ABSTRACT
The love story of Tristan and Isolde, called Tristran and Iseut—or Yseut, Yseult—in early French versions, is one of the most famous in literature. It tells of a passionate and illicit love born of a potion that the two drank by mistake. Because Yseut was pledged to marry Tristran’s uncle, King Mark of Cornwall, their love could bring the young couple no happiness; instead it condemned them to suffering, guilt, exile, and a tragic end. This tragedy, throughout the centuries, has inspired countless authors, as well as painters, sculptors, and composers. Two of the greatest retellings of the Tristran and Yseut legend are among the earliest, dating from the second half of the twelfth century; they are the French texts, in octosyllabic verse, of Béroul, translated here, and of Thomas of Britain, an excerpt of whose work appears in the following chapter.
