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bis wife and her new-born son to death, and Golo bids
two servants execute this command. But moved
by pity they let her ro, and she takes refuge in a cave in
the Ardennes together with her child, who is miracu-
lously suckled by a roe. At the end of six years Count
Signed, who has in the meantime repented of his
rash deed, is led to this cave while pursuing the roe,
and a happv reunion is the result. Golo dies a trai-
tor's death, nis limbs being torn asunder by four oxen.
The legend adds that a chapel was built and dedicated
to Our Lady at the \ery spot where the cave was. It
is the Chapel of Frauenkirchen, near Laach, and there
Genevieve is said to be buried.
The origin of the legend is wholly unknown. The oldest versions are found in manuscript dating from the fifteenth centur>', most of them hailing from Laach. An account was written in 1472 by Matthias Emichius (Emmich) a C'armelite friar, later auxiliary Bishop of Mainz. The learned antiquarian Marquard Freher appended a version of the legend drawn from a Laach manuscript to his*'Origines Palatinse" (1G13). The legend is told in connexion with the foundation of the chapel of Frauenkirchen. In all these versions the time of action is that of a Bishop Hildulf of Trier. But no such bishop is known. Nor is it possible to identify Genevieve with any historic personage. As for Signed, there were several counts of that name, but nothing is known of them to permit of an identifi- cation. An historical basis for the legend has not been foimd. The ar^iunents for a mvthical origin are fu- tile. So the opmion has been advanced (])y Seuffert) that the legend is the fabrication of a monk from the monastery of Laach, and dates from the fourteenth century.
The fame of the story" is due to the work of the French Jesuit Ren^ de Cerisiers. His book, entitled •' L'Innocence reconnue ou Vie de Sainte Genevieve de Brabant", won immediate popularity. The oldest datable edition is from 1638. Two years later this stonr, together with those of Jeanne d'Arc and Hir- landa, was reprinted in *' Les trois ^tats de I'innocence afflig^'^ etc. • In Cerisiers* version the legend has been considerably amplified; its pious character is em- phasised, especially through the copious introduction of miracles. Here also the child receives the Biblical name Benoni (i. e. son of my sorrow. Gen., xxxv, 18) whence the " Schmerzenreich " of the German version. Reference to Charles Martel fixed the eighth century as the time of action.
Cerisiers' work inspired a number of Dutch and German books on the legend, in all of which the ma- terial is treated with more or less freedom. The au- thors of the first two German versions are Jesuits; these versions were followed by the ^'Auserlesenes Histoiy-Buch" (Dillingen, 1G87) of Father Martin of Cochem (d. 1712), a Capuchin friar. Here the story of St. Genevieve is given among a number of pious legends, and it was tnis version that made the legend popular in Germany, where it became the subject of chap-books. Some of these books base their accoimt on Dutch versions, the first of which had appeared in 1645. In these Protestant influence is unmistakable; the miracles, already ciu-tailed in the German version, are here completely expunged. Of English versions we have at least two, one of which "The Triumphant Lady, or the Crowned Innocence" (Ix)ndon, 1654) is by Sir W. Lower.
Saukbborn, Oe^AiehU der Pfalzgrufin Genovefa vnd der Ka- pdU Frauenkirchen (Rfttisbon, 1856;; i^Kvrvr.KT, Die Legende von der P/dlzprflfin Uenovefa (WQrabuxTK, 1877); Goi^, Pfalz- grikfin Oenave/a in der deutsehen Dichtung (Leipzig, 1897).
Arthur (Artus)^ a famous legendary King of the Bri- tons, the central figure of a great medieval cycle of romance. His court is represented as a model court for the cultivation of every knightly virt ue. He him- self presides ovBrtbe famous Round^al)le. about which 19 assembled % band of ohosen knights. The adven-
tures of these knights form the subject-matter of the
numerous romances of the Arthurian cvcle.
The history of the oriffin and development of the Arthurian legend is not clear. The verj' existence of Arthur has been doubted, and attempts have been made to reduce him to a myth. But it is now well known that he was an historic figure, a British chieftain of the end of the fifth and the oeginning of the sixth century a. d., who championed the cause of the native Britons against the foreign invaders, especially the Angles and Saxons. The oldest British chronicler of Wales, Gildajs, in his "De Excidio Britannia)" (c. 540) knows of the great victory of the Britons at Mount Badon, but makes no mention of Arthur. The first record of him is found in the "Historia Brittonum" (written 796) , ascribed to Nennius. There he appears already as a legendary figure, the champion of an op- pressed people against the cruel invaders, whom he de- feats in twelve great battles, the last being fought at Mons Badonis, So by the end of the eighth century the legend of a great champion was already current among the Celtic population of the British Isles and Brittany, and this legend was further developed and amplified by the addition of new legendary traits. It received its literaiy form in the " Historia regimi Brittannise*', a Latin chronicle, written between 1118 and 1135 by the Welsh monk Gwifrey (Galfridus, Gruffydd) of Monmouth. This work, purporting to give a histoiy of the British kings from the mythical Brutus to Cad- wallo (689) , is a curious medley of fact and fable. The exploits related of Arthur are whollv fabulous. His father is Uther Pendragon (Uther dragon-head), his moiher Igema, wife of the Duke of Cornwall. Merlin the Wizard by a trick has effected their union. Arthur becomes ruler at the age of fifteen and at once enters upon his career of victory by defeating the Saxons. He marries Guanhumara (Gwenhwyvar. Ginevra, Gui- nevere) and establishes a court the lame of which spreads far and wide. In a series of wars he conquers Scotland, Ireland, Norway, and Gaul. Finally he makes war against Rome, but, though victorious, is compelled to turn back to protect his wife and king- dom from the treacherous designs of his nephew Mor- dred. In the battle of Camlan (Cambula) the latter is killed, but Arthur, too, is mortally wounded and mys- teriously removed to the Isle of Avalon, whence he will reappear (so other chronicles relate), some day to re- store his people to power.
It is not known with certainty what sources Godfrey used. Probably he drew his information from Welsh chronicles, as well as from oral tradition preserved by Breton story-tellers. Much, also, is his own inven- tion. The work won immediate favour, and became the basis of several other rhj-med chronicles, such as the "Brut" of Wace (or Gace) written about 1157, and that of Layamon (c. 1200), the first English work in which the legend of Arthur appears. In Godfrey's histon' mention is made of Arthur's court as far- famcd, but the first explicit reference to the lioimd Table is found in Wace's "Brut". From this refer- ence it is perfectly clear that this legendary institution was already well known in Brittany when vVace wrote. At a later period, when the Grail legend was fused with that of Arthur, the Round Table was identified with the Grail table instituted by Joseph of Arima- thea, and was then said to have been founded by ITther Pendragon at the suggestion of Meriin (so in the Grail romance of Robertr de Boron).
Towards the end of the twelfth century the Arthur- ian legend makes its appearance in French literature in the epics of C'hrestien de Troyes. How this material, the inatirre de Bretagne, was transmitted, is one of the most diflicult and disputetl questions in connexion with the history of medieval I rench literature. It is admitted that Godfrey and the chroniclers cannot liave been the only sources; the subject matter of the romances is too varieil for that, and points to the in-
