B

Percy MS., p. 68; Hales and Furnivall, I, 166.

1Our king he kept a ffalse steward,Men called him Sir Aldingar,. . . . . . .. . . . . . .2He wold haue layen by our comely queene,Her deere worshipp to haue betraide;Our queene shee was a good woman,And euer more said him nay.3Aldingar was offended in his mind,With her hee was neuer content,But he sought what meanes he cold find out,In a fyer to haue her brent.4There came a lame lazer to the kings gates,A lazar was blind and lame;He tooke the lazar vpon his backe,Vpon the queenes bed he did him lay.5He said, Lye still, lazar, wheras thou lyest;Looke thou goe not away;Ile make thee a whole man and a soundIn two howres of a day.6And then went forth Sir Aldingar,Our queene for to betray,And then he mett with our comlye king,Saies, God you saue and see!7'If I had space, as I haue grace,A message I wold say to thee.''Say on, say on, Sir Aldingar,Say thou on and vnto me.'8'I can let you now see one of [the] greiuos[est] sightsThat euer Christen kingdid see;Our queene hath chosen a new, new loue,She will haue none of thee.9'If shee had chosen a right good knight,The lesse had beene her shame;But she hath chosen a lazar man,Which is both blinde and lame.'10'If this be true, thou Aldingar,That thou dost tell to me,Then will I make thee a rich knightBoth of gold and fee.11'But if it be false, Sir Aldingar,That thou doest tell to me,Then looke for noe other deathBut to be hangd on a tree.Goe with me,' saide our comly king,'This lazar for to see.'12When the kinghe came into the queenes chamber,Standing her bed befor,'There is a lodly lome,' says Harry King,'For our dame Queene Elinor!13'If thou were a man, as thou art none,Here thou sholdest be slaine;But a paire of new gallowes shall be built,Thoust hang on them soe hye.14'And [a] fayre fyer there shalbe bett,And brent our queene shalbee:'Fforth then walked our comlye king,And mett with our comly queene.15Saies, God you saue, our queene, Madam,And Christ you saue and see!Heere you [haue] chosen a new, new loue,And you will haue none of mee.16'If you had chosen a right good knight,The lesse had beene your shame;But you haue chosen a lazar man,That is both blind and lame.'17'Euer alacke!' said our comly queene,'Sir Aldingar is false to mee;But euer alacke!' said our comly queene,'Euer alas, and woe is mee!18'I had thought sweuens had neuer been true;I haue prooued them true at the last;I dreamed in my sweauen on Thursday at eueninge,In my bed wheras I lay,19'I dreamed a grype and a grimlie beastHad carryed my crowne away,My gorgett and my kirtle of golde,And all my faire heade-geere.20'How he wold haue worryed me with his tush,And borne me into his nest,Saving there came a little hawk,Flying out of the east.21'Saving there came a little hawke,Which men call a merlion;Vntill the ground he stroke him downe,That dead he did fall downe.22'Giffe I were a man, as I am none,A battell I would proue;I wold fight with that false traitor;Att him I cast my gloue!23'Seing I am able noe battell to make,You must grant me, my leege, a knight,To fight withthat traitor, Sir Aldingar,To maintaine me in my right.'24'I'le giue thee forty dayes,' said our king,'To seeke thee a man therin;If thou find not a man in forty dayes,In a hott fyer thou shall brenn.'25Our queene sent forth a messenger;He rode fast into the south;He rode the countryes through and through,Soe ffar vnto Portsmouth.26. . . . . . .. . . . . . .He cold find never a man in the south countryThat wold fight with the knight soe keene.27The second messenger the queen forth sentRode far into the east;But, blessed be God made sunn and moone!He sped then all of the best.28As he rode then by one riuer side,There he mett with a little child;He seemed noe more in a mans likenesseThen a child of four yeeres old.29He askt the queenes messenger how far he rode;Loth he was him to tell;The little one was offended att him,Bid him adew, farwell.30Said, Turne thou againe, thou messenger,Greete our queene well from me;When bale is att hyest, boote is att next;Helpe enough there may bee.31'Bid our queene remember what she did dreameIn her bedd wheras shee lay;Shee dreamed the grype and the grimly beastHad carryed her crowne away;32'Her gorgett and her kirtle of gold,Alsoe her faire head-geere;He wold haue werryed her with his tushe,And borne her into his nest.33'Saving there came a little hawke,Men call him a merlyon;Vntill the ground he did strike him downe,That dead he did ffall downe.34'Bidd the queene be merry att her hart,Euermore light and glad;When bale is att hyest, boote is at next,Helpe enoughe there shalbe.'35Then the queenes messenger rode backe,A gladed man then was hee;When he came before our queene,A gladd woman then was shee.36Shee gaue the messenger twenty pound,O lord, in gold and ffee;Saies, Spend and spare not while this doth last,Then feitch thou more of me.37Our queene was put in a tunne to burne,She thought no thing but death;Thé were ware of the little oneCame ryding forth of the east.38With a mu...A louelie child was hee;When he came to that fier,He light the queene full nigh.39Said, Draw away these brands of fireLie burning before our queene,And feitch me hither Sir Aldingar,That is a knight soe keene.40When Aldingar seethat little one,Ffull litle of him hee thought;If there had beene halfe a hundred such,Of them he wold not haue wrought.41Hee sayd, Come hither, Sir Aldingar;Thou seemust as bigge as a ffooder;I trust to God, ere I haue done with thee,God will send to vs [an] auger.42Saies, The first stroke that's giuen, Sir Aldingar,I will giue vnto thee,And if the second giue thou may,Looke then thou spare not mee.43The litle one pulld forth a well good sword,I-wis itt was all of guilt;It cast light there overthat feild,It shone soe all of guilt.44He stroke the first stroke att Aldingar,He stroke away his leggs by his knee;. . . . . . .. . . . . . .45Sayes, Stand vp, stand vp, thou false traitor,And fight vpon thy feete;For and thou thriue as thou begins,Of a height wee shalbe meete.46'A preist, a preist,' sayes Aldingar,'Me for to houzle and shriue!A preist, a preist,' sayes Aldingar,'While I am a man liuing a-liue!47'I wold haue laine by our comlie queene;To it shee wold neuer consent;I thought to haue betrayd her to our king,In a fyer to haue had her brent.48'There came a lame lazar to the kings gates,A lazar both blind and lame;I tooke the lazar vpon my backe,In the Queenes bed I did him lay.49'I bad him, Lie still, lazar, where he lay,Looke he went not away;I wold make him a whole man and a soundIn two houres of a day.50. . . . . . .. . . . . . .'Euer alacke!' sayes Sir Aldingar,'Falsing neuer doth well;51'Forgiue, forgiue me, queene, Madam!For Christs loue forgiue me!''God forgaue his death, Aldingar,And freely I forgiue thee.'52'Now take thy wife, thou KingHarry,And loue her as thou shold;Thy wiffe shee is as true to theeAs stonethat lies on the castle wall.'53The lazar vnder the gallow treeWas a pretty man and small;The lazar vnder the gallow treeWas made steward in KingHenerys hall.

1Our king he kept a ffalse steward,Men called him Sir Aldingar,. . . . . . .. . . . . . .

2He wold haue layen by our comely queene,Her deere worshipp to haue betraide;Our queene shee was a good woman,And euer more said him nay.

3Aldingar was offended in his mind,With her hee was neuer content,But he sought what meanes he cold find out,In a fyer to haue her brent.

4There came a lame lazer to the kings gates,A lazar was blind and lame;He tooke the lazar vpon his backe,Vpon the queenes bed he did him lay.

5He said, Lye still, lazar, wheras thou lyest;Looke thou goe not away;Ile make thee a whole man and a soundIn two howres of a day.

6And then went forth Sir Aldingar,Our queene for to betray,And then he mett with our comlye king,Saies, God you saue and see!

7'If I had space, as I haue grace,A message I wold say to thee.''Say on, say on, Sir Aldingar,Say thou on and vnto me.'

8'I can let you now see one of [the] greiuos[est] sightsThat euer Christen kingdid see;Our queene hath chosen a new, new loue,She will haue none of thee.

9'If shee had chosen a right good knight,The lesse had beene her shame;But she hath chosen a lazar man,Which is both blinde and lame.'

10'If this be true, thou Aldingar,That thou dost tell to me,Then will I make thee a rich knightBoth of gold and fee.

11'But if it be false, Sir Aldingar,That thou doest tell to me,Then looke for noe other deathBut to be hangd on a tree.Goe with me,' saide our comly king,'This lazar for to see.'

12When the kinghe came into the queenes chamber,Standing her bed befor,'There is a lodly lome,' says Harry King,'For our dame Queene Elinor!

13'If thou were a man, as thou art none,Here thou sholdest be slaine;But a paire of new gallowes shall be built,Thoust hang on them soe hye.

14'And [a] fayre fyer there shalbe bett,And brent our queene shalbee:'Fforth then walked our comlye king,And mett with our comly queene.

15Saies, God you saue, our queene, Madam,And Christ you saue and see!Heere you [haue] chosen a new, new loue,And you will haue none of mee.

16'If you had chosen a right good knight,The lesse had beene your shame;But you haue chosen a lazar man,That is both blind and lame.'

17'Euer alacke!' said our comly queene,'Sir Aldingar is false to mee;But euer alacke!' said our comly queene,'Euer alas, and woe is mee!

18'I had thought sweuens had neuer been true;I haue prooued them true at the last;I dreamed in my sweauen on Thursday at eueninge,In my bed wheras I lay,

19'I dreamed a grype and a grimlie beastHad carryed my crowne away,My gorgett and my kirtle of golde,And all my faire heade-geere.

20'How he wold haue worryed me with his tush,And borne me into his nest,Saving there came a little hawk,Flying out of the east.

21'Saving there came a little hawke,Which men call a merlion;Vntill the ground he stroke him downe,That dead he did fall downe.

22'Giffe I were a man, as I am none,A battell I would proue;I wold fight with that false traitor;Att him I cast my gloue!

23'Seing I am able noe battell to make,You must grant me, my leege, a knight,To fight withthat traitor, Sir Aldingar,To maintaine me in my right.'

24'I'le giue thee forty dayes,' said our king,'To seeke thee a man therin;If thou find not a man in forty dayes,In a hott fyer thou shall brenn.'

25Our queene sent forth a messenger;He rode fast into the south;He rode the countryes through and through,Soe ffar vnto Portsmouth.

26. . . . . . .. . . . . . .He cold find never a man in the south countryThat wold fight with the knight soe keene.

27The second messenger the queen forth sentRode far into the east;But, blessed be God made sunn and moone!He sped then all of the best.

28As he rode then by one riuer side,There he mett with a little child;He seemed noe more in a mans likenesseThen a child of four yeeres old.

29He askt the queenes messenger how far he rode;Loth he was him to tell;The little one was offended att him,Bid him adew, farwell.

30Said, Turne thou againe, thou messenger,Greete our queene well from me;When bale is att hyest, boote is att next;Helpe enough there may bee.

31'Bid our queene remember what she did dreameIn her bedd wheras shee lay;Shee dreamed the grype and the grimly beastHad carryed her crowne away;

32'Her gorgett and her kirtle of gold,Alsoe her faire head-geere;He wold haue werryed her with his tushe,And borne her into his nest.

33'Saving there came a little hawke,Men call him a merlyon;Vntill the ground he did strike him downe,That dead he did ffall downe.

34'Bidd the queene be merry att her hart,Euermore light and glad;When bale is att hyest, boote is at next,Helpe enoughe there shalbe.'

35Then the queenes messenger rode backe,A gladed man then was hee;When he came before our queene,A gladd woman then was shee.

36Shee gaue the messenger twenty pound,O lord, in gold and ffee;Saies, Spend and spare not while this doth last,Then feitch thou more of me.

37Our queene was put in a tunne to burne,She thought no thing but death;Thé were ware of the little oneCame ryding forth of the east.

38With a mu...A louelie child was hee;When he came to that fier,He light the queene full nigh.

39Said, Draw away these brands of fireLie burning before our queene,And feitch me hither Sir Aldingar,That is a knight soe keene.

40When Aldingar seethat little one,Ffull litle of him hee thought;If there had beene halfe a hundred such,Of them he wold not haue wrought.

41Hee sayd, Come hither, Sir Aldingar;Thou seemust as bigge as a ffooder;I trust to God, ere I haue done with thee,God will send to vs [an] auger.

42Saies, The first stroke that's giuen, Sir Aldingar,I will giue vnto thee,And if the second giue thou may,Looke then thou spare not mee.

43The litle one pulld forth a well good sword,I-wis itt was all of guilt;It cast light there overthat feild,It shone soe all of guilt.

44He stroke the first stroke att Aldingar,He stroke away his leggs by his knee;. . . . . . .. . . . . . .

45Sayes, Stand vp, stand vp, thou false traitor,And fight vpon thy feete;For and thou thriue as thou begins,Of a height wee shalbe meete.

46'A preist, a preist,' sayes Aldingar,'Me for to houzle and shriue!A preist, a preist,' sayes Aldingar,'While I am a man liuing a-liue!

47'I wold haue laine by our comlie queene;To it shee wold neuer consent;I thought to haue betrayd her to our king,In a fyer to haue had her brent.

48'There came a lame lazar to the kings gates,A lazar both blind and lame;I tooke the lazar vpon my backe,In the Queenes bed I did him lay.

49'I bad him, Lie still, lazar, where he lay,Looke he went not away;I wold make him a whole man and a soundIn two houres of a day.

50. . . . . . .. . . . . . .'Euer alacke!' sayes Sir Aldingar,'Falsing neuer doth well;

51'Forgiue, forgiue me, queene, Madam!For Christs loue forgiue me!''God forgaue his death, Aldingar,And freely I forgiue thee.'

52'Now take thy wife, thou KingHarry,And loue her as thou shold;Thy wiffe shee is as true to theeAs stonethat lies on the castle wall.'

53The lazar vnder the gallow treeWas a pretty man and small;The lazar vnder the gallow treeWas made steward in KingHenerys hall.

Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, III, 51, 1803. Communicated to Scott by K. Williamson Burnet, of Monboddo, as written down from the recitation of an old woman, long in the service of the Arbuthnot family.

1The birds sang sweet as ony bell,The world had not their make;The queen she's gone to her chamber,With Rodingham to talk.2'I love you well, my queen, my dame,Bove land and rents so clear,And for the love of you, my queen,Would thole pain most severe.'3'If well you love me, Rodingham,I'm sure so do I thee;I love you well as any man,Save the king's fair bodye.'4'I love you well, my queen, my dame,'T is truth that I do tell;And for to lye a night with you,The salt seas I would sail.'5'Away, away, O Rodingham!You are both stark and stoor;Would you defile the king's own bed,And make his queen a whore?6'To-morrow you'd be taken sure,And like a traitor slain,And I'd be burned at a stake,Altho I be the queen.'7He then steppd out at her room-door,All in an angry mood,Untill he met a leper-man,Just by the hard way-side.8He intoxicate the leper-man,With liquors very sweet,And gave him more and more to drink,Until he fell asleep.9He took him in his arms two,And carried him along,Till he came to the queen's own bed,And there he laid him down.10He then steppd out of the queen's bower,As swift as any roe,Till he came to the very placeWhere the king himself did go.11The king said unto Rodingham,What news have you to me?He said, Your queen's a false woman,As I did plainly see.12He hastend to the queen's chamber,So costly and so fine,Until he came to the queen's own bed,Where the leper-man was lain.13He looked on the leper-man,Who lay on his queen's bed;He lifted up the snaw-white sheets,And thus he to him said.14'Plooky, plooky are your cheeks,And plooky is your chin,And plooky are your armis twa,My bonny queen's layne in.15'Since she has lain into your arms,She shall not lye in mine;Since she has kissd your ugsome mouth,She never shall kiss mine.'16In anger he went to the queen,Who fell upon her knee;He said, You false, unchaste woman,What's this you've done to me?17The queen then turnd herself about,The tear blinded her ee:'There's not a knight in a' your courtDare give that name to me.'18He said, 'T is true that I do say;For I a proof did make;You shall be taken from my bower,And burned at a stake.19'Perhaps I'll take my word again,And may repent the same,If that you'll get a Christian manTo fight that Rodingham.'20'Alass! alass!' then cried our queen,'Alas, and woe to me!There's not a man in all ScotlandWill fight with him for me.'21She breathed unto her messengers,Sent them south, east, and west;They could find none to fight with him,Nor enter the contest.22She breathed on her messengers,She sent them to the north;And there they found Sir Hugh le Blond,To fight him he came forth.23When unto him they did unfoldThe circumstance all right,He bade them go and tell the queenThat for her he would fight.24The day came on that was to doThat dreadful tragedy;Sir Hugh le Blond was not come up,To fight for our lady.25'Put on the fire,' the monster said,'It is twelve on the bell;'''T is scarcely ten, now,' said the king,'I heard the clock mysell.'26Before the hour the queen is brought,The burning to proceed;In a black velvet chair she's set,A token for the dead.27She saw the flames ascending high,The tears blinded her ee:'Where is the worthy knight,' she said,'Who is to fight for me?'28Then up and spak the king himsell:'My dearest, have no doubt,For yonder comes the man himsel,As bold as eer set out.'29They then advanced to fight the duel,With swords of temperd steel;Till down the blood of RodinghamCame running to his heel.30Sir Hugh took out a lusty sword,'T was of the metal clear,And he has pierced RodinghamTill's heart-blood did appear.31'Confess your treachery, now,' he said,'This day before you die;''I do confess my treachery,I shall no longer lye.32'I like to wicked Haman am,This day I shall be slain:'The queen was brought to her chamber,A good woman again.33The queen then said unto the king,Arbattle's near the sea;Give it unto the northern knight,That this day fought for me.34Then said the king, Come here, Sir Knight,And drink a glass of wine,And, if Arbattle's not enough,To it we'll Fordoun join.

1The birds sang sweet as ony bell,The world had not their make;The queen she's gone to her chamber,With Rodingham to talk.

2'I love you well, my queen, my dame,Bove land and rents so clear,And for the love of you, my queen,Would thole pain most severe.'

3'If well you love me, Rodingham,I'm sure so do I thee;I love you well as any man,Save the king's fair bodye.'

4'I love you well, my queen, my dame,'T is truth that I do tell;And for to lye a night with you,The salt seas I would sail.'

5'Away, away, O Rodingham!You are both stark and stoor;Would you defile the king's own bed,And make his queen a whore?

6'To-morrow you'd be taken sure,And like a traitor slain,And I'd be burned at a stake,Altho I be the queen.'

7He then steppd out at her room-door,All in an angry mood,Untill he met a leper-man,Just by the hard way-side.

8He intoxicate the leper-man,With liquors very sweet,And gave him more and more to drink,Until he fell asleep.

9He took him in his arms two,And carried him along,Till he came to the queen's own bed,And there he laid him down.

10He then steppd out of the queen's bower,As swift as any roe,Till he came to the very placeWhere the king himself did go.

11The king said unto Rodingham,What news have you to me?He said, Your queen's a false woman,As I did plainly see.

12He hastend to the queen's chamber,So costly and so fine,Until he came to the queen's own bed,Where the leper-man was lain.

13He looked on the leper-man,Who lay on his queen's bed;He lifted up the snaw-white sheets,And thus he to him said.

14'Plooky, plooky are your cheeks,And plooky is your chin,And plooky are your armis twa,My bonny queen's layne in.

15'Since she has lain into your arms,She shall not lye in mine;Since she has kissd your ugsome mouth,She never shall kiss mine.'

16In anger he went to the queen,Who fell upon her knee;He said, You false, unchaste woman,What's this you've done to me?

17The queen then turnd herself about,The tear blinded her ee:'There's not a knight in a' your courtDare give that name to me.'

18He said, 'T is true that I do say;For I a proof did make;You shall be taken from my bower,And burned at a stake.

19'Perhaps I'll take my word again,And may repent the same,If that you'll get a Christian manTo fight that Rodingham.'

20'Alass! alass!' then cried our queen,'Alas, and woe to me!There's not a man in all ScotlandWill fight with him for me.'

21She breathed unto her messengers,Sent them south, east, and west;They could find none to fight with him,Nor enter the contest.

22She breathed on her messengers,She sent them to the north;And there they found Sir Hugh le Blond,To fight him he came forth.

23When unto him they did unfoldThe circumstance all right,He bade them go and tell the queenThat for her he would fight.

24The day came on that was to doThat dreadful tragedy;Sir Hugh le Blond was not come up,To fight for our lady.

25'Put on the fire,' the monster said,'It is twelve on the bell;'''T is scarcely ten, now,' said the king,'I heard the clock mysell.'

26Before the hour the queen is brought,The burning to proceed;In a black velvet chair she's set,A token for the dead.

27She saw the flames ascending high,The tears blinded her ee:'Where is the worthy knight,' she said,'Who is to fight for me?'

28Then up and spak the king himsell:'My dearest, have no doubt,For yonder comes the man himsel,As bold as eer set out.'

29They then advanced to fight the duel,With swords of temperd steel;Till down the blood of RodinghamCame running to his heel.

30Sir Hugh took out a lusty sword,'T was of the metal clear,And he has pierced RodinghamTill's heart-blood did appear.

31'Confess your treachery, now,' he said,'This day before you die;''I do confess my treachery,I shall no longer lye.

32'I like to wicked Haman am,This day I shall be slain:'The queen was brought to her chamber,A good woman again.

33The queen then said unto the king,Arbattle's near the sea;Give it unto the northern knight,That this day fought for me.

34Then said the king, Come here, Sir Knight,And drink a glass of wine,And, if Arbattle's not enough,To it we'll Fordoun join.

Dr Joseph Robertson's Note-Book, January 1, 1830, p. 6.

1They've putten her into prison strang,A twalmon lang and mair,Until the mice and wild rattensDid tear her yallow hair.* * * * *2'One shake o your han,' said Rodingham,'One shak o your han gie me:''I cam na here for shaking hans,But to fight maist desperatelie.'3'It's nae ten strucken on the clock,Nor eleven on the bell:''We'll doe ill deeds anew ere night,Tho it were strucken twall.'

1They've putten her into prison strang,A twalmon lang and mair,Until the mice and wild rattensDid tear her yallow hair.

* * * * *

2'One shake o your han,' said Rodingham,'One shak o your han gie me:''I cam na here for shaking hans,But to fight maist desperatelie.'

3'It's nae ten strucken on the clock,Nor eleven on the bell:''We'll doe ill deeds anew ere night,Tho it were strucken twall.'

22.Perhaps we should readto betray.42. was lind.54. in 2.133. be bul:ttorn off, and one stroke of theudotted. Furnivall.174.SrbeforeEuercrossed out. Furnivall.191. dreamed the grype.241, 3. 40.284. 4.303, 343.nextshould, perhaps, benyest.321. kirt e.324. her nest.361. 20li:.381.The rest of the line is cut away.403. 100.453. thriue:one stroke of theuis left out. Furnivall.494. 2.521. thou K.523. is a.

22.Perhaps we should readto betray.

42. was lind.

54. in 2.

133. be bul:ttorn off, and one stroke of theudotted. Furnivall.

174.SrbeforeEuercrossed out. Furnivall.

191. dreamed the grype.

241, 3. 40.

284. 4.

303, 343.nextshould, perhaps, benyest.

321. kirt e.

324. her nest.

361. 20li:.

381.The rest of the line is cut away.

403. 100.

453. thriue:one stroke of theuis left out. Furnivall.

494. 2.

521. thou K.

523. is a.

284. as ere.

FOOTNOTES:[31]Such dreams are not unusual in this connection: the empress has a like one in Octavian, Weber, Metrical Romances, III, 165, v. 195 ff; the emperor in The Erl of Tolous, Lüdtke, st. 68; the duke in the German Hirlanda.[32]All these Scandinavian versions were printed for the first time by Grundtvig, save two out of eleven copies ofK: these two in Kristensen, I, 124, No 49, 'Mimering,' and II, 306, No 87, 'Fru Gunder i Spire.'Fwas subsequently printed in Íslenzk Fornkvæði, No 12, I, 78, 'Gunnhildar kvæði.' Grundtvig devoted particular attention to this ballad, and has elucidated the history of the subject in a masterly way.[33]See Flóamannasaga, Vigfússon and Möbius, Fornsögur, p. 134 f, where the whole sword is hid in the sand; Svarfdælasaga, Íslendínga Sögur, 1830, II, 132-134; Gunnlaugs saga ormstúngu, Ísl. Sög., 1847, II, 225 f; Þiðriks saga, Unger, p. 206, c. 222; Sturlaugs saga starfsama, c. 10, Rafn, Fornaldar Sögur, III, 608 f; and cf. 'Orm Ungersvend og Bermer Rise,' Danmarks gamle Folkeviser, No 11: Grundtvig and Bugge. Besides the oath customary in judicial combats, that the parties believe in the justice of their cause, the old Frisian and Lombard laws require champions to swear that they will fight fairly and honestly, and that they have no charm concealed about them, "ne forte carminibus, vel machinis diabolicis, vel magicis artibus insidientur:" Grundtvig, I, 194 note *. Jove seems to be expected to laugh at a qualified perjury in some of the above cases.[34]Hans Hendrik inH; clearly, as Grundtvig says, a modern misunderstanding of Han Hendrik.[35]The name Raadengaard occurs in Grundtvig, No 7,A,G,H, No 12,C; Ravengaard also in No 7,D, No 12,A; Raanegaard, Ronegaard, in No 12,B.[36]Percy says that it had been suggested to him that the author of 'Sir Aldingar' "had in his eye the story of Gunhilda,who was sometimes called Eleanor, and was married to the Emperor (here called King) Henry." I have not found that Gunhilda was ever called Eleanor.[37]Little Mimmering Tand is found in several ballads. He is one of King Diderik's kemps in Grundtvig, No 7,A, and appears again in his No 16,C. Mimering is the smallest of men in Grundtvig, No 14.[38]De Gestis Regum Anglorum, l. ii, c. 12.[39]Danish and Norwegian Mimecan, Mimmering, Memering, English mimicking, mimocking, and probably minnikin, Scottish memerkyn, mynmerkin, all denote a man or object of small size, and point to Icelandic minni=minor, minnkan, a minishing, etc.; as Bugge remarks.[40]Lives of Edward the Confessor, edited by Henry Richards Luard, p. 39 f, vv 506-531, p. 3, VII.[41]Twysden, Historiæ Anglicanæ Scriptores Decem, col. 933. In MS.Aof the Abbreviationes of Ralph de Diceto, ed. Stubbs, I, 174, this note is inserted in the margin (at Gunnildam imperatori Romano cum ineffabilibus divitiis maritavit): Quam Rodingarus Alemannicus impetivit de adulterio, sed Mimekinus eam defendit et Rodingarum interfecit. The Abbreviationes were written before 1200, but the date of the insertion is of course uncertain.[42]The second account in Alberti Krantzii Saxonia, lib.IV, c. 32, p. 97, ed. 1621: Grundtvig. Cunigund having publicly protested that she had never known man (not even her husband), Henry, who wished the secret kept, according to one account struck her lightly in the face, according to another squeezed her mouth together so roughly as to draw blood. Grundtvig sees in this story a correspondence with the severe beating that Henry is said, in some of the ballads, to have inflicted on Gunild.[43]The trial is described with every detail in the Annals of Winchester, which may be of Henry II's time: Luard, Annales Monastici, II, 20-25. See, also, Brompton's Chronicle, Hist. Angl. Scriptores X, col. 941 f; Eulogium Historiarum, ed. Haydon, II, 184, c. 184; Rudbourn, in Wharton's Anglia Sacra, I, 233-35; etc.[44]Et cantabat joculator quidam, nomine Herebertus, canticum Colbrandi, necnon gestum Emme regine a judicio ignis liberate, in aula prioris: Registrum prioratus S. Swithini Wintoniensis, cited by Warton, History of English Poetry, I, 81, ed. 1840. While the ordeal was in process, we are told, the spectators were weeping "intolerably" and crying with one voice, St Swithin, help her! now or never! Deus vim patitur. Regina sine clamore faciebat orationem: Deus, qui liberasti Susannam, tu me liberare digneris! It may be the same or another ballad on the deliverance of Queen Emma which Langland refers to at the end of the Prologue to Piers Plowman, as sung by lazy dykers and delvers, "that drive forth the long day with Dieu vous saue, Dame Emme."[45]Regino, † 915, in Pertz, I, 597; Hermannus Contractus, † 1054, and Compendium ex codice Bernoldi, Migne, Patrologia, CXLIII, col. 201; Massmann, Kaiserchronik, twelfth century, II, 415-22; Jac. von Königshofen's Chronicle, end of fourteenth century, ed. Schilter, p. 105, cited by Grimm, Rechtsalterthümer, p. 912, Grundtvig, I, 190. In the Kaiserchronik the emperor gives his wife a blow with his fist.[46]Fredegarius, Chronicon, c. 51, in Du Chesne, I, 755; Aimoinus, c. 1000, Historia Francorum, lib.IV, c. 10, in Du Chesne, III, 103. Paulus Diaconus, lib.IV, c. 47, has wrongly made Gundeberg wife of Rodoald, putting the event at 652.[47]In Königshofen's Chronicle.[48]Edited by Leibnitz in Accessiones Historicæ, tom. II, Pars I, p. 105 f. The passage relating to this romance is cited from Leibnitz by Wolf, Ueber die neuesten Leistungen, u. s. w., p. 156f, and from a manuscript by Guessard, Macaire, p. xii f. All that is said of the dwarf is: de quodam nano turpissimo, cujus occasione dicta regina fuit expulsa.[49]This tale apparently exists also in a manuscript of the end of the fourteenth century: Gayangos in Rivadeneyra's Biblioteca, Libros de Caballerias, p. lxxxiii, 'Sebilla.' Cited by Wolf.[50]See, for the last, and generally for the related literature, von Tettau, Ueber einige bis jetzt unbekannte Erfurter Drucke aus dem 15. Jahrhundert, pp 8-65. Hans Sachs has dramatized the story of the false marshal, VIII, 54, ed. Keller.[51]For Genoveva see Seuffert, Die Legende von der Pfalzgräfin Genovefa, Würzburg, 1877.[52]Ritson, A. E. Metrical Romanceës, III, 93; newly and admirably edited, Berlin, 1881, by Gustav Lüdtke, with a thorough investigation of the related literature, the more material part of which is furnished in appendixes.[53]This recalls Morant in Karl Meinet, Keller, 219 ff, and in La gran conquista de ultramar, Wolf, Denkschriften der kais. Akad., as before, VIII, 280. Olive, in the German volksbuch Hirlanda, seems to be patterned after Morant. Hirlanda is charged with an intrigue with Olive by a graceless nobleman, and is to be burned unless vindicated by battle. Everybody is afraid of the impeacher's strength and skill in fight, but he is vanquished by a mere boy (divinely assisted) and confesses his villainy. The boy is Hirlanda's long-lost son. This is a stale paraphrase of an old story.[54]Diago in his history of the counts of Barcelona contends for Ramon Berengar IV and the wife of Alfonso VII, who was crowned Emperor of Spain in 1135: Wolf, Lüdtke.[55]For these chronicles and for Palanus, see F. Wolf in Jahrbücher für wissenschaftliche Kritik, 1835, 945-56, and Lüdtke, 78 ff. In the Arles chronicle, as also in Desclot, Carbonell, Beuter, etc., the empress gives the count a ring when he visits her in prison, and the same is done earlier in The Erl of Tolous; see Lüdtke, pp 80,171,181,183,191,201, and vv 392, 1076 of the English romance. It may be noted, without the intention of suggesting any particular inference, that Arthur's queen in Le lai du Corn, v. 325 ff, to clear herself from the suspicion of loving amiss, professes herself ready to be thrown into a fire of thorns, and, should a hair of her head or any of her dress be burned, then to be dragged at a horse's heels. She owns that shehadgiven a ring to a young donzel, who had killed a giant that had slandered Gawain, and then wished modestly to withdraw.[56]Lüdtke has endeavored, by a very carefully conducted comparison, to show the probability of an historical foundation for The Erl of Tolous in the relations of Bernard I, Count of Barcelona, with the Empress Judith, second wife of Louis le Débonnaire. By the influence of this beautiful and clever woman, Bernard, son of the William of Orange of romance, and later in his life Count or Duke of Toulouse, as his father had been, was made imperial chamberlain or prime minister, with the object of forwarding the aspirations which the empress entertained for her son Karl. Hugo, Count of Tours, and Matfrid, Count of Orleans, partisans of Lothair, stand for the empress's two lovers and enemies. Judith was accused of adultery with Bernard, and shut up in a monastery. At an assembly of the estates of the empire in 831, she declared herself prepared to refute the charge against her, and no accuser appearing, did so, when required, by an oath, after which she was restored to her rights as wife and empress. Bernard, though already incidentally purged by the empress's oath, some months subsequently asked the privilege of a duel with anybody that was disposed to inculpate him, and, no such person offering, in turn cleared himself by an oath. See Lüdtke, p. 98 ff, p. 209 ff. Hildegard, Louis's mother, according to tradition, labored under the same imputation as Judith, his wife; a parallel to the case of Gunild and her mother Emma. The story of Hildegard (Grimms, Deutsche Sagen, II, 102) has some resemblance to that of Repsima, Les Mille et un Jours, p. 265, Paris, 1840, and Jonathan Scott's Arabian Nights, VI, 396, 'Adventures of the Cauzce,' etc.[57]Grundtvig, admitting that the time has not come for anything more, sketches an hypothesis of the evolution and transmission of the story, "as a mere experiment," I, 203 f.

[31]Such dreams are not unusual in this connection: the empress has a like one in Octavian, Weber, Metrical Romances, III, 165, v. 195 ff; the emperor in The Erl of Tolous, Lüdtke, st. 68; the duke in the German Hirlanda.

[32]All these Scandinavian versions were printed for the first time by Grundtvig, save two out of eleven copies ofK: these two in Kristensen, I, 124, No 49, 'Mimering,' and II, 306, No 87, 'Fru Gunder i Spire.'Fwas subsequently printed in Íslenzk Fornkvæði, No 12, I, 78, 'Gunnhildar kvæði.' Grundtvig devoted particular attention to this ballad, and has elucidated the history of the subject in a masterly way.

[33]See Flóamannasaga, Vigfússon and Möbius, Fornsögur, p. 134 f, where the whole sword is hid in the sand; Svarfdælasaga, Íslendínga Sögur, 1830, II, 132-134; Gunnlaugs saga ormstúngu, Ísl. Sög., 1847, II, 225 f; Þiðriks saga, Unger, p. 206, c. 222; Sturlaugs saga starfsama, c. 10, Rafn, Fornaldar Sögur, III, 608 f; and cf. 'Orm Ungersvend og Bermer Rise,' Danmarks gamle Folkeviser, No 11: Grundtvig and Bugge. Besides the oath customary in judicial combats, that the parties believe in the justice of their cause, the old Frisian and Lombard laws require champions to swear that they will fight fairly and honestly, and that they have no charm concealed about them, "ne forte carminibus, vel machinis diabolicis, vel magicis artibus insidientur:" Grundtvig, I, 194 note *. Jove seems to be expected to laugh at a qualified perjury in some of the above cases.

[34]Hans Hendrik inH; clearly, as Grundtvig says, a modern misunderstanding of Han Hendrik.

[35]The name Raadengaard occurs in Grundtvig, No 7,A,G,H, No 12,C; Ravengaard also in No 7,D, No 12,A; Raanegaard, Ronegaard, in No 12,B.

[36]Percy says that it had been suggested to him that the author of 'Sir Aldingar' "had in his eye the story of Gunhilda,who was sometimes called Eleanor, and was married to the Emperor (here called King) Henry." I have not found that Gunhilda was ever called Eleanor.

[37]Little Mimmering Tand is found in several ballads. He is one of King Diderik's kemps in Grundtvig, No 7,A, and appears again in his No 16,C. Mimering is the smallest of men in Grundtvig, No 14.

[38]De Gestis Regum Anglorum, l. ii, c. 12.

[39]Danish and Norwegian Mimecan, Mimmering, Memering, English mimicking, mimocking, and probably minnikin, Scottish memerkyn, mynmerkin, all denote a man or object of small size, and point to Icelandic minni=minor, minnkan, a minishing, etc.; as Bugge remarks.

[40]Lives of Edward the Confessor, edited by Henry Richards Luard, p. 39 f, vv 506-531, p. 3, VII.

[41]Twysden, Historiæ Anglicanæ Scriptores Decem, col. 933. In MS.Aof the Abbreviationes of Ralph de Diceto, ed. Stubbs, I, 174, this note is inserted in the margin (at Gunnildam imperatori Romano cum ineffabilibus divitiis maritavit): Quam Rodingarus Alemannicus impetivit de adulterio, sed Mimekinus eam defendit et Rodingarum interfecit. The Abbreviationes were written before 1200, but the date of the insertion is of course uncertain.

[42]The second account in Alberti Krantzii Saxonia, lib.IV, c. 32, p. 97, ed. 1621: Grundtvig. Cunigund having publicly protested that she had never known man (not even her husband), Henry, who wished the secret kept, according to one account struck her lightly in the face, according to another squeezed her mouth together so roughly as to draw blood. Grundtvig sees in this story a correspondence with the severe beating that Henry is said, in some of the ballads, to have inflicted on Gunild.

[43]The trial is described with every detail in the Annals of Winchester, which may be of Henry II's time: Luard, Annales Monastici, II, 20-25. See, also, Brompton's Chronicle, Hist. Angl. Scriptores X, col. 941 f; Eulogium Historiarum, ed. Haydon, II, 184, c. 184; Rudbourn, in Wharton's Anglia Sacra, I, 233-35; etc.

[44]Et cantabat joculator quidam, nomine Herebertus, canticum Colbrandi, necnon gestum Emme regine a judicio ignis liberate, in aula prioris: Registrum prioratus S. Swithini Wintoniensis, cited by Warton, History of English Poetry, I, 81, ed. 1840. While the ordeal was in process, we are told, the spectators were weeping "intolerably" and crying with one voice, St Swithin, help her! now or never! Deus vim patitur. Regina sine clamore faciebat orationem: Deus, qui liberasti Susannam, tu me liberare digneris! It may be the same or another ballad on the deliverance of Queen Emma which Langland refers to at the end of the Prologue to Piers Plowman, as sung by lazy dykers and delvers, "that drive forth the long day with Dieu vous saue, Dame Emme."

[45]Regino, † 915, in Pertz, I, 597; Hermannus Contractus, † 1054, and Compendium ex codice Bernoldi, Migne, Patrologia, CXLIII, col. 201; Massmann, Kaiserchronik, twelfth century, II, 415-22; Jac. von Königshofen's Chronicle, end of fourteenth century, ed. Schilter, p. 105, cited by Grimm, Rechtsalterthümer, p. 912, Grundtvig, I, 190. In the Kaiserchronik the emperor gives his wife a blow with his fist.

[46]Fredegarius, Chronicon, c. 51, in Du Chesne, I, 755; Aimoinus, c. 1000, Historia Francorum, lib.IV, c. 10, in Du Chesne, III, 103. Paulus Diaconus, lib.IV, c. 47, has wrongly made Gundeberg wife of Rodoald, putting the event at 652.

[47]In Königshofen's Chronicle.

[48]Edited by Leibnitz in Accessiones Historicæ, tom. II, Pars I, p. 105 f. The passage relating to this romance is cited from Leibnitz by Wolf, Ueber die neuesten Leistungen, u. s. w., p. 156f, and from a manuscript by Guessard, Macaire, p. xii f. All that is said of the dwarf is: de quodam nano turpissimo, cujus occasione dicta regina fuit expulsa.

[49]This tale apparently exists also in a manuscript of the end of the fourteenth century: Gayangos in Rivadeneyra's Biblioteca, Libros de Caballerias, p. lxxxiii, 'Sebilla.' Cited by Wolf.

[50]See, for the last, and generally for the related literature, von Tettau, Ueber einige bis jetzt unbekannte Erfurter Drucke aus dem 15. Jahrhundert, pp 8-65. Hans Sachs has dramatized the story of the false marshal, VIII, 54, ed. Keller.

[51]For Genoveva see Seuffert, Die Legende von der Pfalzgräfin Genovefa, Würzburg, 1877.

[52]Ritson, A. E. Metrical Romanceës, III, 93; newly and admirably edited, Berlin, 1881, by Gustav Lüdtke, with a thorough investigation of the related literature, the more material part of which is furnished in appendixes.

[53]This recalls Morant in Karl Meinet, Keller, 219 ff, and in La gran conquista de ultramar, Wolf, Denkschriften der kais. Akad., as before, VIII, 280. Olive, in the German volksbuch Hirlanda, seems to be patterned after Morant. Hirlanda is charged with an intrigue with Olive by a graceless nobleman, and is to be burned unless vindicated by battle. Everybody is afraid of the impeacher's strength and skill in fight, but he is vanquished by a mere boy (divinely assisted) and confesses his villainy. The boy is Hirlanda's long-lost son. This is a stale paraphrase of an old story.

[54]Diago in his history of the counts of Barcelona contends for Ramon Berengar IV and the wife of Alfonso VII, who was crowned Emperor of Spain in 1135: Wolf, Lüdtke.

[55]For these chronicles and for Palanus, see F. Wolf in Jahrbücher für wissenschaftliche Kritik, 1835, 945-56, and Lüdtke, 78 ff. In the Arles chronicle, as also in Desclot, Carbonell, Beuter, etc., the empress gives the count a ring when he visits her in prison, and the same is done earlier in The Erl of Tolous; see Lüdtke, pp 80,171,181,183,191,201, and vv 392, 1076 of the English romance. It may be noted, without the intention of suggesting any particular inference, that Arthur's queen in Le lai du Corn, v. 325 ff, to clear herself from the suspicion of loving amiss, professes herself ready to be thrown into a fire of thorns, and, should a hair of her head or any of her dress be burned, then to be dragged at a horse's heels. She owns that shehadgiven a ring to a young donzel, who had killed a giant that had slandered Gawain, and then wished modestly to withdraw.

[56]Lüdtke has endeavored, by a very carefully conducted comparison, to show the probability of an historical foundation for The Erl of Tolous in the relations of Bernard I, Count of Barcelona, with the Empress Judith, second wife of Louis le Débonnaire. By the influence of this beautiful and clever woman, Bernard, son of the William of Orange of romance, and later in his life Count or Duke of Toulouse, as his father had been, was made imperial chamberlain or prime minister, with the object of forwarding the aspirations which the empress entertained for her son Karl. Hugo, Count of Tours, and Matfrid, Count of Orleans, partisans of Lothair, stand for the empress's two lovers and enemies. Judith was accused of adultery with Bernard, and shut up in a monastery. At an assembly of the estates of the empire in 831, she declared herself prepared to refute the charge against her, and no accuser appearing, did so, when required, by an oath, after which she was restored to her rights as wife and empress. Bernard, though already incidentally purged by the empress's oath, some months subsequently asked the privilege of a duel with anybody that was disposed to inculpate him, and, no such person offering, in turn cleared himself by an oath. See Lüdtke, p. 98 ff, p. 209 ff. Hildegard, Louis's mother, according to tradition, labored under the same imputation as Judith, his wife; a parallel to the case of Gunild and her mother Emma. The story of Hildegard (Grimms, Deutsche Sagen, II, 102) has some resemblance to that of Repsima, Les Mille et un Jours, p. 265, Paris, 1840, and Jonathan Scott's Arabian Nights, VI, 396, 'Adventures of the Cauzce,' etc.

[57]Grundtvig, admitting that the time has not come for anything more, sketches an hypothesis of the evolution and transmission of the story, "as a mere experiment," I, 203 f.

a.Percy's Reliques, edition of 1794, I, 64.b.Reliques, edition of 1765, I, 58.

a.Percy's Reliques, edition of 1794, I, 64.

b.Reliques, edition of 1765, I, 58.

'King Estmere' occurred at page 249 of Percy's folio manuscript, but the three leaves on which it was written were "unfortunately torn out" by Percy to send to the press, and the genuine form of the ballad thereby put beyond recovery. In the second and later editions of the Reliques the editor professes to give the ballad from two copies ("containing very great variations," 1794), one of them being that of the folio. But here and elsewhere Percy employs a singular periphrasis, as he has explained to us in the preface to the Reliques, and means only that he has amended his original more or less. Notwithstanding the seemingly explicit language, there is no second copy at all.[58]

We are told by Percy, in a note to stanza 63, that though liberties have been taken with that portion of the ballad which follows, yet wherever the fourth edition differs from the preceding ones it has been brought nearer to the folio.[59]Some notes of readings of the folio are also furnished in the fourth edition (and are here restored), which were not given in the others. While we cannot but be vexed that so distinguished a ballad, not injured much, so far as we can see, by time, should not come down to us as it came to Percy, our loss must not be exaggerated. The changes made by the editor, numerous enough, no doubt, cannot be very material until we approach the end. Stanzas 63-66 are entirely suspicious, and it may even be questioned whether the manuscript contained a word that is in them.

The name of Bremor, son of the king of Spain, and "a heathen hound" (if this be not Percy's interpolation), taken with certain resemblances in the story, very naturally suggested to Professor Sophus Bugge (Grundtvig, IV, 704) a connection between this ballad and 'Young Orm and Bermer-Giant,' 'Orm Ungersvend og Bermer-Rise.'[60]The giant, who is described as a rabid berserker, presents himself at the Danish court (Grundtvig,A), and demands that the king shall give him his daughter and half his land, or find a man who will fight in the ring with him. The king refuses daughter and land, and says he will find a champion. He offers the chance of winning so fair a may to his men, and no one dares say a word except Young Orm, who sits lowest at the board: he will be the man. But first Orm provides himself with an irresistible sword, which is buried in his father's tomb, and is yielded by the dead man only upon the condition that his son shall take the revenge due for his death. With this sword Orm, like the child in 'Sir Aldingar,' cuts the giant through at the knees, being, he says, not tall enough to strike higher. He then goes to Iceland, and fights three days with the men who had slain his father, but without prevailing. A mermaid, from the sea-bottom, cries out to him that his sword is under a spell, and that he must whirl it three times round his head and then stick the point in the ground. This done, he has no difficulty in despatching his foes. He returns to the Danish court, and marries the princess.

The likeness between the English ballad and the Danish (which represents well enough the other Norse poems) is that a youthful champion wins a king's daughter by killing a truculent competitor, who has nearly the same name in both (Bremor, Bermer).

Further consideration led Bugge to maintain that the proper subject of 'King Estmere' is rather the story of Hjalmar, Odd and Anganty, and that the English ballad is better represented by the tragic Färöe ballad of 'Arngrim's Sons' than by 'Orm and Bermer-Giant,' which last he regards as a free reconstruction of an earlier and fuller form of 'Arngrim's Sons' than has come down to us. The points in which the story of Hjalmar, Odd and Anganty[61]is like 'King Estmere,' in contrast with the Orm ballad, are that the hero does not fight single-handed with the giant, but has the help of Odd (Adler); that the king's daughter chooses her husband for herself; that the bride is not won by a sword taken from a father's grave. The argument is, however, much too intricate and too long to be repeated here, even had the subtle and accomplished advocate shown full confidence in the conclusion.

But this confidence he does not feel, for, as he conceives, King Estmere again exhibits resemblances to 'Ogier le Danois,' the basis of the Danish ballad 'Holger Danske og Burmand,' Grundtvig, No 30.[62]The name Adler, says Bugge, is about as near to Ogier, Oddgeir, as to Oddr. Adler's brother, Estmere, might be the chivalrous paynim Karaheus, despite the unlike name, and King Adland's daughter the amiral's daughter Gloriande, the beloved of Karaheus. Brunamons of Majorca, to whom the amiral offers his daughter after the defection of Karaheus, may be Bremer of Spain. Ogier, like Adler (in Percy's edition), kills the hateful interloper, and Karaheus, like Estmere, gets the lady, but without taking part in the fight. If this hypothesis is not quite so satisfactory as the other, we may combine both. The English ballad may have been derived from some form of 'Arngrim's Sons,' but have been modified under the influence of 'Ogier le Danois.'[63]

A brief statement of these speculations may suffice in view of their inconclusiveness, which is the greater by reason of our not knowing to what extent Percy interfered with his manuscript.

The names Adler and Estmere appear again in a short romance in the Percy manuscript, Hales and Furnivall, II, 296. The story is that of Hugdietrich in the Heldenbuch: von der Hagen, I, 169, ed. 1855, Amelung and Jänicke, I, 167; given by Weber in Illustrations of Northern Antiquities, p. 63. Adler is a king, and, like Estmere in the ballad, is exacting in the matter of a wife. In the Heldenbuch it is not the young man who is so difficult to suit, but his guardian. Estmere (v. 11, where there is corruption or defect) appears to be Adler's messenger to King Ardine, the father of a lady who answers all requirements, and who, as it turns out, likes Adler, but is not to be had on easy terms.[64]

'King Estmere' begins very much like the Danish ballad, 'Den farlige Jomfru,' Grundtvig, No 184, and especially like versionD.

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