by Mike Ashley
A translation by Mildred Leake Day is The Rise of Gawain (Garland, 1984) and in the new edition of The Romance of Arthur edited by James J. Wilhelm (Garland, 1994). An abridged version is in Secret Camelot (Blandford, 1997) and The Book of Arthur (Vega, 2002), both by John Matthews.
ROMAN DE WALEWEIN, Penninc, completed by Pieter Vostaert (Dutch, c1280s), 11,198 lines.
A wonderfully inventive Dutch poem, almost certainly based on an earlier, now lost, story that may not have had anything to do with Arthur or even with Gawain (Walewein). A Floating Chessboard appears at Arthur’s court, and, as mysteriously, disappears. Walewein vows to obtain it and follows it into a mountain crevice, which closes behind him. He has to battle dragons and cross a deep river before he finds the owner of the chessboard, King Wunder, but Wunder will only grant him the prize if Walewein gains for him the Sword with Two Rings. And so it continues, the success of each quest being dependent upon the achievement of another. Walewein is helped by a fox, who is really a transformed prince, and who will only be restored to his former self upon the achievement of another challenge.
A translation is Roman de Walewein, edited by David F. Johnson and H.M. Geert (Garland, 1992; revised Brewer, 2000), reprinted in Legends of King Arthur edited by Richard Barber (Boydell, 2001).
SIR GAWAIN AND THE GREEN KNIGHT, anon. (English, c1380s), 2,530 lines.
The “treasure of Middle English poetry”, according to Laura Hibbard Loomis in Arthurian Literature in the Middle Ages, this is one of the finest of all Arthurian romances, and it is shocking to think that it has survived in just one single manuscript now held at the British Library. No author has been identified, although internal evidence suggests that he may have lived in Cheshire, and the Massey family of Dunham Massey may, according to local tradition, have some connection.
The poem is divided into four parts, or “fitts”. The first is set at Arthur’s court at Christmas, when Arthur refuses to start the feast until he has seen or heard of some marvel. At that point a green giant bursts into the hall riding a green horse and carrying a holly branch (in peace) and a green axe. He is contemptuous of the bravery of Arthur’s court and demands a game. He challenges any knight to behead him with his axe on the understanding that he can have the return blow one year hence. Gawain accepts the challenge and beheads the knight who promptly retrieves his head, reminds Gawain of the terms, and leaves.
In the second part, Gawain is travelling north looking for the Green Chapel. He is offered hospitality at a castle and is invited to stay over Christmas until the appointed day. The third part tells of a strange exchange-of-winnings game. The host says he will give Gawain on three successive days whatever he acquires in his hunt, whilst Gawain must offer in return anything he has won at the castle. Each day the host’s wife tries to seduce Gawain, but he refuses and simply receives kisses. On the third day he is given a green girdle. Gawain offers up the kisses to his host but keeps quiet about the girdle.
In the fourth part he heads to the Green Chapel, accompanied by a guide who tries to dissuade him. At the chapel he offers his neck to the green giant. The giant takes two swings at Gawain, stopping short each time, but on the third nicks the skin. Gawain is greatly relieved that he has survived, and learns that each swing of the axe was related to his honesty in giving up his winnings in the exchange game. The nick was because he had kept the girdle. The Green Knight reveals himself as his host, Sir Bercilak de Hautdesert, and tells him that the whole scheme was devised by Morgan le Fay in order to frighten Guenevere. He allows Gawain to keep the girdle, which he wears back to Arthur’s court, after which all of the courtiers adopt the girdle as an emblem of honour.
This story is the best-developed treatment of the Beheading Test which had already appeared in several Arthurian tales, starting with the first continuation of Perceval. It can be traced back to the eighth-century Irish Fled Bricrenn (“Bricriu’s Feast”), in which the mysterious green knight who challenges those at the feast is called Uath mac Imoman (“Horror, son of Terror”), and it is the hero Cú Chulainn who takes up the challenge.
Editions of this poem include that edited by J.R.R. Tolkien and E.V. Gordon (Oxford University Press, 1925; 1930; new edition, 1967), a modern translation by Brian Stone (Penguin Books, 1959), and a verse translation by Keith Harrison (Dent, 1998). The Tolkien-Gordon translation appears in The Romance of Arthur edited by James J. Wilhelm (Garland, 1994), and Harrison’s is in Legends of King Arthur edited by Richard Barber (Boydell, 2001).
THE AWNTYRS OFF ARTHURE AT THE TERNE WATHELYN (The Adventures of Arthur at the Tarn Wadling), anon. (English, 1390s), 715 lines.
While on a hunting party Guenevere and Gawain become separated from the main party. In hostile weather, they see emerging from Tarn Wadling the ghost of Guenevere’s mother, which pronounces dire warnings. Gawain asks specifically about the fate awaiting those who take lands not rightfully theirs. We now learn that a Scottish knight, Galeron, had lost his lands to Arthur through some deceit and that those lands had been given to Gawain. Galeron challenges Gawain to single combat but Arthur stops the fight, restores Galeron’s lands and admits him to the Round Table.
Tarn Wadling was near High Hesket, a village south of Carlisle, but has long since been drained. The lands listed as Galeron’s (Carrick, Cunningham, Kyle, Cumnock, Lanark, Loudon Hill) are all in Ayr and Galloway. This area had long been one of territorial disputes between the Lords of Galloway and the Scottish kings, and the problem took a further turn after 1306 across the entire Scottish borders with the “Disinherited”. These were English knights who had been granted land in Scotland by Edward I, but found those lands confiscated by Robert the Bruce. These tales were almost certainly written for the dispossessed English nobility of the north, who looked to Edward I as their Arthur. A Scottish version of this poem was circulating by the 1440s under the title Sir Gawan and Sir Galeron of Galloway.
The original, as “The Anturs of Arther”, is in Ywain and Gawain edited by Maldwyn Mills (Dent, 1992). A modernised version was published as The Awntyrs off Arthure, edited by Helen Phillips (University of Lancaster, 1988). A prose adaptation as “The Adventure at Tarn Wathelyn” is in The Unknown Arthur (Blandford, 1995) and The Book of Arthur (Vega, 2002), both by John Matthews. Another version is in The Knightly Tales of Sir Gawain by Louis B. Hall (Nelson Hall, 1976).
SYRE GAWENE AND THE CARLE OF CARLYLE, anon. (English, c1400), 715 lines.
A short poem, part of which is lost, but part of which also exists in a later form. The later version may have been revised to conform with Gawain and the Green Knight, but the earlier version seems to have been derived from an older text. It has the same setting as The Awntyrs off Arthure. The inclusion of Bishop Baldwin harks back to the early Welsh tales. Gawain, Kay and Baldwin are lost after a day’s hunting and take shelter at the hall of the notorious giant, the Carl of Carlisle. The poem then satirises the so-called courtly virtues of Arthur’s court, showing both Kay and Baldwin as discourteous when the Carl imposes several tests of bravery. Gawain, however, remains upright and virtuous and is rewarded by the Carl. In the early version, the Carl is magically transformed back into human form, but in the later version Gawain achieves this by beheading the Carl. See also The Avowing of King Arthur.
The story is retold in The Knightly Tales of Sir Gawain by Louis B. Hall (Nelson Hall, 1976) and Sir Gawain: Eleven Romances and Tales edited by Thomas Hahn (Kalamazoo, 1995). A prose adaptation is in Secret Camelot (Blandford, 1997) and The Book of Arthur (Vega, 2002), both by John Matthews.
THE WEDDING OF SIR GAWAIN AND DAME RAGNELL, anon. (English, cl450s), 855 lines.
This verse romance is the culmination of both the “land dispute” theme and the “what-do-women-desire-most” problem, merged with the popular “Loathly Lady” motif. Once more the story starts with a hunt in Inglewood Forest. Arthur is confronted by the knight Gromer Somer Jour, who challenges Arthur with taking his lands and giving them to Gawain. Arthur promises reparation if the challenge
can be deferred for a year. Gromer agrees, but only if in that time Arthur finds an answer to the question, what is it that women love best? Back at his court Arthur discusses the matter with Gawain, and they agree to search throughout the land for an answer. After much time, with no answer, Arthur returns to Carlisle. He encounters the most hideous woman he has ever seen, who identifies herself as Dame Ragnell (in some versions Ragnall). She promises to reveal the answer to the question provided she can marry Gawain. Gawain agrees, and Ragnell tells Arthur that what women most desire is sovereignty over men. Arthur tells Gromer, who also reveals that Ragnell is his sister, whom he despises now more than ever for he knows he has lost his lands. The wedding of Gawain and Ragnell goes ahead, and when Gawain kisses his bride she turns into a beautiful lady. She explains that he must decide whether he wants her beautiful by day and ugly by night, or vice versa. Gawain cannot choose and leaves the decision up to her, at which point she declares that she has gained what she most desired and thereafter she will remain beautiful by night and day. Ragnell becomes the mother of Guinglain but she dies after only five years.
Chaucer used a variant of the theme in “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” (cl390), in which an unnamed Arthurian knight, who has raped a maiden, will be pardoned by the queen only if he can answer the question: what do women most desire? He likewise finds an old hag who has the answer, but demands that they marry. He also must choose whether she is to be ugly and faithful, or beautiful but unfaithful. It seems likely that Chaucer’s version and the Gawain version both derive from some lost earlier version which could date back many centuries. A later ballad version of the Gawain story is The Marriage of Sir Gawain (late 15th century).
The original text is The Weddynge of Sir Gawen and Dame Ragnall edited by Laura Sumner (Smith College, 1924) also available in The Romance of Arthur edited by James J. Wilhelm (Garland, 1994). A modern adaptation is in The Knightly Tales of Sir Gawain by Louis B. Hall (Nelson Hall, 1976). An abridged version is in The Unknown Arthur (Blandford, 1995) and The Book of Arthur (Vega, 2002), both by John Matthews.
GOLAGROS AND GAWANE, anon. (Scottish, cl490s), 1,362 lines.
A Scottish poem which miraculously survives in only one copy of the printed version (from 1508), with no known manuscript. It draws its source from two episodes in the first continuation of Perceval, but here places the emphasis on how Gawain’s knightly virtue succeeds where ill manners fail. While they are travelling to the Holy Land, Arthur and his companions arrive at a beautiful city. Kay enters the town to obtain food but his usual ill temper means he is soon sent packing and Gawain must obtain the food. Later on their travels they come to a magnificent castle where the lord, Golagros, has striven to be independent of his sovereign. Arthur sends envoys to ask for Golagros’s submission, but none succeeds and it is again left to Gawain to engineer a satisfactory conclusion. The story shows the continued influence of the territorial disputes in the Scottish borders.
The story is retold in The Knightly Tales of Sir Gawain by Louis B. Hall (Nelson Hall, 1976). An abridged version is in Secret Camelot (Blandford, 1997) and The Book of Arthur (Vega, 2002), both by John Matthews.
15
MERLIN – THE MAGIC AND THE MADNESS
1. Geoffrey’s Merlin
The figure of Merlin is as mysterious as that of Arthur, if not more so. Whereas many will argue the case for an historical Arthur, there are fewer who can imagine a genuine Merlin. As a prophet and magician, he is the key that turns Arthur’s tale from history into fantasy, and from fact into legend. As such, he cannot exist in a rational world. Yet Geoffrey of Monmouth did not create Merlin from nothing, although he did create the name. And, what’s more, there was not one Merlin, but two.
Geoffrey introduces Merlin in two different texts. First, while he was writing his Historia, he was urged by Alexander, bishop of Lincoln, to translate and publish Merlin’s Prophecies. As a result, Geoffrey issued the Prophecies in advance of the Historia in about 1134. He probably drew from several sources, few of which have survived, and embellished them with his own creativity, but his main source was almost certainly the poem Armes Prydein (“The Prophecies of Britain”). Although later attributed to Taliesin, this poem has been dated by Ifor Williams “without any hesitation” to 930, although much of the content derives from a century or two earlier. This poem refers to the Dysgogan Myrdin (“Prophecies of Myrddin”), and Geoffrey, seeking to convert Myrddin into Latin, halted at the obvious translation Merdinus because in Norman French, merde meant dung. Rather than go for the phonetic Merthin or a more literal translation – Myrddin translates as “sea fort” (mor dinn), which in Latin might be Maridun – Geoffrey substituted an “1” to create Merlin. Merle is the old French for “blackbird”, a bird that, while black, is far from sinister, unlike – say – a crow or raven.
Besides the reference to Myrddin in Armes Prydein, several poems were attributed to Myrddin, which, in translation, are “The Apple-trees”, “The Greetings”, “The Dialogue of Myrddin and Taliesin”, “The Conversation of Myrddin with Gwenddydd his sister”, “The Song of Myrddin in his Grave” and “Commanding Youth”. The first three were included in the Black Book of Carmarthen which in its final form dates from about 1250, but which derives from sources at least two or three centuries earlier. These poems contain some prophecies, but they also contain more personal data. The prophecies, as Geoffrey developed them, do not concern us greatly in this book. They deal mostly with the domination of the British by the Saxons and the subsequent resurgence of the British. They can be linked to the idea of Arthur’s passing, to return in time of need. As with all so-called “prophecies”, however, these are often made to seem as if they relate to sometime in the distant future, when quite often they can be related to contemporary events, especially if the texts are more recent than they seem. Much attributed to a sixth-century Merlin seems far more apt to a ninth or tenth century soothsayer.
Geoffrey introduces Merlin by adapting the story from Nennius, and having Vortigern’s men track down Merlin rather than Ambrosius. He makes Merlin the grandson of a king of Demetia (Dyfed). From the start, he was creating a false history for Merlin that would later cause him problems. However, at this stage Geoffrey’s story fits his requirements neatly. He tells us that Vortigern, who is having problems building his fortress, is told to find a boy without a father. This his men do, encountering Merlin quarrelling with another boy in Kaermerdyn. There has been some suggestion that the name Myrddin was itself a mistake, derived from the British name for Carmarthen – Caer Mirdin derived from the Latin Maridunum, “fort by the sea”. It is surprising that Geoffrey did not use the name of Menw, the enchanter in Culhwch and Olwen, who is wounded in the hunt for the Giant Boar. He is a shapechanger and a prototype for Merlin.
The rest of Geoffrey’s story of Merlin (see Chapter 9) centres on how Merlin transforms Uther into Gorlois, leading to the seduction of Ygraine and the birth of Arthur. Geoffrey also has Merlin construct Stonehenge from stone magically brought from Ireland. Thereafter, however, Merlin vanishes from Geoffrey’s story. The later episodes, such as the Sword in the Stone, Merlin’s involvement with the Lady of the Lake, taking Arthur to receive Excalibur after his first sword is broken, and his death at the hands of Niniane, are all products of later writers, mostly Robert de Boron, and are discussed below.
Geoffrey evidently found more material about Myrddin, since he returned some years later, around 1150, to write his Vita Merlini. However, most of this contradicted what he had said before, because he had by now encountered tales about the real Myrddin. Geoffrey sought to bluff it out and managed to merge the two stories sufficiently to satisfy his patrons, including Alexander’s successor as bishop of Lincoln, Robert de Chesney. But the joins creak rather, and have torn apart over the years.
It was in the Vita Merlini that Geoffrey drew upon the poems attributed to Myrddin and other ancient tales relating to the Battle of Arderydd in 573, which we covered in Chapter 7. We learn that Merlin has a wif
e, Gwendolyn, and that his sister Ganieda (Gwenddydd) is the wife of King Rodarch (Rhydderch Hael of Strathclyde). Geoffrey tells briefly of the rivalry between Peredur, “prince of North Wales”, and Gwenddoleu, “king of Scotland”, and of the ensuing battle in which Rhydderch was also involved. With the death of Gwenddoleu and of three or four of his brothers in the battle, Merlin loses his wits and rushes into the Caledonian forest. The queen, his sister, asks a travelling musician to find him. This he does, and through his music rids Merlin of his madness.
Merlin returns to court, but the sight of so many people threatens to turn his wits again. He desires to return to the woods, but Rhydderch will have none of this and has Merlin chained. Merlin becomes introspective and refuses to talk. However, when Merlin sees Rhydderch pluck a leaf from his wife’s hair, he laughs. He refuses to explain why he laughed until released, and then reveals that Ganieda has been unfaithful. Ganieda believes she can prove her innocence by demonstrating Merlin’s madness. She has a young boy disguised in three different ways and has Merlin predict how each boy will die. He makes three different predictions, the proof his sister needs to show he talks madness. It is only in later years when the child, then a young man, dies from all three causes that everyone recognizes Merlin’s talent.
Meanwhile Merlin has returned to the woods, and it is from there that he utters various prophecies and where he also meets Taliesen. We learn from that meeting that Arthur had been taken to Avalon, the Isle of Apples, by Morgan and her sisters. We also learn that the steersman of the boat was Barinthus, already known in legend as “the Navigator”, and associated with Manannan mac Lyr, the sea divinity related to the Isle of Man. As Barrind, he also appears in the story The Voyage of St Brendan as the sailor who first discovered the Blessed Isles and urged Brendan to go there.