Brangaine
Brangaine (variously spelled Brangaene, Brangwane, Brangien, Brangwin, etc.) is the
Narrative
Brangaine plays essentially the same role in the early poetic versions of Béroul and Thomas of Britain, and their respective German successors Eilhart von Oberge and Gottfried von Strassburg. She is the inadvertent catalyst in the development of the story's central romance: before Tristan takes Iseult back to Cornwall to be the wife of his uncle King Mark, Iseult's mother (also named Iseult) entrusts Brangaine with a love potion meant for Iseult and her new husband to drink on their wedding night. However, Tristan and Iseult find the potion on the boat ride to Cornwall, and mistaking it for regular wine, they drink it. So begins their unstoppable passion.
Upon arrival in Cornwall, the virgin Brangaine plays a second important role: she secretly substitutes for Iseult on her wedding night to King Mark, protecting Iseult's honor. In Malory, Brangaine is more than "a mere compliant servant, there is a certain amount of strife between her and Iseult."[1] Afterwards, however, Iseult grows worried that Brangaine might reveal their secret, or develop feelings for Mark. She orders servants to take her out in the woods and kill her. The servants cannot bring themselves to do it, and instead tie the handmaid to a tree. Iseult comes to her senses, and overjoyed that Brangaine is not dead, frees her and apologizes for her actions.
In some versions Brangaine later serves as a
Brangaine's role in the Prose Tristan is sometimes different from in the verse works. For example, the scene in which the handmaid substitutes for Iseult on her wedding night is excluded, and while the tree-tying episode is still present, it is not Iseult but jealous rival servants who order the deed. Additionally she is rescued by the Saracen knight Palamedes, rather than her mistress as in the older works.
According to
References
- ISBN 9780415928892
- ^ Jones, Heather Rose (25 September 1997). "Concerning the Names Branwen, Bronwen and the Like". MedievalScotland.org. Archived from the original on 29 July 2012. Retrieved 30 December 2012.
Sources
- Curtis, Renée L. (translator) (1994). The Romance of Tristan. Oxford. ISBN 0-19-282792-8.
- Wilson, Suzanne (1991). "Brangaene". In Lacy, Norris J. (Ed.), The New Arthurian Encyclopedia, p. 51. New York: Garland. ISBN 0-8240-4377-4.
- Winfrey, L. E. (1928). Kaherdin and Camille: The Sources of Eilhart's "Tristrant". Modern Philology.