In Homer's Greek or Dante's Italian such a couplet (which, be it observed, is as good in rhythm and vowel contrast as in simple presentation of thought) could hardly lack general admiration. In the English poetry of the Middle Ages it is dismissed as a commonplace.
Yet such things, and far better things, are to be met everywhere in the literature which, during the period we have had under review, took definite form and shape. It produced, indeed, none of the greatest men of letters—no Chaucer nor Dante, no Froissart even, at best for certainties a Villehardouin and a William of Lorris, a Wolfram and a Walther, with shadowy creatures of speculation like the authors of the great romances. But it produced some of the greatest matter, and some of not the least delightful handlings of matter, in book-history. And it is everywhere distinguished, first, by the adventurous fecundity of its experiments in form and kind, secondly, by the presence of that spirit which has been adumbrated in the last paragraph. In this last, we must own, the pupil countries far outdid their master or mistress. France was stronger relatively in the spirit of poetry during the Middle Ages than she has been since; but she was still weaker than others. She gave them expression, patterns, form: they found passion and spirit, with not seldom positive story-subject as well. When we come upon some nueva maestria, as the old Spanish poet called it, some cunning trick of form, some craftsman-like adjustment of style and kind to literary purposes, we shall generally find that it was invented in France. But we know that no Frenchman could have written the Dies Iræ; and though we recognise French as at home in the Rose-Garden, and not out of place in the fatal meeting of Lancelot and Guinevere, it sounds but as a foreign language in the towers of Carbonek or of Montsalvatsch.
Abbat, Peter, 406.
Abelard, 14, 17.
Adam de la Halle, 316-321.
Adam of St Victor, 8, 10.
Alberic of Besançon, 157.
Albertus Magnus, 18.
Alcamo, Ciullo d', 387.
Alexander Hales, 18.
Alexander, romances of, chap. iv. passim.
Alfonso X., 409, 410.
Aliscans, 75 sq.
"Alison," 210, 211.
Amalricans, the, 20 note.
Amaury de Bène, 18.
Ancona, Professor d', 387.
Ancren Riwle, the, 198-201.
Anna Comnena, 378.
Anselm, 14, 17.
Apollonius, the Spanish, 407.
Aquinas, Thomas, 18.
"Arch-poet," the, 5.
Arnold, Matthew, 55, 278.
Ascham, 128.
Aucassin et Nicolette, 330-332.
Audefroy le Bastard, 275.
Aue, Hartmann von, 246-251.
Bacon, Roger, 18.
Bartsch, Herr K., 270.
Bastart de Bouillon, le, 57.
Baudouin de Sebourc, 32 sq.
Beauvais, Vincent of, 18.
Bede, 90.
Bédier, M., 276.
Benoît de Sainte-More, 177 sq.
Beowulf, 30, 36, 188.
Berceo, G., 407.
Bernard of Morlaix, 8, 11-13.
Bernard, St, 8, 322.
Bodel, Jean, 26 note, 148.
Bonaventura, 18.
Borron, Robert de, 138.
Brunetière, M. F., 55, 83.
Brut. See Geoffrey of Monmouth,
Layamon, and Wace.
Budge, Mr Wallis, 152.
Callisthenes, the Pseudo-, 152 sq.
Caradoc of Lancarvan, 91.
Carmina Burana, 4.
Celano, Thomas of, 9.
Champeaux, William of, 17.
Chrestien de Troyes, 101 sq., 195.
Cid, Poema del, 23, 376, 393, 398 sq.
Ciullo d'Alcamo, 387.
Colonna, or delle Colonne, or de Columnis, Guido, 181 sq.
Condorcet, 15.
Conquête de Constantinoble, 323.
Contrasto, 387, 389.
Conybeare, 25.
Cornu, Professor, 402.
Couronnement Loys, le, 60 sq.
Courthope, Mr, 140.
Cronica, General, 410.
Curialium, De Nugis, 141.
Dares Phrygius, 171 sq. and chap. iv. passim.
David of Dinant, 18.
Dictys Cretensis, 169 sq. and
chap. iv. passim.
Dies Iræ, the, 9, 10.
Dunlop, 28, 132.
Egil's Saga, 350, 360.
Epistolæ Obscurorum Virorum, 16.
Epopées Françaises, les, 25 sq.
Erigena, John Scotus, 17.
Eschenbach, Wolfram von, 126, 251-256.
"Eternal Gospel," the, 18.
Exeter, Joseph of, 3.
Eyrbyggja Saga, 350.
Flora, Joachim of, 18.
Froude, Mr J.A., 55.
Gautier, M. Léon, 25.
Genesis and Exodus, 202.
Geoffrey, Gaimar, 98.
Geoffrey of Monmouth, 94 sq. and
chap. iii. passim.
Geoffroy de Villehardouin, 323 sq.
Gérard de Roussillon, 44.
Giélée, Jacquemart, 291.
Gildas, 91.
Gloucester, Robert of, 204 sq.
Golias and Goliardic Poems, 4 sq.
Gottfried von Strasburg, 242-246.
Gran Conquesta de Ultramar, 410.
Grandes Chroniques of St Denis, 327.
Grettis Saga, 351-360.
Guest, Dr, 218 sq.
Guillaume d'Orange, 59 sq.
Hallam, 28.
Hamilton, Sir W., 15.
Hartmann von Aue, 246-251.
Havelok the Dane, 207, 208.
Hauréau, De la Philosophie Scolastique, 14 note, 19.
Heimskringla, 344, 361.
Heinrich von Veldeke, 242.
Henryson, 150, 272.
Historia de Prœliis, 153.
Horn (King), 208, 209.
Hunt, Leigh, 279.
Hysminias and Hysmine, 140, 377 sq.
Iter ad Paradisum, 154.
Jacopone da Todi, 8.
Jeanroy, M. A., 270.
Joachim of Flora, 18.
John of Salisbury, 17.
John Scotus Erigena, 17.
Joinville, Jean de, 328, 329.
Joly, M., 151.
Joseph of Exeter, 3.
Jus de la Feuillie, 318-321.
Kölbing, Dr, 166 note.
König Rother, 237.
Kormak's Saga, 347, 360.
Kudrun, 233-236.
Lambert li Tors, 157 sq.
Lamprecht, 156.
Lang, Mr, 331.
Lanson, M., 83.
Laxdæla Saga, 349.
Layamon, 98, 99, 192-196.
Lombard, Peter, 17.
Lorris, William of, 300 sq.
Loth, M., 143.
Mabinogion, the, 105.
Madden, Sir Frederic, 97.
Malory, Sir T., 104 and chap. iii. passim.
Manasses, 379.
Map or Mapes, Walter, 4 sq., 58, 100 sq.
Marcabrun, 368
Marie de France, 285, 286, 311.
Martin, Herr, 290.
Méon, 276.
Meung, Jean de, 300 sq.
Meyer, M. Paul, 151 sq.
Michelant, M., 159.
Mill, J.S., 15.
Minnesingers, the minor, 261-264.
Missa de Potatoribus, 4.
Nennius, 91, 92.
Nibelungenlied, 227 sq.
Nicetas, 379.
Njal's Saga, 348.
Nut-Browne Maid, the, 271.
Nutt, Mr, 135.
Occam, William of, 17, 18.
Orange, William of, 59 sq.
Orm and the Ormulum, 196-198.
Owl and the Nightingale, the, 203.
Paris, M. Gaston, 25, 102 note, 212 note.
Paris, M. Paulin, 25, 97, 270.
Pater, Mr, 331.
Peacock, 142, 279.
Peter Lombard, 17.
Peter the Spaniard, 18.
Prantl, Geschichte der Logik, 14 note, 19.
Proverbs, early English, 203.
Quintus Curtius, 155.
Raymond Lully, 18.
Raynaud, M. G., 270.
Renan, M., 201.
Reynard the Fox, 286 sq.
Rhys, Professor, 136 sq.
Robert of Gloucester, 204 sq.
Robin et Marion, 317, 318.
Roland, Chanson de, 29 sq.
Romance of the Rose, the, 299 sq.
Romancero Français, 27.
Romanzen und Pastourellen, 270.
Roscellin, 17.
Rutebœuf, 312, 313.
Sagas, 339 sq.
Santa Maria Egipciaca, 407, 408.
Scotus Erigena, 17.
Scotus, John Duns, 18.
Siete Partidas, 409.
Specimens of Lyric Poetry, 209 sq.
Strasburg, Gottfried von, 243-246.
St Victor, Adam of, 8.
Sully, Maurice de, 323.
Swinburne, Mr, 331, 367, 370.
Theodorus Prodromus, 379.
Thomas of Celano, 9.
Thomas of Kent, 158.
Thoms, Mr, 282.
Ticknor, Mr, 393 sq.
Todi, Jacopone da, 8.
Tressan, Comte de, 28.
Tristram, Sir, 116.
Troubadours, the, 362 sq.
Troy, the Tale of, 167 sq.
Troyes, Chrestien de, 101 sq.
Turpin, Archbishop, 29.
Tyre, William of, 327.
Tyrwhitt, 25.
Valerius, Julius, 152 sq.
Veldeke, H. von, 242.
Vigfusson, Dr, 267.
Villehardouin, G. de, 323 sq.
Vincent of Beauvais, 18.
Vogelweide, Walther von der, 256-261.
Volsunga Saga, 228, 229.
Wace, 98.
Walter, Archdeacon of Oxford. See Geoffrey of Monmouth.
Walter of Châtillon, 155.
Walther von der Vogelweide, 256-261.
Ward, Mr, 164.
Warton's History of Poetry, 139.
Weber, 163.
William IX., of Poitiers, 364.
William of Tyre, 327.
Wolfram von Eschenbach, 126, 251-256.
Wright, Thomas, 209.
printed by william blackwood and sons.
[1] One of the most difficult points to decide concerned the allowance of notes, bibliographical or other. It seemed, on the whole, better not to overload such a Series as this with them; but an attempt has been made to supply the reader, who desires to carry his studies further, with references to the best editions of the principal texts and the best monographs on the subjects of the different chapters. I have scarcely in these notes mentioned a single book that I have not myself used; but I have not mentioned a tithe of those that I have used.
[2] Included with Dictys and Dares in a volume of Valpy's Delphin Classics.
[3] Cf. Warton, History of English Poetry. Ed. Hazlitt, i. 226-292.
[4] Gualteri Mapes, De Nugis Curialium Distinctiones Quinque. Ed. T. Wright: Camden Society, 1850.
[5] Carmina Burana, Stuttgart, 1847; Political Songs of England (1839), and Latin Poems attributed to Walter Mapes (1841), both edited for the Camden Society by T. Wright.
[6] Wright and Halliwell's Reliquiæ Antiquæ (London, 1845), ii. 208.
[7] On this Arch-Poet see Scherer, History of German Literature (Engl. ed., Oxford, 1886), i. 68.
[8] A few more precise dates may be useful. St Bernard, 1091-1153; Bernard of Morlaix, exact years uncertain, but twelfth century; Adam of St Victor, ob. cir. 1190; Jacopone da Todi, ob. 1306; St Bonaventura, 1221-1274; Thomas of Celano, fl. c. 1226. The two great storehouses of Latin hymn-texts are the well-known books of Daniel, Thesaurus Hymnologicus, and Mone, Hymni Latini Medii Ævi. And on this, as on all matters connected with hymns, the exhaustive Dictionary of Hymnology (London, 1892) of the Rev. John Julian will be found most valuable.
[9] Of course no one of the four is a pure classical trochee; but all obey the trochaic rhythm.
[10] Sacred Latin Poetry (2d ed., London, 1864), p. 304. This admirable book has not been, and from its mixture of taste and learning is never likely to be, superseded as an introduction to, and chrestomathy of, the subject. Indeed, if a little touch of orthodox prudery had not made the Archbishop exclude the Stabat, hardly a hymn of the very first class could be said to be missing in it.
[11] I should feel even more diffidence than I do feel in approaching this proverbially thorny subject if it were not that many years ago, before I was called off to other matters, I paid considerable attention to it. And I am informed by experts that though the later (chiefly German) Histories of Philosophy, by Ueberweg, Erdmann, Windelband, &c., may be consulted with advantage, and though some monographs may be added, there are still no better guides than Hauréau, De la Philosophie Scolastique (revised edition) and Prantl, Geschichte der Logik im Abendlande, who were our masters five-and-twenty years ago. The last-named book in especial may be recommended with absolute confidence to any one who experiences the famous desire for "something craggy to break his mind upon."
[12] Some exacter dates may be useful. Anselm, 1033-1109; Roscellin, 1050?-1125; William of Champeaux, ?-1121; Abelard, 1079-1142; Peter Lombard, ob. 1164; John of Salisbury, ?-1180; Alexander of Hales, ?-1245; Vincent of Beauvais, ?-1265?; Bonaventura, 1221-1274; Albertus Magnus, 1195-1280; Thomas Aquinas, 1225?-1274; Duns Scotus, 1270?-1308?; William of Occam, ?-1347; Roger Bacon, 1214-1292; Petrus Hispanus, ?-1277; Raymond Lully, 1235-1315.
[13] Rémusat on Anselm and Cousin on Abelard long ago smoothed the way as far as these two masters are concerned, and Dean Church on Anselm is also something of a classic. But I know no other recent monograph of any importance by an Englishman on Scholasticism except Mr R.L. Poole's Erigena. Indeed the "Erin-born" has not had the ill-luck of his country, for with the Migne edition accessible to everybody, he is in much better case than most of his followers two, three, and four centuries later.
[14] The Amalricans, as the followers of Amaury de Bène were termed, were not only condemned by the Lateran Council of 1215, but sharply persecuted; and we know nothing of the doctrines of Amaury, David, and the other northern Averroists or Pantheists, except from later and hostile notices.
[15] I prefer, as more logical, the plural form chansons de gestes, and have so written it in my Short History of French Literature (Oxford, 4th ed., 1892), to which I may not improperly refer the reader on the general subject. But of late years the fashion of dropping the s has prevailed, and, therefore, in a book meant for general reading, I follow it here. Those who prefer native authorities will find a recent and excellent one on the whole subject of French literature in M. Lanson, Histoire de la Littérature Française, Paris, 1895. For the mediæval period generally M. Gaston Paris, La Littérature Française au Moyen Age (Paris, 1888), speaks with unapproached competence; and, still narrowing the range, the subject of the present chapter has been dealt with by M. Léon Gautier, Les Epopées Françaises (Paris, 4 vols., 1878-92), in a manner equally learned and loving. M. Gautier has also been intrusted with the section on the Chansons in the new and splendidly illustrated collection of monographs (Paris: Colin) which M. Petit de Julleville is editing under the title Histoire de la Langue et de la Littérature Française. Mr Paget Toynbee's Specimens of Old French (Oxford, 1892) will illustrate this and the following chapters.