House of Cornwall

The following genealogical tables should actually be titled the "Houses of Cornwall, Ireland and Brittany", but I never like having such a long title.

I have drawn up several different family trees to account for several different works of the romance of Tristan and Isolde that I have read.

The first two family trees belong to the early tradition of the romance by two possibly contemporary writers: Thomas (c. 1165) and Beroul (between 1160 and 1190). These two books that I have read are different in some ways, but they are similar in many of the scenes, so many scholars believe that they both drew their source material from a common archetype (original) legend of Tristan.

The other version from the Prose Tristan (c. 1245) diverged from the earlier works, and it became the standard version in the medieval period. Such was the popularity of the Prose Tristan that it influenced Sir Thomas Malory, who wrote the Le Morte d'Arthur (1469).

There are several points I would like to make, before you view the genealogies below.

I have read four versions of the Tristan romance, including one by the German Gottfried von Strassburg, in 1210. Though some of the names were spelt differently from the French version, it followed, more or less, the version written by Thomas. So I didn't create a family tree by Gottfried.

I used the name – "Isolde" – throughout Timeless Myths, for the sake of convenience and consistency. However, in the family trees below, I have used several different spelling variations of Isolde, depending on the three books I have read. In the family tree based on Thomas, I used "Iseult" instead of Isolde. In Beroul's family tree, I spelt her name – "Yseut"; and "Iseut" in the family tree based upon the Prose Tristan.

House of Cornwall (Thomas' version)

An Anglo-Norman poet named Thomas wrote the romance of Tristan and Isolde in French, around AD 1165. I based a large part of the legend on Thomas' version. Compared to the version written by Beroul, Thomas' romance was often called the courtly version. This is because it was more refined in its work, and less brutal than some of the scenes in Beroul's version.

Though Thomas' work survived in six manuscripts, all six manuscripts were fragmented, with a great part of the middle section of the poem missing.

Note that are three Isoldes (Iseults) in Thomas' narrative. Isolde (Iseult) the Elder was the herione's mother and the Queen of Ireland. Isolde (Iseult) of the White Hands came from Brittany and was married to Tristan.

See the Earlier Traditions of Tristan and Isolde.

House of Cornwall (Beroul's version)

Another work in French was written by the poet Beroul. It is difficult to date Beroul's poem, which was first published between 1160 and 1190. Some scholars say that Beroul's work was the older of the two, while others say that the Thomas narrative was earlier. However, I refuse to be drawn into this debate.

It should be noted that Beroul's romance was also fragmented (surviving only in one manuscript), and the beginning and the ending of the poem are missing. This is why I have not listed the names of Isolde's parents.

Also the father of Isolde of the White Hands was Hoel (compared to Thomas' Roald).

See the Earlier Traditions of Tristan and Isolde.