The Legend Of Guy Of Warwick

First published in 1996. This lavishly illustrated study is a comprehensive literary and social history which offers a record of changing genres, manuscript/book production, and cultural, political, and religious emphases by examining one of the most long lived popular legends in England. Guy of Warwick became part of history when he was named in chronicles and heraldic rolls. The power of the Earls of Warwick, especially Richard de Beauchamp, inspired the spread of the legend, but Guy's highest fame came in the Renaissance as one of the Nine Worthies. Widely praised in texts and allusions, Guy's feats were sung in ballads and celebrated on the stage in England and France. The first Anglo-Norman romance of Gui de Warewic, a Saxon hero of the tenth century was written in the early 13th century; the latest retellings of the legend are contemporary. Examples of Guy's legend can be found in two English translations that survived the Middle Ages, a new French prose romance, a didactic tale in the Gesta Romanorum, and late medieval versions in Celtic, German, and Catalan, as well as English. Guy remained a favorite Edwardian children's story and was featured in the Warwick Pageant, an historical extravaganza of 1906. The patriotism of World War II sparked a resurgence of interest that produced several new versions, mostly folkloric.

The first interdisciplinary enquiry into a key figure in medieval and early modern culture. Guy of Warwick is England's other Arthur. Elevated to the status of national hero, his legend occupied a central place in the nation's cultural heritage from the Middle Ages to the modern period. Guy of Warwick: Icon and Ancestor spans the Guy tradition from its beginnings in Anglo-Norman and Middle English romance right through to the plays and prints of the early modern period and Spenser's Faerie Queene, including the visual tradition in manuscript illustration and material culture as well as the intersection of the legend with local and national history. This volume addresses important questions regarding the continuities and remaking of romance material, and therelation between life and literature. Topics discussed are sensitive to current critical concerns and include translation, reception, magnate ambition, East-West relations, the construction of "Englishness" and national identity, and the literary value of "popular" romance. ALISON WIGGINS is Lecturer in English Language at the University of Glasgow; ROSALIND FIELD is Reader in Medieval Literature at Royal Holloway, University of London. Note on ebook images: Due to limited rights we are unable to make all images in this book available in the ebook version. If you'd like to purchase the ebook regardless, please email us on [email protected] to obtain a PDF of the images. We apologise for the inconvenience caused. CONTRIBUTORS: JUDITH WEISS, MARIANNE AILES, IVANA DJORDJEVIC, ROSALIND FIELD, ALISON WIGGINS, A.S.G. EDWARDS, ROBERT ALLEN ROUSE, DAVID GRIFFITH, MARTHA W. DRIVER, SIAN ECHARD, ANDREW KING, HELEN COOPER

This lavishly illustrated study is a comprehensive literary and social history which offers a record of changing genres, manuscript/book production, and cultural, political, and religious emphases by examining one of the most long lived popular legends in England. Guy of Warwick became part of history when he was named in chronicles and heraldic rolls. The power of the Earls of Warwick, especially Richard de Beauchamp, inspired the spread of the legend, but Guy's highest fame came in the Renaissance as one of the Nine Worthies. Widely praised in texts and allusions, Guy's feats were sung in ballads and celebrated on the stage in England and France. The first Anglo-Norman romance of Gui de Warewic, a Saxon hero of the tenth century was written in the early 13th century; the latest retellings of the legend are contemporary. Examples of Guy's legend can be found in two English translations that survived the Middle Ages, a new French prose romance, a didactic tale in the Gesta Romanorum, and late medieval versions in Celtic, German, and Catalan, as well as English. Guy remained a favorite Edwardian children's story and was featured in the Warwick Pageant, an historical extravaganza of 1906. The patriotism of World War II sparked a resurgence of interest that produced several new versions, mostly folkloric.

The legend of William Tell takes on new meaning in this wonderful retelling by master storyteller H. E. Marshall. William Tell is the folk hero of Switzerland whose exploits were first recorded in a fifteenth-century Swiss chronicle. Set in the time of the first Swiss Confederacy, Tell's story runs alongside that of the struggle for independence waged against the Holy Roman Empire by the Alpine nation. According to the legend, Gessler, a newly-appointed Austrian ruler of two local regions, caused his hat to be placed on a raised pole in the central square of a village, and ordered that all the townsfolk bow before it. When Tell refused to bow to the hat, Gessler ordered Tell's son to be seized. The tyrannical ruler then demanded that Tell shoot an apple off his son's head or both of them would be executed. Tell took the shot, and succeeded... From there, numerous incidents took place which led to the assassination of Gessler, an act that sparked the Swiss rebellion. There is no real evidence that William Tell actually existed or that the events recounted in the legend took place. Marshall addresses it this way in her introduction: "Yet some people say that William Tell never lived. Let them visit the Rutli, Tell's Platte, the Hollow Way, and let them ask themselves whether Tell lives in the hearts of his countrymen or not."