The principal circumstance which renders a satisfactory judgment in the matter so difficult is that we have so little preserved of the early literature of the two Celtic peoples who are most directly concerned in the debate namely, the Welsh and the Bretons. Indeed, nothing but names and glosses in the Breton language have survived from the Middle Ages. The folk-songs which Th. H. de la Villemarqué published in 1839 under the title of Barzaz-Breiz and which related in some instances to the principal characters of the Arthurian legend for example, the king himself and Merlin being so late, would not have had very much value for our purpose, even if they had been genuine. As a matter of fact, however, these have been proved to be substantially forgeries and not songs taken down from oral recitation, as they pretended to be. Indeed, they are, in a large measure, free inventions of their nineteenth century author sometimes owing a mere suggestion to genuine folk-songs, but more frequently based on books. It is a case of the Macpherson forgeries over again the fraud of a perfervid patriot only the connection with actual tradition in this instance is even slighter than could be claimed for the Ossian and Fingal pieces. The conditions are somewhat better with Welsh literature, for here we have in verse the poems of the Four Ancient Books to tant only for no. 1, and with regard even to no. 1, not all of the materials under this heading, by any means, are of Celtic origin. No. 2 is French (developed by itinerant and often bilingual conteurs), and we find combined here not only Celtic materials, but others drawn from the general fund of mediaeval stories. The Celtic names in the French romances of the Arthurian cycle are due, in a large measure, fashion and caprice (p. 215), after the conquest of England had made the matter popular, and they no more imply necessarily Celtic origin for the stories in which they appear than Germanic names in the chansons de geste imply Germanic origin for the stories of those poems. Golther ascribes to the combinations and inventions of the authors a large share in no. 3. Cp. H. Zimmer, Die romanischen Literaturen und Sprachen, mit Einschluß des Keltischen, p. 133 (1909) in Paul Henneberg's series, Kultur der Gegenwart. 4 Cp., especially, F. M. Luzel: De l'authenticité des chants du Barzaz-Breiz de M. de la Villemarqué (Paris, 1872). of Wales 5 The Black Book of Caermarthen, The Book of Aneurin, The Book of Taliessin, The Red Book of Hergest. These poems, although they purport to be the work of Welsh bards of the sixth century, are dated by modern scholars in a much later time from the tenth to the twelfth centuries. They relate in part to battles which fall in the period to which Arthur belonged that is to say, the sixth century and a few of them mention Arthur and certain characters connected with him who play a 5 - Edited, with translation by W. F. Skene, under this title, in 2 vols. (Edinburgh, 1868.) 6 7 Zimmer, op. cit., p. 116. English translations of the poems relating to Arthur in the four ancient books of Wales are given by Skene, I, 259-268. There are only four of such poems and of these four the first, entitled The Chair of the Sovereign (Book of Taliessin, XV), seems to mention Arthur only incidentally. The poem, it is true, is obscure to the last degree. In the second (Black Book of Caermarthen, XXXI) Arthur and Cai (Kay) are seeking entrance to a castle, but the porter. Glewlwyd Gavaelvawr (represented in the Welsh prose tales as one of Arthur's own porters), refuses until he knows more about the persons who wish to be admitted. Arthur eulogizes, then, his followers particularly, Cai, to a description of whose exploits most of the poem is devoted. Thus, although Arthur is the speaker, the piece is really a glorification of Cai. In the fourth poem, Geraint, son of Erbin (Black Book of Caermarthen, XXII), Arthur is barely mentioned (Skene, I, 267) as "emperor, and conductor of the toil" in the battle of Llongborth (wherever that may be), in which Geraint, the hero of the poem, was slain. Only the third poem, Preiddeu Annwvn (= The Harryings of Hades), Book of Taliessin, XXX (Skene, I, 264 ff.) celebrates Arthur as the central character. I have quoted an extract from this poem in the text above. The piece, as will be seen, refers in an obscure manner to expeditions which Arthur and his men in his ship, Prydwen made against certain places, named in the poem, but not yet identified. Sir John Rhys, pp. XXIV f. of his preface to the edition (London, 1906) of Malory's Morte Darthur in Everyman's Library, says: "The poem evidently deals with expeditions conducted by Arthur by sea to the realms of twilight and darkness". He also compares the quest of the cauldron of the Head of Hades in the Welsh poem to a similar quest in Kulhwch and Olwen, only the cauldron in the latter is in Ireland, not Hades. The preface, just mentioned, contains the best discussion of Arthurian allusions in these Welsh poems that we have. Rhys, however, omits to comment on large part in the French Arthurian romances for instance, Gwalchmeis (Gawain) and Kay (Kei)," Arthur's seneschal the passages (Skene I, 263, 295) about Llachau, son of Arthur. This son reappears in several of the French romances under the name of "Lohot". Cp. my discussion of the character in RR. III, 179 ff. (1912). For Gwalchmei (Gawain of the French romances) in Welsh literature cp. Loth's Mabinogion, I, 288, note 1. Ibid. in Kulhuch and Olwen he is called son of Gwyar, and it is said of him: "He never returned from a mission without having achieved it; he was the best of footmen and the best of horsemen. He was Arthur's nephew, son of his sister and cousin". In a triad, Loth, II, 89, he is one of the "three goldentongued knights at Arthur's court"; but this last may have been written under French influence. Loth observes, I, 288, note 1, that gwalch means "male falcon" and guyar, "blood". He does not explain mei. According to Rhys, Arthurian Legend, p. 13, Gwalchmei probably means "hawk or falcon of May". As has just been stated, Gwalchmei's father in Kulhurch and Olwen is named Gwyar; in Geoffrey (Book VIII, ch. 21, et. seq.) and the French romances Gawain's father is named Lot (Loth). In his article, "Le roi Loth des romans de la Table Ronde", Revue Cellique, XVI, 67 (1895), J. Loth is inclined to identify this Loth with the Lloch Llawwynnyawe who figures among Arthur's warriors in Kulhwch and Olwen (Loth's Mabinogion2, I, 264) and in the Black Book of Caermarthen (Skene, I, 262). It is to be observed, however, that further on in Kulhwch and Olwen (op. cit. p. 276) this Lloch (or Llwch, as the name is there spelt) is represented as the greatuncle of Arthur (on his mother's side), not his brother-in-law. Since Geoffrey's Lot (Loth), Book VIII, ch. 21, et. seq. is from Lothian (Londonesia), may not Geoffrey have fabricated this name from the name of the country with which he connects him, just as he fabricated (XII, 19) the name of his fictitious prince of Wales, Gualo, from Guallia (Wales) or Sabrina, (II, 5), name of the goldess of the river Severn, from Sabren? Loth, in the above-mentioned article, does not credit Geoffrey's invention, I believe, with its proper share in what that writer says in regard to Loth. excepting In these poems, as in Welsh literature, generally the pieces that betray French influence (cp. Loth's Mabinogion), I, 256, note 1) Cai (Kay) plays a heroic rôle not that of a butt, as in the French romances. For instance, in the Black Book of Caermarthen, XXXI (Skene, I, 264) he slays the monster, Cath Palug or Cath Paluc (Capalu or Chapalu of the Old French), which, according to one line of Arthurian tradition, killed Arthur. Cp. on this subject E. Freymond's masterly monograph, mentioned above, viz., in the French romances. Indeed, Urien, a prince of the North, who figures in the French romances as the husband of Morgan le Fay and the father of Ivain, is even more frequently mentioned than Arthur himself. The style of these poems, however, as of the Bardic poetry generally, is obscure and oracular. They are, besides, lyrical, not epical, so that they could not in themselves contribute to the transmission of legends concerning the heroes that are mentioned in them. The following, for instance, is from one of the poems concerning Arthur in the Book of Taliessin.10 It Artus' Kampf mit dem Katzenungestüm: Sonderabzug aus: Beiträge zur romanischen Philologie, Festgabe für Gustav Gröber (Halle, 1899). I have summarized the main points of this monograph in my edition of the Mort Artu, pp. 304f. The idea of Arthur's death through this monstrous cat (water demon, according to Freymond) may be one of the debts of French romance to Wales, although it is not found in the extant Welsh texts. A similar tradition may have prevailed in Brittany. Cp. Galeran de Bretagne, 5068 ff., where it is ascribed to the Bretons. In any event, early in the thirteenth century we find it localized at Lake Bourget in Savoy and J. Loth, Romania, XXIX, 125 f. (1900) suggests that the story reached Savoy by way of Champagne and Flanders-Alsace, whose princes (patrons of Chrétien de Troyes) we know were interested in the materials of romance. Freymond, to be sure, thinks that travellers crossing the Alps brought the tale to Savoy. The earliest allusions to the killing of Arthur by a monster cat occur in texts of the latter part of the twelfth century not all of them romances. A lengthy account of this fight will be found in the Merlin of the Vulgate cycle. Cp. Sommer's Vulgate Version of the Arthurian Romances, II, 441 ff. Here, however, Arthur is victor. The episode is plainly connected with the localization of the legend in Savoy, only in the Merlin the combat is represented as taking place on Lake Lausanne (i. e. Geneva), and not on Lake Bourget, where the Mont du Chat still preserves a trace of the early localization. For some corrections to Freymond's monograph, cp. Loth, loc. cit. In "Arthurian Notes", MLN, XVII, 277, W. W. Newell identifies the monster of no. 30 in Child's English and Scottish Ballads with the Chapalu. According to Kulhwch and Olwen (Loth, 12, 275) Cai was slain by Gwyddawc, son of Menestyr, who, in turn, was slain and his brothers, too by Arthur in revenge for Cai. There is nothing to correspond to this in the French romances. celebrates apparently some disastrous expedition by sea of the great hero: "Am I not a candidate for fame with the listened song In Caer Pedryvan, in the isle of the strong door? The twilight and pitchy darkness were mixed together. Bright wine their liquor before their retinue. Thrice enough to fill Prydwen (i. e. Britain) we went on the sea; Except seven none retnrned from Caer Rigor. I shall not deserve much from the ruler of literature. Beyond Caer Wydyr they saw not the prowess of Arthur. Three score Canhwr (i. e. centuries of men or a legion) stood on the wall; Difficult was a conversation with its sentinel. Thrice enough to fill Prydwen there went with Arthur. I shall not deserve much from those with long shields. They know not what day, who the causer, What hour in the serene day Cwy was born, Who caused that he should not go to the dales of Devwy. Seven score knobs in his collar. And when we went with Arthur of anxious memory, To the uninitiated such a piece as this would not convey much information concerning the events to which it relates, and the rest are no better. The same is true of the dialogue between Arthur and Guinevere, the only Welsh poem in which these two characters appear together. 11 Besides the poems from which extracts have been given above, we have the highly characteristic brief poems called Triads.12 The nature of these pieces will be sufficiently manifest from the following specimens,13 which have reference to incidents and personages in Arthurian saga: "Three furious blows in the isle of Prydein [i. e. Britain]: "One was given by Matholwch the Gael to Branwen daughter 11 Printed, with translation, by J. Rhys, Studies in the Arthurian Legend, pp. 57f. (Oxford 1891). He gives it no date. The best translations are in French by J. Loth, Les Mabinogion', II, 223 ff. (Paris, 1913). 12 18 Ibid., p. 246, and p. 247, respectively. |