The Swan Knight Texts of the Old French Crusade Cycle

The Swan Knight texts provide an imaginary tale of the ancestry of Godfrey of Bouillon, first ruler of Jerusalem in the kingdom of Outremer. They form the opening section of the Old French Crusade Cycle, leading up to the fictionalised account of the crusade in the Chanson d’Antioche, Chanson des Chétifs and Chanson de Jérusalem. They comprise six stories: two versions of the childhood of Godfrey’s fictional ancestor, the Swan Knight, in the Elioxe and the Béatrix; his battles with the Saxons and marriage to Béatris in the Chevalier au Cygne; his death in the Fin d’Elias; the childhood of Godfrey and introduction of his counterpart Cornumarant in the Enfances Godefroi; and the Retour de Cornumarant, linking the story of the Swan Knight to the central trilogy of the Cycle.

This is the first translation of all six texts into English. The introduction covers the sources, manuscripts, context and later developments of the text culminating in Wagner’s Lohengrin. There is a full list of characters and places as well as brief notes on and summaries of the texts.

The translations are designed to make the beginning of the Cycle accessible to modern readers with an interest in the history and literature of the crusades and/ or in folklore. They open up a vast medieval panorama populated by fairy brides and evil grandmothers, children turned into swans and back into humans, knights defending maidens and lecherous squires doing the opposite, scheming abbots and Saracen princes, taking place in an imaginary universe stretching from London to Mecca by way of Boulogne and Bouillon.