20/05/2026
👑 "Galeran de Bretagne" (1200-1220): an incredible desctiption of noble attire and harp 👑
Could not keep myself frol ppsting another passage from this romance! This is quite important for the history of music - an extremely ornate harp on a neck strap, and even its case is described.
"It is Fresne, so graceful and accomplished,
Who has risen early in the morning and come forth.
With a finely woven chemise,
White and soft, she adorns her body;
Along the seams gleams gold.
She has put on over it a surcoat
Very costly, furred with gris,
Made from a striped cloth of Antioch;
Around it were embroidered orphreys,
And bordered with a band of gold.
Bareheaded and without wimple, upon her fair hair
She stands ungirded and with loose-flowing locks.
A circlet, not very broad,
Worked with stones and flowers,
Of gold and azure and many colours,
Holds back her hair, so it seems to me,
So that it does not fall before her face,
But rests above without constraint;
Her braid falls down across her shoulders.
She has covered it with a dark veil
Which suits well upon her blond hair.
She is shod in narrow shoes;
Her harp she has raised against her breast,
Which is very rich, you may well believe it.
Its pegs are of ivory,
And its strings are of silver;
It has a noble and splendid sounding-board,
Made from the horn of a serpent.
The harp, hanging from her neck,
Is finely worked with wild beasts
That have diverse bodies and heads;
Their eyes and breasts are filled
With emeralds and rubies,
Set in Galician gold.
Never did Lidoine possess a richer one
For clear sound or subtle workmanship.
The case in which it is covered
Is of samite and buckram.
Thus she came before Galeren,
Just as I have described her to you.
He gazed well upon her
Who was adorned like a noble lord.
He is clothed in a robe,
With tunic and surcoat of figured silk,
Somewhat stiff and heavy with gold;
Its fur lining is ermine.
Upon the shoulders he has two sardonyxes
Set in gold upon the surcoat,
With which he fastens and closes the collar.
Upon his blond and curly head
He wears a joyous chaplet
Which adorns and gladdens him well,
Made of violets and roses;
Fresne, his beloved, had made it for him.
His shoes are embroidered with gold,
And his hose are of costly dark silk,
Which he has had slashed
And lined with crimson silk.
Sleep has departed from his eyes.
His gloves, sewn with gold, are upon his hands,
And upon his wrist he holds, well trained,
A sparrowhawk with tawny feathers.
Galeren has a joyful heart
When he sees his beloved before him,
But Fresne does not have her own heart glad
When she looks upon Galeren."
