who were Tristan and Isolde?

Question

In what century did it take place? Was it based on real characters?

Answer 1

tristan and isolde is indeed an extension of the arthurian legend (while trying to escape his love for isolde, tristan fights alongside arthur). which means it is probably not real. if there ever were two people named like that i will bet you anything that their actual story was lost and replaced with what we know today. some elements might still be there, but we will never know which.

english/celtic middle ages: tristan was from cornwall, isolde was from ireland, and the arthurian legend was around the 6th - 7th century.

Answer 2

Tristan is one of the main characters of the Tristan and Iseult story, a Cornish hero and one of the Knights of the Round Table featuring in the Matter of Britain. He was the son of Blancheflor and Rivalen (in later versions Isabelle and Meliodas), and the nephew of King Mark of Cornwall, sent to fetch Iseult back from Ireland to wed the king. However, he and Iseult accidentally consume a love potion while en route and fall helplessly in love. The pair undergo numerous trials that test their secret affair.

Iseult is the name of several characters in the Arthurian story. The most prominent is Iseult of Ireland, wife of Mark of Cornwall and adulterous lover of Sir Tristan. Her mother, the Queen of Ireland, is also named Iseult. The third is Iseult of the White Hands, the daughter of Hoel of Brittany, sister of Sir Kahedin, and eventual wife of Tristan.

Tristan makes his first medieval appearance in the early 12th century in Celtic folklore. While the details of the story differ from one author to another, the overall plot structure remains much the same. I do not think they are real characters.

The film in the same name was produced by Ridley Scott (who had been working on an adaptation since the mid-seventies) and Tony Scott, directed by Kevin Reynolds and stars James Franco and Sophia Myles. This film is a non-operatic rendition of the plot of Richard Wagner's, Tristan und Isolde.

Answer 3

The story of Tristan and Isolde was one of the quintessential romances of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Several versions exist, the earliest dating to the middle of the 12th century.

It is a fictional account, not based on any real characters.

It is kind of the first Romeo and Juliet.

Lots of great information, including the synopsis of the story, can be found here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tristan_und_Isolde

Answer 4

The legend of Tristan and Iseult is an influential romance and tragedy, retold in numerous sources with as many variations. The tragic story of the adulterous love between the Cornish knight Tristan (Tristram) and the Irish princess Iseult (Isolde, Yseut, etc.), the narrative predates and most likely influenced the Arthurian romance of Lancelot and Guinevere, and has had a substantial impact on Western art and literature since it first appeared in the 12th century. While the details of the story differ from one author to another, the overall plot structure remains much the same.


Early references to Tristan and Mark in Welsh
There are many theories present about the origins of Tristanian legend, but historians disagree about the most accurate one. There is the famous Tristan stone, with its inscription about Drust, but not all historians agree that the Drust referred to is the archetype of Tristan. There are references to March ap Meichion and Trystan in the Welsh Triads, some of the gnomic poetry, Mabinogion stories and in the late 11th century Life of St. Illtud.

Drystan's name appears as one of Arthur's advisers at the end of the Dream of Rhonabwy, an early 13th century tale in the Welsh prose collection known as the Mabinogion, and Iseult is listed along with other great men and women of Arthur's court in another, much earlier Mabinogion tale, Culhwch and Olwen.

Irish analogues
Possible Irish antecedents to the Tristan legend have received much scholarly attention. Most notable is a text called Toraigheacht Dhiarmat agus Ghrainne or The Pursuit of Diarmat and Grainne. In the story, the aging Fionn mac Cumhail takes the young princess, Grainne, to be his wife. At the betrothal ceremony, however, she falls in love with Diarmat, one of Finn's most trusted warriors. Grainne gives a sleeping potion to all present but him, eventually convincing him to elope with her. The fugitive lovers are then pursued all over Ireland by the Fianna.

Another Irish analogue is Scela Cano mac Gartnain, preserved in the 14th century Yellow Book of Lecan. In this tale, Cano is an exiled Scottish king who accepts the hospitality of King Marcan of Ui Maile. His young wife, Credd, drugs all present, and then convinces Cano to be her lover. They try to keep a tryst while at Marcan's court, but are frustrated by courtiers. Eventually Cred kills herself and Cano dies of grief.

Persian analogues
Some scholars have suggested that the 11th century Persian story Vis and Ramon may have influenced the Tristan legend.

Answer 5

No they are part of Arthurian legend. Arthurian legend has tristan as one of the knights of the round table. 6th or 7th century a.d.

Answer 6

Ireland!
I do not know if they were fictional characters or real.. but It sure was a good movie :)