Tristan And Iseult Story

 I hope to write something about the Tristan and Iseult story soon.  This tale is not as well known as the Arthurian saga but it is related to it.  It also focuses on a love triangle, between King Mark of Cornwall, his bride Iseult and his nephew Tristan.  There was a Dark Ages King called Mark or Marcus, and it is possible that he had a son called Drustan or Tristan.   There are different versions of the story but the best known is about Iseult, an Irish princess marrying Mark, a British king who is older than her.  Iseult's marriage is arranged and Tristan is sent to Ireland to escort her to her new home.  Iseult does not like him because he killed her uncle in combat in Ireland.  But her mother, wanting her daughter to find love in her marriage, has prepared a love potion for Iseult to drink with her new husband.  Iseult and Tristan drink the potion and fall madly in love.  In many versions of the story, they become lovers and Iseult deceives her new husband by sending her maid, Branwen to share his bed on their wedding night.  The lovers continue their affair and Mark becomes suspicious. In some versions they run away together to Brittany.  In others, Tristan goes away and marries another wife, also called Iseult.  When he is dying he sends for his true love but his wife tells him that the sails on the boat that he sent out are black which means that his Iseult did not come... and in despair, Tristan dies.  Iseult dies also from grief when she arrives to find her lover has died.   The story may have influenced the Lancelot/Guinevere/Arthur triangle in the Arthurian stories.. but it is more magical than the more realistic tale of Lancelot and Guinevere.  The love depends on a potion which forces the couple to fall in love and to deceive Mark.. whereas in the Arthurian saga there is a genuine bond among the 3 people involved.   The story inspired Wagner's opera Tristan und Isolde, and in the 20th century there have been several novelised versions of the saga.