''De Ortu Waluuanii Nepotis Arturi'' ( en, The Rise of Gawain, Nephew of Arthur) is an anonymous
Medieval Latin
Medieval Latin was the form of Literary Latin used in Roman Catholic Western Europe during the Middle Ages. In this region it served as the primary written language, though local languages were also written to varying degrees. Latin functioned ...
chivalric romance
As a literary genre, the chivalric romance is a type of prose and verse narrative that was popular in the noble courts of High Medieval and Early Modern Europe. They were fantastic stories about marvel-filled adventures, often of a chivalric k ...
dating to the 12th or 13th century.
It describes the birth, boyhood deeds, and early adventures of
King Arthur
King Arthur ( cy, Brenin Arthur, kw, Arthur Gernow, br, Roue Arzhur) is a legendary king of Britain, and a central figure in the medieval literary tradition known as the Matter of Britain.
In the earliest traditions, Arthur appears as a ...
's nephew,
Gawain
Gawain (), also known in many other forms and spellings, is a character in Arthurian legend, in which he is King Arthur's nephew and a Knight of the Round Table. The prototype of Gawain is mentioned under the name Gwalchmei in the earliest ...
. The romance gives the most detailed account of Gawain's early years of any contemporary work, and is driven by the young man's quest to establish his identity. It is also notable for its early reference to
Greek fire
Greek fire was an incendiary weapon used by the Eastern Roman Empire beginning . Used to set fire to enemy ships, it consisted of a combustible compound emitted by a flame-throwing weapon. Some historians believe it could be ignited on contact w ...
.
History
''De Ortu Waluuanii'' survives in a single early-14th-century Medieval Latin manuscript believed to be a copy of an earlier work. J. D. Bruce and
Roger Sherman Loomis
Roger Sherman Loomis (1887–1966) was an American scholar and one of the foremost authorities on medieval and Arthurian literature. Loomis is perhaps best known for showing the roots of Arthurian legend, in particular the Holy Grail, in native Ce ...
suggested that the romance dates to the 13th century, though details of costume and ship construction suggest an earlier date.
However, it was written after
Geoffrey of Monmouth
Geoffrey of Monmouth ( la, Galfridus Monemutensis, Galfridus Arturus, cy, Gruffudd ap Arthur, Sieffre o Fynwy; 1095 – 1155) was a British cleric from Monmouth, Wales and one of the major figures in the development of British historiograph ...
's ''
Historia Regum Britanniae
''Historia regum Britanniae'' (''The History of the Kings of Britain''), originally called ''De gestis Britonum'' (''On the Deeds of the Britons''), is a pseudohistorical account of British history, written around 1136 by Geoffrey of Monmouth. I ...
'' of the mid-12th century, as it borrows passages and plots from that work.
Catalog tradition, as recorded by
John Bale
John Bale (21 November 1495 – November 1563) was an English churchman, historian and controversialist, and Bishop of Ossory in Ireland. He wrote the oldest known historical verse drama in English (on the subject of King John), and developed ...
, lists the author as
Robert of Torigni
Robert of Torigni (also known as Roburtus de Monte) (c. 1110–1186) was a Norman monk, prior, abbot and twelfth century chronicler.
Religious life
Robert was born at Torigni-sur-Vire, Normandy c. 1110 most probably to an aristocratic family but ...
, abbot of
Mont Saint Michel Abbey
The Mont-Saint-Michel Abbey is an abbey located within the city and island of Mont-Saint-Michel in Normandy, in the department of Manche.
The abbey is an essential part of the structural composition of the town the feudal society constructed. O ...
from 1154 to 1186. However, no other evidence supports this assertion, though the real author must have been an educated man and was likely a cleric.
The author composed another Latin romance, the ''Historia Meriadoci'' or ''The Story of
Meriadoc''.
While the primary basis for John Bale's suggestion that Robert of Torigni might have been the author of these two romances was the signature of the author—a single letter "R"—Peter Larkin has suggested several reasons why the anonymous author was more likely to have been
Ranulf Higden
Ranulf Higden or Higdon ( – 12 March 1364) was an English chronicler and a Benedictine monk who wrote the ''Polychronicon'', a Late Medieval magnum opus. Higden, who resided at the monastery of St. Werburgh in Chester, is believed to h ...
.
[Larkin, Peter, A Suggested Author for "De ortu Waluuanii" and "Historia Meriadoci": Ranulph Higden, ''The Journal of English and Germanic Philology'', Vol. 103, No. 2 (April 2004), pp. 215-231] Higden, an early fourteenth century monk and chronicler, is chronologically far more plausible a candidate and also he was known to sign his works with a single letter "R" while Robert of Torigni was not.
Plot
''De Ortu Waluuanii'' expands on the account of Gawain's early life given in Geoffrey's ''Historia'', which mentions that at the age of twelve Gawain was sent to Rome to serve in the household of the fictional Pope Sulpicius, who educated and knighted him. The structure and plot revolve around the theme of establishing one's identity.
Gawain, the illegitimate son of Arthur's sister
Anna
Anna may refer to:
People Surname and given name
* Anna (name)
Mononym
* Anna the Prophetess, in the Gospel of Luke
* Anna (wife of Artabasdos) (fl. 715–773)
* Anna (daughter of Boris I) (9th–10th century)
* Anna (Anisia) (fl. 1218 to 12 ...
, is raised ignorant of his parentage and his relationship to Arthur and is trained as a cavalry officer to the Roman emperor.
Known only as "the Knight of the
Surcoat
A surcoat or surcote is an outer garment that was commonly worn in the Middle Ages by soldiers. It was worn over armor to show insignia and help identify what side the soldier was on. In the battlefield the surcoat was also helpful with keeping ...
", he must first work to establish himself as knight in his own right, and then must discover his biological identity by learning his lineage.
The narrative is centered around two major quests, involving Gawain's defense of
Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
and Arthur's
Britain
Britain most often refers to:
* The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands
* Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...
, respectively. The first quest describes Gawain's battles with Greek fire-equipped
pirates
Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...
and culminates with his single combat against a
Persia
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
n knight. The second quest involves protecting Arthur's lands from northern raiders. Gawain, traveling incognito, must fight Arthur and
Kay before he is allowed to pass, and is eventually rewarded for his service by receiving knowledge of his true identity from his uncle.
In describing the boyhood deeds of Gawain, the romance recalls several other Arthurian works, notably the ''Enfances Gawain''. Other works to deal with the subject include Geoffrey's ''Historia'', works derived from the ''Historia'' such as
Wace
Wace ( 1110 – after 1174), sometimes referred to as Robert Wace, was a Medieval Norman poet, who was born in Jersey and brought up in mainland Normandy (he tells us in the ''Roman de Rou'' that he was taken as a child to Caen), ending his care ...
's ''
Roman de Brut
The ''Brut'' or ''Roman de Brut'' (completed 1155) by the poet Wace is a loose and expanded translation in almost 15,000 lines of Norman-French verse of Geoffrey of Monmouth's Latin ''History of the Kings of Britain''. It was formerly known as ...
'' and
Layamon's ''Brut'', and the romance ''
Perlesvaus
''Perlesvaus'', also called ''Li Hauz Livres du Graal'' (''The High Book of the Grail''), is an Old French Arthurian romance dating to the first decade of the 13th century. It purports to be a continuation of Chrétien de Troyes' unfinished ''Perc ...
''. However, ''De Ortu Waluuanii'' contains the only complete account.
While chiefly serious in tone, ''The Rise of Gawain'' contains some humorous incidents; notably, when Gawain pushes Arthur into the
River Usk
The River Usk (; cy, Afon Wysg) rises on the northern slopes of the Black Mountain (''y Mynydd Du''), Wales, in the westernmost part of the Brecon Beacons National Park. Initially forming the boundary between Carmarthenshire and Powys, it fl ...
and the king is forced to explain to his wife Gwendoloena (
Guinevere
Guinevere ( ; cy, Gwenhwyfar ; br, Gwenivar, kw, Gwynnever), also often written in Modern English as Guenevere or Guenever, was, according to Arthurian legend, an early-medieval queen of Great Britain and the wife of King Arthur. First ment ...
) why he is so wet.
''De Ortu Waluuanii'' also contains one of the earliest European descriptions of the processing and use of the maritime explosive
Greek fire
Greek fire was an incendiary weapon used by the Eastern Roman Empire beginning . Used to set fire to enemy ships, it consisted of a combustible compound emitted by a flame-throwing weapon. Some historians believe it could be ignited on contact w ...
. The passage recounts how the pirates Gawain fights in the Mediterranean resort to using the substance when they see Gawain will not submit to them, and then goes into a long description of how it is made. The rough, unlearned description combines elements of folklore and literary tradition about
Medea
In Greek mythology, Medea (; grc, Μήδεια, ''Mēdeia'', perhaps implying "planner / schemer") is the daughter of King Aeëtes of Colchis, a niece of Circe and the granddaughter of the sun god Helios. Medea figures in the myth of Jason an ...
's magic as it appears in
Ovid
Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the th ...
's ''
Metamorphoses
The ''Metamorphoses'' ( la, Metamorphōsēs, from grc, μεταμορφώσεις: "Transformations") is a Latin narrative poem from 8 CE by the Roman poet Ovid. It is considered his ''magnum opus''. The poem chronicles the history of the wo ...
'', but the process described would have resulted in a working,
napalm
Napalm is an incendiary mixture of a gelling agent and a volatile petrochemical (usually gasoline (petrol) or diesel fuel). The name is a portmanteau of two of the constituents of the original thickening and gelling agents: coprecipitated al ...
-like weapon of thickened gasoline.
Notes
References
*
*
Geoffrey of Monmouth
Geoffrey of Monmouth ( la, Galfridus Monemutensis, Galfridus Arturus, cy, Gruffudd ap Arthur, Sieffre o Fynwy; 1095 – 1155) was a British cleric from Monmouth, Wales and one of the major figures in the development of British historiograph ...
;
Thorpe, Lewis (1988). ''The History of the Kings of Britain''. New York: Penguin. .
*
Lacy, Norris J. Norris J. Lacy (born March 8, 1940 in Hopkinsville, Kentucky) is an American scholar focusing on France, French medieval literature. He was the Edwin Erle Sparks Professor Emeritus of French and Medieval Studies at the Pennsylvania State University ...
(1991). ''The New Arthurian Encyclopedia''. New York: Garland. .
*Wilhelm, James J. (1994)
''The Romance of Arthur'' New York: Garland. .
External links
''Historia Meriadoci and De Ortu Waluuanii'' J. Douglas Bruce, ed., at Google Books
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ortu Waluuanii, De
Arthurian literature in Latin
12th-century Latin books
13th-century Latin books