erman composer Richard Wagner’s
19th-century opera Lohengrin was
inspired by the Swan Knight myth, first told in a
late 12th-century text, the Dolopathos, in which an
anonymous knight appears in a swan-drawn boat
and rescues a maiden. A few years later, the same
figure cropped up in a chanson de geste (song of
heroic deeds), “Le chevalier au cygne” (“Knight
of the Swan”). In this iteration he has become
the grandfather of Godfrey of Bouillon. This
chanson is part of the so-called Crusade Cycle,
set during and just after the First Crusade. In the
13th century, German authors like Wolfram von
Eschenbach and Konrad von Würzburg further
developed the Swan Knight’s story, and their
work would form the basis of Wagner’s opera.HIGH FANTASY
This 16th-century
Flemish tapestry depicts
several scenes from a
French version of the
Swan Knight tale. The
knight’s mother, Beatrice,
is shown at the center.
AKG/ALBUM