Paladin
The Paladins, also called the Twelve Peers, are twelve legendary
The legend is based on the historical
The paladins remained a popular subject throughout
Etymology
The earliest recorded instance of the word paladin in the
Over time paladin came to refer to other high-level officials in the imperial, majestic and royal courts.[2] The word palatine, used in various European countries in the medieval and modern eras, has the same derivation.[2]
By the 13th century, words referring specifically to Charlemagne's peers began appearing in European languages; the earliest is the Italian paladino.[1] Modern French has paladin, Spanish has paladín or paladino (reflecting alternate derivations from the French and Italian), while German has Paladin.[1] By extension, paladin has come to refer to any chivalrous hero such as King Arthur's Knights of the Round Table.[1]
Historical title
In the Roman imperial period, a palatinus was one of the closest retainers of the
In the Visigothic Kingdom, the Officium Palatinum consisted of a number of men with the title of count that managed the various departments of the royal household. The Comes Cubiculariorum oversaw the chamberlains, the Comes Scanciorun directed the cup-bearers, the Comes Stabulorum directed the equerries in charge of the stables, etc. The Ostrogothic Kingdom also maintained palatine counts with titles such as Comes Patrimonium, who was in charge of the patrimonial or private real estate of the king, and others. The system was maintained by the Carolingian sovereigns (reigned 751–987). A Frankish capitulary of 882 and Hincmar, archbishop of Reims, writing about the same time, testify to the extent to which the judicial work of the Frankish Empire had passed into their hands.[3]
Instead of remaining near the person of the king, some of the counts palatine were sent to various parts of his empire to act as judges and governors, the districts ruled by them being called palatinates.
Medieval romance
In the French courtly literature of the 12th century, the paladins are the twelve closest companions of Charlemagne, comparable to the role of the Knights of the Round Table in Arthurian romance.
The names of the twelve paladins vary from romance to romance, and often more than twelve are named. The number is popular because it resembles the
Their greatest moments come in
The paladins figure into many chansons de geste and other tales associated with Charlemagne. In Fierabras (c. 1170), they retrieve holy relics stolen from Rome by the Saracen giant Fierabras.
In some versions, Fierabras is converted to Christianity and joins the ranks of the paladins himself. In
Early modern reception
The Italian Renaissance authors Matteo Maria Boiardo and Ludovico Ariosto, whose works were once as widely read and respected as William Shakespeare's, contributed prominently to the literary and poetical reworking of the tales of the epic deeds of the paladins. Their works, Orlando Innamorato and Orlando Furioso, send the paladins on even more fantastic adventures than their predecessors. They list the paladins quite differently, but keep the number at twelve.[4]
Boiardo and Ariosto's paladins are
In the Baroque era, Ariosto's poem was the basis of many operas. Among the earliest were
Perhaps the most famous operas inspired by the poem are those by Handel: Orlando (1733), Ariodante and Alcina (1735).
The enthusiasm for operas based on Ariosto continued into the Classical era and beyond with such examples as Niccolò Piccinni's Roland (1778), Haydn's Orlando paladino (1782), Méhul's Ariodant (1799) and Simon Mayr's Ginevra di Scozia (1801).[7]
The title of Paladin is revived in the early modern period for the closest retainers of a monarch. Thus, the leaders of armies supporting the Protestant
Modern reception
Paladin was used informally of the closest confidants of the
While the Arthurian "Matter of Britain" enjoyed a major revival in the 19th century in the hands of the Romantic and Victorian poets, writers, and artists, the "Matter of France" has generally received less attention. The Song of Roland has nevertheless inspired numerous modern works, including Graham Greene's The Confidential Agent (1939),[11] and Stephen King's Dark Tower series.
Emanuele Luzzati's animated short film, I paladini di Francia, together with Giulio Gianini, in 1960, was turned into the children's picture-story book, with verse narrative, I Paladini de Francia ovvero il tradimento di Gano di Maganz ('The Paladins of France or the treachery of Gano of Maganz', 1962). This was republished in English, as Ronald and the Wizard Calico (1969).[12]
In the later 20th century, Paladin has become a trope in modern fantasy. A paladin character class was first introduced in 1975 for Dungeons & Dragons in Supplement I – Greyhawk. The Dungeons & Dragons character class was reportedly inspired by the protagonist of the 1962 fantasy novel Three Hearts and Three Lions,[13] which was itself a pastiche of various elements of medieval and post-medieval legend, including elements of the Matter of France. I paladini — storia d'armi e d'amori is a 1983 Italian fantasy film. As a character class in video games, the Paladin stock character was introduced in 1985, in The Bard's Tale.
References
- ^ a b c d e f "Paladin" Archived 2021-04-29 at the Wayback Machine. From the Oxford English Dictionary. Retrieved November 23, 2008.
- ^ a b "Palatine" Archived 2020-01-08 at the Wayback Machine. From the Oxford English Dictionary. Retrieved November 23, 2008.
- ^ a b c public domain: Holland, Arthur William (1911). "Palatine". In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 20 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 595–596. One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the
- ^ Frank, Grace, "La Passion du Palatinus: mystère du XIVe siècle," in Les Classiques français du moyen âge (30) Paris 1922.
- ^ The Divine Comedy, Canto XXXII.
- ^ Sylvie Bouissou, Jean-Philippe Rameau (Fayard, 2014), p. 817
- Groveor The Viking Opera Guide (ed. Holden, 1994).
- ^ Wilson, Peter H. The Thirty Years War: Europe's Tragedy, Harvard University Press, 2009
- ^ John Philip Jones, Queen Victoria's Paladins: Garnet Wolseley and Frederick Roberts (2018).
- ^ Stefan Marthens: Erster Paladin des Führers und Zweiter Mann im Reich (1985). Wolfgang Paul: Hermann Goering: Hitler's Paladin or Puppet? (1998).
- ISBN 978-0-203-00963-5.
- ^ The Picture Lion paperback edition (William Collins, London, 1973) is a paperback imprint of the Hutchinson Junior Books edition (1969), which credits the English translation to Hutchinson Junior Books.
- Geocities. Archived from the originalon 9 December 2007. Retrieved 19 June 2011.