CORNELL 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
Cornell University Library 
 PR 2065.G31T46 
 
 Sir Gawayne and the green knight, a ||Of"Pa 
 3 1924 013 115 625 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of tliis book is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924013115625 
 
SIR GAWAYNE 
 
 AND THE 
 
 GREEN KNIGHT 
 
 ^ i COMPAEISOll fITH THE FEEM PEHCEVAL 
 
 PRECEDED BY 
 
 AN INVESTIGATION OF THE AUTHOR'S OTHER -WORKS 
 
 AMD FOLLOWED BY 
 
 A CHARACTERIZATION OF GAWAIN 
 
 IK ENGLISH POEMS 
 
 INAUGURAL DISSERTATION ' 
 
 FOR OBTAINING THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY 
 
 PBESENTED BEFORE THE PHILOSOPHICAL FACULTY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF ZURICH 
 
 BY 
 
 MARTHA CAREY THOMAS 
 
 -fJr 
 
 ZUKICH 
 
 Peinted BY Obell FCssli & Co. 
 
 1883. 
 
I. 
 
 All investigation of the author's other poems : — 
 
 1. Proof that the Pearl is by him 8 
 
 2. Relative date„of the four poems 12 
 
 3. Positive date of the four poems 26 
 
 II. 
 A comparison with Crestien's Perceval 34 
 
 III. 
 
 Sir Gawain in English poems: — 
 
 1. In Lajamon and the poems based on Q^eoffrey 70 
 
 2. In the remaining poems 80 
 
 A, those poems which are original. 
 
 B, poems based on Grestien. 
 
 C, poems founded on other French romances. 
 
 Mr. Tennyson's Gawain 102 
 
"Sir Gawayne and the Green Knight" was 
 pubUshed for the first time in Sir Fred. Madden's 
 "Syr Gawayne , a collection of ancient romance- 
 poems by Scotish and English authors, relating to 
 that celebrated knight of the Round Table. London 
 1839. Printed for the Bannatyne Club". Prefixed 
 to this edition is a description of the unique MS. 
 Cott. Nero A x ; in the same portion of which, and 
 directly preceding our Sir Gawayne , are three other 
 poems, written in the same hand and all (Madden 
 ibid. p. 301) "most unquestionably composed by 
 the author of the romance". 
 
 Morris edited these three poems, under the 
 titles of the Pearl, Cleanness, and Patience, for the 
 E. E. T. S., in 1864 (2"'* ed. 1869): and in the 
 same year, for the same society, reedited Sir Ga- 
 wayne and the Green Knight (2°* ed. likewise 1869). 
 He agrees with Madden in attributing all four poems 
 to one and the same author ; alleging for his opinion 
 similarity of dialect. 
 
 Prof. Trautmann in his Habilitationssft. Leipzig 
 1876, "tJber Verfasser und Entstehungszeit einiger 
 
allit. Gdte. des Altengl." agrees with Morris, while 
 deeming insufficient the ground assigned by him 
 for his opinion. He himself reaches the same con- 
 clusion by applying "the best tests we can have" — 
 those of wort- und phrasen-gebrauch und versbau. 
 The Pearl, not being written in alliteration, falls 
 without the limits of his subject. But in his article 
 "Der Dichter Huchown und seine Werke" (Anglia 
 
 I, p. 118 — 120) he attributes the Pearl to the 
 author of the other three poems, and enumerates 
 the reasons as follows : — 
 
 I. 48 words rare or unknown in other poems and 
 common to these 4. 
 
 II. The similar treatment of the alliterative rhymes: 
 
 a, the frequent alliteration — wh : w. 
 
 b, the frequent alliteration of the spiritus asper 
 with the spiritus lenis. 
 
 c, such alliterations as excused: scape, expoune: 
 speche. He gives two examples from the 
 Pearl. 
 
 d, the frequent alliteration of combinations of 
 2 and 3 letters with each other (i. e. sp, 
 cl, str, etc.), three in a Une. 
 
 Ground I. is not conclusive, because if we assume 
 (as we have the right to assume, cf. Morris 2'"' ed. 
 
of Allit. Poems, preface p. ix, note) another poet writing 
 in precisely the same dialect, he would naturally make 
 use of words which must have been common to that 
 section of the country. 
 
 Ground II. does not seem to me entirely con- 
 vincing, because a and b are peculiarities which the 
 Pearl shares with Wilham of Palerne (cf. Trautmann 
 tJb. Verf. u. Entst. p. 14); and d is found not only 
 in Gaw. 01. and Pat., but also, in a less degree, in 
 Mort Arthure; and, to a much greater extent, in the 
 Alexander Fragments. 
 
 Trautmann is satisfied here with much lighter 
 evidence than in the case of the poem of Gawain 
 (cf. Ub. Verf. u. Entst.). Yet, apart from the complete 
 proof he himself brings, there was, as I shall point 
 out later for another purpose, an intimate connection 
 between moral and descriptive passages of Gaw. and 
 CI.; while between the Pearl and the other poems 
 there is no such link. It is separated from them by its 
 versification ; by the blending of allegory and personal 
 feeling; by the different use too of the Bible, insomuch 
 as while 01. and Pat. are merely founded upon it, 
 the author of the Pearl transports himself into the 
 scenes in Revelations which he describes. 
 
Supplementary proof leading to the conclusion 
 that the Pearl is by the author of Gaw. CI. and Pat. 
 
 Prom the rhymes of the Pearl no conclusion 
 can be drawn except in so far as their purity speaks 
 for the same author. The only comparison possible 
 is with the 505 rhyming lines in Gaw. The spelling 
 in the poems varies greatly, even \^ere the scribe 
 is controlled by the rhyme (cf. Gaw. 1643 la we: 
 knowe and PI. 541 knaw : owe etc.), but the rhymes 
 are remarkably pure. The rule for the different 
 endings ie, y, e (cf. ten Brink Chancer Stud. p. 22 ff.) 
 is observed Gaw. 228 and 247. In the PI., although 
 mostly regarded, it is sometimes broken — 798 
 debonert6: felonye; but the instances in Gaw. are 
 too few to enable us to draw any conclusion. 
 
 There are however the following similarities of 
 thought and expression between the PI. and the other 
 poems. 
 
 PI. 341 — 348 may be compared with Pat. 
 5 — 8; and especially PI. I. 344: — 
 
 • "Who nedej sohal pole be not so pro."' 
 
 with Pat. 6 : — 
 
 "And quo for pro may no^t pole, pe pikker he 
 
 [suffers." 
 
The prominence given to the Virgin PL 423 
 
 — 36 453 — 56 may be compared with 
 
 CI. 1069—1084. 
 
 The "pearl" is not only the symbol for the 
 
 poet's lost child, but occurs in manifold combinations; 
 
 on the breasts and garments of the 100,000 virgins, 
 
 in their crowns, in the border of his child's robes 
 
 etc., and is everywhere apostrophized and praised. 
 
 We may therefore expect to find some trace of this 
 
 in the other poems. Compare Gaw. 2364 — 1> : 
 
 "As perle bi pe quite pese is of prys more, 
 
 So is Gawayn , in god fayth, bi oper gay knyjtej." 
 
 CI. 1068:— 
 
 "Pat euer is polyced als playn as pe perle seluen." 
 CI. 556:— 
 
 "With-outen maskle oper mote as margerye perle." 
 
 (Cf. PI. 199 ''myryeste margarys"). 
 
 CI. 1116—1132: — 
 
 "And pure pe with penaunce tyl pou a perle worpe. 
 Perle praysed is prys, per perre is schewed, 
 paj hym not derrest be domed to dele for penies, 
 Quat may pe cause be called, bot for hir clene hwes, 
 pat Wynnes worsohyp, abof alle whyte stones? 
 For ho schynes so schyr pat is of schap rounde, 
 Wyth-outen faut oper fylpe pf ho fyn were." 
 
 etc. 
 
— 10 — 
 
 Cf. PI. 1 ff. symbolically of his child: — 
 
 "Perle plesaunte to prynces paye, 
 To clanly clos in golde so clere, 
 Oute of oryent I hardyly saye, 
 Ne proued I neuer her precios pere, 
 So rounde, so reken in Yche araye, 
 So smal, so smope her sydej were." 
 
 and PI. 737 :— 
 
 "For hit (the pearl) is wemle?, clene & clere, 
 And endele^ rounde & blype of mode." 
 
 Ten Brink (p. 438) has remarked that the Pearl 
 
 begins and closes with the same words ; the same 
 
 rather unusual device is found also in the other poems. 
 
 Pat. opens: — 
 
 "Patience is a poynt, pa? hit displese ofte." 
 
 and closes, 531 :— 
 
 "Pat pacience is a nobel poynt, paj hit displese ofte. 
 Amen." 
 
 Gaw. begins with an account of the landing 
 
 of Brutus in England after the fall of Troy, /. 1 : — 
 
 "Sipen pe sege & pe assaut watj sesed at Troye." 
 
 I. 13:— 
 
 "And fer oner pe French flod Felix Brutus 
 On mony bonkkes ful brode Bretayn he settej." 
 
 and closes (except for a prayer) I. 2524 : 
 "Sypen Brutus, pe bolde burne, bojed hider fyrst, 
 After pe segge & pe asaute watj sesed at Troye, 
 I — wysse." 
 
— 11 — 
 
 Cleanness opens: — 
 
 "Clannesse who-so kyndly cowpe commende." 
 
 and closes (except for a prayer) I. 1809: — 
 
 "Ande clannes is his comfort, & ooyntyse he louyes, 
 And pose pat seme arn & swete schyn se his face." 
 
 Although the verbal likeness is here not so 
 strictly observed as in the PI. , Pat. , and Gaw. ; 
 yet it is clear that the poet had the opening lines 
 in his mind. 
 
 The following similar expressions occur. 
 
 PI. 380:— 
 
 "stok oper ston." 
 
 Compare CI. 1343, 1523, & 1720:— 
 
 "stokkes & stones", 
 PI. 982: — 
 
 "Pat schyrrer pen sunne with schaftej schon." 
 Cf. Pat. 455—6; — 
 
 "Pe schyre sunne hit vmbe — schon, paj no schafte myjt 
 pe mountaunce of a lyttel mote, vpon pat man schyne." 
 
 PL 231:— 
 
 "No gladder gome hepen in to grece." 
 
 Cf. Gaw.:— 
 
 "Pe gayest in to Grece." 
 
 The two similies PL 183: 
 
 "Wyth yjen open & mouth ful clos 
 I stod as hende as hawk in halle." 
 
— 12 — 
 
 and 1085: — 
 
 "I stod as stylle as dased quayle." 
 
 recall the lover of knightly sports whom we see in 
 the author of Gaw. 
 
 Finally, the author of the Pearl has a man- 
 nerism in the use of comparisons: — they appear in 
 clusters of two or more. The same is found in 
 CI. and Pat., and, to a lesser extent, in Gaw. Thus 
 out of the 35 comparisons in the Pearl 15 occur in 
 groups: — 76. 77 — 114. 115.— 212. 213.-607. 
 608.r-801. 802.-1018. 1025. 1026. — 1112. 
 1115. — ; out of the 24 in CI., 14:— 222. 223. 
 226.— 554.556.— 790.791. — 1018.1022.-1132. 
 1134.-1694. 1696. 1-697.— ; out of the 7 in 
 Pat., 3:— 268. 272. 274.— ; out of the 19 in 
 Gaw., 6:— 235. 236. — 2202. 2203. — 2293, two 
 comparisons — . 
 
 We have then no reason to doubt that the 
 Pearl is by the author of Gaw., CI., and Pat. 
 
 The relative dates of the four poems. 
 
 Trautmann (Uber Yerf. u. Entst. p. 33) says: — 
 "Ich bekenne mich ausser stande in diesem punkte 
 
— 13 — 
 
 eine auch nur einigermassen wahrscheinliche ent- 
 scheidung zu treflfen." 
 
 Ten Brink, on the other hand (Lit. Gesch. p. 
 435) says: — "den tibergang zu den entschieden reli- 
 gios gefarbten schopfungen unseres dichters bildet eine 
 dichtung, welche einen wendepunkt in des mannes 
 innerem leben nicht bios erscMiessen lasst, sondern 
 unmittelbar darstellt. Mit recht fuhrt sie den namen 
 'Die Perle'". That is to say, he places the Pearl 
 between Gawain and the other two poems ; apparently 
 between Gawain and Cleanness, because, p. 439, he 
 finds in Patience not only the greatest poetic per- 
 fection but evidence that the poet himself was then 
 growing old in poverty and solitude. This is the same 
 method applied by Prof, ten Brink to Eynewulf: 
 but the evidence is here less convincing. At least I 
 have not been able to discover in the Pearl any of 
 the characteristics of a turning point; and again in 
 the four poems which lie before us there is no such 
 striking dissimilarity as would lead us to assume 
 any such turning point. I prefer in defending the 
 latter assertion to use some of Prof, ten Brink's own 
 phrases. — "Diese ganze kunst endlich (in Gawain) 
 steht im dienste sittlieher ideen. Man mag es tadeln, 
 dass unser dichter das Hcec fabula docet gar zu 
 
— 14 — 
 
 deutlich ausspricht." "Zwei ideen namentlich finden 
 in der Perle ausdruck, beide, wenn auch nicht mit 
 gleicher entschiedenheit, bereits in Gawein dargestellt : 
 die ideen der unschuld (reinheit) und der ergebung 
 in den gottlichen willen. Jede derselben machte der 
 dichter spater zum gegenstand eines besondern werkes : 
 Clannesse und Pacience." "Das subjective element aber, 
 das in der Perle so machtig ist, macht sich hier (in 
 
 Cleanness and Patience) nur gelegentlich geltend 
 
 Auf objective darstellung ist hier wie in Gawein das 
 augenmerk des dichters gerichtet." 
 
 Would it be supposed, from the above pas- 
 sages that a cleft divided Gawain from Cleanness and 
 Patience? Would it not rather be thought that they 
 belonged together while the Pearl stood apart? We 
 are expressly assured that Gawain is not distinguished 
 from the other* poems by a difference in the "inner 
 life" of the poet. Therefore if the Pearl, falling between 
 Gaw. and CI., in any way represent a. turning-point 
 or a transition , it must have been that the poet at 
 this time resolved to forsake all but sacred subjects. 
 In the whole Pearl however there is no trace of 
 such a resolve, no remorse for the past, no purpose 
 to lead a new life, and yet the resolve would have 
 been an austere one, made by a man of whom ten 
 
— 15 — 
 
 Brink pertinently says: — "wenn er nun nicht ein 
 didakter oder allegoriker, wie hundert andere unter 
 seinen zeitgenossen geworden ist, so beruht das dar- 
 auf, dass er in seiner dichterischen intuition in natur 
 und leben eine tiefe symbolik erkannte." 
 
 On the other hand, there is an intimate con- 
 nection between Gawain and Cleanness : — a similarity 
 of moral, as of special passages, greater than exists 
 else where among the four poems ; and the Pearl, if 
 we assume it to lie between them , appears less in 
 the light of a transition from the . one to the other^ 
 than in that of an interruption, after which the old 
 style and the old chain of thought are resumed. The 
 points of contact between Gawain and Cleanness are 
 as follows. 
 
 There is a general resemblance between the 
 description of the seasons from New Year to New 
 Year in Gaw., and a passage in CI. to which, although 
 it is a paraphrase of Genesis VIII, 22, the poet has 
 given his own colouring, cf Gaw. 500 — 530 and CI. 
 523 — 527, especially Gaw. 529—: 
 
 "And pus 5irne5 pe 5ere in jisterdays mony." 
 
 with CI. 527:— 
 
 "Bot euer renne restlej rengne? 5e per-inne." 
 
— 16 — 
 
 Gaw. 72—73: — 
 
 "When pay had wascheii, worpyly pay wenten to sete, 
 Pe best burne ay abof, as hit best semed." 
 
 Cf. CI. 91 — 92: — 
 
 jFul manerly with marchal mad forto sitte, 
 As he wat5 dere of de-gre dressed his seete," 
 
 and CI. 114—115:— 
 
 "Ay pe best byfore & bryjtest atyred 
 
 Pe derrest at pe hyje dese pat dubbed wer fayrest." 
 
 Gaw. 482—484: — 
 
 "& kene men hem serued, 
 Of alle dayntye^ double as derrest my^t falle, 
 "Wyth alle maner of mete & mynstralcie hope." 
 
 Cf. CI. 120—121 :— 
 
 "And 5et pe symplest in pat sale watj serued to 
 
 ■ [pe fulle, 
 Bope with menske, & with mete & mynstralsy noble." 
 
 Gaw. 497: — 
 
 "For paj men ben mery in mynde quen pay han 
 
 [mayn drynk" 
 
 and Gaw. 899 — 900: — 
 
 "Pat mon much merpe con make, 
 For wyn in his hed pat wende." 
 
 Cf. CI. 123:— • 
 
 "And pay bigonne to be glad pat god drink haden." 
 
 Gaw. 114—120:— 
 
 "Pise were di^t on pe des, & derworply serued, 
 
 & sipen mony siker segge at pe sidborde^. 
 
 Pen pe first cors come with crakkyng of trumpes. 
 
— 17 — 
 
 Wyth mony baner ful brytjt pat per-bi henged, 
 Nwe nakryn noyse with pe noble pipes, 
 Wylde werbles & wyji wakned lote, 
 pat mony hert fill hise hef at her towches." 
 
 and Gaw. 123: — 
 
 "Pat pine to fynde pe place pe peple bi-forne 
 For to sette pe sylueren, pat sere sewes halden." 
 
 Cf. CI. 1397 — 1406: — 
 
 "Penne wat; alle pe halle flor hiled with knyjtes, 
 
 & barounes at pe side — bordes bounet ay-where, 
 
 For non watj dressed vpon dece hot pe dere seluen, 
 
 & his clere concubynes in dopes ful bryjt. 
 
 When alle segges were per set, pen seruyse bygynnes, 
 
 Sturnen trumpen strake stuen in halle, 
 
 Aywhere by pe wowes wrasten krakkes, 
 
 & brode baneres per-bi blusnande of gold; 
 
 Bumes berande pe bredes vpon brode skeles, 
 
 pat were of sylueren syjt seerved per-wyth." 
 
 and CI. 1413: - 
 
 "& ay pe nakeryn noyse, notes of pipes." 
 
 Compare the description of Arthur's Christmas 
 
 feast, Gaw. 45 — 46: — 
 
 "With alle pe mete & pe mirpe pat men coupe a-vyse ; 
 Such glaumande gle glorious to here." 
 
 and Gaw. 50 — 56: — 
 
 "With alle pe wele of pe worlde pay woned per samen,. 
 pe most kyd knyyte^ vnder kryste seluen, 
 & pe louelokkest ladies pat euer lif haden, 
 
 2 
 
— 18 - 
 
 & he pe comlokest kyng pat pe court haldes; 
 For al wat5 pis fayre folk en her first age, 
 on sille; 
 pe hapnest vnder heuen." 
 
 with the description of the sons of Adam before the 
 
 Flood, CI. 252—262:— 
 
 "Hit warn pe fayrest of forme & of face als, 
 pe most & pe myriest pat maked warn euer, 
 pe sty f est, pe stalworpest pat stod euer on fete; 
 & lengest lyf in hem lent of lede? alle oper, 
 For hit was pe forme-foster pat pe folde bred, 
 pe apel aunceteroj sunej pat adam watj called. 
 To "wham god hade geuen alle pat gayn were, 
 Alle blysse boute blame pat bodi my^t have, 
 & pose lykkest to pe lede pat lyued next after, 
 For-py so semly to see sypen wern none." 
 
 These are the descriptive passages which have 
 the greatest Hkeness to each other in the two poems. 
 It seems more probable that Gawain was written 
 first on account of the knightly descriptions which 
 the author would be more apt to introduce into his 
 Bible narrative, had he just employed them in place 
 in his romance. Also the lines in Gaw. have more 
 of the freshness of an original. 
 
 The oneness of moral between the two poems 
 is even more striking. 
 
 Purity and "trawpe" are enforced in Gawain. 
 The covenant Gaw. makes with the Green Knight 
 
— 19 — 
 
 to seek him on the next New Year's day, 
 I. 403:— 
 
 "& pat I swere pe for sope, & by my seker trawep" 
 
 is a trial of his faithfulness. Ga wain's shield bears 
 a pentangle I. 626: — 
 
 "in bytoknyng of trawpe." 
 
 L. 631 ff.: — 
 
 "Por-py hit accordej to pis knyjt & to his cler armej 
 For ay faythful in fyue & sere fyue sypej, 
 Gawan watj for gode knawen." 
 
 L. 638: — 
 
 "As tulk of tale most trwe." 
 L. 1091:— 
 
 "Pe segge trwe." 
 
 During Gawain's last temptation by the wife of 
 
 the Green Knight, when "gret perile bi-twene hem 
 
 stod," I. 1773 — 1775:— 
 
 "He cared for his cortaysye lest crapayn he were, 
 & more for his mesohef, jif he schulde make synne, 
 & be traytor to pat tolke, pat pat telde ajt." 
 
 Upon seeing Gawain at the appointed place, 
 the Green Knight says /. 2241 : — 
 
 "& pou hatj tymed pi trauayl as true mon schulde." 
 
 and further I. 2348 if: — 
 
 "& pou trystyly pe trawpe & trwly me haldej. 
 Al pe gayne pow me gef, as god mon schulde." 
 
— 20 — 
 
 and again I. 2353 — 4: — 
 
 "■Trwe mon trwe restore, 
 
 penne par mon drede no wape." 
 
 Gawain accuses himself and says 1. 2382 ff. : — 
 "Now am I fawty, & falce & ferde haf ben euer; 
 Of trecherye & vn-trav)i(>e bope bityde sorje 
 & care." 
 
 Of the eight chief examples of God's punishment 
 given in Cleanness 4 are for uncleanness, and 4 for 
 want of "trawpe" (the poet understands under the 
 virtue "trawpe" at once faith [behefj , and faith- 
 fulness) — the fall of the angels, the disobedience 
 of Lot's wife, the taking of Jerusalem and the pun- 
 ishment of Nebuchadnezzar. 
 
 L. 208:— 
 
 "& he (Satan) vnkyndely as a karle kydde areward." 
 
 Lot's wife is described /. 979 : — 
 
 "Bot pe balleful burde, pat neuer bode keped." 
 She was turned into a pilar of salt /, 996: — 
 
 "For two fautes pat pe fol watj founde in mistraupe.'' 
 The cause of the captivity of the Jews is given 
 /. 1161 ff.:— 
 
 "For pat folke in her fayth watj founden vntrwe, 
 pat haden hyjt pe hyje god to halde of hym euer." 
 
 Line 235—236:— 
 
 "Hit (the fall of man) lyjt 
 
 pur? pe faut of a freke pat fayled in trawpe.^^ . 
 
— 21 — 
 
 The cleanness (by which our poet understands 
 preeminently chastity) of Gawain, cf. I. 653: — 
 "his clannes & his cortaysye croked were neuer," 
 is abundantly emphasized by his triumphantly with- 
 standing the temptations of the wife of the Green 
 Knight. The Green Knight says /. 2362—3: — 
 
 "I sende Mr to asay pe, & sothly me pynkkej', 
 On pe fautlest freke, pat euer on fete jede." 
 
 Further on he points the moral I. 2366 — 2368: — 
 
 "Bot here yow lakked a lyttel, sir, & lewte yow wonted, 
 Bot pat watj no wylyde werke ne wowyng nauper, 
 Bot for 5e lufed your lyf, pe lasse I yow blame." 
 
 and again 2391 : — 
 
 "Pou art confessed so clone, be-knowen of py mysaes." 
 
 In Cleanness, as its name shows, "cleanness" 
 is the chief moral enforced, yet the special moral 
 (cf Gaw. 2368) is also drawn, 01./. 195 — 202:— 
 
 "Pat pat ilk proper prynce pat paradys weldej. 
 
 Is displesed at vch a poynt pat plyes to scape. 
 
 Bot neuer jet in no boke brued I herde 
 
 pat euer he wrek so wyperly on werk pat he made, 
 
 Ne venged for no vilte of vice ne synne, 
 
 Ne so hastyfly watj hot for hat^I of his wylle, 
 
 Ne neuer sodenly so5t vnsoundely to weng. 
 
 As for fylpe of pe flesch pat foles han vsed." 
 
— 22 — 
 
 I have quoted the above passages at some 
 length ; they show, I think, not only, as was above 
 stated, that the poem of Gaw. is distinctly imbued 
 with religious ideas , but that the descriptive and 
 moral passages as well as the underlying moral of 
 the whole connect it closely with Cleanness. This 
 I consider better accounted for if the Pearl be not 
 interposed between them. 
 
 Thus much in disproof of the opinipn that the 
 Pearl is a transition from Gaw. to the other poems. 
 Moreover there are the following reasons for placing 
 the Pearl the earliest of the four works. It is remark- 
 ably isolated. It is rhymed in complicated lyric 
 strophes , in which even the alliteration affords no 
 real point of contact with Gaw. and CI. and Pat. ; 
 since there was alliteration in the poems from which 
 our poet borrowed both his strophe and diction. 
 This diction is nearly akin to that of other allego- 
 rical poems ; it is without our author's own quaint 
 vigorous phrases. The number of comparisons also 
 is much greater. I have examined the four poems, 
 in this particular^ with the following result. 
 
 In the 1212 lines of the Pearl there are 25 
 comparisons (76, T7, 106, 114, 115, 129, 165, 
 178, 184, 195, 212, 213, 365, 607, 608, 753, 
 
• — 23 — 
 
 822, 894, 982, 1018, 1026, 1056, 1085, 1112, 
 1115), and 10 comparisons founded upon the part 
 of the Bible paraphrased (501, 723, 733, 801, 
 802, 875, 881, 990, 1025, 1106). In all 35 
 comparisons. 
 
 In the first 1212 lines ofGaw. 11 (199, 213, 
 235, 236, 319, 337, 604, 802, 847, 945, 956). 
 In the remaining 1318 hues 8 (1819, 2102, 2202, 
 2203, 2293 two comparisons, 2364, 2396). 
 
 In the first 1212 Unes of Cleanness 11 (222, 
 223, 226, 554, 556, 790, 791, 886, 966, 984, 
 1018, 1022, 1035, 1068, 1132, 1134 [1011 
 suggested by the Bible]. In the remaining 600 lines 
 7 (1458, 1500, 1581, 1684, 1694, 1696 [1697 
 suggested by the Bible]. 
 
 In the 531 lines of Pat. 7 (258, 272, 274, 
 292, 410, 450, 472), or, taking the proportion, 
 in 1212 lines 15.98 + or nearly 16 comparisons. 
 
 The following is the average result: in the 
 Pearl comparisons occur every 34.62 + lines; in 
 Gaw. every 133.15+ lines; in 01. every 75.5 
 lines; in Pat. every 75.85 + lines. 
 
 The others poems belong to that sphere of 
 rehgious thought which deals with human things 
 and with the church militant; the Pearl has its 
 
— 24 — ' 
 
 source in that sunny and transparent sphere which 
 encircled the Virgin , and in which a more disin- 
 terested fancy painted to itself the lot of the divi- 
 nity it worshipped, eternally happy, like the old 
 gods, the ^eia ^oJovTsg. The versification of the Pearl 
 belongs peculiarly to this range of religious concep- 
 tion. Thus No. 24 of the Early Engl. Text Soc. 
 publications p. 12 is in this same strophe. There 
 Christ is the "flour and fruyt both softe and sote" 
 and "full curteis" is his "comeli cus" etc. In the 
 Pearl ten Brink finds this strophe "eine nach unserm 
 gefuhl zu dem gegenstand wenig passende form." 
 It might be juster to caU it an unsuitable form for 
 the manner in which our feeling would conceive the 
 subject: for thought, language and versification are 
 in harmony in the poem as it stands : It was doubt- 
 less during youth, while his education, like that of 
 his contemporaries, was completing itself within the 
 bosom of the church that the poet learned to breathe 
 in this lyrical and sequestered atmosphere; and the 
 Pearl as the poem most permeated therewith may 
 be presumed to fall in the earher stages of his ma- 
 turity. 
 
 I should therefore place the Pearl the first of 
 the four poems. We saw reason to believe (cf. p. 18) 
 
— 25 — 
 
 that Gaw. preceded CL, and, as Gaw. and CI. are 
 so closely connected etc. (cf. p. 33), Pat. would seem 
 to be the last of our poet's works. 
 
 The positive date of the four poems. 
 In this respect little has been done. 
 
 Madden rehearses the different views up to the 
 date of his edition (1839): namely, those of Warton, 
 Price,* Conybeare, Laing, and Guest. The dates so 
 given range from the IS"" century, before Robt. of 
 Brunne, to about 1400. Madden expresses his own 
 opinion, p. 301: — "It will not be difficult from a 
 careful inspection of the manuscript itself, both in 
 regard to the writing and illuminations, to assign 
 it to the reign of Richard the second; and the in- 
 ternal evidence arising from the peculiarities of co- 
 stume, armour and architecture would lead us to 
 assign the romance to the same period or a little 
 eariier." 
 
 Morris sets 1320 — 1330 upon the title page 
 of his edition of Sir Gawayne. In his and Skeat's 
 
— 2(i — 
 
 Spec, of E. E. Lit. however he places CI. and Pat. 
 before, and Sir Gaw. about 1360. 
 
 Trautmann (tJber Verf. u. Entst.) refers to 
 Morris' opinion ; but selects three passages — Pat. 
 10,' Pat. 31—33, and CI. 5—16, which as showing 
 the influence of Piers Plowman, lead him to place 
 CI. and Pat. after its first edition; — i. e. not earlier 
 than 1362. 
 
 (Considerations relative to the alliterative rhymes 
 induce him to add: — "ich behaupte deswegen auch 
 nicht, dass die All. Poems nach 1362 gedichtet 
 seien; aber ich halte es ffir wahrscheinhch und 
 wiirde nicht iiberrascht sein, wenn sich eines Tages 
 1370, ja 1380 als das entstehungsjahr derselben 
 herausstellte.") 
 
 Ten Brink p. 421 lets our poet appear "in 
 den sechziger oder siebziger jahren des jahrhunderts" 
 and again p. 440: — "Als der Verfasser des Gaw. 
 sein Clannesse und Pacience schrieb , da war das 
 alUtterirende Versmass bereits durch eine andere Dich- 
 tung (Piers Plowman) weit iiber die Grenze seiner 
 ursprunglichen Heimath hinaus popular geworden."' 
 He thus seems to agree with Trautmann although 
 without referring to any influence Piers Plowman 
 may have had upon our author. 
 
— 27 — ■ 
 
 I shall try to demonstrate this influence and 
 hope by means of additional passages to make it 
 more than probable that CI. and Pat. were written 
 after the 2"'^ edition of Piers Plowman, that is, after 
 1377 (cf. Skeat, introd. to his edition of text B. p. 2). 
 
 I will mark with a star those passages foi^nd 
 in the second edition only. 
 
 [In the Pearl and in Gaw. I find no trace 
 of Langland's influence; the expression "wex as 
 wroth as the wind" found in both Gaw. and Pat. 
 as well as in P. PI. Ill, 328 was undoubtedly 
 usual, at the time ; so also the idea of faultlessness in 
 the "five wits" and the frequent reference to them. 
 Cf. Gaw. 640, 2193 and P. PI. I, 15; XIX 211;- 
 XIV, 53.] 
 
 The 3 passages in CI. and Pat. cited by 
 Trautmann are as follows : — 
 
 (1.) Pat. 9 :— 
 
 "I herde on a halyday at a hyje masse." 
 He must mean to compare this with P. PI. XIII, 384 
 of the 2"^ edition : 
 
 *''In halydayes at holichirche whan ich herde masse." 
 
 (2.) (3.) The personification of Poverty, Pity, 
 Penance etc. in Pat. 31 — 33, and CI. 5 — 16, have a 
 general likeness to many passages in P. PI. 
 
— 28 — 
 
 There are a number of other and more 
 striking resemblances. 
 
 In Piers Plowman *XVI 97 — 126 (I quote 
 according to Skeat, text B) there follows immediat- 
 ely upon the nativity the mention of Christ's "sur- 
 gerye" and of his healing the sick, blind and crook- 
 ed; I. 113 "he leched lazar" (Lazarus). Christ says 
 thereupon in answer to the accusations of the Jews 
 that he has saved them, healed the bHnd, and fed 
 the multitude with fishes and five loaves. 
 
 In CI. 1085 — 1105 the same curious order is 
 followed. The passage is some what too long to 
 quote ; I will give it in Morris' marginal version — 
 1084: — "The child Christ wa^ so clean that 
 ox and ass worshipped him. He hated wickedness 
 and uncleanness and would never touch aught that 
 was vile. Yet there came to him ("as lazares monye") 
 lazars and lepers, lame and blind. Dry and rop- 
 sical folk. He healed all with kind speech. His 
 handling was so good that he needed no knife to 
 cut or carve with. The bread he broke more per- 
 fectly than could all the tools of Toulouse". 
 
 This last detail could never have occurred to 
 our poet in this connection had not Piers PI. in 
 
— 29 — 
 
 the same place referred to Math. 14 , 9 where 
 Christ breaks the five loaves. 
 
 Exactly the same description, in the same 
 order, is repeated more succinctly P. PI. XIX, 120 : — 
 
 *''Aiid when he woxen was moore 
 In his moder's absence, 
 He made lame to lepe, 
 And gaf light to blynde, 
 And fedde with two flashes 
 And with fyve loves 
 Sore a — fyngred folk 
 Mo than fyve thousand." 
 
 The first six portions of Bible history treated 
 in Cleanness (cf. Morris' enumeration, preface to his 
 ed. p. XI if.) are all found as episodes in Piers 
 Plowman. Three of these episodes seem to have 
 left traces in CI. 
 
 The Marriage Feast is used by both poets, 
 though in a radically different manner, to point the 
 moral of cleanness. The description of the poultry 
 in Cleanness seems to me a reminiscence of Piers 
 Plowman. 
 P. PL XV, 455—57 :— 
 
 *''He fedde him with no venysoun no feasauntes y baked, 
 But with foules pat fram hym nolde hut folowed his 
 
 [whistellynge. 
 And wyth calves flesshe he fedde pe folke pat he loued." 
 
— 30 — 
 
 Of. CI. 55 ff.: — 
 
 "For my boles & my borej arn bay ted & slayne 
 And my fedae foule^ fatted mth scla5t, 
 My folyle pat is penne—fed & partrykes bope." 
 
 etc. 
 
 The Fall of the Angels P. PI. I, 109—125 and 
 
 especially 1 1 5 ff. : — 
 
 *''And mo thowsandes wip hym pan man coupe noumbre, 
 Lopen ut wip Lucifer in lothelich forme 
 For thei leueden upon him pat lyed in pis manere 
 Ponam pedem in aquilone, et similis ero altissimo." 
 
 — 121: — 
 "For pryde pat he pult out his peyne hath none ende." 
 
 Compare CI. 205—334 and especially 1. 220 ff.: — 
 
 "Thikke powsande^ pro prwen per-oute 
 Fellen fro the fyrmament, fende^ ful Make." 
 
 —210:— ' ^ 
 
 "sade pyse wordej : 
 I schal telde vp my trone in pe tra mountayne 
 And by lyke to pat lorde pat pe lyft made." 
 
 At the end of the description just as in P. PL : 
 "Ne pray hym for no pite, so proud wat? his wylle." 
 
 In the description of the wickedness before the 
 
 flood — "Pcenitet me fecisse hominem" is translated by 
 
 both authors aUke P. PI, IX, 129: — 
 
 "Pat I maked man now it me athynketh.'.' 
 (Wright reads for-thynketh.) 
 
— 31 — 
 
 CI. 285:— 
 
 "Me forthynke; ful much pat euer I mon made." 
 
 The following passage seems undoubtedly a 
 reminiscence of Piers Plowman. P. PL XIV, 39 — 
 44:— 
 
 *"For lente neuere was lyf but lyfode were shapen 
 "Wher-of or wherefore or where-by to lybbe 
 Firste pe wylde worme vnder weet erfhe 
 Fissch to lyue in pe Jiode and in pe fyre pe cryket, 
 De corlue by kynde of pe eyre moste clennest flesch 
 
 [of bryddes, 
 And bestes by grasse and by greyne and by grene rotis." 
 
 Cf. 'CI. 530—537:— 
 
 "Vche fowle to pe fly^t pat fyperej myjt serue, 
 Vche fysch to pe _flod pat fynne coupe nayte, 
 Vche beste to pe bent pat bytes on erbej; 
 Wylde worme:^ to her won wrypej in pe erpe 
 pe fox & pe folmarde to pe fryth wyndej, 
 Herttes to hyje hepe, harej to gorstej, 
 And lyounej & lebardej to pe lake ryftes." 
 
 In Patience the influence of Piers Plowman is 
 less marked. 
 
 Trautmann has noted two instances (1) Pat. 9 
 and (2) 31—33. 
 
 Pat. 1—8, 35—53, and 525—531 in the 
 selection of patience as a theme, and in the em- 
 phatic association of patience and poverty the poet 
 moves in the sphere of Piers Plowman. Cf. P. PI. 
 
— 32 — 
 
 XIV *191 — 192, *214— 217, *259, *270— 271, 
 *274. X342, XI 310. That is to say: though the 
 poet's poverty among other things had turned his 
 mind toward the virtue of patience (cf. Pat. 35 
 "Bot syn I am put to a poynt pat pouerte hatte") ; 
 yet the thought of insisting in the prologue on their 
 natural connection was most probably suggested as 
 above. 
 
 The preceding comparison has proved, for Clean- 
 ness at least, the influence of Piers Plowman. 
 1877 is therefore for this poem the terminus a quo. 
 We have before found some reason to assume the 
 nearer chronological connection of CI. and Gaw. ; 
 and the manner of the resemblance — both in the 
 descriptions of feasts, and all that in Gaw. is more 
 mystical and less dogmatic — pointed to Gaw. as 
 the earlier. Besides since Gaw., like the Pearl, be- 
 trays no influence of P. PI., there is therefore no 
 reason to believe that it was written after 1377. 
 Assuming that oiu- author read the 2"* ed. of P. PI. 
 soon after its appearance and that CI. was written 
 while the impression was still fresh, I should place 
 Gaw. circa 1375—7, and CI. circa 1378 — 80. 
 
 These dates are sufficiently in accordance with 
 the opinion of Sir Fred. Madden, and with that of 
 
— 33 — 
 
 Trautmann who, though unable to prove a later 
 date than 1362, "would not be surprised" should 
 the poems prove to be written in 1370 and even 
 in 1380. 
 
 Patience contains no personal allusion to ad- 
 vancing years ; there is therefore no subjective reason 
 for placing it much after the other poems. Never- 
 theless it has in common with them very few such 
 passages as connect Gaw. and CI. (Pat. 124: — "Hit 
 may not be pat he is blynde pat bigged vche yje." 
 cf. CI. 583 — 4:— "Wheper he pat stykked vche a 
 stare in vche steppe yje, Sif hym-self be bore blynde 
 hit is a brod wonder," and Pat. 5 — 8 cf. Pearl 
 341 — 348, quoted p, 8 — are sHght exceptions) ; 
 and in regard to Piers Plowman there is none of 
 the vividness of a recent impression. These considerations 
 joined to the stamp of maturity, which ten Brink notes, 
 justify us in counting it as the last of the four poems. 
 
 I should therefore place the Pearl before 
 Gawain ; Gawain c. 1375 — 7 : — Cleanness 1378 — 80, 
 and Patience after Cleanness. 
 
34 — 
 
 n. 
 
 COMPARISON OF 
 SIR GAWAYNE WITH THE ROMAN DE PERCEVAL. 
 
 nc. 
 
 Sir Fred. Madden (Syr Gaw. Notes, p. 305 ff.) 
 was the first to discover that the most striking 
 incident in Sir Gawayne was' borrowed from Crestien's 
 Perceval. He tells in Enghsh the story of Carados 
 and his father the magician, and twice, (twice 
 only) quotes the French words: — namely in his note 
 to Gaw. I. 90—99 where he gives the parallel 
 French passage, and again where a few words are 
 cited from the description of the wizard. (These 
 quotations are from the prose romance published in 
 Paris in 1530, which however is a very exact version 
 of Crestien's poem). He does not mention any ftir- 
 ther correspondence of incident, nor any other verbal 
 analogies, nor reminiscences. 
 
 Morley, in his Enghsh Writers, refers to Madden 
 and follows him. Morris (ed. Sir Gaw., introd. p. 
 vm), and ten Brink p. 422 add nothing to Madden's 
 statement; for only to the above mentioned incident 
 can we well apply ten Brinks words: — "Die motive 
 
— 35 — 
 
 zu demselben (Sir Gawain) entlehnte er grossentheils 
 dem „Perceval" des Crestien v. Troies, so jedoch, 
 dass er das, was in der quelle bloss als episode 
 auftritt, zum kern seiner darstellung macht." etc. 
 
 I believe an exacter comparison to be of some 
 interest for the entire history, in England, of the 
 Arthur romances; insomuch as while lesser poets 
 made exact translations, even this poet is in a manner 
 bound to his author and his book. He is not so 
 at home in the whole domain of the Round Table 
 that, having chosen one incident, the others wiU 
 come to him at hap-hazard, he scarce knows whence; 
 there suggest themselves to him in preference the 
 figures and episodes of the last book which impressed 
 him; its transitions even are his transitions. We 
 may guess that he could count the manuscripts he 
 had pored over, and still knew the last one best. 
 
 I do not mean by this at all to deny the 
 influence of other poems, or the use made of them. 
 
 Sir Fred. Madden, in his note to line 1226, 
 thinks that the description of the unlacing of the 
 deer may have been suggested by a similar descrip- 
 tion in Sir Tristram; in his note to line 1699, he 
 recalls Lajamon's introduction of the simile of a fox- 
 hunt; in the note to hne 2446 he supports the 
 
— 36 — 
 
 author's conception of Morgne la Faye as an old- 
 woman by a passage from the Prophecy of Merlin ; 
 line 648, note, he looks upon the Virgin's image 
 on Gawain's shield as imitated from Arthur's shield 
 Pridwen, Geof. of Monmouth IX c. 3. He also 
 (p, 307) finds reason to suppose our author acquainted 
 with the prose romance of Perceval le Gallois, to 
 which I shall refer later. 
 
 Ten Brink (p. 422, note) mentions the "that- 
 sache, dass sein gedicht zahlreiche anklange auch an 
 andere Artusromane enthalt." 
 
 Sir Gawain is not a translation , not a copy ; 
 nor was it a wish of the author to recombine 
 the elements of Perceval, as we make the anagram 
 of a name. He was acquainted with other romances, 
 and used them freely when they presented them- 
 selves; but what I believe to be the most remarkable 
 result of the ensuing comparison is the preponderance 
 of the Roman de Perceval in his mind during the 
 whole composition of his poem. The strongest in- 
 fluence, side by side with this one, fell to the prose 
 romance of Perceval. 
 
 I have already impUed that there are many 
 analogous incidents, as well as minor resemblances, 
 which Sir Fr. Madden leaves unnoticed. Following 
 
— 37 — 
 
 the order of the poem itself, I begin with the 
 less important, and give the details of agreement 
 and disagreement' in that part of Sir Gawain, which 
 is confessedly suggested by the story of Carados. 
 
 Treatment of the narrative of Carados. 
 
 I quote from "Perceval le Gallois, ou le Conte 
 du Graal, publie par Potvin," and make no distinction 
 between Crestien de Troies and his continuators, 
 because it was probably the whole Roman de Per- 
 ceval that lay before the English poet. (The episode 
 of Carados is not by Crestien.) In what version the 
 poem lay before him is of course uncertain; Potvin 
 rarely cites parallel readings: — when he does, how- 
 ever, it is perhaps the Montpellier manuscript which 
 most accords with the English words. 
 
 Arthur speaks (12571 P.):— 
 
 "C^ Pentecouste voel tenir, 
 La premiere qui doit venir, 
 Court si grant et si honieste 
 Cains nus horn ne vit si grant feste ; 
 Car tant i quic doner del mien 
 C'aino nus n'oi parler de rien 
 Que je f&sce onques encore, 
 Se des dons non que donrai ore 
 As barons et as chevaliers." 
 
— 38 — 
 
 Of. Gaw. 37—71. 
 
 Common as are such descriptions it yet is probable 
 from the connection that the above French hnes 
 suggested the animated English feast ; possible, too, that 
 the gifts suggested Christmas gifts ; although pictures- 
 queness and the habit of other Enghsh romancers 
 might have determined the change of time from 
 Whitsuntide to Christmas. Cf. the Engl. Rom. of 
 Perceval, ed. Halhwell, 1. 1803 "Tille the heghe 
 dayes of Jole were gane." 
 
 Kay announces that the meal is served and 
 
 Arthur answers (P. 1. 12628):— 
 
 "Nou ferai, Kex, biaus amis ciers; 
 Ne place Dieu que ja m'aviengne 
 Que a tel fiest ja court tiegne 
 La j'aie corone portee, 
 K'aigue soit prfse ne donee 
 Devant ce k'estrange novele 
 U autre aventure moult bele 
 I soit voiant tous avenue ; 
 La coustume ai ensi tenue 
 Toute ma vie jusques chi." 
 
 Cf. Gaw. 90—102: — 
 
 "And also anoper maner meued him eke, 
 
 Pat he purj nobelay had nomen, he wolde neuer ete 
 
 Vpon such a dere day, er hym deuised were 
 
 Of sum auenturus pyng an vncoupe tale 
 
 Of sum mayn meruayle, pat he myjt trawe, 
 
— 39 — 
 Of alderes, of armes, of oper auenturus, 
 
 pis watj pe kynges couritenaunce where he in court were, 
 At vch farand feat among his fre meny, 
 in halle." 
 
 For the lines Gaw. 86 and again 89: — 
 
 "He wat5 so Joly of hisJoyfnes, & sum-quat child gered;" 
 
 "So bi-sied him his jonge blod & his brayn wylde." 
 
 Cf. elsewhere in P. 9439 :— 
 
 "Qu'il est enfes, le roi Artus." 
 
 At this point (Gaw. 107 — 461) we .are con- 
 fronted by the personage who, together with Gawain, 
 gives our romance its name, and who at the same 
 time constitutes a marked divergence from the French 
 text. It behoves us therefore to examine with care 
 his conception. 
 
 Raynbroune, "the knyjt of armes grene" is 
 mentioned in the Carle off Carhle, ed. Madden, /. 44. 
 In the Ballad of the Green Knight, which is founded 
 upon our romance, the green knight is named Sir 
 Bredbeddle. In the BaUad of King Arthur and the 
 King of Cornwall, Sir Bredbeddle, the green knight, 
 with his "collen brand, Millaine knife and Danish 
 axe'' (cf. Gaw. I. 2223 "A denej ax nwe dy3t, pe 
 dynt with to 5elde" etc.) appears in the r61e of a 
 
— 40 — 
 
 conjurer. Can we from this assume any tradition 
 concerning a green knight, which would have led 
 to his substitution for Elyauros ? The last mentioned 
 ballad would seem to imply such a tradition, but, 
 though in other respects wholly different from our 
 Sir Gawaiu, it may in this one contain a reminiscence. 
 We must therefore, until further notices of the Green 
 Knight are discovered (Compare part III, p. 98) 
 study him as an original creation. As such I believe 
 the green colour may have been suggested as follows. 
 
 Vermel and verd, in Perceval are the two 
 favorite colours of rich attire : — Cf. also King Alisaunder, 
 ed. Weber I. L 6374 fP: — 
 
 "Fair folk woneth in the este; 
 Of al thes lond they lyveth best, 
 Clothed in scarlet and grene." 
 
 Verd, toward the end of Perceval (cf. /. 29823, 
 81695, 34071) is more frequent; in the old English 
 romances it is almost the rule. Cf. Anturs of Arther, 
 ed. Madden I. 353, "Hir gyde was gloryous & gaye, 
 alle of gyrfe (a gresse) grene" (Gaw. /. 235 : "As 
 growe grene as pe gres") ; also Perceval of Galles 
 (ed. Halliwell) lines 265 and 277; and Sir Degre- 
 vant (ed Halliwell) 1. 1604. , Moreover the prominence 
 
— 41 — 
 
 of "li Chevaliers Vermaus" in Perceval might suggest 
 a green counterpart. 
 
 As such I believe him to be traceable as follows. 
 In both poems the knight enters, as it were in response 
 to Arthur's demand for adventure; nevertheless he 
 does not come to fight. The green knight emphasizes 
 his peaceful coming both by word and symbol. 
 
 Gaw. I. 279: — 
 
 "Nay frayst I no fy^t, in fayth I pe telle." 
 
 /. 265: — 
 
 "5e may be seker bi pis braunoh pat I bare here 
 pat I passe as in pes, & no ply^t seche." 
 
 This branch is a "holyn bobbe", I. 207: 
 
 "Pat is grattest in grene when jreues ar bare." 
 
 The following quotations will show the association, 
 within this class of romances, between green attire 
 and the bearing, primarily of an olive branch, in sign 
 of peace. 
 
 Geof. of Monm. liber. IX c. 15, 11: — "ecce 
 duodecim viri maturse eetatis, reverendi vultus, ramos 
 olivee, in signum legationis in dextris ferentes." 
 
 King Alisaunder I. 1702: — 
 
 "And eche with a braunche of olyve 
 That was tokenyng of pes & lyve." 
 
— 42 — 
 
 EllisSpec.E.E.Metr.Rom.,ed.l805,I,p.356: — 
 
 "The maiden is ready for to ride, 
 
 In a full rich aparaylment, 
 
 Of samyte green, with miokle pride 
 
 A dwarf shall wende by her side ; 
 
 Such were the manners in that tide, 
 When a maid on a message went." 
 
 Ellis p. 360. After peace is made and Lancelot 
 
 and his knights lead back the queen to Arthur, 
 
 "The other knights, everichone. 
 
 In samyte green of heathen land. 
 
 And their kirtles, ride alone; 
 
 And each knight a green garland; 
 
 Saddles set with riche stone; 
 
 Each one a branche of olive in hand." 
 
 P. 363 a maid is sent on an embassy: — 
 
 "Her 'parayl all of one hue. 
 
 Of a green velvet ; 
 
 In her hand a branch new, 
 
 For why that no man should her let." 
 
 Gaw. I. 175: 
 
 "A green hors gret and pikke." 
 
 In regard to this green colour of his horse and 
 of all appurtenances, cf. Ipomydon (ed. Weber II) 
 I. 643 ff.: — 
 
 "He purueyd hym iij noble stedes 
 And also thre noble wedys: — 
 
— 43 — 
 
 That one was white as any mylke 
 The trappure of him was white sylke, 
 That other was rede, bothe styfFe & stoure 
 The trappure was of the same coloure, 
 Blake than was that other stede 
 The same colour was his wede." 
 
 To each steed belongs a greyhound of the 
 same colour. Thus our author, having once arrived 
 at green for the attire of the knight, would naturally 
 give him a green steed. 
 
 In Perceval of Galles, founded upon the French 
 Perceval, "U chevaliers vermaus" reappears I. 605 
 as the Red knight with "blode red wede, prekande 
 one a rede stede" and again with "blode red stede". 
 It may be observed that the mother of this Red 
 Knight is a witch, as is, in the Ballad of the Green 
 Knight, the Green Knight's mother-in-law. 
 
 Green is undoubtedly a more unnatural colour 
 even than blood-red; and is moreover extended to 
 the knight's own person: — but it is a" fairy coljir 
 and apt for wonders: — found also as the hue of hair 
 in many kinds of myths and legends and in no wise 
 as amazing as would have been, for instance, blue 
 or purple. 
 
 I now resume the description of the feast 
 before the appearance of the Green Knight. 
 
— 44 — 
 
 P. I. 12638: — 
 
 "A §ou qu'il parloient ensi 
 
 Et li autre fisent em pais, 
 
 Parmi I'entr^e dou palais 
 
 Voient entrer un chevalier 
 
 Moult grant, sour •!• fauve destrier." 
 
 Cf. Gaw. 107:— 
 
 "Thus per stondes in stale pe stif kyng his-seluen 
 Tolkkande bifore pe hyje table" etc. — 
 
 /. 136: — 
 
 "Per hales in at pe halle dor an aghlich mayster, 
 On pe most on pe molde on mesure hyghe." 
 
 P. l. 12643:— 
 
 "Viestu d'un peligon hermine 
 Qui jusqu'a tiere li trai'ne; 
 En son cief ot .i. capelet, 
 A .1. ciercle d'or de bounet." 
 
 Cf. Gaw. 153:— 
 
 "A mere mantile abof, mensked with-inne, 
 With pelure pured apert pe pane ful clene." 
 
 P. I. 12647: — 
 
 "S'ot §ainte une moult longue espee 
 
 Qui de fin or fu enheudee 
 
 Et les renges d'un cier orfroi." 
 
 Cf. Gaw. 208:— 
 
 "And an ax in his oper, a hoge and tm-mete". 
 
— 45 — 
 
 —210: — 
 
 "Pe hede of an einjerde pe large lenkpe hade, 
 Pe grayn al of grene stele and of golde hewen." 
 
 —217: — 
 
 "A lace lapped aboute, pat louked at pe hede, 
 And so after pe halme halched ful ofte, 
 Wyth tryed tassele? perto tacched in-noghee." 
 
 Per. I. 12650:— 
 
 "Tout a ceval vint jusqu'al dois 
 Et dist en haut mouet gentement: 
 Kois Artu." etc. 
 
 Cf. Gaw. 221 ff:— 
 
 "pis hapel heldej hym in, & pe halle entres, 
 Driuande to pe heje dece, dut he no wope, 
 Haylsed he neuer one, hot heje he ouer loked. 
 pe fyrst word pat he warp, 'wher is' ; he sayd,, 
 'Pe gouernour of pis gyng?" etc. 
 
 P. I. 12655:— 
 
 "Rois, fait-il, "i- don vos demanc." 
 
 —12658 — 12670:— 
 
 "Vous le saures 
 Colee demanc, sans de§oivre, 
 Por un autre errant a regoivre.' 
 'Chevalier, que me dites-YOUs?' 
 'Kois, je vos di tout a estrous 
 Que, s'il a gaiens chevalier 
 Qui la tieste me puist trencier 
 A .1. seul cop de ceste espee, 
 
— 46 — 
 
 Et se repuis de le colee 
 Aprils saner et regarir, 
 Seurs puet estre, sans falir, 
 D'ui en .i. an d'ausi reprendre 
 La colee, s'il I'ose atendre." 
 
 Cf. Gaw. 272 ff.: — 
 
 "Bot if pou be so bold as alle bumej. tellen, 
 pou wyl grant me godly pe gomen pat I ask, 
 bi ryjt." 
 
 — 285:— 
 
 "If any so hardy in pis hous holdej hym-seluen, 
 Be so bolde in his blod, brayn in hys hede, 
 pat dar stifly strike a strok for an oper." 
 
 — 294: — 
 
 "And I schal stonde hym a strok, stlf on pis flet 
 BUej pou wyl di^t me pe dom to dele hym an oper, 
 barlay ; 
 
 And jet gif hym respite, 
 
 A twelmonyth and a day; 
 
 Now hyje, and let se tite 
 
 Dar any her-inne ojt say." 
 
 P. I. 12673: — 
 
 "Mais n'i a nul qui I'ost ballier." 
 
 —12678:— 
 
 "Ha; fait li chevaliers, 'signor, 
 • Et 50U qui est ? n'en feres plus ? 
 Or puet veoir li rois Artus 
 Que sa cours n'est mie si rice 
 Comme cascuns dist et afice; 
 
— 47 — 
 
 N'i a nul chevalier hardi; 
 Por voir le vos tesmogne ci 
 Que jou dirai teles novi^les 
 Qui n'ierent ne plaisant ne beles." 
 
 Cf. Gaw. 301:— 
 
 "If he hem stowned vpon fyrst, stiller were panne 
 Alle pe hered-men in halle, pe hyj & pe loje." 
 
 —309: — 
 
 "What, is pis arpures hous', quod pe hapel penne, 
 'Pat al pe rous rennes of, purj ryahnes so mony? 
 Where is now your sourquydrye & your conquestes, 
 Tour gryndel-layk, & your greme, & your grete wordes? 
 Now is pe reuel & pe renoun of pe rounde table 
 Ouer-walt wyth a worde of on wyjes speche; 
 For al dares for drede, with-oute dynt schewed." 
 
 Per. I. 12687:— 
 
 "Aler s'en voloit aitant, 
 Quant Caradeus sali avant, 
 Qui noviaus chevaliers estoit." 
 
 Arthur discourages Carados: — 12698: — 
 
 "Qaiens a maint bon chevalier. 
 Qui ausi bien et mius ferroient 
 Que vous, se faire le voloient." 
 
 When Carados presents himself the following 
 
 lines occur in the Montpellier Manuscript: — 
 
 "Estes-vous au meillor eslir?" 
 Certes, nennil, m^s au plus fol." 
 
— 48 -- 
 
 Cf. Gaw. 354: — 
 
 "I am pe wakkest, I wot, and of wyt feblest, 
 
 And lest lur of my lyf, quo laytes pe sope, 
 
 Bot for as much as 50 ar myn em, I am only to prayse 
 
 No bounte bot your blod I in my bode knowe." 
 
 The great humility here attributed to Gawain 
 may be a reminiscence of Arthur's other nephew, 
 Carados, the untried knight. Precisely as Carados' 
 adventure is here transferred to Gawain, so also are 
 transferred to him, in Crestien , various adventures 
 which Rob. de Borron ascribes to Perceval in his 
 "Perceval ou la Qu^te du St-Graal" (pubU6 Huchier 
 1865). 
 
 Per. /. 12706: — 
 
 "Devers le dois cil se retome, 
 Le cief baissie, le col estent; 
 Caradeus fiert si durement 
 Que la tieste voler en fist. 
 Desor le dois cil reprist 
 Far les keviaus, a ses .n. mains, 
 Ausi com s'il fust trestous sains." 
 
 Of. Gaw. 417: — 
 
 .* 
 
 "The grene knyjt vpon grounde graypely hym dresses, 
 A littel lut with pe hede, pe ler^ he discouerej. 
 His longe louelych lokkej he layd ouer his croun, 
 Let pe naked nee to pe note schewe. 
 Gauan gripped to his ax, & gederes hit on hyjt." 
 
— 49 — 
 
 — 427:— 
 
 "Pe fayre hede fro pe halce hit felle to pe erpe, 
 pat fele hit foyned wyth her fete, pere hit forth roled." 
 
 Gaw. I. 433: 
 
 "Lajt to his lufly hed, & lyft hit vp sone." 
 In both poems the head speaks after it has 
 been cut off: — 
 
 Perc. I. 12719:— 
 
 "Caradieu', fait li chevaliers, 
 
 'D'ui en -I- an biaus amis ciers, 
 
 Reserai chi, ce sacies bien; 
 
 Si ne laissies por nul rien 
 
 Que je ne vos truisse a cele eure." 
 
 Cf. Gaw. 448: — 
 
 "Loke, Gawan, pou be graype to go as pou hettej." 
 
 —455: — 
 
 "For-pi me for to fynde if pou fraystej, faylez pou neuer, 
 
 per-fore com, oper recreaunt be calde pe be-houeus." 
 
 Perc. I. 12724:— 
 
 "Atant s'en va, plus ne demeure ; 
 Et li rois tous pensius remaint; 
 Avoec lui ot chevalier maint 
 Qui sont dolant et esmari." 
 
 Cf. Gaw. /. 457: — 
 
 "With a runisch rout pe raynej he tomej, 
 Hailed out at pe hal-dor, his hed in his hande." 
 
— 50 — 
 
 — I. 467: — 
 
 "Paj Arper pe hende kyng at hert hade wonder, 
 He let no semblaunt be sene etc." 
 
 The English lines seem an intentional correction 
 of the French. 
 
 The return of the enchanter at the close of 
 the year (Perc. 12745 — 12840) has little in 
 common with the second meeting of Gawain and 
 the Gr^en Knight. 
 
 Bi ' in the prose romance quoted by Madden 
 as H61ie de Boron's Roman du Graal, and published, 
 as l"'" partie, in Potvin's edition of Perceval 11 
 GaUois, this adventure of Carados is attributed to 
 Lancelot. The prose romance, according to Dr. 
 Birch-Hirschfeld, ("Die Sage v. Gral", p. 142) v^as 
 written in the second quarter of the thirteenth cen- 
 tury. Sir. Fr. Madden suggests as probable that 
 our poet knew both versions and combined them. 
 A comparison made by me before I could obtain 
 Madden's Gawayne renders the acquaintance with 
 the prose Perceval almost certain. 
 
 Compare, p. 103 of the prose romance, the 
 description of the knight who is to be beheaded by 
 Lancelot. He appears in a jewelled dress and 
 
— 51 — 
 
 "estoit vestuz d'une coste vermeille courte, 
 
 et tenoit une grant hache." 
 
 Gaw. I. 152: — 
 
 "A strayt cote ful strejt, pat stek on his sides." 
 
 — I. 208: — 
 
 "And an ax in his oper, a hoge and vn-mete." 
 
 Perc. p. 104:— 
 
 The knight requires Lancelot to swea- on the 
 relics that he will return in a year. 
 
 Cf. Gaw. where an oath is expressly waived. 
 
 /. 403: — 
 
 "And pat I swere pe for sope, and by my seker trawep'. 
 'Pat is in-nogh in nwe jer, hit nedes no more." 
 
 Perc. p. 233:— 
 
 Lancelot returns in a year's time to receive 
 the blow, "se dresce, si se met k jenoillons et 
 estant le col. Li chivaliers entoise la hache; 
 Lanceloz ot venir le cop, si beisse le chief et la 
 hache passe outre. II h dist: 'sire chevaliers, 
 ainsint ne fist mie mes frferes que vos oc6istes, ainz 
 tint le chief et le col tout quoi et ausint vos cou- 
 vient-il feire." 
 
— 52 — 
 
 Compare Gaw. I. 2265 : — 
 
 "Bot Gawayn on pat giserne glyfte hym bysyde, 
 
 As hit com glydande adoun, on glode hym to schende, 
 
 And schranke a lytel with pe schulderes, for pe scharp yrne." 
 
 — I. 2270:— 
 
 "Pouartnot Gawayn,' quod pegome, 'pat is so goud halden." 
 
 — I. 2274: — 
 
 "Nawper fiked I, ne flaje, freke, quen pou myntest, 
 Ne kest no kauelacion, in kyngej hous Arthor, 
 My hede flaj to my fete, & jet flaj I neuer." 
 
 Perc. p. 233: — 
 
 Two damoiseles interpose and the knight asks 
 forgiveness of Lancelot, "comme au plus loial 
 chevalier del monde." 
 
 Compare Gaw. where the Green Knight calls 
 Gawain "pe fautlest freke, pat euer on fote Jede." 
 
 The substitution indeed of an axe for a sword 
 and of a short coat for a flowing mantel (or rather 
 in Gaw. both short coat and mantle are retained), together 
 with the reference to an oath, would not be enough 
 in itself to prove any knowledge of the prose 
 romance ; but that Gawain also flinches from the 
 blow, and is reproved in like fashion is not a trait 
 to be twice invented. 
 
— 53 — 
 
 Gawain and Guigambresil. 
 
 If the adventure of Carados is the actual theme 
 of our story, yet there is another adventure which, 
 though subordinated, halves with it the poem; which 
 fills the interstices, and gives solidity to the frame 
 work; and of which we may say that, when the 
 English poet conceived his work, it was present to 
 him simultaneously with that of Carados, and not 
 remembered as an accessory. This second adventure, 
 attributed by Crestien himself to Gawain, is so finely 
 adapted to its end, so modified and redistributed, that 
 its original form has hitherto been overlooked. It 
 is to be found in that part of Crestien which may 
 be called the adventure with Guigambresil. 
 
 At the time when the "Damoisele hydeuse" 
 
 has damped the joy of Perceval's return, there appears 
 
 before the court (P. I. 6129) Guigambresil, who 
 
 lays his lord's murder to Gawain's charge. Upon 
 
 this insult Gawain challenges Guigambresil and 
 
 wanders forth in search of him. Cf. the general 
 
 grief with that at Gawain's departure in our poem. 
 
 Perc. /. 6184 ff:— 
 
 "Ains que il fust de cort meus, 
 Ot apries lui moult grant duel fet, 
 Maint pis batu, maint ceviel tret." 
 
— 54 — 
 
 —I. 6190:— 
 
 "Grant duel en font maintes et maint." 
 
 Gaw. I. 558: — 
 
 "Pere watj much deme doel driuen in pe sale 
 
 pat so worthe as "Wawan schulde wende on pat ernde." 
 
 —I. 672: — 
 
 "Al pat sej pat semly syked in hert." 
 
 —I. 684: — 
 
 "Wei much watj pe warme water pat waltered of y$en." 
 
 In the scene at court between Gawain and Gui- 
 
 gambresil, there is but one other knight mentioned 
 
 by name: Agrevain H orguilleus, Gawain's brother, 
 
 who begs him to refute the accusation. It may be 
 
 on account of this association that he is among the very 
 
 few named at the banquet which the green knight 
 
 breaks in upon. — Gaw. /. 110 : — "Agrauayn a la dure 
 
 mayn." This epithet which Madden, notes p. 110, 
 
 criticizes as "never applied to him in the romances" 
 
 occurs, nevertheless, Z. 9 5 1 of Perceval. Cf. 9 5 9 ff. : — 
 
 "Et li secons est Agrevains, 
 Li orguilleus as dtires mains." 
 
 And we cannot but find in this adaptation 
 of an ana^ Xsyofievov an evidence of minute acquain- 
 tance with the French poem. 
 
— 55 — 
 
 After many adventures Gawain meets a hunt 
 Perc. I. 7085 ff. One of the knights greets Gawain 
 and tells him to go to his castle where he will 
 find his sister. He sends a message to her, concern- 
 ing Gawain. 
 
 Perc. I. 7115:— 
 
 "Et k'ele autant face de lui 
 Com de moi ki ses freres sui; 
 Tel solas et tel compagnie 
 Li face qu'il ne li griet mie 
 Quant nos seromes revenue." 
 
 '^ Compare Gaw. (1096 — 1100) the speech of 
 
 the Green Knight, when he asks Gawain to remain 
 in the castle during the hunt. 
 
 Gaw. l. 1097: — 
 
 "And to mete wende, 
 When je wyl, wyth my wyf, pat wyth you schal sitte, 
 And comfort yow with compayny, til I to cart toriip, 
 59 lende." 
 
 The lady receives the message. 
 
 Perc. I. 7183:- 
 
 "Et cele dist, ki grant joie a: 
 'Beneois soit ki m'en voia 
 Tel companie come ceste." 
 
 I. 7213 an attendant enters: — 
 
 "Si les trova entre-baisant 
 
 Et moult tr^s grant joie faisant." 
 
— 56 — 
 
 He arouses the household against whom Gawain 
 
 defends himself until the knights, who prove to be 
 
 the king and Guigambresil, return from the hunt: — 
 
 and the duel between Gawain and Guigambresil is 
 
 deferred a year. Compare Gaw. 1. 2374 — 2394 with 
 
 the following lines spoken by Gawain. 
 
 Perc. 1. 7553 :— ' 
 
 "N'ai pas de ma mort tel paor 
 Que ja mius ne voelle k honor 
 La mort soffrir et endurer 
 Que vivre k honte et parjurer'. • 
 'Biaus sire, fait li vavasours 
 II ne vous est j^ deshonours." 
 
 In both accounts therefore does Gawain leave 
 
 Arthur's court on an enterprise of life and death. 
 
 The description of the grief at his departure is common 
 
 to both. In both he wanders forth in search of his 
 
 adversary and encounters many adventures. 
 
 Cf. Gaw. I. 715: — 
 
 "At vche warpe oper water per pe wyje passed, 
 He fonde a foo hym byfore, bot ferly hit were, 
 And pat so foule & so felle, pat fejt hym» by-hode ; 
 So mony meruayl bi mount per pe mon fyndej, 
 Hit were to tore for to telle of pe tenpe dole." 
 
 In Crestien he meets his unknown enemy who 
 directs him to his castle, just as in Gaw. he comes 
 to the castle of the Green Knight without know- 
 
— 57 — 
 
 ing who his host is. In Perceval the lord of 
 the castle sends Gawain to be entertained by his 
 sister while he is out hunting, just as in the English 
 romance Gawain is left with the wife of the Green 
 Knight during the three hunts. The same instructions 
 are given to wife and sister respectively, "to com- 
 fort him with company" till the hunt is over. In 
 both romances Gawain is received with open arms; 
 and he and the lady kiss and make great merriment. 
 Our poet does indeed rescue Gawain's chastity ; but 
 preserves the colouring of the original in so much 
 as Gawain, by the acceptance of the green lace, 
 becomes guilty of a breach of faith. In both romances, 
 again, Gawain's treachery is discovered by his un- 
 known host: — this host is in the one case, the 
 Green Knight, whom he sought; in the other, the 
 son of the lord whose murder is laid to Gawain's 
 charge: — in his castle, as his retainer and companion, 
 is that Guigambresil whom Gawain seeks. In Perce- 
 val the impending duel is then deferred for a year; 
 in the English romance Gawain escapes with a sHght 
 blow. In both Gawain is assured that his honour 
 is safe. 
 
 It results from this summary that we may 
 regard our English poem in two ways. We can 
 
08 
 
 look upon it as the adventure of Carados with the 
 insertion of Gawain's adventure with Guigambresil ; 
 or as the adventure with Guigambresil modified by 
 the effective substitution, for the duel, of the episode 
 of Carados. What decides in favour of thp former, 
 is the poet's own handling of the two; he himself 
 with the imaginative, half mystic treatment, which 
 is the part of his work most truly his own, lays the 
 stress upon the adventure of Carados. 
 
 Crestien's influence in the elaboration. 
 
 There remain to be considered such modifications 
 of given scenes as may have been suggested by other 
 portions of the French Perceval, not originally con- 
 nected with the subject matter of our poem. 
 
 Gawain's temptations in the castle of the Green 
 
 Knight seem to me to contain a reminiscence of 
 
 three other of his adventures, two of which are found 
 
 in Crestien, and one in the prose Perceval. 
 
 Perc. /. 32173 fi". a lady speaks: — 
 
 "Sire, se Damledex ni'ai't, 
 Et si me doinst joie et sante, 
 Onques home de mhre ni 
 N'aimai par amors se vos nan; 
 Car vous iestes de tel renom 
 Que je vous ai ame pie(ja, 
 
— 59 — 
 
 Si tieng que mon damage i a 
 Isi que vous ne m'ames mie 
 Car vous avis plus bele amie, 
 Au mien quidier, que jou ne soi." 
 
 Compare Gaw. 1268—1275: — 
 
 "Bi Mary,' quod pe menskful, 'me pynk hit anoper, 
 For were I worth al pe wone of wymmen alyue, 
 And al pe wele of pe worlde were in my honde, 
 And I schulde chepen & chose, to cheue me a lorde, 
 For pe costes pat I haf knbwen vpon pe knyjt here, 
 Of hewte & debonerte, ii blype semblaunt. 
 And pat I haf er herkkened, & halde hit here trwee, 
 Jper schulde no freke vpon folde bifore yow he chosen." 
 
 — I. 1782:— 
 
 '^Bot if y haf a lemman, a leuer, pai yow lyke^ better" etc. 
 
 Gawain tells his name to a pucele whom 
 
 he has rescued and she replies : — 
 
 Perc. Z. 37898 ff.: — 
 
 "Sire dist elle, querredon 
 
 Vous doi, tout vous mec a handon 
 
 Mon cars, et trestot mon avoir, 
 
 Car je ne doi nul gre savoir 
 
 Fors a vous, sans plus, de ma vie." 
 
 Cf. Gaw. 1237 ff.: — 
 
 "§6 ar welcum to my cors, 
 Yowre awen won to wale, 
 Me be-houej of fyne force. 
 Your seruaunt be and schale." 
 
 And again the same pucele. 
 
— 60 ~ 
 
 Percev. L 38484:— 
 
 "Lors a Gauvain en ses bras pris, 
 Si Restraint suef et embrace, 
 Les iols li baise et puis la face." 
 
 Gaw. answers, Perc. I. 38514: — 
 
 "Biele,' fait-il, 'se Dex me voie, 
 Ne puet estre, aler me couvient, 
 Que jou ai a faire k Carduel." 
 
 (Compare Oaw. I. 1305 at the conclusion of the 
 
 same interview: — 
 
 "Ho comes nerre with pat, & cache^ hym in arme$, 
 Loute^ luflych adoun, (& pe leude kysse^." 
 
 In the prose Perceval with which we have 
 already seen that our author was acquainted, page 
 67—68:— 
 
 'Et quant il (Gawain) fu couchier, eles s'assieent 
 devant lui et out le cierge alume, et s'apuient sor la 
 couche et li presantent raout lor service. Mesire Gauvains 
 ne lor respont autre chose que: 'granz merciz'; car il 
 panssa a dormir et a reposer. 'Par Dieu' fet I'une a 
 I'autre, 'se ce fust Monseignor Gauvains, li nies le roi 
 Artu, il parlast a nos autrement, et trouveissions en lui 
 plus de deduit que en cestui. Mes cist est uns Q^vains 
 contrefez: malejnent est emploiee I'anor que I'an li 
 a feite." 
 
 Cf. Gaw. I. 1293: — 
 
 "Bot pat 58 be Gawan, hit gotj in mynde." 
 
- 61 — 
 
 -1297:- 
 
 "So god as Gawayn gaynly is halden, 
 And cortaysye is closed so clene in hym-seluen 
 Couth not lyjtly haf lenged so long wyth a lady, 
 Bot he had craned a cosse, bi bis courtaysye." 
 
 —1481: — 
 
 "Sir, jif 56 be Wawan wonder me pynkkej." 
 
 Again; in Crestien (l. 10102) when Gawain 
 comes to the enchanted castle he finds two queens 
 there: — an older, Arthur's mother Ugieme, and a 
 younger, his own mother (10102). In our poem 
 where the two ladies appear in the same way, the 
 older leading the younger (l. 947, cf. P. 9475) 
 the older proves to be "Morgne the faye" Arthur's 
 half sister, Gawain's aunt. Both of these relation- 
 ships are particularly mentioned. Is it not probable, 
 in view of our poets habit of receiving suggestions 
 from Perceval, that that other adventure had a share 
 in this one? 
 
 Madden in his note to I. 2446 quotes a few 
 sentences from the Prophecies of Merlin to show 
 that Morgan la Fay was not always conceived as 
 young ; but the passage proves also that she retained 
 a semblance of youth. Madden seems to me to 
 begin wrongly in supposing the form in which 
 
Gawain saw Morgain to have been her own. Our poet 
 probably imagined, what is often found, an older 
 lady as the companion of the young chatelaine. As 
 above mentioned, a remembrance of the two ladies 
 in the enchanted castle probably suggested to him, 
 in the elder, a relative of Gawain; ^nd Morgain, 
 Arthur's relative also, the great enchantress, was an 
 appropriate immate of the Green Knight's castle. 
 The atmosphere of sorcery which so changed the 
 Green Knight as to make him unrecognizable affected. 
 Morgain as well, whom our poet represents as the 
 author of the whole adventure. This gave him the 
 opportunity to introduce that description of diabolical 
 hideousness in which romance writers have delighted 
 since first Crestien took from -Robert de Borron "la 
 damoisele hydeuse." While our author has apphed 
 this description to Morgain la Fay, Gautier de 
 Doulens, one of Crestien's continuators, closes the 
 same description with the words (Perc. /. 25744): — 
 "Je ne sai s'ele fu fade." 
 In other old english romances I have found 
 but one similar description and that (in the Wed- 
 dynge of Sir Gaw. and Dame Ragnell, and in the 
 Marriage of Sir Gaw.) is, as I shall show later, 
 most probably from the same source. 
 
- 63 - 
 
 I give a portion of Crestien's description, and 
 the greater part of that in Gaw. : — although the 
 latter is distinguished both by the omission of the 
 most loathsome comparisons- and by new traits 
 peculiar to old age. 
 Perc. I. 5998:— 
 
 "Ains ne veistes si noir fer 
 
 Come ele ot ies mains et le cors ; 
 
 Mais del mains estoit gou encor, 
 
 A I'autre laidesse qu'ele ot; 
 
 Quant si oel erent andui clot, 
 
 Petit erent con oel de rat; 
 
 Ses nis fu de singe u de cat, 
 
 Et ses Uvres d'ashe u de buef; 
 
 — 6011: — 
 
 Et s'ot Ies rains et Ies epaules, 
 Trop bien faites por metre baules; 
 S'ot bas le dos et hances tortes, 
 Qui vont ausi com II- rootes, 
 Bien sont fait por mener dance." 
 
 Cf. Gaw. 957: — 
 
 "Pat oper wyth a gorger watj gered ouer pe swyre, 
 Chymbled ouer hir blake chyn with mylk-quyte vayles, 
 
 — /. 961:— 
 
 pat nojt watj bare of pat burde bot pe blake brakes, 
 pe tweyne y^en & pe nase, pe naked lyppe^, 
 And pose were soure to se & sellyly blered; 
 A mensk lady on molde mon may hir calle, 
 for gode; 
 
— 64 — 
 
 Hir body wat^ schort & pik, 
 Hir buttoke^ bay and brode, 
 More lykker-wys on to lyk, 
 Watj pat scho hade on lode." 
 
 The chapel at which Gawain meets the Green 
 
 Knight and of which he says I. 2191: — 
 
 "Wei bisemej pe wyje wruxled in grene 
 Dele here his deuocioun, on pe deuelej wyse." 
 
 reminds one faintly of the "chapelle perilleuse" in 
 
 the prose Perceval. 
 
 The name of Gawain's horse Gryngolet, of 
 which Madden (note to /. 597) says that it is "an 
 additional proof of our author's knowledge of French 
 romances^" proves only his knowledge of Perceval, 
 where Gringolet is mentioned at least seven times 
 (/. 7583, 8498, 11101, 11924, 31542, 31410, 
 32926 ff.). 
 
 The order of reception and entertainment upon 
 Gawain's arrival at the castle of the Green Knight 
 (l. 816 — 887) recalls Perceval's arrival at the castle 
 of the Fisher King (Perc. Z. 4247 — 4458) but The 
 Anturs of Arther, stanza xxv, and Sir Isumbras, stanza 
 LXXXYii, show that at least the latter part of the 
 description had become stereotyped. 
 
 The arming of Gawain (I. 567 — 622) resembles, 
 at least by its unusual length of detail and by the 
 
— 65 — 
 
 laying down of the carpet, the Imes 19014 ff. of 
 Perceval where Gawain is armed by Arthur and 
 the court: — the description of a strange castle (as in 
 Unes 764 — 803 of Gaw.) occurs frequently through- 
 out the French romances, but is nowhere so 
 frequent as in Perceval (I. 2513 ff., 4228 ff., 8025 ff., 
 8592 ff., to mention those by Crestien only); and 
 in no other poem could our author have found as 
 much suggestion of wild and distant ways traversed 
 in search of a great trial; of tests and of forebod- 
 ings; or, as we see from the direction which the 
 poetry of the Grail has uniformly taken, of guilt 
 and repentance, and of a spirituaUzed knighthood. 
 
 I have noticed the following points of contact 
 with other EngUsh romances. 
 
 The Anturs of Arther (I quote according to 
 Madden's ed.), written before Sir Gaw. and the Gr. 
 Kn. (cf. ten Brink, p. 420), and probably suggesting 
 its metrical form, contains a description of a hunt 
 very similar to that in Sir Gaw. Cf. lines 1136 — 
 1177, and 1319 — 1324 with the 28 lines in the 
 Anturs of Art., and especially: — 
 
 "To felle of pe femmales in pe foreste wele frythede 
 Faire in the ferni/sone tyme, by frythis and fellis." 
 
 5 
 
— 66 — 
 
 Cf. Gaw. 1156:— 
 
 "For pe fre lorde hade de-fende in fermysoun tyme, 
 pat per schulde no mon meue to pe male dere." 
 
 Anturs: — 
 "Under pose bewes pay bade, pose baryns so bolde, 
 To hekire at pose barrayne, in bankis so bare." 
 
 Cf. Gaw. 1319:— 
 
 "And ay pe lorde of pe lond is lent on his gamnej, 
 To hunt in holte^ and hepe at hyndej barayne." 
 
 Anturs : — 
 
 " Thay keste of paire copiUes in clyffes so calde." 
 
 Cf. G. 1147:— 
 
 '^Couples huntes of kest." 
 Anturs : — 
 
 "Herkyn huntynge with homes in holtis so hare." 
 
 Cf. G. 1165:— 
 
 '^Hunteref wyth hyje Aorwe hasted hem after." 
 
 Anturs : 
 
 "And by pe stremys so strange pat swyftly swoghes 
 pay wery pe wilde swyne & wyrkkis pame waa." 
 
 Cf. G. 1169:— 
 
 "Bi pay were tened at pe hyje, & taysed to pe wattre^." 
 
 Anturs: — 
 
 '^Grete hundis in the greues fulle gladly gane gaa" 
 
 Cf. G. 1171:— 
 
 "& pe gre-houndei so grete, pat geten hem bylyue" 
 
— 67 - 
 
 King Horn (ed. Maetzner) L 565 ff. Rymenhild gives 
 
 Horn a magic ring. 
 Sir Eglamour of Artois (ed. Halliwell "Thornton 
 
 Romances"). Organata gives Eglamour a ring 
 
 vnth the words, 620 : — 
 
 "And that rynge be upon youre honde 
 Ther schalle nothyng yow slon." 
 
 Sir Perceval of Galles (ed. Halhwell): — 
 
 /. 1859 ff.:— 
 
 "In alle this werlde wote I nane 
 
 Siche stone in a rynge : 
 
 A mane that hat it in were, 
 
 One his body for to here, 
 
 There scholde no dyntys hym dere, 
 
 Ne to the dethe brynge." 
 
 Cf. Gaw. 1852:— 
 
 "While he hit (the green lace) hade hemely halched aboute, 
 per is no hapel vnder heuen to-hewe hym pat myjt." 
 
 It is interesting to notice that the wife of 
 the Gr. Kn. first offers Gaw. a gold ring (cf. 
 I. 1817) which probably had the same magical 
 qualities as the lace. 
 
 S. Gaw, and the Carle of Carelyle. 
 
 This romance has a number of resemblances. 
 (Cf. especially the temptation of Gaw.) 
 
— 68 — 
 
 Kyng Alisaunder (ed. Weber): — 
 
 /. 7709 ff.:— 
 
 "Adam was byswike of Eve ; 
 And Sampson theo fort, also. 
 Daliada dude him wrong and wo ; 
 And Davyd the kyng was brought of lyf, 
 Thorugh the gyle of his wyf; 
 And Salamon, for a woman's love, 
 Forsok his God that syt above." 
 
 Sir Gaw. consoles himself by the enumeration 
 of the same personages. 
 
 I. 2416:— 
 
 "For so watj Adam in erde with one bygyled, 
 & Salamon with fele sere, & Samson eft sonej, 
 Dalyda dalt hym hys wyrde, & Dauyth per-after 
 Wat5 blended with Barsabe, pat much bale poled." 
 
 III. 
 
 SIR GAWAIN IN ENGLISH POEMS. 
 
 Sir Fred. Madden (in the introd. to "Syr Gaw. 
 a collect, of rom. poems etc.") treats exhaustively 
 the Gawain-saga from Geoffrey of Monmouth to its 
 latest development in the French prose romances, 
 touching also upon the Welsh, the EngUsh, the 
 Low and Old High German translation-literature. 
 
— 69 — 
 
 There could not be English Hartmanns, Wolf- 
 rams and Gottfrieds to translate, or elaborate in 
 their entirety the Arthur - romances ; at the time 
 when these had most interest the French originals 
 were read, and French was written at the English 
 court. What exists in the language of the people 
 is also more popular in character ; it betrays ignorance 
 of courtly customs ; it represents the taste and choice 
 of the English public to whom these stories filtered 
 down, and therefore it seems interesting to do what 
 Madden has not done: — i. e. to note the attitude 
 toward Gawain of the English poems, as such, in 
 all cases where they differ from their immediate 
 original. It is not that we have to expect from them 
 many new incidents, or any standpoint not found in 
 some French poem: — their choice of incident is, in 
 most cases, their verdict. To Gawain this choice is 
 supremely favourable; from Lajamon on we sha ll 
 find him the popular E nglish hero , on him is heaped 
 eve ry epithet of praise and stories in bis honour a re 
 retold more gladly than those celebrating the other 
 knights of the Eound Table. 
 
 The Arthurian romances may be divided into 
 two classes: — I, those founded upon Geof. of Mon- 
 mouth and describing Arthur's birth , conquests and 
 
— 70 — 
 
 death , and II , those treating adventures supposed 
 to occur during the twelve years of peace mentioned 
 by Geof. 
 
 I. THE ROMANCES BASED UPON GEOP. OP MONMODTH. 
 
 li Laiamon^ translation of Wace. 
 
 This is the first treatment of the Arthurian 
 tradition in the English language. Living in the West 
 of England at the beginning of the IS* cent., La5. 
 is supposed to have drawn in part upon native 
 tradition in the many additions he made to the 
 chroni cle of Wace . Prof. Wiilcker (Paul & Braune, 
 Beitrage HI, p. 556) was the first to call attention 
 to the greater r61e played by _Gawain. He has in- 
 stanced three examples: — La}. HI, 61 ff., cf. Wace 11, 
 175; La5. HI, 132 ff., cf. Wace II, 223, and the Engl, 
 and French accounts of Gawain's death. 
 
 A carefiil comparison of Wace and Lajamon 
 yields the following results. 
 
 Wace (ed. Leroux de Lincy) II, p. 30 mentions 
 
 Anna's marriage to Lot: — 
 
 "De li fut nes K quens Walwains 
 Qui tant fu preudom de ses mains." 
 
 In the parallel passage La}, (ed. Madden) II, 
 
 385 ff. there is no mention of Gaw. This is the 
 
— 71 — 
 
 only instance (cf. p. 74 and p. 75 later which are 
 only formal exceptions) I have found where Gawain 
 is mentioned by Wace and not by La}. The rela- 
 tion is always reversed. 
 
 Wace II, 69, cf. La}. II, 509. Wace mentions 
 Gaw. as a little child. La}., in addition, makes 
 Arthur say of Gaw. and Modred. 
 
 "Peo me beob o londe children aire lepfest." 
 
 La}. II, 546:— 
 
 "Sub inne Cornwall per Walwain wes for faren. 
 And him seolf (Arthur) wes for-wuded." 
 
 is not in Wace and shows that an inaccurate trad- 
 ition had joined Gawain's death to that of Arthur. 
 — Wace n, 79 in praise of Gaw. : — 
 
 "Prous fu et de mult grant mesure, 
 D'orgoil et de forfait n'ot gure ; 
 Plus vaut faire que il ne dist 
 Et plus doner qu'il ne pramist." 
 
 Cf. La}. II, 554 ff. :— 
 
 "Wselle wel wes hit bitojen pat Walwai wes to nionne 
 
 [iboren." 
 
 La}, in his translation, gives a more abstract 
 
 and "model" colouring and thus strikes the tone in 
 
 regard to Gawain, which we shall find in the later 
 
 English romances. 
 
— 72 — 
 
 La5. II, 577 as the British army marches out 
 to the duel between Frolle and Arthur: — 
 "peo (fifti hundred) Wselwain laedde, pe wses a weel-kempe." 
 
 Laj. n, 585 after the combat Arthur calls: 
 
 "Whser sert pu Walwain monne me leofest." 
 
 Neither of these passages is in Wace. 
 
 Wace II, 121 — 122 Gawain answers Cador's speech : — 
 
 "Sire quens, dist Gauwains, par foi, 
 Por noiant estes en esfroi: 
 Bone est la pais apres la guerre, 
 » Plus rice et mildre en est 11 terre. 
 
 Mult sunt bones les gaberies, 
 Si deduit et les drueries; 
 Per la noblesoe de sa amie 
 Fait jouenes bom cevalerie." 
 
 Cf. Laj. II, 626—627:— 
 
 "Pat iherde "Walwain, pe wes Ardures msei, 
 
 And wraddede bine wid Cador swide pe pas wond kende, 
 
 And pus answserede Walwain pe sele, 
 
 'Cador pu sert a ricbe mon, pine rseddes ne beob noht idon. 
 
 For god is grib & god is frib, pe freoliche per haldeb wib, 
 
 And godd sulf hit makede purh his godd-cunde, 
 
 For grib makeb godne mon gode workes wurcben. 
 
 For alle monnen bib pa bet, pat lond bib pa murgre." 
 
 We see here a very different nuance ; Gawain, 
 instead of desiring peace that the young knights 
 may practise lovemaking and chivalry, looks upon 
 
— 73 — 
 
 it as a time for good works. This tendencyto 
 make Gawain the mouth piece of sententious moral 
 remarks will be found later, and is not to be 
 wholly attributed to the fact that Lajamon was a 
 priest. 
 
 Wace II, 138 Arthur intrusts his kingdom to 
 Modred, " chevalier prou et mervillos". 
 
 Laj. Ill, 9 adds: 
 
 "He wes Walwainnes brober, nses per nan ober." 
 
 and p. 10 : — 
 
 'Ah men to sobe i-wenden for Walwain wes his brober. 
 pe aire treowest pe tuhte to pan hirede; 
 purh "Walwain wes Modrsed monne pa leouere. 
 And Arbur pe kene ful wel him iquemde." 
 
 Wace II, 162:- 
 
 "A ses deus a Gauvain joste 
 Qui a Rome ot lone tans este, 
 Por ce qu'il erent bien prisie, 
 Bien honore, et ensagnie." 
 
 Cf. Laj. Ill, 43:— 
 
 "Pe 5et pe king cleopede Walwsein pe wes his deoreste msei 
 For Walwain cube Eomanisc, Walwain cube Bruttisc. 
 He wes iued in Rome wel feole wintre." 
 
 Madden (Syr Gaw. introd. p. 12) says "both 
 Wace and La3. add that he (Gawain) was sent on 
 
— 74 — 
 
 the embassy because he understood Latin" ; but only 
 Laj., not Wace, says this. 
 
 La5. Ill, 48 (text B) Gaw. speaks a second 
 time in answer to ' the Roman emperor and associates 
 himself with Arthur : — 
 
 "Belyn and Brenne, of warn we beop of-spronge." 
 and Laj. Ill, 52, as the Britans spring on their 
 horses, Gaw. throws a defiance to the Romans — 
 he will cut in pieces all pursuers etc. 
 
 Both of these speeches fail in Wace. 
 Wace II, 167 one of the Romans calls out: — 
 
 "signer estes, 
 
 Vilanie est que ne toni6s." 
 
 and G6rin de Cartes turns and kills the Roman. 
 Cf. Laj. Ill, 54. Gawain is substituted for 
 G6rin and G6rin's speech, combined with one which 
 Wace gives Gawain further on in his combat with 
 Marcel, is spoken by Gawain. This latter combat 
 with Marcel is naturally omitted. Wace II, 171 
 Gawain kills a cousin of Marcel who has pursued 
 him in the hope of vengeance. This also, for the 
 same reason, fails in Laj. ; but by making Gawain 
 the first to resent the insult and by uniting the 
 two battles Laj. has greatly emphasized Gawain's 
 prowess. 
 
— 75 — 
 
 Wace II, 177. Beof seizes the Roman com- 
 mander Petreius, and thereby in great measure 
 decides the fortune of the day. 
 
 Cf. Laj. Ill, 65 — 66. Beof does indeed throw 
 Petreius to the ground, but it is Gawain whose 
 bravery is praised, and who at length leads Petreius 
 captive. Madden (ed. Laj. p. 400) has here remarked 
 that Laj. varies from Wace with the intention of 
 doing greater honour to Gaw. What Wace II, 178 
 says of Gawain's prowess La}, has prefixed to this 
 account. 
 
 Laj. Ill, 67 the prisoners are lead before 
 Gawain and guarded during the night. This is not 
 in Wace. 
 
 La}. Ill, 105 calls Gaw. "swibe stib imoded 
 mon" but omits the praise of Gaw. and Howel which 
 Wace has translated from Geof. ; although Wace II, 
 210 corresponds to La}. Ill, 107. 
 
 Wace II, 211, following Geof., gives a more 
 detailed account of Gawain's fight with the emperor 
 Lucius, but La}. Ill, 108 has all the needful points. 
 
 (haiyin^ 118 — 119, Gawain plays a very im- 
 portant part in Arthur's dream before th e discovery 
 of Modred's treachery. The dream is an addition of La}. 
 
— 76 — 
 
 |jaj)lIT, 126. Arthur when he hears of Modr ed's 
 beteayal__o£_Jus — t^ust — gaye — Aat — alitor — chasiising 
 him he will leav e the kingdom to Gav .. his "meeie", 
 while he returns to Rome: — 
 
 "Pa stod hi up Walwaih pat wes Arbures msei, 
 And pas word saide, pe eorl wes abol^e: 
 'Aldrihte godd, domes waldend, 
 Al middel-serdes mund, whi is hit wurben, 
 pat mi brober Modred pis morb hafueb itimbred? 
 Ah to deei ich at-sake hine here, biuoren pissere dujebe, 
 And ich hine for-demen wuUe, mid drihtenes wille. 
 Mi seolf ich wulle hine an-hon haxst aire warien. 
 pa quene ich wulle, mid goddes laje, al mid horsen 
 
 [to-draje 
 For ne beo ich nauere blibe, pe wile ich beob aliue, 
 And pat ich habbe minne aem awrseke mid pan bezste." 
 
 This passage fails entirely in Wace. 
 Finally Wace II, 223 : 
 
 "Ocis i fu Gavains ses niea : — 
 Artus ot de lui dolor grant 
 Car il n'amoit nul home tant." 
 
 and again /. 13650 ; 
 
 "Qui a Modred a grant haor 
 D'Aguisel a grant dol eu 
 Et de Gavain qu'il a perdu 
 Grans fu li dels de son neveu, 
 Li cors fist metre ne sai u." 
 
— 77 — 
 
 La;. Ill, 131 recounts, in. addition, Gawain's 
 bravery in this same battle in which he was slain. 
 
 "Walwaia bi-foren wende, and pene wsei rumde; 
 And sloh per a-neuste peines elleouene. 
 He sloh Childriches sune, pe was per mid his fader 
 
 [icume." 
 
 p. 132:— 
 
 , "Per wes Walwain aslseje, & idon of life daje 
 Purh an eorle Sexisne. Sseri wurde his saule. 
 pa wes Arbur sseri, and sorhful an heort forpi; 
 And pas word bodede, ricchest aire Brutte: — 
 'Nu ich ileosed habbe mine sweines leofe. 
 (text B has "Waweyn pat ich louede".) 
 Ich wuste bi mine sweuene whset sorj in me weoren 
 
 [5euebe. 
 I-sla^en is Angel pe king, pe wes mia ajen deorling, 
 And Walwaine mi suster sune, Wa is me pat ich was 
 
 [mon iboren!" 
 
 The above comparison speaks for itself: in almost 
 every instance Lajamon varies from Wace in order 
 to glorify Gawain. 
 
 (\2j) Robert Manning of Brune's translation 
 of Lantoft's chronicle. 
 
 The part of Manning's chronicle which treats 
 Arthur is unfortunately not published. It doubtless 
 contains many English additions to Gawain's character. 
 
— 78 — 
 
 Sir Fred. Madden quotes from the M.S. a few pass- 
 ages which are of interest: — 
 
 "Sir Loth that wedded Anne, 
 
 Wawan thei sone at Rome was than, 
 
 To norise as the romance sals; 
 
 He hight Wawan the curtais" 
 
 and again when Gaw. comes from Pope Sulpicius : — 
 
 "Noble he was & curteis 
 Honour of him men rede & seis.'" 
 
 Of the Roman Emperor's death (according to 
 
 Madden translated from Lantoft, who was himself 
 
 too good an Englishman to write correct French) : — 
 
 "I cannot say who did him falle; 
 
 Bot Syr Wawayn said thei alle." 
 
 {3J) Arthur 
 
 (ED. FUKNIVALL E.B.T.8. 1864). 
 
 This is a short abstract of Arthur's career, con- 
 taining only 640 lines. Gawain is only mentioned 
 
 twice I. 564, his death, and /. 587 : — 
 "Waweynes body, as I reede, 
 And other lordes pat weere deede, 
 Artbour sente in-to Skotlonde, 
 And buryed ham, y vnderstonde." 
 
 (T)l 
 
 — ^ f4y)Morte Arthure 
 
 (ED. PEBRY E.E.T.8. FROM THORNTON M.S.), 
 
 probably written by Huchoun (cf. Trautmann, Anglia I.). 
 
 Gawain has here many of the surroundings, and traits 
 
 which the romances of the 2"* class attribute to him. 
 
— 79 -~ 
 Line 233:— 
 
 " Sir G-awayne pe worthye, D ame "Waynour h e hledy s." 
 
 We shall find this associatipn repeatedly. 
 
 In the battle with the Romans the bravery of 
 
 " Sir Kayous" is em phasized. He flippears, Class n, 
 
 as_Ga wain's companion and fo il. 
 
 Gawain's own delight in battle % is repeatedly 
 mentioned : — I. 259 his speech in praise of peace 
 (cf. Wace and Laj.) is omitted ; I. 2726 h e is for 
 attacking the enemy; I. _ 2752 he sneers at those 
 who fight with words, and again I. 2820 he declares 
 they have just enough to do to please them ; 28 5 3_ 
 he delights in the battle. In the three following 
 instances the Morte Arthure agrees with Laj. where 
 he differs fi-om Geof. and Wace — I. 1342 Gawain 
 speaks a second time before the Roman emperor; 
 I. 1369 he slays the foremost of the pursuers and 
 I. 3725 ff. gives the details of Gawain's last battle ; 
 this Laj. has only outlined. 
 
 Gawain's speech to the conquered Priamus, 
 /. 2645:— '"^ 
 
 "Gruche noghte, gude syr, pofe me this grace happene; 
 It es pe gifte of Gode, the gree es hys awene." 
 
 strikes the oft repeated sent entious ton e. 
 
— 80 — 
 
 In no other romance is the graise__oL 
 
 more s plendid cf. I. 3876, Modred speaks: — 
 
 "He was makles one molde, nane be my trowhe; 
 This was syr Gawayne the gude, pe gladdeste of othire, 
 And the graciouseste gome that undire God lyffede, 
 Nane hardyeste of hande, happyeste in armes, 
 And the hendeste in hawle undire hevene riche." 
 
 Arthur w eeps jver Gawain's dead body and 
 says I. 3965_i,— 
 
 "Pou was worthy to be the bynge thofe I pe corowne 
 
 [bare. 
 My wele & my wirchipe of alle pis werlde riche 
 Was wonnene thourghe syr Gawayne, & thourghe his 
 
 [witte one." 
 
 II. ROMANCES WHICH BELONG TO 
 THE LATER DEVELOPMENT OP THE ARTHUR-SAGA, 
 
 and which treat occurrences supposed to take place 
 during the twelve years' peace. 
 
 Compare M. Gaston Paris in the Romania for 
 October 1881. (He has been speaking of the bio- 
 graphical poems.) "Dans la m^me classe que les 
 romans biographiques il faut placer les romans episo- 
 diques racontant quelque exploit isol6 d'un chevalier 
 c616bre; presque tons les romans de ce genre sont 
 consacr^s a Gauvain." 
 
— 81 — 
 
 The following Gawain romances are English 
 "romans 6pisodiques". I arrange them, according to 
 their known sources, in three divisions. 
 
 A. Romances which show a more original treat- 
 ment of the Arthur-saga. 
 
 B. Romances founded upon the romances of 
 Crestien de Troies. 
 
 C. Romances which are based upon other French 
 romances. 
 
 A. 
 
 There are only four romances or ballads in 
 this class. 
 
 /. Anturs of Arther at the Tarnewalhelan. 
 
 (ED. MADDEN "SYR GAW." 1839 AND KOBSON "THREE METKICAL 
 romances" for the CAMDEN 80C. 1842.) 
 
 The whole of this quaint and excellent romance 
 is a glorification of Gawain. 
 
 Gaw.'s friendship for Guinevere and hers for 
 him is emphasized — the poem opens with the des- 
 cription of a "hunt, Gaw. waits on the queen ; stanza 
 VI he remains with her while the others — Cador, 
 Clegius, Costantyne and Cay take flight; st. vn 
 when the ghost appears "he cumforthes the quene 
 
— 82 — 
 
 throghe his knyjthed" and "went to it in haste," 
 
 "afraid was he never yet;" before Gaw.'s encounter 
 
 with the strange knight: — 
 
 "And thenne Dame Gaynour grette 
 For Gauan the gode;" 
 
 when he is wounded: — "Gaynor grette for his sake;" 
 she begs Arthur to make peace. 
 
 Before this same fight with Galrun Arthur 
 
 says : — 
 
 "I wold notte for no lordscip se thi life lome" 
 'Lette go', cothe Sir Gauan, God stond with the ryjte" 
 
 and again when he is wounded Arthur is "hurt in 
 heart." 
 
 Gawain naturally conquers. Arthur bestows lands 
 upon him and Gawain in his turn generously enriches 
 the conquered Galrun. 
 
 Ten Brink (Engl. Lit. p. 421) says, in speaking 
 of this romance: — "dabei ahnt man eine mehr direct 
 praktische tendenz, und man ist versucht zu fragen, wen 
 der dichter unter Gawein, der den mittelpunkt des 
 ganzen bildet , hat darsteUen woUen." Gawain's 
 character, however, seems completely in accordance 
 with that given him in the following romances — his 
 bravery, and generosity, and the king's and queen's 
 
— 83 — 
 
 love toward him, while the praises bestowed upon 
 him by the poet are even surpassed by those in 
 Golagrus and Gawain. 
 
 II. The Avowynge of King Arther , Sir^Gawan, 
 Sir Kaye, and Sir Bawdewyn of Bretan. 
 
 (ED. ROBSON 1842). 
 
 Here, as often, we see Gawain, Ka y, and 
 Bawdewyn associated together. 
 
 Gaw.'s friendship for Kay and the opposition 
 
 of his courtesy to Kay's discourtesy: — stanza xxiv 
 
 Gaw. ransoms Kay by fighting with and conquering 
 
 Menealfe; st. xxvni when Kay scojffs at the fallen 
 
 knight: — 
 
 "Thenne speke Gauan to Kay, 
 A mon's happe is not ay, ' 
 
 Is none so sekur of a say 
 Butte he may harmes hente." 
 
 and st. xxrs he again reproves Kay: — 
 
 "And Gauan sayd, 'God forbade! 
 For he is dujti in dede' — 
 Prayes the knyjte gud spede 
 To take hit none ille, 
 If Kay speke wurdes kene." 
 
 There is the same relation between Gaw. 
 and Guinevere: — Gaw. sends Menealfe to Gaynour 
 
— 84 — 
 
 from "Gawan hur knight" ; st. xxxvi Ghiinevere 
 
 says : — 
 
 s — — — — 'God almyjti 
 
 Saue me Gawan, my knyjte, 
 That thus for women con fijte, 
 ^ Tw wothus him were". 
 
 There is the same love between Arthur and 
 
 Gaw. and the same eulogy of Gaw. : — st. xxxrv 
 
 "Grete God', quod the king, 
 
 'Gif Gawan gode endinge, 
 
 For he is sekur in alle kynne thinge. 
 
 To cowuntur with a knyjte! 
 
 Of alle playus he berus the prise 
 
 Lovs of ther ladise." 
 
 Ilia. Fragment of the marriaye of Sir Gawaine. ■ 
 b. The Weddynge of Sir Gawen and Dame Ragnell. 
 
 (ED. MADDEN FROM PERCY M. S. "STR GAW. etc."). 
 
 These are two different versions of the same 
 story. The same motive appears as in the Anturs 
 of Arther at the Tarnewalhelan. (Arthur also rides 
 to Tearne-wadling). Arthur has aroused the enmity 
 of a strange knight by giving his lands to Gawain ; 
 he must therefore either lose his life or tell "what 
 thing women love best in feld and tovra." Gawain 
 gives the greatest proof of his devotion to Arthur 
 by his marriage to the woman described below who, 
 
— 85 — 
 
 on that condition alone, consents to solve the riddle 
 
 and thus save Arthur's life. 
 
 After the marriage she asks him whether he 
 
 will have her fair by night or by day and Gaw. 
 
 proves his courtesy by leaving her the choice; 
 
 Weddynge of Gaw. I. 879 she says: — 
 
 "Gode thanke hyme of his curtesye, 
 
 He savide me frome chaunce ande vilony". 
 
 There is the usual opposition of Kay and Gaw. : 
 Kay (Frag, of marriage of Gaw.) scoffs at the 
 
 hideous lady : " whosoeuer kisses this lady" 
 
 "of his kiss he stands in feare," I. 136 "Peace coz 
 Kay', then said sir Gawaine," 
 
 This same story is found in the Gesta 
 Romanorum, in Gower's Confessio Amantis, and in 
 the Wife of Bath's tale; but in the elaboration of 
 what is peculiar to these two ballads I think we 
 can recognize traces of Crestien's Perceval. It is 
 the more probabre, as this romance (cf. cl. B. p, 
 87 ff.) has had such a paramount influence upon 
 the other Gawain-romances. 
 
 Weddynge of Gaw. : /. 228 ff. :— 
 
 "Ande ther he mette withe a lady: — 
 
 She was as vngoodly a creature, 
 
 As euer mane sawe, witheoute mesure. 
 
- 86 — 
 
 Her face was rede, her nose snotyde with alle. 
 Her mowithe wyde, her tethe yalowe ouer alley 
 "Withe bleryde eyene gretter thene a balle, 
 Her mowithe was nott to lake; 
 Her tethe hyng ouer her lyppe, 
 Her chekys syde as wemen's hyppe, 
 A lute she bare vpon her bake, 
 Her neke long ande therto greatt, 
 Her here cloteryd one ane fiepe, 
 In sholders she was a yarde brode. 
 Hangyng pappys to be ane hors-lode. 
 Ande lyke a bar elk she was made. 
 
 She satt one a palfray was gay begone, 
 
 Withe gold besett, and many a precious stone. 
 
 Ther was ane vnsemely syght, 
 
 So fowlle a creature, witheoute measure 
 
 To ryde so gayly, I you ensure." 
 
 and I. 549: — 
 
 "She had 2 tethe on euery syde 
 As borys tuske, I^wolle nott hyde, 
 Of lengthe a large handfulle." 
 
 It will be seen by comparing the above lines 
 with Crestien's description of "la damoisele hydeuse" 
 Perc. I. 5998 ff. that there is a striking similarity 
 between the two. Part of the French description 
 was quoted page 63 ; I am at present unable to 
 obtain the ed. of Perceval. Cf. however Wolfram's 
 Parzival (ed. Lachm.) book VI, page 153 — 155 
 
— 87 — 
 
 where he also paraphrases Crestien's description and 
 
 especially : — 
 
 "Zwin ebers zene ir fiir den munt 
 Giengen wol spannen lane." 
 
 The continuation of Crestien's Perceval contains 
 a similar description, likewise modelled upon that of 
 "la damoisele hydeuse." Here as in the EngHsh 
 romance Kay scoffs at her ugliness. It is probable 
 that both descriptions influenced the details of our 
 story. If this be so these two romances form a fit 
 transition to class B. 
 
 B. 
 
 ROMANCES FOUNDED UPON CRESTIEN DE TROIES. 
 I. THOSE BASED UPON LE ROMAN DE PERCEVAL. 
 1. The Knightly Tale of Golagros and Gawane. 
 
 (BD. madden "STfR 6AV. etc", AND TKAUTMANN ANGLIA II). 
 
 Madden first pointed out that this romance was 
 put together out of two episodes in Perceval — Kay's 
 adventure with the dwarf and the peacock, and Castel 
 Orgueillos. In part first Kay's discourtesy and 
 Gawain's courtesy are opposed. In part second 
 Gawain after conquering in a vahantly contested^ 
 
— 88 — 
 
 battle allows himself to appear to be taken captive out 
 
 of courtesy toward the fallen knight and his amie. 
 
 The romance abounds in extragant praise of Gaw. 
 
 Cf. 118:— 
 
 "Schir G^wane the gay, gratius & gude, 
 
 Schur ye loiaw that schir Kay is crabbit of kynde." 
 
 Cf. Gaw. l. 393:— 
 
 "Egir, & ertand, and ryght anterus, 
 Illuminat vith lawte, & vith lufe lasit." 
 
 and I. 804 ff. :— 
 
 "Sen ye ar sa wourschipfuUe & wourthy in were, 
 Demyt with the derrest, maist doughly in deid." 
 
 Line 389:— 
 
 "Than schir Gawayne the gay, gude, & gracius, 
 That ever wes beildit in bUs & bounte embrasit 
 Joly & gentill, & full cheuailrus 
 That neuer poynt of his prise wes funden defasit." 
 
 Line 1135, as Gaw. is thought to be taken 
 prisoner : 
 
 "The flour of knighthede is caught throu his cruelty! 
 Now is pe Round Tabul rebutit, richest of rent, 
 Quhen wourshipful Wawane, pe wit of our were 
 Is led to ane presoune. 
 Now failyeis gude fortune." 
 
 f 2 aV^ir 
 
 Mr Gawayne and the Green Knight (ed . madden, 
 
 V,_^^AlSrD MOREIS), 
 
 This, as has been shown part" II, is composed 
 chiefly of two adventures in Perceval. While p reserv- 
 
— 89 — 
 
 ing_thespirit of the other romances the poet has 
 given Gaw.'s character a freshness and originahty 
 which is doubly charming after the "stereotyped 
 model Knight we meet elsewhere. 
 
 The romance contains some of the most graceful 
 
 praise of Gaw. e . g^L 914 ff . : — 
 
 "By-fore alle men vpon molde, his mensk is pe most. 
 Vch segge. ful softly sayde to his fere, 
 Non schal we semlych se slejtej of pewej, 
 And pe teccheles termes of talkyng noble." 
 
 Line 109^: — 
 
 "There gode Gawan watj grayped, Gwenore bisyde." 
 
 Line 1012:- 
 
 "Bischop Bawdewyn abof bi-ginej pe table". 
 
 2 b. The Ballad of the Green Knight (bd. madden 
 
 "SYR GAW. etc.") 
 
 This is a ballad version of Sir Gaw. and the 
 Green Knight. The motives are simphfied. Gaw. 
 has lost all indivuahty and appears with his 
 epitheton of "curteous". The Green Knight is 
 named Syr Bredbeddle. His wife loved Sir Gaw. 
 secretly and her mother Aggteb, the witch, sent her 
 son-in-law after Gaw. because "Sir Gawane was 
 bold and handye and thereto full of curtesye"; I. 
 
— 90 — 
 
 439: — Sir Gaw. "soe curteous and free;" Sir Bred- 
 beddle addresses Gaw. /. 483 : — 
 
 "The gentlest knight in this land, 
 
 Men told me of great renowne 
 
 Of cur tesie. thou might have won the crowne 
 
 Above free and bound, 
 
 And alsoe of great gentrye." 
 
 2 c. The Turke and Gowin (ed. madden). 
 
 According to Madden this is founded upon a 
 version of the Green Knight. Line 153 "Bishopp Sir 
 Bodwine" is mentioned. 
 
 2d. Fragment of the Ballad of King Arthur 
 and the King of Cornwall (ed. madden). 
 This ballad, being only a fragment, is difficult 
 to place ; it seems to be connected with the Green 
 Knight series by Sir Bredbeddle, who is also called^ 
 the "Green Knight". He conjures with the aid of 
 his "httle book", and says he will encounter the 
 "lodly feend" with his "collen brand, Millaine knife 
 and danish axe." 
 
 3. The Jeast of Syr Gawayne (ed. madden). 
 
 The whole story is taken out of Perceval, 
 being Gaw's adventure with the sister of BrandaJis. 
 Concerning Gaw, nothing of interest is added. 
 
— 91 — 
 4. Sir Perceval of Galles (ed. halliwell, "thornton 
 
 ROMANCES" 1844). 
 
 This is a very rough, popular romance put 
 together out of different adventures of Perceval 
 related by Crestien. The beginning of the Engl. 
 Perceval follows the French more exactly ; even here 
 however there are a number of coarse additions, 
 e. g. Perceval burns the body of the red knight 
 and, meeting the red knight's mother, flings her 
 also into the flames. 
 
 Known names are substituted for the less 
 
 familiar ones of the French romance. Ewayne, 
 
 instead of Bawdewyn, is the companion of Gaw. 
 
 and Kay. It is interesting to note the prominence 
 
 of Gaw.; Ewayne, ?. 262 "Gawayne with honour," 
 
 and Kay are substituted for the three knights whom 
 
 Perceval meets in the forest ; in the description of 
 
 the tournament /. 1390: — 
 
 „Another Ewayne the floure, 
 
 The thirde Wawayne with honoure, 
 
 And Kay the kene knyghte." 
 
 I. 513 Gaw. recognizes Perceval at Arthur's 
 
 court and speaks kindly to him; I. 765 Gaw. is 
 
 substituted for the squire in Crestien, he follows after 
 
 "for the child's sake" and unlaces the armour of 
 
 the Red Knight and arms Perceval. 
 
— 92 — 
 
 Gaw.'s courtesy and Kay's discourtesy : — to Per- 
 ceval's question if the three knights were angels: — 
 I. 285: — 
 
 "Bot thanne ansuerde syr Gawayne, 
 Faire and courtaisely agayne." 
 
 /. 291:— 
 
 "To Gawayne that was meke & mylde 
 And softe of ansuare." 
 
 I. 305 : — He reproves Kay for his rough answer. 
 
 /. 1261 ff. is striking as showing Gaw. labelled with 
 
 his chief virtue: — 
 
 "Sclio calde appone hir chaymbirlayne 
 Was called hende Hatlayne, 
 The curtasye of Wawayne, 
 
 He weldis in wane." 
 
 II. ROMANCES BASED ON OTHER WORKS OF CRESTIEN. 
 There is only one which concerns Gawain. 
 
 Gawain and Ywapne (ed. ritson, "ancient English metrical 
 
 ROMANCES," VOL. l). 
 
 I have compared this romance with Crestien's 
 "Chevalier au Lyon", and the result has proved 
 that the English translator has added nothing to 
 Gawain's character; in almost every case where he 
 is mentioned the English renders the French words. 
 
— 93 — 
 
 I have noted a few slight differences: — 
 
 p. 66: — 
 
 "A thowsand sithes welkum sho says 
 And so es sir Gawayne the curtayse," 
 
 where Crestien has "sire Gauvains, ses nies." 
 
 "Thai (Gaw. & Ywayne) war doghty both in fer 
 Thai wan the prise both fer & ner." 
 
 where Crestien has nothing corresponding. 
 
 p. 68: — " gude Gawaye" renders "mon seignor 
 Gauvain". 
 
 p. 154: — "Sir Gawayn answered als curtays" 
 translates "mes sire Gauvains li douz." 
 
 Ywayne's speech at the close of the duel between 
 him and Gaw. shows the manner in which Gaw. is 
 praised in this romance:— 
 
 — — — — — "I hat Ywayne, 
 That lufes the more by se and sand, 
 Than any raan that is lifand. 
 For mani dedes that thou me did. 
 And curtaysi ye have me kyd." 
 
 III. THOSE DEAWN PROM OTHER FRENCH SOURCES. 
 
 {The Squyr of Lowe Degre, Ritson III, belongs 
 here , but 1 am at present unable to obtain the 
 romance.) 
 
94 
 
 1. Launfal (ed. ritsok). 
 
 This is a translation of one of the lais of Marie 
 de France. Although I have not been able to ob- 
 tain the original lai for comparisonj I will quote a 
 few passages which are so entirely in the spirit of 
 the Engl, poems that they may easily be additions 
 of the translator. 
 
 Line 13 "Gawain and Perseval" are mentioned 
 
 together; /. 813:— 
 
 "noble knyghtes twayn 
 
 syr Perceval & syr Gawayn" 
 
 go bail for Launfal. 
 
 Gaw.'s friendship for Launfal is emphasized: — 
 
 line 892 he is the first to comfort Launfal: — 
 
 "Tho seyde Gaweyn, that curtayse knyght, 
 Launfal, her cometh thy swete wyght." 
 
 and again: — 
 
 "Tho seyde Gawayn, that corteys knyght, 
 Launfal brodyr drede the no wyght," 
 
 and Launfal answers: — 
 
 "Gaweyn my lefly frende." 
 
 Oaw. is near the queen 661 : — 
 
 "The queue yede to the formeste ende, 
 Betwene Launfal & Gauweyn the hende, 
 And after her ladyes bryght." 
 
95 
 
 2. Lybeas (ed. ritson). 
 
 There is the same association of Gawain and 
 Perceval: — I. 178, when Elene is given the inex- 
 perienced Lybeas as her champion, she says: — 
 
 (thou) "hast knyghtes of mayn, 
 Lancelot, Perceval & Gaweyn 
 Prys in ech turnement." 
 
 I. 218 speaking of the knights who arm Lybeas: — 
 
 "The firste was syr Gaweyn, 
 That other syr Percevale, 
 And Eweyn, and Agrafrayn." 
 
 Of Gaw.'s valour: — 
 
 I. 1644:— 
 
 "Ne sygh y come her before 
 
 So redy a knyght to my pay. 
 
 A thoghth y have myn herte wythinne 
 
 That thou art com of Gawenys kynne, 
 
 That ys so stout & gay." 
 
 A lady is turned into a "worm" till she : — 
 
 "had kyste Gaweyn 
 Eyther som other knyght sertayn 
 That wer of hys hende." 
 
 3 a. Syre Gawene and the Carle of Carelyle (bd. 
 
 MADDEN, "BYE GAW." etO.) 
 
 According to Madden the story is taken from 
 ^Le Chevalier k I'Epee". 
 
— 96 — 
 
 Gaw., Kay and "Byschope Bawdewynne" come 
 to the Carle of Carelyle's castle, /. 127 Gaw. is 
 called ''gentille"; /. 184 he asks courteously for lodg- 
 ing. During the entertainmenl Kay, Bawdewynne 
 and Gaw. go out to care for their steeds; the 
 former two drive away the Carle's foal to make place 
 for their own steeds, but Gaw. covers the foal with 
 his green mantle and cares for it like his own charger. 
 At the evening meal the Carle forces Gaw. to strike 
 him with a spear; he then seats him by his wife 
 with whom Gaw. falls in love. "When they retire 
 for the night the Carle allows Gaw. to kiss his wife 
 watching him narrowly all the while ; he then com- 
 mends him to his daughter's courtesy whom he gives 
 him in marriage on the following day. Beyond the 
 story there is no verbal praise of Gaw. 
 
 Syr Raynbrowne, "the knyjt of armus grene" 
 is mentioned in this romance. 
 
 3 J. Carle off Carlile (ed. madden). 
 
 In this later version of the older romance, 
 just as in the Ballad of the Green Knight, Gawgin's 
 courtesy is his one virtue; also „ Byschope Bawde- 
 wynne" reappears as "Bishop Bodwin" just as 
 "Bischop Bawdewyn" of Sir Gaw. and the Gr. Kn. 
 
— 97 — 
 
 becomes "Bishopp sir Bodwine" in the Turke and 
 
 Go win. Line 30 : — 
 
 "Hie (Gaw.) was the curteous knight amongst them all." 
 
 /. 135 (Gaw.): 
 
 "Curteously on the gates dange." 
 
 /. 137:— 
 
 "Gawaine answered him curteously." 
 /. 155:— 
 
 "Then answered Gawaine that was curteous aye." 
 
 /. 288 (The Carle):— 
 
 "thanked him of his curtesye." 
 /. 335 the Carle leads him to his wife's room and 
 
 says : — 
 
 "Gawaine of curtesye get into bed." 
 
 I. 373:— 
 
 "Sir Gawaine courteous & kind." 
 
 I. 37:— 
 
 "& Ironside as I weene 
 Gate the knight of armour greene 
 Certes as I understand 
 Of a faire lady of Blaunchland." 
 
 There may be noted the following interconnection 
 
 of persons and incidents not found elsewhere. (Madden 
 
 has suggested that the Archbishop of Canterbury 
 
 Baldwin who held the see from 1184 — 1191 may 
 
 have been substitued for Dubricius. This Baldwin 
 
— 98 — 
 
 is also mentioned in the romance of Richard Coeur 
 de Lion.) 
 
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— 99 — 
 
 As containing notices of Gawain, Tristram (ed. 
 Sir Walter Scott) belongs here, as do also the rhymed 
 Arthur and Merlin, Lancelot and one or two other 
 romances. I have not been able to obtain the 
 Tristram, and the other romances are excluded because, 
 without a comparison with the originals, which were 
 inaccessible, it is impossible to decide what is English : — 
 for these and for the prose romances, which lie 
 outside my subject, compare Sir Fred. Madden's Syr 
 Gaw. legend. 
 
 GAWAIN IN OTHER POEMS, 
 
 NOT BELONGING TO THE LEGENDS OF THE ROUND TABLE. 
 
 I will re-quote Madden's collection- of lines, which, 
 although I have read through a number of romances 
 for the purpose, I have not been able to enlarge. 
 
 In prefetory lines to Collection of metrial legends 
 
 of the saints: — ■ 
 
 "Of Roulond & of Olyuere & Guy of Warwyk, 
 
 Of Wawayne & Tristram that ne founde here ylike." 
 
 Richard Coeur de Lyon (ed. Weber II): — 
 ilQffJKingArthour and off Gawayn." 
 
 Owl and NightingaleT^ 
 
 "I take witness of Sire Wawain." ___ 
 
— 100 — 
 
 Cursor Mundi: — 
 
 "As Wawan, Cai & other stabell 
 Were to were the Ronde Tabell." 
 
 Chaucer, Rom. of the Rose 2209 ff., andSquyeres 
 
 Tale /. 87:— 
 
 "Than Gaweyn with his olde curtesye 
 
 They he were come ayein out of fayrye 
 
 Ne couthe him nought amende with no word." 
 
 Metrical version of Guido de Colonna's war of 
 
 Troye: — 
 
 "Off Bevis, Guy & of Wawayn." 
 
 Sir Degrevant (ed. Halliwell "Thornton Rom.") 
 
 I. 23: — 
 
 "He was known for kene, 
 "Wyth Persevalle & Gawayne." 
 
 Madden has suggested that Spenser's portrait of 
 Sir Cahdore in the sixth book of the Fairy Queen is 
 meddled upon Gawain; undoubtedly Calidore's 
 character is in exact accordance with that of Gawain 
 in Enghsh poems. 
 
 The various quotations make clear to us espe- 
 cially the following traits in the English conception 
 of Gawain. 
 
 (^ His constant association icith Guinevere. 
 
 These romances make no reference to her love 
 for Lancelot. Gawain waits on her and serves her 
 
— 101 — 
 in his character of the most courteous and well born 
 
 o£ all the knights pf Arthur's table. 
 
 Ct_Ir-3 — Mortft_Art.1nirfl. Ha Isada rj-i^inpvere to tablft. 
 II A, 1 . Anturs of Arthur. He waits on her during the hunt ; 
 
 [she weeps when he is wounded. 
 II A, 2. Avow, of Art. Gaw. etc. — He sends Menealfe to 
 [Guinevere from"Gaw. hur knight", and she praises him. 
 II B, 2. Sir Gaw. and the Gr. Kn. He sits beside Guip . 
 
 [at the feast. 
 II C, 1. Launfal: "The quene yede to the tormeste ende 
 Betweene Launfal & Gaweyn the hende." 
 
 [2/ His friendship for his Jbr other knights. 
 
 n A, 2. Avow, of Art. Gaw. etc. He pays Kay's ransom. 
 II B, I, 4. Perceval of Galles. His friendship for Perceval, 
 n B, n, 1. Gaw. and Ywayne. His friendship for Ywayne. 
 II C, 1. Launfal. His friendship for Launfal. 
 
 {s) His association with Perceval. 
 
 This is probably due to the popularity of the 
 
 Roman de Perceval in which Gaw. and Perc. are 
 
 equally celebrated. 
 
 11 B, 4. Perceval of Galles. 
 
 II C, 1. Launfal. 
 
 n C, 2, Lybeas. 
 
 Sir Degrevant. 
 
 /^4y His courtesy. 
 
 This is so emphasized every where that it is 
 impossible to enumerate all the notices. As a rule 
 
— 102 — 
 
 the laterthe romance 4he-g¥eftto-"fee — pF omi nence -^f 
 this stereotyped., yktue. Of. the later yersion of Sir 
 Ga w. an d jhe jGx-JKi&.-and the Carle of Carelyle. 
 
 /Syllis opposition to the discourteous Kay. 
 
 II A, 2. Avow, of Art., Gaw. etc. 
 II B, 1. Gol. and Gaw. 
 II A, 3, a. The Marriage of Gaw. 
 II B, 4. Perceval of GaUes. 
 
 II C, 3, a. Syre Gaw. & the Carle of Carelyle, & b. Carle 
 
 [oif Carlile. 
 
 6) The love existing between him and Arthur. 
 
 I, 1. Lajamon repeatedly emphasizes this love 
 
 I, 3. Morte Arthure. Arthur's lament, over Gn.w. is one nf 
 
 [the strongest testimonie s to his devotion to Gaw. 
 II A, 2 Avow, of Art. Gaw. etc., cf Arthur's speech. 
 II A, 3, a. Marriage of Gaw. & b. Weddynge of Gaw. he 
 
 [interposes to save Arthur's life. 
 II B, 2. Sir Gaw. & the Gr. Kn. He also interposes 
 
 [between Arthur & dange r. 
 
 Apart from the above traits, his nobiUty, hi g 
 generosity, his prowess, his truth are praised, j ^ 
 breath of discredit touches Gawain in this class of 
 romances. 
 
 For the sake of the direct contrast, I quote the 
 following passages: — the only ones in the Idyls of 
 the King in which Gawain is characterized. Since 
 
— 103 — 
 
 must English-speaking people derive from these poems 
 of Mr. Tennyson their whole acquaintance with the 
 Round Table it will be seen that their Gawain, 
 except for a varnish of gentle manners, is entirely 
 dissimilar to the hero of their ancestors. Mr. 
 Tennyson has followed the most unfavourable of the 
 later French romances. 
 
 The Coming of Arthur (^aaf^amii ed. vol. VI, 
 
 p! 19 ff.) contains the first introduction of Gaw. : 
 
 "And Gawain went and breaking into song 
 Sprang out and followed by his flying hair 
 Ran like a colt and leapt at all he saw." 
 
 Gareth and Lynette, Enid, (upon re-reading 
 this best constructed of all the Idyls I find it is 
 little more than a translation of Crestien's Erec), 
 and Vivien scarcely mention Gawain. 
 
 Elaine (vol. I, p. 133): — 
 
 "To this the courteous Prince 
 Accorded with his wonted courtesy, 
 Courtesy with a touch of traitor in it." 
 He makes love to Elaine and gives her the 
 jewels Arthur had commissioned him to bestow upon 
 Lancelot only. Arthur says p. 136: — 
 
 "Too courteous truly! you shall go no more 
 On quest of mine, seeing that you forget 
 Obedience is the courtesy due to kings." 
 
— 104 — 
 
 The Grail (vol. VI) 
 Arthur speaks, p. 77 : — 
 
 "Gawain was this Quest for thee?' 
 
 'Nay lord', said Gawain, 'not for such as I, 
 
 Therefore I communed with a saintly man, 
 
 "Who made me sure the Quest was not for me 
 
 For I was much awearied of the Quest; 
 
 But found a silken pavilion in a field. 
 
 And merry maidens in it; and then this gale 
 
 Tore my pavilion from the tenting-pin. 
 
 And blew my merry maidens all about 
 
 With all discomfort, yea, and but for this, 
 
 My twelvemonth and a day were pleasant to me." 
 
 p. 84: — 
 
 "The hall long silent till Sir Gawain — nay. 
 Brother I need not tell thee — foolish words — 
 
 A reckless and irreverent knight was he." 
 Peleas and Etarre (vol. VI, 117) 
 
 Peleas trusts Gawain by w^hom he is basely 
 deceived; he says: — 
 
 „Alas that ever knight should be so false!" 
 
 Guinevere contains nothing. 
 
 The Last Tournament: — 
 
 "Dagonet, the fool, whom Gawain in his mood 
 Had made mock knight of Arthur's Table Round." 
 
105 
 
 The Passing of Arthur (vol. VI, 131-133): 
 
 "Before that last wjel'd battle in the west 
 There came on Arthur sleeping, Gawain killed 
 In Lancelot's war, the ghost of Gawain blown 
 Along a wandering wind, and past his ear 
 Went shrilling 'Hollow, hollow all delight!" 
 
 Sir Bedevere says : — 
 
 "Light was Gawain in life, and Hght in death 
 Is Gawain for the ghost is as the man."