As a

literary genre A literary genre is a category of literature. Genres may be determined by List of narrative techniques, literary technique, Tone (literature), tone, Media (communication), content, or length (especially for fiction). They generally move from mor ...

, the chivalric romance is a type of

prose Prose is language that follows the natural flow or rhythm of speech, ordinary grammatical structures, or, in writing, typical conventions and formatting. Thus, prose ranges from informal speaking to formal academic writing. Prose differs most n ...

and verse

narrative A narrative, story, or tale is any account of a series of related events or experiences, whether non-fictional (memoir, biography, news report, documentary, travel literature, travelogue, etc.) or fictional (fairy tale, fable, legend, thriller ...

that was popular in the noble courts of high medieval and

early modern Europe Early modern Europe, also referred to as the post-medieval period, is the period of European history between the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, roughly the mid 15th century to the late 18th century. Histori ...

. They were fantastic stories about marvel-filled

adventure An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme spo ...

s, often of a chivalric knight-errant portrayed as having

hero A hero (feminine: heroine) is a real person or fictional character who, in the face of danger, combats adversity through feats of ingenuity, courage, or Physical strength, strength. The original hero type of classical epics did such thin ...

ic qualities, who goes on a quest. It developed further from the epics as time went on; in particular, "the emphasis on love and courtly manners distinguishes it from the ''

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 ...

'' and other kinds of epic, in which masculine military heroism predominates." Popular literature also drew on themes of romance, but with ironic, satiric, or burlesque intent. Romances reworked

legend A legend is a genre of folklore that consists of a narrative featuring human actions, believed or perceived to have taken place in human history. Narratives in this genre may demonstrate human values, and possess certain qualities that give the ...

s, fairy tales, and history to suit the readers' and hearers' tastes, but by they were out of fashion, and

Miguel de Cervantes Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra ( ; ; 29 September 1547 (assumed) – 22 April 1616 Old Style and New Style dates, NS) was a Spanish writer widely regarded as the greatest writer in the Spanish language and one of the world's pre-eminent novelist ...

famously burlesqued them in his novel ''

Don Quixote , the full title being ''The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha'', is a Spanish novel by Miguel de Cervantes. Originally published in two parts in 1605 and 1615, the novel is considered a founding work of Western literature and is of ...

''. Still, the modern image of "medieval" is more influenced by the romance than by any other medieval genre, and the word ''medieval'' evokes knights, damsels in distress,

dragon A dragon is a Magic (supernatural), magical legendary creature that appears in the folklore of multiple cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but European dragon, dragons in Western cultures since the Hi ...

s, and other romantic tropes. Originally, romance literature was written in

Old French Old French (, , ; ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France approximately between the late 8th Anglo-Norman), Anglo-Norman language">Anglo-Norman), Old Occitan, and Early Franco-Provençal">Old_Occitan.html" ;"title="Anglo-Norman language">Anglo-Norman), Old Occitan">Anglo-Norman language">Anglo-Norman), Old Portuguese, Old Spanish">Old Occitan, and Early Franco-Provençal, and later in Galician–Portuguese">Old Portuguese, Old Spanish, Middle English, Italian language#Origins, Old Italian (Sicilian poetry), and Middle High German. During the early 13th century, romances were increasingly written as prose. In later romances, particularly those of French origin, there is a marked tendency to emphasize themes of courtly love, such as faithfulness in adversity.

Form

Unlike the later form of the

novel A novel is an extended work of narrative fiction usually written in prose and published as a book. The word derives from the for 'new', 'news', or 'short story (of something new)', itself from the , a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ...

and like the chansons de geste, the genre of romance dealt with traditional themes. These were distinguished from earlier epics by heavy use of marvelous events, the elements of love, and the frequent use of a web of interwoven stories, rather than a simple plot unfolding about a main character. The earliest forms were invariably in verse, but the 15th century saw many in prose, often retelling the old, rhymed versions. The romantic form pursued the wish-fulfillment dream where the heroes and heroines were considered representations of the ideals of the age while the villains embodied the threat to their ascendancy. There is also a persistent archetype, which involved a hero's quest. This quest or journey served as the structure that held the narrative together. With regards to the structure, scholars recognize the similarity of the romance to folk tales. Vladimir Propp identified a basic form for this genre and it involved an order that began with initial situation, then followed by departure, complication, first move, second move, and resolution. This structure is also applicable to romance narratives.

Cycles

Overwhelmingly, these were linked in some way, perhaps only in an opening frame story, with three thematic cycles of tales: these were assembled in imagination at a late date as the " Matter of Rome" (actually centered on the life and deeds of

Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon (; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), most commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia (ancient kingdom), Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip ...

conflated with the Trojan War), the " Matter of France" (

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 Roland, his principal paladin) and the " Matter of Britain" (the lives and deeds of

King Arthur According to legends, King Arthur (; ; ; ) was a king of Great Britain, Britain. He is a folk hero and a central figure in the medieval literary tradition known as the Matter of Britain. In Wales, Welsh sources, Arthur is portrayed as a le ...

and the Knights of the Round Table, within which was incorporated the quest for the Holy Grail); medieval authors explicitly described these as comprising all romances. The three "matters" were first described in the 12th century by French poet Jean Bodel, whose epic ' ("Song of the Saxons") contains the lines: In reality, a number of "non-cyclical" romances were written without any such connection; these include such romances as '' King Horn'', '' Robert the Devil'', '' Ipomadon'', '' Emaré'', '' Havelok the Dane'','' Roswall and Lillian'', '' Le Bone Florence of Rome'', and '' Amadas''. Indeed, some tales are found so often that scholars group them together as the " Constance cycle" or the " Crescentia cycle"—referring not to a continuity of character and setting, but to the recognizable plot.

Sources

Many influences are clear in the forms of chivalric romance.

Folklore and folktales

The earliest medieval romances dealt heavily with themes from folklore, which diminished over time, though remaining a presence. Many early tales had the knight, such as Sir Launfal, meet with fairy ladies, and Huon of Bordeaux is aided by King Oberon, but these fairy characters were transformed, more and more often, into wizards and enchantresses. Morgan le Fay never loses her name, but in '' Le Morte d'Arthur'', she studies magic rather than being inherently magical. Similarly, knights lose magical abilities. Still, fairies never completely vanished from the tradition. '' Sir Gawain and the Green Knight'' is a late tale, but the Green Knight himself is an otherworldly being. Early persecuted heroines were often driven from their husbands' homes by the persecutions of their mothers-in-law, whose motives are seldom delineated, and whose accusations are of the heroines' having borne monstrous children, committed infanticide, or practiced witchcraft — all of which appear in such fairy tales as '' The Girl Without Hands'' and many others. As time progressed, a new persecutor appeared: a courtier who was rejected by the woman or whose ambition requires her removal, and who accuses her of adultery or high treason, motifs not duplicated in fairy tales. While he never eliminates the mother-in-law, many romances such as '' Valentine and Orson'' have later variants that change from the mother-in-law to the courtier, whereas a more recent version never goes back. In Italy there is the story called ''Il Bel Gherardino''. It is the most ancient prototype of an Italian singing fairy tale by an anonymous Tuscan author. It tells the story of a young Italian knight, depleted for its "magnanimitas", who wins the love of a fairy. When he loses this love because he does not comply with her conditions, Gherardino reconquers his lady after a series of labours, including the prison where he is rescued by another woman and a tournament that he wins. Other examples of Italian (Tuscan) poetry tales are Antonio Pucci's literature: ''Gismirante, Il Brutto di Bretagna'' or ''Brito di Bretagna'' ("The ugly knight of Britain") and ''Madonna Lionessa'' ("Lioness Lady"). Another work of a second anonymous Italian author that is worth mentioning is ''Istoria di Tre Giovani Disperati e di Tre Fate'' ("Story of three desperate boys and three fairies").

Religious practices

The Arthurian cycle as a medieval work has also been noted to contains many magical or supernatural references. Drawing from many different sources, some notable allusions include elements of Christianity as well as elements of Celtic legends (an example being the multiple references to the Holy Grail).

Medieval epic

The Medieval romance developed out of the medieval epic, in particular the Matter of France developing out of such tales as the ''

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 ...

'', with intermediate forms where the feudal bonds of loyalty had giants, or a magical horn, added to the plot. The epics of

, unlike such ones as ''

Beowulf ''Beowulf'' (; ) is an Old English poetry, Old English poem, an Epic poetry, epic in the tradition of Germanic heroic legend consisting of 3,182 Alliterative verse, alliterative lines. It is one of the most important and List of translat ...

'', already had feudalism rather than the tribal loyalties; this was to continue in romances.

Contemporary society

The romance form is distinguished from the earlier epics of the Middle Ages by the changes of the 12th century, which introduced courtly and chivalrous themes into the works. This occurred regardless of congruity to the source material; Alexander the Great featured as a fully feudal king. Chivalry was treated as continuous from Roman times. This extended even to such details as clothing; when in the '' Seven Sages of Rome'', the son of an (unnamed) emperor of Rome wears the clothing of a sober Italian citizen, and when his stepmother attempts to seduce him, her clothing is described in medieval terminology. When Priam sends Paris to Greece in a 14th-century work, Priam is dressed in the mold of Charlemagne, and Paris is dressed demurely, but in Greece, he adopts the flashier style, with multicolored clothing and fashionable shoes, cut in lattice-work—signs of a seducer in the era. Historical figures reappeared, reworked, in romance. The entire Matter of France derived from known figures, and suffered somewhat because their descendants had an interest in the tales that were told of their ancestors, unlike the Matter of Britain. Richard Coeur de Lion reappeared in romance, endowed with a fairy mother who arrived in a ship with silk sails and departed when forced to behold the sacrament, bare-handed combat with a lion, magical rings, and prophetic dreams. Hereward the Wake's early life appeared in chronicles as the embellished, romantic adventures of an exile, complete with rescuing princesses and wrestling with bears. Fulk Fitzwarin, an outlaw in King John's day, has his historical background a minor thread in the episodic stream of romantic adventures.

Classical origins

Some romances, such as '' Apollonius of Tyre'', show classical pagan origins. Tales of the Matter of Rome in particular may be derived from such works as the Alexander Romance. Ovid was used as a source for tales of Jason and Medea, which were cast in romance in a more fairy-tale-like form, probably closer to the older forms than Ovid's rhetoric. It also drew upon the traditions of magic that were attributed to such figures as Virgil.

Courtly love

The new courtly love was not one of the original elements of the genre, but quickly became very important when introduced. It was introduced to the romance by

Chrétien de Troyes Chrétien de Troyes (; ; 1160–1191) was a French poet and trouvère known for his writing on King Arthur, Arthurian subjects such as Gawain, Lancelot, Perceval and the Holy Grail. Chrétien's chivalric romances, including ''Erec and Enide'' ...

, combining it with the Matter of Britain, new to French poets. In '' Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart'' (unlike his earlier '' Erec and Enide''), the behavior of Lancelot conforms to the courtly love ideal; it also, though still full of adventure, devotes an unprecedented amount of time to dealing with the psychological aspects of the love. By the end of the 14th century, counter to the earliest formulations, many French and English romances combined courtly love, with love sickness and devotion on the man's part, with the couple's subsequent marriage; this featured in '' Sir Degrevant'', '' Sir Torrent of Portyngale'', '' Sir Eglamour'', and '' William of Palerne''. '' Ipomadon'' even explicitly describes the married couple as lovers, and the plot of '' Sir Otuel'' was altered, to allow him to marry Belyssant. Similarly, Iberian romances of the 14th century praised monogamy and marriage in such tales as '' Tirant lo Blanc'' and '' Amadís de Gaula''.

Early forms

Many medieval romances recount the marvellous

s of a chivalrous,

knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

, often of super-human ability, who, abiding chivalry's strict codes of honor and demeanor, goes on a quest, and fights and defeats monsters and giants, thereby winning favor with a lady. The Matter of France, most popular early, did not lend itself to the subject of courtly love, but rather dealt with heroic adventure: in '' The Song of Roland'', Roland, though betrothed to Oliver's sister, does not think of her during the course of events. The themes of love were, however, to soon appear, particularly in the Matter of Britain, leading to even the French regarding King Arthur's court as the exemplar of true and noble love, so much so that even the earliest writers about courtly love would claim it had reached its true excellence there, and love was not what it was in King Arthur's day. A perennial theme was the rescue of a lady from the imperiling monster, a theme that would remain throughout the romances of the medieval era. Originally, this literature was written in

Old French Old French (, , ; ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France approximately between the late 8th Anglo-Norman) and Old Occitan">Anglo-Norman language">Anglo-Norman) and Old Occitan, later, in Old Spanish">Old_Occitan.html" ;"title="Anglo-Norman language">Anglo-Norman) and Old Occitan">Anglo-Norman language">Anglo-Norman) and Old Occitan, later, in Old Spanish, Middle English and Middle High German – amongst the important Spanish texts was Book of the Knight Zifar; notable later English works being King Horn (a translation of the Anglo-Norman (AN) Romance of Horn of Mestre Thomas), and Havelok the Dane (a translation of the anonymous AN Lai d'Haveloc); around the same time Gottfried von Strassburg's version of the Tristan of Thomas of Britain (a different Thomas to the author of 'Horn') and Wolfram von Eschenbach's

Parzival ''Parzival'' () is a medieval chivalric romance by the poet and knight Wolfram von Eschenbach in Middle High German. The poem, commonly dated to the first quarter of the 13th century, centers on the Arthurian hero Parzival (Percival in English) ...

translated classic French romance narrative into the German tongue.

Forms of the High Middle Ages

During the early 13th century, romances were increasingly written as prose, and extensively amplified through cycles of continuation. These were collated in the vast, polymorphous manuscript witnesses comprising what is now known as the ''Lancelot-Grail Cycle'', with the romance of ''La Mort le Roi Artu'' , perhaps its final installment. These texts, together with a wide range of further Arthurian material, such as that found in the anonymous English ''Brut'' Chronicle, comprised the bases of Thomas Malory's '' Le Morte d'Arthur''. Prose literature thus increasingly dominated the expression of romance narrative in the later Middle Ages, at least until the resurgence of verse during the high Renaissance in the oeuvres of Ludovico Ariosto, Torquato Tasso, and

Edmund Spenser Edmund Spenser (; – 13 January 1599 Old Style and New Style dates, O.S.) was an English poet best known for ''The Faerie Queene'', an epic poem and fantastical allegory celebrating the House of Tudor, Tudor dynasty and Elizabeth I. He is re ...

. In Old Norse, they are the prose '' riddarasögur'' or chivalric sagas. The genre began in thirteenth-century Norway with translations of French ''chansons de geste''; it soon expanded to similar indigenous creations. The early fourteenth century saw the emergence of Scandinavian verse romance in Sweden under the patronage of Queen Euphemia of Rügen, who commissioned the '' Eufemiavisorna''. Another trend of the high Middle Ages was the allegorical romance, inspired by the wildly popular '' Roman de la Rose''.

Late Medieval and Renaissance forms

In late

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

and

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

high culture, the important European literary trend was to fantastic fictions in the mode of Romance. Exemplary work, such as the English '' Le Morte d'Arthur'' by Sir Thomas Malory (), the Valencian '' Tirant lo Blanch'', and the Castilian or Portuguese '' Amadís de Gaula'' (1508), spawned many imitators, and the genre was popularly well-received, producing such masterpiece of Renaissance poetry as Ludovico Ariosto's '' Orlando furioso'' and Torquato Tasso's '' Gerusalemme Liberata'' and other 16th-century literary works in the romance genre. The romances were freely drawn upon for royal pageantry. Queen Elizabeth I's Accession Day tilts, for instance, drew freely on the multiplicity of incident from romances for the knights' disguises. Knights even assumed the names of romantic figures, such as the Swan Knight, or the coat-of-arms of such figures as Lancelot or Tristan. From the high Middle Ages, in works of piety, clerical critics often deemed romances to be harmful worldly distractions from more substantive or moral works, and by 1600 many secular readers would agree; in the judgement of many learned readers in the shifting intellectual atmosphere of the 17th century, the romance was trite and childish literature, inspiring only broken-down ageing and provincial persons such as

, knight of the culturally isolated province of La Mancha. (''

'' 605, 1615 by

547–1616 is a satirical story of an elderly country gentleman, living in La Mancha province, who is so obsessed by chivalric romances that he seeks to emulate their various heroes.) '' Hudibras'' also lampoons the faded conventions of chivalrous romance, from an ironic, consciously realistic viewpoint. Some of the magical and exotic atmosphere of Romance informed tragedies for the stage, such as John Dryden's collaborative '' The Indian Queen'' (1664) as well as Restoration spectaculars and ''

opera seria ''Opera seria'' (; plural: ''opere serie''; usually called ''dramma per musica'' or ''melodramma serio'') is an Italian musical term which refers to the noble and "serious" style of Italian opera that predominated in Europe from the 1710s to abou ...

'', such as Handel's '' Rinaldo'' (1711), based on a magical interlude in Tasso's '' Gerusalemme liberata''. In the

, also, the romance genre was bitterly attacked as barbarous and silly by the humanists, who exalted Greek and Latin classics and classical forms, an attack that was not in that century very effective among the common readers. In England, romances continued; heavily rhetorical, they often had complex plots and high sentiment, such as in Robert Greene's '' Pandosto'' (the source for

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

's '' The Winter's Tale'') and

Thomas Lodge Thomas Lodge (September 1625) was an English writer and medical practitioner whose life spanned the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods. Biography Early life Thomas Lodge was born about 1557 in West Ham, the second son of Sir Thomas Lodge ...

's '' Rosalynde'' (based on the medieval romance '' Gamelyn'' and the source for '' As You Like It''), ''Robert Duke of Normandy'' (based on Robert the Devil) and ''A Margarite of America''.

Related forms

The Acritic songs (dealing with Digenis Acritas and his fellow frontiersmen) resemble much the ''chanson de geste'', though they developed simultaneously but separately. These songs dealt with the hardships and adventures of the border guards of the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantium) – including their love affairs – and where a predominantly oral tradition which survived in the Balkans and Anatolia until modern times. This genre may have intermingled with its Western counterparts during the long occupation of Byzantine territories by French and Italian knights after the 4th crusade. This is suggested by later works in the Greek language which show influences from both traditions.

Relationship to modern "romantic fiction"

In later romances, particularly those of French origin, there is a marked tendency to emphasize themes of courtly love, such as faithfulness in adversity. From – usually cited as 1764 at the publication of Horace Walpole's '' The Castle of Otranto'' – the connotations of "romance" moved from fantastic and eerie, somewhat Gothic adventure narratives of novelists like Ann Radcliffe's '' A Sicilian Romance'' (1790) or '' The Romance of the Forest'' (1791) with erotic content to novels centered on the episodic development of a courtship that ends in marriage. With a female protagonist, during the rise of

Romanticism Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century. The purpose of the movement was to advocate for the importance of subjec ...

the depiction of the course of such a courtship within contemporary conventions of realism, the female equivalent of the " novel of education", informs much Romantic fiction. In gothic novels such as Bram Stoker's '' Dracula'', the elements of romantic seduction and desire were mingled with fear and dread. Nathaniel Hawthorne used the term to distinguish his works as romances rather than novels, and literary criticism of the 19th century often accepted the contrast between the romance and the novel, in such works as

H. G. Wells Herbert George Wells (21 September 1866 – 13 August 1946) was an English writer, prolific in many genres. He wrote more than fifty novels and dozens of short stories. His non-fiction output included works of social commentary, politics, hist ...

's "scientific romances" in the beginning of

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

. In 1825, the

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures. The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...

genre developed when the Swedish literary work '' Frithjof's saga'', which was based on the '' Friðþjófs saga ins frœkna'', became successful in

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

and

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. It was translated twenty-two times into English, 20 times into German, and into many other European languages, including modern Icelandic in 1866. Their influence on authors such as

J. R. R. Tolkien John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was the Rawlinson ...

, William Morris and Poul Anderson and on the subsequent modern fantasy genre is considerable. The modern usage of the term "romance" usually refers to the

romance novel A romance or romantic novel is a genre fiction novel that primarily focuses on the relationship and Romance (love), romantic love between two people, typically with an emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending. Authors who have contributed ...

, which is a subgenre that focuses on the relationship and

romantic love Romance or romantic love is a feeling of love for, or a Interpersonal attraction, strong attraction towards another person, and the Courtship, courtship behaviors undertaken by an individual to express those overall feelings and resultant ...

between two people; these novels must have an "emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending." Despite the popularity of this popular meaning of Romance, other works are still referred to as romances because of their uses of other elements descended from the medieval romance, or from the Romantic movement: larger-than-life heroes and heroines, drama and adventure, marvels that may become fantastic, themes of honor and loyalty, or fairy-tale-like stories and story settings. Shakespeare's later comedies, such as ''

The Tempest ''The Tempest'' is a Shakespeare's plays, play by William Shakespeare, probably written in 1610–1611, and thought to be one of the last plays that he wrote alone. After the first scene, which takes place on a ship at sea during a tempest, th ...

'' or '' The Winter's Tale'' are sometimes called his romances. Modern works may differentiate from love-story as romance into different genres, such as planetary romance or Ruritanian romance.

Science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

was, for a time, termed

scientific romance Scientific romance is an archaic, mainly British term for the genre of fiction now commonly known as science fiction. The term originated in the 1850s to describe both fiction and elements of scientific writing, but it has since come to refer to ...

, and gaslamp fantasy is sometimes termed gaslight romance. Flannery O'Connor, writing of the use of grotesque in fiction, talked of its use in "the modern romance tradition."

Examples

* Romances of

*'' Queste del Saint Graal'' *'' Perceforest'' *'' The Knight in the Panther's Skin'' *'' Valentine and Orson'' *'' King Horn'' *'' The Squire of Low Degree'' *'' Romance of the Rose'' *'' Sir Gawain and the Green Knight'' *'' Guilhem de la Barra'' by Arnaut Vidal *'' Guillaume de Palerme'' *'' Le Morte D'Arthur'' – Sir Thomas Malory *'' Amadís de Gaula'' – Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo *" The Knight's Tale" and " The Wife of Bath's Tale" from

Geoffrey Chaucer Geoffrey Chaucer ( ; – 25 October 1400) was an English poet, author, and civil servant best known for ''The Canterbury Tales''. He has been called the "father of English literature", or, alternatively, the "father of English poetry". He w ...

's '' The Canterbury Tales'' *'' Chevalere Assigne'' * '' Sir Eglamour of Artois'' * '' Octavian'' * '' Ipomadon'' * '' Sir Gawain and the Carle of Carlisle'' * '' The Knightly Tale of Gologras and Gawain'' * '' Tirant lo Blanch'' – Joanot Martorell * '' Amadas'' * '' Sir Cleges'' * '' The King of Tars'' * '' Sir Isumbras'' * '' Erl of Toulouse'' * '' Generides'' * '' Roswall and Lillian'' * '' Hertig Fredrik av Normandie'' * '' Orlando Innamorato'' * '' Orlando Furioso'' – Ludovico Ariosto * '' Le Roman du Comte d'Artois''

References

External links

*
The International Courtly Literature Society
{{Romance novel Fiction by genre Literary genres Romance genres Literary theory * Traditional stories Knights-errant