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LOHENGRIN

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Originally appearing in Volume V16, Page 923 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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LOHENGRIN , the See also:

hero of the See also:German version of the See also:legend of the See also:knight of the See also:swan. The See also:story of Lohengrin as we know it is based on two See also:principal motives See also:common enough in See also:folklore: the See also:metamorphosis of human beings into swans, and the curious wife whose question brings disaster. Lohengrin's See also:guide (the swan) was originally the little See also:brother who, in one version of " the Seven Swans," was compelled through the destruction of his See also:golden See also:chain to remain in swan See also:form and attached himself to the fortunes of one of his See also:brothers. The swan played a See also:part in classical See also:mythology as the See also:bird of See also:Apollo, and in Scandinavian See also:lore the swan maidens, who have the See also:gift of prophecy and are sometimes confused with the See also:Valkyries, reappear again and again. The wife's See also:desire to know her See also:husband's origin is a parallel of the myth of See also:Cupid and See also:Psyche, and See also:bore in See also:medieval times a similar mystical See also:interpretation. The Lohengrin legend is localized on the See also:Lower See also:Rhine, and its incidents take See also:place at See also:Antwerp, See also:Nijmwegen, See also:Cologne and See also:Mainz. In its application it falls iFtto See also:sharp See also:division in the hands of German and See also:French poets. By the Germans it was turned to mystical use by being attached loosely to the See also:Grail legend (see GRAIL and See also:PERCEVAL); in See also:France it was adapted to glorify the See also:family of See also:Godfrey de See also:Bouillon. The German story makes its See also:appearance in the last stanzas of Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival, where it is related how Parzival's son, Loherangrin,' was sent from the See also:castle of the Grail to the help of the See also:young duchess of See also:Brabant. Guided by the swan he reached Antwerp, and married the See also:lady on See also:condition that she should not ask his origin. On the See also:breach of this condition years afterwards Loherangrin departed, leaving See also:sword, See also:horn and See also:ring behind him. Between 1283 and 1290, a Bavarian See also:disciple of Wolfram's2 adopted the story and See also:developed it into an epic poem of nearly 8000 lines, incorporating episodes of Lohengrin's prowess in See also:tournament, his See also:wars with See also:Henry I. against the See also:heathen Hungarians and the See also:Saracens,3 and incidentally providing a detailed picture of the everyday See also:life of See also:people of high condition.

The epic of Lohengrin is put by the See also:

anonymous writer into the mouth of Wolfram, who is made to relate it during the Contest of the Singers at the See also:Wartburg in See also:proof of his superiority in knowledge of sacred things over Klingsor the magician, and the poem is thus linked on to German 1 i.e. Garin lc Loherin (q.v.), or Garin of See also:Lorraine. See also:Elster (Beitrdge) says that the poem is the See also:work of two poets: the first part by a Thuringian wandering See also:minstrel, the second—which differs in See also:style and See also:dialect—by a Bavarian See also:official. Based on material borrowed from the Sdchsische Weltchronik (formerly called Repgowische Chronik from its dubious See also:assignment to Eime von Repgow), the See also:oldest See also:prose See also:chronicle of the See also:world in German (c. 1248 or 126o). tradition. Its connexion with Parzival implies a mystic application. The consecrated See also:wafer shared by Lohengrin and the swan on their voyage is one of the more obvious means taken by the poet to give the See also:tale the See also:character of an See also:allegory of the relations between See also:Christ, the See also:Church and the human soul. The story was followed closely in its See also:main outlines by See also:Richard See also:Wagner in his See also:opera Lohengrin. The French legend of the knight of the swan is attached to the See also:house of Bouillon, and although See also:William of See also:Tyre refers to it about 1170 as See also:fable, it was incorporated without question by later See also:annalists. It forms part of the See also:cycle of the chansons de geste dealing with the Crusade, and relates how Helyas, knight of the swan, is guided by the swan to the help of the duchess of Bouillon and marries her daughter See also:Ida or Beatrix in circumstances exactly parallel to the adventures of Lohengrin and Elsa of Brabant, and with the like result. Their daughter marries Eustache, See also:count of See also:Boulogne, and had three sons, the eldest of whom, Godefroid (Godfrey), is the future See also:king of See also:Jerusalem.

But in French story Helyas is not the son of Parzival, but of the king and See also:

queen of Lillefort, and the story of his See also:birth, of himself, his five brothers and one See also:sister is, with See also:variations, that of " the seven swans " persecuted by the wicked See also:grand-See also:mother, which figures in the pages of See also:Grimm and Hans See also:Andersen. The house of Bouillon was not alone in claiming the knight of the swan as an ancestor, and the tradition probably originally belonged to the house of See also:Cleves. German Versions.—See Lohengrin, ed. See also:Ruckert (Quedlinburg and See also:Leipzig, 1858) ; another version of the tale, Lorengel, is edited in the Zeitschr. See also:fur deutsches Altertum (vol. 15); See also:modern German See also:translation of Lohengrin, by H. A. Junghaus (Leipzig, 1878); See also:Conrad von See also:Wurzburg's fragmentary Schwanritter, ed. F. See also:Roth (Frankfurt, 1861). Cf. Elster, Beitrage zur Kritik See also:des Lohengrin (See also:Halle, 1884), and R. Heinrichs, See also:Die Lohengrindichtung and ihre Deutung (See also:Hamm i.

See also:

West., 1905). French Versions.—See also:Baron de Reiffenberg, Le See also:Chevalier au cygne et Godfrey de Bouillon (See also:Brussels, 2 vols., 1846-1848), in Mon. pour semis a l'hist. de la See also:province de See also:Namur; C. Hippeau, La Chanson du chevalier au cygne (1874); H. A. Todd, La Naissance du chevalier au cygne, an inedited French poem of the 12th cent. (Mod. See also:Lang. Assoc., See also:Baltimore, 1889) ; cf. the Latin tale by See also:Jean de Haute Seille (Johannes de Alta See also:Silva) in his Dolopathos (ed. Oesterley, See also:Strassburg, 1873). See also:English Versions.—In See also:England the story first appears in a See also:short poem preserved among the See also:Cotton See also:MSS. of the See also:British Museum and entitled Chevelere assigne. This was edited by G. E.

V. Utterson in 182o for the See also:

Roxburghe See also:Club, and again by H. H. See also:Gibbs in 1868 for the See also:Early English See also:Text Society. The E.E.T.S. edition is accompanied by a set of photographs of a 14th-See also:century See also:ivory See also:casket, on which the story is depicted in 36 compartments. An English prose See also:romance, Helyas Knight of the Swan, translated by See also:Robert See also:Copland. and printed by W. Copland about 1550, is founded on a French romance La Ginealogie ... de Godeffroy de Boulin (printed 1504) and is reprinted by W. J. Thoms in Early Prose Romances, vol. iii. It was also printed by Wynkyn de Worde in 1512. A modern edition was issued in 1901 from the Grolier Club, New See also:York.

End of Article: LOHENGRIN

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