BEVIS OF HAMPTON

This article appears in Volume V03, Page 837 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: BER-BLA

BEVIS OF HAMPTON , the name of an English metrical romance. Bevis is the son of Guy, count of Hampton (Southampton) and his young wife, a daughter of the king of Scotland. The countess asks a former suitor, Boon or Devoun, emperor of Almaine (Germany), to send an army to murder Guy in the forest. The plot is successful, and she marries Doon. When threatened with future vengeance by her ten-year-old son, she determines to make away with him also, but he is saved from death by a faithful tutor, is sold to heathen pirates, and reaches the court of King Hermin, whose realm is variously placed in Egypt and Armenia (Armorica). The exploits of Bevis, his love for the king s daughter Josiane, his mission to King Bradmond of Damascus with a sealed

letter

LETTER (through Fr. lettre from Lat. littera or litera, letter of the alphabet; the origin of the Latin word is obscure; it has probably no connexion with the root of linere, to smear, i.e. with wax, for an inscription with a stilus)

demanding his own death, his
imprisonment, his final vengeance on his stepfather are related in detail. After succeeding to his inheritance he is, however, driven into

exile

EXILE (Lat. exsilium or exilium, from exsul or exul, which is derived from ex, out of, and the root sal, to go, seen in salire, to leap,
consul
- CONSUL
- CONSUL (in Gr. generally ihraros,ashortened form of errpavgybs 8hraeos, i.e. praetor maximus)
, &c.; the connexion with solum, soil, country is now generally considered wrong)

and separated from Josiane, to whom he is reunited only after each of them has contracted, in form only, a second union. The story also relates the hero's death and the fortunes of his two sons.
The oldest extant version appears to be Boeve de Haumtone, an Anglo-Norman text which

dates

DATES

from the first half of the 13th century. The English metrical romance, Sir Bcues of Hamtoun, is founded on some French

original

ORIGINAL

varying slightly from those which have been preserved. The oldest MS.

dates

DATES

from the beginning of the 14th century. The French chanson de geste, Beuve d'Hanstone, was followed by numerous

prose

PROSE

versions. The printed editions of the story were most numerous in Italy, where Bovo d'Antona was the subject of more than one poem, and the tale was interpolated in the Reali di

Francia

, the Italian compilation of Carolingian legend. Although the English version that we possess is based on a French

original

ORIGINAL

, it seems probable that the legend took shape on English soil in the loth century, and that it originated with the Danish invaders. Doon may be identified with the emperor Otto the Great, who was the contemporary of the English king Edgar of the story. R. Zenker (Boeve-Amlethus, Berlin and

Leipzig

LEIPZIG

, 1904) establishes a close parallel between Bevis and the Hamlet legend as related by Saxo Grammaticus in the Historia Danica. Among the more obvious coincidences which point to a common source are the vengeance taken on a stepfather for a father's death, the

letter

LETTER (through Fr. lettre from Lat. littera or litera, letter of the alphabet; the origin of the Latin word is obscure; it has probably no connexion with the root of linere, to smear, i.e. with wax, for an inscription with a stilus)

bearing his own death-warrant which is entrusted to the hero, and his

double

marriage.' The motive of the feigned madness is, however, lacking in Bevis. The princess who is Josiane's rival is less ferocious than the Hermuthruda of the Hamlet legend, but she threatens Bevis with death if he refuses her. Both seem to be modelled on the type of Thyrdo of the Beowulf legend. A fanciful etymology connecting Bevis (Boeve) with Beowa (Beowulf), on the ground that both were

dragon

DRAGON (Fr. dragon, through Lat. draco, from the Greek; connected with SEpeoľay " see," and interpreted as " sharp-sighted "; O.H. Ger. tracho, dracho, M.H.G. trache, Mod. Ger. Drachen; A.S. draca, hence the equivalent English form " drake," " fire-drake,

slayers, is inadmissible.

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