''Amis et Amiles'' is an old
French romance based on a widespread legend of friendship and sacrifice. In its earlier and simpler form it is the story of two friends, one of whom, Amis, was sick with
leprosy
Leprosy, also known as Hansen's disease (HD), is a Chronic condition, long-term infection by the bacteria ''Mycobacterium leprae'' or ''Mycobacterium lepromatosis''. Infection can lead to damage of the Peripheral nervous system, nerves, respir ...
because he had committed
perjury
Perjury (also known as forswearing) is the intentional act of swearing a false oath or falsifying an affirmation to tell the truth, whether spoken or in writing, concerning matters material to an official proceeding."Perjury The act or an insta ...
to save his friend. A vision informed him that he could only be cured by bathing in the blood of Amiles's children. When Amiles learnt this he killed the children, who were, however, miraculously restored to life after the cure of Amis.
The tale found its way into
French literature
French literature () generally speaking, is literature written in the French language, particularly by French people, French citizens; it may also refer to literature written by people living in France who speak traditional languages of Franc ...
through the medium of
Latin
Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
, as the names Amicus and Amelius indicate, and was eventually attached to the
Carolingian cycle in the 12th-century
chanson de geste
The , from 'deeds, actions accomplished') is a medieval narrative, a type of epic poetry, epic poem that appears at the dawn of French literature. The earliest known poems of this genre date from the late 11th and early 12th centuries, shortly ...
of Amis et Amiles. This poem is written in
decasyllabic
Decasyllable (Italian language, Italian: ''decasillabo'', French language, French: ''décasyllabe'', Serbian language, Serbian: ''десетерац'', ''deseterac'') is a Poetry, poetic Meter (poetry), meter of ten syllables used in poetic trad ...
assonance
Assonance is the repetition of identical or similar phonemes in words or syllables that occur close together, either in terms of their vowel phonemes (e.g., ''lean green meat'') or their consonant phonemes (e.g., ''Kip keeps capes ''). However, in ...
d verse, each
stanza
In poetry, a stanza (; from Italian ''stanza'', ; ) is a group of lines within a poem, usually set off from others by a blank line or indentation. Stanzas can have regular rhyme and metrical schemes, but they are not required to have either. ...
being terminated by a short line. It belongs to the heroic period of French
epic
Epic commonly refers to:
* Epic poetry, a long narrative poem celebrating heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation
* Epic film, a genre of film defined by the spectacular presentation of human drama on a grandiose scale
Epic(s) ...
, containing some passages of great beauty, notably the episode of the slaying of the children, and maintains a high level of poetry throughout.
The oldest version is a Latin poem composed around 1090 by Radulphus Tortarius, a monk of Fleury. The opening lines suggests that the poet was retelling a popular tale: ''Historiam Gallus, breviter quam replico, novit...'' (''The Gaul knows the tale, which I am briefly telling...''). More distant origins are rooted in folklore.
Plot
Amis has married Lubias and become count of Blaives (Blaye), while Amiles has become
seneschal
The word ''seneschal'' () can have several different meanings, all of which reflect certain types of supervising or administering in a historic context. Most commonly, a seneschal was a senior position filled by a court appointment within a royal, ...
at the court of
Charlemagne
Charlemagne ( ; 2 April 748 – 28 January 814) was List of Frankish kings, King of the Franks from 768, List of kings of the Lombards, King of the Lombards from 774, and Holy Roman Emperor, Emperor of what is now known as the Carolingian ...
, and is seduced by the emperor's daughter, Bellisant. The lovers are betrayed, and Amiles is unable to find the necessary supporters to enable him to clear himself by the ordeal of single combat, and fears, moreover, to fight in a false cause. He is granted a reprieve, and goes in search of Amis, who engages to personate him in the combat. He thus saves his friend, but in so doing perjures himself. Then follows the leprosy of Amis, and, after a lapse of years, his discovery of Amiles and cure.
There are obvious reminiscences in this story of
Damon and Pythias
The story of Damon (; , gen. Δάμωνος) and Pythias (;
or
; or Phintias, ) is a legend in Greek historic writings illustrating the Pythagorean ideal of friendship. Pythias is accused of and charged with plotting against the tyrannical Dion ...
, and of the classical instances of sacrifice at the divine command. The legend of Amis and Amiles occurs in many forms with slight variations, the names and positions of the friends being sometimes reversed. The crown of
martyrdom
A martyr (, ''mártys'', 'witness' stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an external party. In colloqui ...
was not lacking, for Amis and Amiles were slain by
Ogier the Dane
Ogier the Dane (; ) is a legendary paladin of Charlemagne who appears in many Old French ''chanson de geste, chansons de geste''. In particular, he features as the protagonist in ''La Chevalerie Ogier'' (), which belongs to the ''Geste de Doon de ...
at Novara on their way home from a pilgrimage to the Holy Land.
''
Jourdain de Blaives'', a chanson de geste which partly reproduces the story of
Apollonius of Tyre
Apollonius of Tyre is the hero of a short ancient novel, popular in the Middle Ages. Existing in numerous forms in many languages, all are thought to derive from an ancient Greek version now lost.
Plot summary
In most versions, the eponymous ...
, was attached to the geste of Amis by making Jourdain his grandson.
Versions
The versions of ''Amis and Amiles'' include:
* Numerous Latin recensions in prose and verse, notably that given by
Vincent de Beauvais in his ' (lib. xxiii. cap. 162-166 and 169) and the supposed earliest by
Rodulfus Tortarius
* An
Anglo-Norman version in short
rhyme
A rhyme is a repetition of similar sounds (usually the exact same phonemes) in the final Stress (linguistics), stressed syllables and any following syllables of two or more words. Most often, this kind of rhyming (''perfect rhyming'') is consciou ...
d
couplet
In poetry, a couplet ( ) or distich ( ) is a pair of successive lines that rhyme and have the same metre. A couplet may be formal (closed) or run-on (open). In a formal (closed) couplet, each of the two lines is end-stopped, implying that there ...
s, which is not attached to the Charlemagne legend and agrees fairly closely with the English ''
Amis and Amiloun Amis may refer to:
* Amis (surname)
* Amis people (or ''Amis''), a tribe of Taiwanese aborigines
* Amis language, an indigenous language of Taiwan
* AMIS (ISP), an Internet service provider (ISP) in Slovenia and Croatia
* Amis et Amiles, an ol ...
'' (Midland dialect, 13th century); these with the
old Norse
Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...
version are printed by
Eugen Kölbing, ''Altengl. Bibl. vol. ii.'' (1889), and the English romance also in
H. Weber, ''Metrical Romances, vol. ii.'' (1810); it also appears in the
Auchinleck manuscript
* The 12th-century French
chanson de geste
The , from 'deeds, actions accomplished') is a medieval narrative, a type of epic poetry, epic poem that appears at the dawn of French literature. The earliest known poems of this genre date from the late 11th and early 12th centuries, shortly ...
analysed by
P. Paris in ''Hist. litt. de la France'' (vol. xxii.), and edited by
K. Hofmann (Erlangen, 1882) with the addition of
Jourdain de Blaives
* The
Middle Welsh
Middle Welsh (, ) is the label attached to the Welsh language of the 12th to 15th centuries, of which much more remains than for any earlier period. This form of Welsh developed directly from Old Welsh ().
Literature and history
Middle Welsh is ...
', composed perhaps in the early fourteenth century
* The probably fourteenth-century
Old Norse
Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...
''
Amícus saga ok Amilíus'', translated from
Vincent de Beauvais's ''Speculum historiale'', probably during the reign of
Haakon V of Norway
Haakon V Magnusson (10 April 1270 – 8 May 1319) (; ) was King of Norway from 1299 until 1319.
Biography
Haakon was the younger surviving son of Magnus the Lawmender, King of Norway, and his wife Ingeborg of Denmark. Through his mother, ...
* The Latin ' (pr. by Kolbing, op. cit.) and its
Old French
Old French (, , ; ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France approximately between the late 8th translation, ', L. Molaud">-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ...
translation, ', L. Molaud and C. d'Henault in ''Nouvelles du xiiie siecle'' (Paris, 1856)
* Walter Pater's retelling of the story in the first chapter of his ''The'' ''Renaissance: Studies in Art and Poetry'' (1888), 'Two Early French Stories.'
''.
* Shapiro, Marianne. “‘AMI ET AMILE’ AND MYTHS OF DIVINE TWINSHIP.” Romanische Forschungen, vol. 102, no. 2/3, 1990, pp. 131–148. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/27940080. Accessed 28 Apr. 2020.
*Foster, Edward E. (ed.), 'Amys and Amiloun', in ''Amis and Amiloun, Robert of Cisyle, and Sir Amadace'', 2nd edn (Kalamazoo, Michigan: Medieval Institute Publications, 2007)
*Fukui, Hideka (ed.). ''Amys e Amillyoun''. Anglo-Norman Text Society. Plain Texts Series 7. London, 1990. Based on
MS Royal 12 C.
* ''The Birth of Romance: An Anthology. Four Twelfth-century Anglo-Norman Romances'', trans. by Judith Weiss and Malcolm Andrew (London: Dent, 1992), ; repr. as ''The Birth of Romance in England: Four Twelfth-Century Romances in the French of England'', trans. by Judith Weiss, Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies, 344/The French of England Translation Series, 4 (Tempe, Ariz.: Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 2009), {{ISBN, 9780866983921.