Amis and Amiloun
Encyclopedia
Amis and Amiloun is a Middle English
romance
in tail rhyme from the late thirteenth century. The 2508-line poem tells the story of two friends, one of whom is punished by God with leprosy
for engaging in a trial by ordeal
after the other has been seduced and betrayed. The poem is praised for the technical competency displayed in the stanzaic organization, though its quality as a chivalric romance is not highly esteemed. It is found in four manuscripts ranging from c. 1330 to c. 1500, including the Auchinleck Manuscript
.
Amiloun is tended to for a year, after which angels appears to both in their dreams, saying that the blood of Amis's children will cure Amiloun's leprocy. Amis indeed performs the act, and Amiloun is cured. The children are miraculously found intact. After all this, the friends return to Amiloun's castle and defeat the wife, who was about to marry another man, and her forces. Owain is appointed lord. Amiloun returns with Amis; years later, they die, on the same day, and are buried together.
; the English text most likely comes from a now-lost Anglo-Norman
poem (Gibbs notes that later derivatives are frequently hagiographic
). Its dialect hails from the North-eastern Midlands
. The poem is preserved in four manuscripts:
None of these manuscripts preserves a complete version of this poem. Manuscripts Advocates 19.2.1 and BM Egerton 2862, however, have relatively minor gaps which can be filled by the other. BM Harley 2386 is a fragment, preserving just under 900 lines of the poem.
, MacEdward Leach. Later critics agreed with the evaluation of the poet's metrical and stanzaic skills, but were less impressed by the development of the narrative and the machinery involved, especially in the sacrifice of the children, where, according to A.C. Gibbs, the poet "tries spasmodically to infuse a quality of realism into his ideal situation." Gibbs also notes that while Belisaunt is initially a "vivid and forceful" woman, she quickly turns into "a featureless upholder of the poem's morality."
Middle English
Middle English is the stage in the history of the English language during the High and Late Middle Ages, or roughly during the four centuries between the late 11th and the late 15th century....
romance
Romance (genre)
As a literary genre of high culture, romance or chivalric romance is a style of heroic prose and verse narrative that was popular in the aristocratic circles of High Medieval and Early Modern Europe. They were fantastic stories about marvel-filled adventures, often of a knight errant portrayed as...
in tail rhyme from the late thirteenth century. The 2508-line poem tells the story of two friends, one of whom is punished by God with leprosy
Leprosy
Leprosy or Hansen's disease is a chronic disease caused by the bacteria Mycobacterium leprae and Mycobacterium lepromatosis. Named after physician Gerhard Armauer Hansen, leprosy is primarily a granulomatous disease of the peripheral nerves and mucosa of the upper respiratory tract; skin lesions...
for engaging in a trial by ordeal
Trial by ordeal
Trial by ordeal is a judicial practice by which the guilt or innocence of the accused is determined by subjecting them to an unpleasant, usually dangerous experience...
after the other has been seduced and betrayed. The poem is praised for the technical competency displayed in the stanzaic organization, though its quality as a chivalric romance is not highly esteemed. It is found in four manuscripts ranging from c. 1330 to c. 1500, including the Auchinleck Manuscript
Auchinleck manuscript
The Auchinleck Manuscript, NLS Adv. MS 19.2.1, currently forms part of the collection of the National Library of Scotland. It is an illuminated manuscript copied on parchment in the 14th century in London. The manuscript provides a glimpse of a time of considerable political tension in England...
.
Story
The poem's plot revolves around two sworn friends, Amis and Amiloun, who are born to different parents in different parts of a kingdom but serve the same duke. Amis falls in love with a beautiful girl, Belisaunt, who seduces him, but the duke's steward betrays him to the duke. Since Amis cannot swear to have had not had relations with the girl, Amiloun takes his place in the trial by battle which ensues and kills the steward, even though an angel had told him that he would be struck with leprosy--after all, Amis was guilty. Amis and Belisaunt get married and he succeeds the duke but Amiloun, now a leper, is driven out of the land by his wife. As he begs for a living with his nephew Owain, later dubbed Amoraunt, he returns to Amis's castle and is recognized by a golden cup he had gotten from Amis while they were young.Amiloun is tended to for a year, after which angels appears to both in their dreams, saying that the blood of Amis's children will cure Amiloun's leprocy. Amis indeed performs the act, and Amiloun is cured. The children are miraculously found intact. After all this, the friends return to Amiloun's castle and defeat the wife, who was about to marry another man, and her forces. Owain is appointed lord. Amiloun returns with Amis; years later, they die, on the same day, and are buried together.
Source and manuscripts
The story derives from a French, eleventh-century chanson de gesteChanson de geste
The chansons de geste, Old French for "songs of heroic deeds", are the epic poems that appear at the dawn of French literature. The earliest known examples date from the late eleventh and early twelfth centuries, nearly a hundred years before the emergence of the lyric poetry of the trouvères and...
; the English text most likely comes from a now-lost Anglo-Norman
Anglo-Norman language
Anglo-Norman is the name traditionally given to the kind of Old Norman used in England and to some extent elsewhere in the British Isles during the Anglo-Norman period....
poem (Gibbs notes that later derivatives are frequently hagiographic
Hagiography
Hagiography is the study of saints.From the Greek and , it refers literally to writings on the subject of such holy people, and specifically to the biographies of saints and ecclesiastical leaders. The term hagiology, the study of hagiography, is also current in English, though less common...
). Its dialect hails from the North-eastern Midlands
English Midlands
The Midlands, or the English Midlands, is the traditional name for the area comprising central England that broadly corresponds to the early medieval Kingdom of Mercia. It borders Southern England, Northern England, East Anglia and Wales. Its largest city is Birmingham, and it was an important...
. The poem is preserved in four manuscripts:
- National Library of Scotland MS Advocates 19.2.1, the Auchinleck Manuscript (c. 1330)
- British Library MS BM Egerton 2862 (c. 1400)
- British Library MS BM Harley 2386 (c. 1500)
- Bodleian Library, Oxford, MS 21900 (Douce 326) (c. 1500)
None of these manuscripts preserves a complete version of this poem. Manuscripts Advocates 19.2.1 and BM Egerton 2862, however, have relatively minor gaps which can be filled by the other. BM Harley 2386 is a fragment, preserving just under 900 lines of the poem.
Critical evaluation
The tail rhyme stanzas were praised highly by the text's editor for the Early English Text SocietyEarly English Text Society
The Early English Text Society is an organization to reprint early English texts, especially those only available in manuscript. Most of its volumes are in Middle English and Old English...
, MacEdward Leach. Later critics agreed with the evaluation of the poet's metrical and stanzaic skills, but were less impressed by the development of the narrative and the machinery involved, especially in the sacrifice of the children, where, according to A.C. Gibbs, the poet "tries spasmodically to infuse a quality of realism into his ideal situation." Gibbs also notes that while Belisaunt is initially a "vivid and forceful" woman, she quickly turns into "a featureless upholder of the poem's morality."