Amis and Amiloun, Robert of Cisyle, and Sir Amadace

Book excerpt: In A Manual of the Writings in Middle English, Amis and Amiloun, Robert of Cisyle, and Sir Amadace are classified by Lillian Herlands Hornstein as Legendary Romances of Didactic Intent. Amis, produced in the East Midlands in the late thirteenth century was well known throughout Europe, but according to Edward Foster, the Middle English version is especially lively, entertaining, and perplexing.Robert of Cisyle was also a common and popular story. Like the medieval tragedies recounted in Chaucer's The Monk's Tale, it recounts the story of the fall of a great man and his ultimate triumph once he has been thoroughly humiliated.The stress in Sir Amadace is on material things: Amadace's original plight is material, his succor of the unburied knight is material, the white knight's assistance to him is material, his redemption is material . . . , and his ultimate happiness is material. - from the Introduction