A REVIEW OF FOREIGN LETTERS, SCIENCE, AND THE ARTS EDITED BY E. A. CRADDOCK, M.A. PUBLISHED SIX TIMES A YEAR. PRICE 1/6 NET EACH CONTENTS OF LAST NUMBERS Vol. II. Nos. 5 & 6, June 1921 (Double Number) An entirely new and hitherto unpublished article by M. André The International Ideal in Modern Languages H. QUIGLEY E. BEATRICE GIGLIOLI and Learning A. W. PEGRUM A. FERRIÈRE H. J. CHAYTOR F. B. KIRKMAN G. DAVIES E. ALLISON PEERS M. DE BARRAL Published for the Modern Language Association BY A. & C. BLACK, LTD., 4, 5, 6, SOHO SQ., LONDON, W. 1 JUNTA PARA AMPLIACIÓN DE ESTUDIOS Centro de Estudios Históricos, Calle de Almagro, 26, Madrid PUBLICACIONES DE LA “REVISTA DE FILOLOGÍA ESPAÑOLA” ESTA REVISTA SE HA PROPUESTO FORMAR UNA COLECCIÓN DE LIBROS ESCOGIDOS SOBRE LENGUA Y LITERATURA ESPAÑOLAS, DESTINADOS :: A LA ENSEÑANZA CIENTÍFICA Y PRÁCTICA DE ESTAS MATERIAS Acaba de publicarse: T. NAVARRO TOMÁS PRONUNCIACIÓN ESPANOLA :: En esta obra descríbese por primera vez la pronunciación española según el habla corriente en Castilla entre las personas instruídas, yendo indicadas junto a cada forma correcta sus principales variantes dialectales y los defectos más comunes en que los extranjeros suelen incurrir. Un volumen en 8o, de 240 págs. y 61 figs., viii ARTICLES The Single Combat in Certain Cycles of English and Scandi- PAGE 113 131 150 157 Pierre de Ronsard's Hymne de la Mort' and Plutarch's MISCELLANEOUS NOTES Additions to the Supplement of the Bosworth-Toller 'Anglo-Saxon Dictionary." By T. N. TOLLER.-The Authorship of 'The Costelie Whore.' By W. J. LAWRENCE.-Milton and the Myth of Isis. By M. E. SEATON.-'Le Mystère d'Adam,' 63. By I. N. RAAMSDONK.-Ein Goethe-Brief. By H. G. FIEDLER.-Lessing's 'Philotas' and Crébillon. By ALICE A. SCOTT. REVIEWS The Works of Shakespeare, ed. by Sir A. Quiller Couch MINOR NOTICES O. Jespersen, Engelsk Fonetik.-F. S. Boas, Introduction to the Reading of Shakspere.-J.S. Smart, The Sonnets of Milton. -A. H. Gilbert, Geographical Dictionary of Milton.-Barrett Wendell, The Traditions of European Literature from Homer to Dante.-Lope de Vega, Comedias, 1.-H. Paul, Prinzipien der Sprachgeschichte; Deutsches Wörterbuch.-R. Petsch, Deutsche Dramaturgie, 1.-H. E. Palmer, Principles of Language-Study.. NEW PUBLICATIONS (December, 1921-February, 1922) 165 174 204 209 VOLUME XVII APRIL, 1922 NUMBER 2 THE SINGLE COMBAT IN CERTAIN CYCLES OF ENGLISH AND SCANDINAVIAN TRADITION AND ROMANCE. To a generation deeply impressed with the close interdependence of every member of a community upon all the rest, the suggestion that national or international difficulties may be solved by single combat between those directly concerned must appear primitive and inadequate. Yet the device has not altogether lost its appeal. We can conceive of a leader, even in an age when human life counted for little, who should refuse to sacrifice his helpless and innocent followers to his own ambition, or of a people, driven beyond endurance by indecisive war, who, in a flash of almost cynical rationalism, should demand that the quarrel be confined to those who hoped to gain by the event. 'Pugnent soli qui soli cupiunt dominari.' The motif, indeed, is not unknown to legend or to authentic history, but it occurs, as one would expect, sporadically, and seems to express a reaction against a prevailing code1. The purpose of this article is to draw attention to the occurrence of such a motif, implied or fully expressed, in a certain curiously related series of tradition and romance, linked by the presence of the Scandinavian adventurer, Anlaf Cuaran. It is not intended to base any theory on what, after all, may be no more than a chain of coincidences. The only justification for putting forward so imperfect a survey is the hope that the subject may be further pursued by those who are already at work in the field of tradition and romance. Before dealing directly with the tradition of Anlaf Cuaran, it is proposed to enter the subject indirectly, by way of a tradition connected with the relations between England and Scandinavia in the eleventh century. 2 In the twelfth-century chronicle of Henry of Huntingdon is found the story of a duel between Edmund Ironside and Canute of Denmark 1 The question is touched upon in H. C. Lea's Superstition and Force (3rd ed. 1878, pp. 95, 99, 118) and in Arbois de Jubainville's Cours de Littératures celtiques, Vol. vi, ch. iv. In both cases a clear distinction is drawn between the wager by battle intended as a direct appeal to Heaven to decide the justice of a quarrel, and the single combat arranged to avert a general slaughter. 2 Rolls Series. Ed. by T. Arnold, 1879. Lib. vi, p. 185. Translation, T. Forester. Bohn's Antiquarian Library. M. L. R. XVII. 8 in the year 1016. Six terrible battles have been fought, and preparations are in train for a seventh. The armies are drawn up in Gloucestershire, but before the battle is joined, dissatisfaction arises among the nobles, presumably of Edmund's party, and the general opinion is voiced in terms of bald common sense, 'Why are we such fools as to be so often putting our lives in peril? Let those who wish to reign singly decide the quarrel by single combat'.' The rival kings readily adopt the suggestion, and a meeting place is arranged at Olanie.' A fierce combat follows without marked advantage on either side, until Canute, foreseeing that his strength is about to fail him, proposes terms to his opponent. Let us be brothers by adoption, and divide the kingdom, so governing that I may rule your affairs and you mine. Even the government of Denmark I submit to your disposal. An agreement is arrived at, to which the people assent with tears of joy, a suitable conclusion to what Professor Earle describes as 'one of the established sensation scenes of History'.' The story is circumstantial enough and not prima facie incredible, but since it is apparently unknown to the writers of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles and to Florence of Worcester, it is open to the gravest suspicion. Modern historians have, indeed, brushed it aside somewhat cavalierly, accepting Professor Earle's suggestion that the legend must have arisen from the misinterpretation of a phrase which occurs under the year 1016 in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, the kings came together at Olanege'.' But if the phrase 'comon togædere' is in itself ambiguous, the context makes it perfectly clear, and it would be a negligent and unintelligent chronicler who could so grossly misinterpret his source. There can be no doubt that the compiler of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles has in his mind a friendly meeting, 'then counselled Eadric the ealdorman and the "witan" who were present that the kings should come to terms 1 Cur insensati necis periculum totiens incurrimus? pugnent singulariter qui regnare student singulariter.' 2 Said by earlier chroniclers to be an island in the Severn. (See Florence of Worcester, Roger of Wendover, Robert of Gloucester, etc.) MS. D of the A.S. Chronicles states that Olanige is 'with Deorhyrste.' See J. Earle's Saxon Chronicles, 1865, pp. 340, 341. 3 Simus fratres adoptivi, regnumque partiamur, imperemusque ego rebus in tuis, tuque in meis. Dacia quoque tuo disponatur imperio.' 4 Earle's Saxon Chronicles, p. 340. 5 E.g., E. A. Freeman, Norman Conquest, 1877, Vol. 1, p. 705. R. Green in his Conquest of England and C. Oman in England before the Norman Conquest ignore the story completely. For a discussion of the incident, see a paper by J. Hogg in the Transactions of the Royal Society of Literature, Second Series, Vol. v, Part II, 1854: 'On two Events which occurred in the Life of King Canute the Dane.' 'pa cynegas comon togædere æt Olanege' (MS. C). |