King Horn. § 3. Elements of the Story. § 4. Topography. xvii alized and has come to be the more prominent element in the story. The minor features of the story, though often purely conventional, and, therefore, belonging to no distinct nationality, at times show Germanic traits, as for instance in the comitatus relation existing between Horn and his followers, in the manner of wooing and of wedding, in the etiquette of the feasts, in the etiquette of the duel, and in the formal challenge on the part of a champion of an invading host, to a duel upon the result of which shall depend the marriage of a princess or the fate of a kingdom (cf. Mod. Lang. Assoc. Publ., as above, pp. 228-231).

The story as it is preserved in K. H., the earliest of existing versions, is no doubt a greatly expanded form of the original nucleus. The timely rescue of the princess from a forced marriage, which in the Scottish ballad has been preserved at the expense of the complete loss of the other element, the recovery of the kingdom and the avengement of the father's death, even in the earlier K. H. version has come quite to overshadow the recovery and revenge element. It seems very probable also that there has been a duplication of the rescue scene, due either to the desire of the jongleur, or minstrel, to repeat a successful climax, or to a blending of two versions of the same story, a not at all uncommon feature in such romances,1 and that the second rescue scene, with its more archaic and more particularly Germanic features, represents the sole turning-point in an earlier and simpler version, the first and more conventional rescue scene being an expansion contributed by a later composer. All this, which rests largely on conjecture, would assume for the nucleus of the story a relatively simple incident in which there are involved only two places, the kingdom from which the prince is expelled and which he regains, and the kingdom where he finds refuge.

§ 4. TOPOGRAPHY.

The topography of the Horn story offers some difficult but interesting problems. In the northern version (H. C.) all is made relatively clear. The author of this version assigns the events to very definite places. Horn's father is king of "al Ingelond fram Humber norp." He repels a Danish invasion on the east coast, and is slain by invaders from Ireland. Horn and his companions take refuge "fer soupe in Inglond." Thence Horn goes in exile to Wales and later into Ireland. The Norman

1 Cf. the seeming duplication of names, Rymenhild, Reymyld etc.; Reynild, Ermenyld, etc., all of which may have come from an original Eormenhild (cf. OE. Leechdoms), the variants being due to metathesis as in OE. yrnan: rinnan. Cf. also the explanation of Westernesse below, p. xx.

KING HORN.

b

trouvère, also, clarifies matters somewhat by assigning definite names to two of the three kingdoms involved, Bretaigne and Westir (Ki ore est Hirlonde lors westir fu apelee, 2184, H). But both the Norman and the older English versions have consistently the perplexing name Sudenne (Sodenne); and the earlier English version has also the vague name Westernesse (Westnesse), leaving as a certain starting-point in our study of the topography only Yrlonde, also referred to as westene lond (754 H). From internal evidence in King Horn we learn little that is definite about the situation of Suddenne. In drifting from Suddenne to Westernesse, Horn and his companions spend “Al þe day and al þe nizt, Til hit sprang dai list," K. H. 122–3; and again we are told of the same voyage "Dai hit is igon and oper, Wipute sail and roper," 187-8. On the return voyage to Suddenne, Bipinne daies fiue, pat schup gan ariue, 1295-6. On hearing of Fikenhild's second treachery Horn exclaims, "Crist for his wundes fiue, To nizt me puder drive, 1423-4, and then, Er pan horn hit wiste, To fore pe sunne vpriste, His schup stod vndur ture At Rymenhilde bure, 1435-39. From all which we can only conclude that ideas of direction and distance are very vague in the mind of the English composer.

In regard to the kingdom of Suddenne, some have thought that the name must be connected with Suddene mentioned in Beowulf, which would make Suddenne refer to some place in northern Europe, possibly in Denmark. (Parallelism with the Havelok would also support this opinion.) But neither the proper names of the story, nor the phonology of the word Suddenne itself, support this view. Ward1 suggests that the name is a mere vague poetical designation, and brings together historical facts and internal evidence in the attempt to determine the definite place. He cites the name Hornesbeorh on the Isle of Purbeck, Dorsetshire, calls attention to the phrase in King Horn, "y come into pis yle," referring to the Sarazin incursion in which Horn's father was killed, and from the fact that "it was upon Dorsetshire that a descent of the Northmen took place, which was the first recorded appearance in Wessex, and which evidently made a great impression upon the people, concludes that "Dorsetshire has a very fair claim to be considered the birthplace of the Horn legend."

One is loath, however, to let go the only thread that seems to lead to an explanation of the name Suddenne itself. Francisque Michel was the first to point out that in the Brit. Mus. text of Gaimar's L'estorie des

1 Ward (H. L. W.), Catalogue of Romances in the British Museum, I, 450.

King Horn. § 4. Topography.

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Engleis, one reads that "Edelbrit fu feit reis de Kent E de Sudeine ensement,” vv. 955-6. In spite of the fact that the other three versions have; one, Surrie, the other two Suthreie, one is tempted to cling to this clew, and the fact that in the same manuscript later, Gaimar, in referring to the same political division says,1 "Puis regnat son fiz, E Adelstán, un rei gentils, Li uns out Westsexe, e laltre Kent, Suthdreie, e Suthsexe ensement, vv. 2388-91, gives ground for the supposition that Sudeine2 may refer collectively to Surrey and Sussex. In that case the coast of Sussex was probably the scene of the first act in the Horn drama.

Whichever of these views is the true one, we may be reasonably certain that the Suddenne in the mind of the composer of K. H. lay on the south coast of England. Knowing this, we may perhaps determine, at least approximately, the situation of Westernesse. In the Harleian and Laud MSS., the messenger sent to seek Horn, says, Ich seche from Westnesse horn knight of estnesse," which indicates that the composer conceives Westernesse to be west of Suddenne. Further it is very certain, as Ward (as above, p. 449) points out, that an early version of the Horn story has supplied several of the incidents of the Hereward. The influence of the story of Horn on the Hereward is particularly obvious in chapters 4-6, where Hereward gets into trouble at the court of a king of Cornwall named Alef, by killing a champion who had claimed the princess in marriage; Hereward is imprisoned, but is released by the princess, who sends him to her chosen lover, the son of a king of Ireland; a letter subsequently reaches him, saying that she is about to be forced into marriage with another Irish prince. Hereward reaches Cornwall again, visits the bridal feast in disguise, and is presented with the cup by the princess. "This," as Ward remarks, "is certainly some evidence that the Westnesse or Westernesse of our poem may be taken to signify Cornwall. The name, Aylmar (¿. e. Athelmar), also does not oppose this view. The name was a very common one in South England, and was borne by two of the Aldermen of Devonshire, who seem to have had some authority over Cornwall also, one about 930, another in the early part of the 11th century, and both bearing the epithet Ailmer the Great.""

1 Aethelwulf was King of Kent, Surrey and Sussex (Gaimar, 2391. Cf. also 2476, 2480-82). Aethelstan had Wessex, for see 2480-82. Aethelwulf was defeated by the Danes (2440-46), and was avenged by his brother Aethelstan, who defeated the Danes (2480-83).

2 All three MSS. of K. H. say of Horn's father, "king he wes by weste," perhaps referring to this western division of the eastern kingdom. Asser visits Alfred at the latter's royal 'vill' which is called Denne. East Dene (or Dean) and West Dene are two villages near Chichester. There are also two villages of the same name near Eastbourne.

=

Another possible explanation of Westernesse may be suggested. The duplication of names and incidents in Westernesse and Ireland has been referred to above. The -er suffix of Westernesse certainly suggests the -r termination in Westir (the name in R. H.), which is probably a Norse name for Ireland (cf. the other Norse names in Ireland: Thurston, Regnild, Norse Ragnhilda, and Harild. Cf. also R. H. 2184 H, quoted above, p. xviii), and it is not at all impossible to conceive that in the original, simpler form of the story, there were but two scenes to this drama, and that Westernesse of the English version, and Westir of the Norman version, alike refer to Ireland, only that on account of the amplification of the story, one came to think of Aylmar's kingdom as in England, and added a nesse to the Norse form Westir (Vestr) so as to make the term fit a promontory on the western end of the south coast of England, in Devonshire or in Cornwall.

§ 5. STYLE.

As we have seen, the story of Horn belongs to a second growth of English story. The manner of expression, and the general movement of the story are quite different from those peculiar to Anglo-Saxon poetry, lacking almost entirely the parallelism, the appositional construction and the heaped-up epithets, or kennings of the earlier stories. With the large French element in the vocabulary, there seems to have been introduced a manner of expression more like the French than like the earlier English. The movement is direct, and the imagery very simple and popular. Cf. He was brizt so pe glas. He was whit so pe flur, Rose red was his colur, 14-16, Also blak so eny cole, 624. Also he sprunge of stone, 1102, etc. In this respect King Horn is less closely linked with the past than is Layamon's Brut, which was composed in the West Midlands, where the OE. traditions in poetry persisted the longest. The Brut, while presenting many of the modern features of manner and of phrase, still preserves much of the manner of the past. There are in King Horn a number of the conventionalized phrases, to be found also in Layamon (cf. Notes to vv. 11, 67, 69, etc.), but the number of such instances is much smaller than one would have expected, and if Layamon's West Midland work represents an earlier stage than King Horn in the development from the Anglo-Saxon manner of writing, the composer of Horn has certainly been subjected to many new and modernizing influences.

The very element in common between Layamon and King Horn is, perhaps, the new, the modern phraseology more often than the old phraseology rooted in the past. While, then, there are but few traces of

King Horn. § 5. Style. § 6. Versification.

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the older English poetic phraseology, there is much in common between King Horn and the romances of the 13th and 14th centuries. The language in King Horn seems to be already again crystallizing into new conventional forms. In spite of the different demands of the metre of Horn from those of the later, more regular, forms of versification, there are a very great number of stereotyped phrases common to King Horn and to the contemporary and succeeding romances composed in the other metre. I have brought together in the Notes a number of instances of this agreement in phraseology. The minor elements, also, are often rather mediæval than Anglo-Saxon, and the customs described, the princess's manner of receiving visitors, the manner of salutation in meeting and in parting, etc., if truly representing the manners of the time of the composition of King Horn, soon became conventionalized and common to the whole body of Middle English romance. (Cf. Notes to vv. 315, 319, 321, 403, 537, 739, etc.) In these respects the composer of K. H. no doubt at times follows the conventional mode of composition of his time, but he is probably also at times an innovator, for several scenes in Horn seem to have been prototypes directly imitated in later romances in the Ipomydon and in the Richard Coeur de Lion. (Cf. Notes to 239 ff., 264.)

On the whole, then, we see that the language of King Horn is much less influenced, than one would expect, by older English models. The language of the second growth of story seems to have fallen into new conventional moulds quite independent of the older tradition.

§ 6. VERSIFICATION.

As we have seen, the phraseology of King Horn shows relatively little trace of influence by the older English traditional stereotyped forms of expression. In this respect if Layamon is the link connecting native English poetry with the past, King Horn is the link joining to the newer traditions of poetry, which were forming. For, as we have seen, if King Horn has some phrases in common with Layamon, these are the modern forms of expression more often than the phrases rooted in the older English tradition. And, as we have seen, while King Horn has relatively little of phraseology inherited from the past, it has a multitude of stereotyped phrases in common with the poetry of contemporary and later composition (cf. Notes). In the same way in versification, if Layamon is the link connecting with the Anglo-Saxon mode of versification, King Horn is the link connecting with the newer mode, of Romance or mediæval Latin origin.