The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1900-03-29

such as the recovery of the holy grail.
To these was added a new sense Of
the beauty OF nature in the depth or
the druidical forest, near whose
streams lived the fairies and animals
gifted with the power of speech
Tristan, Percival, Launcelot, were
the perfect knights to perform deeds
of justice in that age of feudal yio-
lence. The magic sword OF King Ar
thur, whose hiding place was even 10
Gated in Sicily, was 10 return some day
and flash deliyerance to an oppressed
people Rejecting. above all, the new
re1nements Of courtesy, these poems OF
the Round Table were soon translated
into many languages and adopted,
as had been the @'ChansOns de
Geste," which sang Of the pala-
dinS OF Charlemagne. Dante finds
most Of these heroes in para
disc among the champions of the
christian faith. There are two pTinci-
pal reasons why the literature Of
France in the middle ages penetrated
into Italy. 1t sprang largely from the
conflict OF the CRIT =, Is, which car
ried Christian Europe 5gainst the Sara
Gems. In that movement France had
the most active share. Charles Martel,
Charlemagne, William Of Orange were
he first champions who checked the
slohammedan invasions.
The crusades were declared by Ger
bert Of Lorraine when he became Syl-
vester II. they were preached by Peter
he HernnN and ST. Bernard. headed
by Godfrey Of Bouillon and the king
Of st. Louis. The symbol Of the cross
was adopted at the council OF Cler-
mont, in southern France.
All Europe engaged in the struggle.
and the "Ch2nsOnS de Geste," which
celebrate the valOr and victories Of the
Christian knights. although written in
s'rench. expressed a type of feeling
and thought springing from feudal So
ciety which was common 10 all the
nations of Europe, and so they We're
translated into German, English, ltal-
ian, Hungarian and the Scandinavian
languages. 1t is for this reason that
he study Of the early epic literature
Of France is important in any question
Of the original European literature
There is another reason why it be-
came especially popular in Italy. Char
lemagne was not considered a stranger
there, but as the legitimate heir of the
Roman empire, and so himself and mis-
paladins were in a sense representa-
ives of the Italian name, Roland ana
Olivier were carved in stone at the en-
trance OF the cathedral of Verona and
heir deeds of vaior sung on the public
squares OF the Italian cities. We are
old that when Italian princes were on
= journey they listened to some trOVa-
ore who beguiled the way by recount
ng the exploits of Orlando; just as
Taillefer the minstrel, according TO the
account of WAGE, chanted the same
strains at the head of Williams army
at Hastings Muratori says in his
Italian antiquities that one Of the trav-
ling troubadoUrs announced on a pub
ic square in the city Of Milan that on
the following day he would give an ac-
count of the death of his hero, when
one of the bystanders, transported with
sympathy for the brave knight, offered
the trOubadOur money not TO kill him
so soon. and thus for everal days, as
long as the payment continued, the life
# the favorite champion was pro-
lOnged. These French narratives Of
ne middle ages did not lose their power
in Italy for several centuries. until they
were finally encased in the more classic
forms OF Italian literature in the poems
"Boiardo'' and "Pulci" and the eel
sbrated Orlando FuriosO' of Ariosto
and Tasso.
In the library Of Saint Marks at
Venice are preserved the manuscripts
Of some Of these earlier poems, written
in neither French nor Italian, but q
mingled form Of both. The prevalence
f the language Of northern France
n Italy is shown by the fact that Mar
tinO da Canale writes his history OF
Venice in French, as well as Marco
Polo the account OF his extensive trav-
els in the Orient, but particularly Bru-
uettO Latini, the teacher Of Dante,
gives the reason for writing French his
''Tresor." the encyclopedia of know
knowledge Of the century ''paTceQue
10, IL, Mn dol J. L. ,r IL
plus commune a tOutes gems.
But there was another reason which
brought in the fourteenth century
many distinguished men to Paris. such
as Albertus Magnus of Germany, Roger
Bacon and Chaucer from England, An
selm, Bona Ventura and Thomas
Aquinas from Italy.
The University Of Paris was the cen
ter Of scholastic philosophy. There the
doctors We're discussing the great ques-
tins Of theology and the doctrine Of
being. Abelard was preparing the way
for Descartes and Emanuel Kant.
In the early part of the century two
foreigners with intelligent and curious
EaZe might have been seen walking
through the tortuous streets of the
Latin quarter of Paris. They went up
he Vico degli Strami, as the poet calls
it, which is identified by commentators
as the Rue du Fouarre. where Sigier
compressed truth into syIlogisms. They
examined with care the saints and the
prophets in the portals of the churches
and the hObgoblins and demons in tor
urent- They enter the cathedral and ad-
.nire that splendid specimen Of gothic
art which had not yet penetrated into
their country. One of them, from the
rose Of stained glass in the nave. may
have received the first idea OF the
splendid smile which he later used in
MS poem when he compared TO an in
finite rose the ranks which in paradise
surround the eternal throne PERHAPS
they enter the library of some mOnas-
terry or Of the university, where one
'ng Vote du Paradis' (''The Road 10
ParadiseO by the French trOuVere
RUte0euf or lie SOnge d'Enfer. 1.-THE
Dream of He'll" by Raoul de Houdan.
n possibly that passage in the second
aalf Of the Roman de la Rose by Jean
De Meung, where he describes the tor
n1ents reserved in hell for popes. kings,
dukes, hypOcrites and usurers.
These two strangers were Dante and
siottO, the founders OF Italian Itera-
ture and Italian art.
1t was during his stay here that.
after the manner of the medieval
tournament. Dante maintained with
success a thesis . Tibet against four
teen champions 40 presented them
selves. II Is the echo Of these discus
sions. Softened and exalted into the re-
gion Of the loftieSt poetry, that we hear
in the sublime arguments Of the third
part of the Divine Comedy"
Note-This study viii be concluded
on Wednesday next
SOCIETY NOTES.