Thai war knightes of the tabyl rownde, That wan al Wales with his hand, 1 This monarch was the son of Uther-Pendragon, king of Britain, by Igerna, the beautiful wife of Gorlois, duke of Cornwall, into whose semblance (like another Jupiter) he was metamorphosed, by a miracle of the enchanter Merlin. Gorlois being slain in battle by the king's troops, while the monarch himself was passing his time with Igerna, they were shortly afterwards united in the bands of holy wedlock. Arthur, having succeeded his father, conquers the Saxons, Picts and Scots; adds to his government Ireland, Iceland, Gothland, and the Orkneys; subdues Norway, Dacia, Aquitain, and Gaul; and even the Romans.* But, hearing, upon his march to Rome, that his nephew Modred, or Mordred, whom he had left vicegerent, had, by tyrannical and treasonable practices, set the crown upon his own head, and that his queen Guanhumara, or Guenever, was wickedly married to this undutiful relation, he returned with speed to Britain; and, after a dreadful engagement, in which Modred was slain, being himself mortally wounded, and carried to the isle of Avalon (now Glastonbury) to be cured of his hurts, he resigned the crown in favour of his kinsman Constantine, the son of Cador, duke of Cornwall, in the year 542. Such, at least, is the account given by Geoffrey of Monmouth, in the British history, which he professes to have translated from a very ancient book in that tongue, brought out of Armorica, and presented to him for the purpose by Walter [Calenius] archdeacon of Oxford, in or about the year 1138. It is unquestionably fabulous and romantic; but that "Arthur was merely a name given by the Welsh to Aurelius Ambrosius," or that "the Arthur of Welsh history is a nonexistence," as asserted by the author of "An enquiry into the history of Scotland" (I, 76), is a much more impudent and unqualified falsehood than any in that book. That he was a brave warrior, and, in all probability, a petty king, is manifest from authentic history, which this mendacious impostor pretends to have consulted. See Nennius, C. 61; William of Malmesbury, De gestis regum Anglorum, L. 1 ; Henry of Huntingdon, Historia, L. 2; Vita S. Gildæ, per Caradocum Llancarvanensem, among the king's MSS. 13 B VII; and Carte's history of England, I, Of these authors Nennius was dead three hundred years, at least, before the publication of The British history,* which the monk of Malmesbury never saw, nor the archdeacon of Huntingdon till after he had published his own. Carádoc, also, a contemporary writer, certainly borrows nothing from Geoffrey; and Carte, though a modern, seems to have made use of good materials. His sepulchre, if we may believe Girald Barry, surnamed Cambrensis, who professes to have seen the cross and bones found therein, was discovered at Glastonbury in the reign of king Henry II. -after that monarch's death. He has been the subject of innumerable romances, as well French as Welsh and English; and old songs, in the time of Malmesbury, fabled that he was yet to come.‡ 202. That there were stories, and perhaps romances and ballads, upon the subject of • The French, or English, romance supposes him to come to Rome, and be there "crowned emperor by the pope's own hands." Mort d'Arthur, P. 1, C. 99. ↑ The writer already mentioned has the impudence to assert "that the chapter on Arthur is not of Nennius, but an addition taken from Geoffrey's romance; "the falsehood of which latter assertion will be manifest to every one who consults the two books; and, it is universally admitted, that Samuel, the interpolator of Nennius, was nearly of the same age. An interpolator of the Scotichronicon observes that "because in the monasterial church of Glasinberi he is say'd to be bury'd with this sort of epitaph, Hic jacet Arthurus, rex quondam atque futurus, it is believe'd by the vulgar that he still lives, and, as is sung in comedys, is hereafter to come And al Scotland, als sayes the buke,' Of al knightes he bare the pryse, He made a feste, the soth to say, At Kerdyf, that es in Wales,' Arthur, in the Welsh language, anterior to the publication of Geoffrey's British history, is manifest, not only from that very work, where he says "cum et gesta eorum [Arthurii, scilicet, &c.] à multis populis quasi inscripta mentibus et jucunde et memoriter predicantur;" but also from William of Malmesbury: "Hic est Arthurus de quo Brittonum nugæ hodieque delirant." Maistre Wace, likewise, a writer of the same age or century, says, "Fist Artur la ronde table, Dunt Breton dient meinte fable." Even William of Newbrough allows that the fables of Arthur in Geoffrey's history were partly taken “ex priscis Britonum figmentis." Nothing of this kind, however, appears to be now extant. 1 The book alluded to is probably Geoffrey of Monmouth's British history, which gave rise, within a very short period, to a multitude of voluminous romances on the subject of Arthur. The phrase, however, is common in the old French histories of the round table, &c. in which a chapter is frequently introduced with Or dict le compte, &c." So, likewise, in La mort d'Arthur: And as the boke telleth, &c." or, sometimes, "As the French booke saith." 2 It was the custom of the ancient monarchs of France and England, to hold what was then called a cour pleniere, or plenary court, at the three principal feasts of Easter, Whitsuntide, and Christmas; at which they were attended by the earls and barons of the kingdom, their ladies, and children; who dined at the royal table with great pomp and eclat; minstrels flocking thither from all parts; justs and tournaments being performed, and various other kinds of divertisement, which lasted several days. A very elaborate description of the coronation of king Arthur, at the feast of Pentecost, is given by Geoffrey of Monmouth (B. ix, C. xii); which has served as a model to his successors; and the ceremony is frequently noticed by our early historians, as Roger Hoveden, Matthew Paris, &c. &c. It is, of course, still more common in the old romances. 3 Now Cardiff, in Glamorganshire. to restore the dispersed and exiled Britons to their own." (Hearne's edition, P. 218.) This tradition is mentioned by Girald and other old writers; but the epitaph found at Glastonbury is very different, and the cross delineated by Camden, if not the whole transaction, a palpable forgery. Cervantes, upon whatever authority, makes don Quixote report, as an ancient and common tradition in the whole kingdom of Great-Britain, that king Arthur did not die, but, by art of enchantment, was converted into a crow; and that, in process of time, he is to return again to reign, and recover his kingdom and sceptre; for which reason, he adds, it cannot be proved that since that time any Englishman hath ever killed a crow." (Part 1, chap. 13.) The French have an old MS. intitled "Roman d'Artur le Rethoré" (i.e. le restauré : Arthur restored, or revived). And als of knyghtes war and wyse, Ilkane with other made grete gamin, Thai tald of more trewth tham bitwene,' Men uses now another craft ; With worde men makes it trew and stabil, That was the flowr of chevallry; Swilk lose thai wan with speres horde, 30 40 Over al the werld went the worde. After mete went the kyng Into chamber to slepeing, And also went with him the quene,3 1 In the MS, this word reads "bitwne." 2 In the MS. this word reads "thar." 50 3 Guenever, in the old French romances, is the daughter of king Leodegrance of the land of Cameliard. Geoffrey of Monmouth calls her Guanhumara,* and says she was descended from a noble family of Romans; had been educated under duke Cador; and in beauty surpassed all the women in the island (B. 9, C. 9). According to this author, during Arthur's absence in Gaul or Italy, she married his nephew Mordred (whom the romance also makes his son †); they having been left joint-regents of the kingdom by Arthur; upon whose return she fled from York to Chester, where she resolved to lead a chaste life, among the nuns, in the church of Julius the martyr, and enter herself one of their order. The romance, however, supposes her to have taken refuge in the tower of London, which was besieged by Mordred; and to have, afterward, become a nun of Ambresbury, where she died, * Guenureui, Winifred. Lloyd, P. 255. + By his sister Margawse, the wife of king Lot, whom he did not, however, at the time know to be so. L. du lac, tome 3, fo. 16, b. The French romance of Launcelot does not name the nunnery to which the and only says it was near London. queen retired, For thai saw tham never so Bot sone when thai war went to slepe,1 Or ani of tham of hir had sight; 60 70 and whence she was brought, by sir Lancelot, her former paramour, then a priest, and his eight fellows, to Glastonbury, to be there interred in one and the same tomb with the king her husband. It appears from the inscription on the cross mentioned by Girald Barry, as found with her and her husband's remains, to have been Arthur's second wife: and the Welsh antiquaries, never deficient in absurdity, assert him to have had three wives, all of the name of Guenever.* We know, at the same time, from better authority, that she was actually violated and ravished by Melvas, king of Estiva, or Somersetshire, and taken to Glastonbury, as a place of security, which Arthur besieged for a twelvemonth, till, by the mediation of the abbot, and Gildas, surnamed sapiens, she was peaceably restored. See the life of St. Gildas, by Carádoc of Lancarvan (MSS. regia, 13 B VII). He calls her Guennimar. This Melvas, in all likelihood, is the Meleagant of the old French romance, who achieves the queen in single combat with sir Kay, and carries them both off to his father's castle. In La mort d'Arthur, where the story is differently related, he is called Meliagrance. He was, afterward, slain by sir Lancelot. 1 This word is illegible in the MS. 2 Sir Dedyne is probably the same with Dynadam or Dinadan, surnamed de Estranger, one of the knights of the round table. Sagremors le desree, or Segramour le desirous, was also a knight of the round table, and is to be met with in Lancelot du lac, Mort d'Arthur, &c. 3 This sir Kay, the Caius seneschallus of Geoffrey of Monmouth, or sire Keux le seneschall of the old French romances, was the son of sir Ector, or Authon, young Arthur's tutor, and was, of course, that king's foster-brother. He has the same character in Mort d'Arthur (P. 1, C. 120, &c.) and is elsewhere called to his face "the shamefullest knight of his tongue" that was then living in the world. 4 So, in Mort d'Arthur, where he is said to be a knight of the round table. In the French romance of Lancelot du lac, he is called Gallogrenant. In the former book (P. 3, C. 80), he is slain by sir Lionell; the sir Colgrevance of Gore, slain by sir Lancelot, in C. 145, being, apparently, a different person. * See Prisei Historia Brit. defensio, P. 134, and Lewis's History of Britain, P. 185. Ow, Colgrevance, said sir Kay, Ne for no maner of fayntise, Ne for us denyd noght forto rise, 80 That we ne had resen had we hyr sene. t Sir Kay, i wote wele, sayd the quene, Madame, he said, by goddes dome,' Bot pray ye now this gentil man, Ful oft wele better men than i Has thou desspised desspytusely; It es ful semeli, als me think, A brok omang men forto stynk; 90 So it fars by the, syr Kay, 1 Oaths are frequent throughout these poems, and in most kinds of ancient poetry; being, manifestly, in common use amongst our ancestors, and even with young ladies, and princesses of the blood-royal; by all of whom, it is presumed, they were regarded as perfectly innocent. Our ancient monarchs had their peculiar oaths: William the conqueror usually swore, By the resurrection of God; William the red, By God's face, By the holy face of saint Luke; John, by the feet of the Lord; Henry the third, By God's head; Edward the first, By the blood of God As the Lord liveth; Edward the third, By God's soul; Edward the fourth, By God's blessed lady; Richard the third, By saint Paul; Henry the eighth was by no means sparing; and his daughter Elizabeth had By God in her mouth as frequently as a fishwoman. Chaucer's fellow-pilgrims have their several oaths, which are accurately enumerated by the historian of English poetry: see volume II, Sig. f 3. Oaths and curses, in fact, are, at this day, common to most nations in the world, as they were, formerly, to the Greeks and Romans. |