Legends of the Middle Ages | Page 2

RAGNAR LODBROK
XVII. THE CID

XVIII. GENERAL SURVEY OF ROMANCE LITERATURE

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
CORONATION OF CHARLEMAGNE--Lévy
FUNERAL OF A NORTHERN CHIEF--Cormon
GUDRUN AND THE SWAN--Kepler
BROWN THE BEAR CAUGHT IN THE LOG--Wagner
REYNARD PREPARING FOR BATTLE--Kaulbach
GUNTHER WINNING HIS BRIDE--Keller
SIEGFRIED'S BODY BORNE HOME BY THE HUNTSMEN--Pixis
ASPRIAN SLAYING THE LION--Keller
FALKE KILLS THE GIANT--Keller
THE VICTORIOUS HUNS--Checa
THE TOMB OF THEODORIC
THE DEATH OF ROLAND--Keller
HUON BEFORE THE POPE--Gabriel Max
HUON AND AMANDA LEAP OVERBOARD--Gabriel Max
PARZIVAL UNCOVERING THE HOLY GRAIL--Pixis
ARRIVAL OF LOHENGRIN--Pixis
THE BEGUILING OF MERLIN--Burne-Jones
SIR LANCELOT DU LAC--Sir John Gilbert
ELAINE--Rosenthal
ISEULT SIGNALS TRISTAN--Pixis
THE LOVERS AT BALDER'S SHRINE--Kepler
FRITHIOF AT THE COURT OF KING RING--Kepler
STRATEGY OF HASTINGS--Keller
THE CID'S LAST VICTORY--Rochegrosse

LEGENDS OF THE MIDDLE AGES.

CHAPTER I.

BEOWULF.
"List! we have learnt a tale of other years, Of kings and warrior Danes,
a wondrous tale, How aethelings bore them in the brunt of war."

Beowulf (Conybeare's tr.).
The most ancient relic of literature of the spoken languages of modern
Europe is undoubtedly the epic poem "Beowulf," which is supposed to
have been composed by the Anglo-Saxons previous to their invasion of
England. Although the poem probably belongs to the fifth century, the
only existing manuscript is said to date from the ninth or tenth century.
This curious work, in rude alliterative verse (for rhyme was introduced
in England only after the Norman Conquest), is the most valuable old
English manuscript in the British Museum. Although much damaged
by fire, it has been carefully studied by learned men. They have
patiently restored the poem, the story of which is as follows:
[Sidenote: Origin of the Skioldungs.] Hrothgar (the modern Roger),
King of Denmark, was a descendant of Odin, being the third monarch
of the celebrated dynasty of the Skioldungs. They proudly traced their
ancestry to Skeaf, or Skiold, Odin's son, who mysteriously drifted to
their shores. He was then but an infant, and lay in the middle of a boat,
on a sheaf of ripe wheat, surrounded by priceless weapons and jewels.
As the people were seeking for a ruler, they immediately recognized
the hand of Odin in this mysterious advent, proclaimed the child king,
and obeyed him loyally as long as he lived. When he felt death draw
near, Skeaf, or Skiold, ordered a vessel to be prepared, lay down in the
midst on a sheaf of grain or on a funeral pyre, and drifted out into the
wide ocean, disappearing as mysteriously as he had come.
[Sidenote: Construction of Heorot.] Such being his lineage, it is no
wonder that Hrothgar became a mighty chief; and as he had amassed
much wealth in the course of a long life of warfare, he resolved to
devote part of it to the construction of a magnificent hall, called Heorot,
where he might feast his retainers and listen to the heroic lays of the
scalds during the long winter evenings.
"A hall of mead, such as for space and state The elder time ne'er
boasted; there with free And princely hand he might dispense to all
(Save the rude crowd and men of evil minds) The good he held from
Heaven. That gallant work, Full well I wot, through many a land was
known Of festal halls the brightest and the best." Beowulf (Conybeare's
tr.). The inauguration of this hall was celebrated by a sumptuous
entertainment; and when all the guests had retired, the king's bodyguard,
composed of thirty-two dauntless warriors, lay down in the hall to rest.

When morning dawned, and the servants appeared to remove the
couches, they beheld with horror the floor and walls all stained with
blood, the only trace of the knights who had gone to rest there in full
armor.
[Sidenote: The monster Grendel.] Gigantic, blood-stained footsteps,
leading directly from the festive hall to the sluggish waters of a deep
mountain lake, or fiord, furnished the only clew to their disappearance.
Hrothgar, the king, beholding these, declared that they had been made
by Grendel, a descendant of the giants, whom a magician had driven
out of the country, but who had evidently returned to renew his former
depredations.
"A haunter of marshes, a holder of moors. . . . . . Secret The land he
inhabits; dark, wolf-haunted ways Of the windy hillside, by the
treacherous tarn; Or where, covered up in its mist, the hill stream
Downward flows." Beowulf (Keary's tr.).
As Hrothgar was now too old to wield a sword with his former skill, his
first impulse was, of course, to offer a princely reward to any man
brave enough to free the country of this terrible scourge. As soon as
this was known ten of his doughtiest knights volunteered to camp in the
hall on the following night, and attack the monster Grendel should