Chapter 2 - The German Melusine

Summary

The earliest known translation of a Mélusine romance is that by the Bernese author Thüring von Ringoltingen, who finished his German Melusine in 1456. The German translation is based on the RP, but, rather than keeping Coudrette's octosyllabic verse couplets, Thüring writes his Melusine in prose. Thüring identifies his French source in the prologue, describing it as ‘ein zůmol seltzen und gar wunderlich frömde hystorien […] in franckzoyser sprach und welscher zungen’ (an especially rare and wonderfully strange history […] in the French language and French tongue). That it is the RP and not Jean's HM on which the German translation is modelled is evident: although Thüring never mentions Coudrette by name, he tells us that his source was commissioned by ‘ein graff von Poitiers in Frankenrich, der was here zu Partenach’ (37:16–17; a count of Poitiers in France, he was lord of Parthenay). Thüring's reference to Coudrette's patron and his commissioning of a book in ‘rymen’ (37:21; verse) matches that given in the RP, even down to the Latin and French books which Coudrette identifies as his sources.

Nonetheless, the RP's references to its patron and sources have been significantly reduced. This transformation is typical of the German translation, as it is generally much shorter than its source. It has been calculated that Thüring removes about forty percent of the RP's descriptions, a reduction which is mainly achieved by cutting out many of its digressions and repetitions in favour of a more succinct rendering of the events. Nevertheless, the German translation largely follows its source's structure. As Thüring says in the prologue, his goal of relating the story of Mélusine ‘uff das kurtzeste begriffen’ (37:9; in the most succinct manner) means that he does not always follow ‘den synn der materyen’ (the sense of the matter) exactly as it is found in his source, but he nevertheless tries to relate ‘die substantz der materyen’ (36:19–22; the substance of the matter) as well as he can.