The Swan Knight Texts of the Old French Crusade Cycle

1. Auflage 2025
ISBN: 978-0-367-13645-1
Verlag: Taylor & Francis Ltd

Buch, Englisch, 536 Seiten, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 234 mm, Gewicht: 453 g

Reihe: Crusade Texts in Translation

The Swan Knight texts provide an imaginary tale of the ancestry of Godfrey of Bouillon, first ruler of Jerusalem in the kingdom of Outremer. They form the opening section of the Old French Crusade Cycle, leading up to the fictionalised account of the crusade in the Chanson d’Antioche, Chanson des Chétifs and Chanson de Jérusalem. They comprise six stories: two versions of the childhood of Godfrey’s fictional grandfather, the Swan Knight, in the Elioxe and the Béatrix; his battles with the Saxons and marriage to Béatris in the Chevalier au Cygne; his death in the Fin d’Elias; the childhood of Godfrey in the Enfances Godefroi; and the Retour de Cornumarant, linking the story of the Swan Knight to the central trilogy of the Cycle.

This is the first translation of all six texts into English. The introduction covers the sources, manuscripts, context and later developments of the text culminating in Wagner’s Lohengrin. There is a full list of characters and places as well as notes on and summaries of the texts.

The translations are designed to make the beginning of the Cycle accessible to modern readers with an interest in the history and literature of the crusades and/or in folklore. They open up a vast medieval panorama populated by fairy brides and evil grandmothers, children turned into swans and back into humans, knights defending maidens and lecherous squires doing the opposite, scheming abbots and Saracen princes, stretching from London to Mecca by way of Boulogne and Bouillon.

Zielgruppe

Postgraduate

Autoren/Hrsg.

Sweetenham, Carol

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtswissenschaft Allgemein

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Part 1: Introduction

Setting the scene

1             The historical Godfrey and his later fame

2             The sources of the Swan Knight texts

3             The manuscript tradition

4             Early references to the material in the Swan Knight texts

5             The place of the Swan Knight texts in the Cycle and the development of the Cycle

6             The afterlife of the Swan Knight

Part 2: Translations

Plot summaries

La Naissance du Chevalier au Cygne (The Birth of the Swan Knight):

(i): Elioxe

(ii): Béatrix

Le Chevalier au Cygne (The Swan Knight)

La Fin d’Elias (The Passing of Elias)

Les Enfances Godefroi (The Childhood of Godfrey)

Le Retour de Cornumarant (The Return of Cornumarant)

Part 3: Supporting Material

Table of Names

Table of Places

Bibliography

Über Autor(innen)

Carol Sweetenham holds research fellowships at the University of Warwick and at Royal Holloway College, University of London. She has published widely on crusading literature with a particular focus on Latin, Old French and Occitan sources, and produced a number of translations including the Chanson d’Antioche with Susan Edgington. She is currently working with Linda Paterson and Simon Parsons on an edition and translation of the Siège d’Antioche.