''Torrent of Portyngale'' is a
Middle English
Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English ...
romance
Romance (from Vulgar Latin , "in the Roman language", i.e., "Latin") may refer to:
Common meanings
* Romance (love), emotional attraction towards another person and the courtship behaviors undertaken to express the feelings
* Romance languages, ...
, composed around 1400, probably in the north Midlands. It is written in 12-line tail-rhyme stanzas, with the
rhyme scheme
A rhyme scheme is the pattern of rhymes at the end of each line of a poem or song. It is usually referred to by using letters to indicate which lines rhyme; lines designated with the same letter all rhyme with each other.
An example of the ABAB r ...
AABCCBDDBEEB, and is number 983 in the ''
Index of Middle English Verse''. It is possible that it draws some inspiration from the Middle English ''
Sir Eglamour of Artois
''Sir Eglamour of Artois'' is a Middle English verse romance that was written sometime around 1350. It is a narrative poem of about 1300 lines, a tail-rhyme romance that was quite popular in its day, judging from the number of copies that have s ...
''. The romance survives only in the fifteenth-century East-Midland manuscript Manchester,
Chetham's Library
Chetham's Library in Manchester, England, is the oldest free public reference library in the English-speaking world.Nicholls (2004), p. 20. Chetham's Hospital, which contains both the library and Chetham's School of Music, was established in ...
, MS 8009 (folios 76r-119v). The romance describes the tortuous efforts of the young earl's son Torrent to win the hand of Desonell, daughter of King Colomond of Portugal, against her father's wishes. Amongst other feats, Torrent fights five giants on different occasions and travels to Jerusalem. The romance ends with Torrent and Desonell's marriage and the uniting of their family. It has been characterised as 'perhaps the most critically neglected member of the Middle English verse romances'.
[Keith David Montgomery, 'Torrent of Portyngale: a critical edition' (unpublished PhD thesis, University of Auckland, 2008), abstract, http://hdl.handle.net/2292/4542.]
Editions
* E. Adam, ed., ''Torrent of Portyngale. Reedited from the Unique MS in the Chetham Library, Manchester'', Early English Text Society, extra series, 51 (London, 1887; rpt. 1973), http://www.gutenberg.org/files/35190/35190-h/35190-h.htm, https://archive.org/details/torrentofportyng00adamrich
* James Orchard Halliwell, ed., ''Torrent of Portugal: An English Metrical Romance'' (London: Russell Smith, 1842)
* Keith David Montgomery, 'Torrent of Portyngale: a critical edition' (unpublished PhD thesis, University of Auckland, 2008), http://hdl.handle.net/2292/4542.
Online manuscript facsimile
References
{{reflist
External links
''Torrent of Portyngale''translated and retold in modern English prose, the story from Chetham’s Library, Manchester, MS Chetham 8009 (from the Middle English of the Early English Text Society edition: Adam, E., 1887, reprinted unaltered, 1973. ''Torrent of Portyngale'', Published by N Trübner & Co, London, for the Early English Text Society, reprinted by Kraus Reprint Co).
15th-century poems
Middle English poems
Narrative poems
Romance (genre)