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Arthur
A Short Sketch of His Life and History in English Verse of the First Half of the Fifteenth Century
Copied and Edited From the Marquis of Bath's MS.
by
Frederick J. Furnivall, M.A., Camb.
Editor of De Borron's and Lonelich's "History of the Holy Graal," Walter Map's "Queste Del Saint Graal," Etc. Etc.
London:
Published for the Early English Text Society,
by Trübner & Co., 60, Paternoster Row.
MDCCCLXIV
Contents
[pg v]
[Preface]
As one of the chief objects of the Early English Text Society is to print every Early English Text relating to Arthur, the Committee have decided that this short sketch of the British hero's life shall form one of the first issue of the Society's publications. The six hundred and forty-two English lines here printed occur in an incomplete Latin Chronicle of the Kings of Britain, bound up with many other valuable pieces in a MS. belonging to the Marquis of Bath. The old chronicler has dealt with Uther Pendragon, and Brounsteele (Excalibur), and is narrating Arthur's deeds, when, as if feeling that Latin prose was no fit vehicle for telling of Arthur, king of men, he breaks out into English verse,
"Herkeneþ, þat loueþ honour,
Of kyng Arthour & hys labour."
The story he tells is an abstract, with omissions, of the earlier version of Geoffry of Monmouth, before the love of Guinevere for Lancelot was introduced by the French-writing English romancers of the Lionheart's time (so far as I know), into the Arthur tales. The fact of Mordred's being Arthur's son, begotten by him on his sister, King Lot's wife, is also omitted; so that the story is just that of a British king founding the Round Table, conquering Scotland, Ireland, Gothland, and divers parts of France, killing a giant from Spain, [pg vi] beating Lucius the Emperor of Rome, and returning home to lose his own life, after the battle in which the traitor whom he had trusted, and who has seized his queen and his land, was slain.
"He that will more look,
Read on the French book,"
says our verse-writer: and to that the modern reader must still be referred, or to the translations of parts of it, which we hope to print or reprint, and that most pleasantly jumbled abstract of its parts by Sir Thomas Maleor, Knight, which has long been the delight of many a reader,—though despised by the stern old Ascham, whose Scholemaster was to turn it out of the land.—There the glory of the Holy Grail will be revealed to him; there the Knight of God made known; there the only true lovers in the world will tell their loves and kiss their kisses before him; and the Fates which of old enforced the penalty of sin will show that their arm is not shortened, and that though the brave and guilty king fights well and gathers all the glory of the world around him, yet still the sword is over his head, and, for the evil that he has done, his life and vain imaginings must pass away in dust and confusion.
Of the language of the Poem there is little to say: its dialect is Southern, as shown by the verbal plural th, the vyve for five, zyx for six, ych for I, har (their), ham (them), for her, hem; hulle, dude, ȝut, for hill, did, yet, the infinitive in y (rekeny), etc. Of its poetical merits, every reader will judge for himself; but that it has power in some parts I hope few will deny. Arthur's answer to Lucius, and two lines in the duel with Frollo,
"There was no word y-spoke,
But eche had other by the throte,"
are to be noted. Parts of the MS. have very much faded since it was written some ten or twenty years before 1450, so that a [pg vii] few of the words are queried in the print. The MS. contains a few metrical points and stops, which I have here printed between parentheses (). The expansions of the contractions are printed in italics, but the ordinary doubt whether the final lined n or u—for they are often undistinguishable—is to be printed ne, nne, or un, exists here too.
I am indebted to Mr. Sims, of the Manuscript Department of the British Museum, for pointing out the Poem to me, and to the Marquis of Bath for his kind permission to copy it for printing.
3, Old Square, Lincoln's Inn,
London, W.C., August 30, 1864.
[pg 1]
[Arthur]
From the Marquis of Bath's MS.
BEF. 1450 A.D.
[The Latin side notes in italics, and the stops of the text in parentheses (), are those of the MS.]
Herkeneþ, þat loueþ honour, [Fol. 42b.]
Of kyng Arthour & hys labour;
And furst how he was bygete, How Arthur was begotten
As þat we in bokis do rede. 4
Vther pendragone was hys fader, by Pendragon on Ygerne.
And ygerne was hys Moder.
Pendragone ys in walysche
'Dragones heed' on Englysche; Pendragon (t.i. Dragon's Head) made two painted dragons, 8
He maked ypeynted dragones two;
Oon schold byfore him goo
Whan he went to batayle,
Whan he wold hys foes sayle; 12
That other abood at wynchester,
Euermore stylle there.
Bretones ȝaf hym þat Name, and thence had his name.
Vther Pendragone þe same, 16
For þat skyle fer & nere
Euer-more hyt to here.
The Erles wyff of Cornewayle How Uther loved the Earl of Cornwall's wife,
He loued to Muche sanz fayle; 20
Merlyn wyþ hys sotelnesse
Turned vtheris lyknesse,
And maked hym lyche þe Erl anone,
And wyþ hys wyff (:) his wylle to done 24
In þe countre of Cornewelle:
In þe Castel of Tyntagelle,
Thus vther, yf y schalle nat lye,
Bygat Arthour in avowtrye. 28 and begat Arthur in adultery.
Whan vther Pendragone was deed,
Arthour anon was y-crowned; Arthur is crowned,
He was courteys, large, & Gent
to alle puple verrament; 32
Beaute, Myȝt, amyable chere
To alle Men ferre and neere;
Hys port (;) hys ȝyftes gentylle
Maked hym y-loved wylle; 36 is loved of all,
Ech mon was glad of hys presence,
And drade to do hym dysplesaunce;
A stronger Man of hys honde is strong
was neuer founde on any londe, 40
As courteys as any Mayde:— and courteous.
Þus wryteþ of hym þat hym a-sayde. [Fol. 42b. col. 2.]
At Cayrlyone, wythoute fable,
he let make þe Rounde table: 44 He makes the Round Table,
And why þat he maked hyt þus,
Þis was þe resoun y-wyss,—
Þat no man schulde sytt aboue other, that all at it might be equal.
ne haue indignacioun of hys broþer; 48
And alle hadde (.)oo(.) seruyse,
For no pryde scholde aryse
For any degree of syttynge,
Oþer for any seruynge:— 52
Þus he kept þe table Rounde
Whyle he leuyd on þe grounde.
After he hadde conquered skotlond After his first conquests
yrland & Gotland, 56
Þan leuyd he at þe best he lives twelve years in peace,
twelf ȝeeris on alle reste
Wyþoute werre (:) tylle at þe laste
he þouȝt to make (.)a(.) nywe conqueste. 60
Into Fraunce wyþ gode counceyle and then invades France.
he wolde weende (:) & hyt assayle,
Þat Rome þo kept vnder Myght,
Vnder Frollo (:) a worthy knyght 64
Þat fraunce hadde þo to kepe,
To rywle, defende, & to lede.
Arthour and Frollo fouȝt in feld; He beats Frollo back to Paris,
Þere deyde many vnder scheld. 68
Frollo in-to Paryss fly,
Wyth strenkthe kept hyt wysely:
Arthour byseged þat Syte & town and there besieges him, till
Tylle þeire vytayl was y-doon. 72
Frollo þat worthy knyght Frollo challenges him to single combat.
Proferyd wyth Arthour for to fyght
Vnder þis wyse & condicioun,—
"Ho hadde þe Maystrie (:) haue þe crown; 76
And no mo men but þey two."
Þe day Was sett (:) to-geder þey go: They fight:
Fayr hyt was to byholde
In suche two knyȝghteȝ bolde: 80
Þer was no word y-spoke,
But eche hadde other by þe þrote;
Þey smote wyth trounchoun & wyth swerd;
Þat hyt seye were a-ferd; 84 [Fol. 43.]
Frollo fouȝt wyþ hys ax (:) as men dude se; (Frollo with his axe)
He hytt Arthour (:) so sore (:) þat he felle on kne.
He ros vp raply (:) and smot hym fulle sore;
He dude hym to grent a (.) soueȝ[1] þerfore. 88
thus they hyw on helmes hye,
And schatered on wyþ scheldes.
Þe puple by-gan to crye
Þat stood on þe feldes; 92
ther ne wyst no man, as y can lere,
Who of ham two was þe bettere þere.
Arthour was chafed & wexed wrothe, till Arthur in wrath takes Brownsteel,
He hente brounsteelle | and to Frollo gothe 96
Brounstelle was heuy & also kene; Caliburnus Arthuri Gladius [with a sketch thereof in the MS.]
Fram þe schulder(:) to þe syde went bytwene
Off frollo | and þan he fell to þe grounde
Ryȝt as he moste | deed(.) in lyte stounde. 100 and strikes Frollo dead.
Frensche men made doelle & wept fulle faste;
Þeir Crowne of fraunce þere þey loste.
Than wente Arthour in-to paryse Arthur takes Paris.
And toke þe castelle & þe town at hys avyse. 104
Worschuped be god of hys grete grace Glory to God.
Þat þus ȝeueþ fortune(:) and worschup to þe Reme;
Thanke ȝe hym alle þat beþ on þis place,
And seyeþ a Pater noster wythout any Beeme. 108 Say ye a Pater Noster therefore.
Pater noster.
Arthour fram paryse went wyth hys Rowte,
And conquered þe Countre on euery syde aboute; Arthur conquers the countries around,
Angeoy[2], Peytow, Berry, & Gaskoyne,
Nauerne, Burgone | Loreyn & Toreyne; 112
He daunted þe proude | & hawted þe poure;
He dwelt long in Paryss after in honoure;
He was drad and loued in countreis abowte;
Heyest & lowest hym Loved & alowte; 116
And vpon an Estour tyme sone afterward
He fested hys knyghtis & ȝaf ham gret reward; distributes them among his knights,
To hys styward he ȝaf Angers & Aungeye;
To Bedewer hys botyler he ȝaf Normandye; 120
He ȝaf to Holdyne flaundrys parde;
To Borel hys Cosyn, Boloyne þe cyte;
And eche man, after þe astat þat he was,
He rewarded hem alle, boþe More & lasse, 124
And ȝaf hem reward, boþe lond and Fee,
And turned to Breteyn, to Carlyone ayhe. and returns to Britain.
Arthour wolde of honour [Fol. 43b, col. 1.]
Hold a fest at Eestour 128 Arthur gives an Easter Feast
Of regalye & worthynesse,
And feede alle hys frendess;
And sende Messanger
To kynges ferre & neer 132
Þat were to hym Omager,
to come to þis Dyner.
And alle at oo certeyn day
They come þyder in gode aray, 136
And kept þeire Cesone
At þe Castelle Cayrlyone. at Carlyon, greater than ere before.
Thys fest was Muche Moore
Þan euere Arthour made a-fore; 140
For þere was Vrweyn þe kynge Ten kings were there,
Of scottes at þat dynynge,
Stater þe kyng of south wales,
Cadwelle þe kyng of north waleȝ, 144
Gwylmar þe kyng of yrland,
Dolmad þe kyng of guthland,
Malgan of yselond also,
Archyl of Denmarch þerto, 148
Alothe þe kyng of Norwey,
Souenas þe kyng of Orkenye,
Of Breteyn þe kyng Hoel,
Cador Erl of Cornewelle, 152 and thirteen earls
Morice þe Erl of Gloucestre,
Marran Erl of Wynchestre,
Gwergound Erl of herford,
Booȝ Erl of Oxenford, 156
Of bathe vngent þe Erl also, (including him of Bath),
Cursal of Chestre þer-to,
Euerad Erl of salesbury,[3]
Kynmar Erl of Canterbury, 160
Jonas þe Erl of Dorcestre,
Valence þe Erl of sylchestre,
Jugeyn of Leyccer [?] þerto,
Argal of warwyk also,— 164
Kynges & Erles Echon
Þes were; & many anoþer goom with many other gentles great,
Gret of astaat, & þe beste,
Þes were at þe Feste. 168
Other also gentyls grete
Were þere at þat Meete,
Sauer appon Donand,
Regeym & Alard, 172
Reyneȝ fitȝ Colys,
Tadeus fitȝ Reis,
Delyn fitȝ Dauid,
Kymbelyn le fitȝ Gryffith, 176
Gryffitȝ þe Sone of Nagand,
Þes were þere also theoband:
Alle þes were þere wythoute fable,
Wythoute ham of þe rounde table. 180 besides the Round Tablers,
Thre archebusschopes þer were also, Archbishops,
And other busschopes many mo— Bishops,
Alle þis mayne were nat al-oone;
Wyth ham com many a Goome. 184
Þis feste dured dayes þre
In reuelle & solempnite.
Of by ȝonde þe See also and many from beyond the sea.
Many lordez[?] were þere þo. 188
Now resteþ alle wyþ Me,
And say a Pater & Ave.
Pater noster.
The þrydde day folowyng
Then coom nywe tydynge, 192
Þe whyle þey sete at þe Mete
Messagers were In ylete; To the feasters came messengers from the Roman Emperor,
Welle arayd forsoþe þey come,
& send fram cite of Rome 196
Wyþ lettres of þe Emperoures
Whas name was Lucies. lucius.
Þes lettres were opened & vnfold,
And þe tydynge to alle men told, 200
Whas sentence, yf y ne lye,
Was after þat y can aspye:
¶ Lucius þe grete Emperour Litera Lucii imperatoris.
To hys Enemy Arthour:— 204
We woundereþ of þi wodeness
And also of þy Madnesse!
How darst þow any wyse
Aȝenst the Emperour þus aryse, 208 saying, that to have invaded France, etc., and made kings, Arthur must be mad in his noll;
And ryde on Remes on eche wey,
And make kyngeȝ to þe obey?
Þu art wood on þe Nolle!
Þu hast scley owre cosyn frolle; 212
Þu schalt be tawȝt at a schort day [Fol. 44, col. 1.]
for to make suche aray.
Oure cosyn Iulius cesar
Somme tyme conquered þar; 216
To Rome þu owest hys trybut; that he must pay his tribute,
We chargeþ þe to paye vs hyt.
Thy pryde we wolle alaye
Þat makest so gret aray: 220
We commandeþ þe on haste
To paye owre trybut faste;
Þu hast scley frolle in fraunce
Þat hadde vnder vs þere gouernaunce, 224
And wyþholdest oure tribute þerto:
Þu schalt be tawȝt þu hast mysdo:
We commandeþ þe in haste soone
Þat þu come to vs at Rome 228 and come to Rome to be punished for his disobedience.
To vnderfang oure ordynaunce
For þy dysobediaunce;
As þu wold nat leze þy lyf,
Fulfylle þys wythoute stryff." 232
When þis lettre was open & rad;
Þe bretouns & alle men were mad, The Britons purpose to kill the messengers,
And wolde þe messager scle:—
"Nay," seyd Arthour, "per de, 236 but Arthur forbids it,
That were aȝenst alle kynde,
A messager to bete or bynde;
y charge alle men here
for to make ham good chere." 240
And after Mete sanz fayl
Wyþ hys lordes he hadde counsayl;
And alle asented þer to,
Arthour to Rome scholde go; 244 and resolves to invade Rome.
And þey ne wolde in hys trauayle
Wyþ strenkþ & good neuer fayle.
Than Arthour wroot to Rome a lettre,
Was sentence was somm-what byttere, 248
And sayde in þis manere
As ȝe may hure here:—
"Knoweþ welle ȝe of Romayne, Litera Regis Arthuri.
Y am kyng Arthour of Bretayne. 252 Arthur's answer to the Emperor Lucius,
Fraunce, y haue conquered hyt,
Y schalle defende & kepe hyt ȝut, [Fol. 44, col. 2.]
Y come to Rome, as y am tryw,
To take my trybut (.) to me dywe, 256 claiming tribute from him.
But noon þere-for to paye,
By my werk ȝe schalle asay;
For þe Emperour Constantyne
Þat was þe Soone of Elyne, 260
Þat was a Bretone of þis lond,
Conquered Rome wyth hys hond,
And so ȝe oweþ me tribut:
Y charge ȝow þat ȝe pay me hyt. 264
Also Maximian kyng of Bretaigne