[200] As I have said before, there can be no doubt which of the two is the prototype of Gareth; also, subsequent study has shown me that, outside the Lancelot proper and the romances which have been modified for cyclic purposes, we rarely find any mention of Guerresches, whereas we often meet with Gariët. I am strongly of opinion that originally the two characters were one, and that in that earlier form the knight was Gaheriet or Gariët.
[201] Studies, p. 254.
[202] Throughout this section it must be borne in mind that S. systematically replaces the Guerresches of his text by Gaheriet. This latter sides throughout with Gawain.
[203] It is of course possible that a negative may have dropped out here.
[204] On p. 260, Dr. Sommer makes a strange mistake. We are told that Bohort fights against Ywain; to this Dr. Sommer appends a note of exclamation, and a footnote to the effect that Ywain has already been killed by Gawain, as related in the Queste. Of course it was not the 'Chevalier au Lion,' but his bastard half-brother, 'Yvain li avoutres,' who was slain on that occasion. The text of Q. is quite clear.
[205] On p. 261, Dr. Sommer again falls into a curious error of identity. We are told that King Karados assists at the council between Arthur, Lancelot, and Gawain, when the fight is determined upon. Dr. Sommer reminds us in a note that Karados had been previously slain by Lancelot! That was, of course, the giant of that name, brother to Turquine; this is the famous Karados 'Brief-bras,' sometimes regarded as Arthur's nephew. Dr. Sommer's apparent lack of familiarity with the minor characters of the Arthurian cycle is inexplicable.
[206] On p. 263 the parallel passages quoted from M. and the English M. A. make mention of Baudemagus as one of Lancelot's councillors, whereas at the end of the Queste his death at the hand of Gawain is recorded. Cf. this with my remarks on the Baudemagus legend, p. 184. I do not think this story of his death was a genuine part of the cyclic Lancelot, but belonged to another line of tradition known to the author of Q. from the Merlin Suite, and unintelligently quoted by him. This, which is a real discrepancy, as there is but one Baudemagus, Dr. Sommer does not remark upon!
[208] (a) chap. ii., the Lanzelet of Ulrich von Zatzikhoven; (b) chaps. iii. and iv., Le cerf au pied blanc, Le Chevalier de la Charrette; (c) chaps. vi., vii., and viii., the prose Lancelot.
[209] Cf. [chap. vii]., The loves of Lancelot and Guinevere.