The Bedford Glossary of Critical and Literary Terms - Ross Murfin 2018

Medieval romance (chivalric romance)

Medieval romance (chivalric romance): A narrative, written in prose or verse and concerned with adventure, chivalry, and courtly love; the first manifestation of the romance. Common elements include idealization of the hero, whose identity may be shrouded in mystery; the hero’s love for his lady and willingness to do anything she requests; use of the supernatural to generate suspense; and an emphasis on exciting events charged with danger and drama, such as encounters with dragons, jousting tournaments, and magical enchantments. A typical story line might involve a brave young knight who takes up an honorable quest but whose progress is impeded by a variety of fantastic obstacles and antagonists. Some medieval romances are more religious in story line, motivation, symbolism, and theme than others; all, however, champion both religious and chivalric ideals, particularly courage, manners, piety, loyalty, honor, and mercy.

The medieval romance arose as a narrative verse form in twelfth-century France before spreading throughout Western Europe. The era of the epic, with its emphasis on the heroic (matters associated with tribal warfare), ended with the birth of the romance, which stressed the chivalric (matters associated with courtly traditions). Stories steeped in history and legend from four traditions were recycled as subject matter: Celtic folklore, especially stories involving Arthurian legend (Matter of Britain), to which French works added figures not originally included such as Tristan and Lancelot; stories of Germanic / English heroes such as King Horn (Matter of England); stories of classical times, especially of Troy, Thebes, and Alexander the Great (called the Matter of Rome, despite the Greek emphasis); and material involving Charlemagne and his era (Matter of France). English medieval romances, which appeared in the thirteenth century, drew on all of these traditions and sometimes also on “Oriental” (Arabian or Persian) legend.

EXAMPLES: Medieval metrical romances include Chrétien de Troyes’s twelfth-century French romances Lancelot and Perceval, the anonymous thirteenth-century English romance King Horn, Wolfram von Eschenbach’s thirteenth-century German romance Parzifal, and the anonymous fourteenth-century English romance Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Sir Thomas Malory’s fifteenth-century English medieval romance Le morte d’Arthur is an example of prose romance.