vol. 1, p. 40. This
romance belongs to a late period of romantic fiction, but the passage
cited is a good illustration of mediaeval sentiment.]
[Footnote 11: Sir J. Barnes' "History of Edward III."]
[Footnote 12: Wright's "Manners and Sentiments in the Middle Ages,"
p. 276.]
II.
The romances of chivalry sprang to life a logical production of the
times. Their authors seized on the character of a king and a
warrior--their highest conception of greatness, in the persons of
Charlemagne and Arthur. Regardless of anachronism, they represented
their heroes as the centre of a chivalric court, accoutred in the arms,
and practising the customs of later centuries; they created in fact a
new Arthur and a new Charlemagne, adapted to the new times. They
brought to light the almost forgotten characters of antiquity. They
represented Jason and Alexander invested with chivalric attributes and
affected by mediaeval superstitions. Hercules, according to them,
performed his labors, not because of the wrath of Juno or the command
of Jove, but, like a true knight-errant, to gain the favor of a
Boeotian princess. Virgil the poet was transformed into Virgil the
enchanter. The chief heroes were surrounded with restless knights,
whose romantic adventures afforded unlimited range to the imagination,
and delighted the chivalric mind.
Pages:
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40