Summary, backstory and Chapters 31 to 35

King Lisuarte's festivities turn into a total disaster, but fear not. Amadis will save day!

A map of London in 1300 from the historical atlas of William R. Shepherd.

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The backstory

Amadis is born out of wedlock to King Perion of Gaul and Princess Elisena of Little Brittany, and as a newborn he is cast into the sea. He is rescued, raised by a Scottish knight, and called Childe of the Sea. At age 7, he and the knight's son, Gandalin, are taken by the King of Scotland to be raised in his court. There, at age 12, he meets Princess Oriana of Great Britain, then 10 years old, and they both fall in love at first sight, but they dare not tell anyone, even each other.

Later, to try to be worthy of her and despite still being a teen, the Childe of the Sea becomes a knight, and Gandalin becomes his faithful squire. After several adventures in which Amadis proves his extraordinary valor and skill, he saves King Perion's kingdom from invasion and learns his true identity. Many more adventures follow, and he makes some lasting friends – and enemies, including Arcalaus the Sorcerer.

Meanwhile, his brother Galaor, who had been kidnapped as a toddler by a giant, also becomes a knight. He is the equal of Amadis in valor, skill, and good looks, though not in intellect – and while Amadis is true to his love Oriana, Galaor tends to bed every damsel in distress that he rescues.

By then, Amadis and Oriana have declared their love to each other, though it remains a secret to all but their closest friends. Amadis learns that he has a brother, so he goes in search of him and has many thrilling adventures on the way. In one, he promises a beautiful girl, Princess Briolanja, that he will return to help her take back her kingdom, which had been stolen from her by her uncle.

Amadis finds his brother Galaor, and they go to King Lisuarte's court together, rescuing some damsels in distress on their way. Meanwhile, back at the palace, Lisuarte, King of Great Britain and Oriana's father, has promised a mysterious young damsel that he will prove to her that he is worthy to reign over Great Britain in the court that he will soon hold in London.

Amadis and Galaor are received with joy at Windsor Palace. Amadis and Oriana confess their urgent carnal desire for each other and agree to do something about it the first chance they get.

Chapter 31

King Lisuarte holds court in London, and everything is going splendidly – or so it seems. Barsinan, the Lord of Saxony, arrives, and he has schemed with Arcalaus the Sorcerer to take the throne of Great Britain: Arcalaus will kidnap the King and Oriana, and, while Barsinan is fighting to take the crown, Arcalaus will behead the King and send Oriana to marry Barsinan. In exchange, Barsinan will make Arcalaus rich and powerful.

The next day, Queen Brisena, wife of Lisuarte, discovers that the beautiful crown and cloak, which she and the King had bought from a visiting knight, has disappeared, apparently by magic.

Later that day, a lady named Grovenesa arrives to the court to tell her story. A knight named Angriote d'Estravaus had long entreated her to marry, but she despised him, so she tried to get him killed. He fought with Amadis, who defeated him, but then they became good friends, and Amadis promised Angriote to help him wed Grovenesa. Later she met a brave knight who promised to do all he could to free Amadis from his promise, whether by persuasion or force, under the condition that she come to the King's court and fulfill a boon he would ask of her there. So she has come, and she sees the knight standing alongside the King, though she doesn't know his name.

That knight, Amadis, asks her as his boon to marry Angriote and convinces her that Angriote will be her ideal husband, thus freeing himself of his promise. The author attributes this marriage more to the will of God as a reward for Angriote's good behavior than to the cleverness of Amadis.

Chapter 32

The King asks for the advice of the noblemen attending his court on what he should do to maintain and increase his honor. Barsinan tries to give bad advice, but the King in his wisdom ascertains the correct action, which is to hire the best knights he can afford from all lands. The Queen asks them to forever protect all ladies and damsels in Britain.

Chapter 33

A damsel comes to the King and says she needs two skilled knights to free her father and uncle, who are being wrongly imprisoned by a lady named Madasima. Lisuarte sends Amadis and Galaor. But it turns out to be a trap. They are taken prisoner en route by Madasima, who says she will hold them in a vile dungeon forever unless they promise to leave the service of King Lisuarte. She is angry with the King because one of his knights, Amadis, killed a knight she esteemed, and she really wants to kill Amadis, but she will settle for this.

She doesn't know that she has Amadis and Galaor, and the damsel doesn't tell her, but the damsel's uncle tells them what to do to be freed, and Galaor volunteers to do it: seduce Madasima. Galaor does that easily, being skilled at such tasks, and agrees that he and the other knight will indeed leave King Lisuarte's service. Thus they are freed.

Chapter 34

Meanwhile, back in London, the knight who had sold the King and Queen the beautiful crown and cloak has come to collect the goods or the payment, and since they no longer have the goods, he demands Princess Oriana in payment. So the King sends Oriana with him, accompanied by the Damsel of Denmark. Ardian, the dwarf in service to Amadis, rides off to tell him what has happened.

The King has accompanied Oriana to the forest so that no one will try to rescue her. There he meets the damsel to whom he had promised to prove he is worthy to reign over Great Britain. She asks him to avenge her by fighting a knight who has killed her father and raped her. But the King must come alone, and she has a magic sword and lance to him to use.

Of course it's a trick. The magic weapons break immediately, and the King is taken prisoner by Arcalaus and his knights, though he resists bravely. Arcalaus already has Oriana, since the knight who took her works for the sorcerer. All seems lost.

But, the author assures us, God is about to send help.

Chapter 35

Ardian meets Amadis and Galaor on the road and tells them the news about Oriana. They ride to London, where they learn the King has been taken. Amadis's squire, Gandalin, gets the King's sword for Amadis from the Queen. As the brothers and their squires ride off in pursuit, they pause to talk to some woodsmen, who say that Arcalaus has taken both the King ... and Oriana.

The brothers split up, Galaor to rescue the King and Amadis to rescue Oriana. After a long chase, Amadis finds Oriana and defeats Arcalaus's knights. He almost kills Arcalaus, but the sorcerer gets away.

As they are traveling back to London, Amadis reminds Oriana that they had promised to consummate their love. So they leave the road and find a pleasant valley. Gandalin and the Damsel of Denmark make themselves scarce. And thus, in that green forest, the most beautiful damsel in the world becomes a woman, and, briefly, they are happy.
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Permanent good weather

The real world has seasons.

My husband and I at the city walls of Ávila, Spain. Photo by a friendly fellow tourist.

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In Amadis of Gaul, it never rains and the weather is always warm. It's always perfect for adventures and jousts.

Real life is different. Here in the central plateau of Spain where I live, the winters are damp and frigid, and the summers are dry and baking hot. In the summer, Madrid takes a break and lets tourists take over.

I'll be taking a break, too, after next week's post on July 20. It will be Chapter 35, which begins with heart-stopping suspense and ends with one of the most beautiful and joyous passages of the novel.

Amadis of Gaul will resume on September 7.

If you're new to this blog, I'd like recommend a few exceptional posts that you may enjoy during the break. If you want to catch up on the story from the beginning, remember that it begins with Chapter 0.

Chapter 9
Amadis, known then as Childe of the Sea, fights the King of Ireland to defend the Kingdom of Gaul. This is the archetypical medieval hero in action.
http://amadisofgaul.blogspot.com/2009/03/chapter-9.html

I also read a section of that chapter as part of the Broad Universe July Broadpod podcast, starting at minute 22.
http://broadpod.posterous.com/
http://broadpod.podbean.com/

Chapter 17, 18, and 19
These chapters tell how Amadis sets out to find his brother, Galaor, and instead has a series of adventures central to the novel.
http://amadisofgaul.blogspot.com/2009/07/chapter-17-first-half.html
http://amadisofgaul.blogspot.com/2009/07/chapter-17-final-half.html
http://amadisofgaul.blogspot.com/2009/07/chapter-18-first-half_21.html
http://amadisofgaul.blogspot.com/2009/07/chapter-18-final-half.html
http://amadisofgaul.blogspot.com/2009/09/chapter-19.html

Chapter 25
Galaor engages in medieval comic violence and sex. Six hundred years ago, this would have had the audience laughing out loud. Sensibilities were different then.
http://amadisofgaul.blogspot.com/2010/01/chapter-25.html

Yesterday was five centuries ago, by José Miguel Pallarés
My friend, a Spanish novelist, tells how he discovered Amadis of Gaul. As a boy, he found a dusty copy in his family home in a medieval mountain town in Spain, and it changed his life.
http://amadisofgaul.blogspot.com/2009/06/yesterday-was-five-centuries-ago-by.html

California, according to Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo
How the imaginary land of warrior women became the real land of Tinseltown.
http://amadisofgaul.blogspot.com/2009/07/california-according-to-garci-rodriguez.html

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Remember that this blog is licensed under Creative Commons 3.0, so feel free to use your summer vacation to copy, distribute, display, share, or perform all or any part of it, or to create derivative works — for non-commercial use. Just say where you got it. If you want to do something commercial, I can be very reasonable.
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Summary, Chapters 24 to 30

The road back to Windsor Palace is not fast or easy for Amadis, Galaor, and Balais.

Castillo de la Mota (Castle on the Hill) in Medina del Campo, home town of Garcí Rodríguez del Montalvo, who created the only existing version of Amadís de Gaula. The castle was built on the site of a previous fortification in 1433. Its moat made it nearly impenetrable.

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In Chapter 17, Amadis goes off in search of his long-lost brother, Galaor, and after several exciting adventures, they finally meet. Amadis is the best knight in the world; his brother may be the second-best; and neither can be surpassed in courage. Both are young, extremely handsome, and look almost alike: Amadis is a bit more husky and has curly blond hair.

However, Amadis is intelligent and moderate, while his brother is impetuous and a bit dense. Amadis loves Princess Oriana with his heart and soul, while Galaor has the habit of bedding the damsels whom he rescues. In short, Amadis serves as the paragon of knighthood, and Galaor as comic relief.

You can find a synopsis of earlier chapters and major characters at the website:
http://amadisofgaul.blogspot.com

Chapter 24
Amadis, Galaor, and their friend, a knight named Balais, take the road to the court of King Lisuarte in Windsor, but they find dead knight with a lance in his neck mysteriously laid out on a bier under a tree at a crossroads. Galaor declares he will find out how the knight was killed and, if necessary, avenge his death. Amadis, who is eager to return to Windsor and see Oriana, cannot talk him out of it.

As they wait alongside the corpse, a knight rides past beating a damsel with his lance, and Amadis, sworn protector of all ladies and damsels, charges off to save her.

Soon afterwards, a knight arrives with a tale of woe that makes Galaor and Balais laugh at him, so he attacks Galaor's horse. It runs away, and Balais mounts his horse to pursue the knight.

Galaor waits, night falls, eventually he naps, and while he is asleep the dead knight disappears. He hikes down the road and finds the knight laid out in the courtyard of a castle. He learns that the knight, named Antebon, had been murdered by a knight named Palingues, who also kidnaped Antebon's daughter. Galaor swears to his widow that he will avenge his death.

Chapter 25

Galaor borrows a horse and rides to Palingues's castle, where he meets clumsy resistance. (Unlike Amadis, whose fights are always perilous and whose opponents are always skilled and cunning, Galaor's fights are comic.) Galaor kills Palingues and rescues Antebon's beautiful daughter, then they jump into bed.

Chapter 26

Meanwhile, Amadis catches up with the knight and the damsel and defeats him despite his dishonorable conduct in battle, killing Amadis's horse. Amadis appropriates the now-dead knight's horse, and he and the damsel ride off. But it is late at night, and they soon pause to rest. While they sleep, another knight comes and takes the damsel away.

After a long search, Amadis finds that knight at his castle, but no one will not let him enter to talk to the damsel until morning, and then only after Amadis defeats a series of knights, each battle more perilous than the last.

Chapter 27

Eventually, Amadis fights the knight who had stolen the damsel and defeats him, but the lady of the castle pleads for his life. Amadis assents and gets to talk to the damsel and learns that she is content to stay with the knight, since he loves her so much that he would fight Amadis for her.

But Amadis has also learned that the lady of the castle is the woman his friend Sir Angriote loves, though she disdains Angriote. Amadis, who had promised Angriote to help him win the lady, makes her promise to go to Windsor, where he knows Angriote is.

Chapter 28

While Balais is pursuing the knight who had attacked Galaor's horse, he comes upon a band of five thieves who want to rape a damsel, so of course he rescues her, though the thieves kill his horse in the process. Balais and the damsel ride off together on her palfrey, and they find the knight Balais was seeking. Balais defeats him, breaks his sword, and takes his horse.

Thus Balais, Amadis, and Galaor arrive back at the tree at the crossroads, each riding a different horse than the one he started with, and each having rescued a damsel in distress.

Chapter 29

Back at Windsor Palace, a well-dressed damsel arrives and makes the King promise he will prove to her that he is worthy to reign over Great Britain at the court he will hold soon in London.

Three knights arrive, and one shows the King a golden crown and the Queen a richly worked cloak, which they want. The knight says he must go, but he leaves the cloak and crown with the King and Queen, and they promise to pay him for them at the court in London.

Chapter 30

Amadis, Galaor, and Balais arrive at Windsor Palace and are received with joy and celebration. Galaor becomes the King's vassal. Amadis talks with Oriana and confesses the urgency of his sexual desires. She says she feels the same way and promises to find a means of relief as soon as possible.
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Summary, Chapters 21 to 25

A reprise of the most recent adventures of the greatest knight in the world.

[A 14th century manuscript initial depicting Edward III of England with his son the Black Prince kneeling in front of him.]

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Amadis and Princess Oriana are secretly in love, so to be near her, he has placed himself at the service of her mother, Queen Brisena, wife of King Lisuarte of Great Britain. The Queen sent him to search for his long-lost brother Galaor in Chapter 17. Amadis has had many adventures during his travels; meanwhile, so has Galaor and other characters in the novel. Intertwining plot-lines are a standard feature of medieval stories.

You can find a synopsis of Chapters 0 to 20 here, and a list of the major characters here.

Chapter 21

A knight tricks Galaor out of his horse, so Galaor catches up with him and kills him. However, a damsel in league with the knight then tricks Galaor into granting her a boon in revenge, and she travels with him, insulting him continuously.

Amadis sees a mysterious carriage being drawn through a field near a castle and defeats the knights guarding it to see what is inside: the marble coffin of a king with his crown and head split in half, along with a beautiful girl, and a lady who is understandably angry with Amadis. He leaves, but later the lady sends a knight to ask him to come to her castle so she can make amends.

But that turns out to be a trick. The lady's knights attack Amadis. Although he fights valiantly, he would have been defeated, but the beautiful girl releases two lions to frighten his attackers, and he escapes and closes the gate, leaving the lions loose inside the castle. The girl persuades Amadis to open the gate to let the lions out, and the whole thing turns out to be a test to find a knight brave enough to avenge the beautiful girl's father's death. He was a king who was killed by his brother, who split his head with the crown on it in half and took over his kingdom. The girl barely escaped to the protection of her aunt, the lady. Amadis agrees to return in a year to win back the girl's kingdom for her.

Chapter 22

Amadis rides off, but soon he encounters an armed knight, riding with a damsel, who attacks a dwarf who had become Amadis's vassal in Chapter 19. Amadis defends the dwarf, but the other knight as as strong and skilled as he is, and the fight goes on for hours. Then another knight, Balais, comes along and talks with the damsel. It turns out that the damsel is the niece of the Sorcerer Arcalaus. Amadis had fought him in Chapters 18 and 19 and freed many knights and men from Arcalaus's hellish prison. The damsel has demanded a boon from Galaor: to give her the head of the dwarf. She hopes that Amadis and Galaor will kill each other in the fight. With their helmets on, they don't recognize each other.

Balais, however, is one of the knights Amadis had freed from the prison, so as thanks, he draws his sword, lops of the damsel's head, makes Amadis and Galaor stop fighting, and takes them to his castle to recover from their wounds.

Chapter 23

The knights Galvanes, Agrajes, and Olivas arrive at Windsor Palace. Agrajes talks to Princess Olinda of Norway, his secret love, and other people catch up on news. As dinner is about to begin, the knight Angriote arrives; he had fought with Amadis in Chapter 18 but then turned into a loyal ally; he brings some news about Amadis, which everyone is waiting for. Then the dwarf arrives to say that Amadis has found Galaor and will return to Windsor soon. There is much rejoicing.

Chapter 24

Amadis, Galor, and Balais set out for Windsor, and although Amadis had hoped for a quick and uneventful journey, they discover a murdered knight laid out beneath a tree. Galaor declares he will not leave until he finds out what has happened. While they are waiting, a knight rides past beating a damsel, and Amadis, always ready to help a damsel in distress, rides off after them. Then a knight comes and attacks Galaor's horse, and Balais rides off after that knight.

Galaor is alone with the corpse during the night, falls asleep, and awakes to find it gone. He starts hiking to try to find out what has happened and eventually finds the knight, named Antebon, laid out in the courtyard of a castle. He learns that a knight had kidnaped Antebon's daughter, then foully murdered Antebon to prove his valor. Galaor vows to avenge his death.

Chapter 25

Galaor goes to the murderous knight's castle and kills him. In gratitude, Antebon's daughter jumps into bed with Galaor. This sort of thing happens to Galaor a lot.
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Index of dramatis personae, Chapters 0-24

A list of the major characters, to help those who have gotten confused or who have just joined.

[Tomb of El Doncel (the Young Nobleman) Martín Vázquez de Arce in the Cathedral of Sigüenza, Spain. He served as a pageboy to Queen Isabel of Castile and died in 1486 at age 25 while fighting in the conquest of Granada. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigüenza]

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As is typical of medieval novels, Amadis of Gaul features a number of intertwining plotlines and an enormous cast of characters and families. Here is an alphabetical list through Chapter 24 of the major protagonists and antagonists who will appear in subsequent chapters.

Agrajes: Son of King Languines of Scotland, cousin of Amadis, and a fine knight. He is in love with Olinda, Princess of Norway. He and his uncle Galvanes free a damsel from being burned at the stake in Chapter 16, which earns them the sworn enmity of the Duke of Bristol. In Chapter 23, Agrajes, Galvanes, and a knight named Olivas arrive at the royal court.

Amadis: The greatest knight in the world. He is born out of wedlock to King Perion of Gaul and Princess Elisena of Little Brittany. As a newborn, he is cast into the sea in a wooden ark and recovered by a Scottish knight, Gandales, who raises him as a son. From Chapter 2 to 10, he is known as Childe of the Sea. At age 12, he meets Princess Oriana of Great Britain and they fall in love, but he is a boy with no name or estate and she is the daughter of a powerful king, so theirs is an impossible, secret love. He grows up to be handsome, brave, and a fierce protector of all women as well as the oppressed. His love for Oriana can overcome his senses, however, and he hopes that as a knight, he can achieve such feats as to be worthy of her. In Chapter 10, he learns who he is. In Chapter 15, he agrees to serve Queen Brisena, Oriana's mother. He leaves Windsor to search for his brother Galaor. In Chapter 24, he has found Galaor and they are returning to the royal court when he goes dashing off to rescue a damsel in distress.

Angriote d' Estravaus: He loves Grovenesa, who hates him, so she orders him to guard a valley and make all knights who pass through it swear that she is the most beautiful woman in the world, and if they refuse, Angriote must fight them; she hopes that someone will kill him. In Chapter 18, Amadis, who cannot bear to say that any woman is more beautiful than Oriana (no woman is, actually), defeats Angriote but spares his life and thus wins his everlasting loyalty. In Chapter 23, Angriote arrives at the royal court.

Arcalaus the Sorcerer: He fights Amadis in Chapter 18 and defeats him with an evil spell, but Amadis is rescued from death by two nieces of the sorceress Urganda. Amadis then frees 115 men and 30 knights held in a horrible prison in Arcalaus's castle. In Chapter 20, Arcalaus goes to the royal court to announce that he has killed Amadis, but everyone hates Arcalaus for it, so he leaves; the truth is soon known. Expect more trouble from Arcalaus.

Ardian: A dwarf who becomes Amadis's vassal in Chapter 18.

Balais of Carsante: One of the knights freed by Amadis from Arcalaus's prison. He intervenes in a fight between Amadis and Galaor in Chapter 22, then joins them on their trip to the royal court in Windsor. In Chapter 24, he rides off after a knight who attacked their horses.

Brisena: Wife of King Lisuarte of Great Britain, daughter of the King of Denmark, mother of Oriana. Amadis is her knight.

Damsel of Denmark: She serves Oriana. Always level-headed, she has upbraided Amadis, Oriana, and Mabilia when they were acting foolish.

Galaor: Legitimate son of King Perion of Gaul and Queen Elisena. He is stolen as a toddler by a giant in Chapter 3. He is knighted by Amadis, who does not know him, in Chapter 11. He is an excellent and fearless knight, but not especially intelligent and not at all chaste. Galaor serves as a comic foil to his brother. He and Amadis meet in Chapter 22 while wearing helmets and thus fail recognize each other, and they fight to near death. In Chapter 24, Galaor is traveling to Windsor with Amadis and Balais when they find a murdered knight beneath a tree.

Gandalin: Son of the Scottish knight Gandales, who found Amadis as a newborn in the sea. They were raised together as brothers, and he has become Amadis's loyal squire.

Lisuarte: King of Great Britain, husband of Brisena, father of Oriana.

Mabilia: Daughter of King Languines of Scotland, close friend of Oriana.

Oriana: The most beautiful woman in the world. Daughter of King Lisuarte and Queen Brisena. She falls secretly in love with Amadis as a child, and, as adults, they confess their love to each other in Chapter 14. When Arcalaus says in Chapter 20 that he has killed Amadis, she almost dies of grief.

Urganda the Unrecognized: Sorceress who can assume any disguise and thus pass unrecognized; protector of Amadis and Galaor.
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Summary, Chapters 0 to 15

A quick recap of the story so far, for new readers or bewildered followers.

[Tintern Abbey, Wales. The Cistercian monastery was founded in 1131, and the buildings date from the 12th to 16th century. The monastery was dissolved in 1536 and fell into ruins. These days it is a popular tourist attraction. Photo by Gwyneth Box.]

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King Perion of Gaul, while visiting the King of Little Brittany, falls in love with his daughter, Elisena, who feels the same. [Chapter 0]

They meet for several secret midnight trysts. After he returns home, she discovers she is pregnant, and with the help of a friend, she gives birth in secret. They put the baby boy in a wooden ark in a river with Perion's sword, gold ring, and a note covered with wax saying that the baby is named Amadis. The ark quickly floats into the sea, where, by divine miracle, Scottish knight named Gandales finds it while sailing home, and he adopts the boy as his son. [1]

Perion has a dream analyzed about the tryst. Gandales hears a prophecy about the brilliant future of the childe from Urganda the Unrecognized, a sorceress who protects Amadis; she is called "unrecognized" because she can look like anyone. [2]

When the Childe of the Sea (as Amadis is called) is seven years old, King Languines of Scotland visits and takes the Childe and Gandales's son Gandalin with him to his court. After Elisena's father dies, King Perion marries her. She does not tell him about Amadis, but they have another son, Galaor, whom a giant carries away when he is two and a half years old. The giant has a monk raise the boy because a prophecy told him that the boy will grow up to be a knight and help him take back his kingdom. [3]

Lisuarte has just become King of Great Britain, and while sailing home from Denmark, he leaves his ten-year-old daughter Oriana in Languines's court because she is seasick. The Childe of the Sea is twelve years old. They immediately fall deeply in love, but dare not speak of it to anyone, even each other.

But several years later, the Childe decides to become a knight to impress her. Gandales sends him the sword, ring, and wax-covered note, and Oriana takes the wax. The Childe learns from Languines that Gandales was not his father, but his true father is unknown.

King Perion stops at Languines's court looking for allies in a war with the King of Ireland, who has invaded his kingdom, and Languines's son Agrajes volunteers to help. The Childe tells Oriana he wants to become her knight and fight in the war, and she happily arranges to have Perion knight him in secret. Gandalin becomes his devoted squire.

The Childe rides out before dawn, and immediately comes to the aid of a badly injured knight whose wife has betrayed him. She sends her brothers to attack the Childe. He defeats them in a battle. [4]

Urganda the Unrecognized gives the Childe a magic lance. A damsel from Denmark (the Damsel of Denmark) meets him on the road and accompanies him as he uses that lance to rescue King Perion from death in castle of an ally of the King of Ireland. Perion is very grateful; the Childe continues on his quest for noble deeds; and the Damsel of Denmark goes on her way, which is to Oriana. Meanwhile, Galaor has grown up and wants to become a knight, so the giant comes and takes him to be trained. [5]

The Childe meets a damsel who has just been raped by an evil knight who assaults all passing damsels and ladies, and defeats and humiliates all passing knights. The Childe gets justice for her by killing the knight's soldiers, brothers, and finally beheads the evil knight in a spectacular fight. The damsel, thus avenged, continues on her way to see Agrajes with a message. [6]

In King Languines's court, they learn the Childe of the Sea has become a knight and is doing amazing deeds. Oriana is very happy. [7]

King Lisuarte calls his daughter Oriana back to his court. As she packs, she finds the note inside the wax, and sends the Damsel of Denmark to bring him the news of his name. After some minor adventures, the Childe of the Sea joins Agrajes to sail off to the war in Gaul. King Perion welcomes them. They fight a heated battle with the King of Ireland and his men. The Childe fights amazingly well and saves them from defeat, and the battle ends with an agreement to end the war with hand-to-hand combat between the King of Ireland and the Childe. The winner gets Gaul, the loser gets death. [8]

In an especially vivid and exciting chapter, the Childe defeats the King of Ireland. Afterwards, the Damsel of Denmark delivers the note from Oriana. If you haven't read this chapter, you should. [link to Chapter 9]

The Childe's gold ring and sword cause King Perion and Queen Elisena to realize that he is their son and his name is Amadis. There is much rejoicing. Eventually Amadis leaves for to King Lisuarte's court in Windsor to be near Oriana, but on the way, he meets a damsel sent by Urganda with a message for him to come help her. [10]

Galaor and the giant are traveling to King Lisuarte's court to have him knighted, but on the way, they see an amazingly skilled knight attack a moated castle and defeat its guards and knights to free a prisoner inside for a woman named Urganda. Galaor wants that knight to make him a knight, and he refuses out of humility, but Urganda orders him to. After he leaves, Amadis learns it was his brother.

Galaor, traveling with his stepfather giant, learns he is Amadis's brother. They arrive at the castle of the evil giant who stole Galaor's stepfather's lands, and on the way they meet two damsels who accompany them. [11]

Galaor defeats the evil giant, which makes everyone very happy. But soon, Galaor travels with one of the damsels to meet her lady. On the way they skirmish with a dwarf and his soldiers and knights, who seems to know the damsel.

The damsel takes Galaor to the castle of the Duke of Bristol and sneaks him in for a tryst with a princess named Aldeva; this is a traditional medieval erotic adventure. On his way out, he meets the dwarf and fights his way to freedom with much comic violence, but the damsel who led him there is imprisoned. [12]

Amadis is insulted by an arrogant knight named Dardan as he travels to Windsor; this inspires the author to deliver a sermon against pride. Amadis meets two damsels and learns that a woman will have all her estate given to her stepdaughter, Dardan's lover, if no one challenges Dardan in a trial by battle. After some minor adventures, he and the damsels arrive at Windsor but camp nearby in the forest. Amadis defeats Dardan in a battle witnessed by King Lisuarte, his court, Oriana, the Damsel of Denmark, and the townspeople, but Amadis rides off before he can be identified. [13]

Galaor goes to town, meets the Damsel of Denmark, then Oriana, and arranges for Amadis to sneak into a garden at night to talk to her. He does, and they confess their love for each other, knowing that, since he is the natural son of a minor monarch and she is the daughter of the known world's greatest king, they have little hope for satisfaction of their mortal desires. [14]

King Lisuarte is holding the woman Amadis fought for as a prisoner until her champion comes forward. Amadis, humble to a fault, does not believe he is worthy to present himself to such a great king, but he does it on behalf of the woman. King Lisuarte is desperate to ask him to be his knight, but he also promised to ask nothing of Amadis in exchange for learning who the mysterious knight was. Instead the Queen and Princess Oriana and the other ladies and damsels of the court ask Amadis to be their knight, and, under Oriana's orders, he agrees.

Meanwhile, Galaor, who had just left the Duke of Bristol's castle, goes to another castle to get a wound treated, but instead he is attacked and must fight for his life. More comic violence ensues. After he has killed everyone, he discovers a lovely damsel being held prisoner, whom he rescues, and in gratitude she treats his wound and his amorous desires. [15]

The story has been telling parallel adventures of Galaor and Amadis, contrasting their characters as well as alternating drama with comedy, and it will do so again, as ye shall soon see.
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FAQ for the story so far

[I'm standing in the gothic cloister, built in the 1300s, at Sé Cathedral, Oporto, Portugal. Photo by my husband.]

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1. Regarding the prologue, what's Rodríguez de Montalvo talking about? Shouldn't history be accurate?

You were obviously born in the 20th century. It took a while for historians to think of themselves as scientists rather than moralists, and now to think of anything else seems immoral.

2. Did secret marriages really exist, or is that just an authorial convenience?

Until the Council of Trent (1545-1563), private promises of marriage had the same legal standing as promises made in religious ceremonies. As you can imagine, sometimes these private promises turned out to be false, since not everyone in the real world was as honest and pious as our protagonists.

3. Did they really talk so stilted?

I prefer to think of it mannered and lofty. It is a distinctive literary device of the text. This unrealistic but stylish speech actually became hip and cool in Renaissance society, like any other trendy slang. Eventually, of course, it became dated and unfashionable, and now it is unthinkable.

4. What about ye and thou?

The original text uses vos and tú as distinct forms of you: in early modern English, the equivalent is the polite ye and the familiar thou. In medieval times, everyone occupied a set place in the social hierarchy, and it is revealing, at times even shocking, to notice who speaks as a superior, equal, or inferior to whom, and when. Note that familiarity need not be reciprocal.

5. There's a lot of violence, isn't there?

Yes. This is a medieval story. In medieval European society, in a state of near-constant war, knights were esteemed members of nobility, born to fight, and fight they did. There will be much more blood to come.

6. Damsels? Really?

In Spanish, the word is donzella, and it comes from the Latin dominicella, which means "young noblewoman." Not every young woman or girl is a damsel, though that's about the only breed we see in this novel. Donzel is the male version in Spanish; there is no English equivalent. As a boy, Amadis is called Donzel del Mar, which is traditionally translated as "Child of the Sea." You already know that he's very noble.
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