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NOTES AND QUERIES. [9 th s. n. SEPT. 17, t
jurist*
WK must request correspondents desiring infor- mation on family matters of only private interest to affix their names and addresses to their queries, in order that the answers may be addressed to them direct.
SOME ARTHURIAN PUZZLES. Possibly some
of your readers who take an interest in
Arthurian literature may be able to throw
some light on the following questions.
King Arthur, according to the Triads, was married successively to three wives, each of whom is called Quenhyvar, or, as we have it in English, Guinevere. In Bohn's very unsatisfactory work 'Six Old English Chronicles 'amongst which, without any caution, is included Bertram's forgery, the so-called Richard of Cirencester's 'State of Britain 'Geoffrey of Monmouth is made to style one of these wives Guanhumara, as I think for Quenhyvar.
Having regard to the fact that Arthur was Pendragon and supreme monarch of Britain, I am inclined to think that the word Guine- vere or Quenhyvar is not a Christian name or surname, but a royal title, equivalent to that of empress or supreme queen. I have looked at some Welsh and Brezonec diction- aries, but cannot find any light on the matter.
One of the most difficult of Arthurian puzzles (next in difficulty to Arthurian dates) is the question of King Arthur's French expe- dition, and especially as to who was the
- Lucius Tiberius " of Geoffrey of Monmouth.
It has occurred to me that this " Lucius" must have been either Clovis or Clotaire. Arthur's allies, the Burgundians and the Goths and Visigoths, were also enemies of Clovis and Clotaire. Clovis, too, is also " Louis," and he assumed (I am writing from memory) some Roman title. He represented the party also of the Roman see, whilst Arthur, the Bur- gundians, Goths, and Visigoths, were adhering to very different ecclesiastical parties, as we know from the controversy oetween the Roman see and the Archbishop of Dol, the successor of the British Archbishops of York. In my spare moments I have made some searches in likely French and German sources, but up to this with disappointing results. There is abundance of mediaeval romance literature as to Arthur and his knights and chivalrous institutions, but there is a strange lack of Arthurian dates and historical details in the French and German monastic and other chronicles. Possibly, like our Venerable
Bede, they may not only have been doctored,
but inconvenient dates and facts may have been deleted ; this is certainly the case with
the martyrologies. I know it is the fashion,
and a very convenient fashion, for lazy
people to treat King Arthur as a myth.
After carefully examining the evidence I am
convinced he was a reality ; and I would
recommend those of a different opinion to
peruse Blake Odgers's brochure on Arthur,
when I am sure they will no longer " sit in
the seat of the scornful."
SHACKLETON HALLETT.
THE POET PAOLO ROLLI AND HIS PATRONS.
Signer Carducci, in the literary intro-
duction to his collection of love-songs of the
eighteenth century, says of this poet, who
was born in Rome in 1687, that after having
known Lord Bolingbroke in Italy, he fell in
with another Englishman, "Lord Steers
Sembuch," in whose company he came to
England, in or about 1715. He did well in
England taught Italian to the royal family
and nobility, composed dramas for the Royal
Academy of Music, seems to have been made
a Fellow of the Royal Society (I wonder why)
and in 1747 retired to Italy with a small
fortune. I should like to know who Lord
Steers Sembuch may have been, and shall
be grateful for any information about Rolli
with which readers of 'N. & Q.' will kindly
favour me.
WILLIAM KENWORTHY BROWNE.
93, Route de Calais, Boulogne-sur-Mer.
"IN DOMINICIS AUGUSTI." What is the meaning of this phrase 1 It occurs in an old Roman Catholic service-book, brought by a friend of mine from Spain. Before it is an "Ana," with music, for use " a festo Trinitatis usque ad Adventum," and after it a Responsio "In Nativitate Domini." This locates it pretty accurately. Moreover, the " Afia In Dominicis Augusti" consists of a passage from Proverbs viii. 12, 22-27, 29, beginning " Ego sapientia habito in consiliis, et eruditis intersum cogitationibus," set to Gregorian music, as are nearly all the contents of the book. This seems to identify it with Sapientia " (Dec. 16), though it does not ex- plain the phrase. Ducange (art. 'Augustus ) quotes from a charter of 1158, which seems to imply that the word means holiday or vaca- tion. The book in which I find it unfortu- nately lacks, besides cover, title-page and ten or more other pages, but appears to be about two hundred years old.
GILBERT H. F. VANE.
The Rectory, Wem, Salop.
" BOB-BAW ! "How many mothers use the exclamation bob-law = don't touch, when toddlers in quest of something new finger
