived from Talmudic tradition; Belcimon being Baal-Schemen, a god of the Syrians; Belat, the Baal of the Chaldeans. Rhadamant is, of course, the Greek ruler of the under-world.