The Legend of Sir Lancelot du Lac

rose compilation which represents its final form. The popular 'Lancelot' legend was the legend as told in t

this initial difficulty is much increased by the fact that so far the material at our disposal, abundant though it be, is in an inchoate and unorganised condition. There is no critical edition of the prose Lancelot; and as we shall see in the following studies, not merely the MSS., but the numerous printed editions d

tance in themselves, or must have existed in some form even in a shorter version of the story, e.g., such as Lancelot's youth, and first appearance at court, his relations with Guinevere, and connection with the Grail story; (b) certain interesting variants in the texts we possess, variants which are

t prove to be a lai recounting the theft of a child by a water-fairy, and in spite of the unwi

h our hero, such as the Merlin and the Tristan. In the earliest forms of the story neither of these tales have anything whatever to do with La

he same original, probably modified in the Lanzelet by translation into another tongue. The story of the king driven from his kingdom and dying of a broken heart is the same, au fond, though the motif has been varied, and in the prose Lancelot the king's m

ulgate Merlin knows of his two cousins, Lionel and Bohort, whose introduction into the legend marks that seco

before the birth of that hero takes place. In the Suite de Merlin, however, he and his treacherous love visit the castle of King

introduces the personages of the Tristan story, such as Morholt (Le Morhout),[100] a clea

e Vulgate Merlin also refers to the Grail romances,[101] so that it seems clear

and Bohort appear on the scene, and become Lancelot's companions, while the whole conception of the kingdom of the Lady of the Lake is radically modified. It is no longer a Meide-lant; Lancelot has knight-atte

ate idea of his own importance) leaves the kingdom, which he does in order to seek knighthoo

him without the town, and consigns him to the care of Ywain, who, the next day, l

s; both are unable to control their steeds, they cannot even hold the bridle; both are alike fair to look upon, but apparently foolish (tumbe); both are ignorant of their name and parentage. Different as the account of the prose Lancelot is from this, and no difference could

e under quite different circumstances. He rides into the hall, and advances so close

te the Ywain referred to from King Urien's famous son, and in my translation of the poem I adopted the same view. But further study has led me to doubt this solution. I now think it more probable that the name is in both cases the same, i.e. a form of the Breton Yonec, which we find with the varying spelling, Iwenec and Yonet.[105] Thus both Chrétien and Wolfram refer to the same character; an

truck dumb by her beauty, makes some contemptuous remarks as to his lack of sense,

er. It is noticeable that on the occasion of the first attack (in the case of Lancelot one can only regard these trances as an intermittent malady) the knight is clad in red armour and leans on his spear-as does Pe

-known by the compiler of, the first mentioned romance. Et le grant conte de Lancelot convient repairier en la fin à Perceval qui est chiés et la fin de tos les contes ès autres

idently knew nothing of Galahad as the Grail Winner, though he knew the Lancelo

nighthood, as they sit at meat in the hall, a messenger arrives, sent by the 'Dame de Nohan,'[109] asking for a champion to aid her against the King of Northumberland. Lancelot (whose name we must remember is not yet revealed, and who is referred t

ances that the hero of the Bel Inconnu

e Libeaus Desconus,[110] maintains that the Lancelot story (more particularly in the version known to Ulrich

ns of deciding, but the Lanzelet has points of contact with both the Perceval (Enfances) and the Bel Inconnu (Fier Baiser) story. Further, the prose Lancelot, though differing very widely from Ulrich von Zatzikhoven's poem, yet, as we see, also offers parallels both to Perceval and Le Bel Inconnu; such parallels b

are not essential to the Lancelot story. The characteristics of ignorance, simplicity, and headlong impulsiveness attributed to him by Ulrich von Zatzikhoven, are entirely foreign to his character as elsewhere represented; even in the Lanzelet they are promptly discarded: but they are the very essence of Perceval's character, he,

ocess of development this latter borrowed from both. A close examination of the variants of the Lancelot 'Enfances' will, I think, strengthen the hypothesis advanced in a previous chapter, i.e. t