Preface
To trace the small beginnings of a movement big with consequences has always had a peculiar fascination for the human mind. Not since the day when St. Patrick preached his first sermon in Dichu's barn has there been any event of greater importance to Ireland than the coming of the Normans to her shores. The importance of this event was not duly recognised at the time by the Irish annalists any more than it was perceived by the Irish chieftains. The notices in relation to it in the Irish Annals are consequently few and meagre in the extreme. Hence modern historians in telling the story of how the English first got a foothold in Ireland have had to rely almost exclusively on the writings of Giraldus Cambrensis, and on the few scattered notices of the general chroniclers of English affairs. Giraldus, though not an eye-witness of the events, had, no doubt, exceptional opportunities of learning the facts, and he has left us an account which, though not free from prejudices and partialities, will compare favourably in its scope and character with any similar recital of the age. Still Giraldus was not an p.vi Irishman; he did not know the country well, and had to take a great deal on not very trustworthy hearsay. There was, however, an Irishman who was a participator in the events, and though his account has not come down to us at first hand, there is every reason to believe that it is faithfully retailed to us by the writer of the old French rhymes contained in this volume. This Irishman was Morice Regan, Dermot McMurrough's latimer or secretary, and he was no doubt an eye-witness of much that the Anglo-Norman rhymer tells on his authority. The first leaf of the MS. in which these rhymes are preserved is unfortunately wanting, and no original or early title for the poem has come down to us. To judge by the contents of the existing fragment, however, the poem may possibly have been called “La Chanson Dermot” or “La Chanson Dermot e le Conte”, and, for the sake of having a distinctive title and one suitable for reference, I have ventured to call it “The Song of Dermot and the Earl.”
Though the existence of this MS. has long been known and an edition of the French text was published in 1837, it has never been translated, nor annotated in any useful way. Writers in general have been acquainted with its contents only through the medium of a very inaccurate Summary or Abstract in English made by Sir George Carew in the time of James I, or rather through a still more inaccurate reproduction of this Summary printed in the eighteenth century, and consequently they have never had a fair opportunity of p.vii estimating the historical value of the MS. or of properly utilizing its contents. Mr. Freeman, in writing his history of the Norman Conquest of England, has shown to what valuable use as authorities the rhymed Chronicles of Wace and Benoit de St. Maur may be put in skilful hands. The future historian of the Norman Invasion of Ireland may perhaps be able to utilize this little poem in an analogous way.
Apart from its value as a material of history, an Anglo-Norman text written in Ireland, as there is every reason to suppose this was, is sufficiently rare to justify its study from the point of view of language alone. In England at one time it seemed as if the French language was about to gain the upper hand, at any rate as the language of literature and of the educated classes, but this can never have been the case in Ireland, where French was spoken only by some of the leaders and early settlers in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries and by a few friars and monks educated in France. All the more precious then is one of the very few Irish examples of Anglo-Norman rhymes saved from the wreck of the past.
I have to express my obligations to His Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury for permission to transcribe the manuscript and to have a reproduction made of one of its pages, and to Mr. S. W. Kershaw, F.S.A., the Librarian at Lambeth Palace, for his courtesy to me during my frequent visits to the library. I also desire to thank Mr. F. York Powell of Christ Church, Oxford, p.viii for suggestions and advice readily given throughout the preparation of this little book, and to express the hope that, whatever may be amiss in any of its departments—historical, topographical or linguistic— the student of this eventful period of Irish history, for whom especially the book is written, may find in it—in O'Huidhrin's phrase—“an addition of knowledge on sacred Erin.”
GODDARD H. ORPEN.
December 1891.
p.xi
Introduction
Description of the MS. There is only one MS. copy of this poem or chronicle known to exist. It is preserved among the Carew MSS. at Lambeth Palace Library, where it is numbered 596. It is unfortunately only a fragment. Some lines, probably not very many, are wanting at its commencement, which is in the nature of an exordium, but as the narrative closes abruptly it is impossible to say how much is lost at the end. The present copy is undoubtedly a transcript, and, according to M. Francisque Michel, is in a fourteenth-century hand. According to the best opinion I can form, however, the handwriting might with more likelihood be placed in the last quarter of the thirteenth century. As a collotype reproduction of a page of the MS. is published with this text, palaeographers can judge of its date for themselves. At least one line has been omitted in this transcript after lines 424, 487, 1802, and 2863, and there is reason to believe that a still larger omission occurs after line 2993 (see Notes). The MS. is written on vellum in double columns of 37 or 38 lines to the column, and 46 pages remain. The double columns are 8.5 inches in height by 6.5 inches in width. Lines 1940–1978 are by a different hand from that by which the rest was written. The lines are normally octosyllabic rhymed couplets with an additional post-tonic syllable in the feminine endings, but the atonic syllable of the first foot is often wanting, and many of the lines, in their present form at least, show other irregularities. The separate paragraphs into which the poem is divided are headed by p.xii large capitals (sometimes omitted) in red or green paint, and after the first page a space is left between the initial letters and the rest of the lines. These initial letters themselves are ornamented with a dash of red paint. At the top of the first page have been added the words “Fragmentum Historiae Hiberniae Gal. carmine.” At the foot of page i there is the letter T, at the foot of page 17 the letter V, and at the foot of page 39 the letter W. These letters appear to correspond with the 'gatherings,' or bundles of the skins as arranged for binding, and perhaps indicate that our MS. was at one time bound up with others. They are, however, subsequent in date to the MS., though, I think, older than the pagination, which was probably added in Sir George Carew's time. The existing leaves appear to be arranged as follows:—the first 16 pages form 4 double leaves, sewn in the middle between pp. 8 and 9. The 9th leaf (pp. 17–18) is a single one, and the short end turns up between pp. 38 and 39, where, however, there is no lacuna in the MS. It may originally have been a double leaf turning up at the commencement and containing the opening lines, with perhaps an illuminated letter or picture. The fact that this leaf contains the subscribed letter V on p. 17, seems, no doubt, to indicate that it was the first, and not the last, leaf of a gathering; but, as before remarked, this lettering is not coeval with the MS., and may have been added after the opening leaf had been cut off and when the single leaf, as at present, formed the first leaf of the next gathering. In fact the lettering was very probably coeval with the heading “Fragmentum Historiae”, &c. already mentioned. The next 20 pages (19–38) are formed by 5 double leaves, sewn in the middle between pp. 28 and 29, and the last 8 pages (39–46) appear to be single leaves. From this it seems probable, (1) that the gatherings consisted normally of 5 double leaves each; (2) that one single leaf, originally forming with pp. 17–18 a double leaf, has been lost at the commencement; (3) that at p.xiii least 4 leaves completing the present single leaves have been lost at the end.
Bound up at present with the vellum MS. and following it on paper are certain fragments of Anglo-Irish Annals in Latin, an Abstract in English of the French text made by or under the direction of Sir George Carew, and certain lists of names mentioned in the text and in other documents contained in the volume or in the Expugnatio Hibernica of Giraldus, all of which are described in the Calendar of Carew MSS. Another copy of Carew's Abstract is preserved in the Clarendon Collection in the British Museum (Ayscough 4792). It has on the outer skin the signature “Mathew Plunckett”. There is also a copy in the Library of Trinity College, Dublin.
Previous works in relation to the MS. Carew's Abstract of the Chronicle was printed in 1747 by Walter Harris in his Hibernica, and again in 1770; but it is only fair to say that many of the blunders and absurdities which disfigure this production are due to the editor or printer and are not to be found in the original Abstract, though it, too, shows a misunderstanding of many passages and contains several imperfections and blemishes. For many years Irish historians had before them nothing but Harris's blundering production, and consequently the Chronicle did not receive the attention at their hands that it deserved. In 1837, however, the French text, edited by M. Francisque Michel, was published by William Pickering, and this edition, though by no means free from errors, was a great boon to those who could read the language in which the poem is written. A few glossarial notes were added, but no translation was attempted. There is indeed an introduction to Michel's text, written by Mr. Thomas Wright, which purports to incorporate the substance of the story told here with the materials supplied by Giraldus and other authorities; but owing to the writer's ignorance on the subject of Irish topography and nomenclature, as well as to an occasional misunderstanding p.xiv of the text with which he was dealing, very little was really added to what was already known on the subject.
Use to which the MS. has been put. I can find no mention of this MS. earlier than Carew's time, nor do I think that it was used in any of the earlier accounts of 'the conquest,' to which, as Campion says of his own Chronicle, Gerald of Wales was “the onely Author that ministred some indifferent furniture.” “Mauritus Regan” is noticed by Ware among the writers of Ireland in the 12th century. This book of Ware's, De Scriptoribus Hiberniae, was published in 1639, and in his De Hibernia et Antiquitatibus ejus Disquisitiones, first published in 1654, he made some use of Carew's Abstract of this poem, especially in the passage on the distribution of the lands granted by Henry II to Earl Richard and to Hugh de Lacy (pp. 233–237). A similar passage occurs in Ware's note to Spenser's View of the State of Ireland (Reprint 1809), where he says that Carew's “Translation” was communicated to him by Archbishop Ussher. This book was first published in 1633, but I cannot find the note in that edition. Sir Richard Cox collected materials for his Hibernia Anglicana, published in 1689, from the Lambeth Library, and made considerable use of this poem as represented by Carew's Abstract, the mistakes of which he reproduces; and so with subsequent writers, such as Lyttelton, Leland, O'Halloran, Gordon, Moore, &c.; they seem to have known “Regan,” as they call their authority, only through Harris's incorrect reproduction thereof; and similarly, even long after the appearance of Michel's text, writers, such as Gerald Supple, Martin Haverty and others, have known only the English version, until Miss Katherine Norgate, in her Angevin Kings, and Professor G. T. Stokes, in his Lectures on Ireland and the Anglo-Norman Church, made a more critical use of portions of the text, though not without occasionally misunderstanding it.
p.xvThe present Edition. In the present edition, I have aimed, in the first place, at producing a thoroughly trustworthy transcript of the MS. With this object I have carefully collated Michel's text with the MS. at Lambeth, and have found and corrected a considerable number of positive misreadings. I have also adhered to the original more closely than M. Michel aimed at doing. The text is, in fact, printed as nearly as possible as it has come down to us, except that the contractions have been expanded—the letters supplied being, however, printed in italics—and marks of punctuation have been added. In many cases a single word is divided in the MS., generally, but not always, according to its component parts; and, on the other hand, two or more words are often run into one. These peculiar word-divisions, where clearly marked, have been reproduced, and, where likely to deceive, noted. In some cases, as, for instance, in ll. 15, 2321, and 2860, they have been unintentionally reproduced by M. Michel and have misled commentators. Even the apparently arbitrary use of u and v has been followed. This may be thought to have been a superfluous labour, but graphic peculiarities of this kind are among the data which may enable palaeographers to fix the date and even the place of composition of a MS., and as this chronicle is preserved in a single MS. it is all the more important to have a transcript of it which, short of a facsimile, will as nearly as possible supply the place of the original should any accident happen to it. A literal line for line translation is printed side by side with the text, and this, together with the footnotes, will, it is hoped, obviate any difficulty to which the reproduction of the faults and peculiarities of the MS. might otherwise give rise. This method of translation gives no scope for reproducing the swing and spirit of the original, but in all translations something must be sacrificed, and I have thought that for students of history and of language it is impossible to adhere too closely to the text at whatever p.xvi sacrifice of form. I should add that the MS. has no accents (except where noted), but the letter i (which also stands for j) is marked by a fine stroke like an acute accent. These marks seem to have been added after the text was written—at least they are in a somewhat lighter ink—and in several cases they have been omitted. It is noteworthy, too, that the letter z seems, in many cases at least, to have been an addition, for which however space was left. The Notes which follow the text in the present edition are mainly concerned with the identification of places, territories, tribes, and persons mentioned in the poem, and with references to the statements of Giraldus and of the Irish annalists and English chroniclers which corroborate, supplement, or are at variance with, the statements contained in the poem. At the end are added Indexes of the names of the persons and of the places mentioned in the poem, and a Glossary of the more unusual words and forms found in the text. I have also constructed a Map of Leinster and Meath, showing the positions of the principal territories and places, so far as they have been ascertained, at the time of the Anglo-Norman invasion. With a few exceptions drawn from other sources, these names are all to be found in the topographical poems of O'Dubhagain and O'Huidhrin, which are believed to have been written in the years 1372 and 1420 respectively, and which give an account of the tribes and territories of Ireland prior to the English occupation. With regard to those names which appear in the text I have, where it seemed necessary, placed them in brackets underneath the corresponding Irish names. In locating the places mentioned in the topographical poems I must express my great obligations to the writings of the late Dr. John O'Donovan, without whose masterly elucidations of Irish topography I should never have attempted to construct this map. Frequent references throughout the notes will also be found to the Journal of the Kilkenny Archaeological Society, now the Royal Society of Antiquaries p.xvii of Ireland, a publication which only requires a good comprehensive Index to make it extremely useful to writers on Irish history and antiquities.
Author of the Poem. As to the author of the poem and the date of its composition nothing is known beyond what can be gleaned from the poem itself. It is not even known where Carew got the MS. It has been much too broadly ascribed to Morice Regan. Carew himself appears to have been the first to give currency to this misconception. The MS. is bound up with a couple of outer plies of vellum, added to protect it, and one of these contains, in Carew's handwriting, on the upper left-hand comer, the signature, “G. Carew”, and the date “1617”. Underneath is the following title and description:—
An Historie of Irland
This old frenche ffragment wants bothe beginninge and endinge. Neverthelesse in the first tenne Lynes it appears that this storie was written by one called Maurice Regan (sometymes mentioned in this discourse) who was servant and interpreter unto Dermond M'Moroghe kinge of Leinster and put into frenche meeter by one of his familiar acquaintance. It endeth abruptlie at the winninge of Limericke which was not full 3 yeares after Robert fitz Stephen his first arrivall in Irland. 1
A note to the same effect heads Carew's abstract of the poem, on the margin of which, opposite the name Maurice Regan, is written “this Maurice Regan was the author of this Historie.”
Carew evidently drew this conclusion from the opening lines of the poem, which must be examined with some care. Now these opening lines have been repeatedly wrongly transcribed and wrongly interpreted. As printed in Harris's Hibernica they are pure gibberish, and the translation is
p.xviii
of course wrong. These mistakes are, in the main, due to Harris and not to Carew, who does not translate the passage, nor in the Lambeth copy of Carew's Abstract is it transcribed. Lines 4–8 run thus in Harris's version:—
- Maurice Regan was the man,
Who face to face indited to me
These actions of the king,
And of himself showed me this history.
Wright, in his introductory essay to Michel's edition, prints the correct text of the first eleven lines (except that he puts latinier for latimer) side by side with Harris's gibberish, which he wrongly attributes to Carew, and then gives his own literal translation; but, curiously enough, he seems to fall into precisely the same error as that which he attributes to Harris, namely, “that Regan had written the history.” Wright's version of these four lines is as follows:—
- Maurice Regan was he,
I spoke mouth to mouth with him,
Who endited this history,
[Who] shewed me the history of him.
Now Wright has mistaken parla (the 3rd person) for parlai (the 1st), thus apparently making Regan the subject of endita and by rendering this latter word “endited” he has certainly done little to correct Harris's error. 2
The translation now offered, which makes Regan the subject of parla, and takes the words lui ki cest(e) iest(e) endita as referring to the anonymous writer of the geste, with whom Regan spake face to face, still leaves room for p.xix a certain amount of doubt as to the making of the poem that has come down to us and as to Regan's exact contribution thereto. Apart for the moment from ll. 5 and 6, it seems clear from ll. 2 and 7 that the writer who speaks of himself in the 1st person derived his account directly from Morice Regan. Standing by itself l. 7 might mean no more than l. 2, but there are repeated references throughout the poem to la chanson, la geste, lestorie, and lescrit, as the authority for particular statements 3 , and from these references taken in connection with the opening lines we must, I think, conclude that Morice Regan supplied the writer with a written chronicle of the events which had already been put into metre, so to deserve the name of a chanson. Morice Regan, Dermot's faithful latimer, may have himself kept such a chronicle, and our rhymer appears not to have been the first to translate and versify the materials. In dealing with a fragmentary passage such as that before us, there is an inevitable risk of misapprehension; but I am inclined to think that the words lui ki cest(e) iest(e) endita (ll. 5 and 6) refer, not to the person intended by the words moi and me in ll. 2 and 7, but to the writer of this pre-existing geste, chanson, or estorie. This supposition will, at any rate, account for the change from the 1st to the 3rd person. That our writer did not rely solely on the written materials p.xx supplied to him may be inferred from the fact that he repeatedly quotes as his authority common report, or the statement of old people 4 while such phrases as cum il me fud endite l. 177, solum le dist de mun cuntur l. 407, cum il me fud cunte l. 2241, seem to point to some particular informant, perhaps Morice Regan himself.
Date of the Poem. As to the date of the poem we have first of all the statement that our author met Morice Regan in the flesh, and as the latter was employed on an important embassy to Wales in 1168, and was sent to summon Dublin to surrender in 1170, we can hardly place his birth later than about 1147. Supposing he was eighty years of age when he told the story to the writer we get 1227 as an outside date. Looking at the contents of the Chronicle we find that the narrative is brought regularly down in this fragment only to 1175 or 1176, but there are two allusions pointing to a much later date. First with regard to archbishop Laurence O'Toole, it is stated in l. 1844 Que Seint Laurence pus ert clame. Now, though he died on the 14th November 1180, he was not canonized until the 11th December 1225, and prior to his canonization he could hardly have been called Saint Laurence. 5 Lines p.xxi 1843–4 have, however, the appearance of being a subsequent addition or interpolation, and there are not wanting indications that the original text has been altered in this passage (see foot-note to text, ll. 1837–42); but, however this may be, from another allusion we cannot place the composition of the poem, in its present form at least, earlier than the beginning of the 13th century. I refer to the passage (ll. 3040–3057) where Philip de Prendergast, the son of Maurice, is described and is stated to have married the daughter (Maud) of Robert de Quency, and to have long held the constableship of Leinster (cf. ll. 2823–6). The sketch of Philip's character, I may remark, is very graphic and reads like a description from personal observation. 6 Now we know from this poem that Maud de Quency was born in 1172 or 1173 (cf. ll. 2744, 2807, 2819), and therefore she could hardly have been married to Philip de Prendergast before 1190. In another way we get an outside limit to the date of this marriage. On an inquisition in A. D. 1251 as to the lands and heirs of Gerald or Gerard de Prendergast, son of Philip by Maud de Quency, it was found that by his first wife, sister to Theobald Pincerna, Gerald left one surviving daughter who married John de Cogan and left an only son then aged eight years. 7 This grandson of Gerald was therefore born in 1243. His mother, Gerald's daughter, must have been born not later than about 1223, and Gerald himself not later than about 1200. So Philip de Prendergast must have married Maud de Quency between 1190 and 1199, probably near the earlier date. Now he apparently obtained the constableship in right of his wife, and the poem says he held it for a long time. We can fix Philip's death as having p.xxii occurred between 1227 and 1231 8 and though the poem does not speak of him as having been dead, the statement that he held the constableship plus longement (or mult longement, which is, perhaps, the correct reading) could not have been made very much before 1225, or, at any rate, not until after the commencement of the 13th century. On the other hand, if we are to suppose that Morice Regan supplied the writer with materials shortly before the poem was written, we cannot place its date very long after 1225. Accordingly we must fix upon some time very soon after 1225, or assuming the allusion to St. Laurence to be an interpolation, some time earlier in the 13th century, as the probable date of the poem in its present form. So much for the immediate original of the transcript which has come down to us. Can we determine anything about the pre-existing geste or estorie with which Morice Regan supplied our author? Now it is a remarkable fact that, with the exception of these two allusions to the canonized Laurence O'Toole and to Philip de Prendergast, the former of which was probably an interpolation, there is nothing in the poem, so far as I have observed, pointing to a later date than 1177, unless, perhaps, the commonplace expressions referring to the statements of old people. Indeed even the reference to Miles de Cogan as “afterwards lord of Mount Brandon” (ll. 1652–5)—a place included in the grant to him made at the Council of Oxford in 1177—is introduced in a somewhat forced manner suggestive of subsequent interpolation. The grant to Miles de Cogan and Robert Fitz-Stephen of the kingdom of Cork would more p.xxiii naturally have been mentioned, had it already taken place, along with the elaborate account of the subinfeudation of Leinster and Meath. At any rate, we might have expected that changes in the grants there mentioned, as for instance the substitution in 1181 of lands in Leix for the lands in Kildare given to Meiler, would have been noticed had they already taken place. The account of the attack on Slane Castle (ll. 3184–3201), which is mentioned out of the chronological order, seems also to have been an afterthought. Certainly ll. 3202–7 read as if they were written to follow immediately after the account of the subinfeudation of Leinster and Meath. A similar inference may be drawn from l. 2341, where it is said that Richard de Cogan made his famous sortie from Dublin “par la dute del Occident”. The word “dute” is obscure, but it is sufficiently clear that the western gate is intended. Now the “porta occidentalis” is mentioned in a grant made by the citizens of Dublin in 1185 when John de Curci was Justiciar and preserved in the Register of the Abbey of St. Thomas, Dublin; and from a subsequent grant it appears that this gate, or more probably a new gate erected on its site, was afterwards known as the “Porta Nova” 9 . Mr. J. T. Gilbert, in his History of Dublin (vol. 1, p. 237), says, “the date of the erection of the New-gate has not been ascertained, but from the charter of the Hospital of St. John it appears to have been standing in 1188.” If I am right then in supposing that it replaced the Porta Occidentalis, it must have been erected between 1185 and 1188. Now had this New Gate been in existence at the time when this account of the Norwegian attack was written it would in all probability have been mentioned. No certain conclusion can be drawn from negative evidence of this kind; still it bears out the impression gained from reading the whole p.xxiv poem, viz. that the writer whose date we have approximately fixed as soon afler the year 1225, or perhaps a little earlier in the 13th century, did not add much to the pre-existing geste or chanson supplied to him by Morice Regan; that this pre-existing poem was written long before 1225 and probably soon after Strongbow's death in 1176, with which event it may well have ended; and consequently that the account we have before us, whenever it was written, is substantially a reproduction of the account of a contemporary writer. There is yet another important consideration which seems to support the above view. It is difficult to suppose that anybody writing in the first half of the 13th century on the subject of the Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland should have been unacquainted with the works of Giraldus on the same subject; and yet while in the main our author and Giraldus corroborate one another, they do not always narrate the same events, and even when they do there is just such difference of treatment and divergence in details as might have been expected in writers who derived their information from distinct sources. The fact that both writers connect the rape of Dervorgil with Dermot's expulsion and ignore or slur over the lapse of fourteen years between the two events might at first sight seem to show that the later writer borrowed from the earlier; but the Annals of Clonmacnoise, under the year 1166, also affirm this connection, Which was evidently the popular view of the matter, and, as pointed out in the note to line 27, the popular view was not far wrong. On the whole I think there is no ground for concluding that this poem was in any respect derived from the Expugnatio. It seems to me to be an entirely independent authority for the facts it records, while the absence of any distinct reliance on the Expugnatio confirms the view that our poem is in substance the work of a writer who wrote before the Expugnatio was published.
History of the MS. As I have said, it is not known where p.xxv Carew got the MS. The following considerations seem, however, to point to a probable answer to this question. As already mentioned, the covering skin of the MS. has upon it under Carew's autograph the date 1617. At first sight it seems natural to conclude that this was the date of Carew's acquisition of the MS., but an examination of all the Carew MSS. at Lambeth will show that this date appears on fourteen of them, and as it also appears on the first volume of the original Catalogue made by Carew and now preserved at Lambeth, the hypothesis suggests itself that this date merely denotes the period when the MSS. bearing it were catalogued. But this hypothesis will not account for all the facts, as some, at any rate, of the volumes apparently catalogued in 1617 are expressly stated to have been compiled at an earlier date. 10 On the other hand, of the books dated 1617, No. 597, Pelham's Letter Book, is stated by Mr. Brewer to have been acquired in this year, 11 and No. 599, the Book of Pedigrees, is stated in the heading to have been copied in the year 1617. On the whole I think it probable that Carew did receive a considerable accession of MSS. in this year, comprising, besides those already mentioned, the following vellum MSS., viz. Bray's Conquest of Ireland and perhaps the Old French Poem on the Deposition of Richard II now bound up with the former (No. 598), the works of Giraldus relating to Ireland (No. 622), and the Essay, to be presently described, by James Yonge (No. 633). This accession of MSS. may have induced Carew to commence his catalogue and to group his papers then existing in a loose state into the other volumes bearing the date in question. The mere fact that he has placed our MS. in the forefront of his catalogue, marking it A, suggests that its acquisition was the immediate cause of the making of the catalogue. Mr. Brewer, the able editor of the Calendar of the Carew MSS., p.xxvi has made no attempt to trace the history of the MSS., nor even to set forth the order in which the volumes were obtained or compiled. He gives however, as an Appendix to the Introduction to vol. 2 of the Calendar, a list of all the Carew MSS., equating the old letter marks, consisting of the single, double, and triple alphabets, affixed by Carew, with the present numbering; and a comparison of this list with the contents of the MSS. themselves will show that all the MSS. dated 1617 are included in the single letter notation and in the first two volumes of the double letter notation, whereas those volumes, which, from their containing documents of later date, can be shown to have been compiled after 1617, are all, except XX, now No. 635, included in the triple letter notation. I conclude that in 1617, when the catalogue was commenced, the library consisted of all those books marked with a single letter and all those marked with a double letter up to TT, which was compiled in 1611. The volume marked VV, now No. 632, contains documents relating to Waterford, which, as will be presently shown, were probably copied in this year, but the volume may not have been completed until subsequently. Vol. WW is missing. Vol. XX, now No. 635, contains documents of date subsequent to 1617, as do nearly all of those marked with a triple letter which are still to be found. It therefore seems probable that our first impression was correct, and that the date 1617 on our MS. indicates the date of its acquisition by Carew. Now on the 21st February in this year, 1617, instructions were sent to the Earl of Thomond, Lord President of Munster, and Sir William Jones, Lord Chief Justice of Ireland, to seize into the king's hands the liberties of the city of Waterford and to demand all the charters and evidences belonging to the corporation, and among other things “such plate, jewells, and other treasure as remayneth in the custoddie of any of them for the publique use and behoofe of that toune.” On the 5th March following, these commissioners p.xxvii report that they had carried out their instructions and had received thirteen of the city charters and had locked them up together with other things “in a chest of theires [i.e. the corporation's] in the Arundell Towre where all theire writinges are.” 12 Now in vol. 632 of the Carew MSS. 13 there are copies of a number of charters, grants and other documents touching Waterford, including some letters from Henry VII to the mayor and citizens about Perkin Warbeck, and it seems clear that these were among the documents seized in March 1617, and that Carew was enabled to take copies of them. If the four vellum MSS. bearing the date 1617 had been among the writings in that chest in the Arundell Tower it is certain that Carew, who was an ardent collector of historical documents relating to Ireland, would have made every effort to retain them, and the date 1617, affixed to each of them by Carew beneath his autograph, suggests that this was the occasion of their acquisition.
There is, however, some further evidence indicating the person through whom Carew may have got the MSS. Donough O'Brian, Earl of Thomond, who, as already mentioned, was chief of the Commission appointed to seize the liberties of Waterford, was a friend of Carew, who describes him in the year 1611 (Car. Cal. p. 147) as “an extraordinary well-deserving lord”, and in 1617 he occupied Carew's former position of Lord President of Munster. Now it appears from the heading to the Book of Pedigrees, p.xxviii Car. MS. 599, that this book, containing the “descentes of ye meere Irishe families” and “formed by sondry collections of ye Earl of Thomond”, was copied for Carew in the year 1617. 14 Here we have direct evidence of one MS. coming from the Earl of Thomond in the year 1617, and, taken in connection with what has been already stated, this fact strengthens the supposition that this Commissioner, having seized a number of charters and other writings at Waterford in this year, gave Carew the opportunity of copying the former and of acquiring the vellum MSS. dated by him 1617, including our Old French Poem. That the corporation of Waterford should have had the custody of this MS. at this time is not improbable or without parallel. The Harleian MS. 913, which was in part at any rate the work of Frere Michel Kyldare, and which contains the Anglo-Norman poem on the building of the walls of Ross, written in the year 1265, was at one time in the possession of George Wyse, bailiff of Waterford in 1566 and mayor in 1571, and appears to have been known in 1608 as the Book of Rosse or Waterford. 15 It has been suggested that this book had previously been preserved in the Benedictine Abbey of St. John near Waterford, as a grant of this Abbey was made to William Wyse, possibly the father of George Wyse, in the year 1536. With regard to our MS., however, I am more inclined to associate it with the Dominican Friary of St. Saviour, known as the Blackfriars, afterwards the Courthouse, at Waterford. This friary was founded by the citizens in 1226, and at its dissolution on the 2nd April, 1541, it is said to have contained among other things “a library” 16 . It was granted to James White in 1542, probably the James White who was p.xxix mayor of Waterford in that year. This James White had a special commission as Justice of Wexford in 1538, and from letters of his to Crumwell 17 it is evident that he was an ardent reformer and upholder of Henry's claims.
Now in the 13th century there was a distinguished alumnus of this coenobium known as Gotofrid, or, as he calls himself, “Jofroi de Watreford de I'ordene az freres precheors le mendre.” From his writings, three of which at least have come down to us, it is inferred that he was acquainted with Greek, Latin, Arabic and French, and that he had travelled in the East and lived for a long period in France. He is mentioned among the Scriptores Ordinis Praedicatorum 18 but the best account of his works is to be found in an article by M. Victor le Clerc, in the Histoire Litteraire de la France 19 . He translated into French, (i) the book of the Trojan war by the pseudonymous Dares the Phrygian, (2) the History of the Romans by Eutropius, and (3) the Secretum Secretorum, an apocryphal treatise of Aristotle. 20 This last work is p.xxx addressed to a patron, “a nobles bers prouz et sages”, whose name unfortunately does not appear. It is far from being a literal translation, but contains “many good words, not less profitable, borrowed from other works of authority.” It ends quite in the Irish manner:—“ceus qui cest liure liront prient por frere Iofroi de Watreford et por seruais copale qui cest trauail empristrent & par layde dedeu lont achief menei. & ausi le liure dares le frigien de la gerre detroi. & ausi le liure de” [word erased, read etropius] “du regne des romains. Cest liure est fini.” 21 The MS. containing these three works along with other writings is ascribed to the 13th century. It formerly belonged to the Bibliothèque de Colbert, and passed from it to the Bibliothèque Royale, and is now in the Bibliothèque Nationale of Paris, where it is numbered 1822.
It would certainly be rash to conclude that Jofroi was the writer of our Poem. Indeed, judging from the excerpts from his writings printed in the above-mentioned works, his language is much purer French than that of our text, and is free from some of its dialectical peculiarities. As, however, both MSS. are probably transcripts, and our text has certainly been corrupted, no conclusive argument can be drawn from the exact forms of words used. At any rate, the fact that a monk of the Blackfriars of Waterford in the 13th century could write so freely in French as Jofroi did, and was ready to apply his pen to translating purely secular works, shows at least that there were Dominicans there who understood and valued books of the class to which our MS. belongs, and that there is nothing improbable in the supposition that the transcript which has come down to us was made for them and was preserved for three centuries in their
p.xxxi
library, and indeed never left Waterford until the year 1617. Furthermore, from a doggerel couplet scribbled in an early hand at the end of James Yonge's Essay, Car. MS. 633, which we have already seen reason to suppose was obtained at the same time and place as our MS., there are express grounds for associating that MS. with the Dominicans. This couplet, written three times in a small professional hand, runs as follows:—
A somewhat similar sentiment is expressed on the preceding page under the roughly drawn figure of a man in an early Tudor dress:—
- Gratia nulla perit nisi gratia blakmonachorum
Est et semper erit litill thanke in fine laborum.
- Farewell adue I must nedes goo hens
My labour is lost I gett no pens.
This MS. is also remarkable from another point of view, for it proves that Jofroi's translation of the Secreta Secretorum was known in Waterford in the beginning of the 15th century. Like Jofroi's work, it purports to be a translation of this apocryphal treatise of Aristotle, though this fact is not noted in the Calendar of Carew Papers. Another and perhaps earlier version of the same work is preserved in the Bodleian Library, and is stated by Mr. J. T. Gilbert to be “the earliest known composition of any length written in English by an Anglo-Irish author.” It is dedicated to “Yow nobyll and gracious lorde Jamys de Botiller, Erle of Ormonde, lieutenant of our lege lorde kynge henry the fyfte in Irlande,” (A. D. 1419–22); and a comparison of its preface with that of Jofroi will alone show that Yonge had Jofroi's translation before him. 22
p.xxxiiHistorical value of the Chronicle. Though, owing to the want of a good working edition of this poem or chronicle, historians have not fully availed themselves of its materials, yet its historical importance has often been noted. Thus Harris in his preface to Hibernica says:—“Whoever writes the History of Ireland during the English Period must make this Piece the main Basis of his Account; and the Defects of our Author must be supplied from Cambrensis.” Again, Mr. Dimock, the editor of the Topographia and Expugnatio Hibernica of Giraldus in the Rolls Series, speaking of this poem, which he frequently cites, says:—“There is every reason to accept it as simple prosaic truth, according to the writer's best belief and information, put into simple rhyme; and in rhyme though it be, its history, I have not a doubt, is far more accurately true than Giraldus's poetical prose. Sometimes it gives a strong general confirmation to Giraldus's narration, but the particulars often are very different. Its heroes are not always the same as the heroes of Giraldus; and while it has nothing of some events related by him, it dwells, on the other hand, on other events and persons passed over by him in silence.” 23
p.xxxiiiThe Rev. G. T. Stokes, Professor of Ecclesiastical History in the University of Dublin, has, indeed, drawn on some of the materials supplied by this chronicle in his earlier Lectures on “Ireland and the Anglo-Norman Church”, and has ably shown to what valuable use they may be put. He too bears witness to the accuracy and truth of the poem, and says (p. 72):—“The more carefully you study this Anglo-Norman poem, the more thoroughly you will trust it. It is evidently based on original documents. It fixes dates, Church festivals, mentions the precise periods during which the armies reposed, the roads they took, the rivers they crossed, and many other topographical details which have escaped the notice of the editor, Mr. Wright.”
The critical judgment as to the value of our poem by such writers as Mr. Dimock and Professor Stokes, who have studied the original text, far outweighs the adverse opinions of Lord Lyttelton, Mr. Moore, and even of Dr. O' Donovan, who were acquainted only with the inaccurate printed copy of Carew's faulty Abstract.
The chronicle is written from the point of view of Dermot and his allies. Indeed had the writer not told us so himself we should have concluded that his information was mainly derived from a devoted follower of Dermot. The very absence, however, of any sort of moral condemnation for anything done, except for treachery towards Dermot which is always committed à tort and the simplicity and directness of the narrative render it probable that it is a truthful account of what came within the writer's sources of information. His knowledge of Irish topography and Irish nomenclature p.xxxiv compares favourably with that of Giraldus. The orthographic rather than phonetic forms adopted for some of the Irish names, such as Hathcleyth (l. 2210) for Ath-Cliath, Hachedur (l. 1012) for Achadh-ur, Kinelogin (l. 3258) for Cinel-eoghan, together with the use of the word “langport” (Ir. longphort) for camp, seem to show that the writer had an Irishman at his elbow; while the frequent employment of the tags and commonplaces of the trouvères proves his acquaintance with the rhymed chronicles and chansons de geste of the time. I have already remarked that the narrative appears to be quite independent of the works of Giraldus. The writer's freedom from the family bias of the Geraldine has probably enabled him to make a juster estimate of the relative merits of the invaders. We hear at least as much of the prowess of Earl Richard and of the de Cogans as we do of that of the Geraldines, and much is said in these pages of the probity and valour of Maurice de Prendergast, while Giraldus merely records his landing. Incidental allusions the accuracy of which can be verified—such as the mention of Robert Harding of Bristol and his monastery of St. Austin's (ll. 232, 302), the references to the Steine and Howe at Dublin (ll. 2269 and 2321) and to the names of the city gates (ll. 2333 and 2341), the mention of Henry's place of embarkation in Wales, La Croiz (2590), and of Raymond's home, Karreu, (l. 2860)—prove the correctness and the independence of our author's information.
Language and versification. With reference to language and versification, the poem, as M. Michel says, is faulty in style and very corrupt in its language. At the same time there are many indications that the poem as originally written was much freer from blemishes than the transcript that has come down to us. Again and again it will be found that a line, the metre of which is faulty, can be set right by some obvious grammatical correction. I have not in general thought it necessary to suggest such changes in the footnotes.
p.xxxvWhile in many cases to make the requisite alteration is sufficiently easy, to do this exhaustively, so as to make all the lines metrically and grammatically correct, would involve a reconstruction of the text which, with only a single MS. to go upon, would often be extremely problematical. In the case of Anglo-Norman texts written in England (or Ireland) it cannot be assumed that the lines were originally either faultless in metre or strictly grammatical in form, and it is well known that in England by the beginning of the 13th century the old rules of declension were rapidly falling into decay. Where, however, the reading of the MS. leaves the sense obscure, and in some other cases where it seemed useful, I have suggested corrections in the footnotes and adopted them in the translation.
With respect to the rhymes, which in general, with a few obvious corrections, seem accurate enough, it may be useful to make the following remarks:—
In apparent derogation of the rule that e proceeding from the Latin a only rhymes with an e of similar origin, we have the rhymes pe (pedem): naufre 1953: meyne 2385: lesse 2876, and pes: heistez 1096; muiller: per (parem) 2833: guerrer (guerrier) 3062; fer (ferum): herberger 2941: lesser 2986, &c. These examples, however, all come within the recognised exception that when the Latin e open, tonic, free (to adapt the convenient terminology of French phonetics) does not become the diphthong ie it rhymes with e=a. The rhymes fiez: fublez 596–7, feiz: turnez 2673–4, and feez: citez 3010–11 are explained by treating fiez (which we should read in each case) as proceeding from vicem + the suffix -atam.
Instances of silent consonants before s or z are—poestifz (elsewhere written poestis): Henriz 242–3; nefs: arives 469; gentilz (elsewhere gentis): pris 1003; detrefs (elsewhere detres): escriez 2363; Mechins: tramis 2162: amis 3355; meins (mensem elsewhere meis): reis 309: conqueis 2972; pirs (pejus perhaps read pis): pais 2530: enemis 3183; volt (elsewhere p.xxxvi vout: out 319. Careless rhymes are:—souders: armez 1897: aprestez 3380, but: poigners 3366; Dermod usually rhymes with vout, out, and the impfs. in -out of the 1st conj., but: Weyseford 1392; trestute: buche 3268–9 is a suspicious rhyme. In the following there is neither rhyme nor assonance:—demure (or demore): Leynistere 74–5; paumer: traitur 182–3, unless we suppose a form palmor; chevaler: partir 392–3, unless we suppose the verb assimilated to the first conjugation.
It may also be noted that the nasal -um=-ons: un (on) e.g. accomplerum: reisun 144–5, lisum: barun 1064–5. Similarly champ: garant 674–5, champ(e): blanc 2447–8. The rhyme meins (minus): anciens 2677–8, might seem to point to a form, ancieins but we have elsewhere anciens: quens. The diphthong ui is sometimes reduced to u:—thus we have not only nuit: brut 1312–13, and: dedut 808–9, where we might read bruit and deduit but also nuiz: venuz 1981–2, and nuit: jut 2137–8.
As in Norman texts, generally, we have ei usually retained for oi. Again, ie is generally reduced to e, and the past part, fern, in ee has lost the post-tonic e.
The impfs. of the 1st conj. are regularly in -out, but we have exceptionally ameit 53, and pleideit 2104; but this last is perhaps from the form pleidir, cf. Bozon, Société des Anciens Textes Français. Gloss. Conversely we have se pleniout 100 from se pleindre. There are indeed some instances of verbs in -eir, -re and -ir having been assimilated, at least in the infinitive, to the first conj.
Thus we have saver 622, aver (:feffer 435: mester 2731), poer as a verbal subst. 44; tener 776, 2838; ver=veeir 476; assente (for assenti 2371, cf. Bozon Société des Anciens Textes Français where the verb is assimilated to the 1st conj.; tollet 218, but elsewhere tolir 2708. There are however indications that this assimilation had proceeded much further when the present transcript was made than at the date of the original composition. Thus the rhymes asailler: mentir 1032–3, asailer: partir 1574–5; p.xxxvii asaillerent: defendirent 3192–3, show that the occasional reduction of asaillir to the 1st conjugation was the work of the copyist. The same may, I think, be said of the rhymes adurez: tapez 714–15, as elsewhere we have the form aduriz in rhyme, and syverent: virent 546–7.
Literary Qualities. As to the literary qualities of our poem, great allowances have to be made for the corrupt form in which the text has come down to us, and of course poetry in the sense of imaginative art is not to be looked for. Still this fragment seems to stand somewhere between the chanson de geste proper and the mere rhymed chronicle. It deals with heroes, though the heroes were real and, perhaps, contemporary men, and the cause for which they fought was not a noble one. We have constantly presented to our view the handful of mail-clad Norman knights and well-armed followers pitted against hordes of undisciplined and ill-armed “traitors”, and the conflicts between them form so many graphic battle-pictures. The repulse of the attack on Raymond's camp with the remorseless executions that follow; the desperate sortie of the 600 from the siege of Dublin, and the dispersion of O'Conor's enormous host, “like wandering cattle”, the furious attempt by John the Wode and the Northmen to recover their city, and their final discomfiture, are all told with simplicity and vigour. There is a touch of real chivalry in the conduct of Maurice de Prendergast when he braves the wrath of his comrades and crosses swords with his allies rather than permit an act of base treachery to a foe whom he has sworn to protect; and there is a stroke of something like humour in the advice of Miles de Cogan to the Irish chieftain to watch the battle from afar and join in with the victors.
Unknown author
Edited by Goddard Henry Orpen
- {⬌}Par soen
demeine latimer
Que moi conta de lui l'estorie
Dunt faz ici la memorie.
Morice Regan iert celui,
Buche a buche parla a lui
Ki cest jest endita:
L'estorie de lui me mostra.
Icil Morice iert latimer
Al rei Dermot, ke mult l'out cher.
Ici lirrai del bacheler,
Del rei Dermod vus voil conter. - En Yrland, a icel
jor,
N'i out reis de tel valur:
Asez esteit manans e richez,
Ama le francs, les chiches. p.4
Icil par un soen posté
Aveit pris et conquesté
Oneil e Mithe par sa guerre,
Ostages menad en Laynestere:
O sei amenad Okaruel,
Le fiz le rei de Yriel. 4 - Mes en Leschoin
i out un reis,
Ororic out nun en yrreis,
En Tirbrun mist la hiduse,
Tere lede e boschaguse.
Mes Ororic, li riche reis,
Femme aveit bele a cele feis,
La fille al rei Malathlin,
A ki Mithe esteit enclin;
Malathlin de Mithe iert sire.
Ki la verité vus veut dire,
Icel esteit de truïn
Del bon veil Malathlin;
Estreit cil ert de linage
Malathlin al fier courage,
Fiz Coleman, le riche reis,
Ke tant ert seingnés e curteis.
De Molathlin voil lesser,
Del rei Dermod vus voil conter. - De Leynester reis Dermod,
K'i cel dame tant amout,
De amer li fist bel semblant, p.6
Mes nel ama ne tant ne quant,
Ne mes qu'il vout a sun peor
La grant hunte, s'il pout, venger
Que cil de Lethcoin firent jadis
A ces de Lethunthe en son pais.
Li reis Dermod sovent manda
A la dame, qu'il tant ama,
Par bref e par messagers;
Sovent fist li rei mander
Ke ele enfin pur veir esteit 6
La reigne del siecle qu'il plus ameit,
Si la requist mult sovent
De fin amur covertement.
E la dame li ad mandé
Par un messager privé
Que tut freit sa volunté
Al rei que tant est preïsé,
E si remande derichef
E par buche e par bref
Que pur lui venit en tiel manere
Od tut l'ost de Leynestere,
E par force e par guerre
Od lui la tote la terre;
Saver al rei Dermod freit,
En quel liu l'aprendrait
U ele serreit privement,
Que prendre la pust quitement: p.8
En quel liu enfin serreit
U quite prendre la purreit - Li reis manda hastivement
Par Leynestere tute sa gent
Que a lui viengent san demure 2 1va
De Osseri e de Leynestere;
Si lur feiseit a tuz saver
Vers Lethcoin qu'il vout aler
La hunte, s'il pust, venger
Que cil firent jadis premer:
La hunte que cil firent jadis
En Lethunthe, en son païs. 8 - Icil vindrent deliverement
Par le rei commandement.
Quant tuz furent assemblez,
Vers Lethcoin sunt dreit turnez;
Nuit e jor errent avant
Riche e povre, petit e grant.
Que vus irrai plus contant?
En Tirbrun vint li reis vaillant;
la dame mandé aveit
Al rei Dermot u ele esteit
Que il veniist od sa gent,
Si la preist deliverement.
Li reis Dermot maintenant
En la place vint errant
U la dame aveit mandé
Qu'ele serreit apresté p.10
En cele manere Dermotis
La dame prist a cele feis. 10 - Ororic forment se
pleniout
Pur sa femme que perdu out;
Mes mut rendi bataille fere
A la gent de Laynistere.
Mes, seingnurs, li ré Dermot
La dame lores od sei menout;
De errer unques ne finat
De ci k'enmi Kencelath.
E la dame mult longement
Iloc estoit, solum la gent:
A Fernes estoit mise, 1vb
Solum la gent, en tel guise. - Ororic, mult
dolusant,
Vers Connoth tendi tut batant;
Al rei de Connoth tut ,
Forment se pleint de la hunte
Cum li reis de Leynistere
Sur lui vint en tele manere,
Sa femme a force sur lui prise,
A Fernes l'ad mise.
Al rei de Connoth de huntage
Forment se pleint del damage;
Mult li requist ententivement
De la meyné e de sa gent
Que lui feseit aprester
K'i sa hunte pout venger. p.12 - Li reis de Connoth fist mander
Al rei de Osseri premer
Que lur rei ne fausit mie
E qu'il lur venist en aïe.
E cil li ont asez pramiz
Que reis li frunt en cel païs,
S'il pount en geïter
Li reis Dermot que tant est fer.
E cil tantost s'enturnout
Sur sun seingnur li reis Dermot;
E Malathlin li traïtur
Si reguerpi son seignur,
E MacTurkyl de Diveline
Son seignur guerpi a cel termine;
Si consenti la traisun
Murchid Obrien, un mal felun, 12
Li quel mangerent guargnun,
E vus diras la chançon
Quant vus tost acomplerum
En avant en nostre reisun. - Quant Dermot li reis gentis, 3 2ra
Que tant esteit de grant pris,
Vit que lui furent failiz
Pareins, cosins e amis,
Un jor monta li reis Dermot
E de sa gent od sei menout,
E va querant Obrien li fel; p.14
A lui parler voleit e conseil.
Obrien va dunc li reis fuant:
A lui ne volt petit ne grant
Parler ren ne conseiler
Ne son seignur confort doner. - Quant ço vist li reis
Dermot
Que al fel parler ne pout,
Li reis s'en est tantost turné
Tut dreit a Fernes la cité.
A Fernes li reis sojornout
En un abeie que iloc out
De Seinte Marie la reine,
Gloriuse dame e virgine. 14 - Dunc li reis se
purpensout
De une veidie qu'il fere vous,
Cum il pust le fel trover
E par engin a lui parler.
A l'abé feseit li reis mander,
Une chape lui feseit prester,
Une chape a une chanoine
U a pruuere u a moyne. - A Morthoth veit idunc li reis
Od tut la chape cel feis.
A un son d'engin l'ad trové,
Cum il me fud endité.
Le reis la chape afubla
Que as piez lui treina, p.16
Que nul ne pout aviser
Si pur moine reuler. - Quant venuz iert li paumer
Devant la meison li traïtur, 2rb
Le fel, quant vit le rei, errant
Vers la forest va dune fuant;
Kar li malveis traïtur
Nel volt conustre a son seingnur.
Li fel va dunc escriant
Od sa voiz haut e grant:
'Mauveis reis, que i alez querant? 16
Fuez en vus, par nun comant;
E cil ne fetes hastivement
Presenter vus frai al vent.' - Quant li reis l'out
entendu,
Dolent esteit e irascu.
Li reis esteit en grant tristur
Pur le dit del traïtur
Que manacé si l'aveit
E que al vent lui presentereit.
Returne est li riche reis,
Que tant fu larges e curteis,
Que turne est li traïtur
Sur lur naturel seignur.
Tute sa gent li sunt faillie
De Leynestere e de Osserie. p.18 - Quant se vit Dermot
li reis
Que traï esteit a cele feis—
Sa gent demeine lui sunt failliz
En tel manere iert traïz—
A Ororic liverer e vendre,
Si li fist mult grant es iurat
De Connoth li reis d'autre part—
Ke vus irrai purloingnant
De vostre geste tant ne quant? 18 - Le reis Dermot en unt geté
Sa gent par vive poesté,
Tolla lui unt tut la reingné
E de Yrland li unt chacé.
Quant fut li reis exule, 4 2va
A Korkeran est eschippé.
Quant li reis esteit waivés,
A Korkeran est eschippés:
A Corkeran en mer entra,
Awelaf Okinad od sei mena;
O sei mena li riche reis
E plus de seisante treis. - Le riche reis aveit le
vent
Bon e bel a sun talent:
Siglés avaient par bel orage;
A Bristod prenent lur rivage.
A la meison Robert Herdin, p.20
A meïmes de Seint Austin,
Sojornat li reis Dermod
Od tant gent cum il out.
Solum la dit de la gent,
La reine i fud ensement. - Quant li reis out
sojorné
A Bristod tant li vint a gré,
Ses chevalers feseit mander, 20
Vers Normandie volt errer
Pur parler al rei Henriz
De Engletere, li poestifz.
Kar li rei de Engletere
En Normandie pur sa guere
Esteit, seignurs, ai cel feis
Pur la guere des Franceis.
Tant ad Dermot espleite
Par ces jornes e tant erré
Normandie est arivé,
Solum la gent de antiquité.
Bien est, seignurs, ke jo vus die
Cum Dermod va par Normandie:
Le rei Henri va dunc quere,
A munt, a val, avant, arere;
Tant ad mandé e enquis
Que trové ad li rei Henris: 2vb
A une cité l'ad trové,
Que Seiguur esteit clame. p.22
Li reis Dermod, aleinz qu'il pout,
Vers la curt pur veir alout:
Vers la curt, pas pur pas,
S'en est alé tost inauz
Al rei anglés pur parler,
Que tant esteit riches e fier. - Quant Dermod, li
reis vaillant,
Al rei Henri par devant
Esteit venuz a cele feiz,
Par devant li rei Engleis,
Mult le salue curteisement
Bien e bel devant la gent:
Icil deu ke meint en haut,
Reis Henri, vus ward e saut, 22
E vus donge ensement
Quer e curage e talent
Ma hunte venger e ma peine
Que fet me unt le men demeine!
Oïez, gentil reis Henriz,
Dunc su nez, de quel païs.
De Yrlande su sire né,
En Yrlande rei clamé;
Mes a tort me unt degeté,
Ma gent demeine, del regné
A vus me venc clamer, bel sire,
Veans les baruns de tun empire.
Ti liges home devendrai
Tut jors mé que viverai p.24
Par si que mai seez aidant,
Que ne sei de tut perdant:
Tei clamerai sire e seignur,
Veans baruns e cuntur.
Dunc li ad le rei prumis
De Engletere, le poestifs,
Que volunters lui aiderait 5 3ra
Al plus tost qu'il porreit - Li rei
Henri parla premer
Que cil ço mist al repeirer.
Vers Engletere passat la mer,
A Bristoud alat sojorner.
Le rei Henri fist dune mander
Par bref e par messager
A Robert Herding, cum il l'out cher,
Que al rei trovast quant que il eust mester
A lui e a tute sa gent,
De tut en tut, a son talent.
Si lui feïst honorablement 24
Trestut le son commendement
A Bristoud sojornat li reis,
Ne sai quel, quinzein u un meins.
Quant que le reis volt commander
Lui fist Robert asez aver.
Mes de Engletere li reis engleis
A Dermot selum le leis,
Ne lui fist verreiment
For de pramesse, la gent. p.26
Quant se vit li reis Dermot
Que nul aïe aver ne pout
Del rei Henri que pramist I'out
Sojorner plus iloc ne volt.
Le reis Dermot sachez, a tant
Aïe va partut querant
Aïe partut va dunc quere
En Gales e en Engletere.
Tant ad aïe demandé
A munt a val en cel regné
Que il est venuz une part,
Ceo dist la geste, al quens Ricard.
Icil esteit un quens valant,
Curteis, larges e despendant.
Le reis mut ententivement
Le requist mut ducement 3rb
Que acun socurs lui feïst
U que sun cors i venist
De conquere son regné
Dunt il en est a tort jeté.
Al cunte dist apertement
Cum traïz esteit de sa gent;
Cum sa gent l'out traïz
E dechacé, en fute mis.
Sa fille li offri a muller,
La ren del munde qu'il ust plus cher,
Que cele a femme aver lui freit
E Leynestere lui durreit.
Par si que en aïe lui seit 26
Que conquere la purreit. p.28 - Li quens al hore iert
bacheler,
Femme n'aveit ne mullier.
Si entent del rei Dermot
Que sa fille doner lui volt
Par si que od lui venist
E sa terre lui conquist,
Li quens respont oiant sa gent
Riche reis, a mei entent.
Ici t'afie lealment
Que a tai vendrai assurement,
Mes congé vodrai en iceis
Demander del rei engleis,
Kar il est li mien seignur
De ma terrien honur;
Pur ceo ne pus de sa terre
Sens congé prendre en tel manere.
Li reis al cunte asura
Que sa fille a lui durra
Quant il lui vendreit en aïe
En Yrlande de sa baronie.
Quant fini unt icel pleit,
Li reis vers Gales turnat dreit
Unques ne finnat de errer i 6 3va
De cil qu'il vint a Seint Davi. - Iloec sojornat li reis,
Ne sai quel, deus jors u treis,
Pur ses nefs appareiller, 28
Kar en Yrlande volt passer. p.30
Mes einz que le rei Dermot
La mere salé passer volt,
En Gales parlas a un Reis
Que mult iert vaillans e curteis.
Reis esteit icil nomé
Et de Gales fu reis clame.
A l'ure aveit li rei Ris
Un chevaler de grant pris
Li reis li en sa prisun,
Robert le fiz Estevene out nun,
En sa prisun le teneit
Pur se rendre le voleit
Ne sai comment le rei l'ouf pris
En un chastel en son païs.
De li ne voil ici retraire
Ou il fu pris ne en quelle manere.
Mes li riche reis Dermot
Li reis Ris al plus qu'il pout
Requist dunc pur le chevaler
Que il quite s'en purreit partir.
Si mentir ne vus duun
Ne sai s'il iert delivré nun
Par la requeste li riche reis
S'il iert delivré a cele feiz,
Mes puis a pris li chevaler;
En Yrlande vint li reis aider.
Atant s'en turne li rei Dermot
Vers SeintDavi tant cum il pout;
En Yrlande dunc passout p.32
Od tant de gent cum il out.
Mes Dermot, li gentil reis,
Od ses guerreis gent englés 3vb
Ne menad a icel tur,
Solum le dist de mun cuntur,
Ne mes un Ricard, cum l'oi dire,
Un chevaler de Penbrocsire.
Le fiz Godoberd, Ricard 30
chevaler iert de bone part
chevalers, archers e serjanz,
Mes jo ne sai desque a quanz,
Kar pas ne jerunt longement
En Yrland icele gent,
Kar enz ne poient profite fere
Al rei gueres en la tere,
Pur ço que poi erent de gent
Que passerent hastivement. - Li reis Dermot fist dune mander
Par bref e par messager.
Morice Regan fist passer,
Son demeine latimer,
Desque a Gales fud cil passé—{⬌}
Les brefs le rei Dermot
Que li rei partut mandout.
cuntes, baruns, chevalers,
Vallez, serjanz, suedeners,
Gent a cheval e a pé,
Ad li rei par tut mandé: p.34
Que tere vodra u deners,
Chevals, harneis u destrers,
Or e argent, lur frai doner
Livereson asez plener.
Que tere u herbe voidra aver,
Richement lus frai feffer.
Asez lur durrai ensement
Estor e riche feffement.
Quant les brefs esteient luz
E la gent les unt entenduz,
Dunc ço fist aparailler
Le fiz Estevene Robert premer; 32 7 4ra
Desque en Yrlande volt passer
Pur Dermot li reis eider.
chevalers vaillans de grant pris
Od sei menad ix. u dis;
Le un iert Meiler,le fiz Henriz,
Que tant esteit poetifs,
E Milis i vint autresi,
Le fiz l'evesque de Sein Davi.
chevalers i vindrent e baruns
Dunt jo ne sai d'asez lur nuns.
Si passa un baruns
Sei utime compaignuns,
Morice de Prendergast out non
Cum nus recunte le chansun.
Si i passa pur veir Hervi,
Icelui de Mumoreci.
Bien i passerent .iii. cens p.36
Chevalers e autre menu gens.
A la Banue ariverent
Od tant de gent cum erent;
Quant il furent arivez
E erent tuz issuz de nefs,
Lur gent firent herberger
Sur la rive de la mer.
La gent engleis firent mander
Al rei Dermot par messager
Que a la Banue od trei nefs
Esteient lores arivés,
E que li reis hastivement
I venist sanz delaiement.
Li reis Dermod le dreit chemin
Vers la Banue, le matin
S'en turnat mult léement
Pur ver la englese gent.
Quant venuz esteit li reis
A la Banue a ses fetheils,
Un e un les ad baisez 4rb
Curteisement e saluez. 34
Icele nuit demorerent
Sur la rive u il erent,
Mes li reis lendemain
Vers Weiseford trestut a plein
Ala tant tost, sanz mentir,
Pur la vile asaillir; p.38
La cité asailli a tute sa force.{⬌}
Les autre pur garir lur cors
Sa defendirent par defors;
X. viii. i perdi de ces Engleis
A icel saut li riche reis;
E les traiters a icel feiz
Ne perdirent de lur que treis.
Trestut jor ajorné
Ad l'asaut issi duré
Desque i fud a sieri
E la gent sunt departi.
La gent Dermod li aloez
Vers lur tentes se sunt turnés. - Mes lendemain tut premer
Al rei Dermod par messager
Firent les traiters nuncier
Que ostages li frunt livrer,
Homages li frunt e feuté,
Veant trestut son baroné,
Que od lui serrunt nuit e jor
Cum od lur naturel seignur.
Li reis resout bonement
Icele offre, veant la gent;
Par le conseil de ces Engleis
L'offre resut li gentil reis.
D'iloec s'en turne li reis Dermod 36
Vers Fernez aleinz qu'il pout p.40
Pur ses naffrez saner
E pur ses baruns sojorner.
Treis semeines sojornut 8 4va
En la cité li reis Dermod;
Treis semeines ad sojorné
Tut dreit ad Fernes la cité.
Li reis feseit pus mander
Robert e Morice tut premer
Que od lui vengent tost parler
Hastivement, son demorer.
Quant le baruns erent venuz
E Dermod les ad conaz,
En conseil les ad li rei menez,
Si lur ad trestut cuntez
Que de Osserie les Irreis
Mult doterent les Engleis: - Senurs baruns,
co dist li reis,
Mult vus dutent les Yrreis.
Pur co, barun chevaler,
Par vus conseil tut premer,
Vers Osserie voil aler
Mes enemis debarater.
Les baruns li ont responduz
Ki ja n'erent remansuz,
Ne larrunt en nule manere
Le traïtur ne voisent quere
Desque il trové p.42
E en plein cham debaraté.
En qui l'ost alast avant,
Treis mil homes combatant
A Dermod vindrent a pes 38
Pur la dute des Engleis. - Quant les baruns iço
virent
Que tant de gent syverent,
Sur le rei de Osserie
Alerent al host banie.
Ne le tenez, seignurs, a folie:
Suffrez un poi que jo vus die
Cum li reis de Leynistere,
Od sa gent qu'il lout tant fere, 4vb
Veleit entrer al païs
U erent tuz ses enemis.
Ses enemis sunt devant,
Bien cinc mil combatant,
Que li reis de Osserie
Aveit en sa compaingnie.
MacDonthid li traïtur,
Que de Osserie ert seignur,
Aveit jeté par devant
Treis fosses larges e grant;
Par devant, dedens un pas,
Treis fosses
Aveit le fel fet jeter p.44
E haie par desuz lever.
Iloc rendi la bataille
Al rei Dermod le jor, son faille;
Iloc esteit la mellé,
Del matin jesque la vespré,
Del rei fel de Osserie
E des Engleis par grant hatie.
Mes les Engleis par a chef de tur
E par force e par vigur
Les traitera en unt jeté 40
Par force e par poesté.
Mes gent i out asez blesez
E de morz e de naufrez,
Einz que la haie fud conquise
U a force sur euz prise. - Quant ço vist Dermod li reis
Que par la force des Engleis
Passé esteit en cel manere
Od sa gent de Leynistere,
Mult esteit de grant baudur.
Le riche reis Dermod le jur
La tere mist en arson
Pur destruire le felun;
La preie fist par tut quere 10 5ra
A munt, a val par la tere.
Tant cum il trover pout
De la prei od sei menout.
Ororuch le rei de altre manere p.46
Pur MacDonchid le fel quere
Que ne fist a cele fiez
Quant la chape out fublez,
Quant parler volt e conseiler
Al fel Obrien li adverser. - Quant li gentilz reis Dermod
En son païs turner volt,
Dunc ad li reis apelez
Le treis baruns alosez. 42
Robert apelat par non
E Morice le barun,
E Hervi de Momorci
Fist apeler autreci;
Ices erent a cele feiz
Cheveintainnes des Angleis. - 'Seingnurs, fet il, escutez
Pur deu amur, e entendez:
Vos gens fetes ordener,
Kar bien les savez conseiller.
Les baruns firent ai tant
Al rei trestut son comant;
Icil firent hastivement
Tut li rei commendement.
Tut le gent de Kencelath
Baillerint a Douenald Chevath p.48
Icil esteit fiz le rei
De Leynistere, si cum jo crei.
Ki voudra le veir saver,
Icil esteit al chef premer.
E le cors Dermod le reis
Esteit remis od les Engleis,
Kar en eus s'afiout
De tut en tut li rei Dermod; 5rb
Armés erent icel, sen faille,
E bien enseigné de bataille.
E Douenald Kevath tut premer
Parmi un pas volt passer
U Dermod aveit einz esté
Par treis eires debareté
Pur ço doterent les Yrreis
Qu'il serreient le quarte feiz 44
desconfiz e debaretez;
En fute sunt pur ço turnez,
Si que o Douenald, fiz le rei,
Ne remistrent xl. trei.
MacDonthid de Osserie
Sa gent vers li tost relie:
Sa gent relie hastivement
Pur desconfire la englese gent. - Seignurs baruns, a cele feiz,
Sachez que la gent Engleis
Avalez erent dedens un val,
Gent a pé e a cheval, p.50
Si lur covent par estover
Parmi cele val enfin passer.
Pur ço doterent les engleis
La gent Yresche a cele feiz
Que els lur curusent sure
San delai, a cel hore,
Kar les Engleis, cum l'entent,
Gueres avant de iii. cent
N'erent ad lur od le rei,
E des Yrreis .xl trei.
E les autres veraiment
Erent mil e set scent;
Pur ço ne fet a merveiller
Si li barun chevaler
Dutassent icel gent,
Que leger sunt cum vent. 46 - Lors parla un barun, 10 5va
Morice de Prendergast out nun:
Segnurs baruns communal,
Deliverement passum icel val
Que nus fuissoms en la montaine
En dur champe e en la plaine,
Kar armes eymes le plusurs,
Vassals hardis e combaturs;
E les traiteres sunt tut nus,
Haubers ne bruines n'unt vestus
Pur co, si turnum en dure champ, p.52
N'averunt il de mort garant.
Ferir irrum vassalement,
E checun communalement
Trestuz i ferrunt communal,
Gent a pé e a cheval,
Sur la gent de Osserie
Ke nus serrunt en contrarie,
Kar, si il sunt debarates,
A tut dis serrum dutés;
Kar rien n'i ad de fuir,
U ci vivere u murir.
Ço fu la premer bataille
Que champelé fud, san faille,
Entre les baruns engleis
E de Osserie les Yrreis.
E les Yrreis a grant eleis
Suerent la gent engleis. - Morice s'escria ai tant: 48
Robert Smiche, venez avant!
Dirrai vus que friez, amis:
Archers averez xl. dis.
En ceste bruce verraiment
Lur frez un enbuchement,
Desque vus serrez passez.
Les Yrreis que sunt destrez
Quant passé serrunt cele gent, p.54
Si s'essaudrent ferement, 5vb
Detrefs lur frez un vaïe,
E nus vus vendrum en aïe.
E Robert respont al barun:
Sire, a la deu beniçon!'
A tant se sunt abuchez
Les quarante bien armez. - Esté vus par grant hatie
Le orgoil tut de Osserie;
Les unt alé parsuant
E la bataille desirrant.
Tant se peinerent icel gent
Que passé sunt le buschement
U les quarante aduriz
En la bruce erent tapiz. - Quant passés erent les premers,
Par aime erent .ii. milers,
E li quarante archer
Ne se oserent demustrer;
Purço que tant erent poi de gent, 50
Se tapirent coiment - Dunc out Dermod li
riche reis
Pour grant de ses Engleis
Oue il serreint afolés
E des Yrreis vergundez. p.56
E li riche rei Dermod
Morice a sei apelout,
Si li requist mult ducement
Qu'il preist cure de cele gent:
Cure en preist de sez amis,
Les ques erent destrefs remis.
Li barun respont ai tant:
Sire, tut a tun comant
Volunters les aiderai,
Ma peine tut i metterai. - Morice s'en turne ai cesse part
La reine tire de Blanchard;
E de Osserie les Yrreis 11 6ra
Siverent la gent engleis
Tant qu'il vindrent en la plaine,
En la tres dure champaine.
Lur gent unt dunques ordiné
Bien e bel asez faïté.
Dunc c'este Morice escrié
E Sein David ad reclamé.
Le fiz Estevene s'est turne,
E Meïler li alosé,
E Miliz le fiz Davi, 52
E Hervi de Momorci,
E li barun, chevaler,
Vallet, serjant e bacheler
Sur les Yrreis se turnerent,
A Seint David reclamerent;
E les traïturs en juneluns p.58
Atendirent les baruns
Issi en tele manere
Que un hanst de terre
N'esteit pas a cele feiz
Entre Dermod e les Yrreis.
Si cum la prise urent cumpluz
La gent engleis par lur vertuz,
Les Yrreis s'en vont desconfiz
Ai cel jor de mal en pirz
Cum l'oi purreit veir conter,
Un des bons esteit Meiler;
En la bataille, ai cel jor,
N'i out de li nul meillur. - Quant ço virent les Yrreis
Que menout Dermod li reis,
Que einz esteint le jor
En boiz fuiz de pour,
Repeiré sunt hastivement
Vers lur seignur icel gent,
Si se mistrent en le stur
Par le comant lur seignur. 6rb
Ne le devez tener a folur:
Unze vint testes le jor
Vindrent al rei icele nuit
Sur la Barue u il jout, p.60
De ses morteles enemiz 54
Ki al champ erent occiz
Estre les morz et les naffrez
Qui del champ erent portez. - Quant cil erent desconfitz
En le champ erent remis
A Dermod li riche reis
E al chevalers engleis,
Lors parlat un barun,
Le fiz Estevene, Robert out nun:
Entendez moi, rei vaillant,
Que jo lou par Deu le grant
Que atunt remanez en ceste place
Quant Deu vus ad doné la grace
Que avez, sire, vos enemis
Par Deu grace desconfiz.
Tantost cum parra le jor
Querant irrum le traïtur;
Ja n'i finerai tant avant
Que nus nel augum parsuant. - Li reis respont
apertement
Que ço n'est mie son talent:
Einz irrum vers Lethelin
Bien e bel le dreit chemin,
Si frum porter nos naffrez
Que einz en champ gisent blessez.
Il turnat vers la cité p.62
Que Lethlin iert clame.
Demorirent iloc la nuit
A grant joe e a deduit; 56
Sur la Barue demorerent
E cele nuit herbergerent. - Lendemain li riche reis 12 6va
S'en turnat od ses fetheils:
Vers Fernes se sunt turnez;
Od eus portent lur naffrez.
Quant il vindrent a la cité,
Chescun s'en est dunc turné.
Vers lur osteus pur herberger
Returnerent li chevaler.
Mires firent par tut mander
Pur maladie saner:
Pur saner lur naffrez
Mires unt par tut mandez. - Si cum le gentilz reis
Dermod
En la cité sojornout,
Environ tut le païs
A li vindrent ses enemis
Pur crier al rei merci
Que einz l'urent tut trahi;
E pur la dute au'il aveint
Des Engleis que od lui esteint
Ostages asez firent livrer
Al rei Dermod, que tant fu fer; p.64
E mult bien vindrent a pes
Pur la dute des Engleis.
Tut le plus de Leynistere
A pes vindrent en cel manere.
MacDonthid ne vint mie, 58
Que reis esteit de Osserie;
Ne le traïtur MacKelan,
Ke reis esteit de Offelan;
Ne MacTorkil le traïtur,
Que de Diveline iert seignur,
Kar cil le rei tant reduterent
Que a pes venir n'oserent.
Mes li reis hastivement
Partut feseit mander sa gent;
Sur MacKelan volt aler
Pur lui honir e vergunder. 6vb
Dunc feseit li reis mander
Le treis baruns chevaler
Que a lui vengent tost parler,
Hastivement, sanz demorer.
Robert, Morice e Hervi
Deliverement vindrent a lui
Le rei lur ad idunc dist
E par buche lur ad descrit
Que il irrat en Ofelan
Sur le traïtur MacKelan,
E que eus feseint aparailer
Pur le cors le reis garder.
Cil respondirent ducement:
Sire, a tun commandement. p.66 - Quant cil furent aprestez
E lur gent unt ordinez,
E le cors le rei Dermod
Des Engleis panir ne vout,
Douenald Kevenath serrement
Guiot la premier gent.
Tant se sunt icil penez
Que en Ofelan sunt entrez, 60
La tere unt tote robbé
E MacKelan debareté;
La prei unt trestut prise,
La gent vencus e maumise. - A Fernez sunt pus turnez
Par orgoil e par poestez;
Vers Fernes turnat li rei
Od grant orgoil, od grant noblei.
A Fernes alad sojorner
Le noble rei .viii jors enter,
E les baruns engleis
Tutdis erent od le reis. - Quant la utime esteit
passé,
Dunc ad li rei mandé
Sa chent par tut O Kencelath; 13 7ra
Errer volt vers Glindelath,
Othothil vodra robber
Que a lui dedeigout parler. p.68
Quant l'ost esteit assemblé,
Vers Glindelath sunt erré,
E li reis ad commandé
Baruns, chevalers e meiné
Que tuz seient aprestez
E de bataille aparaillez.
Icil escrient ai tant:
Gentils reis, errez avant!
Vengez vus, reis poestifz,
De vos mortels enemis.
Reis gentilz, avant errez, 62
Asez bien vus vengerez,
Kar jamés ne vus fauderum
Pur tant cum nus viverum. - Ore erre reis Dermod
Vers Glindelath tant i pout.
Quant li reis iert venuz
Od ses amis e od ses druz,
La preei dune feseit robber
San cop prendre u doner.
Mis ço est al repeirer,
Sein e sauf, sanz encumbrer;
E les Engleis ensement
Repeire sunt tut savement.
Le rei s'en est repeiré
Od sa gent asez heité.
A Fernez vindrent les baruns
Od trestuz lur compaignuns. p.70 - A Fernes sojornat li reis
Tant cum il plut a cele feiz
Sa gent feseit par tut mander
Que a Fernes viengent a li parler,
Riches, povres ensement,
Que tuz viengent communement. 7rb
De Weiseford vindrent la gent
Par le rei commandement.
A Fernes fu l'ost asemblé,
De armis garniz e apresté.
Lors fist li reis mander
Robert e Morice tut premer, 64
Hervi e li bier Meiler
E tut li autre chevaler.
Le reis lur prist a conseiller:
Oés, seignurs chevaler,
Purquei vus fiz ici mander.
Vers Osserie voil aler
Pur confundre le felun
Que ja me fist grant traisun,
Pur le fel traitre ma tere guarder
Que ja ne volt sur reigner,
Si ne me puisse de lui venger,
En moi n'avrai que doler.
Atant li dient li barun:
Sire, a deu beneçon! - Lors fist li reis hucher
Douenald Khevath tut premer,
Que il se mist al chief devant
Od cinc mil homes combatant p.72
E pus apres erraument
De Weyseford icel gent
E le cors li riche reis
Esteit remis od ces Engleis.
Parmi la tere en tele manere
Errout li reis de Leynistere;
En Fotherd esteit venuz,
Sur un ewe descenduz.
La nuit pristrent lur ostal
Sur Mac Burtin a muet, a val.
La gent, sachez, de Weyseford
Le reis haïrent a tort;
Pur lur demeine traisun 14 7va
Que jadis firent al barun,
Duterent le traïtur 66
Le gentilz reis nuit e jor;
Pur ço par euz se logerent,
Nuit e jor le reis duterent.
En tele manere li reis gentilz,
Que tant iert pruz e hardiz,
Just sur l'ewe de Mac Burtin
E tut son ost jout enfin. - Un enfantesme la nuit lur vint
Que chescun a vers le tint:
Un ost grant e mervellus
Parmi les loges a estrus
Lur vint sur, bien armez
De aubercs e d'escuz bendez
Cil de loges saillent fors p.74
Pur defendre idunc lur cors.
Del ost engleis un chevaler,
Randolf fitz Rouf l'oï nomer,
La nuit, pur l'eschelgueiter,
Esteit defors Randolf le bier
Mult se prist le chevaler
De cel ost a merveiller;
Quidount qu'il fusent traïz
Par lur morteus enemis. - Icil s'escriat haut e cler:
Sein Davi! Barun, chevaler!
Pus ad treit le brant d'acier;
Un son compaignun premer
Par cop sur le capeler
Par vertu le fist agenuler, 68
Kar bien quidout certeinement
Que cil fust del autre gent.
Bien quiderent les plusurs
Que icil erent les traïturs
De Weyseford la cité,
Que c'esterent longgé. 7vb
Icel enfanteyme sten parti,
Ai tant cum jo vus di,
Passerent par le langport
A la gent de Weiseford. p.76
Icil quiderent estre pris
Par Dermod li reis gentilz,
Mes lendemain hastivement
Ordiner firent lur gent
Par le riche rei command,
Cum il erent le jor devant.
Sur le rei de Osserie
Alad li reis par grant envie
MacDonthid coiement
Mander fist tote sa gent
K'i al pas de Hachedur
Viengent sanz contreditur.
Un fosse fist jeter ai tant
Haut e large, roist e grant,
Pus par a fin ficher
E par devant ben herdeler
Pur defendre le passage
Al rei Dermod al fer corage. - Le reis erre nuit e jor
Que ameimes de vint de Athethur.
Sur un ewe de grant reddur
Se herberegerent li pongneur,
E les Engleis de grant valur 70
Se herbergerent tut entur.
Le ewe unt lendemain passé
Sanz bataille e sanz mellé;
Lendemain passent son faille
Sanz merle e sanz bataille. p.78 - De Weyseforde icele
gent
L'asaut firent premerement,
La haie pristrent asaillir.
Treis jors enters, san mentir,
Les traiteres aques feintement 15 8ra
Asaillerent icele gent.
La haie ne pout estre prise
Par lur asaut a nule guise
Desque la Engleise gent
Le tiers jor, cum l'entent,
La haie sur euz unt conquise
E cele gent en fuite mise.
Fui s'en est deque a Tiberath
Parmi la tere de Wenenath;
E de loc desque a Bertun
S'enfui le rei felun.
Mes Dermod, li rei puissant,
Le traitre vet tant suant—
Tant ad sui li traïtur
Que mis l'ad en tel errur,
Qu'il defendre ne se pout
Encontre le rei Dermod.
E Dermod, li rei preïsé,
La tere al felun ad gesté,
Preie grant od sei mené
Desque a Fernes la cité. 72 p.80 - Dermod, li rei poestifs,
Aquité aveit son païs
Les plusurs de ses enemis
Debaratés e deconfiz
Par les Engleis esteit monté
En grant orgoil, en grant ferté.
Mes par le conseil de sa gent
Retenir volt, cum l'entent,
Les souders Morice le barun,
Solum la geste que lisum. - Icil s'en parti del rei
Dermod,
Bien od deus cent od sei menout;
Des Engleis veraiment
Mena Morice bien deus cent.
Vers Weyseford s'en turnout,
La mer vers Gales passer volt.
Lors fist li reis mander
A Weyseford par messager;
Morice feseit desturber
Tut li mestre notimer,
Que il ne pout la mer passer
Ne a sun païs repeirer. - Quant veut Morice la novele,
Mult esteit en aruele;
Pour out a icel hure
Que li corusent sure 74
Les traitres de Weyseford, p.82
Par conseil li reis, a tort.
Mes Morice hastivement
Tant parlad a cele gent
De Weyseford la cité
Que sur le rei sunt turné.
Morice ne se targa mie,
Al rei manda de Osserie
Que a lui vendreit, san mentir,
Si lui plust, pur lui servir,
Kar par mal esteit parti
Del rei Dermod qu'il out servi.
Quant MacDonethid entendi
Que Morice vendreit a lui,
De la novele esteit heistez
E de joie saili a pés.
Al barun manda erraument
Que a lui venist assurement;
Liveresun li freit doner
Asez richez e plener.
A tant s'en ala le barun,
Lui e tut si compainun;
Vers la vile de Thatmelin
Tindrent le dreit chemin.
Mes le fiz al rei Dermod,
Douenald Kevanth, al plus qu'il pout,
Le jor asaili le barun; 8va
Bien ad cinc cent compaignun.
Mult aveient dur estur
La gent Morice ai cel jor; p.84
Mes a force e a vertuz
A Thamdin eerent venuz.
Treis jors ad dunc sojorné
Morice iloc od sa meiné.
Le rei de Osserie sovent
Message tramist a cele gent
Que il vendeit le tiers jor
San nul autre contreditur. 76
Le reis i vint versement
Le ters jor sanz delaement;
La vint le rei de Osserie,
MacDonthith, od sa compagnie,
E li reis trestut errant
A Morice feseit beu semblant
Morice e tute sa gent
Le rei saluent ducement
Le reis e sa haute gent
As Angleis firent serment:
As Engleis jurerent enfin,
Sur l'auter e sur l'escrin,
Que ja traisun ne lur frunt
Tant euz od lui serrunt. - MacDonethith ad
dune mené
Morice e tute sa meiné;
Mena li reis en Osserie
Morice e sa compaignie.
E Robert remist od Dermod
Od tant de gent cum il out,
E Hervi tut ensement
Od sa force e od sa gent. p.86 - MacDonehid jor
e nuit
La tere Dermod destruit;
Par Morice e par sa meiné
La tere al rei ad dune gasté. 8vb
Iloc resut le barun
De Morice Osseriath le nun:
Si l'apelouent tut dis 78
Les Yrreis de cel païs,
Que en Oserie esteit venuz
E od le rei remanscus. - De Morice voil ici arester;
De un barun voil cunter,
Le fiz Gerout, Moriz out nun.
Arrive esteit li barun:
A Weyseford iert arivé
Od gent bele e grant meiné;
Pur aider al rei Dermod
Arivez esteit a Weseford. - Dunc ad li barun
mandé
Al reis qu'il iert arivé.
Dermod entendi la novele,
Peça ne lui vint tant bele.
Le reis, a ceit d'esperon,
Pur encuntrer le barun
S'en est turné tut dreit al port
Vers la rive de Weyseford. p.88
Quant li riche reis li vit,
Hastivement li ad dit:
Bien seez venuz, barun,
Le fiz Gerout, Moriz par nun.
Icil respont ai tant:
Deus te beneie, reis vaillant!
Vers Fernes s'en vont leement
Li reis e Morice ensement. 80 - Mes de Osserie
enfin li reis
A l'ure esteit alé en Leis
Sur le seignur de cele tere
Que il ne lui feseit guere.
Omurthith out nun le seingnur
Que Leis teneit a icel jor.
Macdonehith od ses Engleis 17 9ra
Destruire volt tute Leis,
Quant Omurthe le seignur
E Macdonehild asçit jor:
Jor li ad iloc asis,
Ostages durreit de son païs.
Ne mes que quatre jors u treis
Demurrat iloques le reis. - Ostages durreit cinc u cis
De sa tere le plus gentilz.
Li reis li ad iço grante
Treis jors i ad sojorné. p.90
Omurthe manda hastivement
Al rei Dermod que cele gent
Par lur force e par lur guerre
Erent entrez en sa terre,
E que il i venist deliverement
Pur li succure hastivement. - De Leynistere
rei Dermod
A Robert e a fiz Gerout 82
Quancque Omurthe out mandé,
Ad dous baruns ad tut cunté;
E cil al rei dune unt dist:
Hastivement, sen nul respit,
Vos genz feites apariler.
N'i ad, sire, plus que targer.
Li reis feseit en haut crier
Quancque armes porrout porter
Li suent tut errant.
Le reis munte ai tant.
Le treis baruns ensement
Le rei suerent od lur gent,
Ne finerent deci que a Leis
U de Osserie esteit li reis.
E li reis de Osserie
En une lande jout florie
Tant cum le rei Dermod
Vers li vint e li fiz Gerout, 9rb
Mes il ne veut verraiment p.92
Que vers lui venissent gent.
Si cum li reis MacDonechit
Et Morez Ossriath
Jurent sur un lande
Ke mut esteit bel et grande,
Si purpensout un matin
Morice de Prendergast enfin
Ke Omorthe li sire de Leys
Trair volt Donehit le reis,
Si force en nule manere
Avec pout de Leynistere. - Ai tant esté vus un espie
Desque al rei de Osserie
Si li dist que reis Dermod 84
Od tote la force qu'il pout
Le fiz Estevene od sei menout
Et Morice le fiz Gerout,
Et bien desque a treis cent Engleis,
Od lui erent venuz en Leys
Estre tut li autre gent
Que sunt venuz de feffement.
Dunc commençat a parler
Morice de Prendergast primer:
Alum nus, sire reis!
Trop nus suient gent Engleis,
Et nus n'avum que poi de gent.
Pur ço alum tut serrement
Si il nus aprucent tant ne quant
Bien nus irrum defendant. p.94 - A tant s'en turnat li reis
De la tere Omorthe de Leys
Par le conseil son ami
Morice, dunt avez oï - Le rei Dermod hastivement
A qui Leynistere apent,
Robert e Morice ensement, 18 9va
Tant suierent icel gent,
Mes euz nel ateinstrent pas,
Kar passés erent le pas
Macdonehid de Osserie
Morice en ki il s'afie.
E Dermod, li rei puissant,
Vers Fernes alat tut batant, 86
Vers Fernes s'en est repeiré.
Ostages od sei ad mené;
Ostages menout a cele feiz
De Omorthe, sire de Leys. - Macdonehid od
sa compaingie
Repeiré est en Osserie;
Ai tant s'en sunt partiz
Sein e saufs en lur païs.
E la gent de Osserie
Mult aveint grant envie
Que il deveint soudeier
E as Engleis lur sous doner.
Li fel i vint dunt conseillant;
Un arere, autre avant, p.96
Morice volent trair
E son trezor entre euz partir:
Pur lur or e pur lur argent
Morthrir voleint icel gent,
Si aveint purparlé
La traïsun tut a celé. - Devant le rei sunt dunc
venuz
Juvenes, vels, e cafs, veluz:
Entendez nus, rei, bel sire,
Morice volum enfin occire;
Asez avum bone pes,
De euz n'an avum ke fere mes.
E li reis ad respondu:
Ne place deu ne sa vertuz
Que ja par mei seient traïz, 88
Mordris, mors, hunis ne pris!' - 9vbAI reis est venu li barun,
Ki rien ne veut del traïson;
Dunt pur veir ad demandé
Del rei bonement congié
Repeirir put en son païs.
Le rei, sacez, mut envis
Congié donat al chevaler
En son païs de returner,
Mes li reis mult li requist p.98
Que od lui uncore remansist.
Morice respondi al reis:
Passer volent les Engleis,
La haute mer volent passer
Pur lur amis visiter.
Ai tant s'en est li reis parti,
Solum la geste que oiez ici;
A Fertekerath ala, se qui,
E les Engleis a Kilkenni
Remistrent icele nuit
Od grant joie e od grant bruit;
E tut li traïtre felun
De cele tere envirun
Les pas alerent plesser
Par unc il deveient passer.
Mes si cum Deu le voleit
Que Morice garnis esteit
De la grant felunie
Que ceuz firent de Osserie,
Mander feseit li barun
A sei trestut si compaingnun. 90 - Quant il erent assemblez,
E Morice lur ad cuntez
Cum la gent de Osserie
Par lur grant trecherie
Un agueite lur unt basti
Od deu mil homes bien garni;
Cum les Yrreis lur sunt devant p.100 19 10ra
Od deu mil homes combatant:
En un place pur desturber
Que nus ne poum par la passer.
Conseil demande, seignur baruns,
De ceste afere cument le frums.
Icil responderent tuz:
Le conseil seit sur vus.
A lur ostels sunt turnez
U einz erent herbergez.
Asez se tindrent coiment
Cum de ço ne susent nient;
E Morice Ossriath
Al senechal MacDonehid
Al senescal fist dunc mander
K'i demi an u quarter
Od le rei voleit remaner
Cum il erent avant premer.
Hastivement mandat li reis
Que parler venist as Engleis.
Quant despandu e depoplé
La novele iert al contré
Que Morice esteit remis
Od le rei de cel païs,
Les traitres sunt repeirez
Del pas u erent abuchez. 92 - La nuit, quant erent endormis,
Ad Morice idunc tramis
Par un privé valettun
Que tuz montassent le barun, p.102
Archer, valet e serjant
E li petit e li grant.
Iceus que voleient passer
Se feisent tost aparailer;
Icil sege firent aprester,
Ne voleient plus demorer.
Vers la mer ço sunt turnez
Pur passer en lur contrez. 10rb
A Watreford la cité,
Cum les menas destiné,
Sunt venuz li chevaler
Seinz e saufs e tut enter.
La sojornerent li baruns
Od trestut lur compaignuns.
Mes eloec erent desturbez
Par un home ki ert naffrez,
Ke un soudener a pé
Un sithezein aveit naffré,
Ki de la plaie pus murit.
Ne le tindrent pas en deduit
Le cithezeins de la cité
De Watreford, cum ai cunté.
Iloec furent atachez
Tut li barun alosez
Mes par le conseil li bier
Morice, ki ert lur enparler,
E par sen e par saver
Les fist Morice tut passer.
En Galeis furent tuz arivez
Seinz e saufs, joius e lez. p.104
De cele gent ici lerrum, 94
Del rei Dermod vus conterum. - Conter voil del rei Dermod,
Cum il bailla Weyseford
A un barun chevaler,
Le fiz Estevene, Robert le bier.
E Morice le fiz Gerout
A Karrec pus se affermout
Par le rei otrei e par le grant
Dermod le rei poant.
Pus apres hastivement
Li quens Richard od sa gent
En Yrlande aveit tramis
Od ses baruns ix. u x.
Le premer esteit Reymond Le Gros,
Un chevaler hardi e os.
A Domdonuil ariverent 20 10va
U chastel pus i fermerent
Par le otrei li riche reis
Dermod, que tant esteit curteis.
Iloec remist Le Gros Reymund
E li chevaler e li barun;
La tere feseit dunc rober,
Les vaches prendre e tuer.
Mes de Watreford la gent
E de Osserie ensement
Lur ost firent assembler; p.106
Vers Dondonuil voleint aler
Pur le chastel asailir,
Les Engleis quident bien honir.
Del Deys Douenald Offelan,
E de Odrono Orian,
E tuz les Yrreis de la cuntré
Le chastel unt aviruné. 96
Par aime erent les Yrreis
Desque a quatre mil u treis;
Reymund e la sue gent
N'erent mie avant de cent.
Les vaches mistrent a chastel
Par Reymund e sun conseil.
De Watreford icel gent
Vindrent tut ferement
Pur le chastel agravanter;
Les Engleis quident vergunder. - Reymund parole a sa gent:
Seignurs baruns, a moi entent!
Vos enemis veez venir
Ki vus volerunt asailir.
Meuz vus vaut a honor cis
Que ceinz estre mors u pris.
Ore vus fetes tuz armer,
chevaler, serjant e archer;
Si nus mettrum en plein champ,
Al non del pere tut poant.'
Li chevaler e li barun p.108 10vb
Par le conseil li gros Reymund,
Des portes voleient issir
Pur les Yrreis envair.
Les vaches erent affreez
De la gent que erent armez,
E pur la noise que il funt;
Les vaches tutes a un frunt
E a force e a vertuz
A la porte sunt issuz.
Ço fu la premere conrei
Que del chastel issi, le crei.
As Yrreis sunt curru surre 98
En bref terme, en poi dure;
Les Yrreis nel porreint suffrir.
A force lur covint partir,
E Reymund od ses Engleis
Se mist entre les Yrreis;
Pur ço furent departiz,
Les Yrreis erent deconfiz,
Si ke le derein conrei
S'enfuerent par cel effrei.
Iloec esteint desconfiz
Les Yrreis tuz de cel païs.
Al camp erent mil remis,
Vencus, mors, naffrez e pris
Par force e par vertu
Que lur fist le bon Jhesu;
E de dute e de pour
Ceu afailiz erent le jor. p.110
Des Yrreis esteint pris
Bien desque a seisant dis;
Mes li barun chevaler
Iceuz firent decoler.
A une baesse firent bailler
Une hache tempré de ascer
Que tuz les ad decolés
E pus les cors aphaleisés,
Por ço que aveit le jor 21 11ra
Son ami perdu en l'estur.
Aliz out non d'Eberveni
Que les Yrreis servist isi.
Pur les Yrreis vergunder
Unt ço fet li chevaler;
E les Yrreis de la tere
Desconfiz sunt en tele manere.
Returné sunt en lur païs
Debaratez e desconfiz;
En lur païs sunt returnez
Desconfiz e desbaratez. 100 - A Dundounil remist
Reymun
Lui e tut sa compaignun,
E Hervi de Mumoreci
E Walter Bluet altresi.
Mult se contindrent bien privement
Contre cel Yresche gent. p.112 - Solum le dit as anscienz,
Bien tost apres, Richard li quens
A Watreford ariva;
Bien quinz cent od sei mena.
La vile Seint Bartholomeé
Esteit li quens arivé.
Regenald e Smorch erent clamé
Les plus poanz de la cité.
Le jor Seint Bartholomeé
Li quens Richard al cors sené
Ad dunc rd la cité
A force pris e conquesté,
Mes mult i out occiz ceïnz
De Watreford les citheïnz
Einz que ele fud conquise
U a force sur euz prise. - Quant prise aveit la cité
Li quens par sa poesté,
Li quens tantost fist mander
Al rei Dermod par messager 102
Que a Watreford ert arivé 11rb
E conquise aveit la cité,
Que a lui venist li riche reis,
Si amenast ses Engleis.
Li reis Dermod hastivement
I vint, sachez, mult noblement,
Li reis en sa compaignie
Asez i mena barunie,
E sa file i mena; p.114
Al gentil cunte la dona.
Li quens honorablement
La espusa, veant la gent.
Li reis Dermod ad dunc doné
Al cunte, ki ert tant preis—
Leynistere lui dona
Od la fille, que tant ama,
Ne mes qu'il ust la seignurie
De Leynistere tute sa vie.
E li quens ad tute granté
Al riche rei sa volenté.
Pus sunt turné une part
Li reis e li quens Richard,
Si alad Reymud le Gros,
Un chevaler hardi et os,
E Morice tute ensement
de Prendergast, cum l'entent,
Kar od le cunte veraiment
Repeiré fud, velum la gent.
Par le conseil le cuntur
Repeirés iert li pugneur.
A cel conseil sachez de fi
Esteit Meiler le fiz Hunri,
E meint barun chevaler
Dunt ne sai les nuns numer.
Iloec pristrent a conseiler
Tut li barun chevaler
Que a Develin tut dreit irrunt
E la cité asauderunt 104
A tant s'en departi li reis p.116 22 11va
Vers Fernes od ses Engleis.
Somundre feseit sa gent
Par tut e enforciblement;
Quant tuz furent assemblez
Vers Watreford sunt dreit turnez.
Li quens Richard ad dunc baillé
Sa gent en warde la cité:
En Watreford ad dunc lessé
Une partie de sa meyné.
Vers Diveline sunt dunc turné
Li reis e li quens preïsé. - Mes tut le orguil de Yrlande
A Clondolcan en une lande,
E de Connoth esteit li reis
A Clondolcan icele feiz.
Pur les Engleis asailir,
Ses cunreis feseit partir.
Les pas firent partut plesser
Pur les Engleis desturber,
Que euz ne venissent veraiment
A Diveline sanz corocement.
E le rei Dermod esteit garniz
Par espie qu'il out tramis
Que les Yrreis sunt devant
Bien trent mil combatant.
Le rei Dermod fist demander
Le cunte que venist a lui parler
Li quens hastivement
Al rei vint deliverement. p.118
Sire quens, ço dist li reis,
Entendez a moi a ceste feiz:
Vos gens fetez ordiner 106
E vos serjanz renger.
En cest irrum par la montaine,
En champ dure, e en la plaine,
Kar les boys sunt plessés
E les chemins fossaés,
E tuz nos enemis de Yrlande 11vb
Nos sunt devant en une lande. - Li quens feseit dunc
mander
Tut li barun chevaler
Milis i vent tut premer,
Un noble barun guerrer:
Miles out nun de Cogan,
Qui le cors out fer e plain.
Icil esteit al chief devant
Od set cent Engleis combatant;
E Douenald Kevath ensement
Esteit remis od cele gent,
E pus apres le gros Reymun
Bien od .viii. cent compaignun.
Al tiers cunrei li riche reis
Bien desque a mil Yrreis.
E Richard, li quens curteys,
Od sei out .iii. mil Engleis.
Bien erent en cel conrei
Vassals quatre mil, co crei. p.120
L'arewarde feseit li reis
Ordiner des Yrreis.
Bien esteint trestut armez
Les baruns Engleis alosez.
Par la montaine fist li reis
Le jor guier l'ost Engleis;
Sanz bataille e sanz mellé
Sunt venuz a la cité. 108
Mes la cité esteit le jor
Prise sanz contreditur;
Le jor l'apostle Seint Mathé
Arst Diviline la cité - Quant ço virent les Yrreis
Ke venuz iert Dermod li reis
E le cunte ensement
Od tute ses englesche gent:
La cité unt avirenez
Les baruns vassals alosez
De Connoth s'en turnat li reis, 23 12ra
Sanz plus dire a celle feiz,
E les Yrreis de cel païs
En lur cuntré sunt partiz.
MacTurkil Esculf le tricheur
En la cité remist le jor
Pur defendre la cité
De quel il ert clamé
Sire, seignur e avue
Par trestut le cuntré. p.122
De hors les murs de la cité
Se est li reis herbergé,
E Richard li bon cuntur
Ki des Engleis esteit seingnur
Esteit remis od ses Engleis
E od le cors Dermod li reis.
Le plus prochein de la cité
Esteit Milis herbergé
Li bon Milun de Cogan
Ke pus ert sire de Knoc Brandan:
Ço est trestut le plus foren
Ke seit a secle, montaine u plein.
E Dermod, li reis gentilz, 110
Morice Regan ad tramis,
E par Morice ad nuncié
A cithiceinz de la cité
Que san delai, san nul respit,
S'en rendissent san contredit;
San nul al're contreditur,
Se rendissent a lur seignur.
Ostages trente ad demandé
Li reis Dermod de la cité.
Mes cil dedenz, san mentir,
Ne savient entre euz partir
Les ostages de la cité,
Le quels serreient al rei livré.
Hesculf ad dunc remandé
A Dermod li rei preïsé
Que l'endemain hastivement 12rb
Freit tut son commandement. p.124 - Mult enuet al barun,
Icil de Cogan, li bon Milun,
K'i tant remist le parlement
Entre le rei e tute sa gent.
Miles escria tut premer:
Barun, Cogan, chevaler!
Senz le rei commandement
E senz le cunte ensement,
Asaili ad la cité.
Li ber Miles od sa meyné
Par grant orgoil e par hatie
La cité unt dunc envaïe.
Li ber Miles le alosé
A force ad prise la cité
Devant qu'il sust Dermod le jor
U Richard le bon cuntur, 112
Esteit Miles li bier menbré
En Diviline enfin entré;
La cité aveit ja conquise
E MacTurkil en fute mise.
E la gent de Develin
Fui s'en sunt par marine;
Mes asez i out remis
Ke en la cité erent occis.
Asez conquist los le jor
Miles qui ert de tel valur;
E les baruns alosez
Asez troverent richetez:
Asez troverent en la cité p.126
Tresor e autre richeté.
Venuz se sunt ai tant
Li reis et li quens brochant:
A la cité sunt venu
Li reis et li quens andu.
E Miles li barun preeisé
Al cunte rendi la cité;
La cité ad Milis rendu, 24 12va
E li quens ad dunc receu.
Asez troverent garisun
E ben vitaile a grant fuisun.
Li quens ad dunc sojorné,
Tant cum il plout, en la cité;
E li reis est repeiré
Vers Fernes en sa cuntré.
Mes a la feste Seint Remi,
Quant aust esteit departi,
Tost apres le Seint Michel,
Richard li quens naturel
A Miles ad, sachez, livré
En guarde pur veir la cité.
Vers Watreford s'en est turné
Li quens od sa grant meyné;
Li quens i ad soiorné
Tant cum il vint a gré. 114
A Fernes, plust dé, morout
En cel yver li rei Dermod.
Li reis, qui tant esteit gentils,
A Fernes gist enseveliz.
Si est mort li rei Dermot. Propitius sit Deus anime! p.128 - Tuz les Yrreis de la
cuntré
Sur le cunte sunt turné.
Des Yrreis a cele feiz
Od lui ne sunt remis que treis:
Douenald Kevath tut premer,
Ki ert frere a sa mailler;
De Tirbrun Oracheli;
Li tiers Awalap Ocarvi.
E les Yrreis de O Kenselath
Ki erent reis Murierdath,
Icil moveient pus grant guere
Sur le cunte de Leynistere.
E de Connoth, li riche reis,
De tut Yrlande les Yrreis
A lui les ad fet mander
Pur Dyvelin aseger. 12vb
Icil vindrent a un jor
Que mis lur aveit lur seignur;
Quant il erent assemblez,
Seissant mil erem ammez.
A Chastelknoc, a cele feiz,
De Connoth jout li riche reis;
E MacDunleve de Huluestere
A Clontarf ficha sa banere;
E Obrien de Monestere
A Kylmainan od sa gent fere; p.130
E Murierdath, cum l'entent,
Vers Dalkei fu od sa gent. 116 - Li quens al hure en la
cité
Esteit, sachez de verité.
Le fiz Estevene de sa gent
Al cunte tramist erraument:
Pur lui aider e succure
Lui tramist gent a cel ure. - Quant Robert aveit tramis
De sa gent ben trente sis
Pur eider le cunte Richard
Que tant esteit d'erregard
A Robert sunt curu sure
Les traitres tut sen demure.
En la vile de Weyseford
Sa gent unt occis a tort:
Sa gent unt trestut traïz,
Morz, detrenchez e honiz.
Dedenz un chastel sur Slani,
Solum la geste quil cunte ici,
Unt Robert les traitres pris,
A Becherin en prisun mis:
chevalers unt cinc enfin
En prisunes en Becherin.
E Douenald i vint Okevath
E les Yrreis de Okenselath;
Venuz esteit a Dyveline p.132
Al gentils cunte cel termine. 25 13ra
Od lui vint Orageli
E Awelaph autreci.
Al quens unt tretut cunté
Cum Robert fu enprisuné
E curn sa gent erent ocis,
Desconfiz, mors e traïz. 118
Le cunt respont ai tant:
Douenald, ne fetes ja semblant,
Ne fetes ja semblant, amis,
Ke les nos seins honis. - Li quens feseit dunc
mander
Tut li barun conseiller,
Que a lui viengent tost parler
Hastivement, san demorer
Robert i vint de Quenci,
{⬌}De Ridelisford i vint Water,
Barun noble guerrer;
Morice i vint ensement
de Prendergast, cum l'entent,
E si i vint li bon Milun,
Suz ciel n'i out meillur barun,
E Meiller le fiz Henri,
E Milis le fiz David,
E Richard i vint De Marreis,
Chevaler nobles e curteis,
E Water Bluet i vint, p.134
Chevalers baruns desque a xx;
Venuz sunt a lur seignur
Tut li barun de grant valur.
Quant les baruns alosez
Al conseil erent asemblez,
Conseil ad li quens requis
De tuz ces charnels e amis: - Seignurs, ço dist li
quens vaillans, 120
Deu del cel nus seit guarrans!
Veez, seignurs, vos enemis
Que ore vus unt ceinz asis;
Si naurum gueres de manger 13rb
Avant de quinzeine enter—
Kar la mesure de forment
Vendeit l'um un marc de argent,
E de orge la mesure—
Demi marc prist l'em a cel ure.
Pur co, seignurs chevaler,
Al rei fesum nuncier.
Dunc li quens alosé
Al rei ad nuncié
Que sis home devendra;
Leynistere de lui tendra. - Ore, seignurs naturels,
Al rei de Connoth dous vassals.
Par voz conseilz transmetrum,
E le arcevesque enverrum, p.136
Que feuté lui vodrai fere;
De lui tendrai Leynistere.'
Un arcevesque unt anveé
Que Seint Laurence pus ert clamé.
Le arcevesqueunt dunt tramis
E de Prendregast od lui Moriz.
Al rei unt dunc nuncié
Quant le cunte out mandé. - Li reis lur ad ai tant
dist,
Sanz terme prendre u respist; 122
Respondu ad al messager
Que cele ne freit a nul fuer;
Ne mes sulement Watreford,
Dyvelyne e Weyseford
Tant lirreit al cunte Richard
De tut Yrrlande a sa part;
Plus ne durreit i mie
Al cunte ne a sa compainie.
Li messagers sunt turné
Vers Dyvelin la cité;
Repeiré sunt li messager
Hastivement, san demorer.
En haut dient lur message, 26 13ra
Oiant trestut li barnage;
Al cunte unt dist a estrus
Que mande li rei orguluz:
Ne li volt plus doner tere
En trestut Leynistere, p.138
Fur sulement les treis citez
Les quels vus ai devant nomez;
E si ço ne li vent a gré,
Si asaudrunt la cite;
Si cel offre ne voleit prendre,
Plus ne volt le reis entendre,
Kar lendemain, ço dist li reis,
Asaili serrunt les Engleis. - Quant le cunte out
escuté
Que l'arcevesque ad cunté,
Dunt feseit li quens hucher
Milis de Cogan al cors leger:
Fetes, baruns, tant de gent armer;
Devant isterés al chief devant;
Al nun del pere tut poant 124
Isterez al premer chief devant.
Quarante chevalers ben sunt
Od Milis devant al frunt;
Seisante archers e sent serjanz
Out Milis a sez commanz.
E pus apres, le gros Reymun
Od quarante compaignun,
E si out cent pugnurs
E cincquante e dis archers.
E pus apres, le bon contur
Od quarante pugneur,
Od cent serjant aduriz
E des archerz cinquante dis.
Mult esteint ben armez p.140
Chevalers, serjanz e souder.
Quant li quens estut issuz
Od ces amis e ces druz,
Miles ço mist a chef devant 13rb
Od deus cenz vassals combatant;
E pus apres, le gros Reymun
Ben od deus cent compainun;
A terce conrei li quens gentils
Od deus cent vassale aduris.
Douenald Kevennath veraiment,
Awelaph Ocarvi ensement,
E de Tirbrun Orageli,
Dunt avez avant oï
Devant esteit o Milun,
Cum nus recunte le chansun.
Mes les Yrreis de la tere
Ne surent ren de cel afere,
Des baruns si armez
E de la bataille aparaillez. 126 - Milis de Cogan
tost ynaus
Le dreit chemin ver Finglas,
Ver lur cenceus ai tant,
S'en est turné tut batant.
Quant Miles esteit aprochez
U les Yrreis erent logés,
Cogan! escria od sa voiz,
Ferez, al nun de la croiz;
Ferez, baruns, ne targez mie, p.142
Al nun Jhesu le fiz Marie!
Ferez, chevalerz gentils,
Sur vos mortels enemis!
Li barun vassals alosez
E as loges e as trefs
Unt les Yrreis asailiz
E les tentes envaïs;
E les Yrreis desgarnis
Parmi les landes sunt fuïs:
Fui s'en sunt par la cuntré
Comme bestes esgarré. - Reymund le gros altreci
Sovent reclama Sein Davi,
Les Yrreis ala parsuiant 27 14ra
Pur acomplir son talent.
E Ricard, li bon cuntur,
Si ben ala fesant le jor,
Si ben ala li quens fesant,
Que tuz erent amervolant.
Et Meiler le fiz Henriz,
Que tant estait de grant pris,
Se contint si ferement 128
Que se merveillerent la gent
Sent e plus i out ossis
En bain, u il erent assis,
E plus de mil e cinc cent
I out ossis de cele gent,
E des Engleis i out naufré
Ne mes un serjant a pé p.144
Le champ esteit remis le jor
A Ricard, le bon conturr.
Et les Yrreis sunt returnez
Desconfiz e debaretez:
Cum Deu volait a cele feis
Remist le champ a nos Engleis.
Tant troverent garnesun,
Blé, ferine e bacun,
Desque un an en la cité
Vittaille urent a plenté;
Vers la cité od sa gent
S'en veit la cunte mult leement. - Li quens
Ricard al cors leger
Sa eire fet aparailler.
Vers Ueisseford volt errer
Pur le barun delivrer.
Le fiz Estevene le barun
Unt les traïturs en prisun,
De Weiseford l'urent enfin
En prisun en Becherin.
Divelyn baila a garder
Al bon Miles le guerrer;
A tant s'en ala le cuntur 14rb
Ver Weyseford nuit e jor
Tant ad le cunte espleité p.146
Par ses jornes tant erré 130
E tant de jors e tant de nuiz
Que en Odrono est venuz
Mes les Yrreis de la cuntré
Al pas erent assemble;
Pur encontrer li quens Richard
Asemblez erent une part;
Pur asailer les Engleis
Asemblez erent les Yrreis.
Li quens Richard od sa gent
Parmi un pas assurement
Quidout ben avant passer
Quant lui vint un encumbrer.
De Odrono li rei felun
Orian ert de li le nun,
En haut s'est dunc escrié:
Mer estes, Engles, arivé!
Icil reliout od lui sa gent,
Les Engleis asaili egrement,
E les Engleis veraiement
Se defenderent vassalement.
Mes Meila le fiz Henriz
Le jor enporta le pris:
En la bataille, sachez de fi,
N'i out meillur ke le fiz Henri.
E mult esteit le jor preïsé
Nichol, un moine achapé,
Kar de une sete oscist le jor
De Drone le seygnor;
De une sete, cum vus dis,
Iert Orian le jor occis. p.148
E Meiler, le bier menbré,
De un cop esteit astine
De une pere en cele guere
Qu'il chancelad a la tere.
Mes quant Orian esteit occis, 28 14va
Les Yrreis se sunt partiz.
Cel boys esteit pus nomé
Le pas le cunte e clame, 132
Pur ço que la iert asailis
Le cunte par ces enemis. - D'eloc s'en est li quens
turné
Vers Weyseford la cité
Pur aquiter Robert enprisuné
Dunt vus ai avant cunté.
Mes li culvert traïtur
Nel voleint rendre al cuntur;
Vers Becherin s'en sunt fuiz,
E Weyseford unt en arsun mis,
Kar la mer cureit enfin
Trestut entur Becherin.
Pur ço ne pout, sonz mentir,
Li gentils quens a euz venir. - Dunc s'en est li quens
turné
Vers Watreford od sa meyné
Al rei de Lymerich ad mandé
Par ces brefs encelé p.150
Que il venist en Osserie
Od trestut sa baronie
Sur MacDonkid, li reis
Que de Osserie teneit les leis,
Kar le rei de Lymerich out
La fille al riche rei Dermod;
La fille Dermod del altre part
Out a muller le quens
Pur ço que urent deus sorur
Li reis Obrien e li cuntur.
S'en vint enforciblement 134
En Osserie od sa gent;
Li quens Richard, le bon cuntur,
Encontre Obrien vint le jor
En Odoth od sa gent fere
Encontre le reis de Monestere,
U dous mil homes urent ben 14vb
Li gentil quens e reis Obrien.
Macdonethit un message tramist
Desque al conte, que lui dist
Que il volenters vendreit
Al cunte u adrescerait
La hunte e le mesfet
Dunt li barun unt retret.
Al cunte vendreit enfin parler
Par si que quite s'en pust realer,
Ne mes que Moriz li barun
De Prendregast, cum nus chantum,
A mein le prist sur sa fei p.152
De sauf condure le riche rei
E Morice tut erraument
Desque al cunte hastivement
Ala; li baruns gentils
La pes al rei del cunte ad pris.
Li quens li ad respondu ben:
Morice, ja mar dutez ren.
A mei fetez le rei venir;
Quant li plerra, s'en put partir.
E Morice, si cum jo crei,
De chescun barun par sei
Aveit pris le serment
Que amener le pust surement
E sanement s'en put partir
Quant lui venist a pleisir.
E Morice le vassal
A tant munta le cheval
Si s'en ala ai tant
Cuntre le rei tut brochant;
Desque en la curt l'ad dunc mené 136
Devant le cuncte en sauveté. - Li quens l'ad dunc
acopé,
E tut li barun alosé,
Macdonehith de Osserie,
De sa grant trecherie:
En quel manere il out traïz 29 15ra
Li bon Dermod, le rei gentils.
Li reis Obrien vet conseiller
Al gentil cunte guerrer p.154
Qu'il feit prendre li tricheur,
Si li feit livrer a deshonur;
E li baruns, san mentir,
Le voleint tuz consentir.
E reis Obrien de Monestere
Sa gent tramist par la tere:
Sa gent feseit par tut aler
E pur la tere rober,
Tant cum MacDonthid esteit
Devant le cunte e pleideit. - Quant Morice le barun
Garniz esteit del traisun,
Sa gent feseit par tut mander
Que euz se fesent tost armer.
Dunt se est Morice escrié:
Baruns, ke avez enpensé?
Vos feiz avez trespassez,
Vers moi estes parjurés!
Moriz a dist a sa meyné:
Muntez, chevalers enseigné!' 138
Morice par sa espé ad juré
N'i ad vassal si osé
Que sur le rei ai cel jor
La meine i met ad deshonur,
Lequel, seit sen u folie,
Ne seit par mie la teste asuie.
E Richard, li quens vailland,
Al barun Morice ai tant p.156
Macdonehith ad dunc baillé
E par la main li ad livré.
Atant i munte li barun,
Lui e tut si compaignun;
Li reis unt enfin mené
Desque en boys en sauveté.
La gent Obrien unt encontré 15rb
Que la tere urent robé,
E Moriz ad dunc occiz
De cele gent u nef u dis;
E par force e par valur,
De la curte sun seignur,
Aveit Moriz e sa meyné
Li reis en boys le jor mené.
E Morice de Prendergast jut
Od Macdonkid icel nuit,
Mes lendemain la matiné
S'est Moriz repeiré
Vers la curt sun seignur,
Que tant esteit de grant valur.
Les baruns unt Moriz reté
Del rei qu'il ad en boys mené
Qui ert enemi mortel
A Richard le bon cunte naturel,
Kar cil reis par sa guerre
Dermot en jeta de Leynistere.
E Morice a sun guant pleé,
A son seignur l'ad baille p.158
Qu'en sa curt addressereit
De quant qu'il mespris aveit 140
Asez l'uns replegeez
De vassals Engleis alosez. - Quant fini urent icel pleist,
Obrien vers Lymeric veit.
Li quens s'est dunc turné
Tut dreit vers Fernes la cité;
Uit jors iloec ad sojorné
Li quens gentil e sun barné.
Dunc ad li quens partut tramis
Vallez, serjanz e mechins;
Morthoth Obrien wnt dunc quere
Amunt, aval, par la tere.
Tant l'unt quis par le païs
Que trové l'unt pur veir e pris;
Tut dreit vers Fernes la cité 30 15va
Obrien li fel unt dunc mené.
Al cunte l'ont dunc livré,
Obrien le traitre pruvé,
Pur ço que traï avet li fel
Dermod li sires dreiturel.
Le fist li quens decoler,
Le cors a guaignuns pus livrer;
Le chens l'uns tut devoré
E la char de lui mangé
E Douenald Kevennath un sun fiz p.160
Aveit al cunte mené e pris;
A Fernes erent amdeus occis,
Veant la gent de cel païs.
De O Kencelath li reis yrreis
Al cunte vint lores a peis;
Ço fu le fel Murtherdath
Que pus ert reis de O Kencelath.
Li quens li ad dunc granté 142
De O Kencelath la regné;
De Leynistere le pleis ballout
A Douenald Kevenath, le fiz Dermod.
Icil deus erent reis clamé
Des Yrreis de la contré.
En Yrland erent reis plusur,
Cum alures erent les cunturs,
Mes qui tent Mithe e Leynistere,
E Desmund e Munestere,
E Connoth e Uluestere,
Que jadis tendrent le sis frere,
Qui celes tenent sunt chef reis
De Yrlande, solum les Yrreis. - Quant le cunte out
apeisé
Les Yrreis de la cuntré,
Dunc fist li reis engleis mander
Desque al cunte nuncier
Que, san delai, san contredit,
San terme prendre u respit,
Venist li quens hastivement 15vb
A lui parler deliverement.
E le cunte al cel termine p.162
A Milis bailla Develine,
Une cité mult loé
Que Hath Cleyth iert einz nomé.
E Watreford la cité
Que Port Largi esteit clamé,
Bailla li quens gentil Richard
A Gilibert de Borard.
Li quens se fist dunc aprester,
Vers Engletere volt passer;
Passer volt li quens gentils
Pur parler al rei Henris, 144
Al rei Henri curt mantel
Que ert si sires dreiturel.
Ses nefs fist dunc apariler
Pur les undes traverser;
Passer volt la haute mer,
Al rei engleis irrad parler.
Tant c'est li quens espleité
Que la mer ad ia passé;
En Gales esteit arivé,
Li quens que tant esteit duté. - Li quens
Richard a cele feiz
A Penbroc trova le riche reis.
Li quens gentil de grant valur
Par devant le son seignur
Od ses amis e od ses druz,
Devant son seignur esteit venus; p.164
Li gentil quens ad salué
Del fiz le rei de maïsté;
E li reis de bone part
Respons donat al cunte Richard;
Li reis respond ai tant:
Deu te beneie tut pussent! - Mes, cum il me fu cunté,
Auques esteit li quens mellé:
Li quens gentils de grant valur 31 16ra
Mellé esteit a sun seignur.
Par mensunge de la gent
E par mavaise entisement
Esteit Richard, li quens gentils, 146
Auques mellé al rei Henris.
Li riche reis ne purquant
Al cunte feseit beu semblant.
Semblant ne fist a cele feiz
De nul coruce li riche reis,
Mes mult li honura li rei Henriz
Que fiz esteit l'emperiz.
Atant cum li pugneur
Esteit remis a son seignur,
Esté vus un fel aitant,
Vers Dyvelin vint siglant;
Sus Dyvelin iert arivez
Hesculf MacTurkil od cent nefs.
Mult de gent ad od sei menez,
Bien vint mil ad aprestez. p.166
De Eir vindrent e de Man,
E de Norwiche i vint Johan.
Un vassal, Johan le devé,
Ad MacTurcal od sei mené;
New ert cil le riche reis
De Norwiche, solum les Yrreis.
A Steine erent arivé
Hascul e Johan le devé.
Dehors Dyveline la cité
Erent iceus alogé;
Pur la cité asailir,
La gent firent des nefs issir.
Armer se fist li bon Milun,
Lui e tut si compaignun;
Defendre se volt li gentil hom
Tant cum purrat defension:
De par deu omnipotent
Defendre se volt vers la gent.
Atant esté vus un reis
De cel païs u un Yrreis,
Gylmeholmoch out cil nun,
A peis esteit al bon Milun;
A Milun i vint cil parler, 148
Al barun conseil demander,
Kar Milun al fer corage
De cel rei aveit ostage
Que cil tendreit od le cuntur
Lealment e nuit e jor.
Li bon Mile al reis ad dist: p.168
Entendez, sire, un petit.
Vos ostages vus frai livrer
Seinz e saufz e tuz enter:
Vos ostages averez par si
Que tu faces ço que tei di,
Par si que ne seez aidant
Ne nus ne euz tant ne quant,
Mes que en coste de nus seez
E la bataille agarderez
Par en coste od ta gent,
Si que veez apertement
La mellé e la bataille
Entre nus e euz, san faille.
E, si deus le nus consent
Que seient desconfiz icele gent,
Que nus seez od tun poer
Eidant pur euz debareter;
E, si nus seimis recreant,
Vus lur seez de tut aidant
De nus trencher e occire,
Le nos livrer a martire.
Li reis li ad iço granté,
Sa fei plevie e juré,
Quanque Milis li ad dist
Freit li reis san nul respit. - Gylmeolmoch aitant
Dehors la cité maintenant 150
Se est cil reis pur veir asis p.170 32 16va
Od cel gent de son païs.
Desur la Hogges desus Steine,
Dehors la cité, en un plein,
Pur agarder la mellé
Se sunt iloques asamblé.
Pur agarder icel estur,
Gylmeholmoch se sist le jor;
En une place vereiment
Se sist od sa meine gent. - Esté vus Johan le
deve
Vers Dyvelyn tut serré,
Vers la cité od sa gent,
En dreite la porte des orient,
Vers la porte Seint Marie,
La cité unt dunc asaillie.
E Milis, od le hardi chere,
Un barun vassal out a frere;
Ricard out icil a nun,
Frere esteit al bon Milun.
Icil se feseit ben armer,
Od lui ben trent chevaler.
Pur la dute des occident
Issus sunt tut privement
Si que nuls ne saveit
Nis nul que sunt frere esteit.
E Milis sa gent ad ordiné,
Defendre voleit la cité:
Les serjanz feseit avant aler p.172
Pur lanceer e segeter;
Icels tut dreit as muraus,
Pur defendre les kerneus,
Se tumerent aitant 152
Li archer e li serjant.
E Miles, que tant esteit hardis,
Od tuz les chevalers de pris
En lurs chevals erent muntés,
Des armes garnis e aprestez.
Les gent Johan par hatie 16vb
La cité unt dunc envaïe,
E les Engleis de grant valur
Se defenderent ben le jor.
E Ricard esteit venuz,
Einz qu'il erent aperceuz,
Sur la garde que ert detrefs,
Si s'ad forment escriez;
Ricard s'escrie aitant:
Ferés, chevalers vaillant!
E li barun par grant vertuz
En la presse sunt feruz.
Mult fu grant la mellé
E li hu e la crié,
E Johan ad dunc assenté
La noise des trefs e la hué;
De la cité s'est partiz,
Succurre volt ses amis
Ki trefs erent remis, p.174
Ne sai lequel, nef mil u dis.
Parti s'en est de la cité
Icil Johan e sa meyné,
Pur succure lur gent detrefs
Qu'il ne seient debaretez.
E Miles li alosé
Isuz esteit de la cité:
Issuz fu od sa gent,
Od vassals armés ben treis cent
Estre tut li autre meyné,
Archers, serjans e joude a pé
Devant que Miles esteit issuz
Cinc cent erent abatuz;
E cels cinc cent erent naffrez 154
Que ja ne serrunt resanez. - Quant Miles esteit venuz
E vassals engleis menbruz,
Miles s'est dunc escriez:
Ferés, baruns alosez!
Ferés, vassals, hastivement; 33 17ra
N'esparniez icel gent! - Quant al champ esteit Milun,
Lui e tut si compaignun,
Mut esteint esbaudiz
Les vassals engleis aduriz.
Cum deu le volt tut poant,
Par sa vertu que tant est grant,
Solum le dit l'estorie, p.176
As Engleis dona la victorie.
Mes des Engleis ai cel jor
Esteit Ricard de tut la flur.
Mut i out grant discipline
De cele gent lee la marine;
Fuï se sunt ai tant
E li petit e li grant
De cel grant hu qu'urent mené
Hesculf e Johan le devé. - Quant Gylmeholmoch, sachez, li reis 156
Vist fuir les Northwicheis,
E cil de Eir e cil de Man,
La meiné Hesculf e Johan,
E li reis pur veir se vist
Que cil erent desconfist,
En pes s'en est li reis saili,
A haute voiz hautement cri:
Ore sus, seigneurs vassals!
Aidum as Engleis naturels.
Ore sus tost! Si aiderum
A bon Ricard e Milun.
E les Yrreis ai tant
De tut pars wnt occiant:
Occiant wnt de tut pars
E de gaveloos e de dars
Icele gent ki erent venus
Od Esculf li veil chanuz;
E cil s'en wnt desconfiz p.178
En boys, en pleinz, en larriz.
Que vus devoroie plus dire? 17rb
Mil e cinc cent a martire
Erent remis a icel jor,
Mors, detrenchez, a dolur.
Veir ço dient li asquanz,
Dous mil vassals combatanz
Erent le jor pur veir remiz
Ki enz al champ erent occis. - Mes cil Johan le
deve
Esteit vassal ben alosé,
Kar cil Johan en la mellé
De une hache ben tempré
Cosuit le jor un chevaler
Que la quisse lui fist voler: 158
Od tut la hache de fer blanc
Lui fist voler la quisse al champe.
Bien ad cil le jor occiz
De nos Engleis nef u dis,
Mes li bon Milis de Cogan
Occist le devant dit Johan,
E Ricard le jor, son faille,
Hesculf prist en la bataille,
E les chanz e les larriz
Erent couvers de occiz.
Sachez le tuz pur veir, san faille,
Mout i out en la bataille p.180
Le jor enfin destruction
E des Engleis perdicion. - Asez i ganerent tresor
Les Engleis, argent e or.
E Milis e sa meyné
Vers Dyviline sunt turné.
Quant venus sunt a la cité,
Hesculf unt dunc decolé;
Pur sa grant desmesure
Descolé l'unt a dreiture;
Pur son orgoil e ses fous dis,
Pus que Ricard Hesculf out pris,
Decolé l'unt hastivement, 34 17va
Veant la marine gent.
Fui s'en sunt par la montaine
Les Norwicheis e par la plaine;
Les eskauz as nefs turnerent,
La mer passer ben quiderent,
Mes les Engleis lur sunt detrefs
Que lur contredient les nefs.
Si la fuissez ai cel jor, 160
Des homes Hesculf li trecheur
V cent veisez le jor plunger
Desque a la parfund de la mer.
Issi erent verament
Desconfiz la marine gent.
Le champ urent le jor vencu
Les Engleis par la deu vertu;
Les autres erent departiz, p.182
Mort, naffrez e deconfiz.
En lur païs veraiment
De icel norwicheis gent
Ne revindrent que dous miller
Pur lur dreitures chalenger.
Issi larrum la reisun
Del bon Ricard e de Milun;
Del reis engleis vus conterum,
Henri od fere facun. - Tant cum li reis uint sur la mer
A Penbrocscire pur passer,
Atant este vus al port
Traiterez duzze de Weyseford;
Arivé sunt en un batele
A Penbroc dreit suz le chastel.
Tantost cum erent arivez,
Vers le castel sunt turnez;
Parler voleint li fel
Al rei Henri Curt Mantel.
Tant unt les traitres espleité
Que al palets sunt entré
Par devant le rei Henris 17vb
Ke fiz esteit l'emperiz,
Et si li saluent hautement
De deu le pere omnipotent. 162
Li riche reis erraument
Lur respondi docement
K'i ben seins venuz,
Ses bien voillanz e ses druz. p.184 - Nel tenez, scire, a
folur,
Ço li unt dist li traïtur,
Si vus dirrum, sacez, les tuz
Pur quel eimes venus a vus.
Pris awm vostre felun,
Robert fiz Estephene ad nun,
Ki jadis vus fist boidie,
Sovent grant mal e tricherie;
Plusurs feiz vus unt fet guerre
En Gales e Engletere.
En Yrlande vint od navire,
Livrer nus volt a martire,
Destrure volt nostre païs,
Souvant nus mist de mal en pirs.
En un chastel l'awm pris,
En prison forte l'awm mis;
A tei rendrum, gentil reis,
Que sire estes des Engleis;
E vus, gentil rei preïsé,
De sço fret ta volenté.
Li reis lur ad respondu:
Par tel covenant been seez venu
Que vus me facez livrer celui,
E pus ço que frai de lui!
E cil li unt asueré
Pur veir pramis e juré,
Tantost cum erent passé la mer,
Al rei Henri que tant est fere, p.186
Lui frunt Robert enfin livrer 164
E tut li altre chevaler
Tant cum li unt en prisun 35 18ra
E en lur possessiun. - Seignurs, ore vus voil
dire
Pur quei prist si grant ire
Li reis que tant ert enseigné
Del barun Robert l'alosé.
Kar li reis veraiment,
A ki Engletere apent,
Mut amout li barun
Que cil tindrent en prisun;
Pur ço aveit li reis pour
Que li felun traïtur
Le bon Robert feseient murthrir,
Vergunder u hunir;
Pur ço feseit li rei semblant
De coruz e de ire grant
Que il aveit vers le barun,
Pur la dute de traisun
Ke feseint li tricheur
Envers Robert li pugneur. - Li reis i ad dunc
mercié
A traitres de lur lauté
Ki sun enemi unt pris
En bues e en anaus mis, p.188
E de ço que pramis l'unt
Que Robert livrer li frunt.
Atant unt lur congié pris
Les traitres del rei Henris, 166
Si s'en wnt vers lur ostal
En la cité principal;
lloec attendirent lur vent,
Li reis e euz ensement. - Oiez, seignurs, del rei Henriz,
Que fiz esteit l'emperiz,
Cum il volt la mer passer
E Yrlande conquester
Trestut par le loement
Del gentil conte, solum la gent.
Le rei Henri est dunc passez 18rb
En Yrlande od ses nefs;
Li reis ad dunc od sei menez
Quatre cent chevalers armez.
Li rei Henri, quant eskipa,
A La Croix en mer entra:
A Pemleocshire a cele feiz
En mer entra li riche reis.
Od lui passa li gentil quens,
Solum le dist des anciens.
A Watreford li gentil reis
Ariva od quatre mil Engleis
A la Tusseinz veraiment,
Si la geste ne nus ment; p.190
Devant la feste Sein Martyn
En Yrlande vint li reis enfin.
Od le rei erent passez
Vassals ben aparentés;
Willame le fiz Audelme
Od lui vint a cel termine,
Umfrei de Boun altresi,
Le barun Huge de Laci.
Si vint od le cors le rei 168
Le fiz Bernard, Robert, ço crei;
Un barun i vint alosé,
Bertram de Verdun iert clamé;
cuntes, baruns de grant pris
Asez vindrent od le reis Henris. - Li quens par sun
eindegré
Al rei rendi la cité;
Al reis rendi Watreford
Par sun gré e par sun acord.
Homage de Leynistere
Fist a rei de Engletere;
Li quens de grant valur
Homage fist a sun seignur.
Leynistere lui ad granté
Li riche reis en herité.
Li rei Henri al cors gailard 36 18va
Al barun Robert le fiz Bernard
Watreford ad la cité
Al fiz Bernard idunc baillé. p.192 - Quant li reis iert
arivé
A Watreford en sauveté
Esté vus les traitres
Que de Weyseford erent seignurs;
Le fiz Estephene en unt mené
Par devant lui enanelé.
En Watreford la cité
Al cors le rei li unt livré;
Li reis receut le cors,
Veant baruns e cunturs. 170
Iloc l'encupa li reis gentils
De quantque il aveit mespris
Envers lui, ki ert sun seignur,
Par devant le traïtur.
Le fiz Estephene pleia sun guant,
Al rei le tendi maintenant:
De quantque lui saverat retter
Lui vodrat Robert adrescer
En sa curt mult volenters
Par la garde de tuz sez pers.
Asez le plegerent errant
Franceis, Flamengs e Normand.
De Watreford le rei Henris
S'en turnat od ses marchis;
Vers Dyvelin od sa gent
Ala sanz delaément.
La cité lui rendi errant
Ricard, li gentil quens vaillant. p.194
Dyvelin li rei Henri
A Huge baillad de Laci,
E cil ad pus gardé
Par commande le rei la cité.
E li reis de Engletere
D'iloc turnat vers Monestere,
Vers la cité de Cassele 18vb
Turnat li reis od sa gent bele,
U a l'ore esteit le se
De Monestere le archevesché.
De Cassele turnat avant
Vers Lysmor li rei pussant;
Li rei Henri curt mantel
A Lismor voleit un chastel
Fermer: se volt le rei Henriz
Que fiz esteit li emperiz;
Ne sai pur quei, mes ne pur quant
A cel feiz remist a tant. 172 - Vers Leynestere
s'est turnez
Li reis engleis a cele feiz;
Vers Leynistere la garnie
Turnat od sa chevalerie.
Dis e wit simeins, plus ne meins,
Solum le dist as anciens,
Remist le duc de Normandie
En Yrlande od sa baronie. p.196
De Normandie a cele feis
Esteit ducs li riche reis;
De Gascoine e de Britaine,
De Peito, de Ango, e de Maine
Esteit li rei Henris clamé
Sire, solum l'antiquité.
En Yrlande esteit li reis
Bien quinzeine e quatre meis;
En la terre, a mont, a val,
Errout li reis naturel.
La vitaille esteit trop chere
Par trestut Leynestere,
Kar ne lur vint garnesun
De nul autre region.
A Dyvelin esteit li rei Henriz
E a Kyldare li quens gentils;
Illoques li quens sujorneit
Od tant de gent cum il aveit.
Tant cum li reis preïsé 37 19ra
En Dyvelin iert la cité,
Este vus un mes ba tant
De Engletere vint batant.
Este vus un messager,
Al rei vint nuncier
Que Henri sun fiz einé
Esteit pur vers sur lui turné,
E qu'il li volt de Normandie 174
Tut tolir la seignurie. p.198 - Lores fist li rei mander
Huge de Laci tut premer
E ses cuntes e ses vassals
E ses baruns naturals.
Li riche rei ad dunc baillé
Dyvelin en garde la cité
E le chastel e le dongun
A Huge de Laci le barun,
E Watreford del autre part
Al barun Robert le fiz Bernard.
Le fiz Estephene a cel termine
Esteit remis a Dyveline,
E Meiler le fiz Henri
E Miles le fiz Davi;
Od Huge erent icil remis
Par commande le rei Henris. - Eynces que a cel termine
Li reis departi de Dyveline,
A Huge de Laci ad doné
Mithe tut en erité:
Mithe donat li guerrer
Pur cincquante chevaler
Que li barun feïst aver
Le servise quant eust mester.
A un Johan Uluestere,
Si a force la peust conquere;
De Curti out a nun Johan,
Ki pus i suffri meint ahan. 176
Pus s'en alad li reis al port p.200 19rb
Vers la cité de Weyseford;
Ses nefs feseit aparailler
A tut li mestre notimer.
E Ricard li quens preïsé
Vers Fernes turnat la cité
Sa fille i ad marié,
A Robert de Quenci l'ad doné;
Iloc esteit le mariage,
Veant tut le barnage.
A Robert la donat de Quenci
E tut le Duftir altresi,
Le conostable de Leynestere,
E l'ensegne e la banere.
Del conte voil ici lesser,
A ma materie repeirer;
Wdrai, seignurs, sachez de fi,
Parler del riche rei Henri. - Li reis demorat a la mer
A Weyseford pur passer;
Li reis gentil est donc passé,
A Port Finan est arivé.
Od lui passa li bon Milun
E meint vassal e meint barun.
A demi liu de Sein Davi
Ariva li rei Henri;
E li reis vers Normandie
Alad od sa grant seignurie
Pur un sun fiz guerreier, p.202
Que lui volt deseriter.
Guerre out li riche reis
En Normandie des Franceys.
En Yrlande esteit remis 178
Li gentil quens od ses amis;
A Kyldare sejornout
Od tant de force cum il out.
Sovent alad en Offali
Pur rober Odimesi;
Odimesy iert dunc clamé 38 19va
De Offali sire e auné. - Li quens alad en Offailie
Od tut sa chevalerie
Pur preer e pur rober
Odymesi ki tant iert fer
Que al cunte ne deignout parler,
Ostages ne li volt livrer.
Al cuncte ne volt a pes venir
Odymesy od la sue gent;
Mult se contint vassalment
Odymesy lores, san mentir,
Contre li quens veraiment
A qui Leynestere apent. - Quant li cuncte od sa
meyné
En Offailie esteit entré,
Rober feseit dunc la tere
En boys, en plains, les vaches quere. p.204
Quant il aveit assemblé
La preie de tut la cuntré,
Vers Kyldare sunt repeirés
Les baruns engleis alosés.
Li quens esteit al frunt devant
Od mil vassals combatant; 180
Le conestable esteit destrefs
En l'arere garde remés.
Tut dreit al issir del pas
Lur currut sure tost vias
Sur lur currut Odymmesy
E les Yrreis de Offaili;
L'arere garde unt asailiz
Les tuz de cel païs.
Le jor enfin esteit occis
De Quenci Robert li gentis
Que tint l'enseigne e le penum
De Leynestere la regiun,
A qui li quens aveit doné
La conestablerie en herité.
Mult fu de pleins, sachez de fi, 19vb
Le barun Robert de Quenci,
E mult esteit en grant tristur
Pur sa mort sun bon seignur. - Quant cil Robert esteit occis,
Le cors unt ben ensevelis.
Une fille pur vers aveit
Robert, qui tant gentils esteit, p.206
De sa espuse, veraiment
Solum le anciene gent,
Que pus iert doné a un barun,
Phelip de Prendergast out nun,
Le fiz Moriz Ossriath,
Ki pus vesquist en O Kencelath.
De cil Phelip voil lesser,
Del gentil cunte voil parler
E de un barun chevaler,
Reymund le gros l'oï nomer:
Cum cil barun de grant valur 182
Al cunte requist sa sorur
Que lui donast a muiller
E a amie e a per,
Od tut la conestablie
De Leynestere le garnie,
Desque I'enfant fust de cel age
Que tener pust sun heritage
La fille Robert de Quenci
Dun avez avant oï,
U desque fud ele doné
E a tel home marié
Qui pust guier la banere
E le seigne de Leynistere. - Respondi ad li gentils quens{⬌}
Qu'il n'esteit pas conseillés
De fere le peticun
Dunt li requist le barun. p.208
Atant s'en parti Reymun,
Lui e tut si compainun;
Congié prist par maltalent 39 20ra
Del cunte trestut erraument
En Gales pus enfin passout
Pur le ire que il out
Del cunte que lui escondist
De la resqueste que lui requist.
Issi en tele manere
Departi Reymund de la terre;
Vers Gales passa la mer,
A Kerreu ala sojorner.
Del gros Reymund issi lerrai,
Del rei engleis vus conterai 184
Cum il par messager tramist
{⬌}Desque al cunte fist nuncier
En Yrelande par messager
Que lui venist en aïe
Hastivement en Normandie,
Kar mult esteit en grant penser
De sa tere governer
E de garder sun païs
Encontre le jouene rei sun fiz.
E li quens de grant valur
Pur aider a sun seignur
La mer passa vers Normandie;
Asez mena chevalerie. p.210
En Yrlande ad lessé
chevalers, serjanz e joude a pé
Pur la tere conquester,
K'il nel pussent enoier
La leger gent de cel païs
Que erent tuz ses enemis. - Quant le cunte naturel
Al rei Henri curt mantel
Esteit venus par devant,
Mult esteit li reis joiant.
Dunc li ad li reis livré
Gisorz en garde la cité;
E le cunte par grant doçur
Respondi a sun seignur 20rb
Que volunters, sen mentir,
Tant li vendreit a pleisir,
La cité enfin gardereit
Tant cum al gentil rei plerreit.
Tant ad le cunte ben servi 186
A sun seignur le rei Henri
Que li reis, sen feintise,
Mult se loeit de sun servise. - Li riche reis sei
demande
De repeirer en Yrlande,
Congé donat al guerrer
En Yrlande de repeirer. p.212
Weyseford clamat li reis
Al cunte quit a cele feiz
Si li baillat la marine,
Watreford e Dyveline.
Dunc fist li reis mander
Tut li barun chevaler,
Quant il out a Watreford,
A Dyveline e a Weyseford,
Que deques a lui hastivement
Vengent par sun commandement.
Li gentil quens, sachez de fi,
En tele manere s'en departi.
En mer entra ai tant,
Vers Yrlande va siglant;
Siglant va la haute mer
Li gentil cunte guerrer.
Tant ad curru par marine
Que venus est a Dyveline.
Dunc manda le quens Ricard
Le barun Robert le fiz Bernard
E tuz le baruns vassals
Que se clamerent reals
De Watreford la cité
chevalers, baruns e meyné,
A chescun barun par sei,
Par le commandement le rei 188 40 20va
Que tuz passassent la mer
En Normandie li reis aider.
E le cunte derichef
A Watreford tramist par brief, p.214
As baruns manda altre tel
De part le rei curt mantel
K'il passassent san demore
En Normandie li reis succurre.
Le fiz Estephene altresi
La mer passa al rei Henri,
E Moriz Ossriath
Ki pus mist en O Kencelath;
E Huge de Laci, qui tant iert fer,
Pur sa tere herberger,
Vers Mithe s'en est turné
Od meint vassal alosé.
De cil Huge ne voil plus dire,
Des baruns vassals vus voil descrire. - Quant passes erent les baruns
Tut dreit en Joing Druuesuns,
Vers Lundris tut dreit turnerent
Od tant de gent cum il erent.
Alur esteit, sachez, grant guerre
Par trestut Engletere,
Kar d'Eschose li riche reis
Guerroit li reis Engleis;
E de Leycestre lors li quens,
Solum li dist des anciens,
Sur sun seignur esteit turné
E Flemengues aveit mené; p.216
Destrure trestut Engletere
Quidout cil par lur guerre,
Tant cum le fiz l'emperiz 190
En Normandie guerrout sun fiz.
E li vassal e li barun
De Engletere la regiun
Les Flemengues encuntré unt
A la cité Seint Eadmund; 20vb
lloec erent deconfiz,
De Leycestre le conte pris.
Desconfiz erent en tel manere
Par le succurs de Leynestere,
E par la force des Yrreis
Remist le champ a gent Engleis.
E si refu dedens cel meins
Li reis pris e conqueis.
E les baruns de Yrlande
Ki unt esté en cel brande
En Normandie sunt tuz passez
E la novele al rei contez,
Cum les Flemengs erent occis
E le rei d'Eschoce pris. - Ha! dist li reis, deu, tei
aure,
Ki pere estes e creature,
Quant fet me avez icel amur
Que pris sunt mi traïtur! - Oiez, seignurs, baruns vaillant,
Que deus de cel vus seit guarant!
Del reis Engleis voil lesser, p.218
Ki tant par est nobles e fer,
Del gentil conte voil parler
E de ses envers treiter: 192
Cum le conte naturel
Par Yrlande, amunt, aval,
Errout, sachez, od gent fere
Par trestut Leynestere.{⬌} - Dunc fist le conte
passer
Un son demeyn latimer,
Al gros Reymund fist nuncier
Qu'i tost a lui venist parler,
Si li durreit a uxor
Le gentil conte sa sorur.
Dunc se aparilla Reymun,
Od lui meint vassal barun;
A Weyseford sunt arivez,
Solum l'estorie, od treis nefs. - 41 21raAtant tramist le gros
Reymun
Desque al cunte par un garsun,
Ki tut li ad le veir cunté:
Cum Reymund iert arivé,
E ke le cunte sun talent
Al barun mandast hastivement.
Li gentil quens a cel feez p.220
A Watreford iert la citez;
Desque a Reymund ad mandé
Que tut freit sa volunté,
Si remanda altresi
Que desque al iddle de Instepheni,
Encontre lui a parlement
Venist Reymund od sa gent. 194
Dunc se aparilla Reymund,
Lui e tut si compaignun,
Desque al iddle est turné,
Si cum le conte out mandé;
E le conte ensement
I vint a mult bele gent. - Li quens gentis de grant
valur
I menad lores sa sorur.
Iloec unt tut purparlee
Le cunte e li barun menbree
De sa sorur marier;
Al gros Reymund la fra doner.
D'iloc s'en turnerent errant
Vers Weyseford combatant.
Sa sor i ad li quens mené,
Al gros Reymund l'ad dunc doné
E le seigne e la banere
De trestut Leyniestere,
Desque l'enfant seit del age
Que tenir peust son heritage
La fille Robert de Quence
Dunt avez avant oï. p.222 - Mes pus la prist un vassal,
Phelip, un barun naturel,
de Prendergast esteit clamé,
Un barun vassal alosé.
Ço fu celui, sachez tuz,
K'al matin iert greins e irus,
Apres manger frans e duz, 196
Curteis, largis as trestuz;
Tant cum la cape out fublé,
De ire esteit tut dis enflé;
Quant al matin fust digné,
Sus cel nul home plus heité.
Icil tint mult longement
Le conestablie, solum la gent;
Mult esteit icil preïsé,
De tute gens esteit amé,
Asez esteit de fer corage
E de mult grant vassallage.
De lui ne voil ici conter,
A ma matere voil repeirer.
Ws dirrai, seignurs, gentil barun,
Parler voil del gros Reymun,
Cum le cunte guerrer
Sa sor donat a muiller.
Fothord li donat li cuntur
A mariage od sa sorur;
Pus li ad, sachez, doné
Odrono tut en herité, p.224
E Glaskarrig ensement
Sur la mer vers le orient.
Sur la mer donat Obarthi
A Hervi de Momorci.
Li quens Ricard le vaillant
A Moriz de Prendergast devant
Fernegenal aveit doné
E par son conseil confermé
Devant li quens preïsé
En Yrlande fust arivé:
X feiz li dona par tele divise
Pur dis chevalers servise. 42 21va
Si en Fernegenal mist sun plein
Si l'ust Moriz del plus prosein;
Ne sai coment, sachez, Robert
La tint pus, fiz Godebert.
Karebri donat al bon Meiler 198
Ki tant esteit nobles ber
Li quens Ricard pus donout
A Moriz le fiz Geroud
Le Nas donat le bon cuntur
Al fiz Geroud od tut le onur:
Ço est la tere de Ofelan
Ki fud al traïtur MacKelan;
Si li donat Winkinlo
Entre Bree e Arklo:
Ço fud la tere de Kylmantan,
Entre Ad Cleth e Lochgarman.
Li gentil quens altresi
Vint feiz en O Morethi p.226
Donat enfin a Water
De Riddelisford, li guerrer;
Johan de Clahaule la marchausie
De Leynestere la garnie
Od tut la tere, sachez de fin,
Entre Eboy e Lethelyn;
A Robert de Burmegam
Offali al west de Offelan;
Adam de Erford ensement
Donat riche feffement.
E a Milis le fiz Davi,
Ki tant esteit privé de li,
Owerk en Osserie
Li ad doné a sa partie.
A Thomas le flemmeng ad doné
Ardri, veant son barné;
Ofelmeth donad sur la mer
Li quens a un chevaler:
A Gilebert de Borard
Donad li quens a sa part. 21vb
Li gentil quens, que tant fu fer,
XV. feiz donat sur la mer
A un barun chevaler;
Reinaud l'oï nomer.
Li quens Ricard fiz Gilbert 200
Le Norrath donad a un Robert,
Ki pus esteit pur veir ocis
En Connoth par ses enemis.
En tel manere li quens preïsé p.228
Sa tere ad partie e doné.
Del gentil conte issi larrai,
De Huge de Laci vus conterai,
Cum il feffa ses baruns,
chevalers, serjans e garsunz. - Chastelknoc tut
premer donat
A Huge Tyrel, k'il tant amat;
E Chastel Brec, solum l'escrit,
A barun Willame le petit,
Macherueran altresi
E la tere de Rathkenni.
Le cantref pus de Hadhnorkur
A Meiler, qui ert de grant valur,
Donad Huge de Laci
Al bon Meiler le fiz Henri.
A Gilibert de Nangle enfin
Donad tut Makerigalin;
A Jocelin donat le Novan
E la tere de Ardbrechan:
Li un ert fiz, li altre pere,
Solum le dit de la mere.
A Richard Tuit ensement
Donad riche feffement;
Ratwor donat altresi
Al barun Robert de Lacy;
A Richard de la Chapele
Tere donad bone e bele;
A Geffrei de Constentyn Kelberi p.230
A memes de Ratheimarthi; 202 43 22ra
E Scrin ad pus en chartre,
Adam de Feipo l'ad pus doné;
A Gilibert de Nungent,
A Willame de Muset ensement
Donat teres e honurs,
Veant baruns e vassaurs;
E al barun Huge de Hosé
Terre bele ad pus doné;
A Adam d'Ullard altresi
La terre de .
A un Thomas ad doné
De Cravile en herite
Eymlath Began tute en peis
Al nor est de Kenlis,
Lachrachalun ensement;
E Sendouenath, solum la gent,
Donat Huge de Lacy
A cil Thomas, sachez de fi.
Crandone pus a un barun,
Ricard Le Flemmeng out a nun,
XX. feiz li donat veraiment,
Si la geste ne vus ment.
Un mot fist cil jeter
Pur ses enemis grever;
chevalers retint e bele gent,
Archers, serjants ensement,
Pur destrure ses enemis;
Sovent les mist de mal en pirs.
Mes pus lur suruint Okaruel p.232
Ki reis esteit de Yriel,
E MacDonleve le felun
De Uluestere la regiun;
Ororig i fud enfin,
E le rei Malathlin.
Bien vint mil a cele feiz
Lur survindrent gent yrreis;
Mult egrement lur asaillerent,
E les baruns se defendirent 204 22rb
Tant cum wnt defension
Aver poreint en lur meison;
E les Yrreis de tutes pars
Gavelocs lancerent e dars.
La meyson unt pur veir mal mise
E la meyné dedens occise;
Mes mult i out einz occis
Des Yrreis del north païs.
Sachez les tuz, en tel manere
Esteit herbergé la tere
E de chastels e de cités,
De dunguns e de fermetés,
K'i ben est aracinez
Les gentils vassals alosés.
E le cunte out ja conquise
De Leynestere ses enemis,
Kar vers sei aveit Murtherdath,
E pus Douenald Kevenath,
MacDonthod e MacDalwi, p.234
Omorthe e Odymesi,
Oduvegin le veil flori,
Obrien del Dufihre altresi
Gylmeholmoc e MacKelan,
E de Obarthy Olorcan;
E tuz les ostages de pris,
De Leynestere les plus gentils,
Out li quens, sachez, vers sei
Solum le anciane lei.
E cil de Laci pus Hugun
A Trym ferma une meisun
E fosse jeta envirun,
E pus l'enclost de hireson.
Dedens la meysun ad pus mis
Chevalers baruns de grant pris;
Pus commandast le castel
En la gard Huge Tyrel;
Al port ala pur passer
Vers Engletere la haute mer. 206 44 22va
Mes de Connoth l'entendait
Li reis qui a cel contemple esteit,
Que Huge un chastel aveit fermé,
De la novele esteit iré;
Sun host feseit a sei venir;
Le chastel irra asaillir. - Ochonchor tut a
estrus,
De Connoth li reis orgulus,
Od sei menad Oflaverti, p.236
MacDermot e MacHerathi,
Reis Okelli de O Many,
Oharthire e Ohinnathi,
Ocarbre e Oflannegan,
E pus don Omanethan,
Odude e Omanethan,
Osathnessy de Poltilethban;
Si alad le reis Molethlin
E reis Ororig sun veysin,
De Kinel Coneil Omalori
E MacDonleve altresi;
Si alad reis Okaruel,
E MacTawene qui tant ert fel,
Mac Scilling a MacArtan,
E fel MacGarragan;
Makelan tut ensement
I alad od la sue gent;
De Kinelogin Oneil li reis
Od sei menad trei mil Yrreis.
Assemblez erent les norreis,
E de Lethchoin trestut les reis;
Vers Trym pristrent a cheminer
Pur le chastel agravanter.
E li barun Huge Tyrel 208
Desque al cunte un damisel
Il envea trestut brochant
Sur un cheval asez curant,
Que al cunte descrit trestute
La novele tut de buche: p.238 22vb
Que assemblés erent les norreys,
E de Lescoin trestut les reis,
Pur abatre le dongun,
Le chastel e le hiresun.
Par mei vus mande li barun
Li veil Tyrel de Trym Hugun,
Que tu le seez de tut aidant
O tun force e sucurrant.
E li cunte lui pramis ad
Que il de louche lui eiderat. - Tuz fist somundre sa gent
Par Leynestere hastivement.
Quant assemblez esteint tuz,
Vels, jouenes, bloys e ruz,
Vers Trym penserent de errer
Pur les norreys encuntrer.
Mes einz k'i li gentil quens
Venus esteit od les sens,
Aveit Huge veraiment
Del tut guerpi le mandement,
Pur ço qu'il n'aveit a fors
Dedens la meisun ne deors
De mellé rendre ne estur
San l'aide del cuntur.
Quant les Engleis erent partis
E lur meysun urent guerpiz,
A Trym vindrent les Yrreis.
La somme ne dirrai de meis 210
Cumben erent ne quant miller, p.240
Kar tenu serrai mensenier.
La mot firent tut degeter,
Desque a la tere tut verser,
E la meysun tut premer
De fu ardent estenceler. - Quant acompli urent lur feiz
Si s'en sunt trestut retreïz;
De returner unt fet semblant
Vers lur païs, li fel tyrans. 45 23ra
E li cunte, que tant iert fer,
Vers Trym pensout d'esperuner
Pur la meysun guarantir
Si il la hore pust venir.
Vers Trym s'en veit li quens brochant
E od lui meint vassal vaillant.
Mes quant li quens esteit venus,
Sur l'ewe esteit lores descenduz,
Kar il n'i trova en estant
Meysun, bordel, petit ne grant.
U il se peust dedens eiser
Ne cel nuit herberger. - Lores fist li quens
hucher,
Par tut l'ost commander,
Que tuz montasent errant.
Atant se mist al ferrant
Si s'en ala chemin dreiture
Pursuant a grant alure. p.242
Tant s'en est li quens penez 212
Qu'il atenist la gent detrefs,
Si lur curut hastivement
Sanz nul arestement;
E les Yrreis ki erent nuz
Se sunt lores respanduz,
La set, la wit, la treis, la quatre,
Si que nul ne tint a altre;
E li quens ad dunc occis
De cele gent set vint e dis.
Pus fet, sachez, retur
Vers Dyveline od grant baudur.
E Huge Tyrel vers Trim ala;
Sa forteresce referma
Pus l'ad gardé par grant honur
Desque la venue sun seignur.
E li quens par Leynestere
Errant va avant, arere
Tan qu'il se prist a conseiller
Qu'il wdra enfin errer
Sur Douenald Obrien li reis
Par le conseil de ses Engleis,
Son ost semont tut a estrus
De Leynestere les plus vigrus,
Que tuz fussent atendanz,
Veiles, jouenes, petiz e granz,
A la banere e al penun
Le conestablie le gros Reymun. p.244 - Seignurs, que deu vus seit
amis!
chevalers, serjanz e mechins,
Dirrai vus de un chevaler,
Reymund le gros l'oï nomer,
Barun esteit icil vaillant,
Vassal, hardi e conquerant, 214
Asez ert riches e manant
E de ses peres le plus puissant.
Conestable est Reymun
Dc Leynestere la regiun;
Chevalers retint e bone gent
Par le cunte commandement;
Chevalers tint e souders,
Archers, serjanz e poigners,
Pur mettre ha hunte e a bellei
De Yrlande les enemis le rei. - Entendez, seignurs, bone
gent,
Si orrez ja apertement;
De un chevaler vus voil cunter
E barun, noble guerrer,
Dc le conestable le gros Reymun,
Cum il son ost par tut somun
Amunt, aval en la tere,
Par Mithe e par Leynestere,
Trestut la bachelerie
Bien armé e ben garnie,
Chevalers, serjanz e souders,
Des armis garniz e aprestez; p.246
Contre Reymund en Osserie
Vienge icel baronie, 46 23va
E il la fra avant guier
Sur reis Obrien que tant est fere.
Li reis yrreis de Osserie
lrrad en lur compaignie,
Ki l'ost, ço dist, pur veir menera
Sur reis Obrien e guiera;
Desque a Limeric la cité
Les guiera en sauveté.
Que vus irrai plus contant, 216
Plus ne meins, petit ne grant?
Quant l'ost esteit assemblé,
Vers Monestere est dunc turné;
E li reis de Osserie
Devant prime les guie:
Vers Monestere les guia,
Sur reis Obrien cel ost mena - Mes Reymund, solum la gent,
Nel cruit pas parfitement
Devant qu'il eust asuré,
Sa fei plevie e juré
Qu'i ja ne li feist boidie,
Treisun nul ne tricherie,
A lui avant ne a sa gent.
E li reis hastivement
Li dist lores en oïance: p.248
Ja mars averez de ço dutance;
Eincez tut dreit vus guierai,
E sur ma fei vus pleverai. - Quant li reis aveit
co dist,
Eirent avant sen contredist,
Eirent la nuit e lendeman,
Tel hore en boys, tel hore en plein,
Que a un cité vindrent loe
Oue Lymeric esteit nomé.
Enclose esteit la cité
De ewe, de mur, de fossé,
Que tuz iceuz de cest munde
Ne passereient san nef u ponde, 218 23vb
Ne en yver ne en esté
Ne mes par un mauveise gué
Passerent ultre le jor premer
Le fiz Henri, li ber Meiler;
Pur ço deist il par reisun:
Del gué Meiler l'apelerum.
Kar quant l'ost de Leynestere
A Lymeric vint en tele manere,
Desque al ewe esteit venus
Que turner volt sen fere plus
Quant un chevaler de Sein Davi,
Ki de sa tere esteit nurri,
Meiler out nun le fiz Henri,
A haute voiz leve un cri;
Le fiz Henri, le ber Meiller,
En haut se prist a hucher, p.250
Devant ala escriant:
Passez, chevalers! Que alez targant?
En l'ewe ço mist icil errent;
Ultre l'aport le cheval blanc.
Quant passé esteit le chevaler,
Sein Davi! escriad haut e cler,
Kar il esteit sun seignur
Suz dampnedeu le creatur,
E li chevaler par grant duçor
Sein Davi reclama nuit e jur
Que lui fust en aïe
De conquere chevalerie,
Vertu li donat e los e pris
Encuntre tuz ses enemis.
Sovent reclama Sein Davi
Que il nel mest en obli,
Que force lui donat e vigur,
Entre ses enemis le jor. 220 - Apres lui passerent asez
Baruns, chevalers ben armez;
Einz qu'il fussent tuz passez,
Meint i out le jor neez. {⬌}
The song of Dermot and the Earl
Document details
The TEI Header
File description
Title statement
Title (uniform): Song of Dermot and the Earl
Editor: Goddard Henry Orpen
Responsibility statement
Electronic edition compiled by: Donnchadh Ó Corráin and Tiarnán Ó Corráin
Funded by: University College Cork
Edition statement
2. Second draft, with editorial preface, introduction and updated bibliography.
Responsibility statement
Proof corrections by: Donnchadh Ó Corráin
Extent: 38125 words
Publication statement
Publisher: CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts: a project of University College Cork.
Address: College Road, Cork, Ireland—http://www.ucc.ie/celt
Date: 2009
Distributor: CELT online at University College, Cork, Ireland.
CELT document ID: F250001-001
Availability: Available for purposes of academic research and teaching only.
Source description
Manuscript sources
- London, Lambeth Palace, MS Carew 596. (This is the only MS copy of the poem. It is acephalous, has some lacunae, and ends imperfect; for a description of the MS see Orpen, 1892 (cited below) xi–xii and Conlon, 1992 (cited below) vii–xi).
Editions
- Denis J. Conlon, The song of Dermot and Earl Richard Fitzgilbert: Le chansun de Dermot e li quens Ricard fiz Gilbert, Studien und Dokumente zur Geschichte der romanischen Literaturen, herausgegeben von Hans-Joachim Lope, volume 24 (Frankfurt/Main: Peter Lang 1992). Edition with an introduction, bibliography, chronological table, literal translation, brief notes (223–31), index locorum, index nominum, and glossary (243–54).
- Francisque Michel, The conquest of Ireland (London: Pickering 1837). Text without translation but with some glossatorial notes and an introduction by Thomas Wright that is of little value.
- Goddard Henry Orpen, The song of Dermot and the Earl: an Old French poem from the Carew manuscript no. 596 in the archiepiscopal library at Lambeth Palace (Oxford: Clarendon Press 1892). Diplomatic edition with a preface, introduction, chronological table, two genealogical tables (of Mac Murchada and the descendants of Nesta), a facsimile of folio 7ra (i.e. page 13) of the manuscript, a literal translation, an apparatus, copious historical notes (254–321), a heavily annotated coloured map of Meath and Leinster, and index locorum, an index nominum, and a glossary (339–355). Two extracts from Orpen's edition (lines 266–95, 346–69) are reprinted with Orpen's translation in Seamus Deane (ed), The Field Day anthology of Irish writing i (Derry 1991) 149–50.
- Evelyn Mullally, The deeds of the Normans in Ireland: La geste des Engleis en yrlande: a new edition of the chronicle formerly known as The Song of Dermot and the Earl. (Dublin: Four Courts, 2002).
Translations
- Denis J. Conlon (cited above).
- Goddard Henry Orpen (cited above).
- Evelyn Mullally (cited above).
Sources, comment on the text, and secondary literature
- Alexander Bell, 'Notes on "The Song of Dermot" ' The Modern Language Review 68.2 (Apr. 1973) 283–291.
- Alan Bliss and Joseph Long, Literature in Norman French and English to 1534, in Art Cosgrove (ed), A New History of Ireland ii (Oxford: Clarendon Press 1987) 708–36.
- Eric St John Brooks, Machtalewi, a Leinster chieftain, J Roy Soc Antiq Ire 7 (1941) 53–55.
- Michael J. de Courcy Dodd, Correspondence on the historical criticism of the Song of Dermot and the Earl, Ir Hist Stud 1 (1938) 294–96.
- Marie-Therese Flanagan, Mac Dalbaig, a Leinster chieftain, J Roy Soc Antiq Ire 111 (1981) 5–13.
- Marie-Therese Flanagan, Irish Society, Anglo-Norman Settlers, Angevin kingship (Oxford: Clarendon Press 1989).
- Felix Liebermann, 'Song of Dermot and the Earl', English Historical Review 8 (1893) 129–33.
- Joseph Long, Dermot and the Earl: who wrote The Song?, Proc Roy Ir Acad (C) 75 (1975) 263–72.
- Evelyn Mullally, 'Hiberno-Norman literature and its public'. In Bradley, John (ed.), Settlement and society in medieval Ireland: studies presented to F.X. Martin, OSA (Kilkenny: Boethius Press, 1988) 327–43.
- Evelyn Mullally, 'Mélanges. La colonisation de l'Irlande au xiie s. d'apres une chronique Anglo-Normande', Cahiers de civilisation médiévale 37 (1994) 365–370.
- Evelyn Mullally, 'The phantom army of 1169: an Anglo-Norman view', Éigse 31 (1998) 89–101.
- John Francis O'Doherty, Laurentius von Dublin und das irische Normannentum (Munich 1933).
- John Francis O'Doherty, Rome and the Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland, Ir Ecclesiast Rec 42 (1933) 131–45.
- John Francis O'Doherty, St Laurence O'Toole and the Anglo-Norman invasion, Ir Ecclesiast Rec 50 (1937) 449–77, 600–25, 51 (1938) 131–46.
- John Francis O'Doherty, A historical criticism of the Song of Dermot and the Earl, Ir Hist Stud 1 (1938) 4–20.
- Goddard Henry Orpen, Ireland under the Normans, 1169–1333 (4 vols, Oxford: Clarendon Press 1911–20, repr. Oxford: Clarendon Press 1968).
- Emer Purcell, 'The expulsion of the Ostmen, 1169–71: the documentary evidence', Peritia 17–18 (2003/2004) 276–294.
- W. Ann Trindade, 'Fiction and history in the song of Dermot and the Earl' Parergon: Bulletin of the Australian and New Zealand Association for Medieval and Renaissance Studies 8:1 (1990) 123–130.
- George T. Stokes, Ireland and the Anglo-Norman Church. A History of Ireland and Irish Christianity from the Anglo-Norman Conquest to the Dawn of the Reformation (London 1889).
- Brendan Bradshaw, Review of reprint of G. H. Orpen, 'Ireland under the Normans', Irish Economic and Social History 23 (2006).
The edition used in the digital edition
Orpen, Goddard Henry, ed. (1892). The song of Dermot and the Earl. 1st ed. frontispiece (facsimile of folio 7ra) + xliii + 355pp. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
You can add this reference to your bibliographic database by copying or downloading the following:
@book{F250001-001,
title = {The song of Dermot and the Earl},
editor = {Goddard Henry Orpen},
edition = {1},
note = {frontispiece (facsimile of folio 7ra) + xliii + 355pp},
publisher = {Clarendon Press},
address = {Oxford},
date = {1892}
}
Encoding description
Project description: CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts
Sampling declarations
The editorial preface and introduction are retained. Notes to the text, indexes and glossary have been omitted. All editorial corrections and emendations (whether by Orpen or others) have been retained and fully tagged.
Editorial declarations
Correction: Text has been checked, proof-read three times, and parsed using NSGMLS. This text is complex, textually and historically, and there are many unresolved problems. Codicological, textual and bibliographical corrections and suggestions are welcome and will be credited to the scholars who make them.
Normalization: The text has been prepared as medieval French is now presented to readers: modern punctuation has been added, words have been divided in accordance with current editorial principles. The cedilla and e-acute have been marked where appropriate; consonantal i and u (the use of u and v in the MS is somewhat arbitrary) have been rendered j and v, and diaeresis has been marked. Orpen prints manuscript expansions in italics and reproduces the manuscript's y with an overdot: these features have not been retained. The text is based on that of Orpen and compared with that of Denis J. Conlon (which edition has been of great value to us). All editorial corrections and emendations have been tagged.
Quotation: There are no quotations marks in the manuscript. Quotation marks in the edition have not been retained. Quoted speech in the text is contextually self-evident.
Hyphenation: Soft hyphens are silently removed. When a hyphenated word (hard or soft) crosses a page-break or line-break, the page-break and line-break are marked after the completion of the hyphenated word.
Segmentation: div0=the whole text; div1=the poem. Metrical lines are numbered. Verse paragraphs (unnumbered in Orpen's edition, numbered in Conlon's) are numbered and tagged in this edition. The manuscript folio and pages have been tagged in two separate series; the pages of Orpen's and Conlon's editions have been tagged in two separate series: pb n="" marks Orpen's pagination; mls unit="DJCpage" n="" marks Conlon's pagination. The lineation of the poem, identical in both editions, has been tagged.
Interpretation: All personal, place and group names (i. e. dynasties, peoples etc.) have been tagged. A regularised Irish form (and for some major sites, an English form) has been supplied in the tags, except in a few cases where the identity of persons or places is very uncertain. Occupations and social roles (abbot, archbishop, archer, baron, bishop, canon, duke, earl, empress, hostage, king, knight, lord, marcher lord, monk, prior, queen, saint) and some other terms (abbey, castle, archbishopric) have been tagged. Dates and numbers are tagged.
Reference declaration
The n attribute of each text in this corpus carries a unique identifying number for the whole text.
The title of the text is held as the first head element within each text.
div0 is reserved for the whole text (whether in one volume or many).
The numbered lines provide a canonical reference.
Profile description
Creation: By an unknown Irish Norman-French poet, drawing on materials that go back to Maurice Regan, the latimer (Latin secretary) of Diarmait Mac Murchada (ob. 1171), king of Leinster. 1200-1225
Language usage
- Whole text is in Anglo-Norman French. (fr)
- Some words are in Latin. (la)
- Some words are in Middle Irish. (ga)
- Editor's preface and introduction are in English. (en)
Keywords: histor; poetry; medieval; Anglo-Norman
Revision description
(Most recent first)
- 2011-02-24: Addition to bibliography made. (ed. Beatrix Färber)
- 2010-04-27: Conversion script run; header updated; encoding of dates, titles and personal names in Introduction improved; new wordcount made; file parsed. (ed. Beatrix Färber)
- 2009-10-16: File reparsed; new SGML and HTML versions created. (ed. Beatrix Färber)
- 2009-10-15: Editor's preface and introduction captured & proofed (1), bringing up the wordcount by 12,000 words); structural and content encoding applied. (ed. Beatrix Färber)
- 2009-07-14: Additional matter added to bibliography. (ed. Emer Purcell)
- 2008-08-29: Keywords added; file validated. (ed. Beatrix Färber)
- 2008-07-24: Value of div0 "type" attribute modified, content of 'langUsage' revised; minor modifications made to header. (ed. Beatrix Färber)
- 2005-08-25: Normalised language codes and edited langUsage for XML conversion (ed. Julianne Nyhan)
- 2005-08-04T14:46:00+0100: Converted to XML (ed. Peter Flynn)
- 1997-09-15: Header modified; file parsed using SGMLS. (ed. Margaret Lantry)
- 1997-08-20: Header re-structured; text parsed using SGMLS. (ed. Margaret Lantry)
- 1997-03-27: Generation of the HTML file from the parsed SGML file using OmniMark. (ed. Peter Flynn)
- 1997-03-27: Text parsed using SGMLS. (ed. Mavis Cournane)
- 1996-08-12: Header constructed, structural and in-depth mark-up completed and revised. Lineation checked and verified. (ed. Donnchadh Ó Corráin)
- 1996-08-12: Text proofed; further in-depth mark-up added. (ed. Donnchadh Ó Corráin)
- 1996-07-15: Text proofed; structural and part of the in-depth markup entered. (ed. Tiarnán Ó Corráin)
- 1996-06-24: Text captured. (ed. Tiarnán Ó Corráin)