Amadas et Idoine

Roman d'aventure of c.1200-20 recounting the love of Amadas, son of the Seneschal of Burgundy, for Idoine, the duke's daughter. It exploits the false-death motif, the lover's madness, and the preservation of an unwilling bride's virginity by sorcery. The style is lively and scene-painting vivid in this patchwork adaptation of Arthurian and Byzantine romance motifs to a contemporary French setting.

[Philip Bennett]