Lanzelet von Ulrich von Zatzikhoven, ed. Hahn: Frankfurt, 1845. Out of print and difficult to procure.
19
This account, and the mention of England, l. 7054, seem to render it possible that the original poem may have been written in this island.
20
This is entirely in accordance with Tristan's character as represented in the poems. He is in the highest degree rusé and resourceful.
21
Is it not possible that this Malduz the magician may be the original of Mauduiz li Sages whom Chrétien ranks as eighth of Arthur's knights? Cf. Erec, 1699. Hartmann's version gives Malduiz; Diu Krône, 1379, Malduz der Weise. The identification seems clear.
22
I am quite at a loss to account for the mistake into which such authorities as M. Gaston Paris and Professor Foerster have apparently fallen. In M. Paris's study the idea that Lanzelet is the rescuer is perhaps rather implied than stated, but when I wrote the Charrette chapter (viii.) in my Studies on the Legend of Sir Gawain, in which I followed the article in Romania, I was certainly under the impression that the latter was the case. In the introduction to the Karrenritter, p. xliv., Professor Foerster distinctly says that Lanzelet frees the queen. I have read and re-read the text carefully and made my final summary direct from it, and there is no doubt that Lanzelet has nothing to do with the matter. The passage in question is contained in ll. 6975-7445. How too did Professor Foerster come to ignore the real character of Guinevere's imprisonment? Cf. Charrette, lxxi.
23
Karrenritter, Introduction, p. xliv.
24
I think it is worthy of note that though Lanzelet is the hero of the tale here and not Guinglain, Gawain's son, as elsewhere, yet in this poem Lanzelet is Arthur's nephew, and of Gawain's kin, which he is not in any other version. The Fier Baiser is thus still restricted to the family of Gawain.
25
Cf. my Legends of the Wagner Drama, Siegfried.
26
I say especially 'as told by Geoffrey and Wace,' for these writers give us clearly to understand that the queen was a consenting party, and no victim to Mordred's treachery. It is quite a different version from that of the prose Lancelot.
27
I shall have occasion to refer very frequently to Professor Foerster's introduction. It is a full and powerful statement of views which so far as they affect the origin and evolution of the Arthurian legend I believe to be radically unsound. It is most useful to have at hand a summary so clear and concise.
28
Merlin, G. Paris and Ulrich's ed., vol. ii. pp. 136-137.
29
In the prose Lancelot the hero is always addressed as 'king's son.' Cf. in this connection Professor Ker's review of my Legend of Sir Gawain, Folk-lore, vol. ix. p. 266. I incline to think that the question of a hero's possessing from the first a name and a well-marked story depends upon whether he has or has not an existence in myth. If of mythical origin he probably would have both, if an actor in folk-tale very likely neither; thus while I should reject Professor Ker's correction as regards Gawain, I would certainly hold it true of Lancelot. In the case of this latter hero, I think his name may well have been determined by his title du Lac. The tendency of early verse is towards alliteration, probably mere chance determined the Lancelot, the one essential was that it should begin with an L. It should, I think, also be noted that while in the Lanzelet the hero's ignorance of his name and birth are genuine, in the prose Lancelot he knows who he is, and the wrong done to his father and uncle by Claudas. The pseudonyms 'Filz du Roi,' 'Beau Varlet' are here unnecessary; a meaningless survival from the original tale.
30
This feature is, I think, peculiar to Wolfram; Chrétien does not mention it.
31
Professor Hertz, in his edition of the Parzival, p. 440, records these points of contact, but does not discuss the question of the relation of the two poems. Professor Foerster in his introduction simply notes that the instruction by Johfrit de Liez recalls the Perceval story.
32
Layamon 'Brut' knows Maurin of Winchester as a kinsman of Arthur's, ll. 20238 and 24336. I have not found the name elsewhere.
33
It appears to me that, in view of Herr P. Hagen's excellent demonstration of the correctness of the many curious Oriental references with which the Parzival abounds, and his remarkable identification of Wolfram's Grail with a sacred Bætylus stone, it is impossible any longer to deny the possession, by Wolfram, of a source other than Chrétien's poem. But whether the Lanzelet offers another proof or not I should hesitate to say. If it does, the evidence, extending as it does over so much of the Parzival, is of the greatest value as an indication of the extent of Kiot's work.
34
Lancelot, ed. Jonckbloet, vol. ii. ll. 22271-23126. The summaries in this chapter, and all subsequent references to the Dutch Lancelot, are taken direct from the text. A summary of the romance here discussed is given by M. Gaston Paris, Histoire Littéraire de la France, vol. xxx. p. 113.
35
Throughout the Dutch Lancelot we have constant references to Gawain's skill in healing. Cf. Parzival, x. 104. Chrétien does not appear to know this trait in Gawain's character.
36
The lai of Tyolet was published by M. Gaston Paris in vol. viii. of Romania, 'Lais Inédits.' I have given a prose translation in vol. iii. of Arthurian Romances unrepresented in Malory.
37
Cf. Merlin, Sommer's ed. chap. xxiv. p. 302.
38
Tristan, vol. i. Book XIII., ed. Bechstein, Deutsche classiker des Mittelalters; also my translation of same, Arthurian Romances, No. ii. vol. i.
39
Dutch Lancelot, vol. i. l. 42,540 to end. The portion dealing with the adventure begins l. 43,593; the adventure itself, l. 46,514; also summarised in Hist. Litt. vol. xxx.
40
The poem itself has been discussed by M. Gaston Paris in Romania, vol. xii., and by Professor Foerster in the introduction to his edition. The question of Guinevere's rescuer has been treated by Professor Rhys in his Studies in the Arthurian Legend, and in M. Gaston Paris's article just referred to, and that on Ulrich von Zatzikhoven's Lanzelet in Romania, vol. x. I have also devoted a chapter in my Legend of Sir Gawain to the subject.
41
The concluding portion of the poem is by Godefroy de Leigni, who, however, worked with Chrétien's knowledge and approval, so that practically the work may be held to be Chrétien's throughout.
42
Livre, Cligés and Perceval; conte, Erec and Chevalier au Lion. The concluding lines of the latter, 'qu'onques plus conter n'an oï,' clearly indicate this. I shall return to this subject in the next chapter.
43
The manifold discrepancies of Chrétien's version were long ago remarked upon by M. Gaston Paris, and even Professor Foerster, with all his enthusiasm for the poet, is constrained to admit their existence, but he considers some of the puzzles were of Chrétien's own making, and he intended later to clear them up. Why then did he not explain them to Godefroy de Leigni, who finished
arrived at through independent study.
