{"id":445,"date":"2014-07-11T14:59:50","date_gmt":"2014-07-11T18:59:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/people.clas.ufl.edu\/jshoaf\/?page_id=445"},"modified":"2026-03-19T08:02:50","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T12:02:50","slug":"carlisle-2","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/people.clas.ufl.edu\/jshoaf\/carlisle-tristan\/carlisle-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Carlisle Fragment 2"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n
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Carlisle Fragment 2<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

The Carlisle fragment can be compared to 3 different texts based on Thomas’s Roman de Tristan; the correspondence helps confirm on the one hand that these texts are indeed related (i.e. Carlisle is indeed from the French original of these works) and on the other hand how freely the translators worked in deciding when to follow Thomas, when to elaborate, and when to condense the original.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gottfried<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Gottfried von Strassburg’s “translation” of Tristran and Ysolt’s avowal of love after drinking the potion is lengthy and, while it clearly refers to some of Thomas’s literary ideas, including the pun on “lameir” (love\/the sea\/bitterness), it adds a great deal; the Carlisle Fragment’s 160 lines or so correspond to about 720 lines of Gottfried’s poem. Oddly enough, Gottfried includes in his version of the heroine’s reception at Mark’s court the lines in French, “Isot, Isot la blonde, \/ marveil de tu le munde!” (Ysolt the blond, marvel of all the world!), which are not in the Carlisle fragment. Since Gottfried’s version is so long, I will not attempt further comparison here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tristrams saga<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Norse Tristrams saga<\/em> summarizes the events after the drinking of the potion thus: “And they were both now tricked by this drink, which they drank, because the servant-boy made a mistake; and from this there came to them a sorrowful life, torment and long anguish, along with physical desire and constant longing. Because of this Tristram cared only for Isond and her care was all for him, with such an exceeding love, that no remedy could separate them.” This corresponds to the first 90 lines of the Carlisle Fragment, and probably a few dozen more lines on the previous page.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

After this,however,\u00a0 the saga author follows Thomas surprisingly closely, as can be seen from the following juxtaposition of lines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

\n\n
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Thomas, Carlisle frag., tr. J. Shoaf<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The lovers travel in joy,
\nSailing over the smooth high seas,
\nTowards England at full sail.
\nThose on the ship see land–
\nThey are all happy and joyful
\nExcept for Tristran the Lover,
\nFor if he could travel by his own desire,
\nHe would not wish to see it for a long time;
\nHe would rather love Ysolt at sea
\nAnd carry on with their caresses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nevertheless they go towards the land;
\nBy the eyes of the people
\nTristran’s ship is recognized.
\nBefore it comes to shore.
\nA young man is on his way
\nOn a swift horse to the king;
\nHe finds him in the woods and tells him
\nThat he saw Tristran’s ship arrive.
\nWhen the king hears this, he is happy-
\nHe makes the youth a knight
\n**
\nFor telling him the news
\nOf Tristran and the maiden.
\nHe goes to meet them at the shore,
\nThen sends for all his lords.
\nHe leads Ysolt before [them];
\nHe does what is proper to [honor her];
\nHe has married her with great [display],
\nAnd they enjoy themselves all [day].
\n**<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ysolt was very [clever? Worried?]
\nShe goes to her bedroom
\nWith Tristran.
\n**
\nThey call [Branguen] into counsel;
\n[Ysolt] weeps tenderly, [asking her]
\nTo [help] her tonight
\nWith the king in [her] place
\n**
\nBecause he knows her to be [a virgin].
\n(And she is not [a virgin] at all.)
\nThey persuade her so
\nAnd plead and [swear],
\nThat she [agrees to] their request.
\nBranguen [gets ready]
\nAs if she were a queen.
\n[She goes to bed] for her lady,
\nAnd the queen [wears her clothes].
\nMark is…
\n…
\nTristran [puts out] the candles.
\nThat man takes Branguen [in his arms]
\nAnd [takes] her virginity.
\n[Ysolt] is very worried-
\nShe thinks she will [betray them]
\nto the king;
\nBecause she is enjoying [herself]
\nShe will not want to leave.
\nShe [waits] close by;
\n**
\nWhen the king had [finished? fallen asleep? called for wine?]
\nBranguen [left the bed]
\nAnd the queen [got in].
\n**
\n**
\nAfter the wine, [Mark sleeps with Ysolt]
\nSo that he never [notices]
\nThat she is different.
\nHe finds her [the same woman? just as compliant?].
\nHe shows her [affection]
\n[He takes] such great joy [in her].<\/p>\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n\n

From Ch. 46, trans. J. Shoaf<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Now they sail with all sails spread
\nand they are on the right course for England.
\nNext the knights said they saw land rising from the sea,
\nAnd they were all glad of it,
\nexcept Tristram the Lover,
\nfor if he could have done as he wished,
\nthey would never have seen land-
\nhe would rather have traveled with his love
\nand pleasure and enjoyment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nevertheless they go towards the land and land in a good harbor.
\nMen recognized
\nTristram’s ship,
\n**
\nand one young man mounted a swift horse
\nand rode as fast as possible to the king
\nand found him in the forest hunting and spoke to him
\n“My lord (he said), we saw Tristram’s ship land in the harbor.”
\nWhen the king heard this news, he was delighted and very happy
\nand he made the young man a knight
\nand gave him a fine suit of armor
\nfor telling him this welcome news.
\n**
\nThe king rode down to the shore
\nand sent an invitation to all his kingdom
\nand held his marriage to Isond
\nwith great honor
\nand in a kingly manner,
\nand they amused themselves all day,
\nwith great good cheer for all of them who were there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Lady Isond was the cleverest woman.
\nWhen evening came,
\nshe took Tristram by the hand
\nand they went together to the king’s sleeping-house.
\nAnd they called to them Bringvet, her maid, to counsel,
\nand Isond began to weep and ask her with pretty words
\nto help her tonight
\nand be in the queen’s place in the king’s house and bed
\nas if she were herself the queen-but the queen was dressed like Bringvet–
\nfor she knew that she was an unspoiled maiden,
\nbut she knew that she herself was none such.
\nThey asked the maiden for so long
\nwith sweet and lovely words,
\nthat she agreed to their request,
\nand she dressed herself in all the queen’s clothes
\nas if she were a queen herself
\nand she went to the king’s bed for her lady,
\nbut the queen wore Bringvet’s clothes.
\nThe king was happy and joyful and a little drunk,
\nwhen he went to bed;
\nand Tristram put out the lights on all the candles.
\nThe king took Bringvet in his arms
\nand amused himself with her.
\nBut Isond was worried and feared
\nthat she would turn traitor
\nand tell the king what was going on.
\n**
\n**
\nBecause of this, she stayed close all night
\nand was aware of what they said.
\nWhen the king was asleep,
\nBringvet got out,
\nand the queen lay down beside the king.
\nAnd when he awoke, he asked for some wine to drink,
\nand Bringvet artfully gave him the wine the Irish queen had prepared. But the queen drank none of it this time.
\nA while later the king turned to her and slept with her,
\nso that he never realized
\nthat she was not the same.
\nAnd because he found her pleasurable and desirable,
\nhe showed her great love and joy and happiness,
\nso that Isond was very pleased.<\/p>\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Sir Tristrem<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Finally, the Middle English Sir Tristrem <\/em>gets through the entire potion episode, from the drinking of the potion up through the wedding-night, in a mere 66 lines. While, like the saga author, this poet takes for granted the emotions of two young people in love, he (or she?) adds the detail that Tristrem’s dog Hodain licks the potion cup andlbecomes the third party in faithful love. The following stanzas correspond to the material quoted above:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

cited from Sir Tristrem,<\/em> from the TEAMS edition online, ed. Alan Lupack,<\/strong><\/a> beginning with line 1695:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

Tuai wikes in the strand
\nNo seyl thai no drewe.
\nInto Inglond
\nA winde to wille hem blewe.
\nThe King on hunting thai fand.
\nA knave that he knewe,
\nHe made him knight with hand
\nFor his tidinges newe
\nGan bring.
\nYsonde, bright of hewe,
\nTher spoused Mark the King.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

He spoused hir with his ring;
\nOf fest no speke Y nought.
\nBrengwain, withouten lesing,
\nDede as hye had thought.
\nSche tok that love drink
\nThat in Yrlond was bought.
\nFor Ysonde to the King
\nBrengwain to bed was brought
\nThat tide.
\nMark his wille wrought
\nOn bed Brengwain biside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

When Mark had tint his swink,
\nYsonde to bed yede;
\nOf Yrlond hye asked drink;
\nThe coupe sche gan hir bede,
\nBiside hir sche lete it sink.
\nTherof hadde sche no nede
\nOf non maner thing
\nOgain Tristrem, in lede,
\nAs tho.
\nNo might no clerk it rede,
\nThe love bituen hem to.<\/p>\n\n\n\r\n\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t<\/div>\r\n<\/section>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":53,"featured_media":0,"parent":426,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"featured_post":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"class_list":["post-445","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.clas.ufl.edu\/jshoaf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/445","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.clas.ufl.edu\/jshoaf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.clas.ufl.edu\/jshoaf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/people.clas.ufl.edu\/jshoaf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/53"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/people.clas.ufl.edu\/jshoaf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=445"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/people.clas.ufl.edu\/jshoaf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/445\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1591,"href":"https:\/\/people.clas.ufl.edu\/jshoaf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/445\/revisions\/1591"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/people.clas.ufl.edu\/jshoaf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/426"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.clas.ufl.edu\/jshoaf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}