Introduction

Abstract

The name “Cycle of the Crusade” was first given by M. Léon Gautier, in his ‘Epopées françaises,’ to the chansons de geste which grew up in celebration of the heroes and exploits of the First Crusade. The same series of poems was, in 1877, made the subject of a collective study by H. Pigeonneau, under the title, ‘Le Cycle de la Croisade et de la famille de Bouillon.’ It would not be here in place to outline what has been done in the way of publishing, analysing and classifying the various poems of this cycle. Their nucleus is the Chanson d'Antioche, written in the second quarter of the twelfth century, probably by Richard le Pèlerin, and describing the First Crusade, from the preaching of Peter the Hermit to the capture of Antioch. Following soon after this, but not by the same author, comes a continuation, entitled the Chanson de Jérusalem, reciting the dénoûment of the Crusade with the renowned victory of the Christians at the battle of Ascalon, written probably near the beginning of the Second Crusade, i. e., towards the year 1147. The conspicuous and natural hero of these poems was the military leader of the Crusade, Godfrey of Bouillon, the same who at a later date becomes the central personage of the more famous Gerusalemme Liberata of Tasso. The literary popularity as well as historical prominence of the name of Godfrey, as we are prepared to expect from what is known of the evolution of other mediæval cycles, led to the development of a branch carrying the story further back and recounting the origin and earlier career of the crusader hero, under the title of Chanson du Chevalier au Cygne et de Godefroi de Bouillon. According to the earliest version of the poem, the birth of Godfrey was on this wise:—Otto, being emperor at Nimwegen, is appealed to by the widowed Duchess of Bouillon and her daughter Beatrice, for his protection against the threatened usurpation of Renier, Duke of Saxony. At the same moment there arrives on the river an unknown knight, in a boat which is drawn in tow by a white swan. The “Knight of the Swan” disembarks, undertakes the defense of the duchess and her daughter, slays the usurper, and marries Beatrice, imposing upon her, however, an oath never to question him as to his birth or antecedents, with the warning that her first indiscretion in this matter will result in their certain separation. A daughter, Ida, is born to the couple thus united; but by the time she has reached the age of seven years, the mother's curiosity can no longer be restrained, and she propounds to her husband the fatal question. At this the knight, in sorrowful obedience to his destiny, bids farewell to his vassals, recommends his daughter to the emperor, and repairs to the shore, where the swan that first brought him to that land is awaiting him with his boat; and the knight, departing as he came, disappears never to be heard of more. Ida, having attained her fourteenth year, is married by the Count Eustace of Boulogne, and from this union spring three sons, Godfrey, Eustace and Baldwin, that is to say, our Godfrey of Bouillon and his two distinguished brothers.—So much is briefly given here, with a view to indicating broadly the relation to the Cycle of the Crusade in general, and to the Chanson de Godefroi de Bouillon in particular,1 of the poem of the Naissance du Chevalier au Cygne, which is the subject of our present study.