Four Middle English Romances : Sir Isumbras, Octavian, Sir Eglamour of Artois, Sir Tryamour

These four narratives were among the most popular Middle English romances; all survive in multiple manuscripts and continued to circulate in prints through the sixteenth century. All were composed in the northeast Midlands in the fifty years between 1325 and 1375, and they appear together in several manuscripts.

This volume highlights essential examples of Middle English family romance, which typically involves aristocratic families sundered and reunited by a combination of valor, divine favor, and happy chance. Sir Isumbras develops the classic riches-to-rags-to-riches trope, while its counterparts—Octavian, Sir Eglamour of Artois, and Sir Tryamour—all present some variant on the problematic trope of the calumniated queen. Composed in northeast Midlands of England between 1325 and 1375, these romances all exhibit tail-rhyme verse form, at the height of its popularity. This edition provides readers with a helpful introduction to the flowering of unique romances in fourteenth-century England since—with the lone exception of Octavian—these poems each find their origin in England. As a targeted survey of a romance sub-genre, Four Middle English Romances immerses readers in the development of Middle English romance during the middle of the fourteenth century.