English Medieval Romance

W. R. J. Barron

Longman London and New York Contents

Editors' Preface ix Longman Literature in English Series x Author's Preface xii List of Abbreviations xiv

1 Introduction: the Nature of Romance 1

2 The Evolution of European Romance 11 Vernacular literature and its audience 13 The Matter of France: La Chanson de Roland 15 The Matter of Rome: Le Roman d'Eneas 20 The lais of Marie de France 22 Versions of the legend of Tristan and Iseult 23 Social ideal and social reality in the age of romance 25 The evolution of the Matter of Britain 30 The romances of Chretien de Troyes 31 The social relevance of roman courtois 38 Literary means in the roman courtois 40 Later developments 43

3 English Romance: the Corpus and its Context 48 Social and linguistic consequences of the Norman Conquest 49 Literature in English: the two traditions 51 The corpus of English medieval romance 53 Readers and listeners, minstrels and poets 54 Definition and dassiGcation 57

4 The Matter of England 63 The Germanic legacy 63 King Horn and Havelok the Dane 65 Ancestral romances: Guy of Warwick 74 Romances of the greenwood: The Tale of Gamelyn 80 The character of the Matter of England romances 85 vi CONTENTS

5 The Matter of France 89 The Song of Roland 89 The Matter of France as pious legend: Otuel and Roland and The Sege of Melayne 92 The decadence of the Matter of France 98 The Firumbras group: The Sowdon of Babylon and the Fillingham Firumbras 99 The late prose versions 104 The character of the Matter of France romances 105

6 The Matter of Rome 109 The Troy legends: The Gest Historiale of the Destruction of Troy and The SeegeofTroye 111 Legends of Alexander the Great: The Wars of Alexander and Kyng Alisaunder 120 Chaucer, Lydgate and Caxton on the Matter of Rome 128 The character of the Matter of Rome romances 129

7 The Matter of Britain 132 Dynastic romance: Layamon's Brut 132 The alliterative Morte Arthure 138 The stanzaic Morte Arthur 142 Malory's Morte Darthur 147 Chivalric romance and folk romance: Sir Tristrem and Sir Perceval of Galles 153 Gawain romances: Ywain and Gawain 158 Golagrus and Gawain 163 Sir Gawain and the Green Knight 166

8 The Matter of Romance 177 From mode to genre 177 A derivative of the Matter of England: Richard Coer de Lyon 179 Derivatives of the Matter of France: Rauf Coilyear and Chevalere Assigne 181 The Matter of the Orient: Floris and Blancheflur 182 A derivative of the Matter of Rome: Sir Orfeo 186 The Breton lay in English: Sir Launfal 190 The dominance of genre: William of Paleme 194 Romance as a didactic genre: Amis and Amiloun 199 The diffusion of genre 204 CONTENTS Vli

9 Conclusion 208

Chronology 237

Bibliography 243 Bibliographies: 243 General; Selective; Annual The nature of romance 245 Romance as genre or mode; Technical aspects of English romance The social context of romance 249 General history; Social history; Chivalry and courtly love; Literature and society French romance 256 Bibliographies; Literary histories; Studies of romance; La Chanson de Roland; The Matter of Rome romances; The lais of Marie de France; The Tristan legend; Evolution of the Matter of Britain, in legend, in literature; Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia; Wace's Roman de Brut; The romances of Chretien de Troyes; Continuations of Chretien's Perceval; The Vulgate Cycle English romance 271 Literary histories; Studies of romance; Anthologies of romance texts; Individual texts Index 285