r^^w?
9& •<
'^m%
|
- |
||
|
LIBRARY |
||
|
OF tHE |
||
|
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. |
||
|
- |
Class |
|
|
\ i |
a.
PALAESTRA.
Untersuchungen und Texte aus der deutschen und englischen Philologie.
Herausgegeben
Alois Brandl und Erich Schmidt
XXIII.
The Constance Saga. By A. B. Goiigh.
BERLIN.
MAYER X, MULL.ER.
1902.
PALAESTRA XXIII.
The Constance Saga.
By
A. B. Gough.
BERLIN.
MAYER & mOlLER.
1902.
Contents.
P*ge
Introduction 1
Part I. Mutual Relations of the Literary Tersions 2
List of Literary Versions 2
Cognate folk-tales 6
The primitive tale 9
Classification of versions 12
Table of versions 13
Part II. Relation to History 34
1. The Northumbrian Saga of ^lla and Eadwine ... 34
2. Constantino II, king of Scots and Anlaf Cnaran of
Northumbria 46
3. The Thrytho saga, and Offa and Cynethryth of Mercia 53
(a) The Lives of the two Offas 53
(b) Cynethryth Queen of Mercia in History ... 59
(c) The Thrytho saga in Beoumlf 73
Appendix. La filla del emperador Contasti 83
Corrigenda. P. 11, 1. 8, for Harpin read Herpin. P. 18, n. 1, strike out 'which .... hands.'
The Constance Saga.
The name 'Constance saga' has been given by Prof. Suchier to a story which was very popular throughout Europe in the Middle Ages. It tells of an innocent maiden, who is banished l)y an unnatural father, or flees from him, and reaches a foreign land, where she marries a prince. Dur- ing her husband's a])sence she is falsely accused of bear- ing a monstrous offspring, and is banished with her child, or children. Ultimately she rejoins her husband, and in many versions her father also. The saga has been named after the heroines of on(> of the most important versions, that in Nicholas Trivet's French Chronicle. For two reasons the saga is of pc^-culiar interest. P^irstly, it is spread all over Europe, not only in mdrchen, but also in literary versions, which date from the 12 th century to the 19 th. Secondly, it has l)eon repeatedly associated with English historical traditions. The following pages deal with these two aspects of the saga. In Part I the sources and nuitual relations of the extant literary versions are investigated, and Part II deals with the relations of the saga to history. The inquiry was suggested by, and is largely based upon, two valuable writings of Prof. Suchier, viz. his article ' Uher die Sage von Offa und ^ry'6o\ in Paul and Braune's Beitrdge, IV, Halle 1877, pp. 500—521, and his edition of the poetical works of Beaumanoir (Soc. des anciens textes fran^-ais, 18). Paris 1884. I, pp. XXIII— XCVI, CLIX f. Other writings will be noticed in the following list of versions, and as occasion offers. I am greatly indebted to Prof. Sarrazin for kind advice and assistance^ during the preparation of this paper, which in its original shape formed the ^econd
Palaestra XXm. 1
— 2
part of my inaii^iral dissertation '), but as it has since been considerably altered I cannot claim his sanction for the views expressed. My thanks are also due to Miss M. R. Cox and N. W. Thomas Esq. for information with which they have kindly supplied me. I have thought it best to leave the difficult question of the alleged mythological significance of the saga to those better qualified than myself to form an opinion.^)
I. The Mutual Relations of the Literary Versions.
The following list of versions is derived in the main from that given by Suchier in his edition of Beaumanoir (I, pp. XXV -Lin, CLIX), where fuller bibliographical notices of them will be Ibund. In the account of their contents which follows (p. 9 ff.), my information is chic^fly derived from the texts themselves, or in three cases where they were not accessible, from secondary and derived vers- ions (HC, 01), or from an exhaustive analysis (Ml). Co, which I have unfortunately not examiiied, and Fa, which is not important, have been neglected. V Ofl Part of the Vita Offoe Primi, one of two Latin
prose lives by an unknow^i monk of St Albans, probably of the 12tli cent. Formerly attributed to Matt. Paris. The part containing the tale is printed, with an analysis, by Brock and Furnivall for the Chaucer Society in Originals
1) Some further remarks on the Constance sag-.i will be found in the first part: A. Gough, On the Middle iLnglish Metrical Bomauce of Kmare, inaug. diss., Kiel 1900.
2) Cf. the books referred to by Suchier in Paul & Ri'aune IV, p. 514, and in Beaum. I, p. LXXIX; also H. C. Coote on Catskin in The Folk-Lwe Record vol. Ill, 1880, Part I, p. 1 ff.; Miss M. R. Cox, Cinderella, passim, especially the part on Catsldn\ Grimm, Deutsche Mythologies ed. 4, I. pp. 363—358, Deutsche Sagev, 49, 304, Kinder- u. Jlaus-mcirchen, nos. 11,49; Kuhn & Schwartz, Norddeutsvhe Sag<n 115, 161; Schwartz, De fabula Danaeica; W. Miiller, Mi/tholngie dcr deutschen Heldensage, 1886, p. 188; Mogk in Paul's Grmidriss, ed. 1898, III, pp. 269 ff., 278 ff.
— 3 —
and Analogues of some of Chaucer's Canterbury Talcs, 2ntl series VII, Part I, 1872, pp. 73—84.
il/ It Mai und Beaflor. Gorman poem in the Austrian- Bavarian dialect, written l)y a layman, possibly Pleier, 1256—1263, probably 1257—1259 (Wachter, pp. 76, 57). The author professes to be illiterate, and says he heard the story from a knight, who had read it in a pros(^ chronicle (col. 3. 11. 10—16). Ed. anon, by F. Pfeiffer, in Dichtungcn des deutschen Mittelalters, VII, Leipzig 1848. Of. 0. Wachter, Untersuchungen i'lher . . M. u. B.. inaug. diss., Jena 1889.
nC La hclle Hclene de Constantinople. French rom- ance in alexandrines, of the 13th (Suchier, Beaum. I, p. XXVIl) or early 14th cent. (G. Paris, lAti. franc, ou moycn age, ed. 2, p. 254). No edition or analysis appears to have l)een printed. Numerous prose versions exist as ehapbooks in French, German, Dutch Ac. There is a prose French version by Wauquelin. For analyses see Suchier, Beaum. p. XXVIII.
Mk La Manehine. N. French metrical romance by Phil, de R(^mi, siro do Bejiumanoir. c. 1270. Ed. Suchier, in (Eurrcs poetiques de . . . Bcaumanoir (Soc. des anc. textes fr., 18) Paris 1884, tome I. Incorporated in the 14th cent. chanson de geste, Herpin de Bourges (Suchier, Beaum. I, pp. IjXXXI— LXXXIV): dramatised in Miracles de Nostre Dame par personnages. No. 29, between 1345 and 1380 (Ed. G. Paris & Robert, 1880, V. Cf. Suchier, Beaum. I, pp. LXXXIV — XC); told in prose by Wauquelin (Suchier, Beaiim. I, pp. 267—366).
En A story in the riming Universal Chronicle (Tfe?^&i<c/i) of Jan Enikel or Enenkel 11. 26,677—27,356, written at Vienna 1277 — 1300. Ed. Von der Hagen, Gesammtahenteuef)\ II, pp. 593—613, notes III, pp. CLIV— CLXH; also Strauch in Man. Germ. Hist. vern. ling. Ill, part 1, pp. 520—532.
Kll A prose variant of En, also in the Austrian dialect, entitled ^Der Kilnic ze Riuzen\ printed in the intro- duction to Pfeiffer's MB, p. IX. According to Suchier
1*
\
\
{Beaum. I, p. XXXVI) tlio source of En: Strauch rovci'sos the relation. As it agrees closely with En it is generally disregarded in the following inquiry.
Jdl La Comtesse d^Anjou. French dit l)y Jehan Maillart, (formerly called mistakenly Alarf, and Pesehotte. Cf. P. & G. Paris, op. infr. cit. p. 320) 1316. Apparently unprinted, l)ut cf. Suchier, Beaum. I, p. XXXVII. Fully analysed by P. & a. Paris in Hist. Utt de la France XXXI. pp. 318— 350. Cf. Romania XIX, p. 106 ff.
Tr The Life of Constance in the Anglo-French Chron- icle written 1334 — 47 l)y Nic. Trivet, an EngUsh Dominican. Ed. E. Brock for the Chaucer Soc, in Originals and Ana- logues of some of Chaucer^s Canterbury Tales, series 2, Xo.Vn, Pt. 1, 1872, pp. Ill— 53. Followed by Chaucer in the poem afterwards inserted by him in the Cant. Tales, as The Man of Lawes Tale, and by Gower, c. 1390, in Confessio Amantis., II, 38. Cf. E. Liicke, Das Leben der Constanze hei Trivet, Ooiver u. Chaucer, inaug. diss., Halle 1891.
Em Emare. Metrical romance, written in the 14^^^ cent, in the N. E. Midland of England. Ed. Ritson. Ancient Engleish Metrical Eomancees [sic], 1802, II, pp. 204—247. notes &c. Ill, pp. 222, 323—333, 440, 443. Also edited by myself in Morsbach and Holthausen's Old and Middle English Texts, vol. 2, Heidelberg 1901. Cf. my inaug. diss., Emare, Kiel 1900.
Ys A Latin prose tale, entitled 'Ystoria Regis Fr an- chor um et filie in quam adulterium co7nmittere voluiV, in- serted in an 0. T. conmientary in a volume probably of Italian origin (it contains comments on Dante's Div, Corii.) written 1370. Paris, Bibl. Nat., mss. latins no. 8701. pi). 142—147.
Fee The novella of Dionigia in Ser Giovanni Fioren- tino's II Pecorone, giorn. X, no. 1, 1378.
Da Novella della figlia del Re di Bacia, Italian prose, 14th cent. Cf. D*Ancona, Sa. Uliva, p. 236. Ed. Wesselofsky,
— 5 —
Pisa [pub. Xistri, 1866]. with an inquiry into the history of tlie saga.
IJu Historia del Bey de Hungria. Catahm prose, end of 14^^ cent. Ed. P. de Bofarull y Mascaro, Coleccion de docu- mentos Inr'ditos del archivo general de la corona de Aragon, Tomo 13, Documenfos literarios en antigua Icngua catalana, Barcelona 1857. pp. 53 — 79.
Ol Historia de la Regina Oliva. Italian romance in ottava rima. Two main versions exist, the elder c. 1400. For MSS. and editions see Suchier, Beaum. I, p. XLVI f. P^olowed by an early Italian drama, Tm Bappresentanone di Santa Uliva, ed. with an introduction by D'Ancona, Sacre BappresentaHoni, Firenze 1872, tom. Ill, pp. 235-315. Tin's is the first of a series of Italian dramas on the subject, extending into the 19t^i century (Stichier, Beaum. I, p. XCVl ).
Jill Vie Konigstochter von Franhreich. German metrical romance, wi^itt£iL-1400 (not 1401) by Hans von Biihel or 'der Bliheh'r, an il1iter^.t£. and probably knightly, native of Alsace, Imt resident near Bonn. The last chapter is a late addition. Ed. with introduction by Merzdorf, Olden- burg 1867. Cf. Strobl in Pfi^iffer* s Germania XII, pp. 109— 114, F. SeeKg in Strassh. Studien III, p. 295.
n Fragmentary story in the Vitorial, a Spanish prose chronicle by Gutiei're Diez de Games, c. 1440. Ed. L. Lemcke. ]\larburg 1865, p. 20. French trl. by De Circourt and Do Puymaigre, LeVictorial, chronique . . . par G.D.de Oamez &c., Paris 1867, livre II, chap. 26, p. 258 ff.
Fa De origine inter Gallos et Britannos belli historia. Latin prose by Bartol. Fazio, before 1457. Compiled from Da, 01, f* (see below) &c. Ed. Canuisat, Bihl, Ciaconii, Paris 1731. col. 884. (Not seen.)
VM A short prose legend, no. XI in the Venetian collection called Miraciili de la glonosa verzene Maria, Vicenza 1475. For Greek and Russian versions see Suchier, Beaum. I, p. L f. Dramatised in the 15th cent., as La Bappresentazionc di Stella, ed. D'Ancona, Sacre Bappr,, P'irenze 1872. tom. Ill, p. 319 ff.
— 6 —
Pen La Pcnta manomozza. Novella in the Neapolitan (liiiloct, written before 1637 by Gianib. Basile in 11 Pent- amcronc, giorn. 3, nov. 2 (= no. 22).
Co Istoria de la filla del emperador Co7itasti, qui fo lo primer emperador de Roma, la qiial lo pare pe)' mala iniqaitat, con no U volch consefntir que jagues ah ella la mana ociura a dos scudes, los quals 7io la volguei^en odure et materen la en una nau e puys fou midler delBcy Desxmnya. Catalan prose tale in a unique JVIS. from the Bibl. Colonib. in Seville, now in Paris, Bibl. Nat., fonds c^spag-nol, no. 475. (Not seen.) Cf. [H. Harrisse] Grandeur et decadence de la Colomhine, ed. 2, Paris 1885. Suchier, Beaum. I, p. CLIX f.
While endeavouring to determine the ])rimitive form of the saga, we must not neglect the numerous folk-tales, scattered over nearly the whole of Europe, which contain the same story in varying forms. Most of these are probably unaffected by the literary versions, (som(3 im- portant exceptions will be noted below, p. 9. n. 1.) and reach back to a remote antiquity. I have neither the qualifications nor the space to discuss these folk-tales fully, and nuist content myself with a few ])rief remarks, based upon Suchier's account of them (Beaumanoir, I, pp. LVIII- LXXII). I follow his notation. The 42 tales, collected in part by K. Kohler, occur in the following languages.
a Gaelic, W. Highlands.
b German, Harz.
c „ Hesse.
d
e „ Mecklenburg.
f „ Silesia.
g „ Baden.
h „ Tyrol.
i French, Normandy.
j „ Brittany.
k French, Brittany
1 1^ M
|
m |
?5 |
11 |
|
|
n |
Gascon, |
Gers. |
|
|
0 |
Catalan |
||
|
P |
Italian^ |
Tyrol. |
|
|
q |
V |
Tuscany, |
Pistoja |
|
r |
11 |
11 |
n |
|
s |
11 |
11 |
?7 |
|
t |
11 |
w |
„ |
u Italian, Tuscany, Pisa.
V „ „ Arezzo.
w „ „ Spoleto.
X „ Sicity.
y Rhmto-Romanic^ Grisons.
z Roumayiian, Transylvania.
a Lithuanian.
^ Russian, Grodno.
7 „ Orel.
d
f Russian, Eiazan. T) Serb, Bosnia.
t Greek, Zante. y, Finnish,
fi Tatar.
V „ Kirghiz.
I „ Tol)olsk.
0 Arabic. (1001 Nights^).)
jt Swaheli, Zanzibar.
Omitting certain imperfect forms, f, u, v, t,v, jr, Suchier (p. LXVIII f.) classifies the folk-tales as follows.
A* The father wishes to marry the daughter, c, z.
A 2 He tries to prevent her from praying, e, s, from giving ahns |, (o).
A^ He sells her to the devil, d, g, m, o, y.
A^ The step-mother accuses her to the father (combin- ation with B*), a, n, t.
B* The step-mother persecutes her, 1, w, i>.
B- The mother (who keeps an inn-), except in i, ?;) per- secutes her, b, h, i, p, q, r, x, rj (r is combined with A»).
C* The brother wishes to marry the sister, Pen.
C- The sister-in-law^') accuses her to the brother, a, A, //,, to the husband, ^.
C •' The sister-in-law commits three crimes, to inculpate the heroine, j, k, 7, 6, e, §, x.
B* und C\ according to Suchier, are variants of the primitive type A', and these three are the the starting- points of the others. The Constance saga follows A', which was therefore in existence in the 12*^ century (Of 1),
*) A late interpolation.
2) So the step-mother in w (B^).
^) The step-mother in «, "by a comhination with R^
— 8 —
but we find amons: the literary versions two divergent types, VM which agrees with B*, and Pcm, which in the sole known representative of C. In B the introduction of the wicked step-mother is due to the inthience of a tale of the Sneewitfchen type, and similarly C^ and C'' have b(?en affected by the Slavonic mdrchen of The Sisters-in-law.
The local distrilmtion of the types supports Suchier's view. In seeking for the original locality of A we may disregard the composite group A-*. There remain four Oerman versions, c, d, e, g, and two, y, z, from the borders of German districts; two, o, s, from S. Europe, one, m, from Brittany, and an Oriental sub-group ^, o. The versions of the most primitive type A*, c and z, are located in the vicinity of alleged Saxon populations*) (Zwehren near Cassel, andBroos,comitatHunyad, Transylvania). In several respects these two versions agree closely with the Constance saga, which is undoubtedly of Anglian origin. It may therefore l)e considered certain that A, the primitive form of the story, belongs to the Teutonic race, and probably to the X. Germans.
Of the eleven forms of B, five, p, q, r, w, x, are Italian, one, h, is on the Italian ])order, two, /;, i?", are not remote) from Italy, two, i, 1, are N. French, and one, b, is N. German. B agrees with the X. Italian V]\I, and may without hesitation be assigned to Italy. .
C is confined within definite limits. C'^ may be traced to the E. shores of the Baltic (a, /9, A). One version, fi, is Tatar. C, a later development 2), is Russian (7, d, e, f), and Finnish (x).
^) The same may he said of e, and of a variant of ]^, viz. b. l*ossibly the purity with which the tradition has been maintained in z is due to the isolation of the Transylvanian Germans, who, it siiould be added, are perliaps more Low-Frankisli than Saxon.
'^) Two versions of this type, j, k, have strayed into Brittany, whither, as Suchior remarks (p. LXIX) tliey may have been brought by sailors or soldiers. It is noteworthy that the majority of the tales which have strayed far from their centres are found on or near the coast, viz. a, i, j, k, 1, m, o, «, 7t.
— 9 —
It is quite what might be expected that the German A is the source of the Italian B on the one hand, and of the Baltic and Russian C on the other. The prinutive Teutonic folk-tale A ma}^ be partially reconstructed by a comparison of the variants*).
A.
1. A father desires to marry Ids dau^iihter (A) c, z.
2. She refuses, and her hands are cut off as a punish-
ment A, B, C.
3. 8he flees to a forest A, B, C.
4. A king finds her in a hollow tree or cave (A) m,
0, (g, y); (B) p, r?, (1); (C) k, d, e, (j); also jr.
5. The king marries her A, B, C.
6. He goes away to the wars A, B, C.
*) raution is necessary here, for some of the miirchcn have certainly been affected by literary versions. Of the latter, perhaps only HC, Mk, VM and 01 ever became widely poi)ular. In the Tuscan mdrchen (q— w) are several close parallels to the popular Italian dramas based on VM and Ol. Thus with 01 may be compared the two sea vo^-ages in r, the exposure on the second occasion in a chest in r, t, u, the incestuous demand in r, v, the sending to the father of the heroine's hands in a plate, and her name Oliua in v; and again with Stella (form of VM) the marriage with the son of the King of France in r, the double crime of tlie step-mother in w, and her accusation of the heroine before the father in t (it also occurs in a and n).
The burning or burying of wax dolls as substitutes in the Tuscan r, s, t, may be compared with similar incidenls in the cliapbooks derived from HC and Mk. In the lireton 1 tiie burying of a log recals the burning of a log in the French Mk. The feed- ing by animals (e,) j, k, 1, m, o, chiefly found in French marchen, and the taking of an animal's heart and eyes to the mother-in-law as proof of the heroine's death, c, f, h, i, p, q, r, w, ,w, are probably borrowed from other folk-tales (Suchier, p. I^XXI f.). The latter incident belongs mainly to B. The episode of the garden where the heroine plucks fruit with her mouth is confined almost en- tirely to the Russian and German versions, and is, as Suchier ob- .serves (p. LXVI f.), an evident addition.
-— 10 —
7. During his absence the heroine bears a son^) (A)
c, z, 0, d, (n); (B) b, x; (C) a, /9, A, /i, y, d, e, ?, x; also v^ Jt.
8. The wicked mother-in-law A, B, forges two letters,
the first to the king, calumniating his wife, the second as if from the king, ordering her punish- ment A, B, C.
9. She and her child are banished A, B, C.
10. They cross the water. ^) (?)
11. The heroine gains new hands during her second
exile A, B, C.
12. The miracle is caused by her dipping hei' arms in
a fountain A, B, G.
13. Her new hands are of gold^) or silver (A) c; (B)
w, t^, h.
14. She meets her husband A, B, C.
15. The king's reunion with his family is effected through
his noticing the behaviour of his child (children).
16. He does not at lirst recognize his wife, because
she has hands (A) c, 5?, s, g; (B) 1, p; (C) j^, j.
If we now turn to the literary versions of the Con- stance saga, and attempt to separate th(^ primitive elements of the story from later acci'etions and altei'ations, we shall
^) In B there are two children. Where there are two in A and 0, the mdrchen appear to have heen affected hy the neighbour- hood of B (s, g, j, k, m, y) or to be mixed with other tales (e, o).
2) So h, t] {?), X, p\ on. the forlner flight in c. In h, y, she takes refuge during her second exile in a house in the middle of a lake, and in x her second exposure is in an iron cask (much as in MB, En, 01, Pen). In the Tuscan r, t, u, the voyage in a chest may be borrowed from 01. But it is among races so remote and un- touched by literary influences as the Kirghiz (*'), Carelians (x) and Bosnians (<?), that an incident, elsewhere lost, may easily sur- vive. A mythical significance has been ascribed by W. Miiller (in Germania 1,435 ff.) to the voyage and confinement in a box. Among inland populations a voyage would naturally be altered to a land journey.
8) Her son (sons) receives golden ii.inds (P>) ^ />; ((') ;', *h f, s.
— 11 —
find that the original type, which we may call a*, corre- sponds very closely with this primitive form A of the mdrchen. The following incidents in A are however absent from a* or nearly so. ,4. Scarcely a trace.
12. Only in Mk, which apparently borrows it from a
marchen. Of. Suchier, p. LXVII.
13. Only in Harpin de Bourges (a form of Mk). It is
very doubtful whether 13 belongs to the original A, although a mythical significance has been attributed to it by Wesselofsky (Re di Dacia). It is chietly found among the Slavs (7, ^, e, f, ?/, d),
15. A somewhat similar incident is found in the liter-
ary group ^* (below, nos. 64—68) where it seems to be borrowed from another saga.
16. Only in Hu and 01, which probably borrow it from
mdrchen.
The remaining incidents probably all belong to o*. As will be seen later (p. 16) a* falls into two groups, /?* and 7*. Some of the incidents are confined to one or other of these two groups. Thus the hands are cut off as a punishment (2), and the lady is found by a king hunting in a forest (3), only iui^*.') It is only in 7* that the heroine has only one son (7), that the traitress is the mother-in-law (8), that there are two forged letters (8), and that the lady and her infant cross the sea (10). In spite of this, the presence of these incidents in numerous mdrchen versions makes it highly probable that they belonged to the primitive saga a*, and were omitted or changed in ^ and 7* respectively.
The mutilation of the heroine presents some difficulties. In 7* she voluntarily cuts off her own hands before her first fiight. In 1^* (Of 1, VM, HC) the nmtilation is a punishment, but in two cases (Of 1, HC) out of three, it occurs before the second exile. In both these versions however there
») (2) in Of 1, VM, HC, (3) in Of 1, HC. She is found in a forest hy her future husband in VM, who in the variant Stella is hunting.
— 12 —
are traces of an original mutilation ])efore the first exile. In Ofl the father orders his daughter to he slain and thro^vn to the beasts, hut his servants let her go 'due fnicidatioiie et mcmhrorum mutilatione\ She is also spared on the second occasion, but her childrc^n are cut to piec(^s. In HC she says she will rather cut off her hnibs than obey her father, and seizes a knife to kill herself. I believe that VM, Avhich follows 2, has pri^servcd the original trad- ition, agreeing herein with nearly all the mdrchen. (Cf. Suchier, Beaum. pp. LYI, LXX.) The miracle by which the heroine gains new hands (11) is placed in the second exile in Of 1, HC, Hu, VM, as in the mdrchen^ and doubtless in accordance with the primitive tale; but in Da, 01, Vi, it is before the marriage, and in ]\lk, P(>n at the end.
The primitive form of the Constance saga appears to have contained the following incidents.
1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 14.
17. The heroine takes treasure or rich robes with her on
her first fUght Ofl, MB, HC, En, Ml, Tr, Em, Vi.
18. She marries a king in England Ofl, HC, Mk, Tr,
Pec, Bu, Vi.
19. He fights the Scots ^ Ofl, Tr, Bu (HC, Pec).
20. A stranger protects the mother and her offspring
(passim).
') In HC (as in other versions, no. 74) tlio war on tliis occas- ion is with the Saracens. In Wanqiielin's prose version of HC llioro is a war on a subsequent occasion with a Scottisli king, but in the other prose versions of HC, this king is besieged in Nar- bonne. As neither the text of the poem, nor, so far as 1 know, any analysis of it, has been published, I cannot say whether HC contains tlie Scottish war or not. In Mk the husband is king of Scotland, i. e. Xorthumbria, for York is in his dominions. Ireland is also in liis i)ossession. In Bii the Irish combine with the Scots to invade lOngland. In Tec an island rebels against (ho king of England.
Oi*
rORMS OF THE COhSTANCE SAGA
/9*
£ra^ju ^edon 'M/n/th ^^a^..
VM
Tentcey, f4y5
^ 0^//^/^A //S4-I205.
rna/
/SI2. ^f554'4y. y(^/y^,t/L%'^"''^^'
1]*
Ujott lZ5d,
Vnif, Sf^m /3fX c ^/39J^ ^
, Em
mftnm/ rcmamn
fiodfical wma^iU,
Pen ■tefort fto^J,
C
cArcntric, Sf-fort /259
Da 'c/4^6.
■c /2yd.
YS PEC
Oyo, 'I5y?.
noo.
MB
!25y-9.
c.l2yy-l500.
— 14 —
21. The husband on his return discovers the treachery,
and burns the traitor Ml, Bu, VM, 01, Pen (Em, Ys, Hu, sentence connnuted).
22. The heroine is reconciled to her repentant father.
(Exc. Ofl, Ml, Ys, Hu.)
So much may be attributed to the original of the literary versions, with the possible exception of 19.
a* is a variant of the Teutonic A, localised in England. If, as is argued below (Part II), its two variants ^* and y* have assumed the form of sagas of Offa of Mercia, and ^lla of Northumbria respectively, it is clear that a* was current among the Angles at a very early date. The con- nection with the Scots (19) may have arisen independently in /9* and 7*. or on the other hand the saga of .^Ua (7*), wliicli points back to that very early period in the history of the Angles, the end of the Q^^ century, when they first came in contact with the Scottish power, may have been ahT-ady embodied in a*. (See Part 11.)
Wo may now proceed to the classification of the literary versions, all of which are variants of a*. In the follawiiig pages the Greek letters ') are usedi, to repi\>sent^ tirstlx-_the groups of existing versions, and secondly the hypothetical sources of these groups. The results of the (MiquTryTembod^ be regarded
as approximate rather than definitive. Some of the details doubtless require modification, but the main outUnes of the scheme appear to be established.
\ Suchier {Beaumanoir I, pp. XXIV, XXV) has shown that there are two main types. "Les versions de ce conte se divisent en deux types que j'appelle celui de rermite et celui du senateur. Dans celles du premier type I'li^ro'ine a deux fils; deux fois elle est conduite dans la foret; la
*) The asterisks distinguish these lettei's from those on p. 7 IT., and indicate the liypothetical existence of the versions they re- present. They should have been added in my inausr. diss., pp. 21, 22, and in my edition of Emare, p. VIII.
secondo fois olle est recueillie par uii eriuito, et c'est chez lui qu'a la fin elle est retrouvee par son mari. Dans celles dp Taiitre type elle n'a qu'un fils: deux fois elle est al)an- donnee a la mer; la seconde fois elle parvient a Rome, oil elle trouve un refuge chez un senateur, chez lequel elle est retrouvee par son mari.
"Ces deux traditions, qui primitivement n'en font qu une, ont existe a cote Fune de Fautre dans I'Angleterre septen- trionale avant la fin du douzi^me si6cle. Plus tard on trouve des versions mixtes ou elles se sont plus ou moins confondues. On pent cependant distinguer les deux types encore apr6s des si^cles/'
Further, on pp. LIV, LV, '"11 n'y a que deux represent- ants purs du type de rermite: Offa [Of 1] et le Miracolo [VM]. Co type prevaut aussi dans Hc'lene [H(J] (le roi la trouve t\ la chasse; elle a deux fils eleves chez un ermite), oil Ton constate pourtant une fusion avec des traits qui apparti(Minent au type du senat(nir. Le caractere mixte est encore plus marque dans Tliistoire iVOliva [01] (pii est exposee deux fois dans hi foret et d(Uix fois sur la mer. L' Ystoria regis Franchorum [Ys] et le coiite de Basile [Pen] sont aussi des versions mixtes: riieroine de celle-la s'en- fuit la premiere fois par terre, la seconde fois par mer, et Penta le fait vice veisa. Cela nous fait supposer que dans la fin Y Ystoria suit le type du senateur et Penta le type de rermite. Cette supposition est confirme par plu- sieurs traits que j'ai deja signales. Dans V Ystoria ce sont les deux fils dont elle accouche, Tahsence du mari motivee par une fete a la cour de son heau-pere et le manque du premier changement de lettres qui rattachent cette version au type de rermite. Dans Pe^ita c'est, outre la fin, le role de Nuccia qui rappelle ce meme type; mais le commence- ment, Texposition par mer et Taccouchement d'un seul enfant sont de Tautre."
The above remarks provide a basis for classification. ')
1) Since writing this paper I have read Coimt T. de Puy
— IG —
Two versions, Fa and (Jo, are omitted from tlie followin^^ scheme. Of Co I know nothing more than the title. Fa is a 15tii century compilation from several versions (Suchier, Beaum. I, p. Xl.VITI f.).
Suchier recognizes 01, Pen, HC and Ys as mixed. As I shall attempt to show, Ys belongs to a group f *, con- sisting of Ys, Pec, and Bu, and derived from a form of HC. We have therefore two variants of the primitive type a*, viz. /?* followed by Of 1 and VM, and 7* followed ])y MB, Mk, En, Ml, Tr, Da, Em, Hu, Vi; while HC, Ys, Pec, Bu, 01 and Pen form a mixed group.
^* Of 1, VM, (HC, Ys, Pec, Bu, 01, Pen).
23. Tlie King is hunting when he finds tlie lady Ofl,
VM, HC, 01.
24. He entrusts her to his servants Ofl, VM.
25. Two children are born Of 1, V]\l, HC, Ys, Pec.
26. The traitor is not the mother-in-law') (8) Ofl (father).
VM (step-mother), Pen.
27. The first forged letter is omitted Of l,VM,Ys, + Hu.
28. The second journey is by land Ofl, V]\l, Pen; by
land and sea HC (Pec, Bu).
29. Mutilation is ordered at the second banishment
Ofl, HC.
30. The protector (20) is a hermit Ofl, VM, HC.
maigre's article, La Fille aux mains coupees, in Revue de VHisioire dc8 Religions, Paris, 1884, X, pj). 193—209. He only mentions some of the versions, which he divides into three classes, viz. I, the story in its complete form (= e* with tV*) Vi, Da, Hu, Ol, Pen; IT, omitting the cutting off of the heroine's hands (= J*) HC, Ml, Fa; III, omitting the incestuous desire, VM. As far as it goes, this classification is quite consistent with my own. An account of several marchen and variants of 01 and VM will be found in the paper. De Puymaigre (p. 207 f.) rejects Wesselofsky's tlieory of a nature myth.
1) In Ml (;■*) the husband's aunt.
— 17 —
The relation of this tji^e to histoiy, and to the saga of Offa and Tlnytho is discussed below.
Of 1 may be one of the sources of the mixed version HO, as there appears to be nothing characteristic of ^* in the latter which is not also found in Of 1.
Of 1, if a source of YM, is not the sole source, as the nmtilation (2) and the burning of the traitor (21) are absent from the former.
MB, Mk, En, Ml, Tr, Da, Em, Hu. Vi, (HC, Ys, Pec, Bu,
01, Pen).
31. The mutilation is voluntary') Mk, En, Da, Hu, W,
(HC), 01, Pen.
32. The first flight is by sea-), and not in a forest MI5.
Mk, En, Tr, Em, Hu, Yi, Bu, Pen; by land and sea HC, Pec, 01.
33. The vessel drifts without oars i^c. Tr, Em, Hu, II C,
Bu, ]\IB, Mk. En, 01, Pen.
34. The heroine travels with a companion MB, Ml, Da,
HC, 01.
35. She lives awhile in the country where she lands,
before the king finds her Ml, Tr, Da, Em, HC, Ys, Pec, Bu.
36. She becomes a servant Ml, Tr, Da, Em, Y^s, Bu, 01,
Pen.
37. She conceals her origin ]\IB, Mk, En, Ml, Tr, Da,
Em, Hu, HC, Ys, Bu. 3S. The king's mother retires in anger to her castle Em,
Hu, HC, Pec, MB, Mk, En. 30. The first forged letter announces the birth of a
monster MB, Mk, En, Ml, Tr, Da, Em, Yi, Bu, 01,
Pen; two monsters HC, Pec.
^) In the other forms of y* (viz. J"*), it is absent (no. 46). .. 2) By land in Ml, Da, which are localised respectively in central France, and in Germany and Italy.
Palaestra XXUI. '-^
— 18 —
40. One or more substitutes are burnt instead of tlie
mother and offspring Mk, Da, HC, Bu, 01.
41. The king besieges his mother Ml, Vi, Bu, 01.
There are two types of y*. One, (5*, is followed by Ml, Tr, Em, (HC, Ys, Pec, Bu), the other, €*, is followed by Da, Hu, Vi. A mixed group, which in the main follows d*, is formed by MB, Mk, En, 01, Pen. The most important distinguishing features of 6* are 42, 45, 46, 57, 59, 61, 66, 74.
(3* is an Anglo-Frencli version, probably of the 12th century (p. 23), of an EngHsh saga of ^]lla and Eadwine. This saga must have arisen in Anglo-Saxon times, say before 800 A. D. As e* cannot be traced back further than the middle of the ISth century, and yet, as the above table sliows, resembles (5* in some important particulars. \\: may be fairly assumed that 7*, their common original, was a form of the .^Ua sasra.
(5*
Ml, Tr, Em, (HC, Ys, Pec, Bu,) (MB, Mk, En, 01, Pen). ^^42. The father is an Emperor Em, MB, of Constantinople
Tr, HC. v'43. The name Constantine occurs, as that of the heroine's
father') Tr, son En-), fathers successor HC.
44. Her father entrusts her to a governess Ml, Em, HC,
MB, Mk.
45. The Pope sanctions the incestuous marriage (Tr"*),
Em, HC, Mk, En, 01.
46. There is no mutilation, except in the mixed versions
HC, Mk, (MB, En'*), 01, Pen.
47. The governess advises flight Ml, HC, MB, Mk.
48. The heroine wears a rich (magic) robe Em, HC, MB,
En, so that people are dazzled at her splendour Em, MB, Bu.
*) So in Co, wWeh-^perttaps a^ees- wilh^*, as the heroitte loses her hcands-. (>av<^.- '^ - -.v
2) In the prose version KR alone.
3) Marriage with the Sultan, witli a view to liis conversion.
4) She cuts off her hair,
-- 19 —
49. She lands on the coast of Northumbria Tr, HC, Mk. ^0. She is found by the king's seneschal Ml, Tr, Em, Mk.
51. She works with her needle Ml, Em, Ys, Bu, 01, Pen.
(Cf. 46.)
52. The seneschal entertains the king (Ml,) Em, Bu.
53. At first the heroine declines the king's offer Ys, Pec,
Bu, MB, Mk, En. %4. The heroine is accused of witchcraft Tr, Em, Bu,
MB, En. •^5. She asks the servants who have received the second
forged letter why they weep Tr, Em, Bu, MB,
Mk, En. fee. She excuses her husband Tr, Em, Bu, MB, Mk, (En). t^7. The second journey is in two stages Ml, Tr, HC,
Pec, Bu, 01. 58. She wanders as a pilgrim or beggar Ml, HC, Bu
(on the former occasion Pec). ^59. She comes to Pome Tr, Em, (HC,) Ys, Pec. Bu, MB,
Mk, En. W. She is found by a Roman Bu, En, senator Tr, MB,
Mk, merchant Em.
61. Her protector (20) adopts her son Tr, Em, HC, Ys,
(Pec,) Bu, MB, Mk, En.
62. The son's education is described Ctr,) Em, Pec,
Bu, MB.
63. The husband lodges at Pome in the house where
his wife is Tr, Em, Ys, MB, Mk. ^64. A banquet is held Ml, Tr, Em, HC, Ys, Bu, MB,
Mk, En. ^65. The mother instructs her son how to act before his
father Tr, Em, Bu, (MB,) 01, Pen. 66. The child, unknown to his father, serves him at
table Tr, Em, (Ys,) Bu, MB, Mk, En. ^67. The company are charmed with the child Tr"^ Em,
HC, Pec, Bu, MB, Mk, 01, Pen. ^ 68. His father asks the host, 'Is this your son?' Tr, Em,
(Bu,) Mk, 01, Pen. (Cf. 61.)
2:i:
— 20 —
69. Tlie heroine's father comes to Rome to do penance \]^ (Tr,) Em, HC, Bu, MB, Mk, En.
70. His grandson rides to meet him T^, Em, HC, Bu, MB. Wl. He abdicates Ti*^ HC, MB, Mk.
72. He becomes a hermit HC, MB. ,
^ 73. His grandson succeeds to the empire Tr, Em, HC, (Bu), his son-in-law Ml, MB, Mk.
74. The Saracens are mentioned Tr, Em, HC, Pec, MB, En (in France Em, HC, MB, at Rome HC, Pec, in Greece En, in the^East Tr^ HC, Pec).
Of the twelve versions which follow d*, Ys, Pec and Bu (^*) are derived from *HC (pp. 26—28) the original type of HC, and another group rj* is formed by Em, MB, Mk, En, 01, Pen. We thus have four chief variants of (5*, viz. *HC, if, Ml, Tr. To discover the nature of d* these must be examined separately.
(1.) The mixed type *HC. The French romance in alexandrines HC is one of the oldest versions of d*. It agrees with Tr in making the daughter of a Greek Emperor land on the Northumbrian coast, here doubtless following the common source d*. The heroine on her second journey reaches Tours, where S^ Martin the Archbishop takes her sons into his service. One of the sons, Martin, succeeds his namesake as Archbishop of Tours, the other, Brice, bears the name of S^ Martin's actual successor. The hus- band and wife meet at Tours, and proceed together to Rome. The author is specially attached to Tours and to S< Martin*). ^* (derived from *HC) appears to have been written between 1347 and 1360 in the English interest, perhaps in one of the lands belonging to the duchy of Normandy (pp. 28 — 30). It seems probable then that *HC
1) Perhaps he was also acquainted with Flanders. The heroino lands near Sluys during" her first jo\irney. The mention of Court ray and Douay in some of the i)rose versions of HC may not bi'lon,*;- to the poem, of which no analysis appears to have been publislunl. The mention of the bishoj) of Amiens may be due to Wauqueliii, in whose paraphrase it occurs. See Suchier, Beaum. I, p. XXVIII,
— 21 —
was a form of the saga existing in Touraine, and partly localised in that province.
(2.) Tr also contains a reference to St Martin. Alle"s steward Elda dies at Tours, and is buried in S^ Martin's church. Trivet, who was an English Dominican, is re- markable for the accuracy with which he follows his authorities'). He claims to have taken this story from 'the ancient chronicles of the Saxons' 2). After correcting what he knows to be an error in these chronicles, and stating truly that Constance {Constantino) the daughter of the Greek Emperor Tiberius Constantinus was the wife and not the mother of his successor Moris (Mauritius), he relates the fabulous version. There seems to be a quot- ation from an English original in the following passage (Brock, p. 19) where Hermyngild, an Englishwoman, makes the sign of the cross on the eyes of a blind man 'et lui dist en sa langage sessone, ''Bisene man, in lesus name in rode islawe, haue pi sighf\^ The persons in Tr bear ancient Teutonic names {Bcaum. I, p. LXXIII), viz. Alle (^Ella), Domilde [Ddmhild), Hermyngild {Eormmgild), and Elda or Olda {Ealda) % 'Custe', according to Tr, was the Saxon form of Constance-*).
Whether Trivet really follows an ancient English chronicle is doubtful. Such a work can hardly have been older than the 12tH century, or he would not have under-
i) H. Morley, First Sketch, 13th ed. p. 90.
-) 'Mes come dienl les aunciene cronikes de Sessounz .... Cisl, solom lestoire de Sessouns auantdites, estoit le fitz Coiislaimce, la fillo Tyberie, de vn rei de Sessouns, Alle, auanlnome, quo esloit lo secund Rei de Northumbre.'
3) The fact that Tr gives two forms of this name is noteworthy. Elda and Olda may represent an O. E. derivative of eald, corres- ])onding to the continental Aldo, of which Forstermann (A. D. Namenbiich) gives several examples. He also gives the following equivalents of Domilde: — Duamhilt (Fulda), Dumilda (Rome), Domnehildis (Morsan-sur-Seine), Domnomldis (Fontanelle). Unfortun- ately the work does not include English forms.
^) 'Custe: qnar issint I'apellerent les Sessonei/s'.
— 22
stocxl the language. The marriage with the Sultan'), if indeed this is not an invention of Trivet's, points to a date after the first crusade. The burial of the steward at Tours seems to indicate an Anglo-French source. An old English writer would hardly have said, as TVs original does, that the King of Northumbria was buried at Winchester. Per- haps all that Trivet implies is that his source was a French chronicle professing to deal with Saxon history. It may have contained the English sentence which Tr quotes. Or the chronicle may have been, like Layamon's, an English paraphrase of a French work.
(3.) Ml was written by Jehan Maillart in 1312. He gives the persons no names, because, as he says, he does not know them. He appears therefore to have conscienti- ously reproduced the story as he heard it-). It was re- lated to him by the Sieur of Viarmes and Chambly^) (near Pontoise and Senlis respectively), in what is now the department of Oise. The romance however is entirely locahsed in the country near the middle Loire. The father and husband, instead of being princes, are Counts of Anjou and Bourges. The final meeting is at Orleans, instead of Rome. lEtampes, Lorris, and Chartres are also mentioned.
(4.) rf \^ of N.French origin, and was written at least as early as 1259 (MB). Mk, which, though not immediately derived from rf, is one of the oldest and most com- plete versions of the group, was the work of Beaumanoir, a nobleman who lived in the Beauvaisis, only a few miles N. of the estates of the Sieur de Viarmes et Chambly. Beaumanoir died in 1296, not many years before his ncigh-
^) He consents to be ba])iized, in order to man'y Constance. This replaces the original beginnin": of tlio story, to which, especi- ally the Pope's sanction (45), Trivet, as an ecclesiastic, would liardly g-ive currency. The incident in Tr is found in other nar- ratives, e. g. Kimj of Tars.
2) P. and G. Paris, in Hist Utt. de la France, XXXT, p. 322.
3) This nobleman took part in the negotiations between France and Ii^ngiand in 1303 {ut supra, ]). 320).
— 23 —
hour'). No very special similarity exists between Mk and MI, and the local coincidence may be a mere accident. Otherwise it might be conjectured that the tale was cur- rent in the Beavaisis in the latter half of the 13th century.
Picardy however cannot be the home of 6*. which was certainly a version of an English semihistorical saga, and can only have arisen in the Anglo -Xorman dominions. The localisation at Tours, which we find in HC, and of which Tr preserves a trace, and the localisation of Ml in the neighbouring provinces of Anjou, Berry, and Orleans, lead to the conjecture that the saga may have been trans- planted from England to Touraine in the half- century 1154 — 1205, during which that province was united with England under the house of Anjou.
The type ^* has a well marked character. It evid- ently belonged to that class of half- learned, pseudo- historical metrical narratives, which abound in the Norman literature of the 12^1^ and 13th centuries. The heroine's husband is still a Northumbrian king (18, 19, 49), as in the older saga, but his wife is now an imperial princess from Byzantium (42), and his son becomes Emp- eror (73). This change, and the mention of the Saracens (74), show that d* was written after 1096, the date of the first crusade. The author evidently altered his story to flatter the national pride of the English, or rather of the Anglo-Normans, who at an early date began to identify themselves with the conquered people, and to appropriate almost indiscriminately the heroic traditions of the Welsh, Danes, and EngHsh-).
The meeting with a Roman senator (60) is no doubt the invention of this poet, but it may be doubted wlicther the journey to Rome (59) does not belong to the earlier
1) Suchier, Beaum. I, p. XII; P. and G. Paris, nt supra, p. 320.
2) Among the latter may be mentioned tlie sagas of Waldef and (Juy of Warwick, possibly also Athelstan, and Be vis of Hampton.
— 24 —
form of tlie saga, as Mils, is traditionally said to liave
made such a pilgrimage*).
The reconciliation of the parents through the child, Avlio waits unrecognised upon his father at table (64 — 68) is an incident found in other sagas, e. g. the Charlemagne of Venice^) (13^^ cent.), and is here doubtless borrowed. Several other tender or pathetic incidents occur in ()* (53, 55, 56, 58, 63, 70), characteristic of the Northern races, originally Normans, then English, N. French and Germans, who adopted this type of the saga, and con- trasting with the ferocity and passion of e* (79 [contrast 46 1, 80, 82), a type more popular among the Italians and Spaniards.
Da, Hu, Vi, (MB, Mk, En, 01, Pen).
75. The father is a king in Eastern Europe"'), viz.
Hungary Hu, Mk, Dacia Da, Russia En.
76. He vows to his dying wife only to marry a wonuin
like her (Hu, Vi,) Mk, 01.
77. Search is made for such a woman Hu, Vi, Mk,
En-^),. 01, H- Bu.
78. The daughter consents if her father will ^vait Da,
MB, Mk, 4- Ys.
79. He admires her hands, she therefore persuades her
servant to cut them off Hu, Vi, 01, Pen, (she cuts off one hand Da, Mk).
80. She sends her hands to her father 01, Pen, in a
silver dish covered with a cloth Hu, Vi.
*) This of course is a fiction, ^lla appears to have died a lioallien.
2) I J. Gautier, Les Epopees frarK^aises, 2e ^d. Ill, pp.69, 70. It is Jicro told of the child Koland. Cf. Uhlaiid's balhid 'if/em jeo/^mrZ'.
3) In MB, Ol he is a Roman Emperor. In Vi lie is Duke of Guienne, and the sag-a is connected vvitli the 100 years' war. This is borrowed from the ^* group.
4) So the prose (KR). Like llio daii<ilit(M' in En.
— 25 —
81. Her hands are restored before her marriage Da, Vi.
01, (at the end of the story Mk, Pen).
82. The substitutes (40) are a woman and child Da, 01.
83. During her second exile the heroine is in domestic
service Da, Hu, Mk, 01 4- Bu; protected by a woman Da, Hu, 01.
84. The Blessed Virgin aids her Hu, Vi, Mk, 01 4- VM,
(an angel Da, a sorcerer Pen).
The connection of MB with his group is shown by 106, 107, 109, 110, 111, 113—119.
The mixed versions MB, Mk, En, all of which belong to the latter half of the 13th century, are the oldest. MB, En are Austrian, and Mk is N. French. The other versions are all S. European, Da, 01 and Pen being Italian, Hu Catalan, and Vi Spanish. Vi. which is a mere fragment, ending with the heroine's marriage, is possibly derived from Hu, with the exception of the allusion to the hundred years' war (p. 30).
e* has a more popular character than d*. One or two incidents appear to be borrowed from mdrcheny e. g. 76, 77, which are found in various forms of Catskin^). 80 may be of similar origin. Perhaps, like 01, the original e* was an ecclesiastical legend (84).
Why the father is a King of Hungary, Dacia or Russia (75) is not clear. Possibly Da has preserved the localities of the original. Here a daughter of a King of Dacia marries a Duke of Austria, and afterwards takes refuge with a Count in Germany. With this one may connect the fact that the two early Austrian versions MB and En are in part derived from e*. Suchier {Beaum. I, p. XLIII) suggests a blending with the allied Bertha saga, which is a variant of the tale of the Sivan-hnight '). Bertha, called the great-footed or the swan-footed, and thought to have
*) Catskin (Allerleirauh, Peau (Vane) corresponds with the flrst part of the Constance saga, and the first part of the Sivan-knight corresponds with the second part. Of. Suchier, Beaum. I, p. TiXXIX.
— 26 —
been a Valkj-ric, like Thrytlio and probabl}^ Constance, is a daughter of a King of Hungary. Some writers absurdly call her a daughter of the Greek Emperor Heraclius*) (cf. 42). She marries Pippin, but a wicked old nurse sub- stitutes her own daughter, and instigates Bertha to wound the latter (cf. the knight's plot in Tr). She then bribes some servants to kill Bertha, but they take pity, and leave her in the forest of Maine. Pippin's cowherd takes her into his service (cf. 36, 83). The nurse confesses and is burnt (cf. 21). Pippin hunting in the forest (cf. 23) visits his herdsman, and so discovers his wife-).
The mixed versions which connect the two main groups ^* and 7* are HC, Ys, Pec, Bu, 01, Pen. Of these 01 and Pen borrow very little from /9*. There is a journey by land on the first occasion (3) in 01, and on the second (28) in Pen. Further in 01, as in HC, Pec, the heroine lives for a time in a convent (85), and the king finds her while hunting (23). In Pen the cause of the husband's absence is not a war, but a journey, which may be compared with Mk, Ys, Hu, VM. With these exceptions, which may be due to borrowing from a form of *HC, 01 and Pen belong to the group 7*.
The other versions, HC, Y'^s, Pec, Bu, are very closely connected together. As is shown below, Ys, Pec, Bu form a sub-group ^*, which arose in the 14th century (p.28ff.), and contains scarcely any incident common to other vers- ions which is not also found in HC. It cannot however
1) Gotfridi Viterb. Chron. Pars XVII. So Vincent of Beauvais.
2) G. Paris, Hist. Pociique de Charlemagne, Paris 1865, p. 224 f. I'ossibly lliere is a confusion with tho legend of S^ Martin of Tours, who appears in (V*, and who in some versions of HC is idcnlifiod with the heioincs son of tlie same name. S*- Martin's parents are said to have been pagan Pannonians of Sabaria (Eisen- stadt) in wliat later became llvnicarv. He converts hi.4 mother. The heroine of Tr is a Christian niai ricd to a Pagan. S* Edwin, whom I suppose to have corrospondod in ()* with the cliihl !Martin of HC, was the son of pagan pai'onts, or at least of a pagan father.
— 27 —
be derived from the extant version of HC, as in the latter the saga is embedded in a voluminous mass of extraneous adventures, which are so interwoven with it that no one ignorant of the original story would be able to detach it from its surroundings. There is how^ever no trace in f* of the additions of HC. It may therefore be concluded that the enormous French romance HC is an amplification of a simpler tale of Helen of Constantinople, which may be called *HC. This was also the source of ^*.
*HC HC, Ys, Pec, Bu.
85. The heroine lives in a convent HC, Pec, ■+- 01.
86. She marries the King of England HC, Pec, Bu, -t- Mk,
(her son. becomes King of England Ys).
87. One son is named Lion HC, Lionetto Pec.
88. She lives in the desert HC, Bu.
89. The son is adopted twice HC, Bu.
90. The Pope summons the husband to Rome to fight
the Saracens HC, (Ys,) Pec.
91. The husband and father go to Pome together HC,
Pec, Bu.
Some further points of agreement will be found under 25, 28, 35, 37, 57, 59, 61. The connection of Ys with this group appears more clearly under ^* (below).
There are a few discrepancies between HC and the other variants, f* agrees with d* in omitting the mutil- ation of the heroine, which occurs in HC, though quite abnormally before the second flight instead of the first. The burning of the mother-in-law, which is mentioned in Ys and Bu in common with some other versions (21), is replaced by decapitation in HC. In the latter version there seems to be no mention of the king's sojourn in his wife's abode at Rome (63), an incident common to Ys and ^*. Y's also, together with ^* and Hu (27), omits the first forgery, and with Of 1, Hu, Mk, and Pen substitutes
a peaceful journey for the war^- Bu, a German variant of f *, borrows numerous details from ^*, another German type (p. 33).
In spite of these differences of detail, there can be little doubt that Ys, Pec und Bu are derived in the main from a connnon version f *, and that the source of this was *HC. HC may well have diverged in matters of detail from *HC, and it should be remembered that my information respecting HC is solely derived from the prose paraphrases of the poem-).
Ys, Pec, Bu.
92. The father is a King of France Ys, Pec, Bu, + VM, Vi.
93. The heroine escapes the first time in man's clothes
Ys, Pec, disguised Bu.
94. The children are educated by the Pope**) Pec, Bu
(child), by a Cardinal Ys.
95. The Pope calls a General Council Ys, Pec.
96. The events cause the Hundred Years' War Ys,
Bu, + Vi.
This type changes the father's country from Con- stantinople to France. Bu has a distinctly political object*). The author, 'der Biiheler', probably belonged to the knightly class, and was born in N. Alsace, but lived at
1) The husband goes on a journey (Mk, Ys, Hu, VM, Pen), to the court of his father-in-law (Ys, Hu, VM), and attends a lournament or other festival (Mk, Ys, VM). Being: quite unable to find a place for this incident in my scheme, I can only suppose its recurrence is accidental, or that the detail is borrowed from some marchen. In three cases it is found in Italian versions, once in a Catalan, and once in a French.
2) Thus it is quite likely that the trivial details 36, 51, 53, 62 occur in HC, and if they are not there, they may have been in *HC.
3) In HC, the heroine, separated from her sons, is protected by the Pope.
4) Soo 1^ Seeli.ff, Hans v. Buhel, in Sfrassh. Stud. TH, 1888, pp. 243-335.
— 29 —
Poppelsdorf near Bonn, where he was in the service of the Archbishop of Cologne. He wrote this poem immedi- ately after the death of Richard II of England, when a renewal of the struggle with France appeared probable. He was clearly kostile to the House of Valois. Sympathy with the English cause prevailed on the Rhine. The rom- ance is intended to support the English pretensions to the French crown. The son of the King of England is defrauded by the French nobles of his lawful claim to the French throne, which he derives from his mother the heroine. His father, after hastening to the North to repel an attack by the Kings of Scotland and Ireland, invades France to support his son's claim, captures Calais and other fort- resses, and quarters the arms of France and England on his flag. Here are clear allusions to Edward Ill's war with Scotland, which began in 1333, his subsequent in- vasion of France, and assumption of the French arms, and his capture of Calais in 1347.
The claim to the French throne was surrendered at the peace of Bretigny in 13G0, and was not formally re- vived until the accession of Henry V, thirteen years after Bu was written. F. Seelig suggests that the author fol- lowed an earlier political version. He points out that Hans von Biihel, in his other poem, a version of the Diocletian saga, follows his text closely, without display- ing any originality. His conjecture is confirmed by the fact that Ys and two other versions, Vi und Fa, comiect the saga with the Hundred Years' war. In Ys the King of England makes one of the heroine's sons the heir to his kingdom, and the author states this to be the ground of the English claim on the crown of France. He betrays however no definite leaning to either party. He (or at any rate the writer of the manuscript) wrote in 1370, and may have been an Italian cleric'). In the Italian novella Pec there is naturally no political allusion. Of the two
1) The story is found in the middle of a commentary on the Old Testament, hut wliy 1 do not understand. The ms. also con-
— 30 —
15^^ century versions, Fa is hostile to the English claim, and Vi is neutral. Fazio, who admits that his work is a compilation, borrows another particular from this group, viz. 85, and no doubt derived the political allusion directly or indirectly from f *.
Gutierre de Games, the Spanish author of Vi, narrates the saga, in a fragmentary form, to show how the duchy of Guienne passed into the hands of the English. The connection with Guienne is perhaps due to the war in that province which ended with its conquest by the French in 1453, while Gutierre was writting his chronicle.
f* then was a political romance, freely adapted from the Anglo-French *HC. It was written in the EngHsh interest, at some time between 1347, when Edward III laid claim to the French throne, and 1370, when Ys was written. Probably it was written in some part of France which was in English hands, and before 1360, when the English king dropped his extravagant pretensions.
In 1359,60 Sir Walter Manny, an Anglo-French com- mander, ravaged Picardy and Artois with a German army hired from the Archbishop of Cologne, and the Dukes of Geldern and Julich. Hans v. Biihel, who was iu the service of a later Archbishop, and seems to have been a soldier, may have heard the story from the veterans who had fought in this campaign forty years before. It is not impossible that he was one of them himself '). His romance is drawn apparently from memory or oral nar- ration 2), chiefly from this Anglo-French political romance, but numerous incidents are taken from some form of «*, which appears to have been an Austrian chronicle. The relation of Bu to t* is examined below, p. 33.
tains a commentary on Dante. All is apparently written ]\y the same hand.
1) If so, he must have been at least 70 wlien he composed Dyocletianus in 1413.
2) IJii 4251 'ich kan nit der geschriffV. See tlie whole passage 11.4245—4251. It is noteworth}" that in llu, as in Ml, which is also based on oral tradition, the jjcrsons in the story are not named.
31
rj-
Em, (MB, Mk, En, 01, Pen).
97. The father calls his (laughter to a banquet Em,
MB, Mk, En.
98. Her first voyage lasts a week Em, Mk.
99. She changes her name Em, Mk.
100. The king at the feast (52) announces his intention
of marrying her Em, MB, Mk.
101. Her second voyage lasts a week (cf. 98) Em, MB, Mk.
102. The boat drifts to the neighbourhood of Rome, with-
out any interruption of the voyage (cf. 57) Em, MB, Mk, En.
103. The husband faints when he bears of the treachery
Em, MB, Mk, En, h- Bu »).
104. The child is 7 or 8 years old when he meets his
father Em, MB, Mk, + Hu.
105. The heroine, wearing her rich robe, is led in to
mcM^t her husband Em, MB, En. Em is a translation or paraphrase of an Anglo-Norman or N. French romance IJEgarec which we may designate *Em-). While Em substitutes '(ialys' for Northumbria, Mk preserves the locality of (5* (49). Other particulars which rf derives from 6* are also absent from Em, viz. 43, 47, 53, 60 (senator), 71, 72. It is therefore improbable that *Em, which Em seems to have followed closely, was the source of the other versions of rf. The source of rf, viz. (5*, and its two derivatives *Em and iT (p. 32) appear to have been French, and such in all probability was /y* itself. It was already in existence in 1259 (MB).
^*
MB, Mk, En, 01, Pen.
106. The heroine is ten years old when her mother dies
MB, Mk.
107. She reads the Psalter MB, Mk.
1) See p. 33.
2) Cf. my inaug-. diss, on Emare, p. 19 ft".
— 32 —
108. Nobles urge the father to marry again Mk, En,
H- Bu »), Hu.
109. The heroine begs tlie servants to save her chikl
MB, Mk, En, 01, -+- Bu »).
110. She is shut up in a closed boat MB, or box En,
01, Pen.
111. It drifts miraculously up the Tiber to Rome MB,
Mk, En.
112. The mother-in-law is walled up alive Mk, En.
113. The father's confession leads to the recognition MB, • Mk, En, 4- Bu »).
The well marked type i^* is formed by a blending of d* and £*. Prom the latter it borrows 75 — 84. Being the source of the Picard or Anglo-French Mk-), the Austrian t*, and the Italian 01, it can hardly have been other than French. Mk stands very close to the original '<>*, but cannot l)e identical with it, as some important particulars are wanting, e. g. 48, 54, 74, 79, 80, 110. MB and En form a sub-grouj) i/\ and 01 and Pen another more loosely attached sub-group.
I* MB, En.
114. The heroine, instead of cutting off her hands, cuts
off or tears her hair MB, En, (and scratches her face En).
115. When rescued the first time, she accuses herself of
a crime MB, En, + ? Hu.
116. She lands in Greece, and there marries a count
MB, the king En.
117. The same vessel in used on both occasions MB -h Bu*).
1) See p. 33.
2) Beaumanoir lived in tlie Beauvaisis. Bovdior (quoted by Suchier) supposes on plausible g:rounds lliat he lived in En^rland as a pa^e between 1261 and 1265, a few years before writintr Alk, his first romance. He may have found his material in Knpland. The scene of liis other romance Jehan et Blonde is laid in Oxford (Suchier. Btaum. 1, pp. X, XI).
— 33 —
118. The Roman (60) is walking on a bridge when he
sees the vessel in the Tiber MB, En.
119. The Pope baptizes the child MB, En.
MB and En, tw^o of the oldest extant versions of the saga, were both written in the second half of the 13th cent- ury, and in the same Austro-Bavarian dialect. The un- known authoi^ of MB states (ed. Pfeiffer, col. 3, 10 ff.) that he heard it from a knight who had read it in a prose chron- icle. En forms part of a Viennese rimed chronicle. The prose version KR, which closely agrees with En, and is written in the same dialect, may perhaps be its source, and certainly stands nearer the original (Strauch, and cf. Suchier, Beaum. I. XXXVI, XXXVII). Neither KR nor En is the source of MB. All three are perhaps derived from an Austrian chronicle.
The fourth German version of the saga, Bu, while derived in the main from f*, borrows numerous details from this purely German group i*, viz. 7, 54, 55, 56, 60, 65, 66, 77, 103, 108, 109, 113, 117. All of these occur in MB, except 77 and 108, whicli are in KR. Bu also contains 41 (MI, Vi, 01, Bu) and 83 (Da, Hu, Mk, 01, iki), both of which point to -?>*, and therefore easily to ^^ In 52 Bu agrees with Ml and Em.
There remain the two Italian versions 01 and Pen. They both appear to be of popular origin. 01 is the oldest extant version of the Tuscan legend of St. Ohva, the subject of various popular dramas. The Neapolitan novella Pen, of the early 17^^ century, by far the latest of the versions under consideration, has assumed the form of a fairy tale.
Their close mutual connection is showm by their agreement in the following particulars, 21, 31, 32, 33, 36, 39, 46, 51, 65, 67, 68, 79, 80, 110, and by one detail peculiar to the two, viz.
120. The heroine enters the service of a queen 01, Pen.
Palaestra XXIII. 3
— 34 —
01, which is the older version, has alone of the two 23, 34, 40, 41, 45, 57, 76, 77, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 109. Pen has scarcely anything common to other versions which is not also found in 01. There are, it is true, some ex- ceptions. The two journeys are by sea and land respectively, as in 7* and ^*, whereas in 01 the first is by land and sea, and the second by sea. In Pen a journey takes the place of the war, as in several versions'). The hands are not restored till the end of the story, as in Mk. The miracle is wrought, not by the Blessed Virgin, but by a sorcerer, whom Suchier (Beaum. I, p. LV) identifies with the hermit of /9*, who plays the same part. Some of these coincidences may well be accidental, and on the whole it may be fairly assumed that Pen is derived by popular tradition from some form of 01, probably from one of the miracle-plays.
The connection of 01 with i9>* is indicated by 7, 31, (65,) 63, 76, 77, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 109, 110. On the other hand 3, 23, 32, 57, and 85 seem borrowed from *HC. 33, 34, 40, 45, 67, and perhaps 21, 36, 41, 51, are common to the two sources -^^ and *HC.
II. Relation to History.
1. The Northumbrian Saga of MWd^ and Eadwine.
Trivet's chronicle contains the only existing version of the iConstance saga in which the hero is identified with any [historical personage, for Offa I can hardly be regarded as such. The heroine of Tr marries King 'AUe' of North- umberland, i. e. ^Ua of Deira, who died in 588. We have already found reason to think that Tr (with the ex- ception of its beginning) follows very closely the important type 6*, the original of half the literary versions (p. 21 f.). Suchier has suggested a clue, by which perhaps the connection of the ancient saga with .Ella of Deira may
1) Of. p. 28, n. 1.
— 35 —
be explained. He says {Beaum. I, p. LXXIV): "Dans le recit de la Vita Offa3 [I], oii le caract^re populaire est tr6s marque, on s'etonne de trouver a la place de la belle-mere le gendre du roi. Est-il possible de mettre en rapport cette circonstance avec les evenements bistoriques de la vie d^^Ua? Ce dernier etait fils d'an Uffa ou Yffi, et son gendre Ji]dilfritb, roi de Bernicia, ennemi du christianisme, persecuta Eadwin, jeune fils d'^lla, qui se refugia chez Cadvom [Cad van] roi de Gwynedb [Gwynedd]. La fille d\^lla, epouse d'.^dilfritb, s'appelait Acba; le nom de sa femme nous est inconnu (Lappenberg, Geschichte von England^ I, 144)."
The force of this argument is rather weakened by several inaccuracies. It must not be understood that Eadwine (like Constance and her son in Tr^) was per- secuted as a Christian, for he remained a Pagan till after his enemy's death. I can find no authority, beyond Lappen- berg, for the form Uffa-), which suggests Uffi and Uff'o^ tlie Danish forms of the original Oifa's name in Sueno Aggonis and Saxo. It wouhl however be fanciful to connect the name of Ji^Ua's father with Offa, if there is no authority for the form Uffa.
A more serious error is the statement that Offa's son-in-law plays the traitor. This mistake is due to the analysis of Of 1, given with the Latin text by Brock and Furnivall {Originals and Analogues., I). The analysis, 'that very prince who had wedded Olfa's daughter," is quite different from the original, which has ^'illiiis Regis, cujus filiam Off a sibi matrimonio copidavei^at.''^ The heroine therefore in Of 1 is persecuted on both occasions by her own father"').
^) The persecution by heathen Saracens only occurs in Tr, and belongs to an episode wliicli is certainly not original.
2) A. S. Chron. Ylfe, Flor. Wig. Yffa, Nennius ///V, lien. Hunt.
lira.
8) As in the closely allied Roumanian folk-tale z (p. 7), and in a tale by Straparola (I, 4).
3*
— 36 —
In spite of this, Suchier's theory by no me«T,ns devoid of probability. It is clear from Tr that the saga was attached to ^]lla of Northumbria. The question arises whether other versions, including Of 1, preserve traces of this remarkable application of the saga. Five versions in all, including three of the oldest, contain allusions to Northumbria or Scotland.
Of 1 (12 th cent.). Offa, king of the W. Angles of Warwick, marries the daughter of a Prince (Regulus) of York. The king of the Northumbri, harassed by pagan Scots and rebellious subjects, acknowledges Offa's supremacy, and in return receives his support against his enemies, and the hand of his daughter.
Mk (c. 1270). The heroine lands at Berwick (1. 173). She meets the Scottish king at Dundee (1. 1241), and marries him. His mother, who plays the traitress, receives as a residence the city of York ') (1. 2400). There is no war. The king of Scots evidently represents an original Northumbrian or Deiran king, as York is one of his cities. Beaumanoir may well have been ignorant of the existence of a Northumbrian kingdom.
HC (? 13 ih cent.). Helen lands on the English coast near Newcastle on Tyne, where King Henry is hunting. Here it is the Pope who appeals for help, and the enemy are Saracens, but there is perhaps a war with the Scots on another occasion. See p. 12, n. 1.
Tr (c. 1340). The heroine lands in the kingdom of- Northumbria, near the Humber. King Alle, who marries her^ goes to fight the Scots. His mother resides at Knares- burgh, a few miles from York (cf. Mk).
Bu (1400). The king of England, who has married the heroine, hastens to the north to oppose an invasion by the kings of Scotland and Ireland. Although there is certainly a reference to Edward Ill's campaigns, tlu^ incident is apparently of older origin.
1) Evoluic = Eoforwic, Sucbier, Beaum. I, p. LXXIII. In II u the place is called Eres.
— 37 —
In many versions, vSaracens take the place of Scots, a trait evidently belonging to crusading times. Suchier's conclusion (Beaum. I, LXXIV) that a Scottish, and not a Saracenic Avar, was original, is beA^ond dispute.
Bearing in mind the above details in the Constance saga, we may now turn to ^lla and his family in history and tradition.
According to the A. S. Chron., .Ella was the first king of Deira, his father Yffi having been ealdorman of that country. .Ella began to reign in the year in which king Ida of Bernicia died (559), and most authorities ') regard him as his successor, i. e. as king of all North- umbria, while others-) give a list of Bernician kings. It is clear that the relations between the two Northumbrian states were unsettled,' and that now Bernicia, now Deira, claimed the supremacy^). yElla wrested it from Bernicia, to which however it reverted during the minority of his son Eadwine. This prince finally in 617 reasserted the supremacy, which he had lost as a child.
The king of Bernicia, then, was Ella's vassal. In Of 1 the vassal Northumbrian king demands in marriage the hero's daughter. Now J^thelfrith, king of Bernicia, did marry Ella's daughter. The former's father Jj]thelric reigned it is true till 593, five years after .Ella's death, but there is good reason to believe that J^thelfrith was the actual ruler of Bernicia during the latter years of his father s life, and that it was he, and not ^Ethelric, who actually overthrew JElla, and seized Deira**). At least
1) B. g. A. S. Chron., Wm. Malm., Hen. Hunt.
2) E. s- ^'lor. Wig.
a) Hen. Hunt. II § 40 (R. S. p. 65) Reges . . . Nordhumbre hi sunt ex ordine. Primus Ida; iEUa; Edelfert; Edwinu.s.
4) Cf. n. 3. Nennius (H. 13. § 63) says that ^thelfrith reigned 12 years in Bernicia, and 12 in Deira. (He did reign 24 years from his father's death.) A vahiable Life of St. Oswakl written soon after 1170 (ed. T. Arnold ^vith Sim. Dimelm., I, R. S.) makes the following direct statements. Cap. 2, p. 341, EJlo . . . ohiit, et Edwinum filinm, Acc;r videlicet fratrera, regni superstileni de-
— 38 —
such a tradition was current, and that suffices for our purpose. vEthelric is described as extremely feeble and old. His son, as we know, proved the most energetic and aggressive prince who had yet appeared among the English ^). The expulsion of Eadwine the infant heir of Deira is quite in accordance Avith ^thelfritirs proverbial ferocity (cf. Plummer, Bmlce Op, Hist. II, p. 64).
It is however not certain that he married JEUa's daughter Acha before her fathers death. The theory that in Of 1 there are traces of an JilUa saga, assumes that at least such a tradition was current. And such is the case. It is repeatedly and emphatically stated in the
reliquit. Ethelfridus . . . Berniciorum rex, licet sororem Edwini ref;is Deirorum iixorem habuerit, tamen g-lovia3 ciipidus eum regno ])epiilit, et aliquando pro eo regnavit; and again, cap. 26, p. 362, [Ethelfridus] EUam regem Deirorum, cujus filiam duxerat, nou solum regno pepulit, sed diversis etiam afflciendo cladibus, et jiluribus exlurbando .sedibus, denique vita simul et regno priv- avit; cap. 27, p. 363, gladio peremit. (Plummer, Bcedw Op. Hist. II, p. 93, erroneously makes the Vita S. Oswaldi rejjresent uEthdric as the slayer of ^lla.)
On the other hand the similarity of the names may have led to a mistake. Thus Layamon calls .Etholfrilh .Ehuic (1. 20967, Calig. A. IX), and Rob. of Brunne, EkfrUc (R. S. II, p. 532) and Elfrik.
1) Yita S. Oswaldi^ cap. 26, p. 362. Quia jam tcmporis sonio et vitae prolixioris acvo in filiis Idae regni succes.sio esse non potuit, jam ad alios, sed tamen ad ejusdem generis consobrinos, regni jus haereditarium descendit. Unde iste Ethelfridus . . . secundi filii Idae Alius, id estEthelrici fflii progenitus, extitit, quiquo jam deflcientibus Idae filiis sicut nepos ipsius pro illis regii juris rognum percepit. Wm. Malm. Bk. I, § 46 (R. S. I, p. 46) Alia mortuo, adeptus est regnum Ethelricus IdtB Alius, post detritam in penuria aetatem, extrema canitie provectus, sed veloci morte de medio post quinque annos sublatus. Miserabilis princeps, et quem fama obscura i)rorsus occulerot, nisi fllii conspicuus vigor patrem in speculam extulisset. § 47. Itaquo cum longo senio satietati vitae satisfecisset, Ethelfridus regnum ascendit, major filiorum.
— 39 —
Vita S. Osivaldi (capp. 2, 26, 27. See the quotations above, p. 37, n. 4). It is nowhere directly contradicted *).
In Of 1, it will be remembered, the Northumbrian king appeals to his over-lord, the hero of the story, for help against invading Scots, and in other versions the hero marches against the same enemy. Aedan mac Gabrain, king of Scots (Dalriada), who reigned from 574 to 606, and was therefore a contemporary of Jillla and J^]thelfrith, was a powerful and restless chief, constantly at war with his neighbours (Plummer, Bede, II, pp. 64—66). Among other enterprises, he invaded the Isle of Man some five years before Ella's death. At a later date he waged a war with ^thelfrith, ending in his own over- throw at Degastan in 603. According to Fordun's Scoti- chronicon{lll^2S)^c\n untrustworthy work of the 14111 century, this prince was the ally of Maelgwn king of Gwynedd or N. Wales against the English at the battle of Fethanleag. The A. S. Chron., suh anno 584, states that Ceawlin king of Wessex defeated the Britons in this battle, but the Scots are not mentioned. Fordun places Fethanleag on Stanemore in Westmoreland, close to the frontier of Bernicia. It is however most probably Faddiley in Cheshire-). Dr. Guest {Origincs Celticai, II, 285 f.) maintains that the alleged
') J. R Green {Making of England^ p. 247, n.) thinks the marriage foUoweil ^^lla's death. A son of ^thelfrith and Acha was Oswy (Wm. jMalm.) who was born c. 613. (The statement of Vita S. Osw. I, p; 340, and Biog. Misc. p. 8, that he was a bastard son of ^Etholfrith is not generally credited.) Acha had also a daughter, St. yEbba, who, as Bede says {Vit. Cudb. X), was Oswy's uterine sister. This implies that if they were Acha's legitimate children she was married twice. Now if she married yEthelfrith before 588 (the date of yElla's death), it is hardly li'kely, unless she was divorced, that she had a daughter (iEbba) by a second marriage, for ^Ethelfrith lived till 610; nor again is it likely that St. JEhha was the child of a marriage which ended before 588, for she was still politically active in 681. . Of. Plummer, Bede, vol. II, pp. 101, 230.
2) Haigh', Anglosaxon Sagas, p. 167. Guest, Origlnes Celticce, II, pp. 280-289.
— 40 —
Scottish participation in this battle is a mere invention of Fordun's. There is however nothing impossible, or even improbable, in a combination of the two Christian Celtic powers ofDalriada and Gwynedd against the A nglo-saxon pagans. If Aedan marched south to join an ally in Cheshire, Bernicia would be the first English kingdom to come in conflict with him. We learn from the A. S. Chron., sub anno 597, the very singular fact that Ccolwulf, who ascended the throne of Wessex in that year, fought the Picts and Scots.
When it is remembered that in the Constance saga the heroine bears a son while her husband is away fighting the Scots, it is a curious coincidence, if nothing more, that the battle of Fethanleag was fought a few months before Eadwine's birth ^).
On the death of his father J^lla in 588, the infant Eadwine was carried out of his country-;, and spent many years in exile, wandering, as Bede {H. E. IT, 12) informs us, from one kingdom to another. According to an ancient Welsh tradition, the child was brought up in Gwynedd or N. Wales. One of the 'Triads of the Isle of Britain' affirms that 'the three chief plagues of Anglesey were bred in it; Catli Paluc, the second was Daronwy, and the third Edwin, king of England '0. (Edwin fought the N. Welsh after his restoration.) Geoffrey of Monmouth gives a curious distorted version of Eadwinc's a/lventures. His account, which supports the above passage in the Triads, is doubtless drawn from some Welsh tradition. He says
1) It appears from Bede, H. E. II, 20, that he was born in 585.
2) Vita S. Oswaldi capp. 2, 27; Flor. Wig. ed. Tiiorpo, 1848, vol. I, p. 6; Lappenberg, T, p. 144 (Engl, trans., I, p. 145); J. R. Green, Making of England^^.2^1 n.; Had dan & Stubbs, Councila, I, p. 124 n,; Plummer, Bede, II, p. 93; cf. Rh5^s, Celtic Britain, p. 128.
3) The Myvyrian Archaiology of Wales, ed. John Thomas. Gee's reprint, Denbigh, 1870, p. 30.-^ Triocdd yvys Frydain. 81. Teir prif ormes Mon a fagwyd ynddi, Cath Paluc, yr oil oedd Daronwy, ar trydydd Edwin frenhin Lloegr. I am indebted to F. G. Gordon Esq. for the translation.
— 41 —
{Hist. Brit. XIT, § 1) that after the battle of Chester (which was probably fought in 616 ') Cadvan king of N. Wales, and iEthelfrith agreed to divide Britain between them. 'Interea contigit ut expulsa propria conjuge Ethelfridus aliam duceret: expulsamque tanto haberet odio, ut earn ex regno Northanhunibria' expelleret. Porro ilia puerum in utero habens regem Caduanum adivit: orans ut ejus interventione marito suo resociafetur. Cunique id ab Ethelfrido nuUatenus impetrari potuissct: remansit ilia in thalamo Caduani, donee dies partus filiuni quern conceperat in munduni produxit. Xatus est etiam paulo post (Jaduano regi filius ex regina conjuge sua: nam et ilia eodem tempore gravida facta fuerat, exin nutriti sunt pueri, ut regium genus* decebat, quorum alter videlicet Caduallo nuncupatur, alter vero Edwinus. Interea . . . miserunt eos parentes ad Salomonem regem Armoricanorum Britonum, ut in domo ejus documenta militia% ca*teraruni(iuo curialium consuetudinem addiscerent/ Each succeeds his father, and after a period of friendship they quarrel, and Cadwallon slays Eadwine.
Geoffrey of course cannot be taken very seriously as a historian. His strange mistake in making Eadwine the son of .4^]thel frith may have arisen from the fact that he was his immediate successor. At the date of the battle of C;hester, Eadwine was about 31 years old. The con- nection of this event with his sojourn in Wales seems to be a mistake^). Lappenberg (I, p. 144), W. Hunt (D. A^ j5.
1) Plummer, Bede^ vol. II, p. 77.
-) Two other accounts of Eadwine's sojourn at Cadvan's court arc perhaps horrowed from (reolTroy. A Welsh catalogue of saints {Bonedd y saint, in Mi/v. Arch. p. 424,) quotes from the 'Llyvyr Henry Rowland', the age of which is unknown to me, a notice of 'Edwen, a female saint of a Saxon [English] line, she was either a daughter or a niece of Edwin, king of Northumherland, who was brouglit up from his birth in the court of Cadvan at Caersegaint; her church is in Anglesey.' (Edwen, Santes o Lin Saeson, naill ai Merch ai nith i Edwin frenhin Northumherlant yr liwu addygpwyd i fynu yn llys Gad van ynghersegaint; ym
— 42 —
s. V. Edwin) and other authorities are inclined to credit the story that Eadwine lived as an infant at Cad van's court*). Although he and his mother may have been temporary refugees there, he can hardly have become the Welsh king's foster-son 2), for he was not baptized till 627. Geoffrey's romantic story of the strangely linked fortunes of the foster-brothers is no doubt a legendary development of the historical tradition.
The essential point is not the historical truth of the story, but the existence of a legend. And this agrees in several points with the Constance saga. The heroine of the latter flees with her child from the supposed wrath of her husband (in En, as in Geoffrey, from his actual wrath), to a foreign land, where her child (in many versions) is adopted by a great lord. In Da, a count Marco, the protector of the heroine, brings up her son as the foster-brotlicr of his own infant, who is of the same age-'). The children become inseparable friends, like Eadwine and Cadwallon.
Mon mae ei heglwys.) The other account is in the Vita S. Oswaldi, cap. 9 (Sim. Dimelm, R. S. I, p. 345). 'Postea [after the battle of Chester] Cadwanus cis Humbram regnans Edwinum . . . nutrivit cum Cadwallone Alio suo.' Wm. Malm, § 47 writes that ^Ethel- frith exiled Eadwine after the battle of Chester, but does not mention Wales. William cannot have borrowed this story from Geoffrey's work, which was written somewhat later, but the two men were probably personally acquainted. (Wm. Malm., Gest. Reg. od. Stubbs, R. S. vol. I, pp. XLIVf., XCIf.)
1) T. E. Tout {D. N. B. s..v. Cadvan) rejects the tradition. Skene {Four Ancient Books of Wales, I, pp. 67, 68) dates Cadvan's accession 603, and holds that the King of Gwynodd in 588 was either Maelgvvn or lago. It is worth remark that the E. Anglian king Redwald, with whom Eadwine also took refuge, is in the Vita S. Osivaldi, cap. 9, erroneously called a king of the Britons.
2) So Haigh, Anglosaxon Sagas, p. 177. On the otlier hantl Gildas and Nennius agree in describing the religious condition of the Welsh courts as exceedingly debased.
3) Ed. Wesselofsky, p. 83 ff.
— 43 —
In the group d* of the Constance saga the mother and child are under the care of a Boman, either a sen- ator, citizen, cardinal, or Pope. The child is baptized in MB and En b}^ the Pope, in HO by a bishop. In the group /9* the protector is a hermit. Eadwine, as we learn from Bede {H. E. II, cap. 14), was baptized in 627 by Paulinus, archbishop of York. The Annalcs Camhrice however, sub anno 626, state that he was baptized by Run the son of Urhgen, and the continuator of Nennius § 68 says ') that Rum map Urhgen baptized Eadwine, and 12,000 of his people with him. Haddan and Stubbs (Coun- cils^ I, p. 124 n.) remark that 'Run the son of Urien was a Cumbrian chief celebrated by Taliessin. He may possibly have become a priest subsequently'. This Urbgen or Urien, aided by other chiefs of Strathclyde, is said to have fought two Bernician kings, brothers and predecessors of ^^]thelric-). Young Eadwine, in the course of his wanderings, may have been protected by the family of Urbgen, whose enemies the Bernicians were his own. If Run or Rum was called in Latin Roma7ius^)^ we can understand how the protector in the C-onstance saga has become a Roman, and the heroine wanders with her son to Rome. Possibly also, like so many C'eltic princes of that time. Run became a hermit in his old age.
Trivet's version alone is quite sufficient to prove /that the Constance saga was applied to ^lla of Deira*). IXhis conclusion is unaffected by any doubt which attaches
') This according to Plummer {Bcde, vol. IT, p. 100) is an evident gloss. He says 'tlie whole story may be dismissed as a fable intended to claim for the British church a principal share in the evangelisation of Northiimbria.'
2) Con tin. Nenn. § 63. Skene, Cdtic Scotland, I, pp. 156, 159.
3) Haddan and Stubbs {loc. cif.) think he may have been confused with one of several contemporary ecclesiastics named Komanus or Rotmn. Panlinus, it should be remembered, was an Italian, and was sent from Rome.
1) But cf. the next section, p. 46 ff. Note that in HC as in Tr the period is that of the introduction of Christianity.
— 44: —
to the other concidences. The discrepancies can be mostly accounted for by the popularity of the folk-talc, which was of course better known than the historical facts. The traitor, actually ^Ella's son-in-law, has become the typical mother-in-law of the heroine. M\\£{, really perished when his wife and son were banished, and the latter only regained his inheritance by conquest. In the saga, they naturally meet at the end, and 'live happily ever after'. Eadwine, the real founder of the Northumbrian state, and the great champion of the Christian faith in the North, was such a figure as those about whose memory heroic traditions are wont to gather. His whole life, as told by Bede, is crowded with adventures. They give the story a quasi-epic character, which is hardly found elsewiiere in the Ecclesiastical History^ and which suggests that Bede is following some heroic poem *). Among the legends of
1) Cf. Bffida, H. E., II, capp. 9, 12, 13, 14, 16, 20. The Acta SS. throw no further light on the question. St. Edwin's day is Oct. 6.
Ten Brink {Beoivulf-nntersuchungm, in Q.u. F. LXII, pp. 224 — 227) grives reasons for the belief that the conditions in Northumbria in the former half of the Tth cent, were extremely favourable for the growth of epos.
Skeat {Havelok, E. E. T. S. Extra Series IV, pp. XXIX— XXXI V, esp. XXXIII) has proved that some traditions about Eadwine were incorporated in the Havelok saga. By comparing the names in the four extant versions of the latter, he shows that the Godrich of the English poem is ^thelfrith of Bernicia. When Havelok attacks and slays Godrich, who has treacherously deprived him of his wife's inheritance, and Avhen he is afterwards himself slain by Saxons, he corresponds to Eadwine who slew yEthelfrith at the Idle, and was himself slain by Penda at Haethfeld. Again Havelok, like Eadwine, marries the daughter of King .T^thelberht, and in each case the Archbishop of York performs the ceremony. The resemblance of Havelok's fortunes to those of Eadwine accounts for the fusion.
There are some slight parallels between the sagas of Havelok and Constance. Havelok's mother, like the heroine of HC, is called Eleyne (Skeat, pp. XI, XII). A taithful servant places the child and his mother on board a ship, and accompanies them in their fUght (cf. p. 17 no. B4). According to a Grimsbv Irndition
— 45 —
the royal saint was, as we have seen, one that told of his mother s flight to a Welsh court. As constantl}^ happens in such cases, an ancient folk-tale, current among the Angles, attached itself to this historical tradition. The result, corresponding with 7* (if not with a*), was probably one of that vanished class of English epics, which are only known through their Anglo-Norman imitations {Ouy of Warwich &c.), or through later English versions (Athel- ston).
The question remains whether this ^Ua and Eadwine saga is the original of all the literary versions (a*), or only of the group 7*. An attempt is made below (p. 53 ff.) to show that the other group ^* is a form of another and later semi-historical saga, that of Offa of Mercia and Cynethryth. Now two coincidences between the saga and the history of .-Ella have been mentioned, which belong only to one version of the saga, viz. Of 1, the oldest form of |5*. The incidents referred to are the recognition by the king of Bernicia (Northumbria) of the hero's over- lordship, and his marriage with the hero's daughter. It is a singular coincidence that Offa of Mercia, as well as MWvi of Dcira, was over-lord and father-in-law of a North- umbrian king. The allusion in Ofl may be to .^thelred of Northumbria, son-in-law of Offa, and not to ^Ethelfrith of Bernicia. The war with the Scots would, it is true.
(Skeat, p. XX) Grim found the infant drifting in a boat, and adopted him (cf. p. 19, no. 61). Young Havelok, in spite of his 'king's mark' (as in ICm, Da), grows up ignorant of his royal origin. As the Havelok saga undoubtedly borrowed details from the traditions about Eadwine, these coincidences, slight as they are in themselves, support the view that the Constance saga belonged to an epic cycle dealing with Eadwine and his house.
Lastly, Skeat argues (p. XXX) with much force, that the narrators of the Lai of Havelok made use of writings, such as those to which Layamon is indebted. The sources of both were Welsh. We have already seen that an Eadwine saga existed in Wales. But as the names in Tr show (p. 52, n. 1) the source of d* was certainly English rather than Welsh.
— 46 —
suit the latter better, for there is no evidence that either J^thelred or Offa fought the Scots, who were indeed re- markably quiet in that agc^).
Rejecting, as I think we safely may, the alternative theory discussed in the next section, I regard the type 7* as a form of the iElla and Eadwine saga. The question whether a* was already applied to these historical per- sonages must remain unsolved.
2. Constantine II, King of Scots, and Anlaf Cuaran of Northumbria.
An alternative theor}^ suggested by the repeated occurrence of the name Constantine in the saga, has been proposed by Suchier. In Tr the heroine's father is .l^^lla's contemporary the Eastern Emperor Tiberius Constantinus^ who reigned 578—582. In Co the father is an emperor called Contasti. In KR the heroine's son Constantlnus becomes king of Greece after his father. In HC the heroine's father Antoine, emperor of Constantinople, is succeeded by Constantine^ King of Bordeaux. Suchier observes {Beaum. I, p. CLIX f.) "Ce nom . . . doit appartenir a la tradition originale, que je suppose avoir etc une chanson epique en dialecte angle (p. LXXIII). Le Con- stantin de cette chanson 6tait peutetre ce Constantmus III, rexScottorum (roi d'ficosse ou roi d'Irlande? Voir VAthenceum du 29 aodt 1885), dont la fille epousa la pa'ien Anlav, roi de Northumbrie et de Dublin, et qui perdit en 938 la bataille de Brunanburg. Comme la tradition suivie par Trivet 6tait mutil6e au commencement, il a pu prendre Constantin pour Tempereur Constantin, et Anlav pour Alia, et comme Anlav se fit baptiser plus tard, il 6tait facile de supposer qu'il avait ete converti par son Spouse." . This theory and that which traces the saga back to ^lla and Eadwine are of course mutually exclusive, and,
*) They were however, it is said, allies or vassals of Charle- magne, and so may have been hostile to Offa. Cf. p. 59.
— 47 —
as has been seen, there is much to be said for the latter theory.
Constantine *) king of Scots, whom Suchier calls the Third of the name, is often accounted the Second. He reigned, not over the Scots of Ireland-), but of Scotland, from 900 to 943. His son-in-law Anlaf ') or Olaf Sitricson, surnamed Cuaran, was a prince of mixed Norse and Celtic blood. On the death of his father Sitric king of Dublin and Deira in 927, the young heir was expelled from the latter kingdom by JEthelstan king of England. Anlaf lived in exile at Constantine's court, and married his daughter some time before 934. The two allied princes invaded Northumbria in 937, but were routed at Brunan- burh. In spite of this disaster, Anlaf was chosen king of Northumbria in 940. He adopted the Christian faith in 943, and Eadmund of England stood sponsor to him and his fellow king Reginald. However in the following year Eadmund drove them both from Northumbria, and at the same time the Irish overran Anlafs other kingdom, Dublin. Anlaf sailed thither and recovered his Irish possessions. In 949 he reestablished himself in North- umbria, but his subjects drove him finally out of that kingdom in 952. The rest of his long reign was spent in Ireland. After his crushing defeat at Tara in 980, he abdicated and went on pilgrimage to lona, where he died the next year. Besides Constantine's daughter, he had two Irish wives, and left several sons, one of whom, Gluniarainn, succeeded him in Dublin.
^) My account of Constantine and Anlav is taken from the Did. Nat. Biog. s. v. Constantine II {JE. Mackay), and Olaf Sitricson (MivSS A. M. Cooke), and from J. H. Todd's life of Anlav, appended to The Wat' of the Gaedhil iv'.th the Gaill, R. S. 48, pp. 280—287.
2) Suchier alludes to this supposition for the sake of com- parison with the legend of St. Dympna, virgin and martyr of Antwerp, daughter of an Irish King. I can see no very close connection between her story and the Constance saga, though they are allied.
— 48 —
I notice the following points of agreement with the Constance saga, and more particular!}' with the type 6*.
1. The heroine's father is named Constantine Tr, Co.
Cf. HC, KR.
2. She marries a king in Northumbria Mk, HC, Tr,
(Of 1).
3. The husband is a heathen, but is converted Tr
(Cf. HC).
4. The name Anlav, Anlat or Olaf might be confused
with ^lla.
5. The hero leaves his kingdom for several years, and
crosses the sea, to repel Irish (Pec, Bu) invaders from a city in his dominions.
6. The heroine's husband and father and the Scottish
king are allied together against a common enemy HC.
7. The father abdicates Tr, HC, MB, MK, and (Miters
the religious life HC, MB.
8. The husband goes on pilgrimage.
These coincidences will now be considered separately.
1. Tr, HC, KR are forms of the half-learned type d'\ which arose in crusading times, and represents the heroine as a Byzantine princess *). Nothing would be more natural than to introduce the name Constantine. It will be ob- served that in three cases (Tr, Co, HC) Constantine is an emperor, and in three (Tr, HC, KR) he is a Greek. The father is nowhere connected with Scotland-). As the name Constantine is applied to three different persons, the heroine's father (Tr, Co), her son (KR), and hor father's successor (HC) it may have been introducinl in- dependently in each case. In two versions indeed.
^) I cannot determine the relation of Co to Ww olhor versions, being io^norant of its contents (p. 0).
=^) In Da he is king of Dacia. Dacians, as often, m-A\ si a ml for Danes. But otlier versions of this ijionp £* have Hungary and Russia.
— 49 —
KR^ and Tr^ a special reason may be found for the use of the name. On the other hand, if the original of 6* had Constantine king of Scots, the name may have suggested Constantinople.
2. Anlaf was only de jure king of Northumbria when he married Constantine's daughter. He did not actually come into his kingdom till several years later. The circumstances of his marriage are totally different from those of the king's marriage in the saga. In the former case the lady marries a fugitive at her father's court, in the latter she is a fugitive from her father at the court of her future husband.
3. Here the saga tits Anlaf better than ^Ua, for the latter died a heathen. In Tr the king is converted through his Christian queen. This may have been the case with Anlaf, as it was with ^]thelborlit of Kent, and other princes.
4. Trivet, who calls the hero Alle, follows (5*, in which a Greek emperors daughter marries a king of Northumbria. If the names of the two sovrans in (5* were C/Onstantine and Anlav (the latter perhaps in some French modified form), a learned chronicler, such as Trivet was, nn'ght identify them either with the emperor Constantine VII (Porphyrogennetos, 912 — 958), and his contemporary Anlaf, or, as Trivet actually did, with Tiberius Constantinus and his contemporary .Ella. Through Bede, and other writers, ^lla was better known than Anlaf. Porphyrogennetos was succeeded (and perhaps murdered) by his son, whereas the successor of Til)erius was his daughter's husband Mauritius. The saga therefore which represents the emperor as succeeded by his daughter's son, would have appeared to suit Tiberius best. Trivet remarks on the discrepancy
1) Tlio name liero according to Suchier {Beauni. T, LXXV n.) may be borinnvcd from Constantine the Great, of whose infancy a similar tale is told.
2) Cf. p. 21.
Palaestra XXTII. ^
— 50 —
with regard to Mauritius, whom he knows to have been the husband, and not the son, of Constantina.
5. In Bu the king of England repels an invasion by the kings of Scotland and Ireland. In Pec he departs to conquer a rebellious island (which seems to indicate Ireland). In HC he goes to Rome to deliver it from the Saracens who are besieging it. These three versions belong to the same group *HC. In Of 1 a vassal king appeals for help against the Scots. In Tr the invaders are 'the people of Albany, who are the Scots'. In En the hero repels invading heathen. In MB he delivers his uncle the king of Castile from Saracens. It should be noted that some versions make the king cross the sea, and others make him defend his own territory. He does both in Pec (cf. MB). Now Anlaf ruled, or attempted to rule, both in Northumbria and in Ireland. The circum- stances of his departure from Northumbria in 944 are peculiar. We learn from the A. S. Chron. and other Engh'sh sources (Ethelwerd, Flor. Wig.) that he was expelled l)y Wulfstan archbishop of York, and that King Eadmund added Northumbria to tlie English dominions. It was in the same year 944 that the Irish conquered the kingdom of Dublin, and burnt the city. The commander of the Danish garrison was Blacar, a nephew of Anlaf s, and apparently his deputy. In 945 Dubhn has been recovered, and Anlaf reigns there. It may be that when in 944 Anlaf heard of the invasion of Dublin, he hurriedly sailed thither with his army, and that Eadmund seized the opportunity of recovering Northumbria. Or Anlaf, threatened simultaneously in both his kingdoms, may have preferred to save Dublin, and await an opportunity (which presented itself live years later) of regaining his lost hold on North- umbria. English chroniclers would represent his departure from Northumbria as expulsion. Partisans of Anlaf would tell a different story. As time went on, and he became a legendary hero, Danish tradition, while preserving the memory of his victories, would ignore Eadmund's live
— 51 —
years' occupation of Northumbria. Anlaf, like the hero of the saga, may have left his queen behind in safe keep- ing, when he sailed away to the war.
G. In HC the father, who is emperor of Constantinople, the heroine's husband, who is king of England, and Amaury king of Scotland are leagued together in a w^ar against the heathen. In 949 Constantine, now a monk, came out " of his cloister, and joined his successor Malcohn king of Scots, and Anlaf, in an attempt, which proved successful, to expel Eadmund from Northumbria.
7. Constantine resigned his crown in 943, and entered a monastery at S* Andrews.
8. Anlaf, after his overthrow at Tara, made a pilgrim- age to Ion a in 980, which might perhaps be compared with the pilgrimage of the hero in the saga. Constantine's daughter was however dead or divorced long before this.
We have to choose between these coincidences and those mentioned in the preceding section, which appear to connect the Constance saga with .Ella and Eadwiue. There can be little doubt that the evidence for an A^Ahx saga is the stronger. One would certainly not expect Constantine of Scotland and Anlaf to become the heroes of an English saga. The poem on the battle of Brunan- burh breathes the national hatred wiiich these foreign invaders aroused. It is indeed possible that the half-Norse population of Northumbria, fretting under Westsaxon rule, cherished their memory. And if the Constance saga is to be connected with Anlaf, it is to this population and not to Northmen or Kelts that w^e must look. Suchier (Paul & Braune IV, p. 521) recognises genuine Anglo-saxon elements in the saga. In Of 1 another version is found established among the Mercian Angles. Trivet's express identitication of the hero with JElla is of great weight, especially as his account is certainly drawn from much older documents (whatever 'the ancient chronicles of the Saxons' were), and preserves names which can only have been taken from English, and not fromKeltic or Scandinavian
4*
— 52 —
sources ^). It is however, as might be expected, among the Kelts and Northmen that Anlaf appears as a legendary hero. He is mentionod in numerous Norse sagas -). Above all, he was celebrated by the Welsh, and afterwards by the Anglo-Normans, as Abloyc, Aveloc, or Havelok the Dane. G. Storm {Engl. Stud. Ill, p. 533) and H. L. D. Ward {Catalogue of Romances in the B. M, 1883, 1, pp. 423 — 446, 940) have conclusively proved the identity both in name and story of Anlaf Cuaran and Aveloc Cuaran**). The latter has little or nothing in common with the hero of the Constance saga^).
It appears then that the alleged connection of the saga with Constantine and Anlaf is purely imaginary.
1) Trivet's Alle does not agree with any form of Anlaf. Tlio O. N. Anleifr, Olafr = O. E. Anlaf [A. S. Chron.), O. Ir. Amlaihh {War of the Gaedhil, p. 47 &c.), O. Welsh Ahloyc {Brut y Tywysogmij and Ann. Camh. an. 942). If the source were Norse, one would expect in O. Pr. Olave, if Welsh, Aveloc. The O. E. Eoforivic (Trivet's Evoluic) is O. N. Jork, and O. E. Eormengild (TriAct's Hermyngild) Avould bo O.N. *Jarmungild. It is strange that in Tr, one of Ihe i)ersons lo whom Alle entrusts his queen is 'Lucius, bishop of Bangor'. Thei-c is also mention of Christian Britons in pagan Northumhria.
2) Cf. the list in War of the Gaedhil pp. CI, n. 1, 280.
3) Anlaf appears in the Welsh Annals, by a well known plionetic change, as Abloyc. The form Aveloc or Havelok, sliows tliat tlie saga cannot be indigenous in the Grimsby district, but must have been imported from the Kelts. The authoi- of the P'rencli lai, which according to Skeat (ed. Havelok, E. E. T. S.) was written in England, mentions together with several Lincolnshire place- names, a port, Carlefiure, which cannot be identified, but ihe name has a decidedly Welsh look. Welsh princes of Strathclyde were among Anlaf's allies at Brunanburh. Skeat {Havelok, p. IV), tbodgli un- aware of the identification with Anlaf, argues on otlier grounds that 'the tradition is British or Welsh'. For Havelok's connection with Eadwine see above, p. 41, n. 1.
4) Unless his wife's name Argentille or Goldehoru can be con- nected with the heroine's treasures and radiant robe.
— 53 —
3. The Thrytho saga, and Offa and Cynethrytli of Mercia.
(a.) The Lives of the Two Offas.
The hero of the oldest extant version of the Constance saga is the half - mythical Anghan king Offa I. This version connects the important group ^* with the very ancient saga of Offa and Thrytho, which, if not, as some think, originally identical with the Constance saga, has at least heen blended with it. It appears in its most com- plete form in the Vita Offce II, part of the same work in which Of 1 is found, and again in a fragmentary form in Beoivulf 1931 — 1962. Its origin and relation to the Con- stance saga have been investigated by Suchier in Paul and Braune's Beitrdge IV, pp. 500 — 521, tlber die Sage von Offa und {wy'bo.
The ijatin work called Vitce duorum Off'anmi was prob- ably composed in the 12tii century*), but follows older documents. The author, once erroneously supposed to have been Matthew Paris, belonged to the abbey of S<^ Albans, of which Offa of Mercia was a benefactor, if not the founder. Mercian records were no doubt preserved in the abbey. The former of the two Offas is the pre- historic king of the continental Angles mentioned in Beoividff Widdth 35 — 44, and in the Mercian genealogies of the A. S. Chron., Nennius, &c. Saxo and Sueno Aggonis, who wrongly -) call him a Dane, tell the well-known story of his youthful torpor, and his combat on the Eider"'). This saga is found, singularly enough, in the Lives of both the Offas, and in both cases the scene is transferred to England. The subsequent adventures of the two kings are also somewhat similar in the two l)iographies. Each
1) See Luard, in his edition of Mat. Paris, Chron. Maj. (R. S.) vol. I, pp. XXXII, LXXX.
2) Kemble, Beowulf, II, pp. XXXI-XXXIV; Grein in Ebert's JB. IV, pp. 278-285.
3) The subject of Uhland's ballad, Der hlinde Kmiig.
— 54 —
of them finds a banished princess and marries her. As the two stories are obviousl}' parallel, it has been supposed ') that the compiler, finding two histories of Offa wliich \\v was unable to reconcile, applied them to the two kings who bore the name. It was of course the first Offa of whom these mythical adventures were originally told, but, as I shall endeavour to show, the St Albans chronicler was probably not the first to fall into the error of attaching the saga to the Mercian king. On the contrary, there are details in both biographies, as also in Beowulf, which point one to the conclusion that the saga of the ancient Anglian hero was connected with his more famous Mercian namesake at a very early date, perhaps even, in a satirical spirit, by the contemporaries of the latter.
Offa I, who actually reigned in Sleswick in the 4tii century 2), appears in the Vita as a king of the W. Angles in England. His father Warmund is called the founder of Warwick^). The saga was doubtless localised l)y the inmiigrant Angles in their new home. Part of tlu^ 17/^/ Off'w 7, which tells of his relations with his wife, is, as we have said, the oldest known version of the Constance saga, and the best type of ^*. According to the Vita^ the king neglected to perform a vow he had made to found a monastery at 8^ Albans"^), and his descendant Pinercd the son of Tuinfreth ultimately fultilled the obligation. This
1) Grein, ut supra^ W. Miiller in (icnnania I, p. 433.
-) P. E. Miiller, Saxo^ II, p. 137 f. (Jrciii, xit snpra, ]). 2S1.
'•>) This shows that Wats and Sucliier [Bcaum. I. XXVI) arc wrong in altering Angli occidentales to A. orientales. 1'ln' W . Angles entered Warwickshire hy the Trent A-alley.
^) John Ross, or Rous, a 15tli century Avriter, repeats the story of the wife of Offa I, either from the Yita or from a common source. {Hist. Reg. Anglice, ed. Hearne, Oxford 171(5, p. 60 ff.) An ambiguous statement of his has been taken to mean that he saw the story portrayed in tapestry in the abbot's liall at S^ Albans. 8(j J). Ilaiiili. The A. S. Sagas, p. 60. But cf. Miiller -Velscliow, >'((,/() II, p. l;;ij. ;ui(l Siichim- in P. c{- B. W. p. 505.
— 55 —
Pinered, or rather Wmfrith, as the name should be read *), was King Offa of Mercia, son of Thincgferth, the subject of the second Life. He was, according to tradition, the eleventh lineal descendant of the elder Offa. The S* Albans writer saj^s that he obtained the name of Offa from the resemblance of his early fortunes to those of his ancestor. Of his youth, however, we know very little. His father belonged to a younger branch of the royal family, and when a revolution had rendered the Mercian throne vac- ant, the young prince Offa was elected king.
The Vita Off'x II, which is evidently derived from various sources, mixes fables and valuable historical facts in a singular manner. After telling of his youth and accession it continues (Matt. Paris, Historia Major &c. ed. Wm. Wats-), Lond. 1684, p. 971) ''Diebus itaque sub eisdeni, regnante in Francia Carolo rege magno ac victoriosissimo, qujDdam puella, facie venusta, sed mente nimis inhonesta, ipsi regi consan guinea, pro quodam quod patraverat crimine tlagitiosissimo, addicta est judicialiter morti ignominiosa3, verum ob regia) dignitatis reverentiam, igni vel ferro trad- enda non judicatur, sed in navicula armamentis carente apposita, victu tenui, ventis et mari eorumque ambiguis casibus exponitur condemnata. Quie diu variis procellis exagitata, tandem fortuna trahente litori Britonum est appulsa, et cum in terra subjecta potestati regis Offa) memorata cimba applicuisset, conspectui regis protinus pra3scntatur. Interrogata autem qu£enam esset, respondens, patria lingua aftirmavit 'se Carolo regi Francorum fuisse consanguinitate propinquam, Dridamque nominatam, sed per tyrannidem ouorundam ignobilium (quorum nuptias, ne degeneraret, sprevit) tali fuisse discrimini adjudicatam,' abortisque lachrymis addidit dicens, 'Deus autem qui innocentes a laqueis insidiantium liberat, me captivam ad alas tua3 protectionis, o regum serenissime, feliciter trans-
*) See Lappenberg, Engl. tr. II, p. 227, and Thorpe's note. 2) The Vita Offm II does not appear to have been printed since Wats's edition.
— 56 —
misit, ut meum infortunium in auspicium fortunatum trans- nuitetur, et beatior in cxilio quam in natali patria ab omni prsodicer posteritate/
"Rex autem, verborum suorum ornatuni et elo(iuentiani. et corporis puellaris cultum et elegantiani pendens, motus pietate, pni^cepit, ut ad comitissam Marcellinani niatreni suam tutius duceretur alenda, ac mitius sub tani honesta^ matrona) custodia, donee regium mandatum audiret, con- fovenda. Puella? igitur infra paucos dies, macie et pallore per alimenta depulsis, rediit decor pristinus, ita ut mulierum pulcberrima censeretur. Sed cito ad verba jactantia) et elationis (secundum patria3 suse consuetudinem) prorumpens, dominee suse comitissa', qua^. materno affectu earn dulciter educaverat, molesta nimis fuit, ipsani procaciter contem- nendo. Sed comitissa, pro amore filii sui regis, omnia patienter toleravit: licet et ipsa dicta puella, inter comitem et comitissam verba discordia) seminasset. Una igitur dierum, cum rex ipsam causa visitationis adieus, verbis consolatoriis alloqueretur, incidit in retia amoris illius; erat enim jam species illius concupiscibilis. Clandestino igitur ac repentino matrimonio ipsam sibi, inconsultis patre et matre necnon et magnatibus suis universis, copulavit. Unde uterque parentum, dolore ac ticdio in a^tate senili contabescens, dies vita? abbreviando, sua) mortis horam lugubriter anticiparunt; sciebant enim ipsam mulierculam fuisse regalibus amplexibus prorsus indignam; perpendebant- que jamjam veracissime, non sine causa exilio lachrymabili, ipsam, ut pn^dictum est, fuisse condemnatam . . .
"Exregina igitur uxore sua (qua) se Petronillam nomin- avit) prolem suscepit sexus infra biennium utrius(iue, iiliumque suum primogenitum Egfridum jussit nominari."
Then follow certain political intrigues of a historical character; which will be discussed presentl}'. The other English kings, jealous of Offa's power, apply to Charle- magne, who promises his aid, and threatens Offa. Jaen- berht or lambert (the text has Lamhmius) archbishop of Canterbury having sought to betray his country to the
— 57 —
Franks, the Mercian see of Lichfield is raised to metro- politan rank as a counterpoise to Canterbury, and Hyge- berht (in the textHumbertns^)),Of(siS chaplain and confessor, becomes Mercian archbishop. The kings of Wessex and Northumbria-) marry daughters of Offa. "Cumque (p. 980) Humbertus archiepiscopus Lichfeldensis, et Unwona epi- scopus Legrecestrensis, viri sancti et discreti, et de nobili stirpe Merciorum oriundi, speciales essent regis consiharii, et semper qua3 honesta erant et justa atque utilia sug- gcssissent, invidebat eis regina uxor Offa3, qua^ prius Drida, postca vero Quendrida, id est regina Drida, quia regi ex insperato nupsit, est appellata . . . Mulier avara et sub- dola, superbiens, eo quod ex stirpe Caroli originem duxerat, et inexorabili odio viros memoratos persequebatur, tendens eis muscipulos muliebres. Porro cum ipsi reges supra- dictos^) regi Offie in spiritu consilii salubriter recon- ciliassent, et ut eidem regi foedere matrimoniali specialius conjungerentur, diligenter et efficaciter procurassent, ipsa mulier facta eorum nitebatur in irritum revocare, nee poterat, quibus acriter invidebat. Ipsas enim puellas filias suas, ultramarinis alienigenis, in regis supplantationem et regni Merciorum perniciem, credidit tradidisse maritandas." The king of E. Anglia woos Offa's third daughter, but Drida treacherously causes him to fall into a pit, where he is slain. To punish this crime her husband (p. 981) "eam jussit omnibus vitse sua? diebus inclusam in loco remotam secretion peccata sua deplorarc." Some years later she is attacked by robl)ers and thrown into her own pit, where she perishes.
This Quendrida or Queen Drida is identified with the historical Cynethryth, wife of Offa of Mercia. but as Kemble and Grundtvig have pointed out'), her story is partly the same as that which is told of the mythical Thrytho
•) Confused with another bishop, Berthun.
2) The Vita confuses these proteges of Offa with their prede- cessors who plotted against him.
3) See below, p. 75, n. 3.
— 58 —
in Beowulf. The passage in Beowulf will be discussed presently, but we may anticipate so far as to mention that the two accounts agree in the following respects. A lady named Thrytho (or in Latin Drida) is sent by her father, or some other relative, across the sea. She marries an Anglian king named Offa. Her character is haughty and violent. She repels wooers '), and seeks the ruin of certain courtiers or companions of her husband.
We may here mention a third tradition. Walter Mapes in his Be Nugis Curialium II, 17 says of Offa of Mercia, "acceperat sibi conjugem filiam imperatoris Roman- orum [Cunnani]. Multa inter Romanos et Anglos audivimus ad utrorumque lacrimas facta conjugia^), quorum hoc unum. Venerant Komani frequenter ad Offani ab im- peratore missi, ditatique ab ipso recesserant cum multa laude regis et regni, quos ut Roma vidit vestibus et auro lucidos, statim innata exarsit avaritia." The Romans per- suade Cunnanus to invade England, but a roving Vandal free-lance named Gado arrives by divine guidance at the critical moment, and by his help Offa routs the Romans ^). The story in the Vita Offa? II, to the effect that the archbishop of Canterl)ury invited Charlemagne to land troops in Kent"*), may be compared.
Lastly, in a remarkable Italian version of the Con- stance saga, VM, which is closely connected with the
1) 'Nsenig ^ast dorste . . . nefne sin froa, Jiaet hire an daeges eagiim starede.' Beoiv. 1933—5. 'Ignobilium . . . nuptias, no dc- generaret, sprovit' Vita Offos II.
-) Probably an allusion to the calamitous struggle between Stei)hon and the Empress Matilda.
^) T. Wright in the Camden Society's edition of De Ntig. Cur., p. 85 says the tale 'appears to be the abstract of some medieval (perhaps Anglo-Saxon) romance, now lost.' A grandson of Offa is called Suanus.
4) Ed. Wats, p. 978. There wore also French legends of an invasion of England by Charlemagne. So Chanson de Roland, ed. (■Jautier, 1. 372 f. 'Vers Engleterro passat il la mer salse, Ad oes seint Pierre en cunquist le chevage.' Offa is the traditional founder of Peter's pence. See p. 03.
— 59 —
Vita O/ffF. J, the heroine is the daughter of a king of France, 'at the time that the Roman empire was trans- ferred to the king of France'*), i. e. she is the daughter of a Carolingian king.
The clue to these various legends, if there is one, must be sought in the political events of Offa's reign.
(b.) Cynethrj^th, Queen of Mercia, in History.
It will be necessary first to glance at Offa's dealings with his neighbours. The key to the political situation is the conflict between Offa's endeavour to unite England under Mercian hegemony, and the particularism of the smaller kingdoms, which was steadily fostered by the Frankish kings -). The latter appear to have been alarmed at the tendency towards political consolidation which was showing itself in England. Pepin offered alliance to Eadberht of Xortluunbria'^), who was attacked by a pre- decessor of Offa's, the pow(^rful J^^thelbald of Mercia. On Pepin s death in 768, Alchred of Northumbria sent an embassy to Charlemagne, and became his vassaH). Charle- magne also acquircnl suzerainty ov(>r the Scottish kings, either of Scotland or Ireland-'^).
The dynastic struggles in Northumbria are very ob- scure. Eadberht and Alchred, the clients of the Franks, are said to have Ijelonged to the old royal house. In the deposition of the latter king in 774 in favour of ^Ethelred
1) Miracidi della glorlosa verzene, cap. XI (1475), 'Legesi in una L'crta cronicha che nel tempo nel quale fu translatato el Romano iniperio al re di Franz a' ...
2) See Freeman, Norman Conquest, 3rd ed., I, j). 569 note I); F. Palgrave, The English Commonwealth, 1832, Part I, p. 484 ff.; Haddan and Stubbs, Councils, III, p. 486 if.; E. Winkelmann, Geschichte der Angelsachsen (= Oncken's Allgem. Gesch. 11,3), 1883, pp. 121—123.
3) Sim. Dunelm., Hist. Dun. 11,3.
4) Einhard, Annales, snb. ami. 808.
s) Einhard, Vita KaroU, cap. 18. Followed by Poeta Sa^xo, V, 177. There is a tradition of an alliance between Cliarles and an Achaiiis of Scotland (Palgrave, I, p. 484).
— 60 —
we may perhaps see the result of an intrigue of Off a, who had just annexed Essex and Kent. Like his father ^Ethel- wald, who had been set on the throne in 759, J^thelred S(^enis to have been a usurper. He afterwards became Offa's son-in-law. The Northumbrians deposed him in 778/9, when Offa was engaged in wars elsewhere, and they placed a grandson of Pepin's client Eadberht on the throne.
In spite of their rivalry in Northumbria and other kingdoms, Offa's relations with Charlemagne remained out- wardly friendly for the first thirty years of his reign, which began in 757. There was a rumour, about 783. strenuously denied by Charles, that the two kings had been plotting to depose the Pope, Adrian I *), with wliom Charles had a quarrel. In 786 Charles and Adrian sent embassies to England. They not only conferred with Offa, but with his old enemy Cynewulf of Wessex. Within the year the latter was murdered by one of his own people, and Brihtric usurped the throne ^). Ecgberht, the rightful heir to Wessex, who claimed also the crown of Kent, appealed in vain to Offa, and fled over sea to the court of Charles. In the mean time a legatine synod was held at Cealchyth. Offa prevailed upon Adrian, it is said by an immense bribe, to grant the pallium to Hygeberht, bishop of Lichfield. The political significance of this act is clear. A large part of Offa's kingdom was under the ecclesiastical juris- diction of Canterbury, the capital of a conquered kingdom, where Prankish agents w^ere secretly fomenting rebelKon, So long as Canterbury was the ecclesiastical metropolis of i\Iercia, Offa s scheme of a Mercian England was fore- doomed to failure. The danger had already been mani- fested, if we may believe tlie Vita Offce II. Kentish rebels had appealed to Charles, who had replied l)y threatening
1) Codex Carolmiis 92, in M. G. H. Ill, Merow. & Karol, Aevi 1, p. 629.
-) lie afterwards married a daugfhter of Offa's.
— 61 —
Offa. He however crushed the rising. Jaen})erlit the archbishop of Canterbury is said to have gone so far as to invite Charles to land Frankish forces in Kent *). Offa, we are told, on discovering the plot, drove him into exile, and set up the rival archl)ishopric of Lichfield. We know that Charlemagne was not pleased with this innovation, for after Offa's death he supported the request of the archbishop of Canterbury for its abolition.
Offa continued to strengthen his position. He bound Brihtric, the usurper of Wessex, more closely to his in- terests by giving him to wife his daughter Eadburga in 789. A new revolution in Northumbria set ^thelred once more on the throne in 790, and he at once put to death two princes of the rival dynasty, grandsons of Pepin's ally, and sought to kill a certain Eardwulf^), who at a later date, when king of Northumbria, was forced to fly, and took refuge at Clnirlem ague's court in 803. .'Ethelred thus appears for the thiixl time as an opponent of the Frankish party. In 792, a year after these acts, he married a daughter of Offa's named ^Elffhied.
Offa's interference in Kent, in Wessex, and probably in Northumbria, gradually ali(^.nated Charlemagne. The hitter, it appears, had made an attempt to secure Offa's alliance by demanduig the hand of one of his daughters for his son Charles. Offa's conditions are said to have ex- asperated the Frankish kiiig-^). The two rulers closed
1) Vita Off'ce 11, ed. Wats, p. 978. J. R. Green (Short Hist. 1885, p. 40 f.) accepts IJie story without hesitation. If Jaenberht x)lotted before the creation of the Lichfield archbishopric, his exile cannot have lasted very long, for already in 789 we find him witnessing three charters together with his rival of Lichfield (Kemble 155—7, Birch 255-7).
-) Sim. Dunelm, Hist. Regum, R. S. § 55, p. 52, ann. 790.
•") Gesta Abbat. Fontanell. cap. 16, in M. G. H. II, p. 291. Tliero is excellent authority for this story. Gerwold abbot of Fontanelle (S. Wandrille), who was a collector of customs on the N. Frencli coast, exchanged letters with Offa, and ultimately procured the reopening of the ports. Winkelmann {nt supra) p. 122; F. Dahn, Urgeschichfe {= Oncken IT, 2) ITI, p. 1020.
— 62 —
their ports against oacli other's subjects in 790, and no- thing but the (liploniacy of Alcuin, wlio was on a political mission in England from 790 to 793, averted war ^). Alcuin was specially occupied with the affairs of Northumbria. After his return to the continent he wiites that he does not wish for strife, and has never been unfaithful to Offa or the English 2). The situation was therefore still critical in 793. Alcuin's language seems to employ that he re- garded Olfa's cause as in a broad sense national.
The next year the only English kingdom where Offa had not yet gained a footing fell into his hands. The circumstances are somew^hat mysterious. S^ ^thelberht, king of E. Anglia, is said to have demanded the hand of Offas daughter J^Clfthryth. Offa however treacherously slew him, and seized his kingdom (Wm. Malm. Gest. Reg. § 86). According to Florence of Worcester (1, 62), and Eichard of Cirencester {Spec. Hist. I, 262 ff.), Offa was instigat(Hl to the nunxler by his wife Cynethryth. Two 8i Albans writers {Viia Offw II, p. 980 f., followed by Mat. Paris, Chron. Maj. R. 8. I, p. 354 ff.), who may be suspected •"') of a desire to exculpate their great benefactor, attribute J^thelberht's death to Cynethryth alone. He falls into a pit which she has prepared for him. After- wards robbers kill her, and throw her body into her own pit. This poetic justice bears the stamp of liction-*) (cf. Psalm VII, 15, 16). There is little doubt that the act,
1) Cf. Dummler {M. G. H.) Ale. Epp. 7.
2) Diimmler, Ale. Epp. 82. Tlie date of this letter shows that, unless it refers to a fresh dispute, Winkelmann {Gesch. der A. S:, p. 122) is mistaken in thinking that the quarrel was OA'er in 790. Also Charles's letter relating to the iugitives {Ale. Epp. 85), which W. connects with the same quarrel, was not written before July 793.
3) Diet. Nat. Biog. s. v. Ethelbert.
4) The miracle -loving Bromton (ed. Twysden and Seldcn, Hist. Angl. Scripfores X, 1G52, col. 752) tells tliat after tlie murder yElfthryth propJiesied that lier mother would be carried off by devils, and would bite out her own tongue, and die witliin three montljs, all of which happened.
— 63 -
whatever its motive, was Offa's, and that Cynethrjth was at least commonly believed to have incited him to it.
How long the quarrel with Charlemagne lasted is not known. At some date between July 793 and Offa s death in 796, there were Mercian conspirators in the Frankish dominions, who had fled from England for their lives. Charles asked the archbishop of Canterbury and the bishop of Lindsey to intercede with Offa for these fugitives*). According to a tradition, which may well be correct, Offa visited Rome shortly hefore his death, either to do penance for the murder of JEthelberht^), or to secure privileges for his abbey of S^ Albans "O- If he went to Rome for the former reason, he must have done so in 794 or 795. The Pope Adrian I was now on very friendl}' terms with Charle- magne. Possibly he brought about a reconciliation on this occasion. Two letters writt(Mi respectively by Charlemagne and his minister Alcuin to Offa early in 796 may be thought to imply that friendly relations had (piite recently ])een established. Alcuin assures Offa that Charles is grieved at the murder of the former's son-in-law J^]thelred of Northumbria, and is a sincere friend of Offa*). Charle- magn(^'s language is still more decided''*). Addressing Offa as his 'dearest brother', he thanks God for liis ortho- doxy, promises privileges for Enghsh pilgrims who go to
^) Diimmler, Ale. Epp. 85. Cf. the conciliatory letter (Diim. 100) which Charles wrote to Offa in 796, announcing that he had sent some English ecclesiastical fugitives for trial to Rome, wliero the archbishop of Canterbury then was.
2) Bromton, Chron., ut supra, col. 754.
"') Vit. Off. II, p. 985, followed by M. Paris Chron. Maj. T, 358 ff.; Gesta Abb. S. Albmii 1, 45. Offa's request to Charles for black marble in 796 (Diim. Ale. Epp. 100) suggesls that he may have seen such during his alleged pilgrimage. l.ai)penberg (I, p. 230, Engl, tr. II, p. 236) thinks the pilgrimage not im])rohable.
4) Diimmler, Ale. Epp. 101.
&) Ibid. 100.
— 64 —
Rome *), and protection for English mordiants, and requests the prayers of Offa and the English for the soul of the deceased Pope Adrian. The letter was accompanied by Hunnish spoils, and other valuable gifts. Very soon after, in July 796, Offa died.
The quarrel then, which had been long smouldering, reached an acute stage in 790, was certainly not over before 793, and probably not until a few months before Offa's death.
We may now turn to the traditions about Cynethryth, and examine them in the light of Mercian history. The latter part of the Vita Offce II, which is of a more sober character than the pages describing the king's earlier ad- ventures, states (above, p. 56 f.) that Quendrida incmTcd obloquy by her political intrigues, and in particular that (a) the special objects of her hatred w^ere Offa's chief advisers, the Mercians Hygeberht, archbishop ofLichfiekl, and Unwona bishop of Leicester, and that (b.) she tried to prevent the marriages of her daughters with their royal suitors, and wished that their hands might be bestowed on foreigners, so that her husband might be supplanted, and his kingdom ruined.
The evidence of the charters appears to throw some light on these statements. The following table shows that at certain periods Cynethryth's name accompanies Offa's in the charters, while at other periods it is absent 2).
*) According to the Vita Ojfce II, p. 985, Offa endowed nn English hostel at Rome during his visit to that city.
2) I have here followed Birch's Cartularium Saxonicum, which is far more complete tlian Kemble, although no distinction is made between charters which are supposed to be genuine, and those which are called in question. Birch however considers many which Kemble has marked as doubtful to be genuine. If only those which Ihe latter accepts be counted, tlie general result will be the same. I have omitted certain charters which liave lost tlie list of signatures, and otiiers which cannot be even approxim- ately dated.
~ 65
|
A. D. |
Of. |
Of.&Cy. A. D. 1 |
Of. |
Of.&Cy. |
A. D. |
Of. |
Of.&Cy. |
|
|
757—69 |
6 |
_ |
1 |777 |
2 |
1 |
786 |
1 |
1 |
|
770 |
2 |
2 |
|778, 9 |
4 |
— |
787 |
2 |
1 |
|
771 |
— |
— |
780 |
4 |
4 |
788 |
2 |
1 |
|
772 |
3 |
1 |
781 |
2 |
2 |
789 |
3 |
— |
|
773 |
— |
— |
; 782, 3 |
— |
— |
790 |
1 |
1 |
|
774 |
3 |
3 |
^784 |
1 |
1 |
791—6 |
8 |
|
|
775, 6 |
— |
— |
'785 |
2 |
2 |
From 780 to 788, it will be seen, Cynetliryth's name is only lacking twice in a total of 14 charters. In the remaining 8 years of the reign, however, out of 12 charters, only one bears her name, which does not occm^ at all in the last 6 years. The absence of the queen's name in these last years might indeed be accounted for by the supposition that she died in or soon after 790, were there no evidence that slie survived her husband. Though this cannot be conclusively proved, it is in the highest degree probable. Xot only is Cynethryth traditionally associated with the nuirder of JEthelberht in 794, but in 798 ^thel- lieard, archbishop of Canterbury, allowed a certain Cyne- (liitha, abbess of Cookham, to retain the abbey, which Offa had unjustly seized and left to his heirs, but she agreed to give up certain lands in Kent which had come into her ])ossession in the same irregular way. The charter (Kemble 1019, Birch 291) is admitted to be genuine, ])oth l)y Kemble and Stubbs, but the latter is uncertain whether this ab])ess was Offa's widow, or his great-niece of the same name, the daughter of Coenwulf, the reigning king of Mercia. Tb(^. latter suggestion seems extremely improbable ^).
1) Cf. Stubbs, in Diet. Christ. Biog., s. v. Kenethrytha, also Haddan and Stubbs, Councils^ III, p. 512. Coenwnlfs daughter Cynetlirylli umst; have been quite young- in 798, at least if she had the same mother as lier brother Kenelm, for he was not born till 814. The archbishop says of the estates in Kent 'quas scilicet terras olim rex Offa sibi viventi conscribere fecit, suisque haeredibus post Palaestra XXm. 5
— 66 —
There are two charters of 796 (Kemble 172, 178; Birch 280, 281) ascribed to Ecgferth, which l)ear the name of 'Cyne'<5ry^ regina\ and one of 798 (Kemble 1017, Birch 285) ascribed to Coenwulf and witnessed hy Kynedryp abbess of GLastonbury, but these are doubtful.
Alcuin in his above mentioned letter to Offa {Ep. 101, Dtim.) writes a few weeks before the latter's death, 'Sal- uta quoqiie illam dominam et dispensatricem domiis regice. Vivat ilia felix et in prole paternce heatitudinis gaudens.^ The last words seem to mean, 'May she rejoice in her children who are a blessing to their father', language which would be appropriate if Cynethryth be the lady alluded to *), seeing that her son was Offa's coregent, and two of her daughters had married his alHes. We know from other letters of Alcuin's (61, 62) that he was per- sonally acquainted with Cynethryth, and that he esteemed her highly.
The last charter of Offa's which Cynethryth is known to have witnessed was the confirmation on the 12tii of April 790 of a gift of land near London to the Abbey of St Denis near Paris, which is well known to have enjoyed the special patronage of Charlemagne*^) (Bh'ch, 259). Tlu^ names of Unwona and Hygeberht also appear on this document. It was probably signed before the closing of the harbours in the same year. With this exception, the last known charter of Offa's that Cynethryth signed was in 788 (Kemble 152, Birch 253). It is the first signed by Hygeberht as archbishop of Lichfield. His name appears regularly on Offa's charters from 781, and Unwona's name from 785.
eum.' How Coenwulf s daughter can be supposed to have inherited this j^roperty from Offa during her father's lifetime, not to say surrendered it, I do not understand.
1) This is the view of Jaff^, quoted by Diimmler, M. G.H. Kpp. IV, p. 148.
2) In the same year, and doubtless before the blockade, the enldorman of Sussex leased the liarbours of Hastings and Pevens(>y to the same abbey. Winkelmann, Gesch. der Angelsachsm^ p. 122.
— 67 —
We find then that Cynethryth disappears in 788, the year in which Hygeberht received the paUiiim. This was precisely the critical period in Offa's reign, when his in- (lependant and aggressive policy began to create a breach between him and Charles. Cynethryth reappears for a moment in 790 to witness the conferring of a favour on Charles's abbey of S* Denis. Immediately after this the quarrel ])etween the t\vo kings breaks out, and with the doubtful l)ut significant exception of S^ ^thelberht's murder, we hear no more of Cynethryth until the spring of 796, when Charles and Offa are fully reconciled. She is then, it appears, peacefully presiding over her husband's house- hold.
We have seen that Cynethryth's traditional enemies, her sons-in-law ^thelred of Northumbria and Brihtric of Wessex *), and her husband's chief adviser Hygeberht, are Charlemagncrs enemies. Their rivals, Eardwulf, Ecgberht and Jaenberht, fiy to Charlemagne's court, or carry on intrigues with him.
It is clear from all this that Cynethryth took an active part in pohtics, and that she sided with the Frankish party. A wife who could syst(Mnatically thwart her hus- band's ambitions, and a mother who could repulse her daughters' royal suitors, as she is alleged to have don(% nuist have been dominated by a strong motive. If she belonged to one of the disinherited houses of Northumbria, Wessex, or Kent, her conduct would perhaps not be un- natural.
The Vita Offce 11^ it will be remembered, asserts that she was of the Frankish royal house, a relative {consan-
1) Asser relates on the authority of persons who had known her, that Cynethryth's daughter Eadburga, after accidentally pois- oning" her husband Brihtric, with whom she had lived at enmity, lied on account of the odium she had excited in Wessex to Charle- magne, who jestingly asked whether she wald marry him or his son. It has been thought she was that daughter of Offa whom Charles had demanded for his son. See below, p. 72 n. 3.
6*
— 68 —
guinea) of Cliarleniagne himself. The statement in itself seems highly improbable, but is worth investigation. It agrees, as has been shown, with a story told by Walter Mapes, and with the Italian legend VM. Charles of course did not assume the imperial title till after Offa's death, but he had long been virtually Eoman emperor, and the mistake is one which might very naturally have arisen later. In Mapes's story there is an evident reference (quoted above, p. 58) to the diplomatic relations between the two kings. It is impossible to explain the name Cun- nanus, which I can find nowhere else recorded. That the MS. reading is sound is proved by an obscene pun upon the name, which Mapes quotes ^). The only Carolingian name even remotely resembling it is Carlomannus. The elder Carloman, mayor of Austrasia, was of the right age to be Cynethryth's father 2). He retired into a monastery in the prime of life in 747. He had more than one son, but with the exception of Drogo his eldest son, the names of none of his children are recorded.
The name Cyneihryth, which was not unconnnon in England, occurs also on the Continent. The Alemannic equivalent Chunidrud appears in a list of names taken by Goldast from an ancient MS. in the monaster}^ of St Gall ^). The second element in the name occurs with
1) 'Domnus Cunnanus nihil est nisi cunnus et anus.'
2) Cynethryth had two children living- in 770, in which j-ear her name and theirs are recorded for the first time (Birch, 203, 204). Of these children, one, Ecgferth, was crowned as Offa's coadjutor 18 years later, and the other, yl^lfflanl, was married 22 years later. Another daughter, Eadburga, was married 19 years later. Cynethryth's marriage may therefore have taken place about 768, and she may have been born c. 742—762. It was in 768 that Charles and Carloman TI succeeded Pei)in, and probably in iho same year tliat the king of Northumbria sent an embassy to Mayence, and became Charles's vassal.
3) Goldast, Rer. Alem. Scr., 3id ©d., Francf. 1730, II. a, 121. Cf. Wartmann, Urkundenbuchj and Forstemann, ^Hdeutsches Namm- huch I, p. 313. The latter gives also Chimidnit^ who however was an Englishwoman, and accompanied S<; Boniface to Germany.
— 69 —
remarkable frequency in the family of Charles Martel. His fatlier had a wife Plectrud and a daughter Getirud. His own wife, the mother of Carloman and Pepin, was Chrotrud, his daughter was Chiltrud. Charlemagne had daughters named Chrotrud, Chiltrud^ Adeltrud, and Eich- trud *). Cynethryth herself had a daughter uElfthryth^ and a grand-niece Cynethryth.
The following coincidence is more striking. According to the Vita Offce II (j). 971), Cynethryth was also called Petronilla. The saint of this name, a legendary daughter of H^ Peter, was especially venerated by the Carohngian princes. Pope Stephen H began the work of transforming tlie mausoleum of the Christian emperors in the Vatican into a chapel of S^ Petronilla. On his death in 757 his brother and successor Paul I finished the work, and in the same year translated the sarcophagus of the saint to the new chapel. "This was done in fulfilment of a pro- mise made by the pope's brother and predecessor Stephen 11 to Pippin king of the Franks, on his visit to liis court, as a token and pledge of the alliance between the papacy and the Franks against the Lombards. ... S* Peter being specially honoured by the Franks, and being their patron saint (Epp. Steph. H. IV. V. in Cod. Carol, in Pair. Lat XCYin, 101, 102), Petronilla naturally shared in the veneration paid to her reputed father, and is in fact styled by Paul I. the auxiliatrix of Pippin {Epp. Pauli I. XIII in Cod. Carol, in Patr. Lat. XCVIII, 150) . . . There her body remained, the chapel being considered to belong in an especial manner to the kings of France ... To the present day the French ambassador, after presenting his credentials to the pope, visits the chapel of S* Petronilla-)."
1) Reg. Franc. Geneal., in M. G. H. II, 312; Einhard, Yit. KaroL, in M. G. H. II, 453; Alcuin in Migne, I, p. 50.
2) From F. H. Daniell's article on Petronilla, in Smith and Wace's Did. Christ. Biog. See also Liber Pontif. in Patr. Lat. CXXVIII, 1139; Gregorovius,, 6?esc/i. der Stadt Rom, 1886, II, 307—309; Guett^e, Hi9t. de rrglise de France, 1848, ITT, 52.
— 70 —
The two Popes were iiitimatel}' associated with Pepin an his brother Carloman. Pepin wished Pope Paul I to be sponsor to his daughter Gisela, whose chrism he sent by the hand of the abbot of St Martin's at Tours. Paul deposited it with great pomp in the new chapel, and dedicated an altar to the saint to commemorate Pepin's piety*). In 755, two years before the completion of S<^^ Petronilla's chapel, Carloman had died a monk. His sons had been placed in a monastery in 754. If he also left a daughter or ward, no more appropriate religious name could have been found for her than Petronilla. In *HC, a group derived in part from the Offa type *;9, the heroine lives in a convent before her marriage (p. 27, no. 85).
According to the same group *HC, the Pope is be- sieged in Rome by the Saracens, and appeals to the heroine's husband and father for help (nos. 90, 91). Now in 756 the Lombards besieged Rome, and Pope Stephen II appealed to Pepin, and to the Greek Emperor Con- stantine V, to rescue him.
Finally it may be mentioned, though the fact is of no great significance, that Charlemagne repeatedly addresses Offa as his 'dearest brother' 2).
The chief objection to the hypothesis of Cynethryth's Carolingian origin is the silence of the older authorities, both English and Prankish. The statement is not made until the 12th century, when it appears in two fabulous or half-fabulous stories {Mapes, and Vita Offcc II). 'But the argument from silence is not conclusive. The A. S. Chron. does not mention Cynethryth at all. The absence of any reference to her in Prankish autliors might be accounted for if she was a member of some collateral branch of the Carolingian house.
1) See Paul's letter lo Pepin, mentioned in the above quotation.
2) Dummler, Ale. Epp. 85, 87, 100. Offa is 'frater carissimuti', 'cl'dectus frater\ But Charles also addresses two Greek emperors with the words 'fratemitas', Ulilectus frater' (M. G. H. Epp. IV, Karol Aev. TT, pp. 546, 556).
— 71 —
Possibh^ then, Pepin, shortly before his death, or Charles, immediately after his accession in 768, took some obscure relative from the cloister, and sent her to England to attach Offa, the most powerful of the English princes, to the Prankish interest^). After the marriage, it may be supposed, she steadily kept her political mission in view, in spite of the growing hostility of the two kings, thereby incurring much hatred in Mercia, and perhaps temporary banishment by her husband-). If the tradition of Offa's pilgrimage to Rome is true, she may have become reconciled on that occasion, as happens in the saga.
The accounts of Cynethryth's character are conflicting. In a letter of advice to Ecgferth, perliaps on the occasion of his coronation in 788, Alcuin speaks of Cynethryth in words of high though somewhat conventional praise. Alcuin is not given to flattering his friends, and were the queen's character as scandalous as other writers represent, the compliments he pays her would savour too much of irony. He writes to her son (Jaffe 45. Dihumler 61) 'Ecce quam nobilissimis natus es parentibus, quam magna enutritus cura. Noli moribus esse degener, qui nativitate generosus cxstas. Disce diligenter illorum exempla: a patre auctori- tatem, a matre pietatem', ab illo regere populum per justitiam, ah ista conpati miseris per misericordiam ; ab utroque christiance religionis devotionem, oratiorimi instantiam, elym- osinarum largitatem et fotius litm sohrietatem.^
A letter of Alcuin's (Jaffe 46, Dummler 62), written at an unknown date to Hundruda, a nun connected with OftVs court, shows that he was personally acquainted with Cynethryth, and intended to write to her. He says, 'Saluta, obsecro, domnam reginam ex me?e parvitatis nomine: scripsissem hortatorias illi litter as, si illi inopter
1) Cf. Charlemagne's later proposal of a match between liis son and Offa's daughter.
2) In Vita OfffP IT, Offa banishes her from his presence until her death, on account of the murder of St ^'Ethelberht.
— 72 —
occupationes regis meos apices Icgere licuisset. Sciat tarnen certissime me sibi quoque^ [sic] domino, quantum valeo, fidelem esse.' Can the meaning of the rather obscure italicised sentence be that Offa had forbidden his wife to receive letters from Alcuin?-) If so, they were probably political instructions.
The Northumbrian ecclesiastic and FrankisU statesman was thus on friendly terms with Cynethryth. The Vita O/fw II, which was probably derived from Mercian sources, presents a very different picture from that which Alcuin draws. Cynethryth is 'mente nimis inhonesta', 'molesta', 'procax', 'mulier avara et subdola, superbiens, eo quod a stirpe Caroli originem duxerat'; mention is made of her 'inexorabile odium', and her 'verba jactantire et elationis, secundum patria? sua^ consuetudinem". Richard of Ciren- cester must have known some simihar tradition, for he wTites that Cynethryth's daughter Eadburga queen of Wessex was incited hy her mothe^^^s example to acts of atrocious cruelty, of a very similar character to those attributed to Thrytho in Beoivulf. Richard here follows Asser very closely, except that the latter attributes Ead- burga's crimes to her father's example; 'more pateiiio tyrannice invere incepit\ he says. It is possible that Richard of Cirencester in his 'materna tyrannide incitata' has pre- served the original language of Asser, and that we should read more materno ^). We have already seen that Cynethryth
1) Should this be suoque?
2) It would have been ratlior absurd to say thai he would have written had not the queen been too busy to read his letter, uqIcSvS indeed the remark is ironical.
. ^) Asser, De JElf. reb. gest. (ed. Camden, 1003, p. 3), 'More palorno tyrannice vivere incopit, et omnem hominem exseeraii, quem Beorhtric diligeret, et omnia odibilia Deo et hominibus facere; et omnes quos posset ad regom accusare, et ita aut vita aut potestate per insidias privare; et si a rege illud impetrare non posset, veneno eos necabat', &c. She seems to have inherited something of her mother's character. Her subsetpient adventures also remind us of what is lohl of Cynethryth and Thrj'tho. Having
— 73 —
was traditionally connected with S^ xEthelberlifs murder. It has been thought that an indication of her arrogance is to be found in the silver coins bearing her name, which are the only extant Anglo-saxon coins struck by a woman '). Enough has been said to show that, in spite of Al- cuin's testimony, Cynethryth gained a reputation among her husband's people for violence and unscrupulous ambition, and probably that the patriotic Mercians hated her for her favour to their country's enemies.
(c) The Thrytho Saga in Beowulf.
Since Miillenhoff published his theory on the composition of Beowulf, most commentators have admitted that the passage 1931 -—1962, containing this saga, is an inter- polation. ]\riillenhoff attributes it to his 'Interpolator B' -). H. Moller tinds traces in it of an independent strophic song'). Suchier regards the passage as an interpolation
accidentally poisoned her husband witli a drink intended for one of his courtiers, *cum ilia inter Occidentales Saxones diutius fieri non possent, ultra mare navi^ans cum innumerabilibus thesauris Karolum . . . Francoruni reoom adiit'. lie offered in jest either to marry lier to to let her marry his son. Slie ullimalely died miserably at Pavia. Richard of Cirencester, following" Asser, says {Spec. Hist. ed. Mayor, R. S. I, p. 260) 'Brithricus . . . habuit . . . reginam nomine Eadburgam, Offae regis ^lerciorum filiam, quae multis suffulta honoribus, miris se ambitionibus extollebat. Nam materna tyrannide incitata omnes de regno nobiles ordinatos et viros religiosos ad regem accusare et execrare consuevit' &c.
1) liappenberg, Gesch. v. Emjland, 1834, I, p. 231. Palgrave suggested that these coins were struck by her namesake, the daughter of Coenwulf, who assumed the royal title after murdering her brother Kenelm in 821. 'This however,' says Hawkins {The Silver Coins of England, 3rd ed. Lend. 1887, p. 38), 'is inadmissible, for the style of the work and name of the moneyers prove that she was contemporary with Offa.'
2) Die inner e Geschichte des Beovulfs, in ZS. f. d. A. XIV, 1869, pj). 216, 243, reprint od in M's Beovulf, 1889, pp. 133, 159.
3) Das ae. Volksepos, Kiel, 1883, p. 104. The attempt at recon- struction is too violent to carry conviction.
— 74 —
of the 9<li century, containing allusions to Cynetliryth of ^lercia, the memory of whom, he thinks, caused the old Thrytho saga to be told here in a modified form. Hence the existence of two divergent forms of the story in this passage '). Ten Brink finds two distinct interpolations, viz. (a) 1925—1944, and (b) 1945—1962. The author of (a), which is the earlier of the two interpolations, desired to drag in, regardless of appropriateness, a reference to the mythical Thrytho, in allusion to some contemporary event. The lines (b) cannot, in Ten Brink's opinion, have been written by the author of (a), as there is no longer any contrast with the good queen Hygd^).
The passage 1931- — 1962 may be thus translated, (a) 'Thrytho displayed arrogance, terrible violence-^) — that haughty*) queen of the people; no bold man among the dear comrades, save her lord, durst venture to gaze upon her with his eyes by day^); but if he did he might count on death-bands as his portion, wound by hand; then quickly after his arrest*^) was the sword ordained, that the blade might make judgment known '), might proclaim the doom of death. Such is no queenly custom for a princess to practise, though she be peerless, — that a peace-weaver
1) Suchier in Faiil imd Braune IV, p, 510 f.
2) Ten Brink, Beoivulf-Untersuchtmgen, in Q. u. F. LXll (1888) pp. 115—118. He thinks (b) mainly composed of two older parallel epic fragments, viz. 19472—491 + 19572- OO', and 19492—57'.
3) fireit ondrysne. Rieger (in Zacher's ZS, III, 402) suggests /ireniim o., Sucliier firen-ondri/sne qualifying mod, 'a savage heart'.
■*) fremu. an. eiq. Bugge trl. 'bold', Grein and Heyne 'glorious', Rieger 'foreign'. Thorpe suggests Froncna, 'queen of the people of the Franks', Kluge frecnii, 'terrible'.
5) an dieges. Leo dn-dceges 'the whole day', Suchier and-xges, 'eye to eye'.
6) cefter mund-gripe. Rieger, 'after touch iim hot- with his hand'.
^) /fcet hit sceadm mrel scyran ., ste MS. So trl. Suchier, fol- lowing Bugge, who reads sccaden mM scyran moste, and translates 'that after tlie decision the blade might make it known'. Sievers 80:ad('n-m'M, 'inlaid sword'; Heyne scea^m-mdd scyran, 'that the scathing sword might decide'.
— 75 —
on account of a pretended insult should assail the life of a liege-man. However Heming's kinsman checked that, (b) At the ale-drinking men told a different tale, that she committed less crime, less malicious violence, after she was given, gold-adorned, to the young champion, the noble and the bold; after, voyaging over the fallow flood, at her father's bidding she had sought Offa's hall; there upon the throne from that time was she famed for goodness, and enjoyed well, while she lived, the fortunes of life; and she bore high love to the lord of warriors, who was of all mankind, as I have heard, the best between the seas, in the wide world. For Off a was a man bold with the spear, far renowned for gifts and warlike feats; with wisdom he ruled his nation. Thence arose EonicTr^) for the help of warriors, Heming's kinsman. Garmund's grand- son, mighty in war.
That the Offa here mentioned is, primarily at least, the legendary Anglian hero is clear from the names of his father Garmund, and his son Eoma}r-). It is indeed an open question whether there is any allusion at all to the Mercian king in the passage. The story is however ob- viously identical (p. 5S) with that in the Vita Off'cc 11^).
1) l^oms&r. So Bachlechner, in Pfeiflor's Gcrmania 1,298. MS. geomm-.
2) Garmund liowever does not a^ree phonetically wIUj the W<(irm\md of the g-enealogies. Also the latter make Eomier the son of Angelpcow or Ongenpcoic^ and the grandson of Offa. Nothing- is really known of Ileming. See below, p. 78, n. 2.
3) This was first pointed out by Kemble, Beoioulf, 1837, vol. \l, Postscript to Preface, pp. XXXII— XXXVI, but was not thoroughly established till Grundtvig (7:^eot'?e//', Copenhagen 18(51) dis- covered the proper name pry'bo in Beow. 1931. Previous com- mentators, regarding the word as a common noun, had supposed Hygd to have married Offa, a hopeless anachronism. Groin's suggestion 'Mod-pry^o^ (Ebert's JB. 1862, p. 281) has not found favour. The only serious attempt to overthrow Grundtvig's reading is that of K. Korner in Engl Stud. 1,489-492. He has failed to prove his contention, although his comparison of BeouK 1931^ mod pry^o ivieg, with a phrase in Genesis 22382 hyge/^ry^ie tvwg (of ilagar), is worthy of remark.
— 76 —
Its source, as is general!}^ believed, was an ancient niytb. Kemble *) and Grimm-) identify tbe lieroine with the Xorse prut))'^ who in the Gn'mnis-mdl 36 is one of the thirteen Valkyries. The name Thrytho is generally regarded as a derivative of 0. E. pi'Di) 'vehemence, strength', which agrees well with her character. Grimm however equates the name with the 0. H. G. frut 'beloved' (traiit). He identifies the Valkyrie with the Trut, Drute or Drude of S.German superstition, a witch or evil spirit, who com- monly takes the form of the nightmare. She has much in common with the Valkyries ^), Numerous 0. H. G. names, such as Alpdrud, Wolchandrdd, Himildrud recal the super- natural character of Thruthr. With Blidrud^) may be compared a gloss in MS. Cotton. Vii ell. A. 15, 'vdlcyiigean cdgan, gorgoneus', which, as Grimm suggests, may indicate that the glance of a Valkyrie struck terror'^). Thrytho causes the death of those who gaze upon her. Particular forms of Thruthr are S^ Gertrude., in whose legend the Valkyrie can be plainly recognised®); and Hermuthruda'^) (Eormenpryb), in Saxo a queen of Scotland, grandmother of Offa I. As a virgin she is haughty, unapproachable and cruel, and causes her wooers to be slain, but from the moment of her marriage she becomes an obedient and submissive wife. Her story is parallel with that of the Valkyrie Brunhild in the Siegfried saga. Both heroines correspond to the ancient Teutonic ideal of womanhood. Now in the Thrytho episode in Beowulf there are two
1) Beoiviilf\ 1837, II, Postscript to Preface, p. XXXV f.
^) Deutsche Mythologie, ed.4, 1875, 1, p.SdOff. (3f. notes in III, p. 120.
3) E. 11. Meyer, Germ. MythoL, p. 118 ff., I^Iog-k in Paul's Gnmd- riss, ed. 1898, III, p. 2G8.
^) Grimm, Gesch. d. d. Sin-ache, p. 532.
5) Grimm, D. Mi/thol, ed. 4. I, p. 346. The analogous hvun Berchta strikes people blind [^(Meyer, Germ. Myth., p. 280). Emare, who is a form of Constance, dazzles and terrifies her beholders Avith her magic si)lendour (vv. 351, 446, 697).
«) Meyer, Germ. Myth., p. 177; Grimm, as in n. 4.
') Grundtvig, Hanm. folkev., IV, 52, followed by Ihiciie.
— 77 —
conflicting versions of the heroine's conduct. It is tlie second version (b) that corresponds to the sagas of Her- muthruda and Brunhikh The other version (a) makes Thrytho remain haughty and fierce after lier marriage. For tliese reasons, Miillenlioff^), Ten Brink-), and Suchier"') agree in regarding the version in (b) as the ancient Thrytho saga, and that in (a) as a moditication of it due to some historical allusion. Ten Brink, who rejects the C^methryth hypothesis on chronological grounds, suggests that there may be a reference to the acts of Osthryth, a Northumbrian princess, who was queen of ^thelred of Mercia, and Avas murdered in 697 by the Mercian nobles*). Such a sup- position is no doubt possible, but there is little evidence for it. A far more plausible case can be made out for Cynethryth, whom Mullenhoff, and after him Suchier, re- garded as the person alluded to. The chronological objection to this view is not insuperable. Ten Brink himself admits (Beoivulf, p. 246), and Sarrazin ^) agrees with him, that the latest redaction of Beow^ulf may have taken place as late as 787, though hardly later. In that year occurred the first recorded Danish raid on the English coast '"'). Offa had been 30 years on the throne, and had probably been married to Cynethryth about 20. Should it be urged that the language used of Offa and Thrytho suggests the memories of a later generation rather than an allusion to a king and queen actually reigning, it may be replied that even this is not impossible, for although a general
1) ZS. f. d. Alt XIV, pp. 21G, 243 = Miillenlioirs Beovulf, 1889, pp. 133, 159.
2) In Q. u. F., LXII, pp. 229, 230.
^) In Paul und Braune's Beitriige, IV, p. 507.
4) Bifida, Hist Ecc. V, 24; A. S. Chron. ann. 097. An alleged charter of ^thelred's (Kemble 33, Birch 70) contains the words "Pro absolutione crlminum vol meornm vol conjngis quondam mea^ Osthrythae." This charter is spurious according to Plummer, Bced. 0pp. Hist. II, p. 154.
5) Beowulf- stiidien, pp. 117, 133.
6) A. S. Chron. sub ann. 787.
— 78 —
new-modelling of the poem after 787 is highly improbable, there is no reason why a short passage, in no way connected with the Danes, sliould not have been inserted at a later date. Viewed in the light of Cynethryth's career, as I have endeavoured to sketch it in the previous section, the Thrytho episode in Beowulf seems to become intelligible. The author of (a) introduces abruptly as a familiar figure the mythical Tlirytho to contrast with Hygd, just as in another place the same poet probably contrasts Heremod with Beowulf). He does not repeat in all its detail the well-known Anglian saga, and, instead of dwelling on the submissivenes of Thrytho to her husband, he emphasises her previous wildness and condemns it (1. 1940 f.), just briefly alluding (1. 1944) to the taming of the shrew. The oblique reference to Thrytho's high-spirited and unpopular namesake w^ould be perceived at once by the poet's audience-). Indeed it would seem not improbable that the
0 BeoiD. 1. 1709 ff. So Ten Brink, who remarks that the poot does not find it necessary to explain who 'Heminges madg' (1. 1944) is.
-) Suchier (P. u. B. IV, p. 512) mentions but rejects Iho idea of another possible topical allusion by this interpolator, viz. a reference to the contemporary Danish king Hemming-, who, accord- ing to Einhard [Annales, ami. 811), made peace with Charlemagne in 811, and agreed to fix his frontier at the Elbe. AltJioiigh Hemming did not succeed his uncle Godric or Godfrid till 810, and died in 812, two of the older chronicles [Chron. Erici, apiid Langebek, I, p. 156, and Ann. Esrom., ibid. p. 227) state that he reigned 28 years, i. e. from 784/5. The latter of these chronicles places his accession in the 3^ear of the conversion of the Saxons, i. e. 785 (a false date for the latter event is given, viz. 776). The probable explanation of the difficulty is given by Cornelius Hamsfort in his Chronologia Secunda, a work compiled in the 16* i century from various chron- icles, some of which are now lost. He says {apud Langebek, I, p. 267) that the above-mentioned Godric reigned jointly with Hemming's father, and that on the latter's death Hemming succeeded to some of the Dani.sh provinces. If there is any truth in these statements. Hemming was reigning in Denmark in the latter years of OITa, at the time when I suppose the passage (a) to have been iiilcrpolaled in Beowulf., According to tlie Annales Esrom., the Danes assisted the Saxons against Charlemagne in 784, and tlie
— 79 —
application of the old story was already in everybody's mouth. Cwen-pryt^, the punning perversion of the Mercian queen's name, which occurs, not only as Quendrida in Vita Off'ce II, but as Queiidritha in Eoger of Wendover (ed. Coxe, R. S. p. 249), -resembles a satirical nickname. Thrytho might well be a popular abbreviation of Cynethryth, just as today in Germany Triidi is used for Gertrud. It should be remembered, as Kemble remarks, that to Christian ears a ValkjTie name would be associated with the powers of darkness.
The author of the interpolation (a) seems, in any case, to have been the spokesman of the discontented Mercians. The passage may well have been written in Cynethryth's life-time. Such bold criticism of the royal consort, especially if she was a foreigner, is not to be wondered at, . considering the independent temper of the old English free-men.
The second interpolation (b) strikes a different note ^).
sister of Witikind had married Hemming's father. As Suchier notices, a brother of Hemming, Angandeo, bore the same name as the son of Off a I, Ong< nfheoiv. The recurrence of the two names suggests that the brothers came of that same ro^'al house of Angehi to which the reputed ancestors of Offa of Mercia belonged. There was anotlier Hemming whom Langebek (I, pi). 505, 520) considers a first cousin of his namesake the Danisli king. (The Frank Haming lived in 047, not, as Suchier says, in tlie 6th cent.)
Possibly tlien the author of (a), an opponent of the Frankish party, claimed Charles's enemy the Danish prince Hemming as a distant kinsman of Offa of Mercia.
It is tempting, though probably quite delusive, to look for another topical allusion in the very singular passage Beoiv. 2911 — 2922 (esp. 2921,2), which according to MUUenhoff is the work of the same 'Interpolator B.' The raids of the Northmen lasted from 787, when the Frankish king to began 'withhold his favour', till 794, the eve of the reconciliation.
1) Prof. Sarrazin points out to me that while the style of (a) is obscure and archaic, that of (b) is simple and clear, and re- sembles Cynewulf's diction. It certainly belongs to the latest stratum of the poem. I would suggest that the author of (a), if he was a contemporary of Offa, used fragments of an older Thrytlio poem.
— 80 —
It is the voice of tlio courtior, and not of tlie angry patriot. The writer does not altogether deny the charge of violence (11. 194(), 7), but he condones it. Thrytho"s crimes belonged to her youth. After her marriage she became an admirable queen, devoted to her husband. Perhaps this interpolator wished to tell the old saga of Thrytho in its true form. He also probably wished to flatter Offa by an implied comparison with his glorious ancestor. Offa of Mercia was, as the poet suggests, famous both for state-craft and for military success. The poet seems, although no partisan of Cynethryth, to paint her conduct in milder colours for the sake of minimising the court scandal. In an age when poetry was still largely preserved by oral tradition, it was much easier to soften down obnoxious passages by additions than to expunge them. No doubt Cynethryth's strange behaviour was a favourite subject of contentious gossip among the 'politicans of the beer-table' (I. 1945 ealo'drincende).
Earle, who regards the whole poem of Beowulf as the work of a single author, and pervaded by a single moral idea, finds in the passage 1925 — 62 "the central aim and purpose of the poet" {Deeds ofBeoividf\ p. LXXXIV). "The link", he says (p. JjXXVII), "between Offa and Eomser is skipped, and Eom?er is made son of Offa, because Eomser is here intended to represent Ecgferth, the son and heir of the living Offa. The admonitions of the poem, indirectly and allegorically conveyed, are intended for the benefit of the ruling family, and more particularly for Ecgferth the heir to the throne." Again (p. LXXXV), Thrytho's "name like thi.it of Hygd is fictitious and alleg- orical. It means hautem\ contemptuous haughtiness, superhia^ vjtsQr](pavla. The name was suggested by that of Cynethryth, Offa's queen. The poet's object is to create an allegorical parallel between the mythic Offa and the reigning king of Mercia. The vindictive character here given to Thrytho is a poetic and veiled admonition ad- dressed to Cynethryth." It may be objected, not only
— 81 —
that Earle's theory gives the poem far too artificial and elaborate a character, but also that it is impossible on his view to account for the existence of the same story in a fuller form, and above all of the same name [Drida), in the Viia Ojf'oe 11. where they can hardly be derived from the passage in Booumlf.
Whether the Thrytho saga was originally identical with that of Constance is a question which hardly admits of a definite ans\Ver. The coincidences between the latter and the fragmentary episode in Beonmlf 2imowni to very little. In both a chaste and high-si)irited maiden ') is sent by her father s orders across the sea, and marries an Anghan king. In one version of the Constance saga, Of 1, the king is the same as in Beowulf. This proves a con- nection, which however may be exi>lained as plausibly by the theory of fusion as by that of original identity. Suchier favours the former view (P. n, B. IV, p. 519). The version in Ojfa 1 is essentially a type of the Constance saga, as is shown not only by the heroine's character*), but by the presence of tlie second part of the story, including the forgery and the second exposure. These incidents are lacking in Beowulf and Off a IL the two representatives of the Thrytho saga.
The version in Offa IT however resembles the Con- stance saga more definitely than the incomplete version in Beowulf does. The maiden drifts in an oarless boat,
') Suchier ( P. u. B. IV, p. 518) compares the fierce Thrytho with the Manekine, who cuts off her ha id (as in 6 other versions), and with Custance in Tr, who pushes a wooer overboard, and drowns him. The latter incident, like many others, is found in Tr alone.
■^) Thryiho (in Beowulf and Ojfa IT) is wicked, while Con- stance is a pattern of persecuted innocence. I do not attach much weight to this difference. Thrytho was a Pagan ideal of virtue, distorted by religious bias, Constance has been harmonised with Christian ethics.
— 82 —
lands on the English coast, and incurs the enmity of tlie king's mother.
The problem is complicated by the confusion between the two Offas, of which, as has been already observed, there seem to be traces, not only in Beowulf and the Vita Offoi II, but in group ^ of the Constance saga. Possible instances have already been adduced, in the Carolingian origin of the heroine ') (VM), her residence in a convent before her marriage (*HC), and the appeal of the besieged Pope to the heroine's relations (*HC). The old mythical Thrytho saga was applied to Cynethryth. Certain traditions (whether based on fact or not), grew up concerning that queen, whicli as it happened bore a general resemblance to incidents in the Constance saga. If the tw^o sagas were originally distinct, it may easily have happened that these resemblances brought about their fusion. Among these parallel incidents-) may be mentioned the voyage of an imperial princess to England (the Byzantine Constance — the Frankish Cynethryth), her marriage with an Anglian king (.^]lla — Offa of Mercia), the marriage of his daughter with a Northumbrian king (^thelfrith — ^Ethelred), the heroine's banishment and flight to Eome, her husband's pilgrimage thither, and the reconciliation of the royal couple.
1) In Ofl, her father is a chief {regulus) of Eboracum. Haigh {A. S. Sagas, p. 59) suggests, in support of quite a different view, that this name is due in this place to a confusion between Eburovices ox Ebroicce, i. e. Evreux in Normandy, and Eboracum or Ebraici, i. e. York.
It is perhaps worth rioting that the heroine of VM marries the son of a duke. Offa's father was a noble of the royal Mercian house.
2) Of course I do not mean to imply that these incidents were, in most cases, anything more than popular traditions, some of them fabulous, ottifers founded on fad.
— S3 —
• Little has been done in the foregoing pages but to follow up some of the clues given by Suchier. The results of the en(|uiry are, and perhaps must be, inconclusive. Still, as affording a typical illustration of the development of a saga, they are not without a certain interest. If, as is often averred, the tale is a nature myth, it is to be hoped that folk-lore experts will some day solve the problem of its origin and significance.
Appendix.
La filla del emperador Contasti.
Prof. Suchier has begun to publish in Romania, under the title La fillc sans mains , the results of his later researches in connection with the Constance saga. In Nov. 1901 (Romania XXX, pp. 519 — 538) appeared as the first instalment the text of the Catalan version La fiUa del emperador Contasti. which I have mentioned on p. 6, and designated Co*). The MS. is of the 15tii cent. Suchier considers the version to be derived from oral tradition.
It is not difficult to assign Co a place in the table on p. 13. The father is a Roman emperor called Contasti^ i. e. Constantine^), and there is no mutilation'') (Nos. 42, 43, 46). This definitely connects Co with the group 6*, and excludes it from the mixed sub-group i?-*, in which the father is a king in Eastern Europe, and the heroine mutilates herself. In addition to the original incidents 1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 14, 20, 21, Co agrees with 7* in 32, 35, 36, 37, 38, and with d* in 41, 42, 43, 46, 52, 58, 59, 64,
1) The present number is Fotids espagnol 682, not 475.
2) He begins to reign in 396 A. D., the date of the division of the empire.
^) My stateinent on p. 18, n. 1 is due to a mistake.
— 84 —
78, 74. Further, 97 and 102 appear to connect it more particularly with rj*. Unless the occurrence of 109 in Co is a mere coincidence, this trivial detail may perhaps he transferred to i/*. The heroine's age at her mothers death is twelve, and her son's age at the time of the recognition is six. Cf. 106, 104.
We may therefore^ prohably place Co under /^*. In this case it will be most nearly related to Kmare, with which version it has more incidents in common than any other.
(Jo contains fuither 76, 108, 77 (which really form one incident), and 83, in common with the other Catalan version Hu, from some form of which it has prohai)ly l)orrowed them. So also Contasti admires the heroine's hands (cf. Hu, 79).
Finally, the king of Spain goes hunting, and being benighted while pursuing a lost falcon, lodges at the house where his future wife lives, an incident which reminds one of ^* (23). This may be a borrowing from some folk-tale, Avhich is particularly likely in a case of oral tradition.
1 "SSr.
^ft/
flA
Buchdruckerci von rarl Salcwski in Berlin C.
I
RETURN TO the circulation desk of any
University of California Library
or to the
NORTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY BIdg. 400, Richmond Field Station University of California Richmond, CA 94804-4698
ALL BOOKS MAY BE RECALLED AFTER 7 DAYS 2- month loans may be renewed by calling
(510)642-6753 1-year loans may be recharged by bringing books
to NRLF Renewals and recharges may be made 4 days
prior to due date
DUE AS STAMPED BELOW
FEB 2 2
FEB 2 21S96
SENT ON ILL
JAN 0 6 1999
U. C. BERKELEY
^
&-.
1,000 (4/94)
GENERAL LIBRARY -U.C. BERKELEY
BDDD7a3EaE
^^^■'i^:
* "ii^
>
€^
■-^C- ^^1^
-if:^
fi *.
%
'^
^
■Si.;*©
r-^l