North British Warrior

[Robert Vermaat]

Yes, there is some "pollution" in the material, but a careful scan can pick it out: things that DON'T FIT. One example is the Arthurian verse added to the "Death of Geraint." Its meter and structure are obvious intrusions in what I consider a "historical text," even though it was once verbal.

There's the ability to rember (and reproduce) songs, and there's the work of a professional bard who adds material for the pleasure of the lord he works for at that particular time. Such as battles which become ascribed to different men, etc. The same is visible in the early to later medieval treatment of source material like pedegrees and charters. The attitude was different then (meaning there was no drive to preserve the material in the orginial state), and we lack the ability to discern the changes, because we lack the original. We only have the latest version of that particular version of the song, the moment it's written down.

Good bards would have chnged the songs without meddling with meter and structure. :wink:

As to a new thread, we could do that, but I'm not in favour of a new section. This is RAT, after all, and discussions that consistantly fall outside the scope of the forum (at least, as we define it at this moment :! should be held elsewhere. Like the Batavi forum, or others.