''Roswall and Lillian'' is a medieval Scottish
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 ...
.
[Laura A. Hibbard, ''Medieval Romance in England'' p290 New York Burt Franklin,1963] A late appearing tale, it nevertheless draws heavily on folkloric motifs for its account of an exiled prince, reduced to poverty, who rises from it to win a princess.
Synopsis
Roswall frees some of his father's prisoners whom he feels have been imprisoned unjustly. For his crime, he is exiled, albeit with a small fortune and a royal steward to accompany him.
However, after leaving the kingdom, the treacherous steward threatens to murder Roswall if he does not hand over all his possessions and swear to become his servant. The steward, taking the Roswall's identity and possessions, abandons the prince to find a finer servant.
After wandering alone and penniless, Roswall finds a city in another kingdom. A woman takes Roswall in and sends him to school with her son. The prince does so well he impresses the school master, who brings him to the king to take into service. The king's daughter Lillian and Roswall fall in love.
However, the future of their love seems ill-fated. A tournament is set to be held to honor Lillian's approaching marriage to a prince from a nearby kingdom. The prince is revealed to, in fact, be the treacherous steward.
Roswall goes hunting and encounters a white knight from his former kingdom. The knight gives him a horse and armor to use to enter the tournament. Roswall wins but flees before being recognized. The next day, he encounters a gray knight who aids him in the same way, and the third day, a green knight does the same.
The night before the wedding, the knights come to the city and salute the king, queen, and Princess Lillian, but not the steward. When asked why they have broken the custom of saluting the princess' husband-to-be and the son of their king, they say they do not see their king's son. After searching the crowd, however, they identify him as the prince of their kingdom. The king asks Roswall to explain, and the true prince tells his story.
The steward is executed, and Roswall and Lillian marry. Roswall rewards the old woman who had given him shelter, and the royal couple rule wisely and justly.
History
It is "certainly as early as the sixteenth century and perhaps
elongingto the fifteenth" but found only in printed editions, the earliest dating to 1663.
[Rickert, Edith. 1908. ]
Early English Romances: Done in to Modern English by Edith Rickert: Romances of Friendship
'. Chatto and Windus.
The ballad ''
The Lord of Lorn and the False Steward'', too closely related not to be derived, was entered into the Stationers' Register in 1580.
[Laura A. Hibbard, ''Medieval Romance in England'' p290-1 New York Burt Franklin,1963]
Sir
Walter Scott
Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels '' Ivanhoe'', '' Rob Roy ...
recounted that within living memory of his time, an old person wandered Edinburgh, singing ''Roswall and Lillian.''
Motifs
Despite its late origin, the tale is rife with motifs deriving from folklore.
[Laura A. Hibbard, ''Medieval Romance in England'' p291 New York Burt Franklin,1963] The rescue of the prisoners, his exile, and their assistance to him is clearly recognizable in such
fairy tale
A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story, magic tale, or wonder tale) is a short story that belongs to the folklore genre. Such stories typically feature magic, enchantments, and mythical or fanciful beings. In most cult ...
s as ''
Iron Hans'', ''
The Gold-bearded Man'', and ''
The Hairy Man
The Hairy Man is a Russian fairy tale. Andrew Lang included it in ''The Crimson Fairy Book''.
Synopsis
Two ricks of a king's rapeseed fields are burned every night. Finally, a shepherd with dogs keeps watch, and catches the "Hairy Man" who is res ...
'',
and this friendship is central to the plot.
''
The Lord of Lorn and the False Steward'' contains both the treacherous steward and the marriage to the steward interrupted for that of the man he supplanted.
Both it and ''
The Goose Girl
"The Goose Girl" (german: Die Gänsemagd) is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm and first published in ''Grimm's Fairy Tales'' in 1815 (KHM 89). It is of Aarne-Thompson type 533.
The story was first translated into English b ...
'' turn on the revelation that the true royal has been supplanted by a treacherous servant.
[Laura A. Hibbard, ''Medieval Romance in England'' p292 New York Burt Franklin,1963]
Fighting in the three different suits of armor at the tourney resemble those of ''
Ipomedon
''Ipomedon'' is a romance composed in Anglo-Norman verse by Hue de Rotelande in the late 12th century at Credenhill near Hereford. In the sequel '' Protheselaus'', which must have been composed slightly later, Hue acknowledges as his patron Gilber ...
'' and ''
Sir Gowther
''Sir Gowther'' is a relatively short Middle English tail-rhyme romance in twelve-line stanzas, found in two manuscripts, each dating to the mid- or late-fifteenth century. The poem tells a story that has been variously defined as a secular hagio ...
''
References
{{reflist, 2
External links
Modernized text
Romance (genre)