Morien: A Metrical Romance Rendered into English Prose from the Mediæval Dutch

by Jessie L. Weston

AMEN. NOTES

1. INTRODUCTION.—In the preface I have dwelt with some fulness on the interesting questions connected with these opening lines; here it will be sufficient to point out that in the earlier versions of the Perceval story the hero is either the only, or the sole surviving, son of his parents. The introduction of a brother, as a definite character, belongs to the later stages of Arthurian tradition. The brothers vary in number and name, but the most noted are Sir Agloval and Sir Lamorak, who appear to belong to distinct lines of development, Sir Agloval belonging mainly to the Lancelot, Sir Lamorak to the Tristan tradition. So far I have not met with the latter in any version of the prose Lancelot, though Dr. Sommer in his Studies on the Sources of Malory, refers to him as mentioned in that romance; in the Tristan, on the contrary, he is a leading figure. The Morien story, as I have remarked in the preface, has obviously been modified by the influence of the later Lancelot legend, hence, probably, the rôle assigned to Agloval.

2. PAGE 20.—Gawain as physician. The representation of Gawain as an expert in medical skill is an interesting feature which appears to belong to early tradition. The references in the poem before us are the most copious and explicit, but we also find the same accomplishment referred to in the romance of Lancelot et le cerf au pied blanc (D. L. vol. ii. 1. 22825) where Gawain instructs the physician as to the proper treatment of Lancelot's wounds; and the Parzival of Wolfram von Eschenbach (Book X. 1. 104) also refers to this tradition. It is noticeable that Chrétien de Troyes in the parallel passage of his poem has no such allusion, nor can I recall any passage in the works of that poet which indicates any knowledge, on his part, of this characteristic of Gawain. This is one of the points of variance between Chrétien and Wolfram which, slight in itself, offers when examined valuable evidence as to a difference of sources.

3. PAGE 24.—The boast of Sir Kay. Arthur's reproof to Kay is a reference to the well-known adventure related both by Chrétien and Wolfram and found moreover in the Peredur. The hero, thrown into a love-trance by the sight of blood-drops on the snow, gives no answer to the challenge addressed to him successively by Segramore and Kay, and being rudely attacked by these knights overthrows them both. The allusion to this incident, which is not related in the prose Lancelot, shows clearly that while, on the whole, he is harmonising his romance with the indications of the later traditions, the writer is yet quite conversant with the earlier forms.

4. PAGE 26.—The Father of Adventure. "Der Aventuren Fader." The Middle English poem of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (No. 1 of this Series) speaks of the knight in somewhat similar terms as "the fine father of courtesy." Gawain was from the first the adventurous hero, par excellence of the cycle, but I know no other instance in which this characteristic is so quaintly and forcibly expressed.

5. PAGE 28.—In secret case. The original words are "in hemeliker stede." To which particular adventure of Lancelot this refers it is not easy to decide; on more than one occasion he disappears from court, and the knights headed by Gawain, ride in quest of him. Perhaps this refers to his imprisonment by Morgain le Fay (cf. summary of D.L. in Legend of Sir Lancelot du Lac. Grimm's Library XII. pp. 236-7).

6. PAGE 35.—Sir Agloval, he is my father. This should be compared with the account of Gamuret's wooing and desertion of the Moorish queen, Belakane, in Book I. of the Parzival; also with the meeting of the unknown brothers in Book XV. of the same poem. It is perhaps worth noticing as indicative of the source of the tradition that Wolfram distinctly states that his Moor speaks in French.

7. PAGE 67,—The slain and the slayer. The belief that the blood of a corpse would flow afresh, did the murderer approach it, was very prevalent in the middle ages. In Chretien de Troyes' Chevalier au lion (ll. 1177 et seq.) we find a similar situation, complicated by the fact that Yvain (the slayer) protected by a magic ring is invisible to the bystanders. The best known instance, however, is probably that of the Nibelungenlied where Kriemhild's suspicions that Hagen is Siegfred's murderer are in this manner verified.

8. PAGE 91.—I have no call to flee, nor to fear death. This is evidently the hermit whom Lancelot in the Queste finds dead under circumstances agreeing with those here hinted at. The story will be found in Malory Book XV.

9. PAGE 102.—That cometh altogether from his sin against his mother. The reason here alleged for Perceval's failure to find the Grail is that given by Chrétien and Wolfram, and is another indication of the writer's familiarity with the early Perceval story.

10. PAGE 116.—Sir Agloval's explanation, (a) The Lancelot quest. The special quest here referred to is that undertaken in search of Lancelot when he fled from court in a frenzy, induced by Guinevere's jealousy of King Pelles' daughter. During this quest Agloval visits his mother, sees Perceval, and brings him to court (cf. Legend of Sir Lancelot pp. 161-2).

(b) The lost heritage. The fact that Perceval regains possession of the heritage of which he has, before his birth, been deprived is recorded in certain of the Perceval romances; the Parzival of Wolfram von Eschenbach, the prose Perceval li Gallois, and the English Sir Percyvelle of Galles, but it is not found in Chrétien. It is clear, to a close observer, that the compiler of the Dutch Lancelot knew the early Perceval tradition in a form closer to the version of the German, than that of the French poet. Later on, in the Queste section, he introduces a reference to this inheritance, where none exists in the French versions I have examined (cf. Legend of Sir Lancelot p. 174).

11. PAGE 127.—Lancelot's adventure with the beast. This is a condensed account of the well known story of The Fahe Claimant. Two versions of this story have already been given in this series, the dragon adventure in Tristan (No. II) and that of the stag in Tyolet (No. III.); this is inferior to either, but appears to combine characteristics of both. I have discussed it fully in Chapter III. of the Lancelot studies, before referred to, and have there compared it with the similar adventure also attributed to that knight in the Dutch compilation.

12. PAGE 128.—Had it not been for a ring which Lancelot wore. This is evidently the ring given him by the Lady of the Lake, and referred to in The Charrette (ll. 2348 et seq). It had the power of detecting enchantments.

13. PAGE 142.—King Arthur—held captive the king, who had erst made him a prisoner. There seems to be a confusion here; from Gariet's account it was the King of the Saxons who captured Arthur; here he has disappeared and everything is attributed to the King of Ireland. Probably they were allies; but it is also possible that confusion may have arisen from the fact that the King of Dublin was at one time, as in the Tristan legend, a Viking, and the poet has not distinguished clearly between the nationalities of these sea-robbers. If so, it would seem to indicate an early date for this particular story.