First published in 2003 by
Kegan Paul Limited
This edition first published in 2009 by
Routledge
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Kegan Paul, 2003
Printed and bound in Great Britain
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 10: 0-710-30922-8 (hbk)
ISBN 13: 978-0-710-30922-8 (hbk)
Publishers Note
The publisher has gone to great lengths to ensure the quality of this reprint but points out that some imperfections in the original copies may be apparent. The publisher has made every effort to contact original copyright holders and would welcome correspondence from those they have been unable to trace.
PREFACE.
T O the general reader the Romances of Chivalry are very little known, some of them not at all; and the reason of this is, that no efforts have been made to popularize them. Originating, as they did, with the professional story-tellers of Norman times, they were, first of all, metrical histories of the deeds of heroes, like those which the Minstrel Taillefer sung at the Battle of Hastings, when he went before William, chanting of Charlemagne and Roland. Soon these were garnished with tales of love, and, after a time, imagination was called into play, and the Romance was written. They were the Novels of the thirteenth to the seventeenth centuries, and must ever be thought of in that light; they were highly sensational, and full of incident, never prolix, or with long-winded speeches, till they were on the wane, at the end of the sixteenth and beginning of the seventeenth centuries; and many of them have survived to our days in a condensed form, as chap-books, or books for childrena fact which sufficiently shows the hold they had upon the people.
Some, nay most of them, have been edited and reprinted for the learned societies; but then only the oldest, or rarest MSS., or printed copies, have been thus treated, and they have seldom travelled far from the bookshelves of the subscribers to these societies. And the reason is not far to seek. The language in which they are written is far too archaic for the ordinary reader, and requires a special antiquarian education. The language of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries is totally different from the English of to-day, and no ordinary person would care about sitting down to read a book which would be unintelligible to him, were he not to refer to a glossary at every line.
Weber, Ritson, and Thoms, did something to bring them into notice, and there is the best book of all on the subject in Bohns Antiquarian Library; but its usefulness is marred by that awful word antiquarian. People will not believe that anything can be amusing if under that headingit must be dry as dust. The popularity of our archological societies has somewhat dispelled this notion, but the prejudice remains generally.
Is there any reason why they should not be made as attractive as other stories? People will read the Northern Sagas, or North American Indian legends, and tales of wonder; fairy and folk-lore tales are eagerly perused; whilst the Oriental Romances of the Thousand and One Nights are devoured, not only by the young, but by children of a larger growth. These Romances of Chivalry deal in no greater marvels than are contained in the foregoing examples, and they do give us a wonderful insight into the manners and customs of our own country, centuries ago.
Another reason why these Romances have not been so popular as they might have been is, that they have never been illustrated; there has never been an attempt to reproduce the contemporary engravings, which are so deliciously quaint, and which throw so much light on the manners and costumes of the period. Many of these wood blocks are far older than the date of the books which they adorn, as may be seen by the broken edges and worm-holes, and have probably illustrated some previous edition now lost to us. To render these Romances more interesting to the general reader, I have facsimiled the engravings, and, as they are my own work, I can guarantee their fidelity.
In making this selection, I have carefully avoided those relating to Charlemagne, believing that the Carlovingian Romances ought to be made into a series of their own; and I have not touched on the Arthurian legends, which might well make another; but I have taken those which were thoroughly independent, each of which could stand on its own merits, without reference to another.
The advanced student may possibly grumble at the number of foot-notes I have appended, in order to elucidate the text, but my object has been, that every one, of average intelligence, who reads the book, may thoroughly understand it, and that without constantly referring to a glossary, which, however, will be found at the end.
JOHN ASHTON.
