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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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Tristan and Iseult
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Though now widely thought of as a German legend, because of the fame of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde, the story is Celtic in origin. The Irish princess Iseult is to be married to King Mark of Cornwall. Her mother prepares a love potion for her and her husband to drink on their wedding night, but on the journey from Ireland it is accidentally drunk by Iseult and Tristan, Mark's nephew who has been sent to collect her – with predictable results, though this is only the beginning of a complex story.
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Developed from the 12C by poets in France and Germany (most notably by Gottfried von Strassburg, Wagner's source), the story was later included by Malory in his *Morte d'Arthur. In his version the young Cornish hero is called Sir Tristram but is described as a prince of *Lyonesse, a birthplace acquired on his continental travels – which is how that name became attached to a supposed lost land stretching beyond Cornwall.
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