#the byelorussian tristan

[cynicalclassicist]

Just putting this out for my fellow arthurian nerds!

personal / catchall blog (likes, follows, etc): @waverii

literature (mainly arthuriana) blog: here!

podcast / mechs blog: @daughterdooley

here are all the texts i've scanned for when tumblr inevitably decides to stop them from showing up in search results (again)

the romance of yder (roman d'yder), trans. alison adams

the history of the kings of britain (historia regum brittania), trans. lewis thorpe

the byelorussian tristan (povest o’ trischane), trans. zora kipel

[queer-ragnelle]

Byelorussian Tristan | More quotes at Arthuriana Daily

[gailyinthedark]

what a name

[c0rpsedemon]

also they made him boy best friends w bedevere instead of palomydes and like. wasted opportunity babes

[gailyinthedark]

Geesh

i must be hallucinating there’s absolutely no way you’re suggesting that keerz is an acceptable spelling of kay

[gringolet]

now gawain would do very well on a large boat. he has sea battle experience and is from a island. however i do feel he would rather drown than row. lancelot however would enjoy a very small boat. lancelot would go fishing on a lake, which is not a situation i can see gawain being in voluntarily. guinevere would not be party to any sort of boat experience (canon as per the Byelorussian Tristan). arthur is mainly into party boats or perhaps the love boat. i dont know about any other character .

[orkneyism]

flop knights of cornwall i love you

[tillman]

what tristan and isolde texts would you recommend? i wanna read more of them but idk where to start

omg ya! i have scans of all of these either done by me or rey so ill link em all BUT..

i think for over all story the best Full Telling of it is gottfried von strassburgs Tristan. yes i am a gottfried stan but GENUINELY this is up there with my favorite books of all time let alone medieval texts. its gorgeous. its beautiful. its fucking ufnny as hell (gottfried the king of sarcasm). just . read it. i implore everyone to read it. 

theres a verse translation online but i would recomend against it cus its kinda ugly (no OFFENSE i just dont think the german verse can be translated into english at all. it doesnt hit.) but its easy to find. the Prose translation is what i recomend and what i scanned myself. 

other really fun ones that are all short and super easy to get into!

Tristan als Mönch 

a short but so funny story of tristan faking his death and dressing up as a monk to check if isolde still likes him. its so fucking funny. literally so fucking funny tristan laughs at everyone morning him at his funeral. 

Tristan le Menestrel 

this is a short little thing included in one of the Perceval continuations of tristan dressing up as a minstrel with some friends including gawain lancelot and aggravain all so he can make out iwth isolde. do u see a theme here? anyways i love this one its short and cute and tristan and isolde sing together :-) 

Tristan Rossignol 

Heres one thats less comedy but its a short love poem of tristan and isolde having a sweet little tryst in the woods and isolde punching someone so hard his teeth fly out. theres also a little thing about unfaithful husbands being bad. its very odd but the poem is so SO gorgeous. its also only 5 pages its the shortest one here and one of my favorites.

and here it is. my favorite version of the prose tristran.

The Byelorussian Tristan/The Povest ‘o Trystchane

im obsessed with this tale. Its a byelorussian translation of tavola ritonda which is the italian translation of the prose tristan both of which i have on hand but both of which dont MATTER compared to THIS BAD BOY. its so good. i cant explain it. shit just happens.

i hope this helps <3 i also have the norse tales and some random old french and old italian poems that are great but these are my favorites <3 oh and . well. go read chevrefoil as well im not even bothering to list that one if u havent read that one ur missing out so so bad <3 

[gailyinthedark]

Final thoughts: Morien, Byelorussian Tristan, The Lady of Shalott

Morien

I adore this story. I adore this character. He's a kid and he's a knight. His father abandoned him and he wants to fight everybody about it. He needs a friend so bad and everyone is scared of him. He's my perfect little guy. I want to make him tea.

Also I get the Gawain love now. I think this author has as much of a crush on him as Malory does on Lancelot in Le Mort.

Byelorussian Tristan

Probably the bloodthirstiest sample of arthuriana I've come across so far. Usually courtesy, honour, gentility etc are paid lip service at least, but here the only way to prove your worth is beating up other guys. My favourite part was Smerdodug the Infidel because of his name.

The Lady of Shalott

I was super excited to read this because a) arthuriana b) poetry c) it's endorsed by Anne Shirley herself! It has to be good!

Alas, I was sorely disappointed. One of the coolest things about poetry is the way it can express things concisely through imagery and judicious word choice, effectively packaging more punch per word than prose, but this...does the opposite of that? The rhyme scheme is needlessly bloated. There are some lovely individual lines but they don't build on each other. Our girl doesn't even know what the curse is and after reading this three times neither do I? I'd trade the bearded barley for some concrete information.

Tl;dr the poem sucks, sorry Tennyson.

[gailyinthedark]

Reading Tristan for the first time and it's the version translated from Byelorussian, so I amuse myself by trying to figure out which places and persons the Byelorussian names are referring to from context, without looking it up. Best guesses so far:

Kernovalia = Cornwall

Antsolot = Lancelot

Artiush = Arthur

Londresh = Logres

Orlendea = Ireland

Gavaon = Gawain

Izhota = Isolde

Damolot = Camelot

[queer-ragnelle]

Beginner’s Guide to Medieval Arthuriana

Just starting out at a loss for where to begin?

Here’s a guide for introductory Medieval texts and informational resources ordered from most newbie friendly to complex. Guidebooks and encyclopedias are listed last.

All PDFs link to my Google drive and can be found on my blog. This post will be updated as needed.

Pre-Existing Resources

Hi-Lo Arthuriana

♡ Loathly Lady Master Post ♡

Medieval Literature by Language

Retellings by Date

Films by Date

TV Shows by Date

Documentaries by Date

Arthurian Preservation Project

The Camelot Project

If this guide was helpful for you, please consider supporting me on Ko-Fi!

Medieval Literature

Page (No Knowledge Required)

The Vulgate Cycle | Navigation Guide | Vulgate Reader

The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnelle

The Marriage of Sir Gawain

Sir Gawain and The Green Knight

The Welsh Triads

Le Morte d'Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory

Squire (Base Knowledge Recommended)

The Mabinogion

Four Arthurian Romances by Chrétien de Troyes

King Artus | scan by @jewishlancelot

Morien

Knight (Extensive Knowledge Recommended)

The History of The King's of Britain by Geoffrey of Monmouth

Alliterative Morte

Here Be Dragons (Weird or Arthurian Adjacent)

The Crop-Eared Dog

Perceforest | A Perceforest Reader | PDF courtesy of @sickfreaksirkay

Wigalois | Vidvilt

Guingamor, Lanval, Tyolet, & Bisclarevet by Marie of France

The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer

Grail Quest

Peredur (The Mabinogion)

The Story of the Grail + 4 Continuations by Chrétien de Troyes

Parzival by Wolfram von Eschenbach

The Crown by Heinrich von dem Türlin (Diu Crône)

The High Book of The Grail (Perlesvaus)

The History of The Holy Grail (Vulgate)

The Quest for The Holy Grail Part I (Post-Vulgate)

The Quest for The Holy Grail Part II (Post-Vulgate)

Merlin and The Grail by Robert de Boron

The Legend of The Grail | PDF courtesy of @sickfreaksirkay

Lancelot Texts

Knight of The Cart by Chretien de Troyes

Lanzelet by Ulrich von Zatzikhoven

Spanish Lancelot Ballads

Gawain Texts

Sir Gawain and The Green Knight

The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnelle

The Marriage of Sir Gawain

Sir Gawain and The Lady of Lys

The Knight of The Two Swords

The Turk and Sir Gawain

Perilous Graveyard | scan by @jewishlancelot

Tristan/Isolde Texts

Béroul & Les Folies

Prose Tristan (The Camelot Project)

Tristan and The Round Table (La Tavola Ritonda) | Italian Name Guide

The Romance of Tristan

Tristan and Iseult by Gottfried von Strassburg

Byelorussian Tristan

Educational/Informational Resources

Encyclopedias & Handbooks

Warriors of Arthur by John Matthews, Bob Stewart, & Richard Hook

The Arthurian Companion by Phyllis Ann Karr

The New Arthurian Encyclopedia by Norris J. Lacy

The Arthurian Handbook by Norris J. Lacy & Geoffrey Ashe

The Arthurian Name Dictionary by Christopher W. Bruce

Essays & Guides

A Companion to Chrétien de Troyes edited by Joan Tasker & Norris J. Lacy

A Companion to Malory edited by Elizabeth Archibald

A Companion to The Lancelot-Grail Cycle edited by Carol Dover

Arthur in Welsh Medieval Literature by O. J. Padel

Diu Crône and The Medieval Arthurian Cycle by Neil Thomas

Wirnt von Gravenberg's Wigalois: Intertextuality & Interpretation by Neil Thomas

The Legend of Sir Lancelot du Lac by Jessie Weston

The Legend of Sir Gawain by Jessie Weston

[c0rpsedemon]

i think. i am going to change the theme of my lit sideblog (the one i claim isn't dead but absolutely is). away from galahad now. it's really nothing against him but jfc. never again.

[queer-ragnelle]

The Arthurian Companion by Phyllis Ann Karr | A Companion to Malory edited by Elizabeth Archibald | Illuminated Manuscript | La Tavola Ritonda | Tristano Riccardiano | Byelorussian Tristan | Merlin and The Sword (1985) | Palomydes' Quest by William Morris | The Post-Vulgate Quest for The Holy Grail | The Romance of King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table by Alfred W. Pollard | Illuminated Manuscript | Sir Galahad Christmas Mystery by William Morris | Illustration by Florence Harrison | The Enchanted Cup by Dorothy James Roberts | Arthur & Merlin: Knights of Camelot (2020) | Le Morte d'Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory | The Book of Mordred by Peter Hanratty | Illustration by Aubrey Beardsley | The Romance of Tristan by Renee L. Curtis | The Bright Sword by Lev Grossman

[povestotrischane]

there's already a scan out there of the byelorussian tristan But it didn't have the introduction which i find really interesting (and it's not easy to copy and paste parts of it) so here's a complete scan

[povestotrischane]

obsessed with how the end of the byelorussian tristan just,,, implies that tristan and isolde might get a happy ending, like,, even though we know they don't, the byelorussian tristan just goes "no. it isn't known what happens to them. not in this version of the story being told in this exact moment. we don't know what happens to tristan and isolde. they could get to live this time."

[c0rpsedemon]

i'm going to try and compile all the ag books (but particularly the historical girls) into one google drive folder, so if anyone has pdfs of any of them (or files for any of the movies but those are. less important.) i'd really appreciate if you either sent them to me or linked them in the replies