Note 101 — Chapter VI

Cf. Merlin, ed. Sommer, chap. xxvii. It may be as well here to remark that Professor Foerster apparently attributes considerable importance to the pseudo-historical account of Arthur's wars with the Saxons contained in the prose romances, notably the Vulgate Merlin (cf. Charrette, p. xcvi., and review of Legend of Sir Gawain, Zeitschrift für Franz. Sp., Band 20, p. 102), asserting that the prose romances contain, side by side with the later, the remains of the oldest stages of Arthurian tradition. To me it seems patent that these romances have simply borrowed from the Chronicles. There is nothing in them which cannot be found in Geoffrey or his translators, and the fact that they represent the romantic legend in a demonstrably late form, and not in one consonant with the pseudo-historic indications, while there is no trace of any fundamental revision of the story, such as might be expected, seems to make it quite clear that they are of comparatively late invention. They by no means stand on the same footing as do Wace and Layamon, which are of distinct value in determining earlier forms of the legend. To take one instance alone, the Merlin gives a long account of the sons of King Lot, who play a most important part in the action of the story, but the genuine early tradition gives Gawain no brother save Mordred, and Layamon distinctly says, 'he wes Walwainnes broðer, næs þer nan oðer' (ll. 25467-8). The existence of these sons marks a secondary stage in the story; but they are in all the prose romances. An exception should perhaps be made in favour of the Didot Perceval, which gives the Mort Artur section in a form differing from the other prose romances and much more closely in accord with the Chronicles. I shall return to this point later on.