Composition

Celtic legends reached French poets in two ways - oral, through the mediation of Celtic singers and storytellers, and written, through some legendary chronicles. Many of these legends were associated with the image of the fabulous “King Arthur” - one of the princes of the Britons of the 5th-6th centuries, who heroically defended the regions of England that had not yet been captured by them from the Anglo-Saxons. The pseudo-historical frame for Arthur’s novels was the Latin chronicle of the Welsh patriot Geoffrey of Monmouth, “The History of the Kings of Britain” (circa 1137), who embellished the image of Arthur and gave him feudal-knightly features.

Geoffrey portrays Arthur not only as the king of all Britain, but also as a powerful sovereign, conqueror of a number of countries, ruler of half of Europe. Along with the military exploits of Arthur, Geoffrey talks about his miraculous birth, about his sailing, when he was mortally wounded, to the island of Avallon - the abode of immortality, about the deeds of his sister - the fairy Morgana, the wizard Merlin, etc. The court of the king of the Britons is depicted in his book as the focus of the highest valor and nobility, where, along with Arthur, his wife, the beautiful Queen Genievere, reigns, and around them group Arthur’s nephew, the valiant Gauvin, Seneschal Kay, the evil Modred, who ultimately rebelled against Arthur and was the cause of his death, etc. Geoffrey's Chronicle was a huge success and was soon translated into French and English. Also drawing from Celtic folk tales, the translators added several additional features, of which the most important is the following: King Arthur allegedly ordered a round table to be built so that at the feast he would have neither the best nor the worst seats and that all his knights felt equal.

This is where the usual frame of Arthurian romances, or, as they are often called, romances, begins. Round table- pictures of the court of King Arthur as the focus of ideal chivalry in its new understanding. A poetic fiction was created that in these ancient times it was impossible to become a perfect knight in the sense of military exploits and high love, without having lived or “worked” at Arthur’s court. Hence the pilgrimage of all the heroes to this court, as well as the inclusion in the Arthurian cycle of subjects that were initially alien to him. But no matter what origin - Celtic or otherwise - these stories, called “Breton” or “Arthurian,” they transported their readers and listeners to a fantasy world, where at every step they met magical springs, fairies, giants, beautiful girls, oppressed by evil offenders and awaiting help from brave and generous knights.
The entire huge mass of Breton stories can be divided into four groups of works, which differ markedly from each other in character and style: 1) the so-called Breton lays, 2) a group of novels about Tristan and Isolde, 3) Arthurian novels in the proper sense of the word, and 4) a series of novels about the Holy Grail.
A collection of twelve le, i.e., poetic short stories of love and mostly fantastic content, composed around 1180 by the Anglo-Norman poetess Mary of France, has survived. Maria transfers her stories, borrowed from Breton songs, to the setting of French feudalism, adapting them to the morals and concepts of her contemporary, mainly knightly, reality.

The Celtic tale of Tristan and Isolde was known in large quantities treatments in French, but many of them were lost, and only small fragments of others survived. By comparing all the fully or partially known French editions of the novel about Tristan, as well as their translations into other languages, it turned out to be possible to restore the plot and general character of the oldest French novel that has not reached us (the mid-12th century), to which all these editions go back.

Tristan, the son of a king, lost his parents as a child and was kidnapped by visiting Norwegian merchants. Having escaped from captivity, he ended up in Cornwall, at the court of his uncle King Mark, who raised Tristan and, being old and childless, intended to make him his successor. Growing up, Tristan became a brilliant knight and provided many valuable services to his adopted relatives. One day he was wounded by a poisoned weapon, and, not finding a cure, in despair he gets into a boat and sails at random. The wind carries him to Ireland, and the queen there, knowledgeable in potions, not knowing that Tristan killed her brother Morolt ​​in a duel, heals him. Upon Tristan's return to Cornwall, the local barons, out of envy of him, demand that Mark marry and give the country an heir to the throne. Wanting to talk himself out of this, Mark announces that he will only marry the girl who owns the golden hair dropped by a passing swallow. Tristan goes in search of the beauty. He again sails at random and again ends up in Ireland, where he recognizes the royal daughter, Isolde Golden-haired, as the girl to whom the hair belongs. Having defeated the fire-breathing dragon that devastated Ireland, Tristan receives Isolde's hand from the king, but announces that he himself will not marry her, but will take her as a bride to his uncle. When he and Isolde sail on a ship to Cornwall, they mistakenly drink the “love potion” that Isolde’s mother gave her so that when they drink it, she and King Mark will be bound in love forever. Tristan and Isolde cannot fight the passion that engulfs them: from now on, until the end of their days, they will belong to each other. Upon arrival in Cornwall, Isolde becomes Mark's wife, but passion forces her to seek secret meetings with Tristan. The courtiers try to track them down, but to no avail, and the generous Mark tries not to notice anything. In the end, the lovers are caught and the court sentences them to death. However, Tristan manages to escape with Isolde, and they for a long time wandering in the forest, happy with their love, but experiencing great hardships. Finally, Mark forgives them on the condition that Tristan goes into exile. Having left for Brittany, Tristan marries, seduced by the similarity of names; it is told about “Ioneka” that one young woman, married to a jealous old man, languishes in a tower under the supervision of a maid and dreams of a young, handsome knight miraculously appearing to her. As soon as she expressed this wish, a bird flew into the window of her room and turned into a beautiful knight. The knight reports that he has loved her for a long time, but could not appear without her call; from now on he will fly to her whenever she wishes. Their dates continued until the husband, suspecting something was wrong, ordered sickles and knives to be attached to the window, which the bird knight, having flown to his beloved, stumbled upon, mortally wounding himself. When the son born to his beloved grew up, she told the young man about his origin, and he, avenging his father’s death, killed the evil jealous man.

The background of knightly life is shown even more clearly in “Lanval,” which depicts the secret love of a knight and a beautiful fairy. This love, due to the envy of the queen, who was jealous of the knight, almost cost him his life, but the knight managed to escape with his beloved to a magical island.

Other layers of Maria are even more imbued with lyricism and do not contain any fantasy.

One of them tells how a certain king, not wanting to part with his daughter, announced that he would marry her only to the one who, without outside help, would carry her in his arms to the top high mountain. The young man in love with her (whom she also loved) carried her to the top, but immediately fell dead. Since then, this mountain has been called “The Mountain of Two Lovers.” In another story, a young woman, unhappy in her marriage, under the pretext of listening to the nightingale’s singing, stands for a long time in the evenings at the window, looking across the street at the window of the house where the knight in love with her lives, who also looked at her: this is their only consolation . But the jealous husband killed the nightingale and angrily threw it at his wife’s feet. She picked up the body of the poor bird and sent it to her beloved, who buried it in a luxurious casket and cherished it ever since as a dear memory.
All the stories of Marie of France are imbued with one general assessment of human relations. The knightly shell of the plot covers their universal human content. The luxurious court life and brilliant military exploits do not attract Maria. She is saddened by all cruelty, all violence against natural human feelings. But this does not give rise to an angry protest in her, but a soft melancholy. Most of all, she sympathizes with those suffering from love. At the same time, she understands love not as service to a lady and not as a stormy fatal passion, but as a tender natural attraction to each other of two pure, simple hearts. This attitude towards love brings Mary’s le closer to the folk poetry of another Isolde, nicknamed Belorukaya. But immediately after the wedding, he repents of this and remains faithful to the first Isolde. Languishing in separation from his sweetheart, he comes to Cornwall several times in disguise to secretly see her. Mortally wounded in Brittany in one of the skirmishes, he sends a faithful friend to Cornwall to bring him Isolde, who alone can heal him; if successful, let his friend set out a white sail. But when the ship with Isolde appears on the horizon, the jealous wife, having learned about the agreement, orders Tristan to be told that the sail on it is black. Hearing this, Tristan dies. Isolde comes up to him, lies down next to him and also dies. They are buried, and that same night two trees grow from their two graves, the branches of which are intertwined.

The author of this novel quite accurately reproduced all the details of the Celtic story, preserving its tragic overtones, and only replaced almost everywhere the manifestations of Celtic morals and customs with features of French knightly life. From this material he created a poetic story, permeated with general feeling and thought, which captured the imagination of his contemporaries and caused a long series of imitations.

The success of the novel is due mainly to the special situation in which the characters are placed and the concept of their feelings. In the suffering that Tristan experiences, a prominent place is occupied by the painful consciousness of the hopeless contradiction between his passion and the moral foundations of the entire society, which are obligatory for him. Tristan is tormented by the knowledge of the lawlessness of his love and the insult that he inflicts on King Mark, endowed in the novel with traits of rare nobility and generosity. Like Tristan, Mark himself is a victim of the voice of feudal-knightly “public opinion.” He did not want to marry Isolde, and after that he was by no means prone to suspicion or jealousy towards Tristan, whom he continues to love as his own son. But all the time he is forced to yield to the insistence of the informers-barons, who point out to him that his knightly and royal honor is suffering, and even threaten him with rebellion. Nevertheless, Mark is always ready to forgive the guilty. Tristan constantly remembers this kindness of Mark, and this makes his moral suffering even worse.

The Norman Conquest marked the beginning of a new period in English history.

In 1066, under the leadership of Duke William, the Normans invaded Britain and defeated the Anglo-Saxon forces led by King Harold at the Battle of Hastings. He was killed and William the Conqueror became king of England.

The conquered Anglo-Saxons were oppressed by the Norman feudal lords, whom the king generously endowed with land holdings; The Normans also captured all the highest church positions. The people found themselves in serfdom.

There was an incessant struggle between the feudal lords: in an effort to expand their possessions, they were at enmity with each other. French became the official language in the country (since the Normans used to live in France). It was spoken by the ruling elite; it was used in parliament, court, and schools. Indigenous people spoke Anglo-Saxon. In church circles they used Latin.

Trilingualism affected the development of literature. There were literary works in Latin (scientific works, historical chronicles), French (knightly poetry) and Anglo-Saxon languages ​​(works of folk poetry, as well as a number of poems, poems and knightly novels dating back to the 13th-14th centuries).

Only in the XIV century. In connection with the formation of the English nation, English became the main literary language.

Among the monuments of literature (XI-XII centuries) in Latin, works on the history of Britain occupy an important place. These are " Recent history"by the monk Edmer of Canterbury, "The History of the English Kings", written by the monastery librarian William of Malmesbury, "The History of England" by Henry of Huntingdon.

Of particular importance for further development The Middle Ages of literature had the History of the Britons by Geoffrey of Monmouth.

In the multi-volume “History of the Britons,” the images of King Arthur, the wizard Merlin, the fairy Morgana, Queen Ginevra and brave knights appear for the first time.

This is where the novels of the Arthurian cycle originate. Here, for the first time, the court of the king of the Britons is depicted as the center of valiant chivalry, and the semi-legendary Arthur is shown as a wise and powerful ruler. Geoffrey of Monmouth made 1 literary adaptation of the legend of King Lear and his daughters. At the end of the 12th century. The work of Geoffrey the Englishman on the rules of versification appeared.

In Latin in the XII-XIII centuries. works of a satirical nature are also created. These include the five-volume works of Walter Map “On the Amusing Conversations of Courtiers.” In the form of jokes and funny stories he talked about them in his book.

Anti-church satirical literature, which was created among the lower clergy. These were poems in Latin that ridiculed the Catholic Church, sang the joys of life, glorifying wine and women.

An important place in the literature of England in the period XI-XIII centuries. are occupied by works in French.

The largest work of French folk heroic epic is The Song of Roland.

Poetic chronicles containing descriptions of the genealogies of the Norman dukes were circulated.

In the 12th century French literature in England is experiencing a period of prosperity. It is represented by such writers as Vas, Benoit de Saint-Maur, Robert de Borron, Maria of France. All of them are associated with the court environment and in their works strive to satisfy its needs and tastes.

In his poetic novels “Brutus” and “The Romance of Roux,” Vas tells the story of the Normans.

In the four-part Romance of Roux, he tells the story of the Viking Rollo's conquest of Normandy, his subsequent reign and his successors.
You strive to be accurate in conveying historical details and details. He describes battles and battles, glorifying the exploits of the Normans, which culminated in the conquest of England. Following Geoffrey of Monmouth, Vas turns to Celtic legends, retelling the legend of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table.

The work of the 12th century poetess is associated with knightly poetry. Maria of France.

She drew the plots of her works from Celtic folklore, developing them in the form of poetic short stories. They tell about the love of glorious knights, about fairies and wizards. Maria of France writes about love experiences sincerely and simply, conveying beauty and tenderness human feelings. The plot of one of the best poetic works of Maria of France, “Honeysuckle,” was the legend of the love of Tristan and Isolde.

Knightly poetry arose in European countries among the feudal nobility. Its homeland was Provence (southern France), which reached already in the 11th century. great success in economic and cultural development.

Provençal poetry served as a model for other peoples.

It was an expression of a new, secular culture. In the knightly environment, certain norms of refined behavior developed, according to which the knight had to be selfless and honest, noble towards the weak and defenseless, adore the “beautiful lady” and serve her as faithfully as a vassal serves his lord. Provencal poets - troubadours ( From Provencal trobar - to find, to compose.) sang the sublime feelings of knights; their poetry is associated with the cult of serving the lady, with the glorification of her beauty and grace. Created by poets perfect image the knight did not correspond to reality: there was a lot of conditional and far-fetched in it. However, the desire to convey the world of intimate experiences and feelings, manifested in the lyrics of the troubadours, was fruitful for the subsequent development of poetry.

Romance

The ideals of feudal society were also reflected in the chivalric romance.

On English language The first romances of chivalry appeared in the 13th century. At the end of the 14th century. The most famous English chivalric novel, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, was created. The heroes of this poetic work are knights who place their honor and knightly dignity above all else. Such is King Arthur and his entourage, such is the mysterious Green Knight who once appears at Arthur’s court.

The main conflict of the story is related to Sir Gawain's breaking his word and his subsequent deep repentance.

The source of the knight's romances about King Arthur were Celtic legends.

The semi-legendary character became the hero of many medieval legends. The image of King Arthur united a large cycle of knight novels, changing into different historical eras. The novels “Arthur”, “Arthur and Merlin”, “Lancelot of the Lake” and others were created in English based on the plot of the legends about King Arthur. The legends about his exploits were popular not only among knights, but also among the people. There was a belief that King Arthur would rise from the tomb and return to earth.

The plots of many French and English novels are connected with the legends about King Arthur and his glorious knights. They tell how Arthur took possession of a magic sword and, with its help, conquered many lands, about his marriage to the beautiful Ginevra, about how knights gathered at a round table in a huge hall in his Camelot castle, about his victories and exploits in battles .

The heroes of these novels are also the knights of King Arthur - Sir Lancelot of the Lake, Sir Gawain, knight Perceval.

Along with the knights, the wizard Merlin and the fairy Morgana act.

The plots of the novels also interweave motifs of a religious and mystical nature associated with the history of the search for the Holy Grail, which can only be seen by those who represent the ideal of moral perfection.

Echoing the French chivalric novels in terms of plot, the English novels of the Arthurian cycle have their own characteristics.

French novels are characterized by great sophistication; The theme of love occupies a central place in them and is developed with special care. In the English versions, when developing similar plots, the epic and heroic principles are preserved; the feeling is conveyed to a much greater extent real life with its cruelty, rough morals, with its drama.

In the 60s of the 15th century. Thomas Malory collected, systematized and processed the novels of the Arthurian cycle. He recounted their contents in the book “The Death of Arthur,” which was published in 1485 and immediately became popular. This book is the most significant work of English literary prose XV century Malory perfectly captures the spirit of chivalric romances. He fascinatingly sets out the history of the life and exploits of King Arthur and his knights, combining in his book the best that was characteristic of both French and English chivalric novels.

Legends and novels of the Arthurian cycle attracted the attention of many writers of subsequent eras. They were addressed by E. Spencer, J. Milton, R. Southey, W. Scott, A. Tennyson, W. Morris and others, interpreting the plots and images of medieval works in accordance with their views and the requirements of the time.

Romance. The conventional title was supposed to indicate that this is a story in a Romance language. Both lyrics and novels were written not in Latin, but in Romance languages.

The main character is a knight errant. The prototypes are single-shield knights. When going on a crusade, the knight pawned and sold all his property, and most often returned to his homeland impoverished. They became robbers. There was another way for such knights - they were hired into the city guard. In the Middle Ages, the practice of primogeniture developed - the inheritance is not divided, everything goes to the eldest. The younger sons either became monks or became knights with one shield.

The sources of the story are legends and traditions gleaned from the east, which came into contact with Celtic legends. A cycle of legends about King Arthur. Romances of chivalry are bizarre - unbridled fantasy, and at the same time a detailed description of the life of the British Isles. The third source is antiquity, Virgil and Ovid.

There are three types of chivalric romances: ancient, Breton and oriental (idyllic). The earliest is ancient, influenced by Virgil, Ovid and Alexander the Great. One of the first chivalric novels is a novel about Alexander. This is not quite a romance of chivalry. A chivalric romance must have a knight. Feats in the name of a beautiful lady. Alexander the Great gave material about education, about horses, about battles, but there was no lady. From Virgil they took the Dido-Aeneas-Lavinius triangle. The authors changed the plot: Dido’s love was uncourtly, so Aeneas abandoned her, but Lavinia is a beautiful lady - Virgil has almost no information about her, so the authors drew her to their liking.

Oriental is no longer quite a novel. He is monotonous, but he was loved. The plot is always the same: the action takes place either in the east or in Europe. After a battle, an Eastern knight finds a Christian child on the battlefield, he takes him and raises him. The son of an eastern knight wants to marry this Christian woman, so they are trying to melt her into a harem. The boy looks for her and dresses up as a woman. It all ends with a wedding. In the European version, it is sold to the Vikings. "Floir and Blanchefleur", "Aucassin and Nicollet".

The main area where chivalric romances appeared was the north of France and the possessions of the English Plantagenets. This is a Breton chivalric romance. It is divided into 4 groups: 1) Breton lays; 2) Arthurian novels, novels about the knights of the round table; 3) novels about the Holy Grail; 4) apart - novels about Tristan and Isolde.

Lay - a collection of 1175 by the Anglo-Norman poetess Narly of France has been preserved. 12 le. Le is a poetic short story of love and adventure with a tragic ending. The ending is always tragic. Le "Mountain of Two Lovers". The king gives his daughter in marriage to someone who will lift her in his arms without stopping to the top of a high mountain. One knight informs her, but dies at the very top, she dies of grief for him.

Arthurian Romances - French author Chretien de Troyes is considered the creator of the classic chivalric romance. Lived at the court of Maria Champagne. A type of small adventurous single-character, single-event lyrical poetic knightly novel. The author's interest in acute psychological conflicts. The concept of courtly love, controversy with the creators of novels about Tristan and Isolde. Chrétien de Troyes even writes Anti Tristan and Isolde. The novels are dedicated to King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. Arthur - real historical figure. Disputes about its origin. The Celts are conquered by the Germanic tribes of the Angles and Saxons. The Celts were first pushed back, and then, rallying around the leader Artorius, they repulsed the Angles and Saxons, although not for long. This is one of the versions - the most probable. A legend arose about the king who fought for independence. The legend is that he did not die, but fell into a deep sleep in the depths of the island of Avalon. These legends gave rise to the theme of the struggle for justice. Round table - the idea of ​​equality of the elite. Each chair at the table has a name. Lack of class dogma. Gradually, the legend of Arthur becomes a utopia, a myth. There is no real Arthur's kingdom. The most famous novels are “The Romance of Lancelot or the Knight of the Cart”, “Even, Knight of the Lion” and “Percival”. The hero is usually chosen by a knight who is still young and capable of development, but already deserved. This is a conflict. It is difficult for such a person to change. Enchanted well, red knight, procession to the castle. Lady Ladina, a cunning servant who, with her cunning, passes off her mistress as Even. Chrétien was interested in the problem of whether chivalric deeds are compatible with chivalrous love and ethics. No. Even is bored, he leaves, accomplishes feats, adventures drive him to madness.

Novels about the Holy Grail. In the French version, this is the cup from which Christ drank at the last supper, and then his blood was collected there. Magic properties. The cup is lost. Legend: when it is found, prosperity will come throughout the world. But the knight is guided by chivalric ethics, and the Grail is a Christian shrine. The problem of the relationship between chivalric ethics and Christian morality. Preference is given to Christian morality. No one can find the Grail except the purest knight. "The Romance of Percival." German version - Wolfram von Eschenbach "Parzival". The Grail is not a cup, but a precious stone with the same properties. So is the cup. Altar stone. Knight Gamoret of Anjou loves exploits - the east, Ethiopia, princess Beloneska, son. He gets bored, leaves for Europe, saves Hertsiloida there, another son. He goes to war and dies. Herciloida decides to save Parzival from such a fate and goes into the forests. But you can't escape fate. At the age of 15, Parzival sees knights. He leaves with them. Absolute innocence and sinlessness, so he encounters a strange vision: the king is fishing, sad, polite. Everyone in the castle is waiting for something. Procession. But Parzival goes to bed. He wakes up - only an old woman is nearby, who scolds him for not asking one single question, then he would have freed them. He has been searching for the Grail for many years.

General characteristics of Anglo-Norman literature. Features of the development of English literature in the period of the XI-XIII centuries. associated with the conquest of the country by the Normans. The Norman Conquest marked the beginning of a new period in English history. Under the prevailing feudal system, it contributed to the spread of French influence on the socio-political and cultural life of the country. Trilingualism affected the development of literature. Literary works appeared in Latin, French and Anglo-Saxon. Scientific works, historical chronicles, and anti-church satires were written in Latin. Literature in French was represented by chivalric poetry. In the Anglo-Saxon language, works of folk poetry from this period have been preserved, as well as a number of poems, poems and chivalric romances dating back to the 13th-14th centuries. Only in the XIV century. In connection with the formation of the English nation, English became the main literary language. Among the monuments of literature (XI-XII centuries) in Latin, works on the history of Britain occupy an important place. These are the “Recent History” (Historia novorum) by the Anglo-Saxon monk Edmer of Canterbury, the “History of the English Kings” (Historia regum Anglorum), written by the librarian of the monastery in Malmesbury, William of Malmesbury, and the “History of England” (Historia Anglorum) by Henry of Huntingdon. Of particular importance for the further development of medieval literature was the “History of the Britons” (Historia Britonum, 1132-1137) by Geoffrey of Monmouth, which contained the earliest treatment of the Celtic legends about King Arthur, which would later become the property of other European literatures. In the multi-volume History of the Britons, for the first time, the images of King Arthur, the wizard Merlin, the fairy Morgana, Queen Guinevere and the brave knights who will occupy such an important place in chivalric poetry in French and English appear. This is where the novels of the Arthurian cycle originate. Here, for the first time, the court of the king of the Britons is depicted as the center of valiant chivalry, embodying the ideals of nobility, and the semi-legendary Arthur is shown as a wise and powerful ruler. In Latin in the XI-XIII centuries. works of a satirical nature are also created. These include the five-volume works of Walter Map “On the Amusing Conversations of Courtiers” (De nugis curialium). Anti-church satirical literature, examples of which were created among the lower clergy, had a democratic character. Wandering clerics and schoolchildren - vagantes - composed free-thinking poems in Latin, ridiculing the Catholic Church and the morals of its ministers, and sang the joys of life, glorifying wine and women. Among the vagants there was an idea of ​​a certain Bishop Golia, a lover of sweet food and drink, who was presented as the author of these hedonistic and daring songs. Some works of goliardic poetry were an outright parody of cult church songs. In works of this kind, the Latin language was gradually replaced by English.

An important place in the literature of England in the period XI-XIII centuries. occupied by works in French, which was represented by the Norman dialect of Old French. Some of them were imported from France, others were created in England. The largest work of the French folk heroic epic “The Song of Roland” was famous. Poetic chronicles containing descriptions of the genealogies of the Norman dukes were circulated.

Celtic legends as a source of romances about King Arthur.

The earliest mentions of King Arthur date back to the late 5th and early 6th centuries and associate the legendary hero with the historical Celtic leader who led the fight against the Anglo-Saxon invasion of Britain. The novels of the 9th - 11th centuries, included in the collection of magical legends of Wales "The Mabinogion", also belong to the truly "Welsh" genre. Arthur in early tales (for example, the poem of the 4th century Welsh bard Aneirin "Godddin") appears before us as a strong and powerful tribal leader, who, despite all his primitive cruelty, is not alien to nobility and honesty.

Researchers of medieval literature point out that on an archetypal level, Arthur is comparable to the legendary king of Ulad Conchobar, the hero of many Irish sagas, and to the Welsh deity Bran.

Famous medievalist A.D. Mikhailov writes that “the Arthurian legends are based on Celtic epic tales, and their Irish variation is best known to us. Therefore, the Irish sagas are not a source, but a parallel, to a certain extent even a model of the legends about King Arthur.” What he has in common with the latter is that Bran suffers from a wound. This motif has much in common with later versions of the Arthurian legends, when the crippled king becomes the keeper of the Grail, the sacred cup.

The name Arthur is usually derived from the Roman family name Artorius, but at the level of Celtic mythology there are several different etymologies. According to one of them, the name of Arthur is deciphered as “black raven”, and “raven”, in turn, sounds like bran in Welsh, which confirms the connection of King Arthur both functionally and etymologically with the god Bran.

Book by T. Malory “The Death of Arthur”."The Death of Arthur" (Middle French Le Morte d "Arthur) is the final work of the Arthurian cycle, a set of chivalric novels written in the second third of the 15th century in late Middle English by Thomas Malory (a former knight who was sentenced to life imprisonment for robbery, violence and robbery). According to some versions, the first prose novel in the English-language tradition.

Before Malory, there were already many Arthurian novels in English (about thirty have reached us), but there was nothing similar to the French general collections like the Vulgates. Mallory directly used two poems of the same name(“The Death of Arthur”), one in alliterative verse, second half of the 14th century, the other in eight-line stanzas, ca. 1400. Malory’s innovation is that he wrote in prose (of the English novels of the Breton cycle before Malory, only one was written in prose, “Merlin,” an almost literal translation of the second novel of the Vulgate, 20 years earlier than “Le Morte d’Arthur”). Malory reduces French sources in all cases, sometimes very significantly (“The Book of Tristram” was reduced six times). What took his predecessors ten pages, he outlines in a couple of lines. In his preface, William Caxton pretends that before Malory there was almost no literature about King Arthur in English: “Many glorious books have been written about him and his noble knights in French, which I have seen and read overseas, but in our native they are not in the language. ...there are others in English, but not all.”

• The Tale of King Arthur (Fro the Maryage of Kynge Uther unto Kyng Arthure that Regned Aftir Hym and Ded Many Batayles). The first in order of content and the second in order of writing (according to Vinaver). The source for it was the so-called “Continuation of Merlin,” a French novel created as part of a cycle conceived as a counterweight to the Vulgate.
• The Tale of Arthur and Lucius (The Noble Tale Betwyxt Kynge Arthure and Lucius the Emperor of Rome). According to Vinaver, this is the first work created.
• The Tale of Sir Launcelot Du Lake. The source of Malory's third story is some version of the Romance of Lancelot, the central part of the Vulgate, that has not reached us. Malory here cut off all the backstory, including the upbringing of Lancelot by the Lady of the Lake and the vicissitudes of his love for the queen.
• The Tale of Sir Gareth of Orkney. The source has not been established, but the plot archetype is obvious - the knightly initiation of a young and unknown hero, sometimes a foundling, sometimes a bastard, sometimes an orphan, either ignorant or hiding his ancestry. The origins of this plot are “Perceval” by Chretien de Troyes, it can be found in “The Beautiful Stranger” by Renaud de Beaujeu, in “Ider”, etc. Gareth, under the name Beaumains Beautiful Hands, lives in King Arthur’s kitchen for a whole year, then takes on a dangerous feat, proves his knightly usefulness with the strength of his hand and courtesy of character, wins the heart of the noble maiden Lionessa, reveals his true face.
• The book about Tristram (The Fyrst and the Secunde Boke of Syr Trystrams de Lyones). Source - prose “Roman about Tristan”. Malory finally removes the tragedy of the legend, discards the mournful ending - Tristan and Isolde remain alive and well.
• The Noble Tale of the Sankgreal. The source is the fourth part of the Vulgate, “The Quest for the Holy Grail.” Here Malory is the least original; he does not dare to make any innovations, but he decisively reduces the moralizing commentary on the plot, which in itself changes the emphasis.
• The Tale of Lancelot and Queen Gwenyvere. The source is the final novel of the Vulgate, Le Morte d'Arthur, which Malory handles quite freely.
• The Death of Arthur. The source is again the French “Le Morte d’Arthur”, but also the English strophic poem of the same name.

Symbolism of the Grail. The Grail is one of the most interesting and legendary symbols. The Holy Grail legend of medieval European literature represents a legacy ancient religion Celts, but the legend of the cup was reinterpreted in a Christian spirit. In the most popular version of the legend, this is the cup from which Jesus and the apostles drank at the Last Supper, or the one in which Joseph of Arimathea collected the blood of Christ, nailed to the crucifixion.

This cup is a symbolic source of life and immortality, abundance and fertility, a “wonderful provider.” At will, she instantly gives any food and jewelry, and the one who drinks from her is cured of all ailments; even the dead, as soon as she touches their lips, awaken to life. Possessing the ability to miraculously saturate its chosen ones with unearthly dishes, the Grail in the Western tradition occupies the same place as the Eastern sacrificial bowl with Vedic soma, Avestan haoma or Greek ambrosia. Grail inhaling new life into the Phoenix and giving eternal youth to those who serve him is related to the symbolism of the Philosopher's Stone. It also acts as a barge, an ark, which contains the seeds of the cyclical renewal of life, the seeds of lost traditions. The Holy Grail, containing blood, the basis of life, is identified with the heart, and therefore with the center. The Grail combines two elements: a cup or shining cup with a heart (a triangle placed on top), personifies the feminine, perceptive, watery principle; a spear or sword (a triangle pointing upward) - a masculine, active, fiery principle. These elements are united by the carriers of life - blood or sacred liquid flowing into the cup. The life-giving, renewing forces emitted by the solar vessel, and the forces of destruction, appearing in the form of a bleeding spear, contain a double mystery.

The symbolism of the location of the Grail in the center of the Round Table, around which the knights sit, is very close to the Chinese image of the sky, which has the shape of a circle with a hole in the middle (analogous to a bowl or cup).

Among the Celts, a cup full of wine, beer or honey, which a young girl presented to the incoming king, is a symbol of supreme power. Over time, this meaning is transferred to the Holy Grail, in search of which the Knights of the Round Table go.

In Christianity, the Grail is the sacred Heart of Christ. According to legend, the Grail was made by angels from an emerald that fell from the forehead of Lucifer when he was cast into the abyss. Like the Virgin Mary, who atoned for the sin of Eve, the blood of the Savior, through the Grail, atoned for the sin of Lucifer. Thus, the meaning of the Grail is increasingly associated with the torment of Christ, with the idea voluntary sacrifice and redemption. In Christian legend, the Grail was given to Adam, but left by him in paradise after the Fall. He is still at the center of Paradise and must be found again as the redeemer obtains the cup and restores Paradise to mankind.

The image of the Grail, undoubtedly, cannot be completely reduced to either a church sacrament or a Celtic myth. For the knightly culture of the Middle Ages, the importance of the Grail as a symbol was that it combined the spirit of knightly adventure, the free play of fantasy using fragments of half-forgotten mythology, and Christian mysticism. This cup is a symbol of mental health and the desire to rise, for only those seekers who have absolute purity of heart can achieve success on their path. Anyone unworthy who approaches a shrine is punished with a wound and illness, however, he can expect healing from the same shrine. The Grail is a secret that is revealed only to the most worthy.

The role of the chivalric romance in the history of medieval literature.

The chivalric romance is the only poetic genre that developed primarily on European soil. As an independent, isolated genre, the novel made its way into literature only towards the end of the Middle Ages. The author of the first such novel was the Portuguese knight Vasco de Lobeira, who wrote his famous Amadis of Gaul, which has not survived in the original (the closest Spanish translation of the early 16th century is known), but determined all subsequent novels about knights errant (Chevaliers errants). The chivalric romance preserves character traits epic, with the exception of belief in the truth of the events being told. Everything that happens in chivalric novels also appears to us as something long ago, belonging to the ideal past. The times of King Arthur, like the times of Marikastanya, are just veils of the conventional past, through which historical chronology dimly shines through.

The chivalric romance took a lot from the heroic epic, but at the same time the new epic genre was based on hoary antiquity.

First of all, the chivalric romance had its own author. It happened that sometimes the names of the creators were lost, as happened with the old French story “Aucassin and Nicolet”. However, the picture of the world appears in the knightly novel in the author’s perception. The narrator in the story has an extremely relevant role; he will talk intelligently about different topics, depending on what events the knight is participating in. The hero of the chivalric novel is not inferior in valor to the epic hero, but now he fights not so much for the king, but for the sake of glory, which he needs to win the heart of the Beautiful Lady, in whose name he performs many feats.

It is customary to distinguish three cycles of medieval chivalric novels: antique (based on the traditions of the ancient novel, on subjects associated with antiquity), Byzantine (the origins of which are in the Byzantine novel tradition) and the so-called Breton tales (based on the legends and myths of the ancient Celts in conjunction with new courtly motifs). Breton tales turned out to be the most productive type of chivalric romance. In turn, Breton stories are usually divided into four groups: Breton lays, novels about Tristan and Isolde, novels of the Arthurian cycle and novels about the Holy Grail.

Breton lais. According to tradition, medieval chivalric romances include works written in the genre of le (1v, a word of Celtic origin). These are a kind of micronovels, small poetic stories, which, unlike novels, include not a series of episodes arranged in a chain (like a “road novel”), but one episode. Le Marie of France. The first famous and most prominent representative of this genre was Maria of France, a poetess of the second half of the 12th century, who lived at the court of the English king Henry II.

She wrote a collection of 12 le in Old French. In "Lanval" the features of the medieval chivalric romance are presented in a concentrated and extremely laconic manner. Already in the original plot formula - the knight Lanval fell in love with a fairy - we find the very grain of the genre: adventure as a combination of love and fantasy. The fairy responded to Lanval's love by demanding that the knight keep their relationship a secret (the principle of courtly love).

But, in accordance with the courtly code, Lanval must love the wife of his overlord King Arthur, Guenievre, and she expects loving service from him. Lan-val, breaking the ban, confesses to Genievre that he loves a woman who is more beautiful than the queen. The most offended by this confession is King Arthur, to whom Genievre complained about Lanval’s disrespect.

He demands Lanval prove that there is someone more beautiful than his wife, otherwise the knight will be executed. But the fairy, also offended by the violation of the secret of love, disappears. Lanval cannot prove that he is right and must die. When everything is ready for execution, a fairy appears riding a wonderful horse, and everyone is forced to admit that she is more beautiful than Genievra. Lanval jumps onto the horse's croup and, together with the fairy, is carried away to an unknown country, from where he never returned (apparently, Lanval and the fairy went to Avalon - the land of immortality in Celtic legends). In “Lanval,” the author’s position is clearly manifested: Maria of France condemns the extremes of the courtly code of love, she is on the side of love as a natural feeling, and not as a form of serving the overlord through love-service to his wife.

Novels about Tristan and Isolde. At the beginning of the 20th century. French academician Joseph Bedier showed that the surviving incompletely poetic “Roman of Tristan” by Béroul and “Roman of Tristan” by Thomas, le Marie of France “On Honeysuckle” (12th century), the novel “Tristan” by Godfrey of Strasbourg ( beginning of XIII c.), the prose “Roman of Tristan” by Luce del Gata and Elie de Boron (circa 1230, the names of the authors, possibly pseudonyms) and many other medieval texts go back to an unsurvived novel from the mid-12th century.

Belonging to some unknown but brilliant author, and tried to reconstruct the original text. The cycle stands somewhat apart from other medieval novels. The legend is probably based on some historical events VI century (It is assumed that the name Tristan goes back to the name of the Pictish warrior Drust or Drustan, the name Isolde is not identified). The work is written according to a different model than typical chivalric romances; it contains only elements of the “threshold novel” structure, almost no courtly rules of love are presented, and there are several very ancient elements. This is the beginning of the novel: King Mark, under pressure from the courtiers, agrees to the marriage.

But he doesn't want to get married. A bird flies into the hall and drops a golden hair from its beak. The king sends his entourage in search of a girl with such hair - only she will he marry. This is a very ancient motif, in which there is not a hint of a courtly understanding of love.

Mark’s nephew Tristan also goes in search of the girl, and along the way he fights a dragon (also an ancient mythological motif). He, wounded and unconscious, is found and healed by Isolde. Opening his eyes and seeing a girl with golden hair, not yet knowing that this is the Irish princess Isolde, Tristan experiences a strong feeling - a harbinger Great love(this, on the contrary, is a new motive, embodying the concept of love in the 12th century). A moral conflict arises: as a vassal of Mark, Tristan must deliver the girl to the king, but as a person he experiences (and mutually) affection for her, which must inevitably develop into love. This is where the genius of the unknown author comes into play.

Obviously, he himself is torn by contradiction: as a man of the KhPv., he defends the principles of vassal fidelity, the sanctity of feudal marriage and at the same time wants to glorify the power of love, which, according to the courtly concept, arises outside of marriage. How to get out of this contradiction? And the writer finds his own, author’s way of resolving the conflict: he connects the legend of the love of Tristan and Isolde with another legend - about a magic drink. While returning by ship from Ireland to Britain, the young heroes accidentally (the incident is a new element of the author's narrative) drink a love drink made by Isolde's maid, who wanted to help her mistress and Mark overcome alienation and experience love in marriage, which cannot be destroyed by any force. Now the love of Tristan and Isolde, which arose from the heroes’ first glance at each other, flares up like an irresistible passion.

The motif of the love potion allows the author to remove all moral accusations against Tristan and Isolde even after she married King Mark, and, on the contrary, to present in the most unsightly light the informers-courtiers who interfere with the lovers and, ultimately, become one of the reasons for their death. The author creates a novel about unhappy love, which, nevertheless, is stronger than death. This theme would become one of the most fruitful plot devices in literature, reflected in the story of Francesca da Rimini in " Divine Comedy"Dante (where in the second circle of hell, next to the souls of Francesca and her lover, Dante places the shadows of Tristan and Isolde), in W. Shakespeare's tragedy "Romeo and Juliet" and in many other works. Novels of the Arthurian cycle.

The most characteristic of the medieval novel was the cycle about King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. Arthur is a real person, the leader of the Britons in the 5th-6th centuries. retreating to Wales under the onslaught of the Germanic tribes of the Angles, Saxons and Jutes. In the novels, Arthur appears as the most powerful king of Europe; only at his court can the hero become a true knight. The most advanced knights of King Arthur are united by the name Knights of the Round Table. They gather together with the king at a huge round table standing in his Camelot castle - a symbol of equality (the rectangular table symbolized feudal inequality, vassalage: at its “upper” end sat the overlord, on his right hand was the most noble vassal, left hand- the second most important vassal, then other vassals were seated in descending order, and behind the “lower” end - the most humble of those present). At the round table the king was first among equals.

This equality was violated only in the plots of knightly novels, since one of the knights of the Round Table (the one whose name the novel is named) always turned out to be the most courageous, strong, gallant - an example of all knightly virtues, the embodiment of the knightly ideal. Chretien de Troyes. The most significant author of chivalric romances, the creator of the Arthurian cycle, was the French writer Chrétien de Troyes (c. 1130-c. 1191), obviously associated with the courts of Countess Maria of Champagne (one of the main centers of courtoisie) and Count Philip of Flanders. Starting with the development of the plot of Tristan and Isolde (the novel has not survived), already in the next novel - “Erek and Enida” - he lays the foundations of the Arthurian cycle.