DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61385#0020
xiv Chapter I.—The Argument of the Main Guy Legend.
genuineness of Guy’s adventures impresses one as involving a sugges-
tion of insincerity. The discovery of decisive facts might add to
the interest of the romance, localizing current theories in clear-cut
environment, but it could not modify the sentiment emanating from
Guy the hero. In publishing pseudo-Guy manuscript the Speculum
deals with fresh material and endeavours to establish the reality
of much-debated tradition, but it does not succeed in enlarging the
probability of the tale. The Guy history must be regarded as an
exotic from the misty shadow-land1 of fairy knighthood. Guy is
the Prince of Romance, brave, strong, beautiful.
In the memory of the people the main current of history was of
striking importance. Influenced by the barbaric splendour of the
mediaeval epic, the conspicuous element in Guy’s career centered in
warfare. To the English folk of the thirteenth century, as no doubt
to their fathers of a more remote period, Guy was known as the con-
queror of giant and Saracen, the slayer of boar and dragon. He was
famed for romantic connection with the estate of the hereditary Earl
of Warwick, and for valiant adventure far from his birthplace. He
suddenly appeared in Winchester, found England in extraordinary
political condition, and restored civil authority to its earlier vigour.
The English, helpless and passive under a foreign enemy, elected
Guy leader and gave battle to returning adversaries. The knight
single-handed commanded a British victory. Weak points of this
conception of Guy were detected, and a later growth presented the
legend in a new aspect in English life.
The after-glow in the tradition is the reflection of letters, not the
“ twilight of ancient memory.” A touch of the fanciful illuminates
the saga. Not the hero but the heroine becomes the central luminary.
Felice, the gracious lady of knighthood, one of the earliest of me-
diaeval women and one of the most lovely, gives character to the
narrative. Guy, the subordinate figure, establishes his constancy to
Felice by submission. He voluntarily accepts exile, and masks him-
self as ally to the oppressed. This episode marks “ tragic night ”
for Guy and Felice, the “ struggle of might and beauty” in a “world
of adversity.” In another sense it ushers in the dawn of modern
literature2 in England. These primitive germs have been circulated
1 Cf. Mr. Jacobs’s interpretation in the introduction to Old French Romances.
2 The history was “reprinted at the Renaissance, read under Elizabeth,”
and plays taken from it ‘ ‘ supplied matter for popular Chap Books, written for
the love of the people of merry England.”—Jusserand, A Literary History of
the English People.
genuineness of Guy’s adventures impresses one as involving a sugges-
tion of insincerity. The discovery of decisive facts might add to
the interest of the romance, localizing current theories in clear-cut
environment, but it could not modify the sentiment emanating from
Guy the hero. In publishing pseudo-Guy manuscript the Speculum
deals with fresh material and endeavours to establish the reality
of much-debated tradition, but it does not succeed in enlarging the
probability of the tale. The Guy history must be regarded as an
exotic from the misty shadow-land1 of fairy knighthood. Guy is
the Prince of Romance, brave, strong, beautiful.
In the memory of the people the main current of history was of
striking importance. Influenced by the barbaric splendour of the
mediaeval epic, the conspicuous element in Guy’s career centered in
warfare. To the English folk of the thirteenth century, as no doubt
to their fathers of a more remote period, Guy was known as the con-
queror of giant and Saracen, the slayer of boar and dragon. He was
famed for romantic connection with the estate of the hereditary Earl
of Warwick, and for valiant adventure far from his birthplace. He
suddenly appeared in Winchester, found England in extraordinary
political condition, and restored civil authority to its earlier vigour.
The English, helpless and passive under a foreign enemy, elected
Guy leader and gave battle to returning adversaries. The knight
single-handed commanded a British victory. Weak points of this
conception of Guy were detected, and a later growth presented the
legend in a new aspect in English life.
The after-glow in the tradition is the reflection of letters, not the
“ twilight of ancient memory.” A touch of the fanciful illuminates
the saga. Not the hero but the heroine becomes the central luminary.
Felice, the gracious lady of knighthood, one of the earliest of me-
diaeval women and one of the most lovely, gives character to the
narrative. Guy, the subordinate figure, establishes his constancy to
Felice by submission. He voluntarily accepts exile, and masks him-
self as ally to the oppressed. This episode marks “ tragic night ”
for Guy and Felice, the “ struggle of might and beauty” in a “world
of adversity.” In another sense it ushers in the dawn of modern
literature2 in England. These primitive germs have been circulated
1 Cf. Mr. Jacobs’s interpretation in the introduction to Old French Romances.
2 The history was “reprinted at the Renaissance, read under Elizabeth,”
and plays taken from it ‘ ‘ supplied matter for popular Chap Books, written for
the love of the people of merry England.”—Jusserand, A Literary History of
the English People.