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Tristan (Latin/Brythonic: Drustanus; Template:Lang-cy; also known as Tristran, Tristram, etc.) 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. He is the son of Blancheflor and Rivalen (in later versions Isabelle and Meliodas), and the nephew of King Mark of Cornwall, sent to fetch Iseult back from Ireland to wed the king. However, he and Iseult accidentally consume a love potion while en route and fall helplessly in love. The pair undergo numerous trials that test their secret affair.

The Tristan legend cycle

Tristan makes his first medieval appearance in the early twelfth century in Celtic folklore circulating in the north of France. Although the oldest stories concerning Tristan are lost, some of the derivatives still exist. Most early versions fall into one of two branches, "courtly" branch represented in the retellings of the Anglo-Norman poet Thomas of Britain and his German successor Gottfried von Strassburg, and the "common" branch, including the works of the French poet Béroul and the German poet Eilhart von Oberge.

Arthurian romancier Chrétien de Troyes mentions in his poem Cligès that he composed his own account of the story; however, there are no surviving copies or records of any such text. In the thirteenth century, during the great period of prose romances, Tristan en prose or Prose Tristan appeared and was one of the most popular romances of its time. This long, sprawling, and often lyrical work (the modern edition takes up thirteen volumes) follows Tristan from the traditional legend into the realm of King Arthur where Tristan participates in the Quest for the Holy Grail. In the fifteenth century, Sir Thomas Malory shortened this French version into his own take, The Book of Sir Tristram de Lyones, found in his Le Morte D'Arthur.

Historical roots

There are strange aspects to Tristan, such as his Pictish name. Drust is a very common name of Pictish kings, and Drustanus is merely Drust rendered into Latin. It may have originated from an ancient legend regarding a Pictish king who slew a giant in the distant past, which had spread throughout the isles. The name may also come from a sixth-century Pictish saint who bore another form of the name. In addition, interestingly, there was a Tristan who bore witness to a legal document at the Swabian Abbey of St. Gall in 807.

Another strange aspect is his kingdom, Lyonesse, for whose existence there is no evidence. However there were two places called Leonais: one in Brittany, the other the Old French transcription of Lothian. However, the Islands of Scilly have also been proposed to be this place, since they were possibly one island until Roman times and several islands are interconnected at low tide. Regardless, Tristan being a prince of Lothian would make his name more sensible, Lothian being on the borderlands of the Pictish High-Kingship (and once was a part of Pictish territory; Tristan may in fact have been a Pictish prince under a British King). One suggestion, although very unlikely, is that he could have been adopted into the family of Mark of Cornwall, historically a practice attested in Roman law.

Evidence for his Cornish roots are testified by the 5th century inscribed stone found in the county. Beside the road leading to Fowey in Cornwall stands a weathered stone measuring some 7 feet in height and now set in a modern concrete base. It was once much closer to Castle Dore and may have been the origin of the association of this site with the story of the tragic love of Tristan and Iseult. There is a Latin inscription on the stone, now much worn, which can be restored with only a little judicial guesswork to read:

Drustans hic iacet Cunomori filius

This means: Drustanus lies here, the son of Cunomorus

It has been suggested that the characters referred to are Tristan, the nephew of Mark - Drustan being a recognized variant of the hero's name and Cunomorus being a Latinization of Cynvawr. Cynvawr, in turn, is said by the ninth-century author Nennius, who compiled the best historical account of Arthur, to be identified with King Mark.

The writer Sigmund Eisner concluded that the name Tristan comes from Drust, son of Talorc, but that the legend of Tristan as we know it now was gathered together by an Irish educated member of the monastic system in North Britain around the early eighth century. . Eisner explains that a member of the Irish monastic system at this time would be familiar with all of the Greek and Roman narratives that the legend borrows from such as Pyramus and Thisbe but also familiar with the Celtic elements of the story such as The Pursuit of Diarmuid and Gráinne. Eisner concludes that “the author of the Tristan story used the names and some of the local traditions of his own recent past. To these figures he attached adventures which had been handed down from Roman and Greek mythology. He lived in the north of Britain, was associated with a monastery, and started the first rendition of the Tristan story on its travels to wherever it has been found.”

Modern adaptations

In 1857–59, Richard Wagner composed the opera Tristan and Isolde, now considered one of the most influential pieces of music of the 19th century. In his work, Tristan is portrayed as a doomed romantic figure.

Algernon Charles Swinburne wrote an epic poem Tristram of Lyonesse. The story has also been adapted into film many times. The most recent is the American version entitled Tristan & Isolde, produced by Tony and Ridley Scott, written by Dean Georgaris, directed by Kevin Reynolds, and starring James Franco and Sophia Myles. The legend of Tristan has also been represented through the song of the same name by English musician Patrick Wolf, which was the lead single from the 2005 album, 'Wind in the Wires'.

Tristan plays a prominent role in the comic book series Camelot 3000, in which he is reincarnated in A.D. 3000 as a woman and subsequently struggles to come to terms with his new body and identity and to reconcile them in turn with his previous notions of gender roles and of his own sexuality.

Russian composer Nikita Koshkin wrote a classical guitar solo entitled Tristan Playing the Lute in 1983. Tristan Playing the Lute evokes the spirit of Tristan from the legend of "Tristan and Isolde", set in a playful adaptation of traditional English lute music, at least initially. According to Koshkin:

"Tristan was written as a musical joke. It was a period when I was fond of all the stories about King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table. Tristan was not only a great fighter, but he also played many musical instruments and had a beautiful singing voice. This is why I thought he could be the subject of a piece to suggest the process of improvising in a characteristic early style that then begins to change to futuristic musical ideas. The first section of the piece is clearly ancient in style; the second is more modern; then the third introduces elements of Eastern music as well as some rock riffs. The idea is that Tristan, during his improvising, is building musical bridges to the future."

In the 2004 film, King Arthur, based on the Sarmatian connection theory of origin for the Arthurian legends, Tristan (Mads Mikkelsen) is a prominent member of the knights, who are Sarmatians serving under a half-Roman Arthur in the 5th century. Tristan is a cavalry archer, able to make amazing shots with his bow, similar to a mongol bow, and uses a sword similar to a dao. It seems that he finds a pleasure in killing and is quite good at it. He has a pet hawk, which he greatly treasures and uses as a lookout for Arthur and the rest of the knights in the film. He also fulfills the role of a scout and skirmisher. He is killed by Cerdic in single combat in the Battle of Badon Hill.

The film Tristan & Isolde (2006) starred James Franco as Tristan and Thomas Sangster as the child Tristan. The film was produced by Tony Scott and Ridley Scott, written by Dean Georgaris, and directed by Kevin Reynolds.

Note

1. Sigmund Eisner, “The Tristan Legend, A Study in Sources, Northwestern University Press, Chicago, 1969, p.37,52
2. Sigmund Eisner, “The Tristan Legend, A Study in Sources, Northwestern University Press, Chicago, 1969, p.37

See also

• Auchinleck manuscript
• Palamedes
• List of Arthurian characters
• Medieval hunting (Terminology)
• Medieval French literature

External links

• Béroul: Le Roman de Tristan
• Thomas d'Angleterre : Tristan
• Tristan page from the Camelot Project
• Transcription and page images of the Auchinleck manuscript
• The libretto for Wagners opera, bilingual English and German
• Bibliography of Modern Tristaniana in English
• Tristan Waterkeyn
• Painting
• Painting
• English verse translation of Gottfried von Strassburg Tristan:

• Knights of the Round Table
• People from Cornwall
• Medieval French romances