Page:The Mabinogion.djvu/153

Peredur is frequently alladed to by the Bards of the Middle Ages, in terms illustrative of the high esteem in which his deeds of prowess then were held. Gruffydd ab Meredjdd, who flourished about the end of the 13th century, in his Elegy on Tudur ap Goronwy, one of the ancestors of the House of Tudor, thus mentions him:—

"O Bountiful Creator of the radiant sun and waning moon,
Sad is the fall of the chief of valiant deeds,
Eagle of the battle-charge, equal to Peredur,
Tudor, assaulter of the Angles, he who never shunned the fight."

In the old Romances, as Morte d'Arthur, &c., he is celebrated, under the name of Perceval, as one of those engaged in the quest of the Sangreal, in which character he is also spoken of in the Triads, together with Bort, the son of the King of that name, and Galath, the son of Lancelot du Lac.—Tri. lxi. Myv. Ar. 11. 14.

Like Owain, his exploits were sung by Chrestiens de Troyes, and they also form the subject of romantic compositions in German, and in other languages of Northern Europe. Our own Chaucer alludes to him in his Rime of Sire Thopas, Cant Tales, 1384–5—

"Himself drank water of the well.
As did the Knight, Sire Percivell,
So worthy under wede."

Attending Tournaments.—Page 81.

We find various instances of knights, who made it a practice to resort to Tournaments as a lucrative occupation; for, on those occasions, not only the horse and arms of the vanquished frequently became the property of the victor, but the prizes contested for were often of so valuable a nature as greatly to enrich those who were fortunate enough to win them. Sometimes they consisted of diamonds and precious stones, and sometimes even of the revenues of different domains.^[1] In the Romance of Ipomydon, "a thousand pound" is the guerdon bestowed on the successful combatant. Our Henry the VII. proposed a ring of gold, set with a ruby, and another set with a diamond, as the reward of the knights who should be victorious at a Tournament at which he was to be present^[2] And there is a characteristic story on record of the Chevalier Bayard, who being the conqueror on one of these occasions, refused to take the prize, which was a ruby worth a hundred ducats attached to a lady's

1. Mém. de Chev. I. 322.
2. Strutt's Sports and Pastimes, 134.