Anonymous (11th century AD), Ruodlieb 4.194–210

Introduction

The Ruodlieb is a medieval poem likely written by a now-anonymous German monk. It is written in a meter common to the time, Leonine hexameter, in which the last syllable of each line rhymes—sometimes quite loosely—with the last syllable of a word near the middle of the line. The Ruodlieb tells the tale of a noble young man, Ruodlieb, as he travels abroad to seek his fortune. The poem is considered to be one of the earliest examples of a court romance (which tells of the heroic exploits of medieval knights). However, it exhibits a higher degree of realism than standard court romances. In particular, although Ruodlieb is the hero, he is not all-powerful. Rather than focusing solely on his military prowess, the work focuses more on his sense of duty, self-control, humility, and ability to keep the peace in believable situations. In his travels, Ruodlieb interacts frequently with two (unnamed) kings; the event in the following passage occurs during one of these interactions.

Text

Rex poscens tabulam¹ iubet opponi sibi² sellam

et me contra se iubet in fulchro residere,

ut secum³ ludam, quod⁴ ego nimium renuebam,

dicens “Terribile⁵ miserum⁶ conludere rege⁷”;

et dum me vidit sibi⁸ non audere reniti, 5

ludere⁹ laudavi, cupiens ab eo superari,

“Vinci de rege” dicens “quid¹⁰ obest¹¹ miserum me?

Sed timeo, domine, quod mox irasceris in me,

si fortuna iuvet, mihi¹² quod Victoria constet.”

Rex subridendo¹³ dixit velut atque iocando¹³: 10

“Non opus est, care, super hac re quid¹⁴ vereare¹⁵:

si numquam vincam, commocior¹⁶ haut ego fiam;

sed, quam¹⁷ districte noscas ludas volo cum me,

nam quos ignotos¹⁸ facies¹⁹ volo discere tractus.”

Statim rex et ego studiose traximus ambo, 15

et, sibi²⁰ gratia²¹ sit, mihi ter Victoria cessit,

multis principibus²² nimis id²³ mirantibus eius²⁴.

Vocab	Definition	Vocab	Definition
*ambo, -ae, -o*	both	*commocior, -ius*	iratior, -ius
*conludo, -ere*	to play with/against	*consto, -are*	to stand with
*districtus, -a, -um*	serious	*fulchrum, -i*, n.	lectus, -i
in (+ ACC)	toward	*ignosco, -ere, ignovi, ignotum*	nescio, -ire
*iocor, -ari*	to joke	*irascor, -i*	to become angry
*miror, -ari*	to marvel at	*nimis*	very much
*nimium*	very much	*obsum, obesse*	to harm
*oppono, -ere*	to place opposite	*renitor, -i*	to resist
*renuo, -ere*	to oppose	*studiosus, -a, -um*	eager
*subrideo, -ere*	rideo, -ere	*super* (+ ABL)	about
*tabula, -ae*, f	game board	*ter*	three times
*tractus, us*, m.	move (as in a move made in a game)	*traho, -ere, traxi, tractum*	to make a move
*vereor, -eri*	timeo, -ere

———

Commentary

tabulam: refers to a chess board. This is one of the earliest references to chess in European literature. The game had recently been introduced via Islamic influence at the time this poem was written. While the rules had not yet been developed and formalized into their current form, the game was already very popular among European nobility. ↩
sibi: dative with the compound verb opponi ↩
secum = cum se ↩
quod: refers to ut secum ludam; “(something) which” ↩
terribile: supply est with the whole phrase miserum conludere rege as the subject ↩
miserum: supply virum; here “wretched” has the sense of “lower-class” (at least relative to the king) ↩
rege: ablative direct object of conludere as a result of the con- (i.e., cum-) prefix ↩
sibi: dative with the compound verb reniti ↩
ludere = “playing,” take as the object of laudavi ↩
quid = quomodo ↩
obest: take vinci as the subject and miserum me as the object. By the medieval period, authors were inconsistent about the use of the dative with compound verbs. ↩
mihi: dative with compound verb constet ↩
subridendo and iocando = subridens and iocans. By the medieval period, ablative gerunds were equivalent to nominative present participles. ↩ ↩²
quid = aliquid ↩
vereare = verearis; supply an ut, “that you…” ↩
commocior = commotior (from commotus, -a, -um); the spelling of the letter -t as a -c before an -i was common in medieval Latin to reflect the pronunciation of /ts/. ↩
quam…me = noscas quam districte volo (ut) ludas cum me, “know how seriously I want you to play with me;” with noscas as an independent subjunctive indicating a gentle command and ludas as a command/wish indirectly stated with volo. As the verb of an indirect question introduced by noscas and quam districte, one would expect volo to be in the subjunctive, but medieval Latin is less strict about the mood of subordinate verbs. ↩
ignotos: supply mihi ↩
facies: from the verb facio, -ere NOT the noun facies, -ei ↩
sibi: refers to a personified Victoria ↩
sibi gratia sit = “let thanks be to her” ↩
principibus: refers to the nobles watching the chess match ↩
id: refers to the whole situation ↩
eius: refers to the king ↩