Page [79], line 437—'Siguné and Schionatulander.' The loves of these two are related in Wolfram's unfinished poem of Titurel, where the full account of Schionatulander's fatal chase of the hound, or brachet, is given. The adventure with the weeping damsel occurs in other versions of the Perceval legend, but in none does she play so important a part as in the Parzival, vide Book V. p. 141; Book IX. p. 252; and Book XVI. Her parentage is given in Book IX. p. 274.
Page [79], line 466—'Thou art Parzival.' The interpretation here given of the hero's name betrays clearly its French origin, Perce-val. In the Krône of Heinrich von Türlin the writer explains Val as Thal=valley, or Furch=furrow. Wolfram seems to have understood it in this second sense, and has given the name a symbolic meaning peculiar to himself. In Chrêtien's poem no derivation or interpretation of the name is given, and the hero himself guesses his name; nor do the special terms of endearment, evidently quoted by Wolfram from a French source, occur in Chrêtien's version of the story.
Page [80], line 497—''Twas a churl.' Wolfram's aristocratic contempt for peasants may be noted in other passages, cf. Book II. p. 43, and VII. p. 219.
Page [81], line 517—'Herr Hartmann von Aue.' Hartmann von Aue was a famous German poet of the twelfth century. If not absolutely the first to introduce the Arthurian legends into Germany (Eilhart's Tristan is earlier than Hartmann's works), he was the writer who first rendered them popular in that country. His principal poems are Erec, written about 1191; and Iwein 1202, both of which are frequently referred to by Wolfram. They were founded on two poems by Chrêtien de Troyes, Erec and Le Chevalier au Lyon, but Hartmann was not a mere translator; he handled his materials with considerable skill, and with an insight into the characters and motives of his dramatis personæ which is distinctly a feature of the German presentment of these legends. Enid and her mother Karnafite are characters in the Erec. The story of another of Hartmann's poems, Der arme Heinrich, is well known to English readers through Longfellow's version of it in The Golden Legend.
Page [82], line 534—'No Kurwenal was his teacher.' Kurwenal is the friend and tutor of Tristan. In Malory we find the name 'Gouvernail,' and it seems probable that here again we have a term denoting an office converted into a proper name.
Page [82], line 549—'Ither of Gaheviess.' Ither = Welsh Idêr; Gaheviess = gas-vies, old wood. Chrêtien calls him 'de la forêt de Kinkerloi.'
Page [82], line 544—'The Red Knight.' This character is evidently one of the traditional features of the story; though the circumstances of the meeting differ, there is no version without its 'Red Knight.' In those romances of the Grail-cycle in which Perceval has been deposed from his original position as hero in favour of Galahad, we find the latter wearing the armour, and bearing the title, of the Red Knight. Here again Wolfram is the only writer who names him, but it is somewhat startling to find the king of Cumberland claiming Brittany. From Book IX. pp. 273 and 285, we learn that he was Parzival's kinsman. It may be interesting here, and may help to the better understanding of the poem, if we describe the armour of a knight at the end of the twelfth century. The principal piece of defensive armour was the Hauberk (Halsberg), a coat formed of rings of steel which reached to the knee, and had sleeves ending in iron gauntlets. Attached to this, and forming one piece with the Halsberg, was the Härsenier, a cap of chain mail which was drawn over the head below the helmet. The upper part of the face was protected by the 'Nasen-band,' a band of iron provided with eye-holes; and the lower part by the 'Fintäle,' a part of the 'Härsenier' which passed round and over the chin; above this the helmet was fastened. (The use of the word 'visor' in the translation is an anachronism, as the visor proper was not introduced till later, but there was no other word which would express what was meant with equal brevity and clearness.) Foot and leg were clad in hose of iron, and the knee and elbow were specially protected by plates of iron or schinnelier. Over this harness many knights wore the Waffen-rock, a long sleeveless garment of silk on which the badge of the knight was embroidered in gold and jewels. The sword was girt above this garment. The knight would also bear his distinguishing badge on helmet, shield, and the truncheon of his spear. The shield was of wood, strengthened with bands of metal, and often decorated with precious stones, cf. the description of Feirefis' shield in Book XV. The shield was long-shaped, three-cornered, and was held in the left hand close to the body, the spear was carried in the right, so that the horse was guided by the knee, not by the hand, of the rider. The spear was a blade of steel, set into a long heft of wood, or reed, Röhr, probably Bamboo, sometimes even the rough trunk of a young tree, as in Book IV. p. 519. Shield and spear were alike painted in the same colours as the robe of the knight, and the horse had a like covering of silk beneath the saddle and over the coat of mail with which it was protected. The description given by Wolfram of the arms and accoutrement of the Red Knight of Parzival, Book IV. p. 19, and Orilus, Book V. pp. 147-148, seq., will give a very clear idea of the appearance of a knight in full battle-array.
Page [83], line 570—'To the Table Round I came.' Here we find an allusion to two methods of laying claim to a property. There seems a difference of opinion as to the first; Simrock holds that the pouring out of the wine constituted the claim; Bartsch, that the point of the action lay in carrying off some part of the property claimed. This seems the more probable interpretation, the pouring out of the wine then, as well as the sprinkling the queen, would be accidental. In Chrêtien the indignation of king and queen at the insult is far more strongly emphasised. The burning of a wisp of straw, as a declaration of rights claimed, is mentioned by Grimm in his Deutsche Rechtsalterthümer.