Sir Isumbras
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sir Isumbras is the hero of a medieval metrical romance written in middle English.
The romance was circulating in England before 1320, when William of Nassington referred to it in his Speculum Vita. His comment is revealing, for he disparages stories of Isumbras as vanities (along with those of the equally popular and pious Guy of Warwick and Bevis of Hampton), an indication that he saw a generic difference between it and the legends of saints. However, in several manuscripts, Isumbras is grouped with saints' legends and other religious materials.
According to the Cambridge History of English and American Literature the theme of Sir Isumbras is that of Christian humility, the story being an adaptation of the legend of Saint Eustace. Sir Isumbras is a knight who, through pride, falls from his high estate by the will of Providence. He is severely stricken; his possessions, his children and, lastly, his wife, are taken away; and he himself becomes a wanderer. After much privation he trains as a blacksmith, learning to forge anew his armour, and he rides into battle against a sultan. Later, he arrives at the court of the sultan's queen, who proves to be his long-lost wife. He attempts to Christianise the Islamic lands over which he now rules, provoking a rebellion which is then defeted when his children miraculously return to turn the tide of battle.
The poem was almost entirely unknown until it was published in the mid-Nineteenth century. Tom Taylor, the editor of Punch added some humourous lines in a parody of the original's style. This scene was painted by John Everett Millais as Sir Isumbras at the Ford (1857).
[edit] Reference
- The Cambridge History of English and American Literature in 18 Volumes. Volume I. From the Beginnings to the Cycles of Romance.
