Romance (genre)

As a literary genre, romance refers to a style of heroic prose and verse narrative current in Europe from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance.

Characteristics of the romance

The term was coined to distinguish popular material in the vernacular (at first the Romance languages French and Spanish, later German, English and others) from scholarly and ecclesiastical literature in Latin.

Related Topics:
Vernacular - Romance languages - French - Spanish - German - English - Latin

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The boundaries between the romance and the chansons de geste of the troubadours was somewhat fluid. In general, the chansons were the property of professional performers, while the romance was associated more with amateurs and private readers. Nevertheless, a professional poet-performer like Chrétien de Troyes could turn his hand to composing romances. The distinction between an early verse romance and a chanson de geste is often difficult, and perhaps unnecessary, to make.

Related Topics:
Chansons de geste - Troubadour - Chrétien de Troyes

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Unlike the novel (nouvelle romaine or "new romance") and like the chansons de geste, the romance dealt with traditional themes, above all three thematic cycles of tales, assembled in imagination at a late date as the Matter of Rome (actually centered on the life and deeds of Alexander the Great), the Matter of France (Charlemagne and Roland, his principal paladin) and the Matter of Britain (the lives and deeds of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, within which was incorporated the quest for Holy Grail). The Acritic songs (dealing with Digenis Acritas and his fellow frontiersmen) resemble much the chanson de geste, though they developed simultaneously but separately.

Related Topics:
Novel - Chansons de geste - Matter of Rome - Alexander the Great - Matter of France - Charlemagne - Roland - Paladin - Matter of Britain - King Arthur - Round Table - Holy Grail - Acritic songs - Digenis Acritas

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A related tradition existed in Northern Europe, and comes down to us in the form of epics, such as Beowulf and the Nibelungenlied. However, the richest set of Germanic Romantic literature comes from Scandinavia in the form of the Fornaldarsagas. The setting is Scandinavia, but occasionally it moves temporarily to more distant and exotic locations. There are also very often mythological elements, such as gods, dwarves, elves, dragons, giants and magic swords. The heroes often embark on dangerous quests where they fight the forces of evil, dragons, witchkings, barrow-wights, and rescue fair maidens.

Related Topics:
Beowulf - Nibelungenlied - Scandinavia - Fornaldarsaga - God - Dwarves - Elves - Dragon - Giants - Magic sword

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Many or most of the sagas are based on distant historic events and this is evident in cases where there are corroborating sources, such as Göngu-Hrólfs saga, Ragnars saga loðbrókar, Yngvars saga víðförla and Völsunga saga. In the case of Hervarar saga the names in the Gothic setting indicate a historic basis, and the latter parts of the saga are still used as a historic source for Swedish history. They often contain very old Germanic matter, such as the Hervarar saga and the Völsunga saga which contains poetry about Sigurd that did not find its way into the Poetic Edda and which would otherwise have been lost. Other sagas deal with heroes such as Ragnar Lodbrok, Starkad, Orvar-Odd, Hagbard and Signy.

Related Topics:
Göngu-Hrólfs saga - Ragnars saga loðbrókar - Yngvars saga víðförla - Völsunga saga - Hervarar saga - Gothic - Völsunga saga - Sigurd - Poetic Edda - Starkad - Orvar-Odd - Hagbard and Signy

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In the later medieval and Renaissance period, the important European literary trend was to fantastic fiction. Exemplary work, such as the English Le Morte d'Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory (c.1408–1471), and the Spanish Amadis de Gaul (1508), spawned many imitators, and the genre was popularly well-received, producing Gerusalemme Liberata and other 16th century literary works in the romance genre. But in the judgement of many learned readers of the time, the romance was poor literature, inspiring only broken-down ageing and provincial persons such as Don Quixote, knight of isolated province La Mancha. Hudibras also lampoons the faded conventions of chivalrous romance. Romances had been deemed harmful distractions from more substantive or moral works from the high Middle Ages, in works of piety, but by 1600 most readers would agree.

Related Topics:
Medieval - Renaissance - Europe - Le Morte d'Arthur - Amadis de Gaul - Gerusalemme Liberata - Don Quixote - La Mancha - Hudibras

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Many medieval romances recount the marvelous adventures of a chivalrous, heroic knight, often of super-human ability, who, abiding chivalry's strict codes of honour and demeanour, fights and defeats monsters and giants, thereby winning favour with a beautiful, but fickle princess. The story of the medieval romance focuses not upon love and sentiment, but upon adventure; some would call contemporary comic books and sci-fi the genre's successors.

Related Topics:
Hero - Knight - Comic book - Sci-fi

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Romancers wrote many of their stories in three, thematic cycles: (i) the Arthurian (the lives and deeds of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table); (ii) the Carlovingian (the lives and deeds of Charlemagne, and Roland, his principal paladin); and, (iii) the Alexandrian (the life and deeds of Alexander the Great). In the later medieval and Renaissance period, the important European literary trend was to fantastic fiction. Exemplary work, such as the English Le Morte d'Arthur (c.1649), by Sir Thomas Malory (c.1408–1471), and the Spanish Amadís of Gaul (1508), spawned many imitators, and the genre was popularly well-received. But in the judgement of many learned readers of the time, the romance was poor literature; by 1600 most romances were deemed harmful distractions from more substantive or moral works.

Related Topics:
Medieval - Renaissance - Europe - Le Morte d'Arthur - Amadís of Gaul

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Originally, this literature was written in Old English and Provençal, later, in French and German—the notable works being King Horn, Havelok the Dane; and Amis and Amiloun; later romances were written as prose, e.g. Le Morte d'Arthur, Don Quixote (1605, 1615), by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (1547–1616), is the story of an elderly country gentleman, living in La Mancha province, crazed by reading chivalric romances.

Related Topics:
Havelok the Dane - Don Quixote - Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

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