Amadis de Gaula
Encyclopedia
Knight-errant
A knight-errant is a figure of medieval chivalric romance literature. "Errant," meaning wandering or roving, indicates how the knight-errant would typically wander the land in search of adventures to prove himself as a knight, such as in a pas d'armes.The first known appearance of the term...
ry tales
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
which were in vogue in 16th century Iberian Peninsula
Iberian Peninsula
The Iberian Peninsula , sometimes called Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes the modern-day sovereign states of Spain, Portugal and Andorra, as well as the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar...
, and formed the earliest reading of many Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
and Baroque
Baroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
writers, although it was written at the onset of the 14th century.
The first known printed edition was published in Zaragoza
Zaragoza
Zaragoza , also called Saragossa in English, is the capital city of the Zaragoza Province and of the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain...
in 1508, by Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo
Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo
Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo was a Spanish author who arranged the modern version of the chivalric romance Amadis of Gaul, written in three books in the 14th century by an unknown author...
(or Garci Ordóñez de Montalvo). It was published in four books in Castilian
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
, but its origins are unclear: The narrative originates in the late post-Arthurian
Matter of Britain
The Matter of Britain is a name given collectively to the body of literature and legendary material associated with Great Britain and its legendary kings, particularly King Arthur...
genre and had certainly been read as early as the 14th century by the chancellor
Chancellor
Chancellor is the title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the Cancellarii of Roman courts of justice—ushers who sat at the cancelli or lattice work screens of a basilica or law court, which separated the judge and counsel from the...
Pero López de Ayala
Pero López de Ayala
Don Pero López de Ayala was a Castilian statesman, historian, poet, chronicler, chancellor, and courtier. Ayala were one of the major aristocratic families of Castile; they were later claimed to be of the Jewish converso descent, but Pero's own father composed a genealogy tracing the family from...
as well as his contemporary Pero Ferrús
Pero Ferrús
Pero Ferrús was a Castilian poet. He lived in Alcalá de Henares....
.
Montalvo himself confesses to have amended (plagiarized?) the first three volumes, and to be the author of the fourth. Additionally, in the Portuguese
Portuguese language
Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
Chronicle of Gomes Eannes de Azurara
Gomes Eannes de Azurara
Gomes Eanes de Zurara , sometimes spelled Eannes or Azurara, was the second of the notable Portuguese chroniclers, after Fernão Lopes.- Life and career :Gomes Eanes de Zurara adopted the career of letters in middle life...
(1454), the writing of Amadis is attributed to Vasco de Lobeira
Vasco de Lobeira
Vasco de Lobeira was a medieval writer to whom is attributed the prose original of the romance Amadis de Gaula. In the Portuguese Chronicle of Gomes Eannes de Azurara , the writing of Amadís is attributed to Vasco de Lobeira, who was dubbed knight after the Battle of Aljubarrota...
, who was dubbed knight
Knight
A knight was a member of a class of lower nobility in the High Middle Ages.By the Late Middle Ages, the rank had become associated with the ideals of chivalry, a code of conduct for the perfect courtly Christian warrior....
after the battle of Aljubarrota (1385). However, it seems that in fact the work was a copy of João de Lobeira, not the troubadour
Troubadour
A troubadour was a composer and performer of Old Occitan lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages . Since the word "troubadour" is etymologically masculine, a female troubadour is usually called a trobairitz....
Vasco de Lobeira, and that rather than originating with him it was the translation of an earlier work in Castilian Spanish from the beginning of the 14th century around 1304. The inspiration for the "Amadis de Gaula" appears to be the hindered marriage of Infanta Constanza of Aragon with Henry of Castile in 1260 (See Juan Manuel's Libro de las Armas of 1335). So was the marriage of Oriana with Amadis. Henry of Castile is now supposed to be the author of the novel, due to evidence linking his biography with the events in "Amadis". Henry of Castile died in 1305.
In his introduction to the text, Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo explains that he has edited the first three books of a text in circulation since the 14th century. Montalvo also admits to adding a fourth as yet unpublished book as well as adding a continuation (Las sergas de Esplandián
Las sergas de Esplandián
Las Sergas de Esplandián is the fifth book in a series of Spanish chivalric romance novels by Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo, which began with Amadís de Gaula. The first known edition of this work was published in Seville in July 1510...
), which he claims was found in a buried chest in Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
and transported to Spain by a Hungarian
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
merchant (the famous motif of the found manuscript
False document
A false document is a literary technique employed to create verisimilitude in a work of fiction. By inventing and inserting documents that appear to be factual, an author tries to create a sense of authenticity beyond the normal and expected suspension of disbelief for a work of art...
).
Characters and plot
The story narrates the star-crossedStar-crossed
"Star-crossed" or "star-crossed lovers" is a phrase describing a pair of lovers whose relationship is often thwarted by outside forces. The term encompasses other meanings, but originally means the pairing is being "thwarted by a malign star" or that the stars are working against the relationship...
love of King Perión of Gaul
Gaul
Gaul was a region of Western Europe during the Iron Age and Roman era, encompassing present day France, Luxembourg and Belgium, most of Switzerland, the western part of Northern Italy, as well as the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the left bank of the Rhine. The Gauls were the speakers of...
and Elisena of England, resulting in the secret birth of Amadís. Abandoned
Child abandonment
Child abandonment is the practice of relinquishing interests and claims over one's offspring with the intent of never again resuming or reasserting them. Causes include many social and cultural factors as well as mental illness. An abandoned child is called a foundling .-Causes:Poverty is often a...
at birth on a barge in England, the child is raised by the knight Gandales in Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
and investigates his origins through fantastic adventures.
He is persecuted by the wizard Arcalaús, but protected by Urganda la Desconocida (Urganda the Unknown or Unrecognized), an ambiguous priestess with magical powers and a talent for prophecy. Knighted by his father King Perión, Amadís overcomes the challenges of the enchanted Insola Firme (a sort of peninsula), including passing through the Arch of Faithful Lovers.
Despite Amadis' celebrated fidelity, his childhood sweetheart, Oriana
Oriana
Oriana is primarily a female given name, widespread, even if not very common, in European languages.-Possible roots of the name:Its etymological origins are probably mixed...
, heiress to the throne of Great Britain, becomes jealous of a rival princess and sends a letter to chastize Amadís. The knight (later famously parodied in Don Quixote), changes his name to Beltenebros and indulges in a long period of madness on the isolated Peña Pobre.
He recovers his senses only when Oriana sends her maid to retrieve him. He then helps Oriana's father, Lisuarte, repel invaders. A short time later he and Oriana scandalously consummate their love. Their son Esplandián is the result of this one illicit meeting.
Rodríguez de Montalvo asserts that in the "original" Amadís, Esplandián eventually kills his father for this offense against his mother's honor; however, Montalvo amends this defect and resolves their conflict peaceably.
Oriana and Amadís defer their marriage for many years due to enmity between Amadís and Oriana's father Lisuarte. Amadís absents himself from Britain for at least ten years, masquerading as "The Knight of the Green Sword". He travels as far as Constantinople and secures the favor of the child-princess Leonorina, who will become Esplandián's wife. His most famous adventure during this time of exile is the battle with the giant Endriago, a monster born of incest who exhales a poisonous reek and whose body is covered in scales.
As a knight, Amadís is courteous, gentle, sensitive and a Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
who dares to defend free love. Unlike most literary heroes of his time (French and German, for example) Amadís is a handsome man who would cry if refused by his lady, but is invincible in battle and usually emerges drenched in his own and his opponent's blood.
Literary significance
Called also Amadís sin Tiempo (Amadis without Time) by his mother (in allusion to the fact that being conceived outside marriage she would have to abandon him and he would probably die), he is the most representative IberianIberian Peninsula
The Iberian Peninsula , sometimes called Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes the modern-day sovereign states of Spain, Portugal and Andorra, as well as the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar...
hero of chivalric Romance
Romance (genre)
As a literary genre of high culture, romance or chivalric romance is a style of heroic prose and verse narrative that was popular in the aristocratic circles of High Medieval and Early Modern Europe. They were fantastic stories about marvel-filled adventures, often of a knight errant portrayed as...
. His adventures ran to four volumes, probably the most popular such tales of their time. François de la Noue
François de la Noue
François de la Noue , called Bras-de-Fer, one of the Huguenot captains of the 16th century, was born near Nantes in 1531, of an ancient Breton family....
, one of the Huguenot captains of the 16th century, affirmed that reading the romances of Amadis had caused a "spirit of vertigo" even in his more rationally-minded generation. The books show a complete idealization and simplification of knight-errantry. Even servants are hardly heard of, but there are many princesses, ladies and kings. Knights and damsels in distress
Damsel in distress
The subject of the damsel in distress, or persecuted maiden, is a classic theme in world literature, art, and film. She is usually a beautiful young woman placed in a dire predicament by a villain or monster and who requires a hero to achieve her rescue. She has become a stock character of fiction,...
are found everywhere. The book's style is reasonably modern, but lacks dialogue and the character's impressions, mostly describing the action.
The book's style
Literary genre
A literary genre is a category of literary composition. Genres may be determined by literary technique, tone, content, or even length. Genre should not be confused with age category, by which literature may be classified as either adult, young-adult, or children's. They also must not be confused...
was praised by the usually demanding Juan de Valdés
Juan de Valdés
Juan de Valdés was a Spanish religious writer.He was the younger of twin sons of Fernando de Valdés, hereditary regidor of Cuenca in Castile, where Valdés was born. He has been confused with his twin brother Alfonso...
, although he considered that from time to time it was too low or too high a style. The language is characterized by a certain "Latinizing" influence in its syntax
Syntax
In linguistics, syntax is the study of the principles and rules for constructing phrases and sentences in natural languages....
, especially the tendency to place the verb
Verb
A verb, from the Latin verbum meaning word, is a word that in syntax conveys an action , or a state of being . In the usual description of English, the basic form, with or without the particle to, is the infinitive...
at the end of the sentence
Sentence (linguistics)
In the field of linguistics, a sentence is an expression in natural language, and often defined to indicate a grammatical unit consisting of one or more words that generally bear minimal syntactic relation to the words that precede or follow it...
; as well as other such details, such as the use of the present participle, which bring Amadís into line with the allegorical
Allegory
Allegory is a demonstrative form of representation explaining meaning other than the words that are spoken. Allegory communicates its message by means of symbolic figures, actions or symbolic representation...
style of the 15th century.
Nevertheless, there is a breach of style when Garci Rodriguez de Montalvo presents the fourth book. It becomes dull and solemn, reflecting the nature of the intruding writer. The first three books are inspired in deeds and feats by knights errant, dating back to the 13th century, while the fourth book emerges as a less brilliant attachment of the 16th century. The pristine style of "Amadis" can be perceived in the few original famous pages analyzed by Antonio Rodriguez Moñino: It is lively and straight to the facts of war and love, with brief dialogs, all quite elegant and amusing. Amadís of Gaul is frequently referenced in the satirical classic Don Quixote, written by Miguel de Cervantes
Miguel de Cervantes
Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra was a Spanish novelist, poet, and playwright. His magnum opus, Don Quixote, considered the first modern novel, is a classic of Western literature, and is regarded amongst the best works of fiction ever written...
in the early 17th century. The character Don Quixote idolizes Amadís, and often compares his hero's adventures to his own.
Historically, Amadís was very influential amongst the Spanish conquistador
Conquistador
Conquistadors were Spanish soldiers, explorers, and adventurers who brought much of the Americas under the control of Spain in the 15th to 16th centuries, following Europe's discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus in 1492...
es. Bernal Diaz del Castillo
Bernal Díaz del Castillo
Bernal Díaz del Castillo was a conquistador, who wrote an eyewitness account of the conquest of Mexico by the Spaniards for Hernán Cortés, himself serving as a rodelero under Cortés.-Early life:...
mentioned the wonders of Amadís upon witnessing the wonders of the New World — and such place names as California
Origin of the name California
California is a place name used by three North American states: in the United States by the state of California, and in Mexico by the states of Baja California and Baja California Sur. Collectively, these three areas constitute the region formerly referred to as Las Californias...
come directly from the work.
Origins
As mentioned above, the origin of Amadís and his adventures is disputed. A Spanish writer, Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo, edited and published the first printed edition (and earliest extant version) in three volumes in 1508. While the fourth volume is generally regarded as Rodríguez de Montalvo's own work, he claimed to be publishing earlier sources and it is generally accepted that the first three volumes derive from a previous manuscript or oral tradition. Montalvo's claims have recently been supported by Antonio Rodríguez Moñino's finding of four 15th century manuscript fragments (ca. 1420). The name "Esplandián" is clearly visible in one of these. The fragments belong to the collection of the Bancroft LibraryBancroft Library
The Bancroft Library is the primary special collections library of the University of California, Berkeley. It was acquired as a gift/purchase from its founder, Hubert Howe Bancroft, with the proviso that it retain the name Bancroft Library in perpetuity...
at the University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
. In the Spanish translation of Egidio Colonna's De Regimine Principum, Amadís is mentioned and also the poet Enrico, who could well be Enrico de Castiglia. Egidio Colonna was in Rome 1267 when Henry of Castile was elected Senator. The translation was made around 1350 under King Peter the Cruel.
This is the oldest mention of Amadis.
A Portuguese origin has been most widely accepted but Amadís has been justly claimed by the Spanish, due to the fact that there is no trace of any early Portuguese manuscript. The French and Italians have also claimed to have created Amadis. Also, the action seems, from the names of characters and places, to be supposed to be set primarily in England, and it is usually accepted that the name "Gaula" is related to "Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
". The plot ranges across the continent to Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
and Constantinople, and in the continuations as far as the Holy Land
Holy Land
The Holy Land is a term which in Judaism refers to the Kingdom of Israel as defined in the Tanakh. For Jews, the Land's identifiction of being Holy is defined in Judaism by its differentiation from other lands by virtue of the practice of Judaism often possible only in the Land of Israel...
and the Cyclades
Cyclades
The Cyclades is a Greek island group in the Aegean Sea, south-east of the mainland of Greece; and a former administrative prefecture of Greece. They are one of the island groups which constitute the Aegean archipelago. The name refers to the islands around the sacred island of Delos...
. However, the romance's geography cannot be mapped onto the "real" Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
: it contains just as many fantastic places as real ones. Nevertheless it appears that the Island of the Boiling Lake is Pantelleria by Sicily.
Recently, a new theory of the work's authorship has been proposed by Santiago Sevilla (see talk page), claiming that the Infante Enrique of Castile
Infante Enrique of Castile
Henry of Castile , called El Senador , was a Castilian infante, the younger son of Ferdinand III, King of Castile, by his first wife, Elisabeth of Hohenstaufen....
was the original writer of the epic. Enrique of Castille lived for four years at the court of Edward I of England, who was married to his sister, queen Eleanor of Castile. According to this theory, the character Lisuarte is Edward, Oriana is Eleanor of England, the maid of Denmark is in fact the Maid of Norway, and Amadis is modelled after Simon de Montfort
Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester
Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester, 1st Earl of Chester , sometimes referred to as Simon V de Montfort to distinguish him from other Simon de Montforts, was an Anglo-Norman nobleman. He led the barons' rebellion against King Henry III of England during the Second Barons' War of 1263-4, and...
, the heroic Norman earl of Leicester. Furthermore, Esplandian could be his infamous warrior son, Guy de Montfort, count of Mola, Brian de Monjaste is in fact Enrique of Castile himself, and the battle against the Arabic king is the Battle of Benevento
Battle of Benevento
The Battle of Benevento was fought near Benevento, in present-day Southern Italy, on February 26, 1266, between the troops of Charles of Anjou and Manfred of Sicily. Manfred's defeat and death resulted in the capture of the Kingdom of Sicily by Charles....
against King Manfred of Sicily, who had a host of Arabian light cavalry and Arab archers. The historical Enrique of Castile wandered, as knight errant and poet, to wage wars in Tunis, Naples and Sicily where he fought in those Battles of Benevento and Tagliacozzo, and became a prisoner of the Pope and Charles d'Anjou in Canosa di Puglia, and Castel del Monte, from 1268 to 1291, where he would have reputedly written a good part of Amadis, before returning to Spain to become Regent of Castile, before his death in 1304. According to the author of this theory, it would have been inconvenient for Enrique of Castille, due to his high office, to declare his authorship, but the work bears his marks as a poet and troubadour. It appears that Henry of Castile handed the manuscript of Amadis to King Diniz of Portugal in 1295, according to "O Romance de Amadis" by Alonso Lopes Vieira, and the account of the visit of Henry of Castile in Portugal to his nephew, the king.
Despite the various theories of the work's origins, Rodríguez de Montalvo's Spanish version, as the only complete edition known, is considered definitive, and it was the one who made the character widely known on a European scale.
Sequels and Translations
Amadís of Gaul's popularity was such that in the decades following its publication, dozens of sequelSequel
A sequel is a narrative, documental, or other work of literature, film, theatre, or music that continues the story of or expands upon issues presented in some previous work...
s of sometimes minor quality were published in Spanish, Italian and German, together with a number of other imitative works. Montalvo himself cashed in with the continuation Las sergas de Esplandián
Las sergas de Esplandián
Las Sergas de Esplandián is the fifth book in a series of Spanish chivalric romance novels by Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo, which began with Amadís de Gaula. The first known edition of this work was published in Seville in July 1510...
(Book V), and the sequel-specialist Feliciano de Silva
Feliciano de Silva
Feliciano de Silva was a Spanish writer.de Silva was born in Ciudad Rodrigo to a powerful family, Silva wrote “sequels” to Celestina and Amadis de Gaula. Silva was a prolific writer. His first chivalresque work, Lisurate de Grecia , was published in 1514. It is a relatively short work...
(also the author of Second Celestina) added four more books including Amadis of Greece
Amadis of Greece
Amadis of Greece is a tale of knight-errantry written by Feliciano de Silva, a “sequel-specialist” who continued the adventures of Amadis de Gaula in this ninth installment...
(Book IX). Miguel de Cervantes
Miguel de Cervantes
Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra was a Spanish novelist, poet, and playwright. His magnum opus, Don Quixote, considered the first modern novel, is a classic of Western literature, and is regarded amongst the best works of fiction ever written...
wrote Don Quixote as a parody of the resulting genre
Genre
Genre , Greek: genos, γένος) is the term for any category of literature or other forms of art or culture, e.g. music, and in general, any type of discourse, whether written or spoken, audial or visual, based on some set of stylistic criteria. Genres are formed by conventions that change over time...
. Cervantes and his protagonist Quixote, however, hold the original Amadís in very high esteem.
The later books increasingly use techniques and incidents borrowed from the ancient Greek novel (Heliodorus
Heliodorus of Emesa
Heliodorus of Emesa, from Emesa, Syria, was a Greek writer generally dated to the third century AD who is known for the ancient Greek novel or romance called the Aethiopica or sometimes "Theagenes and Chariclea"....
, Longus
Longus
Longus, sometimes Longos , was the author of an ancient Greek novel or romance, Daphnis and Chloe. Very little is known of his life, and it is assumed that he lived on the isle of Lesbos during the 2nd century AD...
and Achilles Tatius
Achilles Tatius
Achilles Tatius of Alexandria was a Roman era Greek writer whose fame is attached to his only surviving work, the ancient Greek novel or romance The Adventures of Leucippe and Clitophon.-Life and minor works:...
) and the pastoral
Pastoral
The adjective pastoral refers to the lifestyle of pastoralists, such as shepherds herding livestock around open areas of land according to seasons and the changing availability of water and pasturage. It also refers to a genre in literature, art or music that depicts such shepherd life in an...
novel from Italy and Spain (Jacopo Sannazaro
Jacopo Sannazaro
Jacopo Sannazaro was an Italian poet, humanist and epigrammist from Naples.He wrote easily in Latin, in Italian and in Neapolitan, but is best remembered for his humanist classic Arcadia, a masterwork that illustrated the possibilities of poetical prose in Italian, and instituted the theme of...
and Jorge de Montemayor
Jorge de Montemayor
Jorge de Montemayor was a Portuguese novelist and poet, who wrote almost exclusively in Spanish.-Biography:He was born at Montemor-o-Velho , whence he derived his name, the Spanish form of which is Montemayor....
).
The Spanish volumes, with their authors and the names of their main characters:
- Books I–IV : 1508 (Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo) : Amadís de Gaula.
- Book V : 1510 (Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo) : Esplandián
- Book VI : 1510 (Páez de Ribera) — this volume was universally maligned
- Book VII : 1514 (Feliciano de SilvaFeliciano de SilvaFeliciano de Silva was a Spanish writer.de Silva was born in Ciudad Rodrigo to a powerful family, Silva wrote “sequels” to Celestina and Amadis de Gaula. Silva was a prolific writer. His first chivalresque work, Lisurate de Grecia , was published in 1514. It is a relatively short work...
) : Lisuarte de Grecia - Book VIII : 1526 (Juan Díaz) — Diaz had Amadis die in this volume which was much criticized
- Book IX : 1530 (Feliciano de Silva) : Amadis de Grecia (Amadis of GreeceAmadis of GreeceAmadis of Greece is a tale of knight-errantry written by Feliciano de Silva, a “sequel-specialist” who continued the adventures of Amadis de Gaula in this ninth installment...
) - Book X : 1532 (Feliciano de Silva) : Florisel de Niquea
- Book XI : 1535 & 1551 (Feliciano de Silva) : Rogel de Grecia
- Book XII : 1546 (Pedro de Luján) : Silves de la Selva
The Italian Continuation:
- Books XIII–XVIII (Mambrino Roseo da Fabriano)
The German Continuation:
- Books XIX–XXI : 1594–5
In Germany and England, Amadís was known chiefly through its French translations, and in England the cycle was generally referred to by its French title Amadis de Gaule. The French translations did not follow the Spanish book divisions exactly, and the entire cycle in the French version extends to 24 volumes.
French translations, with their translators:
- Book I : 1540 (Nicolas de Herberay des EssartsNicolas de Herberay des EssartsNicolas de Herberay des Essarts , French translator, was born in Picardy.He served in the artillery, and at the expressed desire of Francis I he translated intoFrench the first eight books of Amadis de Gaula...
) - Book II : 1541 (Nicolas de Herberay des Essarts)
- Book III : 1542 (Nicolas de Herberay des Essarts)
- Book IV : 1543 (Nicolas de Herberay des Essarts)
- Book V : 1544 (Nicolas de Herberay des Essarts)
- (Spanish book VI was rejected as apocryphal)
- Book VI : 1545 (Nicolas de Herberay des Essarts) (actually Spanish Book VII)
- (Spanish Book VIII was rejected because it told of the death of Amadis)
- Book VII : 1546 (Nicolas de Herberay des Essarts) (actually Spanish Book IXa)
- Book VIII : 1548 (Nicolas de Herberay des Essarts) (actually Spanish Book IXb)
- Book IX : 1551 (Giles Boileau & Claude Colet) (actually Spanish Book Xa)
- Book X : 1552 (Jacques Gohory) (actually Spanish Book Xb)
- Book XI : 1554 (Jacques Gohory) (actually Spanish Book XIa)
- Book XII : 1556 (Guillaume Aubert) (actually Spanish Book XIb)
- Book XIII : 1571 (Jacques Gohory) (actually Spanish Book XIIa)
- Book XIV : 1574 (Antoine Tyron) (actually Spanish Book XIIb)
- Books XV – XXI : 1576–1581
- Books XXII–XXIV : after 1594
In Portugal, and other parts of Iberia, the Amadis cycle also launched other adventure series, such as:
- Palmerin d'Oliva — original anonymous text in Castilian: 1511
- Primaleon of Greece, son of Palmerin d'Oliva — original anonymous text in Castilian: 1512
- Palmeirim de Inglaterra (Palmeirim of England) — original Portuguese text by Francisco de Morais CabralFrancisco de MoraesFrancisco de Moraes Cabral was a Portuguese writer. Born in Braganza, he served as personal secretary to the Portuguese ambassador in France, and composed, during two voyages to Paris , a chivalric romance called Palmerin d’Angleterre , a "spin-off" of...
: c.1544 (published 1567) - Dom Duardos — original Portuguese text by Diogo Fernandes
- Dom Clarisel de Bretanha — original Portuguese text by Gonçalves Lobato
- Crónica do Imperador Clarimundo (Chronicle of Emperor Clarimund) — original Portuguese text by João de BarrosJoão de BarrosJoão de Barros , called the Portuguese Livy, is one of the first great Portuguese historians, most famous for his Décadas da Ásia , a history of the Portuguese in India and Asia.-Early years:...
- Sagramor — original Portuguese text by Gonçalo Fernandes Trancoso
Operas
- AmadisAmadis (Lully)Amadis or Amadis de Gaule is a tragédie en musique in a prologue and five acts by Jean-Baptiste Lully to a libretto by Philippe Quinault based on Nicolas Herberay des Essarts' adaptation of Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo's Amadis de Gaula. It was premiered at the Paris Opéra January 18, 1684...
(1684) by Jean-Baptiste LullyJean-Baptiste LullyJean-Baptiste de Lully was an Italian-born French composer who spent most of his life working in the court of Louis XIV of France. He is considered the chief master of the French Baroque style. Lully disavowed any Italian influence in French music of the period. He became a French subject in... - Amadigi di GaulaAmadigi di GaulaAmadigi di Gaula is a magical opera in three acts, with music by George Frideric Handel. It was the fifth Italian opera that Handel wrote for London and was composed during his stay at Burlington House in 1715...
(1715) by George Frideric HandelGeorge Frideric HandelGeorge Frideric Handel was a German-British Baroque composer, famous for his operas, oratorios, anthems and organ concertos. Handel was born in 1685, in a family indifferent to music... - Amadis de GauleAmadis de Gaule (J.C. Bach)Amadis de Gaule or Amadis des Gaules is a French opera in three acts by the German composer Johann Christian Bach...
(1779) by Johann Christian BachJohann Christian BachJohann Christian Bach was a composer of the Classical era, the eleventh and youngest son of Johann Sebastian Bach. He is sometimes referred to as 'the London Bach' or 'the English Bach', due to his time spent living in the British capital... - AmadisAmadis (Massenet)Amadis is an opera in three acts with prologue by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Jules Claretie based on the Spanish knight-errantry romance Amadis de Gaula, originally of Portuguese origin, by Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo....
(1922) by Jules MassenetJules MassenetJules Émile Frédéric Massenet was a French composer best known for his operas. His compositions were very popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and he ranks as one of the greatest melodists of his era. Soon after his death, Massenet's style went out of fashion, and many of his operas...
External links
— Italian libretto by Nicola Francesco HaymNicola Francesco Haym
Nicola Francesco Haym was an Italian opera librettist, composer, theatre manager and performer, and numismatist. He is best remembered for adapting texts into libretti for the London operas of George Frideric Handel and Giovanni Bononcini...
for the opera by Handel
- Amadis de Gaula — images of a 1526 edition of the original SpanishSpanish languageSpanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
text - Vasco Lobeira: Amadis de Gaul, Book I, translated from the Spanish version of Garciordonez de Montalvo by Robert SoutheyRobert SoutheyRobert Southey was an English poet of the Romantic school, one of the so-called "Lake Poets", and Poet Laureate for 30 years from 1813 to his death in 1843...
, 1872