SoS. &C.CI v V »f& #&»&§$€; A COLLECTION ANCIENT ROMANCE-POEMS, SCOTISH AND ENGLISH AUTHORS, RELATING TO THAT CELEBRATED WITH AN INTRODUCTION, NOTES, AND A GLOSSARY. By SIR FREDERIC MADDEN, K.H., F.R.S., F.S.A., M.R.I.A., Corr. F.S.A.E., &c. KEEPER OF THE MSS. IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM. LONDON: PRINTED BY RICHARD AND JOHN E. TAYLOR. M.DCCC. XXXIX. + ' * | ** •** v * 7» of the Bannatyne At a Meeting of the Committee of the Antiquarian Club, held at Edinburgh in the Hall 1836 : Society, on Monday the 29th of August, Resolved, A Collection of That a Volume intitled && (SarMptte, English Authors, Ancient Romance-Poems by Scotish and the Round Table, relating to that Celebrated Knight of the Members, under the be printed at London, for the use of K.H. superintendence of Sir Frederic Madden, DAVID LAING, Secretary. ' _ * * • * * • * THE BANNATYNE CLUB. AUGUST, M.DCCC.XXXIX. THOMAS THOMSON, ESQ. PRESIDENT. THE EARL OF ABERDEEN. THE EARL OF ASHBURNHAM. THE DUKE OF BEDFORD. LORD BELHAVEN AND HAMILTON. ROBERT BELL, ESQ. WILLIAM BELL, ESQ. WILLIAM BLAIR, ESQ. THE REV. PHILIP BLISS, D.C.L. in JOHN BORTHWICK, ESQ. BERIAH BOTFIELD, ESQ. THE MARQUIS OF BREADALBANE. GEORGE BRODIE, ESQ. CHARLES DASHWOOD BRUCE, ESQ. O. TYNDALL BRUCE, ESQ. THE DUKE OF BUCCLEUGH AND QUEENSBERRY. JAMES CAMPBELL, ESQ. WILLIAM CLERK, ESQ. HON. HENRY COCKBURN, LORD COCKBURN, VICE- PRESIDENT. THE BANNATYNE CLUB. 20 DAVID CONSTABLE, ESQ. ANDREW COVENTRY, ESQ. JAMES T. GIBSON-CRAIG, ESQ., TREASURER. WILLIAM GIBSON-CRAIG, ESQ. GEORGE CRANSTOUN, ESQ. JAMES DENNISTOUN, ESQ. GEORGE DUNDAS, ESQ. RIGHT HON. W. DUNDAS, LORD CLERK REGISTER. LORD DUNFERMLINE. LORD FRANCIS EGERTON. 30 SIR CHARLES DALRYMPLE FERGUSON, BART. ROBERT FERGUSON, ESQ. GENERAL SIR RONALD C. FERGUSON. COUNT MERCER DE FLAHAULT. HON. JOHN FULLERTON, LORD FULLERTON. WILLIAM GOTT, ESQ. ROBERT GRAHAM, ESQ. LORD GRAY. RIGHT HON. THOMAS GRENVILLE. THE EARL OF HADDINGTON. 40 THE DUKE OF HAMILTON AND BRANDON. ED. W. A. DRUMMOND HAY, ESQ. SIR THOMAS BUCHAN HEPBURN, BART. JAMES MAITLAND HOG, ESQ. LORD HOLLAND. JOHN HOPE, ESQ., DEAN OF FACULTY. COSMO INNES, ESQ. DAVID IRVING, LL.D. % m THE BANNATYNE CLUB. JAMES IVORY, ESQ., SOLICITOR-GENERAL. SIR HENRY JARDINE, RT. 50 HON. FRANCIS JEFFREY, LORD JEFFREY. JOHN GARDINER KINNEAR, ESQ. THE EARL OF KINNOULL. DAVID LAING, ESQ., SECRETARY. THE EARL OF LAUDERDALE. REV. JOHN LEE, D.D. ALEXANDER WELLESLEY LEITH, ESQ. LORD LINDSAY. JAMES LOCH, ESQ. LORD LOVAT. 60 THE MARQUIS OF LOTHIAN. ALEXANDER MACDONALD, ESQ. WILLIAM M'DOWALL, ESQ. HON. J. H. MACKENZIE, LORD MACKENZIE. JAMES MACKENZIE, ESQ. JOHN WHITEFOORD MACKENZIE, ESQ. WILLIAM FORBES MACKENZIE, ESQ. JAMES MAIDMENT, ESQ. THOMAS MAITLAND, ESQ. VISCOUNT MELVILLE. 70 WILLIAM HENRY MILLER, ESQ. THE EARL OF MINTO. HON. SIR J. W. MONCRIEFF, LORD MONCRIEFF. HON. SIR JOHN A. MURRAY, LORD MURRAY. WILLIAM MURRAY, ESQ. MACVEY NAPIER, ESQ. THE BANNATYNE CLUB. SIR FRANCIS PALGRAVE. LORD PANMURE. HENRY PETRIE, ESQ, SIR THOMAS PHILLIPPS, BART. 80 EDWARD PIPER, ESQ. ROBERT PITCAIRN, ESQ. ALEXANDER PRINGLE, ESQ. JOHN RICHARDSON, ESQ. THE EARL OF ROSEBERY. RIGHT HON. A. RUTHERFURD, LORD ADVOCATE. THE EARL OF SELKIRK. JAMES SKENE, ESQ. WILLIAM SMYTHE, ESQ. THE EARL SPENCER. 90 JOHN SPOTTISWOODE, ESQ. EDWARD STANLEY, ESQ. MAJOR-GENERAL SIR JOSEPH STRATON. THE HON. CHARLES FRANCIS STUART THE DUKE OF SUTHERLAND. ALEXANDER THOMSON, ESQ. WALTER C. TREVELYAN, ESQ. DAWSON TURNER, ESQ. ADAM URQUHART, ESQ. RIGHT HON. SIR GEORGE WARRENDER, BART. 100 THE YEN. ARCHDEACON WRANGHAM. INTRODUCTION. IN collecting for the first time the various Scotish and English poems relating to one of the most celebrated Knights of the Round Table, it might seem desirable to examine critically the sources whence the history of his exploits has been derived. But the subject is of such vast extent, is involved in so much obscu- rity, and, moreover, has been discussed with such conflicting theories and assertions, that the limits I here propose to myself will only allow me to state in succinct terms the conclusions which, after a long course of reading, I have arrived at. The inquiry divides itself into two branches, closely connected of the antiquity together ; the first of which embraces the question of Welsh or Armorican traditions, and the share of Geoffrey of Monmouth in the compilation of the far-famed Brut ; the second includes the history of the ponderous French prose Romances of the Round Table, their authors, and the period of their composi- tion. With regard to the former, it is impossible, I think, for any one, who is not prejudiced, to read the arguments of Ellis, Price, De la Rue, and the Author of " Britannia after the Romans," with the testimonies produced, and not to admit, that previous to the time of Geoffrey a mass of popular traditions relating to Arthur and his chivalry must have existed, and was circulated first by the na- tive bards, and afterwards by the Anglo-Norman minstrels. b x INTRODUCTION. On these traditions the earliest Prose Romances appear to have been subsequently based, the materials for which were arranged, embellished, and enlarged by the imagination and invention of the various compilers. It is true that these writers are unanimous in referring to a Latin original, from which they profess to translate; and although the existence of such a work is called in question by Ritson, Scott, and Southey, yet I am not prepared altogether to deny it*. But setting this aside, it appears to me, after a some- what laborious perusal of the printed editions of these works, compared with existing manuscripts, that they must have been compiled in the following order.— 1. The Roman du Saint Graal, sometimes intitled the Roman de Joseph d'Arimathie, composed by Robert de Borron. In the printed editions this is called the first part of the Saint Graal. 2. The Roman de Merlin, by the same. 3. The Roman de Lancelot du Lac, composed by Walter Mapf. 4. The Roman du Qudte du Saint Graal, by the same. In the editions this forms the second part. 5. The Roman de la Mort Artus, by the same, and originally distinct, but in the printed editions united to the Lancelot. 6. The first portion of the Ro- man de Tristan, by Luces, Seigneur de Gast. 7. The conclusion of Tristan, by Helie de Borron ; and 8. The Roman de Gyron le Courtois, by the same. Of these the first six were written in the * Southey writes, " I do not believe that any of these Romances ever existed in Latin.— By whom or for whom could they have been written in that language ? " Pref. to Morte a"Arthur, p. xvi. I merely stop to reply, that it is not more unreasonable to suppose a Latin work should have existed on the exploits of Arthur than on those of Charlemagne. I may also add, for the information of those whom it may concern, that I have myself read no less thankee Latin romances still existing in manuscript, some of which are of considerable length. Three of these relate to Arthur, Meriadoe, Gau-ayne, and other British heroes ; the fourth is the original of Chaucer's Tale of Constance ; and the fifth is the Knight of the Swan. t This is the mode in which his name is spelt in the ancient MSS. of the Romances, and it thus appears in an original charter preserved in the Cotton collection, by which he grants to Aunfelisa and her son John twelve acres of land in Wilesdune, part of his prebend of Mapesburv, co. Middlesex. Among the witnesses to this charter is " Filippo Map,nepote meo." INTRODUCTION. xi latter half of the twelfth century, and the remainder in the first half of the thirteenth. To these must be added the metrical ro- mances composed by Chrestien deTroyes, between the years 1170 and 1195, as also the later prose compilations of Rusticien de Pise and his followers, in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Having thus, I trust, successfully pointed out a clue to the labyrinth in which all our writers on early poetry have lost them- selves, I shall proceed to consider the history, character, and ex- ploits assigned to our Hero §j>J)C (SatOajNlP in this phalanx of romance authorities ; the utility of which in illustrating the Ar- thurian cycle of fiction will be admitted, perhaps, as a sufficient excuse for the space it may occupy. Our attention is naturally directed in the first place to the re- mains of the Welsh bards, but from those at present extant we learn but little. In the Triads we find Gwalchmai, the son of Gwyar, (who is identified with the Walwainus or Galwanus of Geoffrey and the Gauvain of the Anglo-Norman romancers,) re- corded as one of the three golden-tongued or eloquent chiefs, whose persuasion none could resist ; and in another passage, he is named as one of the three chiefs most courteous to strangers and guests*. There is extant also a dialogue between Gwalchmai and Trystanf, and some of his adventures are preserved in the Red Book of Hergest, in Jesus College, Oxford, but I should ap- prehend that all of these have been borrowed from the Anglo-Nor- man romance-writers}. Certain it is, that the stories in the Ma- * Thus also in the Roman de Meliadus, when Arthur and his knights are out riding, a stranger comes up, and inquires for the king. —" Et messire Gauvain, qui estoit nouvel chevalier a celluy temps, qui estoit si debonaire et si eourtois a toutes ehoses, que de sa courtoisie alloient parlant les estranges et les privez, respondit, ' Ouy, sire, veez le la;' et luy monstra le roy b Artus." f. rv , fol. ed.