We have fragments of poems on Tristan by the
Anglo-Norman poets Beroul and Thomas, who were
contemporaries of Chretien. Foerster's hypothesis that the
lost "Tristan" of Chretien antedated "Erec" is doubtless
correct. That the poet later treated of the love of Cliges
and Fenice as a sort of literary atonement for the
inevitable moral laxity of Tristan and Iseut has been held
by some, and the theory is acceptable in view of the
references to be met later in "Cliges". For the contrary
opinion of Gaston Paris see "Journal des Savants" (1902), p.
297 f.
(9) In the Mabinogi "Geraint the Son of Erbin", the host
explains that he had wrongfully deprived his nephew of his
possessions, and that in revenge the nephew had later taken
all his uncle's property, including an earldom and this
town. See Guest, "The Mabinogion".
(10) The hauberk was a long shirt of mail reaching to the knees,
worn by knights in combat. The helmet, and the "coiffe"
beneath it, protected the head; the "ventail" of linked
meshes was worn across the lower part of the face, and was
attached on each side of the neck to the "coiffe", so that
it protected the throat; the greaves covered the legs.
Pages:
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222