OF FRITHIOF

XVI. RAGNAR LODBROK

XVII. THE CID

XVIII. GENERAL SURVEY OF ROMANCE LITERATURE

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

CORONATION OF CHARLEMAGNE--Levy

FUNERAL OF A NORTHERN CHIEF--Cormon

GUDRUN AND THE SWAN--Kepler

BROWN THE BEAR CAUGHT IN THE LOG--Wagner

REYNARD PREPARING FOR BATTLE--Kaulbach

GUNTHER WINNING HIS BRIDE--Keller

SIEGFRIED'S BODY BORNE HOME BY THE HUNTSMEN--Pixis

ASPRIAN SLAYING THE LION--Keller

FALKE KILLS THE GIANT--Keller

THE VICTORIOUS HUNS--Checa

THE TOMB OF THEODORIC

THE DEATH OF ROLAND--Keller

HUON BEFORE THE POPE--Gabriel Max

HUON AND AMANDA LEAP OVERBOARD--Gabriel Max

PARZIVAL UNCOVERING THE HOLY GRAIL--Pixis

ARRIVAL OF LOHENGRIN--Pixis

THE BEGUILING OF MERLIN--Burne-Jones

SIR LANCELOT DU LAC--Sir John Gilbert

ELAINE--Rosenthal

ISEULT SIGNALS TRISTAN--Pixis

THE LOVERS AT BALDER'S SHRINE--Kepler

FRITHIOF AT THE COURT OF KING RING--Kepler

STRATEGY OF HASTINGS--Keller

THE CID'S LAST VICTORY--Rochegrosse

LEGENDS OF THE MIDDLE AGES.

CHAPTER I.

BEOWULF.

"List! we have learnt a tale of other years,
Of kings and warrior Danes, a wondrous tale,
How aethelings bore them in the brunt of war."
_Beowulf_ (Conybeare's tr.).

The most ancient relic of literature of the spoken languages of modern
Europe is undoubtedly the epic poem "Beowulf," which is supposed to have
been composed by the Anglo-Saxons previous to their invasion of England.
Although the poem probably belongs to the fifth century, the only existing
manuscript is said to date from the ninth or tenth century.

This curious work, in rude alliterative verse (for rhyme was introduced in
England only after the Norman Conquest), is the most valuable old English
manuscript in the British Museum. Although much damaged by fire, it has
been carefully studied by learned men. They have patiently restored the
poem, the story of which is as follows:

[Sidenote: Origin of the Skioldungs.] Hrothgar (the modern Roger), King of
Denmark, was a descendant of Odin, being the third monarch of the
celebrated dynasty of the Skioldungs. They proudly traced their ancestry to
Skeaf, or Skiold, Odin's son, who mysteriously drifted to their shores. He
was then but an infant, and lay in the middle of a boat, on a sheaf of ripe
wheat, surrounded by priceless weapons and jewels. As the people were
seeking for a ruler, they immediately reco