Amadis de Gaula
Amadis de Gaula ( Amadis of Gaul ) is the hero of a knight's novel, which - along with its many extensions and continuations - in the Renaissance was one of the most popular readings in Western Europe.
Prose novel
The prose novel depicts the exploits and virtues of the title character and is based on the substance of the Arthurian legends.
Story
Amadis is the son of King Perion of Gaul and the British Princess Elisena; he is exposed as an infant, and wound up in Scotland. There he falls in love with Oriana, the daughter of the king of England Lisuart. Finally, he can Oriana marital.
Author
According to recent studies, is the author of Amadis de Gaula Henry of Castile (1230-1304), a son of the Spanish king Fernando III. He had traveled as an itinerant Knight England, France, Italy, Tunis, Constantine Opel and the islands of the Mediterranean and fought in the battle of Tagliacozzo as leader of the cavalry of Conradin of Hohenstaufen, his cousin. The Amadis he may have written during his years of imprisonment in Canosa di Puglia and Castel del Monte. In Italy, Henry of Castile was a renowned poet. From the original version of the 14th century, two centuries later emerged Amadisromane.
Amadisromane
Below is a group of romances, which were extremely popular in Europe in the late Middle Ages. They go back to a Portuguese prose novel, which was probably written around 1370 by Vasco de Lobeira, but probably had older precursor. This had the title Amadis de Gaula and consisted of three ( or four) volumes. This original version has not survived; as oldest surviving processing shall be replaced by the Spaniard Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo of 1508th
Already this added another volume. In the following decades, not only twelve more issues, but seven additional volumes in which the family history of Amadis offspring was presented in detail and embellished published. At the same time the novels were told numerous translations and revisions and continuations in foreign languages , which eventually introduced to the novel of the Baroque period.
Already Montalvos extension contained the history of Esplandian, the eldest son Amadis ' and Oriana, others after him have multiplied the progeny of the old heroes. More books described the destiny of his nephew Florisando, then the Lisuarte of Greece, a son of Esplandian, and the adventures of Amadis of Greece, a great-grandson of the Gallic hero. This was followed by Don Florisel de Niquea and Anaxartes, son of Lisuarte whose stories with those of the latter, the ninth completed the children to 11th book. A 12 book at last, which was printed in 1549, reported the exploits of Don Silves de la Selva.
The fashion of Amadisromane was ebbing, as Cervantes replied them the death blow: He was referring specifically to Don Quixote to Amadis and made the subject of ridicule.
Reception
As the name of the hero ( Amadis of the Celts country) suggests, the Amadisroman comes from the tradition of Celtic Arthurian legends, but in fact the differences are huge: the heroes are idealized ( Amadis itself is noble, strong, pure and invincible ). Chastity and chivalry are the keywords for a changed ethos, the medieval loyalty to the feudal lord is replaced by the obligation to the king ( the absolutism of Philip II announces itself ).
Opera edits
- Amadis ( 1684) by Jean -Baptiste Lully
- Amadis de Grèce (1699 ) by André Cardinal Destouches
- Amadigi di Gaula (1715 ) by Georg Friedrich Händel
- Amadis (posthumous 1922) by Jules Massenet