''Generides'' or ''Generydes'' is an English verse
romance, originating in the English Midlands and dated to the end of the 14th century. It survives in two different lengthy forms. The hero Generides is born as an illegitimate son of the King of India, and after adventures marries a princess of Persia and becomes ruler of both India and Persia.
The original, which may have been in Middle English or French, appears to have been a compilation of the fourteenth century. Despite the wide use of Eastern names and locations, these do not appear to have any particular significance, and though many analogues can (and have) been drawn between it and various Indian and Persian tales, the characters and episodes are familiar ones in medieval romances. As in the romance ''
Guigemar'', one of the hero's parents is already married to a cruel spouse, and some of the scene suggest deliberate imitiation of that romance; as in the romance ''
Erec
The Knights of the Round Table ( cy, Marchogion y Ford Gron, kw, Marghekyon an Moos Krenn, br, Marc'hegien an Daol Grenn) are the knights of the fellowship of King Arthur in the literary cycle of the Matter of Britain. First appearing in li ...
'', the father is woken the next morning by the lady's tears. While as in ''Guigemar'', the hero is identified by a trait of his garment, in ''Generides'', the lady's tears can only be washed out by the lady herself, which suggests that poet used a
fairy tale of the type of ''
Black Bull of Norroway''; magical shirts are a commonplace, but only in this romance and that tale does the detail of the heroine's ability to wash clean the shirt appear. The lovers stay in the woods with his sword between them, which inspires their pursuer not to kill them; this is evidently imitating the scene in ''
Tristan
Tristan (Latin/Brythonic: ''Drustanus''; cy, Trystan), also known as Tristram or Tristain and similar names, is the hero of the legend of Tristan and Iseult. In the legend, he is tasked with escorting the Irish princess Iseult to wed ...
''.
Editions
*
Frederick James Furnivall
Frederick James Furnivall (4 February 1825 – 2 July 1910) was an English philologist, best known as one of the co-creators of the '' New English Dictionary''. He founded a number of learned societies on early English literature and made pion ...
(1865), ''A royal historie of the excellent knight Generides''
Google Books
/ref> for the Roxburghe Club
The Roxburghe Club is a bibliophilic and publishing society based in the United Kingdom.
Origins
The spur to the Club's foundation was the sale of the enormous library of the Duke of Roxburghe (who had died in 1804), which took place over 46 days ...
* William Aldis Wright (1878), ''Generydes: a romance in seven-line stanzas'' for the Early English Text Society
The Early English Text Society (EETS) is a text publication society founded in 1864 which is dedicated to the editing and publication of early English texts, especially those only available in manuscript. Most of its volumes contain editions of ...
Notes
{{Reflist, 2
External links
Middle English Compendium HyperBibliographyGenerides text (W. A. Aldis edition)''Generydes''
a free translation and retelling in modern English of the story found in Cambridge, Trinity College Library, MS O.5.2
Romance (genre)
Middle English poems