Sir Aldingar
Encyclopedia
Sir Aldingar is Child ballad 59. Francis James Child
collected three variants, two fragmentary, in The English and Scottish Popular Ballads. All three recount the tale where a rebuffed Sir Aldingar slanders his mistress, Queen Eleanor, and a miraclous champion saves her.
Various forms of the legend it recounts have been recorded in many ballad
s, romance
s, and saga
s. Although many have been recounted as historical accurate, no evidence supports any such claims.
's steward. He tries to seduce Queen Eleanor
. When he fails, he puts a leper in her bed and goes to the king, saying the queen has taken a lover, and worse, a leper as that lover. The king goes to see and find the leper there.
Accused, Queen Eleanor notes that Sir Aldingar is false, and that her belief that dreams were false is disproved, because she dreamed of a beast that had stolen her crown and headdress, and would have carried her off if a merlin
had not stopped it. She demands trial by combat. The king gives her forty days to find a champion. The queen's messenger is unable to find anyone for a long time, until he finds a child not four years old who will. The messenger is shocked, but the child bids him remind the queen of her dream.
Sir Aldingar does not want to fight a child, but the child insists and defeats him. Mortally wounded, the knight calls for a priest for Confession
and admits to framing the queen.
The leper is turned into a healthy man and becomes a steward to the king.
and Emma
. She married in 1036 King Henry
, afterwards the emperor
Henry III; a century later, William of Malmesbury
gave this legend as authentic history of her life, though there is no evidence for it. It was retold in the Spanish romance Olivia, the chanson de geste
Doon l'Alemanz, as part of the English romance
Sir Triamour, and in the legend of Genevieve of Brabant
. In the Erl of Toulouse
, the hero is merely a disinterested champion, a knight, but the plot is nevertheless recognizably the same as Sir Aldingar.
Francis James Child
Francis James Child was an American scholar, educator, and folklorist, best known today for his collection of folk songs known as the Child Ballads. Child was Boylston professor of rhetoric and oratory at Harvard University, where he produced influential editions of English poetry...
collected three variants, two fragmentary, in The English and Scottish Popular Ballads. All three recount the tale where a rebuffed Sir Aldingar slanders his mistress, Queen Eleanor, and a miraclous champion saves her.
Various forms of the legend it recounts have been recorded in many ballad
Ballad
A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of British and Irish popular poetry and song from the later medieval period until the 19th century and used extensively across Europe and later the Americas, Australia and North Africa. Many...
s, romance
Romance (genre)
As a literary genre of high culture, romance or chivalric romance is a style of heroic prose and verse narrative that was popular in the aristocratic circles of High Medieval and Early Modern Europe. They were fantastic stories about marvel-filled adventures, often of a knight errant portrayed as...
s, and saga
Saga
Sagas, are stories in Old Norse about ancient Scandinavian and Germanic history, etc.Saga may also refer to:Business*Saga DAB radio, a British radio station*Saga Airlines, a Turkish airline*Saga Falabella, a department store chain in Peru...
s. Although many have been recounted as historical accurate, no evidence supports any such claims.
Synopsis
Sir Aldingar is King Henry IIHenry II of England
Henry II ruled as King of England , Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, Count of Nantes, Lord of Ireland and, at various times, controlled parts of Wales, Scotland and western France. Henry, the great-grandson of William the Conqueror, was the...
's steward. He tries to seduce Queen Eleanor
Eleanor of Aquitaine
Eleanor of Aquitaine was one of the wealthiest and most powerful women in Western Europe during the High Middle Ages. As well as being Duchess of Aquitaine in her own right, she was queen consort of France and of England...
. When he fails, he puts a leper in her bed and goes to the king, saying the queen has taken a lover, and worse, a leper as that lover. The king goes to see and find the leper there.
Accused, Queen Eleanor notes that Sir Aldingar is false, and that her belief that dreams were false is disproved, because she dreamed of a beast that had stolen her crown and headdress, and would have carried her off if a merlin
Merlin (bird)
The Merlin is a small species of falcon from the Northern Hemisphere. A bird of prey once known colloquially as a pigeon hawk in North America, the Merlin breeds in the northern Holarctic; some migrate to subtropical and northern tropical regions in winter.-European and North American...
had not stopped it. She demands trial by combat. The king gives her forty days to find a champion. The queen's messenger is unable to find anyone for a long time, until he finds a child not four years old who will. The messenger is shocked, but the child bids him remind the queen of her dream.
Sir Aldingar does not want to fight a child, but the child insists and defeats him. Mortally wounded, the knight calls for a priest for Confession
Confession
This article is for the religious practice of confessing one's sins.Confession is the acknowledgment of sin or wrongs...
and admits to framing the queen.
The leper is turned into a healthy man and becomes a steward to the king.
Variants
The Scandavian ballad Ravengaard og Memering closely parallels this one. The heroine Gunhilda is said to have been the daughter of Canute the GreatCanute the Great
Cnut the Great , also known as Canute, was a king of Denmark, England, Norway and parts of Sweden. Though after the death of his heirs within a decade of his own and the Norman conquest of England in 1066, his legacy was largely lost to history, historian Norman F...
and Emma
Emma of Normandy
Emma , was a daughter of Richard the Fearless, Duke of Normandy, by his second wife Gunnora. She was Queen consort of England twice, by successive marriages: first as second wife to Æthelred the Unready of England ; and then second wife to Cnut the Great of Denmark...
. She married in 1036 King Henry
Henry III, Holy Roman Emperor
Henry III , called the Black or the Pious, was a member of the Salian Dynasty of Holy Roman Emperors...
, afterwards the emperor
Holy Roman Emperor
The Holy Roman Emperor is a term used by historians to denote a medieval ruler who, as German King, had also received the title of "Emperor of the Romans" from the Pope...
Henry III; a century later, William of Malmesbury
William of Malmesbury
William of Malmesbury was the foremost English historian of the 12th century. C. Warren Hollister so ranks him among the most talented generation of writers of history since Bede, "a gifted historical scholar and an omnivorous reader, impressively well versed in the literature of classical,...
gave this legend as authentic history of her life, though there is no evidence for it. It was retold in the Spanish romance Olivia, the chanson de geste
Chanson de geste
The chansons de geste, Old French for "songs of heroic deeds", are the epic poems that appear at the dawn of French literature. The earliest known examples date from the late eleventh and early twelfth centuries, nearly a hundred years before the emergence of the lyric poetry of the trouvères and...
Doon l'Alemanz, as part of the English romance
Romance (genre)
As a literary genre of high culture, romance or chivalric romance is a style of heroic prose and verse narrative that was popular in the aristocratic circles of High Medieval and Early Modern Europe. They were fantastic stories about marvel-filled adventures, often of a knight errant portrayed as...
Sir Triamour, and in the legend of Genevieve of Brabant
Genevieve of Brabant
Genevieve of Brabant is a heroine of medieval legend.-Legend:Her story is a typical example of the widespread tale of the chaste wife falsely accused and repudiated, generally on the word of a rejected suitor. Genovefa of Brabant was said to be the wife of the palatine Siegfried of Treves, and was...
. In the Erl of Toulouse
Erl of Toulouse
The Erl of Toulouse is a medieval English chivalric romance centered on an innocent persecuted wife. It is supposed to be a translated lai, but the original lai is lost.-Synopsis:...
, the hero is merely a disinterested champion, a knight, but the plot is nevertheless recognizably the same as Sir Aldingar.