Epic and Romance: Essays on Medieval LiteratureKer, W. P. (William Paton)
History
Epic and Romance: Essays on Medieval Literature
Ker, W. P. (William Paton)
Epic poetry -- History and criticism; Literature, Medieval -- History and criticism; Romances -- History and criticism
E per Rei Pescador grazits;
L'us comtet l'astre d'Ermeli,
L'autre dis com fan l'Ancessi
Per gein lo Veil de la Montaina;
L'us retrais con tenc Alamaina
Karlesmaines tro la parti,
De Clodoveu e de Pipi
Comtava l'us tota l'istoria;
L'autre dis con cazec de gloria
Donz Lucifers per son ergoil;
L'us diz del vallet de Nantoil,
L'autre d'Oliveir de Verdu.
L'us dis lo vers de Marcabru,
L'autre comtet con Dedalus
Saup ben volar, et d'Icarus
Co neguet per sa leujaria.
Cascus dis lo mieil que sabia.
Per la rumor dels viuladors
E per brug d'aitans comtadors
Hac gran murmuri per la sala.
The allusions are explained by the editor, M. Paul Meyer. The stories
are as follows: Priam, Pyramus, Helen, Ulysses, Hector, Achilles,
Dido, Lavinia (how she sent her letter with an arrow over the
sentinel's head, _Roman d'Eneas_, l. 8807, _sq._), Polynices, Tydeus,
and Eteocles; Apollonius of Tyre; Alexander; Hero and Leander; Cadmus
of Thebes; Jason and the sleepless Dragon; Hercules; Demophoon and
Phyllis (a hard passage); Narcissus; Pluto and the wife of Orpheus
("Sir Orfeo"); David and Goliath; Samson and Dalila; Judas Maccabeus;
Julius Caesar; the Round Table, and how the king had an answer for all
who sought him; Gawain and Yvain ("of the lion that was companion of
the knight whom Lunete rescued"[91]); of the British maiden who kept
Lancelot imprisoned when he refused her love; of Perceval, how he rode
into hall; Ugonet de Perida (?); Governail, the loyal comrade of
Tristram; Fenice and the sleeping-draught (Chrestien's _Cliges_, see
p. 357, above); Guinglain ("Sir Libeaus)"; Chrestien's _Chevalier de
la Charrette_ ("how the herald found the red shield at the entry," an
allusion explained by M. Gaston Paris, in _Romania_, xvi. p. 101),
Guiflet, Calobrenan, Kay punished for his railing accusations;
Mordred; how the Count Duret was dispossessed by the Vandals and
welcomed by the Fisher King (?); the luck of Hermelin (?); the Old Man
of the Mountain and his Assassins; the Wars of Charlemagne; Clovis and
Pepin of France; the Fall of Lucifer; Gui de Nanteuil; Oliver of
Verdun; the Flight of Daedalus, and how Icarus was drowned through his
vanity. The songs of Marcabrun, the troubadour, find a place in the
list among the stories.
[Footnote 91: In a somewhat similar list of romances, in the Italian
poem of _L'Intelligenza_, ascribed to Dino Compagni (st. 75), Luneta
is named Analida; possibly the origin of Chaucer's Anelida, a name
which has not been clearly traced.]
The author of _Flamenca_ has arranged his library, though there are
some incongruities; Daedalus belongs properly to the "matter of Rome"
with which the catalogue begins, and Lucifer interrupts the series of
_Chansons de geste_. The "matter of Britain," however, is all by
itself, and is well represented.
II. THE COMPLAYNT OF SCOTLAND, c. vi.
(Ed. J.A.H. Murray, _E.E.T.S._, pp. 62-64)
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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