Torrent of Portyngale

Title: Torrent of Portyngale

Editor: E. Adam

Release date: February 9, 2011 [eBook #35190]

Language: English

Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/35190

Credits: Produced by Louise Hope, Taavi Kalju and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This book was produced from scanned images of public domain material from the Google Print project.)

This text includes characters that require UTF-8 (Unicode) file encoding:

ȝ yogh ll̴ double l with joining line, here shown as tilde ŷ æ̂ vowels with less common diacritics (rare)

If any of these characters do not display properly, or if the apostrophes and quotation marks in this paragraph appear as garbage, you may have an incompatible browser or unavailable fonts. First, make sure that the browser’s “character set” or “file encoding” is set to Unicode (UTF-8). You may also need to change your browser’s default font.

The main text is shown stanza by stanza. Sidenotes are shown in their original position; linenotes and numbered footnotes (rare) are grouped at the end of each stanza. Headnotes that originally came at mid-stanza have been moved to the following stanza break.

Errors and anomalies are marked in the text with mouse-hover popups. Typographic details are given at the end of the e-text. The word “invisible” means that there is an appropriately sized blank space or extra indentation, but the character (usually an open single quote) is missing. Unusual spellings in the Sidenotes are probably attributable to Frederick Furnivall; they are not individually noted.

All brackets are in the original. Line numbers in brackets are explained in the Introduction.

Introduction Torrent of Portyngale Fragments Notes Glossary Index of Names

Links: Throughout the book, links to line numbers generally lead to the nearest multiple of 5 (printed number). Stanza numbers in the Notes were added by the transcriber to aid in cross-linking. In Sections 2 and 3 of the Introduction, all line numbers are active links. To reduce visual chaos, link highlighting has been turned off. This may be overridden by your personal browser settings.

Early English Text Society. Extra Series, No. LI. 1887.

TORRENT OF PORTYNGALE.

RE-EDITED

FROM THE UNIQUE MS. IN THE CHETHAM LIBRARY, MANCHESTER,

E. ADAM, Ph.D.

LONDON: PUBLISHT FOR THE EARLY ENGLISH TEXT SOCIETY BY N. TRÜBNER & CO., 57 & 59, LUDGATE HILL.

MDCCCLXXXVII.

DEDICATED TO MY TEACHER AND HELPER, PROF. E. KÖLBING, Ph.D.

Extra Series. LI.

RICHARD CLAY & SONS, LIMITED, LONDON & BUNGAY.

v

INTRODUCTION.

§ 1. The MS. and Halliwell’s edition, p. v.

§ 2. Metre and Versification, p. vi.

§ 3. Dialect, p. x;

short vowels, p. xi;

long vowels, p. xii;

inflexions, p. xiii.

§ 4. a. The contents of the Romance, p. xvi;

b. its character, p. xx;

c. Origin of the story of Torrent, p. xxi;

d. Legend of Eustache or Plasidas, p. xxii;

e. Sir Isumbras, p. xxiv;

f. Romances of Octavian, p. xxv;

g. Sir Eglamour, p. xxvi;

h. Comparison of Torrent and Eglamour, p. xxvii;

i. the 2 Romances independent, p. xxx.

§ 5. Arrangement of this Edition, p. xxxii.

§ 1. The manuscript from which the following romance of Sir Torrent of Portugal is taken, is a folio volume on paper, of the fifteenth century, preserved in the Chetham Library at Manchester.

A description of this volume is given by Halliwell in his Account of the European MSS. in the Chetham Library at Manchester, Manchester, 1842, page 16, and by Prof. Koelbing in his Englische Studien, vii. 195. The only edition of this romance that we have hitherto had was done by Halliwell. As he had, besides his own transcript, another copy made by Madden, his text is a pretty accurate one, and therefore the results of Prof. Koelbing’s collation, printed in his Englische Studien, vii. 344 ff., concern, for the most part, things of little importance, except one very curious passage, l. 88, where Halliwell renders the quite correct reading of the MS., p la more de dewe = par l’amour de dieu, by Pericula more bedew[n]e. Also, from l. 1720, the counting of the lines is wrong by 100 lines.

A few short fragments of a printed edition were found by Halliwell in the Douce Collection, Bodleian Library, Oxford, and added to his work as an Appendix. They contain the following passages of the MS.:

A seventh fragment, of which not much more than the rhyming words are preserved, was omitted by Halliwell, and was printed for the first time in Prof. Koelbing’s collation.

This Chetham MS. contains the romance in a very debased and corrupt form, so that the original reading in many passages can hardly be recognized.1 The scribe, who copied the poem from an older MS., lived (no doubt) at a far later period than the poet; he did not therefore understand a great many old expressions, and these he used to supplant by words of his own; he also transposed and even omitted many lines, and spoiled the rhyme, because he had not the slightest idea of the nature of the stanza in which the poem is composed. Halliwell did not trouble himself about the restoration of the true readings; he merely reproduced the traditional text, even where it would have been very easy to do more, though many passages are hopelessly corrupt; still worse is the fact, that he did not recognize the metre as the tail-rhymed twelve-line stanza, for he prints six-line stanzas.

In consequence, the whole of the philological work on the text had still to be done, and a new edition was plainly necessary; the more that this poem, though not written in the best period of romance poetry, treats of a legendary subject widely spread in the Middle Ages, and is nearly related to another poem, Syr Eglamour of Artois.

§ 2. METRE AND VERSIFICATION.

In this and the following section, all line numbers are active links. To reduce visual chaos, link highlighting has been turned off. This may be overridden by your personal browser settings.

As I mentioned before, the romance of Sir Torrent is composed in the well-known tail-rhymed twelve-line stanza, and belongs to that class of it in which the first and the second couplets have different rhyme-sounds (cf. Koelbing, Amis and Amiloun, p. xiv ff.). vii Only the incompleteness of many stanzas, and the many defects in reference to the rhyme, can excuse Halliwell for not apprehending the character of the metre. As to the structure of the eight lines of the four couplets, each contains (or at least ought to contain) four accents, the caudæ three; but as we, unfortunately, possess only one MS., a conclusive statement on this point is impossible. There is no doubt about the fact that neither the really incorrect rhymes nor the wanting of them can be due to the author of the poem: even when romance poetry was decaying, the poets were fairly perfect rhymers: with all deficiencies in this department, the copyists are to be charged.

Consonant rhymes (s. Schipper Altengl. Metrik, p. 299) are found in Torrent in the following passages: l. 141 rode—rode ags. rôd—râd. 450 the—the ags. þeón—þe. 1558 indede—dede. 2205 lay—lay, sg.—plr. prt.

Identical rhymes are frequent, especially in the caudæ: 81 stond—stond. 177 there—there. 500 he—hee. 1887 there—there. 2538 blithe—blithe. 39 take—take. 342 bold—bold, a. s. o.

Assonances: 195 bon)—Rome. 518 undyrstond—strong. 537 name—alone. 699 yod—fotte. 758 name—tane. 896 bryng—wynd. 1257 overcom)—Aragon). 1768 man)—cam). 2164 anon)—fome. 2544 sithe—hide.

Besides the rhymes we find abundant alliteration, as in most of the Middle English Romances. On alliteration, cf. Regel, Die alliteration in Laȝamon, Germ. Stud. I. 171; F. Lindner, The alliteration in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, Essays on Chaucer, Pt. III., p. 197 ff. Koelbing, Sir Tristrem, p. xxxvii, and Amis and Amiloun, p. lxvi. Lindner as well as Koelbing has adopted Regel’s classification, and so shall I. The most frequent is two alliterative words in one verse; they can be classed in the following way:—

I. A. The same word is repeated in two succeeding lines; v. 456 f.: Forthe sche browght a whyt sted, As whyt as the flowyr in) med; v. 618 f.: In IV quarters he hym drowe, And euery quarter vppon a bowe. v. 2026 f.: But ran into a wildernes Amongist beests that wyld wes. v. 2465 f.: They axid hors and armes bryght, to horsbak went thay in ffere.

B. Alliterative combinations, one part of which is a proper name. Torrent is several times combined with the verb take; 26: Towarde hym he takythe Torrayne; 224: Torrent thether toke the way; 519: Torrent toke a dulful wey; 2269: Whan sir Torent was takyn) than); 91: Now, be my trowthe, seyd Torent than); 1161: Alas, said Desonell̴ the dere; 2523: As was dame Desonell̴; 1906 = 1946 = 1969: Mary myld. To send unto her Sathanas. v. 1091: The castell̴ of Cardon).

II. A. Words of the same root are alliterative. 133: Torrent, on kne knelyd he; 671: That on hys kne he kneld; 2502: And knelid on her kne; 205: Torrent knelyd on hys kne = v. 528; 881: And knelyd vppon ys kne; 1883: She knelid down) vppon) her kne; 2563: Down) they knelid on) her kne; 512: By dymmynge of the day; 1158: For her love did I never no dede; 1801: That ylke dede, that she hath done; 1943: How she flew in a fflight; 2384: Liffe and lyvelode, whill̴ I lyve; 233: A lyon) & a lyonasse; 1671: For to se that selly sight; 407: For the talles thou hast me told; 1466: And fals talis hym) told; 2578: Euer we will̴ be at youre will̴.

B. Relations in which alliterative words stand to each other according to their meaning.

a. Concrete ideas are joined together because they belong to the same sphere of life. 2017: Byrdus and bestis, aye woo ye be; 113: bone and blod; 21: kyng and knyght; 83: And ryche castelles in that contre; 251: In lond with a fyndes fere; 102: That fyndes fare for aye; 1094: Both at knyght and knave; 584: Bothe in) frethe and in feld; 660: Stomlyng thurrow frythe and fen); 1378: Both be hold and be hyll̴; 2398: lym) and lith; 750: Lytyll̴ and mykyll̴, lese and more; 1899: That was lord of all̴ that lond; 2152: Loo, lordys of euery lond; 2375: With all̴ maner of mynstralsye; 149: He reynyd hys sted vnto a stake; 1065: Waytes on the wall̴ gan blowe; 13: water and wynde.

b. In the same way abstract ideas are connected, so far as they belong to the same sphere of life. 460: That dethe ys dynt schalt þou not thole; 1600: Of deth yaue he no dout; 782 = 2062: feyer and fre; 2153: Falshode wyll̴ haue a foule end; 1988: Helpe ix and hold I shall̴ hym yeve; 1492: They sat and song; 683: Cryst hym saue and see; 1303: That he was sad and sore; 1612: set sadly and sore; 335: God that sofryd wonddes sore; 322: styff and strong = 1491 = 2590; 1205: That wekyd was and wight; 1584: wekyd and wight; 1849: Her one child woke and be-gan to wepe; 1559: And wot ye well̴ and not wene; 246: Sche weppte, as sche were wod.

C. The grammatical relations in which the alliterative words stand to each other.

a. Subst. and adj. in attributive or predicative combinations. As bold as eny bore; With browes brod and wyde; 142: hys bugell̴ bold; 307: In a dongon) that ys dym; 82: My fayer) forestes fellythe downe he; 209: The feyer) fyld; 426: glemyrryng ase the glase; 1592: good gate; 171 = 596: the holtes hore; 1484: To an hye hyll̴; 1183: sydes sare; 154: Thowe the wey nevyr so wykkyd were; 2054: wekyd weders; 506: In the wyld-some way; 535: Wyldsom weyes haue I went; 2030: She went on that wilsom) way.

b. Verbs or adjectives combined with the adverb or substantive which contains their secondary adverbial meaning. 1478: To be here at his bane, cf. 1678: That there his bane hath be; 1944: To her birdus was she boun); 2016: With blis on euery bowȝe; 135: That bowght hym with hys blod; 1045: Thurrow the body he gan hym bere; 1404: To the bote they bare; 334: Thus he covyrd owt of care; 27: That dowghtty ys in dedde, cf. 1725; 98: With-owt fere that he schold fare; 603 = 977: Also fast ase he myght fare; 536: With fyndes for to fyght; 802: To fyght with that fyndes fere; 1262: That was grow both grene and gay; 1060 = 2330: Torent be the hond he hent; 270: That meche ys of myght; 713: That meche wase of myght; 24: For God ys most of myght, cf. 1112: To a man off myght; 1879: Vp she rose ageyn) the rough; 2100: Go sech her in) the see; 2129: And sett hym) oute in to the see; 2469: That semely to se were; 126: And symly was to sene; 415: That dare I sothely sey; 1170: Torrent sett on hym) so sore; 139: Serttes, yf I hym slepyng slone; 181: Torrent vndyr hys spryt he sprent; 179: But

stond styll̴; 2410: He is so stiff at euery stoure; x 987: Torrent in) the storrope stod; 1912: For no stroke wold she stynt; 2060: By a tokyn) I shall̴ the tell̴; 2397: Or walkyd in wede; 383: In hys walke ther ase he went; 725: And went forthe on hys wey; 107: And on hys wey gan he wynd; 2030: She went on that wilsom) way; 989: ale wyld at wyle; 2088: In no wise he wold; 1206: To wed her to my wyffe; 749: That wyt ys vndyr wede; 1315: All̴ men wonderid on that wight; 33: worthyest in wede.

c. Substantives and verbs are combined in the relation of subject and predicate. 2221: Down knelid that knyght; 854: Whether the fynd can fyght; 2390: There that his lady lent; 2064: My love was on the lent; 1219: Gret lordys to churche her led; 170: The fyndes spere sparrythe hyme nothyng; 84: No ston lettythe he stond.

d. Verbs and substantives are combined as predicate and object. 2490: his bak to bend; 2532: That couth moche curtesye; 273: Thy dethe than wyll̴ he dyght, cf. 1043: Hys dethe to hyme ys dyght; 1648: Thy deth now is dight; 2123: What deth they wold hym do; 161: My lordes frethe thus to fell̴; 2235: Found hym his fill̴ off ffyght; 1743: The fforward ye to fulleffylle; 651: He gathyred svm of hys gere; 210: Vpp both his handes he held; 1799: For Iesu is love, that harood hell̴; 1820: Whan they led that lady ffre; 2080: Leve we now that lady gent; 1663: Ech on other laid good lode; 1495: To god that made man; 435: A gret maynerey let he make ryght; 264: To hym sche mad here mone; 645: He rawght Torrent soche a rowght; 1172: And all̴ to sheverd his sheld; 502: Tho he be strod anoble stede; 2482: Torent be strode a stede strong; 281: I schall̴ the tell̴ soche a tokyn); 2013: Ne wanted she no woo; 115: He that schall̴ wend soche a wey; 439: Hom-ward to wend ther wey; 2448: And than) to wend her way; 2457: And to her logyng went her way; 1544: Other wayes yf

I wend; 207: That hathe thys world to wyld.

§ 3. THE DIALECT.

The stanza of twelve lines was probably first employed in the north of England; at least it would be difficult to prove the existence xi of a poem composed in this metre in the southern part of the country; therefore it is beforehand probable that the romance of Torrent was composed either in some part of the Midlands or in the North. In order to determine the dialect more precisely, we restrict ourselves to a careful consideration of the rhymes.

1. SHORT VOWELS.

Old English ă is (1) preserved before n and m: 744 and 788 Iame—name. 927 Adryan—jentylmane. 13 londe—wonande. 352 stond—lygand. 1128 stond—shynand. No part. pres. on-ond rhyming with an unvariable -ond has been traced out until now, but 1824 wepand—wonde (ags. wunden) seems to be the first. 2. Changed into o. 516 rome—frome ags. rûm—fram. 2446 mon)—done. 1190 none—shone—anon—done. 1257 ouercom—Aragon). 1989 son—can (= con). 2040 anon)—bone. A curious exception is 1929 grame (= greme)—teme—Ierusalem; cf. Gaw. l. 312.

O.E. e, the i-umlaut of a, is preserved: 373 end—wend. 476 went—jent. 924 tell̴—hell. 1702 hell—Desonell̴e. 1798 fell̴—hell̴. The past partic. of seón, segen, has been contracted into sen. 1562 sene—wene.

O.E. æ has become a: 45 spake—take. 363 ffare—bare. 726 and 876 sale—Portynggall̴e. 1074 passe—was. 1131 sale—tale. 1233 thare—fare. 1236 was—Sathanas. 1399 care—thare. 2287 was—alas.

æ has become e: 2026 wildernes—was. 764 derre—clere—ware (ags. wær). 1951 there—bere. 328 glad (= gled)—redd.

æ has become ay by the vocalization of the following g: 25 fayne—Torrayne. 1025 may—day, wey—laye. 1071 say—day. 2029 day—way.

O.E. ea becomes o before ld: 303 hold—bold, fold (ags. folde)—cold. 422 gold—mold, hold—told.

ea has become a: 399 Portyngall̴—bale (ags. bealu). 531 care—far) (ags. cearu). 1891 ffare—care.

ea has become e: 1166 beheld—feld—sheld—weld (ags. wealdan). 2359 preste—breste (ags. bearst).

O.E. eo has turned into e: 1166 beheld—ffeld—sheld—weld.

O.E. ĭ is preserved as i and y: 51 knyght—nyght. 307 dym—hym. 1783 myld—child. Only once this vowel has changed into e: 714 wret—get. i rhymes with e: 3 wynde—ende—lende—ffynde.

O.E. ŏ is unaltered: 422 gold—mold. 1122 gold—mold.

O.E. ŭ has become o: 367 dore (ags. duru)—befor). 765 Aragon)—son). 1257 ouer com—Aragon). 1762 com)—kyngdome. 1801 done—sonne (ags. sunu). 2320 sonne—dungeon.

O.E. y̆, the i-umlaut of ŭ, has the value of i, written i or y: 390 kysse—iwysse. 1564 till̴—fullefyll̴, yll̴—wyll̴. 1740 evyll̴—fulle fylle. Only once it rhymes with e: 1484 hyll̴ (= hell̴)—yell̴—befell̴—well̴, never with u.

2. LONG VOWELS.

O.E. â is preserved in the following rhymes:2 a. 39 take—stroke (= strake, ags. strâc), spake—take. 97 sore—fare. 103 goos—takythe (= gas—tas). 280 wakyn)—tokyn) (ags. tâcen). 334 care—sore. 590 fare—wher, hore—care. 705 fare—gere (ags. gâr). 788 Iame—name, bone—schame. 834 ga—ma. 977 fare—bare, sare—chaffare. 1143 glade—rade. 1238 Cate—gate, bad—wott (ags. wât). 1251 brod—made; cf. 1303, 1306, 1501, 1526, 1604, 1612, 1663, 1669, 1825, 1911, 2178, 2356, 2617.

b. O.E. â has changed into o: 16 sone (ags. sunu)—gon. 141 rode—rode (ags. rôd—râd). 195 bon (ags. bân)—Rome. 238 wote (ags. wât)—fote. 654 browȝ—goo. 1062 tho—do. Cf. 1196, 1226, 1295, 1381, 1809, 1812, 1815, 2013, 2025, 2028, 2037, 2046, 2295, 2298, 2301, 2542. The result is, that in 26 cases old â is preserved, in 22 cases changed into ô.

O.E. æ̂ is turned into (1) a: 154 were—fare. 603 fare—were. 1020 were—fare. 2074 care—ware.

Into (2) e. 379 dede (ags. dæ̂d)—hed. 1047 were—chere. 1053 sped—lede (ags. læ̂dan). 1263 stede—wede (ags. wæ̂d).

Into (3) o. 1113 mone (ags. mæ̂nan)—Aragon. 1384 beffore—there—were.

O.E. ô is preserved throughout: 73 wode—good. 112 rode—blod. 118 Rome—kyrstendome. 313 done—sone.

Before g the vowel u resp. w is inserted: 145 browght—nowght. 279 browght—thowght. 2053 sought—brought.

O.E. ê is preserved: 123 kene—sene. 743 dede—sped, wede. 1849 wepe—slepe. 2055 grene—kene. 2458 be dene—wene.

O.E. î is preserved as y: 196 tyd—syd. 325 fyve—lyve. 777 wyse—deuyce. 900 ryde—syde.

O.E. û is written ou resp. ow in the French way: 921 renowne—towyn). 978 downe—renowne. 1425 nowe—rowe. 2634 mouth—couth. It has become o: 516 rome—frome (ags. rûm—from). Cf. 2641 renown—son.

O.E. eá has become e: 1929 grame—streme, Jerusalem. 2554 Jerusalem)—streme (ags. streám).

O.E. eó has changed into e: 153 be—hee: 782 fre—he. 888 tre—crystyanté. 1643 be—charité. 1861 ffree—cité.

O.E. ŷ remains y: 1361 pride—bedsyde. 1433 pryde—ryde. 1473 wyde—pride. ŷ or ê, the i-umlaut of eá or e, is found as e: 63 were—here (ags. hŷran). 235 here—were. 327 sted—yed, nede—sped. 408 yede—ned. 1552 stede—nede, indede.

3. THE INFLEXIONS.

The plural of the substantives terminates in (1) s resp. ys: 837 ryghtys—knyghtes. 1298 stonys—nonys.

(2) in n: 458 slon—appon. 1116 done—shone. 1193 shone—anon, done.

(3) is formed by i-umlaut: men 1784, 2282, but 2197 wan—men (= man).