“old Norhtern” (poem): * see Endnote <A>

Brynhild's Hell Ride is a short Old Norse poem in the Poetic Edda; it deals with how the dead Sigurd & Brynhildr are burnt on 2 pyres.  Brynhildr journeys to the afterlife, passing a house where a giantess lived.  The giantess accuses her of having caused the deaths of heroes, of wanting another woman's husband (Sigurd) & of causing the fall of the house of Nibelungs.  Brynhildr responds by telling her story. 

 

Homeric hexameter:

Dactylic hexameter (also known as "heroic hexameter" and "the meter of epic") is a rhythmic scheme in poetry traditionally associated with the quantitative meter of classical epic poetry in both Greek & Latin and was consequently considered to be the grand style of Western classical poetry.  Some of its use are Homer's Iliad & Odyssey, Virgil's Aeneid, and Ovid's Metamorphoses. Hexameters also form part of elegiac poetry in both languages, alternating with dactylic pentameters.

 

Stabriem:

alliteration, used much in German poetry, song, and opera, especially those operas by Richard Wagner;

alliteration is the commencement of two or more stressed syllables of a word group either with the same consonant sound or sound group (consonantal alliteration) as in “from stem to stern”, or with a vowel sound that may differ from syllable to syllable (vocalic alliteration) as in “each to all”

 

Media vita in morte summus:

Latin - "In the midst of life we are in death"; the first line of a Gregorian chant, probably written around 750 in France

 

Valhalla:

in Norse mythology, Valhalla (from the Old Norse work Valhöll or "hall of the slain") is a majestic & enormous hall located in Asgard.  Asgard is the "Enclosure of the Gods", 1 f the 9 Worlds & home to the Gods, surrounded by an incomplete wall attributed to a frost giant riding a great stallion.  Odin and his wife, Frigg, are the rulers of Asgard.  One of Asgard's well known realms is Valhalla, home of the warrior dead, who will aid Odin in the Ragnorok (end of the world)

 

Germans of the migration:

see Chapter I, Introduction, page 22

see and also???

 

Merovingian age: * see Endnote <B>

Salian Frankish dynasty, ruled the Franks for 300 years in a region known as Francia (Gaul) from middle of the 5th to mid-8th century.

 

Olympus:

highest mountain in Greece, located in the Olympus Range on the border between Thessaly & Macedonia,  notable in Greek mythology as the home of the Greek gods, on the Mytikas peak; referenced by Homer in both the Iliad & the Odyssey.

 

Paradise of the Fathers:

influential Christian theologians & writers; between the 1st Century AD to 700 AD established the theological & scholarly foundations of Christianity.  St Augustine (354-430), one of the greatest of these Fathers, in The City of God refers to Paradise:

“…in eternity we shall see the material forms of the world of new heavens and of new earth in such a way that we will see God with luminous clarity….God will be so known by us with such a clarity that we shall see Him by the spirit in ourselves, in one another, in Himself, in the new heavens and in the new earth and in every creature that will exist in eternity….”

 

Siegfried:

aka Sigurd, legendary hero of Norse mythology, central character in the Völsunga saga; earliest extant representations for his legend come in pictorial form from 7 rune stones in Sweden & notably the Ramsund carving & the Gök Runestone (both 11th century); a hero in the German mytholigicla tales Nibelungenlied and Das Lied vom Hürnen Seyfrid.  Also hero in Wagner’s operas Siegfried and Götterdämmerung.

 

Parzival:

see Chapter I, Introduction, page 14

 

Tristan:

see Chapter I, Introduction, page 45
 

Hamlet:

see Chapter I, Introduction, page 14

 

Faust:

see Chapter I page 27 and Chapter III, page 101

 

Wolfram's Parzeval:

the hero of Wolfram Von Eschenbach epic poem Parzeval (1210), eager to become a knight, he leaves the forest home where he led a sheltered life, visits Arthur’s court but judged too raw for knighthood; eventually he is granted chivalric rank.  When he visits the ailing Grail King he fails to ask the 1 question that will release the old man from his suffering: the reason behind his illness.  He is now punished & cursed; in turn he curses God, believing God has turned against him.  When he meets an old hermit who helps him realize the true nature of God, Parzival reaches a turning point in his spiritual education.  He returns to the Grail King & having gained wisdom, performs his duties correctly.  He is rewarded with the title and duties of the keeper of the Grail.

 

Easter scene Faust I:

thee play opens on a Night scene; Faust, sitting in his study gives a monologue, contemplating all he has studied in life.  Despite his wide studies, he is dissatisfied; science has failed him.  He seeks knowledge from supernatural sources to no avail.  Enter Wagner, a bourgeoisie, vain scientific type without passion for the divine knowledge Faust seeks.  A dejected, Faust considers suicide but hears church bells announcing Easter, reminding him of his happier childhood days.  He and Wager now take a walk into town where the Easter celebrations are in full swing.  Faust reveals to Wagner his black mood.  They are joined by a poodle (Mephistopheles in disguise).

 

Gawan:

knight of King Arthur's court renowned for his chivalry and successful exploits;one of the main characters in the second half of Parzaval where a long section is devoted to his adventures defending himself from a false murder charge and winning the hand of the maiden Orgeluse.

 

Tevrezent:

the son of Frimutel, grandson of Titurel and uncle to Parzival & in the linage of Grail kings; unlike his older brother Anfortas he has renounced chivalry & lives as a hermit in the forests of Terre Salvaesche.  Parzival meets Tevrezent & stays with him for 14 days, learning the hidden meaning of life and the true meaning of the Grail,; he is informed that his mother is the sister of the Grail King.  He makes a step towards a life of spiritual understanding.  Through his loneliness and through his yearning for the grail & for Condwiramurs (a maiden he meets in Book IV & marries) he puts himself outside the world of Arthur & is called to another world, that of the Grail.

 

Holy Grail
a vessel that serves as an important motif in Arthurian literature, described it as a cup, dish or stone with miraculous powers that provide happiness, eternal youth or sustenance in infinite abundance.  First reference to a "grail", wonderful but not explicitly holy, appears in Perceval, le Conte du Graal by Chrétien de Troyes (1190).  Here, it is a processional salver, a tray, used to serve at a feast.  This story attracted many continuators, translators & interpreters in the late 12th & early 13th centuries, including Wolfram von Eschenbach, who perceived the grail as a Stone.  In the late 12th century, Robert de Boron wrote in Joseph d'Arimathie that the Grail was Jesus's vessel from the Last Supper, which Joseph of Arimathea used to catch Christ's blood at the Crucifixion.  Thereafter, the Holy Grail became interwoven with the legend of the Holy Chalice, the Last Supper cup, a theme continued in works such as the Vulgate Cycle, the Post-Vulgate Cycle, and Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur.