SOURCE: “The Love Potion in the Primitive Tristan Romance,” in Medieval Studies in the Memory of Gertrude Schoepperle Loomis. Reprint. Slatkine Reprints, 1974, pp. 75-86.

In the following essay, Vinaver reviews the critical debate surrounding the nature of the origin of the extant versions of the Tristan legend. He also examines the treatment of the love potion motif found in the various versions of the legend.

In his epoch-making introduction to the poem of Thomas, M. Bédier inserted a reconstruction of the original Tristan poem. He gave there the following version of the episode of the love potion:

«Quand le temps du départ fut venu, la reine d’Irlande prépara un breuvage puissant, et le confia secrètement à Brangien qui devait accompagner Iseut en Cornouailles. C’était un filtre d’amour … Telle en était la vertu que ceux qui le boiraient ensemble devaient s’aimer à jamais...