United fab heiress
Gereint fab heiress [ 'reint vaːb' heir ] ("Gereint, the son of the heiress"), also Geraint fab heiress , is the title of one of the "three romances" ( Y Tair Rhamant ) of Welsh literature. The other two are Iarlles y Ffynnawn ("The mistress of the spring") and Peredur fab Efrawg ("Peredur, the son of Efrawg"). The character of the title hero is also used in other poems by Llyfr Du Caerfyrddin ("The Black Book of Carmarthen"), e.g. B. Englynion Gereint ("The Stanzas Gereints"), and called Llyfr Coch Hergest ("The Red Book of Hergest").
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A historical person was probably united at the end of the 6th century. In the present romance, he is described as a retainer of King Arthur .
United wants to avenge a disgrace that was inflicted on him and a maiden from the retinue of Gwenhwyfar by a mysterious knight far from Arthur's court. In pursuit of his opponent, he takes quarters with an impoverished nobleman and gets to know his daughter there.
- And on her [mother's] side was a girl who was wearing a shirt and coat that was very old and was already beginning to wear out. And he did not doubt that he would never have seen a virgin more perfect in excess of beauty and form and charm.
He helps the girl's father regain his property, which the same knight who is his opponent had withheld. Thereby he wins his bride in the girl and celebrates a splendid wedding with her on his return to the Arthur-Hof. Only then is the name of the girl, Enid , mentioned for the first time by the poet of the story . Unified moves into the kingdom of his old father and takes over the rule from him, whereby Gwalchmei fab Gwyar (Gawain) and Gwrhyr Gwalstawd Ieithoedd help him with good advice. Since Gereint took care of his wife for a long time, the other knights of his court accuse him of serious neglect of his duties. This leads to a quarrel between the two spouses who suspect each other of being unfaithful because of a misunderstanding. Gereint forces Enid to go out on an adventure with him as his squire, whereby he treats her very strictly. He even forbids her to speak to him, which Enid always disregards when he is in danger.
- "I will obey your commandment, Lord, as best I can," she replied.
Only after many dangerous adventures, in which he was almost killed and nursed to health by Enid and his friend Gwiffred petit , Gereint finally recognizes Enid's loyalty and the two reconcile.
According to Bernhard Maier , this is an example of the widespread tendency in Welsh tradition to classify almost all legendary figures in the Arthurian legend .
In the Englynion y Clyweid (“The Proverbs of the Wise”) Gereint is assigned the phrase “Short-lived envy of the saints” .
Chrétien de Troyes worked on this subject in his poem Erec et Enide from the 12th century. A short time later, Hartmann von Aue described the same topic in his Erec around 1180–90 .
See also
literature
- Helmut Birkhan : Celtic stories from the emperor Arthur. Part 1, Lit-Verlag, Vienna 2004, ISBN 3-8258-7562-8 .
- Bernhard Maier : Lexicon of Celtic Religion and Culture (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 466). Kröner, Stuttgart 1994, ISBN 3-520-46601-5 .
Web links
- Chapter Geraint and Enid in the article Three Welsh Romances of the English language Wikipedia
- John T. Koch (Ed.): Celtic Culture: Aberdeen breviary-celticism (= John T. Koch [Ed.]: Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia . Volume 1 ). ABC-CLIO, Santa Barbara, California; Denver, Colorado; Oxford 2006, ISBN 1-85109-440-7 , pp. 803 ff . (English, limited preview in Google Book Search).
- Jonathan Miles-Watson: Welsh Mythology: A Neostructuralist Analysis . Cambria Press, 2009, ISBN 978-1-60497-620-5 , pp. 114 ff . (English, limited preview in Google Book Search).