DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61385#0088
Ixxxii Chapter VII.—Concerning Guy, Earl of Warwick.
tale, and were regarded as “ personal ancestors ” of English nobility.
In this attempt to give England a national hero and romance a
historical background, the chivalric element rules with the poet. A
desire must be recognized to idealize the superior merit of resignation
to the world and of unwavering piety.
In general, then, it will be seen that the weight of the material
of the romance is to be regarded as purely legendary and romantic.
Tanner supports his theory of romance origin on basis of the analogy
with the romance literature with which the Guy of Warwick is asso-
ciated : Hornchild, Ipotis, Sir Tristrem, and universally Sir Beuis,1 a
link by no means to be disregarded. To this day the marvellous ex-
ploits of Guy and Bevis are indissolubly united. They present no
longer their normal development, but stand for figurative exemplifi-
cation of prodigious strength; cf. James Russell Lowell in his Last
Poems, p. 15 :
‘ ‘ Methinks no dragon of the fens
Flashed huger scales against the sky,
Roused by Sir Bevis or Sir Guy. ...”
Sir Beues, Kolbing, p. xxxvii, contributes illustrations attesting to
the popularity of the combined elements Guy and Beues. Apart
from the oft quoted Sir Thopas, v. 188, the partnership occurs
Richard Coer de Lion, v. 6661 ; Speculum Vitce, Englische Studien,
vol. vii.. p. 469, v. 37, 39 ; Generides, A, v. 13 if. They are joined
in various different commentaries, for instance, Taine, Hist, of Engl.
Lit., vol. i., p. 100 : Arthour, Horn, Beues, Guy of Warwick, “every
prince and every people ”; cf. Percy’s explanation, ten Brink’s, etc.
In general, then, a purely romantic character2 must be ascribed the
fundamental Guy saga, but that under this popular exterior an actual
hero may have been extolled is not impossible.
That this underlying magnate of the romantic world be Count
Guido, the investigation from the Guy of Warwick side of the
argument does not affirm. Equally ineffectual is an attempt to
place the period of the Speculum, as represented by Guy, in the time
of Guido. The best authority for the date of the literary form of
1 Sir Beues goes so far as to cite an exploit of Guy of Warwick, in the con-
temporary Auchinleck MS., v. 2607 :
“ & Gij of Warwik, ich vnderstonde,
Slou^ a dragoun in Nor)>-Homberlonde.”
2 The metrical tale assumes but a slightly different exterior in the various
romances. The main features are the same throughout: a valiant knight, a
relentless lady to be won, a world of fight, seas of blood, the knight applauded
and rewarded. Cf. King Horn, Sir Beues, etc.
tale, and were regarded as “ personal ancestors ” of English nobility.
In this attempt to give England a national hero and romance a
historical background, the chivalric element rules with the poet. A
desire must be recognized to idealize the superior merit of resignation
to the world and of unwavering piety.
In general, then, it will be seen that the weight of the material
of the romance is to be regarded as purely legendary and romantic.
Tanner supports his theory of romance origin on basis of the analogy
with the romance literature with which the Guy of Warwick is asso-
ciated : Hornchild, Ipotis, Sir Tristrem, and universally Sir Beuis,1 a
link by no means to be disregarded. To this day the marvellous ex-
ploits of Guy and Bevis are indissolubly united. They present no
longer their normal development, but stand for figurative exemplifi-
cation of prodigious strength; cf. James Russell Lowell in his Last
Poems, p. 15 :
‘ ‘ Methinks no dragon of the fens
Flashed huger scales against the sky,
Roused by Sir Bevis or Sir Guy. ...”
Sir Beues, Kolbing, p. xxxvii, contributes illustrations attesting to
the popularity of the combined elements Guy and Beues. Apart
from the oft quoted Sir Thopas, v. 188, the partnership occurs
Richard Coer de Lion, v. 6661 ; Speculum Vitce, Englische Studien,
vol. vii.. p. 469, v. 37, 39 ; Generides, A, v. 13 if. They are joined
in various different commentaries, for instance, Taine, Hist, of Engl.
Lit., vol. i., p. 100 : Arthour, Horn, Beues, Guy of Warwick, “every
prince and every people ”; cf. Percy’s explanation, ten Brink’s, etc.
In general, then, a purely romantic character2 must be ascribed the
fundamental Guy saga, but that under this popular exterior an actual
hero may have been extolled is not impossible.
That this underlying magnate of the romantic world be Count
Guido, the investigation from the Guy of Warwick side of the
argument does not affirm. Equally ineffectual is an attempt to
place the period of the Speculum, as represented by Guy, in the time
of Guido. The best authority for the date of the literary form of
1 Sir Beues goes so far as to cite an exploit of Guy of Warwick, in the con-
temporary Auchinleck MS., v. 2607 :
“ & Gij of Warwik, ich vnderstonde,
Slou^ a dragoun in Nor)>-Homberlonde.”
2 The metrical tale assumes but a slightly different exterior in the various
romances. The main features are the same throughout: a valiant knight, a
relentless lady to be won, a world of fight, seas of blood, the knight applauded
and rewarded. Cf. King Horn, Sir Beues, etc.