Thomas of Britain

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Thomas of Britain is an Anglo-Norman poet of the 12th century. He is known for his poem Tristan, a version of the Tristan and Iseult legend that exists only in 9 fragments, amounting to around 3,300 lines of verse, mostly from the latter part of the story. It is calculated that this represents about one sixth of the original.

The poem was written between 1155 and 1160, possibly for Eleanor of Aquitaine, since the work suggests close ties with the court of Henry II. Beyond this, his identity is obscure; it has been speculated that he is to be identified with the "Thomas" who wrote the Romance of Horn, but this is unsupported.

Although Thomas's own text is fragmentary, later adaptations of his work make it possible to reconstruct what is missing:

Gottfried von Strassburg's Tristan (Middle High German), left incomplete c. 1210, though fortuitously it covers all those parts of Thomas's work which are lost. Gottfried expanded the story by about a third, while nonetheless remaining fairly faithful to Thomas.
The Old Norse Tristrams saga ok Ísöndar (Saga of Tristram and Isond), written in 1226 (prose), condensing the story.
The Middle English Sir Tristrem (verse, late 13th Century), a much abbreviated retelling.
The Italian La Tavola Ritonda (prose, 14th century).

Thomas's source, which he shares with Béroul and Eilhart von Oberge, is assumed to be an unknown version of the Tristan and Isolde legend written in French around 1150. Joseph Bédier has attempted to reconstruct this original from the evidence provided by the later versions.

[edit] See also

Anglo-Norman literature

[edit] External links

Tristan of Thomas of Britain in French Wikisource.
Complete text of three fragments
The Carlisle Fragment of Thomas's Tristan, translated J. Shoaf
Text of 6 fragments
The Romance of Tristan & Iseult Drawn from the best French Sources and Retold by J. Bédier Rendered into English by H. Belloc at Project Gutenberg.

[edit] Editions and translations

Thomas, Les fragments du Roman de tristan, ed. Bartina H. Wind, Paris/Geneva 1960.
Gottfried von Strassburg, Tristan, with the suriviving fragments of the Tristran of Thomas, translated A.T. Hatto, Penguin, 1960.
The Saga of Tristrams and Ísönd, translated with an introduction by Paul Schach, University of Nebraska Press 1973.