Legend of Sir Lancelot du Lac (eBook)

 CHAPTER IX  THE DUTCH LANCELOT

 In the previous chapters we have examined, so far as the material at our disposal permitted, the Lancelot legend in its gradual evolution from a collection of scattered tales, or lais, to the vast body of cyclic romance which was its final form. In this task we have restricted ourselves to those features which more intimately concern the personal character and fortunes of our hero; a choice which leaves untouched a large section of his adventures, such as his friendship with Galehault, and his winning of the Dolorous Garde. These are features which, affecting no romance or chronicle outside the Lancelot proper, cannot well be examined till more versions of this latter are available. In this, the concluding section of these studies, I propose, leaving the question of the nature and origin of the legend, to discuss the relation subsisting between those different versions of the text, on an examination of which I have based the three preceding chapters dealing with the prose Lancelot.

The texts in question are (1) the so-called Dutch Lancelot; (2) the printed edition of 1533 (Lenoire, Paris); (3) Dr. Sommer's summary of the prose Lancelot, based upon the printed edition of 1513, and compared by him with Malory's text; (4) Dr. Furnivall's edition of the Queste; and (5) Malory's Morte Arthur.[158] This gives us practically four different texts for each section (Dr. Sommer having also used the Queste), two of which, the Dutch Lancelot and the 1533 edition, appear to me to be of far greater importance than has hitherto been suspected.

I propose to publish in an Appendix a detailed summary of the contents of the distinctively Lancelot portion of the =D. L.=, but the compilation covers such an extent of ground, and contains texts of such value to the student of Arthurian literature, that I think it will not be superfluous to give here a brief outline of its general character.

A noticeable peculiarity of the version is, that, contrary to all other known versions of the Lancelot-Galahad-Grail story, it is in verse and not in prose. The MS. containing it appears to be of the beginning of the fourteenth century;[159] but Dr. Jonckbloet gives reason to think that the version contained in it was decidedly older than this date, and there are certainly references to the Lancelot story in much earlier Dutch MSS. Probably it is a compilation similar to that of Sir Thomas Malory, intended to combine the various romances of the Arthurian cycle with which the compiler was familiar, or of which MSS. were at his disposal. In the first instance it was a translation, and I think we must hold a very faithful translation, from the French. Even as we have it we shall find that it agrees closely with parallel French versions. In its original form it consisted of four books, the first of which has unfortunately been lost.

Book II. begins with what M. Paulin Paris called the Agravain section of the prose Lancelot, i.e. the Enfances, Galehault, and Charrette portions are not included.[160] The first 36,000 lines follow the course of the Lancelot; at line 36,947 it takes up the Perceval at the point of the arrival of the Grail messenger, and for about two thousand lines goes on to give an account of the achieving of the adventures mentioned by her. In some points the compiler agrees closely with Chrétien and seems to have followed his version, in others he departs entirely from any known version of the Perceval. Sometimes his names agree rather with Wolfram than with Chrétien; e.g. the lady is Orgeloise simply, not L'Orguelleuse de Logres; and Gawain's challenger is Ginganbrisil, a form which Professor Yorke Powell pointed out some years ago as the probable source of Wolfram's Kingrimursel.

L. 41,420, we have a visit of Gawain to the Grail castle, agreeing closely with that found in the Montpelier Perceval, and also, Dr. Jonckbloet informs us, with that contained in a German version of the Perceval preserved at Rome (cf. Jonckbloet, vol. i. p. xxiv.), adventures of Gariette and Griflette, and the fight between Gawain and Ginganbrisil, which ends in the victory of the former, and the king of Scavalon becoming Arthur's 'man.' This again is not recounted elsewhere.[161]

Ll. 42,540-47,262 contain the romance of Morien, son of Agloval, the hero of which bears a curious resemblance to Wolfram's Feirefis. In this romance occurs the episode of Lancelot's conflict with a monster, which I have examined in chap. iii. This concludes Book II.

Book III. opens with the Queste, the text of which I shall examine in detail further on; it extends to over 11,000 ll. The remainder of the book is occupied by a group of important episodic romances, some of which are found nowhere else. They are as follows:

 11,161. La vengeance de Raguidel.[162]

 14,300. An adventure of Lancelot, Bohort, and Dodinel, when the latter  rescues a maiden tied up in a tree.

 14,681. Le Chevalier à la Manche (van den riddere metter mouwen).

 18,603. Gauvain et Kei (Hoe Keye Waleweine verriet).

 22,271. Lancelot et le cerf au pied blanc (van der jonc frouwen  metten hondekine).

 23,122-26,980. Torec.[163]  Book IV. Mort Artur, 13,054 ll. The united three books thus comprising a total of over 87,000 lines.

It will be seen from the above brief summary that the =D. L.= presents many features of great interest for the student of the Arthurian story, but so far, with the exception of the studies published by M. Gaston Paris, to which I have just referred, it does not appear to have attracted much attention from scholars. It is especially to be regretted that Dr. Sommer did not use it for the purpose of his 'Malory' collation; had he done so, he would certainly have come, on many points, to a very different conclusion from that at which he ultimately arrived.

In the following comparison I shall confine my remarks chiefly to such decided variants as cannot possibly be ascribed to the mistakes or emendations of copyists; nor shall I include those minor verbal differences which, however important for a critical edition of the text, do not in themselves definitely prove a divergence of sources. The point I desire to prove is that the versions =D. L.= and =1533= represent a text radically different from that consulted by Dr. Sommer; and that, in conjunction with Malory, they may be held to represent a family of MSS. hitherto unregarded, or unsuspected.

As readers of Malory are aware, he gives no account of the birth or early adventures of Lancelot; the section dealing with that hero begins with Book VI., and takes up his adventures at a point well advanced in what, following M. Paulin Paris, I have called the Agravain section (l. 13,351 in =D. L.=). That Malory had before him any version of the earlier section of the Lancelot I very much doubt. It must be apparent to any careful reader that, in his view, the Lady of the Lake is connected rather with Arthur than with Lancelot; whenever she intervenes in the story it is to aid the former, rather than the latter. I incline to the belief that Malory's MS. only began at an advanced point of the story, and that he knew little, or nothing, of what had preceded it.

At the commencement of the Terriquen (=D. L.= gives the name as Tarquijn) adventure, =D. L.=, =1533=, and =M.= all represent Lancelot and Lionel as sleeping under the shadow of a 'pomier' instead of a perron as in =S.=[164]

When Hector comes to the fountain he finds =D. L.= LX. shields and helmets, and XL. swords (the first letters have evidently been transposed and should read XL.). =1533.= Forty-five helmets, forty-five swords, and 'more than' forty-five shields. =S.= Forty swords, forty-five shields, and five spears: helmets are not mentioned. Here =S.= appears to have a confused version of the two preceding accounts.

In the account of the queens who carry off Lancelot =D. L.= and =1533= agree with =S.= in naming the ladies (the queen in =D. L.= is of Foreestan, not Sorestan); otherwise the accounts seem to vary. =D. L.= and =1533= do not say, as does =S.=, that the first-named is on her way to Norgales through 'Sorelois,' but that her land 'borders on' these kingdoms. It is not the three but only the two last-named, Morgain le Fay and Sibile (Cybele) l'enchanteresse, who are learned in enchantments; and neither =D. L.= nor =1533= give any indication of their being the 'queen's ladies' as =S.= represents; they are simply travelling with her.[165]

The lands of the heiress of Rochedon were not seized by the King of Sorestan, as =S.= states, but by the queen who had been left her guardian (=D. L.= and =1533=). This is much more in accordance with the rest of the story. Otherwise these three versions agree against =M.=

Later on both =D. L.= and =1533= agree in speaking of Galehodyn as the neveu, not the filz of Gallehault, as in =S.= They are of course right.

In the account of the tournament there are a number of small variants. Judging from =S.=, who gives a very condensed summary, =D. L.= and =1533= are again more correct in details.

On p. 186 of =S.= the summary departs widely from =D. L.= and =1533=. Thus, according to =S.=, Lancelot, seeking for Hector and Lionel, has met with Bohort, Yvain, and four other knights at the 'Chastel du Trespas.' Lancelot proposes that each of the six knights (sic) (there were of course seven) shall each ride forth separately and return to the castle 'a...