Owen Tudor (story)
Owen Tudor , the legendary and fairytale-like story by the romantic Achim von Arnim , is about Owen Tudor, the progenitor of the English royal family Tudor . It is embedded in a framework narrative that tells of a stagecoach ride on which an unknown Welsh woman entertains her travel companions with the legend of Owen Tudor.
Core narrative
Owen Tudor was appointed to the French court at a young age, where he served as a page for the headstrong Princess Katharina (historically: Catherine de Valois (1401–1437) ) . On the one hand she hits him, on the other hand she can't stop dancing with him extensively. When Katharina is supposed to marry King Henry V of England , she swears a vow of lifelong loyalty to Owen when she says goodbye. When Heinrich dies relatively soon afterwards, she meets Owen again when she is seeking healing at a pilgrimage site of St. Benno. Legend has it that whoever sees that of the saint in the sacred pond instead of his reflection will be healed. At this place of pilgrimage, Owen is now continuing the pious figure of the previous hermit, who dived into the face of the saint. He discovers himself to his former mistress, who uses all kinds of deceptions at her court to ensure that she can secretly marry him as the representative of an old noble family.
Framework story
In the framework story, the narrating Welsh woman turns out to be a cheat, who on behalf of a high noblewoman pretends to be her illegitimate child in order to save her reputation. She wins the support of her fellow travelers, who hold the constable who is persecuting her in a dance service by the Jumpers, a Methodist sect, until the Welshwoman and her lover have gained a secure lead.
Motifs
The main and framework plot are linked by the motif of the dance. If, as a young page, Owen, the gifted dancer, experiences his mistress' anger at dancing as a nuisance, he can later interpret it as a sign of her affection. In the framework of the plot, the Presbyterian from the tour group first wants to pursue the Jumpers as a dangerous sect and have all their members executed, but then he holds the constable in the Jumpers' service by pulling him into the wild jumping of the worshipers.
Another common motif are the disguised people who initially guide Owen's path through life without being recognized, and the disguised Welsh woman who turns her fellow travelers into her helpers. The motif of the unrecognized life guide appears more frequently in Romanticism, but it was probably best known in German literature as a tower society during Wilhelm Meister's apprenticeship .
irony
The story of the progenitor of the English royal family appears ironically broken several times. On the one hand, the mistress obliges her page to be faithful at the very moment when she herself enters into marriage with an unloved man. On the other hand, Owen wins her as his wife because he plays the hermit, as such constantly cheats the pilgrims and uses his spiritual dignity to fool the queen's entourage. After all, this tale of the love of life finally fulfilled is told by a woman who covers an extramarital relationship.
Not only the legend of Benno is ironic, but also that of Owen Tudor's true love. After all, one of the rules of life given to young Owen is not to be ashamed. He does justice to this by not being ashamed of deceiving pilgrims and kidnapping the queen from among her courtiers.
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Footnotes
- ↑ The entourage is said to regard it as a kind of miracle that the queen did not get wet when crossing the pond, while it is precisely reported that she changes her clothes in the hermit's hermit and dries. The allusion to the fact that Owen and Katharina were not ashamed to do more is clear without being intrusive.