English Ballad The Boy and the Mantle: Sources & Parallels
In this article an attempt is made to prove the hypothesis that the plot of the
English ballad The Boy and the Mantle, based on the chastity test with the help
of the magic horn, is preserved in European literature in several variants: the
earliest variant can be exemplified by the Anglo-Norman Lai du cor by Robert
Biket and the French Livre de Carados in the First Continuation of Chrétien’s
Perceval, a later variant, by the German poem Diu Crône by Heinrich von dem
Türlin, a variant which is later still – by the Prose Tristan. In contrast to the
plot based on the motif of the magic horn, the plot of the chastity test by the
magic mantle, which is also present in the English ballad, is preserved in European
literature in a single variant. As is shown in the article, this variant in all
medieval texts (Old Norse: Mǫttuls saga, Samsons saga fagra, Skikkju rímur;
German: Der Mantel, which is sometimes ascribed to Heinrich von dem Türlin,
Lanzelet by Ulrich von Zatzikhoven, Der Luneten Mantel by Meistersinger
Bruns, the anonymous Lanethen Mantel, English: The Boy and the Mantle)
goes back to the French Lai du cort mantel. The origin of the plot in European
literature is far from clear. It is usually believed to go back to the Celtic tradition,
reflected in the manuscripts of the 14–15th centuries. However, there is
evidence of this plot being attested in Byzantine sources of the 5–6th centuries.
The article draws attention to yet another earlier literary source, a Greek romance
of the 3–4th century AD, which has not yet been discussed by scholars.
In conclusion parallels from folklore are drawn which show that the medieval
plots of chastity tests are genetically connected with the wedding ritual.
References
Гелиодор. Эфиопика / Пер. с древнегреч. А.В. Болдырева; Коммент.
А.Н. Егунова. М., 1965.
Костомаров Н.И. Очерк домашней жизни и нравов великорусского народа
в XVI и XV столетиях. СПб., 1860.
Матюшина И.Г. Сага о плаще (вступительная статья, перевод и комментарий) //
Кентавр. Centaurus. Studia classica et medievalia. 2004. № 1. С. 284–310.
Мелетинский Е.М. Средневековый роман. Происхождение и классические
формы. М., 1983.
Пушкарева Н.Л. Позорящие наказания для женщин в России XIX – начала
XX в. // Вина и позор в контексте становления современных европей-
ских государств (XVI–XX вв.). СПб., 2011. С. 190–216.
Смирнов А.Г. Очерки семейных отношений по обычному праву русского
народа // Пушкарева Н.Л., Бессмертных Л.В. «А се грехи злые, смерт-
ные…» Русская семейная и сексуальная культура глазами историков, эт-
нографов, литераторов, фольклористов, правоведов и богословов XIX –
начала XX вв. М., 2004. Кн. 1.
Тенишев В.В. Правосудие в русском крестьянском быту. Свод данных, добытых
этнографическими материалами покойного князя В.Н. Тенишева. Брянск, 1907.
Bartlett R. Trial by Fire and Water. Medieval Judicial Ordeal. Oxford, 1986.
Baumgartner E. Caradoc ou de la séduction / Mélanges de langue et de littérature
médiévales offerts à Alice Planche, éd. А. Queffélec et M. AccarieNice:
Les Belles Lettres, 1984. P. 61–69.
Bennet Ph. Some Reflections on the Style of Robert Biket’s Lai du Cor //
Zeitschrift für Romanische Philologie / Hrsg. K. Baldinger. Tübingen, 1978,
Bd. 94. P. 329–333.
Berger A. Untersuchungen zu den Patria Konstantinupoleos. Bonn: Habelt, 1988.
The Continuations of the Old French Perceval of Chrétien de Troyes / Ed.
W. Roach, R. Ivy. 3 vols. Philadelphia, 1949–1952.
Duggan J.J. The Song of Roland. Formulaic Style and Poetic Craft. Berkley;
Los Angeles, 1973.
Donatelli J. The Percy Folio Manuscript: a seventeenth century context for
Medieval Poetry // English Manuscript Studies 1100–1700. 5 vols. Toronto,
1993. Vol. 4 / Ed. P. Beal, J. Griffiths. P. 114–133.
The English and Scottish Popular Ballads / Ed. Fr. J. Child. 5 vols. N.Y.,
1965. Vol. I.
45
Frappier J. Chrétien de Troyes: l’homme et l’oeuvre. 3e éd. P., 1968.
Kahane R. A Byzantine Version of the Telltale Mantle / Mǫttuls saga / Ed. M.
Kalinke. Copenhagen, 1987. P. xix–xx.
Kelly K.C. Performing Virginity and Testing Chastity in the Middle Ages. L.;
N.Y., 2000.
Kratz B. Die Ambraser Mantel-Erzälung und ihr Autor // Euphorion. 1977.
B. 71. S. 1–17.
Le Lai du Cor / Ed. C.T. Erickson. Oxford, 1973.
Leges Saxonum et Lex Thuringorum / Hrsg. Claudius von Schwerin. Fontes iuris
Germanici antiqui in usum scholarum ex monumentis germaniae historicis
separatim editi. 4. Hanover; Leipzig, 1918.
Loomis R.Sh. Arthurian Tradition and Chrétien de Troyes. N.Y., 1949.
Mantel et Cor: Deux lais du douzieme siècle / Textes établis et présentés par
Philip Bennett. Textes littéraires, XVI. Exeter, 1975.
Der Mantel. Bruchstück eines Lanzeletromans des Heinrich von dem Türlin, nebst
Abhandlung über die Sage vom Trinkhorn und Mantel und die Quelle der Krone
/ Hrsg. O. Warnatsch. Germanistische Abhandlungen, II. Breslau, 1883.
Reid M.J.C. The Arthurian Legend: Comparison of Treatment in Modern and
Mediaeval Literature. L.; N.Y., 2015.
Rider J. Courtly Marriage in Robert Bicket’s Lai du Cor // Romania. 1985. Vol.
106. P. 173–197.
Thompsson St. Motif Index of folk-literature: a classification of narrative
elements in folktales, ballads, myths, fables, medieval romances, exempla,
fabliaux, jest-books and local legends. Revised and enlarged edition.
Bloomington, 1955–1958.
Trioedd Ynys Prydein. The Welsh Triads / Ed. with an Introduction, Translation
and Commentary by R. Bromwich. Cardiff, 1961.
Ulrich von Zatzikoven. Lanzelet: A Romance of Lancelot / Translated from the Middle
High German by K.G.T. Webster, rev. R.Sh. Loomis. Columbia, 2005.
Welsh Medieval Law, being a text of the Laws of Howel the Good namely The British
Museum Harleian MS. 4353 of the 13th century / With translation, introduction,
appendix, glossary etc. by A.W. Wade-Evans. Oxford, 1909.