Amadis of Gaul

Home > ... > Literature and the Arts > Literature in Other Modern Languages > Spanish and Portuguese Literature > ...

Amadis of Gaul

The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition | 2008 | The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Copyright 2008 Columbia University Press. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

Amadis of Gaul , Fr. Amadis de Gaule , famous prose romance of chivalry, first composed in Spain or Portugal and probably based on French sources. Entirely fictional, it dates from the 13th or 14th cent., but the first extant version in Spanish, a revision by García de Rodríguez de Montalvo, was published in 1508. The original inspired innumerable variations and continuations, as well as several translations. It was immensely popular in France and Spain until superseded by Don Quixote, and it was, indeed, a sign of inelegance not to be acquainted with its code of honor and knightly perfection. Its influence is apparent in Sir Philip Sidney's Arcadia. The story became the subject of a lyric tragedy by Philippe Quinault (1684), with music by Lully, and it inspired the opera Amadigi (1715) by Handel.

Hide all research tools
Print this article Print all entries for this topic Cite this article Link to this article
Link to this article

CloseClose

Create a link to this page

Copy and paste this link tag into your Web page or blog:

<a href="http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/.aspx#1E1-AmadisGa" title="Facts and information about Amadis of Gaul">Amadis of Gaul</a>

Add this article to Del.icio.usBookmark this article on DiigoShare this article on FacebookSubmit this article to RedditGive this article a thumbs-up on StumbleUpon
Show all research tools

Cite this article
Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography.

  • MLA
  • Chicago
  • APA

"Amadis of Gaul." The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. 15 Nov. 2009 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

"Amadis of Gaul." The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. (November 15, 2009). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-AmadisGa.html

"Amadis of Gaul." The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2008. Retrieved November 15, 2009 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-AmadisGa.html

Learn more about citation styles

Amadis of Gaul

The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature | 2003 | | © The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature 2003, originally published by Oxford University Press 2003. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

Amadis of Gaul (Amadis de Gaula), a Spanish or Portuguese romance, written in the form in which we have it by Garcia de Montalvo in the second half of the 15th and printed early in the 16th cent. The romance was translated into English by Munday (?1590), and an abridged version by Southey appeared in 1803.

Hide all research tools
Print this article Print all entries for this topic Cite this article Link to this article
Link to this article

CloseClose

Create a link to this page

Copy and paste this link tag into your Web page or blog:

<a href="http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/.aspx#1O54-AmadisofGaul" title="Facts and information about Amadis of Gaul">Amadis of Gaul</a>

Add this article to Del.icio.usBookmark this article on DiigoShare this article on FacebookSubmit this article to RedditGive this article a thumbs-up on StumbleUpon
Show all research tools

Cite this article
Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography.

  • MLA
  • Chicago
  • APA

MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "Amadis of Gaul." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. 15 Nov. 2009 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "Amadis of Gaul." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. (November 15, 2009). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O54-AmadisofGaul.html

MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "Amadis of Gaul." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Retrieved November 15, 2009 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O54-AmadisofGaul.html

Learn more about citation styles

Oriana

The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable | 2006 | | © The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable 2006, originally published by Oxford University Press 2006. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

Oriana a name frequently applied by poets to Elizabeth I; in the medieval Spanish or Portuguese romance Amadis of Gaul, the princess of Britain with whom the hero Amadis is in love is named Oriana.

Hide all research tools
Print this article Print all entries for this topic Cite this article Link to this article
Link to this article

CloseClose

Create a link to this page

Copy and paste this link tag into your Web page or blog:

<a href="http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/.aspx#1O214-Oriana" title="Facts and information about Amadis of Gaul">Amadis of Gaul</a>

Add this article to Del.icio.usBookmark this article on DiigoShare this article on FacebookSubmit this article to RedditGive this article a thumbs-up on StumbleUpon
Show all research tools

Cite this article
Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography.

  • MLA
  • Chicago
  • APA

ELIZABETH KNOWLES. "Oriana." The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. Oxford University Press. 2006. Encyclopedia.com. 15 Nov. 2009 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

ELIZABETH KNOWLES. "Oriana." The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. Oxford University Press. 2006. Encyclopedia.com. (November 15, 2009). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O214-Oriana.html

ELIZABETH KNOWLES. "Oriana." The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. Oxford University Press. 2006. Retrieved November 15, 2009 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O214-Oriana.html

Learn more about citation styles

Free newspaper and magazine articles

Free Article Women & politics: Madame Roland.(figure in French Revolution)
Magazine article from: New Criterion; 10/1/1999
Free Article The Western Canon.
Magazine article from: National Review; 1/23/1995
Free Article A novel for the twenty-first century.(Don Quixote de La Mancha novel)
Magazine article from: Harvard Review; 6/1/2005

Facts and information from other sites

Related topics

  Edit this list

Related articles from newspapers, magazines, and more

Queen Calafia; California - 'What's In A Name?'
Newspaper article from: Los Angeles Sentinel; 3/30/2005; ; 569 words ; ...a Spanish romance novel of five volumes, entitled "Amadis de Gaula," by Garcia Ordonez de Montalvo. In its fifth...Powerful Cavalier Esplandian, Son of the Excellent King Amadis of Gaul," Montalvo describes an exotic place and its inhabitants...
Classical Opera Company at the Wigmore
Magazine article from: Musical Opinion; 3/1/2008; ; 700+ words ; ...recitative and aria Que vois-je?... Cruel remord, from Amadis de Gaul, Johann Christian Bach's last opera, composed for...in which Oriane mourns the presumed death of her lover Amadis in words of classical poetic thrust and music that called...
Women & politics: Madame Roland.(figure in French Revolution)
Magazine article from: New Criterion; 10/1/1999; ; 700+ words ; ...Quixote, whose wits were turned by reading novels of chivalry, wanted to serve as a knight errant like Amadis of Gaul, he did not want to be Amadis, or think he was. Given her passionate enthusiasm for Rousseau, it is no surprise to learn that...
The great knight's tale in a new translation.
Newspaper article from: The Washington Post; 11/9/2003; ; 700+ words ; ...milkmaids or of impossibly noble, heroic warriors a la Amadis of Gaul. In truth, the protagonists might well have been puppets...the horrible burden of time? Long ago, the tales of Amadis and Roland in love or grown mad led our protagonist...
Semi-staged Handel, with care
Newspaper article from: The Boston Globe; 10/17/2009; ; 597 words ; ...opera has not vaulted to the front ranks of the Handel revival. Its libretto, very freely adapted from the medieval "Amadis of Gaul," is rather clunky and limited, focusing on the endlessly crisscrossing affections of its four characters. Amadigi...
A Lance for hire: 400 years of Don Quixote.(Literature)
Magazine article from: Quadrant; 11/1/2006; ; 700+ words ; ...Quixote actually surrenders his prerogative as an individual: self-determination. He mirrors the exploits of Amadis of Gaul. This is the paradoxical core of the novel: Cervantes asks us to acknowledge that imitation is the force behind cultural...
A letter to the editor.
Magazine article from: Cervantes: Bulletin of the Cervantes Society of America; 3/22/2003; 700+ words ; ...is not strictly true that, as McCanles goes on to say, "he cannot grasp the metaphorical, fictive existence of Amadis of Gaul and Orlando, but takes the verbal heterocosms in which they dwell as literal histories." There are explicit indications...
Topographic economies in Dassin's Thieves 'Highway.(Jules Dassin)(Essay)
Magazine article from: Film Criticism; 12/22/2008; ; 700+ words ; ...from an fictitious utopian land, the Arabic for ruler--calif--mentioned in Don Quixote's favorite novel, Amadis of Gaul. (2) These Utopian metaphors for California are topographical and based upon economics--promises of civilizations...
Handel's `Messiah': An Undisputed Favorite for All Seasons
Newspaper article from: The Washington Post; 5/3/1992; ; 700+ words ; ...strong impression but focus on excellent and relatively unfamiliar repertoire. The opera "Amadigi di Gaula" ("Amadis of Gaul") was a smash hit in 1715 when Handel produced it in London, but was forgotten after a few years. In its first...
The Western Canon.
Magazine article from: National Review; 1/23/1995; ; 700+ words ; ...its lack of theological suppositions." But Cervantes's intellectual debts are various, including everybody from Amadis de Gaul to Ariosto to Erasmus. Characteristically, Bloom clears his throat and pronounces ex cathedra, "We do not read...
Click to see an enlarged picture
Amadis of Gaul. Wikimedia Commons (Public Domain)

For students and teachers!

Encyclopedia.com provides students and teachers facts, information, and biographies from verified, citable sources, including:

Encyclopedia.com provides students and teachers facts, information, and biographies from verified, citable sources, including:

Popular on Newser:

Prejean's Résumé Includes 7 More Sex Tapes

(11/13/2009 10:25:03 PM)

Nation's First Marijuana Cafe Opens in Portland

(11/14/2009 6:19:02 PM)

Obama Bows to Emperor

(11/14/2009 4:03:04 PM)

Obama's Ego Needs Its Own ZIP Code

(11/14/2009 6:01:02 PM)

Search for Nessie Yields ... Golf Balls

(11/14/2009 6:56:05 PM)