The Romance of Tristan and Iseult

joseph bédier hilaire belloc

"A powerful rendition, an incomparable tale." — The New York Times
"Definitely a book to preserve and cherish." — Chicago Sun
"The first complete English edition, brilliantly translated. Throughout it retains the beauty and sense of fatality that have made it one of legendary literature's most fascinating tales." — Time
This immortal tale from the Age of Chivalry concerns the doomed love between a knight and a princess — one of the great romances of medieval literature, along with that of Lancelot and Guinevere. The heroic Tristan, nephew and champion of King Mark of Cornwall, journeys to Ireland to bring home his uncle's betrothed, the fair Iseult. Their shipboard voyage takes a tumultuous turn with a misunderstanding and a magic potion, and the lovers quickly find that there's no turning back.
An enduring theme in Western art, literature, and music, Tristan and Iseult's tragic tale was most famously interpreted by Richard Wagner in his popular opera. This edition features J. Bédier's seamless weaving of many medieval sources into a captivating narrative, complemented by Hilaire Belloc's eloquent translation.

Genres romancefictionclassicsschoolfrancearthurianhistorical fictionfantasymythologyliterature

96 pages, Paperback

First published January 1,1170

Places

ireland, brittany, tintagel cornwall, cornwall england, england, france,

This edition

Format: 96 pages, Paperback
Published: February 18, 2005 by Dover Publications
ISBN: 9780486440194
ASIN: 0486440192
Language: English

Characters More characters

Iseult

Iseult is the name of several characters in the Arthurian story of Tristan and Iseult. The most prominent is Iseult of Ireland, wife of Mark of Cornwall and adulterous lover of Sir Tristan. Her mother, the Queen of Ireland, is also named Iseult. The third...
King Mark

Mark of Cornwall (Latin Marcus, Cornish Margh, Welsh March, Breton March) was a king of Kernow (Cornwall) in the early 6th century. He is most famous for his appearance in Arthurian legend as the uncle of Tristan and husband of Iseult, who engage in...
Tristan

Tristan is one of the main characters of the Tristan and Iseult story, a Cornish hero and one of the Knights of the Round Table featuring in The Matter of Britain, though his name may have a Pictish origin. He is the son of Blancheflor and Rivalen (in lat...

About the author

joseph bédier

Bédier was born in Paris, France to Adolphe Bédier, a lawyer of Breton origin, and spent his childhood in Réunion. He was a professor of medieval French literature at the Université de Fribourg, Switzerland (1889–1891) and the Collège de France, Paris (c. 1893).

Modern theories of the fabliaux and the chansons de geste are based on two of Bédier's studies.

Bédier revived interest in several important old French texts, including Le roman de Tristan et Iseut (1900), La chanson de Roland (1921), and Les fabliaux (1893). He was a member of the Académie française from 1920 until his death.

His Tristan et Iseut was translated into Cornish by A. S. D. Smith, into English by Hilaire Belloc and Paul Rosenfeld, and into German by Rudolf G. Binding.

Bédier was also joint editor of the two-volume Littérature française, one of the most valuable modern general histories of French literature. He was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1929.

Bédier died in Le Grand-Serre, France