The Romance Genre, Part I
A report written for Mrs. Renee Fuller's Medieval Literature Class
The romance genre, otherwise known as “chivalric” romance, was a genre of literature which was extremely popular during the middle ages. The definition of the romance genre has undergone many changes since the term was first coined. Eventually, it was given the definition of a narrative which was written in the vernacular and included strong themes of courtly love and adventure. The basic plot for a vernacular romance is a knight who goes out on an epic adventure and battles against mystical creatures in order to save the fair lady. In addition to the plot, poets also include their opinions of everyday life within the context of their stories. The romance genre can be divided into three literary cycles, the “Matter of Rome,” the “Matter of France,” and the “Matter of Britain.” Each “Matter” focuses on particular heroes or legends who lived in that country. The romance genre consists of many beautiful works of literature which continue to entertain people to this day.
Originally, the use of the term “romance” did not refer to a literary genre, but instead, it referred to the French vernacular language which was called Romanz. This means that the idiom in which the romances were written originated from the “Roman” language (which was Latin). As time passed on, the definition of a romance began to change. By the 12th century, any narrative that was written in the French vernacular was categorized as a “Romance.” Thus, the term “Romance” now signified a new literary genre. In reality, the Romance genre was created for only one reason. It was to separate this so called “poor” literature from “real” literature. At the time, real literature consisted of stories that were only written in Latin (apart from a few exceptions). Over time, the Romance genre developed a new, more specific definition. The genre still represented narratives that were written in the French vernacular, but only certain types of narratives (Schwartz). These narratives were about chivalrous knights that set out on fantastic adventures. These adventures included themes such as chivalry, courtly love, and religion.
Romances were typically written in the vernacular. This means that the romances were written in the author’s native language. Authors purposefully wrote their romances in the vernacular so everyone from their country could read and understand their work. Some of the first vernacular or romance languages that were derived from the Latin language are French, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish. German and English became romance languages sometime later (Wikipedia Dec 2009).
Because the Romance is a literary genre of high culture, narratives within this genre included some of the world’s greatest thoughts and ideas. In 1869, high culture was defined by Matthew Arnold as knowing “the best that has been said and taught in the world” (Wikipedia Jan 2009). This is another reason authors wrote their Romances in the vernacular. They wanted people, other than scholars, to read about the thoughts and ideas that they had on certain subjects about the world. Take The Devine Comedy by Dante Alighieri for example. In this story, Dante writes about his search for God. However, woven within the plot of the story, Dante includes strong political statements as well as Christian morals. Therefore, every romance expresses certain morals or statements based on the author’s beliefs.
Some of the first Romances depicted heroes that had magical powers. The hero would often use his powers to defeat mythological creatures in order to save the fair lady. Somewhere down the line of vernacular romances, heroes and knights lost their magical abilities. However, the enemies they fought still obtained their magical powers. Thus, knights were forced to use their wit and strength in order to defeat their magical foes (What romance means: the genre of literary romance). For example, in the story, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Sir Gawain battles against the temptations of Morgan le Fay without the aid of any magic. Morgan le Fay was an evil sorceress who was the step sister of King Arthur.
Although early romances touched on the themes of courtly love, it was not enough to satisfy the women who read vernacular romances at the time. Women made up a large majority of the people who read early vernacular romances. Unsurprisingly, women were drawn to these early romances because they included female characters whose rolls were of relative importance. Eventually, however, women grew tired of reading romances such as Beowulf because of the continuing themes of male bonding, war, and adventure. In order to stay in the job, authors had to write romances that pleased both their male and female readers. As a result, authors gave women more active rolls and the theme of courtly love became a much broader topic (Schwartz).
Eleanor of Aquitaine, queen of France then of England, greatly influenced the development of courtly love in the romance genre. As a young lady, growing up in the town Aquitaine, Eleanor would read the stories that her grandfather, William, wrote for her. William was the first known troubadour poet. Troubadour poetry is a type of romance that puts a strong emphasis on the theme of courtly love. Of course, when Eleanor became the queen of England, she brought her poetry books with her. Eleanor shared her love of troubadour poetry with the English court. As a result, the style became ever so popular, and English authors began writing their romances with increased themes of courtly love (Schwartz).
To be continued...
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