The Romance of Tristan and Iseult is Joseph Bédier's retelling of the medieval legend, drawn from French sources. It tells of the tragic love between the knight Tristan and the Irish princess Iseult, a tale of passion, loyalty, and fate. This classic romance offers a moving window into the chivalric world and its enduring stories.
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Text source: gutenberg.org · The work is in the public domain.
Opening of the book
THE ROMANCE OF TRISTAN AND ISEULT The Romance of Tristan & Iseult Drawn from the best French Sources and Retold by J. Bédier Rendered into English by H. Belloc London: George Allen & Company, Ltd. Ruskin House, Rathbone Place. Mcmxiii “Le Roman de Tristan et Iseut,” by M. Joseph Bédier, was crowned by the French Academy Printed by BALLANTYNE, HANSON & Co. at the Ballantyne Press, Edinburgh
PART THE FIRST
THE CHILDHOOD OF TRISTAN
My lords, if you would hear a high tale of love and of death, here is that of Tristan and Queen Iseult; how to their full joy, but to their sorrow also, they loved each other, and how at last they died of that love together upon one day; she by him and he by her.
Long ago, when Mark was King over Cornwall, Rivalen, King of
Lyonesse, heard that Mark’s enemies waged war on him; so he crossed the sea to bring him aid; and so faithfully did he serve him with counsel and sword that Mark gave him his sister Blanchefleur, whom
King Rivalen loved most marvellously.
He wedded her in Tintagel Minster, but hardly was she wed when the news came to him that his old enemy Duke Morgan had fallen on
Lyonesse and was wasting town and field. Then Rivalen manned his ships in haste, and took Blanchefleur with him to his far land; but she
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