10 s. vii. FEB. 23, 1907.] NOTES AND QUERIES.
151
and the age-blackened trunk of an ancient
hawthorn still stands at its head. War-
burton speaks in his history of Dublin of
" Isolde's fort in the park." Some small
fortress probably topped this hill, and the
familiar name lingered on, even into the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Let
us continue to proceed westwards, to the
place where still her name alone perpetuates
her ancient renown. Tradition states that
the little chapel that gave the district its
name was reared and endowed by Isoud in
the year 519. This is, of course, beyond
verification ; but the remains of an ante-
Norman chapel not far away lend some colour
at least to the antiquity of the district as an
inhabited area. Isoud's chapel has entirely
disappeared. For long it stood in a ruined
condition, and some of the older inhabitants
have vague recollections of it as a place of
worship, and remember that a large section
of the congregation were forced, through
lack of room, to kneel outside. It stood a
little distance from the present Protestant
church. The name Chapelizod can be traced
back in State documents to the eleventh
and twelfth centuries. Stanihurst in 1577
states, " There is a village hard by Dublin,
called of the said la Beale, Chappel Isoud."
Of late years the old square tower attached
to the Protestant Church has become a sort
of rallying-point for the growing cult of
Isolde. It is said to have been erected in
the sixteenth century ; probably the material
was taken from an older building, and in
this way the chain of association was pre-
served. At least it must have stood for
centuries in the vicinity of the little historical
chapel. It has no rival in the village as an
object of antiquarian interest, and should
serve as a permanent memorial to the beau-
tiful Gaelic princess, whose love and piety
stood sponsors for the nomenclature of the
district. The question suggests itself, When
did Isolde build this little chapel ? Cer-
tainly not before she left Ireland with
Tristan for Cornwall. I have had to resort
to pure conjecture for a satisfying solution.
Malory tells us that King Mark tracked
Tristan to the castle of Joyous Gard (which
has been identified with Bamburgh Castle,
sixteen miles south-east of Berwick), where
he treacherously slew him ; and further
we are told that " La Beale Isoud died
swooning upon the cross of Sir Tristram,
whereof was great pity." The chronicle
does not convey that her death immediately
followed that of her lover ; one may con-
jecture that she returned home to Ireland,
and, following the example of Guenever,
entered a religious house. This would be
the time she reared and endowed the chapel
which has perpetuated her name in her native
land. Dante, when visiting the lovers'
quarters in Hell, recognized many an un-
happy pair who on earth loved *' not wisely,
but too well." He noticed Tristan there,
but makes no mention of Isolde. Dante
possibly was aware that she had expiated
her sins by a life of severe penance and holy
deeds, and that from the swoon of death,
her eyes fixed on the symbol of divine love
which belonged to her beloved Tristan, she
finally passed to the Paradise of the Blessed.
I have already encroached too much on the precious space of ' N. & Q.' Perhaps in a subsequent paper I may be allowed to tell something of the history and destruction of the interesting Isolde Tower that for centuries was part of the ancient walls of Dublin. W. A. HENDERSON.
Dublin.
It was in Brittany not in the castle which the vanquished giant Beliagog had made for him, but in that of Queen Ysonde of the White Hand that Tristram died of his poisoned wound. But the fair Ysonde (Isolde) of Cornwall arrived too late in answer to her lover's summons :
' Like a wearied child, she sobbed herself to sleep upon his breast. Neither did any disturb her
more, for they knew how fast her slumber was
King Mark sent and fetched their bodies to Corn- wall Together he laid them in a fair tomb within
a chapel, tall, and rich in carven work ; and above he set a statue of the fair Ysonde, wrought skilfully in her very likeness as she lived. And from Sir Tristram's grave there grew an eglantine which twined about the statue, a marvel for all men to see ; and though three times they cut it down, it grew again, and ever wound its arms about the image of the fair Ysonde (Isolde)." See ' Sir Tristrem ' in Sir G. W. Cox's ' Popular Romances of the Middle Ages,' 1871, pp. 245-67 ; Wheeler's ' Noted Names in Fiction,' s.v. * Isolde ' and ' Tristram ' ; and Warton's ' History of English Poetry.' But in no instance is the place of burial given. J. HOLDEN MACMICHAEL.
Deene, Streatham, 8.W.
Isolde was the wife of a fabulous King Mark of Cornwall, the uncle of Tristan or Tristram. Their history is related by Thomas the Rhymer and many others. According to Yonge, the original meaning of the name Tristram is said to have been " noise," " tumult " ; but from the influ- ence of Latin upon Welsh (!), it came to mean " sad." In ' Morte d' Arthur * it is explained as signifying " sorrowful birth," and is said to have been given to Tristram
