for the strange opinion that Denmark was in Africa or Asia, and that through that country the knights returned to the West, who had been fighting gloriously in the East, against the Soldans of Persia, Babylon, or Egypt. It was this confusion of Charleses, and incorporation of Normans with Saracens, that produced the most famous of all romantic feats, the siege of Paris by the Saracens; a feat which will live in the remembrance of men as long as the Italian language itself, in which it is celebrated by BoJARDO and ARIOSTO. The Saracens certainly never approached Paris under Charlemagne, but the Normans repeatedly plundered that city under Charles the Bald. The rashness of their courage, and the cowardice of the French, were so notorious in those days, that in September, 865, two hundred only of these freebooters entered Paris without opposition, for the purpose of seizing some wine for the supply of their comrades during the ensuing winter. The excessive daring of their enemies, and the consciousness of their own weak 1 GEOFFRY OF MONMOUTH makes Gormund, a Danish king, a monarch of Africa, lib. ii. c. viii. § xi. The Saxons too being recorded as Pagans became Saracens. mance of Merlin we are told that Hengist sent After many Saracens stout and stark In the ro ELLIS, Specimens, i. 196. In the forg'd laws of Edward the Confessor, Arthur is say'd to have expeled the Saracens and enemys from his kingdom.' WILKINS, 204. ap. RITSON, Dissert. on Rom. and Minst. xcviii. note. ness, induced the French to fortify some points from which they might withstand attack with some hope of success. Paris, in particular, being thus strengthened, was vainly besieged by the Normans in 886 and 88. This was the first time that the French had made a successful stand against their invaders, and on this account the circumstance was considered highly important, and almost approaching to the miraculous. Accordingly it formed the subject, not only of popular lays, as we may be certain, but of a Latin poem in three parts, the two first relating the events of the siege, and the third the miracles of St. German wrought on the occasion. The author of this poem was a monk named ABBON, who was among the besieged. His composition is one of the most perplexing and enigmatic of the class to which it belongs, partly owing to the bombastic style of the poet, and partly to the frequent abuse of hellenisms of a new description in which he indulges. It is, however, a useful historical document, and one proving the great importance which was attached to this siege and to the defence. Those who are fond of the romantic poems of Italy will feel a still greater interest in this document, because it contains the archetype of Turpin, in the character, not of an historian, but of a gallant * ABBONIS MONACHI de Bellis Paris. Urbis, apud DuCHESNE, Scrip. Fran. vol. ii. There is also a song in the ancient Teutonic language still extant, written on the defeat of these Normans by the Franks. TURNER, Ang. Sax. iv. 11. note. warrior. The bishop of Paris, who was one of the chiefs of the city, by whose advice it was fortified, and who fought bravely in its defence against the Normans, was called Gauzlin, or Gozolinus, as the poet has it. He died during the siege, and his loss was severely felt by his flock. The poet deeply regretted him, as will be seen by the following verses, transcribed for the gratification of readers of a chaste taste, accustomed to VIRGIL'S simple elegance. Terra gemat, pontusque, polum, latus quoque mundus; Astra petit, domino migrans, rutilans velut ipsa. The monk who forged TURPIN's history could not conscientiously pass over in silence the valour of a bishop against the infidels, in a work written, perhaps, on purpose to excite all classes of Christians to a crusade against the Saracens. The valour of Gozlin was celebrated in vernacular lays; and he, who had wit enough to convert an archbishop, contemporary with Charlemagne, into an historian, could not fail to perceive that with equal facility he might confer upon him the character of a hero. In Gozlin he had the heroic archetype, and by supposing the warrior to relate the deeds quorum pars magna fuit, e Amongst the leaders of the Parisians was also one Reginarius or Reginaldus; Renauld or Rinaldo. K he gave to his invention a stronger degree of authority and credibility. The reader who has attentively perused what has been already said, will probably coincide in the opinion; first, that the romancers have attributed to Charlemagne whatever they chose, belonging to the history of all the Charleses of the race, from Charles Martel; secondly, that the chief heroes of romance are not ideal beings, but moral heroes, formed of various real persons whose deeds have been combined and attributed to one single individual; and thirdly, that the Danes and Normans have been confounded with the Saracens. Of this latter conclusion a decisive proof will be furnished by the Morgante of PULCI.f The poets, from whose verses the prose romances were composed, formed the sole amusement of those days; and the large folio, in which their stories were embodied, was often the only book to be found in a castle. These stories were countenanced by the clergy, who reduced them into prose, in order to give them an air of truth which in poetry they could not possess. In translating, the monks added what f Of Ruggero and his life I purposely refrain from speaking here, he being a hero belonging more particularly to BoJARDO and ARIOSTO. I shall, therefore, notice him in the observations on BOJARDO's poem; and his history, as well as his romantic traditions will then be inquired into. The story-tellers enjoyed the reputation of being liars. Si dist: oiez, quel menteor! ever they thought more consonant to their religious maxims, at the same time leaving the scandalous incidents in all their purity. Here we see the knight very devoutly assisting at mass, and fervently praying to some saint, immediately before setting out on a scandalous adventure. Sometimes we are told that the holy church has ordered the translation of the book from one language into another, as in the romance of the Saint Graal, where it is moreover asserted that God himself wrote the history." It was also in consequence of the encouragement shewn by the clergy to these compositions, that the more modern among them, even in poetry, begin and end with a kind of prayer, which seems to have been thought necessary in proportion to the scandalous nature of the work, probably by way of atonement for it. It was thought, perhaps, BARBAZAN, Fab. vol. iii. Le dit du Buffet. It seems however that it was thought that the falsehood did not consist in the nature of the story but in the manner in which it was told. Nuz contes rimez n'en est vrai . . . tote mensonge ce qu'ils dient; so that, to render true and credible what was otherwise considered as false and incredible, the only expedient was to turn the story into prose. The history of TURPIN was accordingly so rewritten. Et pur ceo que estoire rimée semble mensunge, est ceste mis en prose. MS. quoted by WARTON, Hist. of Eng. Poet. vol. i. § 3. These prose histories come remarkably well within the definition of history given by the great rhetor of Rome. Est enim (historia) proxima poetis, et quodam modo carmen solutum. QUINCTILIAN. Institut. Orat. x. i. 31. Who would have thought it? See SOUTHEY, Preface to Morte d'Arthur, p. 23. |