''Amadís de Gaula'' (in English ''Amadis of Gaul'') ( es, Amadís de Gaula, links=no, ); pt, Amadis de Gaula, links=no, ) is a

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

landmark work among the

chivalric romance As a literary genre, the chivalric romance is a type of prose and verse narrative that was popular in the noble courts of High Medieval and Early Modern Europe. They were fantastic stories about marvel-filled adventures, often of a chivalric k ...

s which were in vogue in sixteenth-century, although its first version, much revised before printing, was written at the onset of the 14th century in an uncertain place of the

Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, defi ...

. The earliest surviving edition of the known text, by

Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo (; c. 1450 – 1505) was a Castilian author who arranged the modern version of the chivalric romance '' Amadis of Gaul'', originally written in three books in the 14th century by an unknown author. Montalvo incorpora ...

(not Ordóñez de Montalvo), was printed in

Zaragoza Zaragoza, also known in English as Saragossa,''Encyclopædia Britannica'"Zaragoza (conventional Saragossa)" is the capital city of the Zaragoza Province and of the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributari ...

, Spain, in 1508, although almost certainly there were earlier printed editions, now

lost Lost may refer to getting lost, or to: Geography *Lost, Aberdeenshire, a hamlet in Scotland * Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail, or LOST, a hiking and cycling trail in Florida, US History *Abbreviation of lost work, any work which is known to have bee ...

. It was published in four books in Castilian, but its origins are unclear: The narrative originates in the late post-Arthurian genre and had certainly been read as early as the 14th century by the

chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...

Pero López de Ayala Don Pero (or Pedro) López de Ayala (1332–1407) was a Castilian statesman, historian, poet, chronicler, chancellor, and courtier. Life Pero López de Ayala was born in 1332 at Vitoria, County of Alava, Kingdom of Castile, as the son of Fer ...

, as well as his contemporary

Pero Ferrús Pero Ferrús (also written as Pedro Ferrús, Pero Ferruz, Pero Ferrus) ( fl. 1380) was a Castilian poet. He lived in Alcalá de Henares. Ferrús was a Marrano, having converted to Christianity from Judaism. The reasons for conversion by Marra ...

. Montalvo himself confesses to have amended the first three volumes, and to be the author of the fourth. Additionally, in the

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

''Chronicle'' by

Gomes Eanes de Zurara Gomes Eanes de Zurara (c. 1410 – c. 1474), sometimes spelled Eannes or Azurara, was a Portuguese chronicler of the European Age of Discovery, the most notable after Fernão Lopes. Life and career Zurara adopted the career of letters in middle ...

(1454), ''Amadis'' is attributed to

Vasco de Lobeira Vasco de Lobeira (died 1403) was a Portuguese medieval writer to whom is attributed the prose original of the romance '' Amadis de Gaula''. In the Portuguese ''Chronicle'' of Gomes Eannes de Azurara (1454), the writing of ''Amadís'' is attribute ...

, who was knighted after the

Battle of Aljubarrota The Battle of Aljubarrota (; see Aljubarrota) was fought between the Kingdom of Portugal and the Crown of Castile on 14 August 1385. Forces commanded by King John I of Portugal and his general Nuno Álvares Pereira, with the support of English ...

(1385). Other sources claim that the work was, in fact, a copy of

João de Lobeira João Pires de Lobeira (c. 1233–1285) was a Portuguese troubadour of the time of King Afonso III, who is supposed to have been the first to reduce into prose the story of '' Amadis de Gaula''. Carolina Michaëlis de Vasconcellos, in her mas ...

, and that it was a translation into Castilian Spanish of an earlier work, probably from the beginning of the 14th century, however, no primitive version in Portuguese is known. A more recent sources attribute ''Amadis'' to Henry of Castile, due to evidence linking his biography with the events in ''Amadis''. The inspiration for the "Amadis de Gaula" appears to be the forbidden marriage of Infanta Constanza of Aragon with Henry in 1260 (see

Don Juan Manuel Don Juan Manuel (5 May 128213 June 1348) was a Spanish medieval writer, nephew of Alfonso X of Castile, son of Manuel of Castile and Beatrice of Savoy. He inherited from his father the great Lordship of Villena, receiving the titles of Lord, Duk ...

's ' of 1335), as forbidden as was also Oriana's marriage to Amadis. In the introduction to the text, Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo explains that he edited the first three books of a text in circulation since the 14th century. Montalvo also admits to adding a fourth as yet unpublished book as well as adding a continuation, ''

Las sergas de Esplandián ''Las Sergas de Esplandián'' (''The Adventures of Esplandián'') is a novel written by Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo in the late fifteenth or early sixteenth century. The novel is a sequel to a popular fifteenth century set of chivalric romance n ...

'', which he claims was found in a buried chest in

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...

and transported to Spain by a Hungarian merchant (the famous motif of the

found manuscript A false document is a technique by which an author aims to increase verisimilitude in a work of fiction by inventing and inserting or mentioning documents that appear to be factual. The goal of a false document is to convince an audience that what ...

). ''Amadís de Gaula'' was the fictional character

Don Quixote is a Spanish epic novel by Miguel de Cervantes. Originally published in two parts, in 1605 and 1615, its full title is ''The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha'' or, in Spanish, (changing in Part 2 to ). A founding work of Wester ...

's favorite book in the novel by

Miguel de Cervantes Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (; 29 September 1547 (assumed) – 22 April 1616 Old Style and New Style dates, NS) was an Early Modern Spanish writer widely regarded as the greatest writer in the Spanish language and one of the world's pre-emin ...

Characters and plot

The story narrates the

star-crossed "Star-crossed" or "star-crossed lovers" is a phrase describing a pair of lovers who, for some external reason, cannot be together. The term also has other meanings, but originally means that the pairing is being "thwarted by a malign star" or ...

love of King Perión of Gaula and Elisena of England, resulting in the secret birth of Amadís. The place called ''Gaula'' is a fictional kingdom within

Brittany Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, Historical region, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known ...

. It has in the past been identified with Wales or France, but it is best understood as a completely legendary place.

Abandoned Abandon, abandoned, or abandonment may refer to: Common uses * Abandonment (emotional), a subjective emotional state in which people feel undesired, left behind, insecure, or discarded * Abandonment (legal), a legal term regarding property ** Chi ...

at birth on a raft in England, the child is raised by the knight Gandales in Scotland and investigates his origins through fantastic adventures. He is persecuted by the wizard Arcaláus, but protected by Urganda la Desconocida (Urganda the Unknown or Unrecognized), an ambiguous priestess with magical powers and a talent for prophecy. Knighted by his father King Perión, Amadís overcomes the challenges of the enchanted Ínsola Firme (a sort of peninsula), including passing through the Arch of Faithful Lovers. Despite Amadís' celebrated fidelity, his childhood sweetheart, Oriana, heiress to the throne of Great Britain, becomes jealous of a rival princess and sends a letter to chastise Amadís. The knight changes his name to Beltenebros and indulges in a long period of madness on the isolated Peña Pobre (Poor Peak or Mountain). He recovers his senses only when Oriana sends her maid to retrieve him. He then helps Oriana's father, Lisuarte, repel invaders. A short time later he and Oriana scandalously consummate their love. Their son Esplandián is the result of this one illicit meeting. Rodríguez de Montalvo asserts that in the "original" ''Amadís'', Esplandián eventually kills his father for this offense against his mother's honor; however, Montalvo amends this defect and resolves their conflict peaceably. Oriana and Amadís defer their marriage for many years due to enmity between Amadís and Oriana's father, Lisuarte. Amadís absents himself from Britain for at least 10 years, masquerading as "The Knight of the Green Sword". He travels as far as Constantinople and secures the favor of the child-princess Leonorina, who will become Esplandián's wife. His most famous adventure during this time of exile is the battle with the giant Endriago, a monster born of incest who exhales a poisonous gas and whose body is covered in scales. As a knight, Amadís is

courteous Etiquette () is the set of norms of personal behaviour in polite society, usually occurring in the form of an ethical code of the expected and accepted social behaviours that accord with the conventions and norms observed and practised by a ...

, gentle, sensitive, and a Christian, who dares to defend free love. Unlike most literary heroes of his time (French and German, for example), Amadís is a handsome man who would cry if refused by his lady, but is invincible in battle and usually emerges drenched in his own and his opponents' blood.

Literary significance

Called also ''Amadís sin tiempo'' (Amadis without Time) by his mother (in allusion to the fact that being conceived outside marriage she would have to abandon him and he would probably die), he is the most representative Iberian hero of

. His adventures ran to four volumes, probably the most popular such tales of their time.

François de la Noue François de la Noue (1531 – August 4, 1591), called Bras-de-Fer (Iron Arm), was one of the Huguenot captains of the 16th century. He was born near Nantes in 1531, of an ancient Breton family. He served in Italy under Marshal Brissac, and in th ...

, one of the Huguenot captains of the 16th century, affirmed that reading the romances of Amadis had caused a "spirit of vertigo" even in his more rationally-minded generation. The books show a complete idealization and simplification of knight-errantry. Even servants are hardly heard of, but there are many princesses, ladies and kings. Knights and

damsels in distress The damsel in distress is a recurring narrative device in which one or more men must rescue a woman who has either been kidnapped or placed in general peril. Kinship, love, or lust (or a combination of those) gives the male protagonist the motiv ...

are found everywhere. The book's style is reasonably modern, but lacks dialogue and the character's impressions, mostly describing the action. The book's

style Style is a manner of doing or presenting things and may refer to: * Architectural style, the features that make a building or structure historically identifiable * Design, the process of creating something * Fashion, a prevailing mode of clothing ...

was praised by the usually demanding

Juan de Valdés Juan de Valdés (c.1490 – August 1541) was a Spanish religious writer and Catholic reformer. He was the younger of twin sons of Fernando de Valdés, hereditary ''regidor'' of Cuenca in Castile, where Valdés was born. He has been confuse ...

, although he considered that from time to time it was too low or too high a style. The language is characterized by a certain "Latinizing" influence in its

syntax In linguistics, syntax () is the study of how words and morphemes combine to form larger units such as phrases and sentences. Central concerns of syntax include word order, grammatical relations, hierarchical sentence structure ( constituency) ...

, especially the tendency to place the

verb A verb () is a word (part of speech) that in syntax generally conveys an action (''bring'', ''read'', ''walk'', ''run'', ''learn''), an occurrence (''happen'', ''become''), or a state of being (''be'', ''exist'', ''stand''). In the usual descri ...

at the end of the sentence; as well as other such details, such as the use of the

present participle In linguistics, a participle () (from Latin ' a "sharing, partaking") is a nonfinite verb form that has some of the characteristics and functions of both verbs and adjectives. More narrowly, ''participle'' has been defined as "a word derived from ...

, which bring ''Amadís'' into line with the

allegorical As a literary device or artistic form, an allegory is a narrative or visual representation in which a character, place, or event can be interpreted to represent a hidden meaning with moral or political significance. Authors have used allegory th ...

style of the 15th century. Nevertheless, there is a breach of style when Garci Rodriguez de Montalvo presents the fourth book. It becomes dull and solemn, reflecting the nature of the intruding writer. The first three books are inspired in deeds and feats by knights-errant, dating back to the 13th century, while the fourth book emerges as a less brilliant attachment of the 15th century. The pristine style of ''Amadís'' can be perceived in the few original famous pages analyzed by Antonio Rodríguez Moñino: It is lively and straight to the facts of war and love, with brief dialogs, all quite elegant and amusing. ''Amadís of Gaula'' is frequently referenced in the humorous classic ''Don Quixote'', written by Miguel de Cervantes in the early 17th century. The character Don Quixote idolizes Amadís and tries to imitate him. Historically, ''Amadís'' was very influential amongst the Spanish

conquistador Conquistadors (, ) or conquistadores (, ; meaning 'conquerors') were the explorer-soldiers of the Spanish and Portuguese Empires of the 15th and 16th centuries. During the Age of Discovery, conquistadors sailed beyond Europe to the Americas, O ...

es.

Bernal Díaz del Castillo Bernal Díaz del Castillo ( 1492 – 3 February 1584) was a Spanish conquistador, who participated as a soldier in the conquest of the Aztec Empire under Hernán Cortés and late in his life wrote an account of the events. As an experienced ...

mentioned the wonders of ''Amadís'' when he marveled at his first sight of

Tenochtitlan , ; es, Tenochtitlan also known as Mexico-Tenochtitlan, ; es, México-Tenochtitlan was a large Mexican in what is now the historic center of Mexico City. The exact date of the founding of the city is unclear. The date 13 March 1325 was ...

(modern Mexico City) – and such place names as

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

come directly from the work. The English literary historian Helen Moore in her 2020 book ''Amadis in English: A Study in the Reading of Romance'' suggested the book has been popular over the centuries because: The British writer

C.S. Lewis CS, C-S, C.S., Cs, cs, or cs. may refer to: Job titles * Chief Secretary (Hong Kong) * Chief superintendent, a rank in the British and several other police forces * Company secretary, a senior position in a private sector company or public se ...

said that ''Amadis'' was among his "own favourite reading" and that he had an "early & lasting love of Oriana."C.S. Lewis, ''The Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis, Volume 2''. HarperOne. 2004. pp. 562, 563.

Origins

As mentioned above, the origins of the book of ''Amadís'' are disputed.

The existing texts

The version of Montalvo

The only known complete text of ''Amadís de Gaula'' is that of Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo, a Castilian writer. The earliest surviving text (book) is from 1508, although scholars accept that there were earlier editions. If this text had been based on a Portuguese original, there would be linguistic evidence in the text. As there is none, the text of Montalvo must have been written in Castilian.

Manuscript fragments

The only known manuscript are the 15th-century fragments found in a book binding (a discarded manuscript, in this case ''Amadís'', was used as raw material for binding another book), and identified and published by . He claimed sole ownership of only Book IV. The existence of a prior version of Books I to III has been supported by Antonio Rodríguez Moñino's identification of four 15th-century manuscript fragments (ca. 1420). The name "Esplandián" is clearly visible in one of these. The fragments belong to the collection of the

Bancroft Library The Bancroft Library in the center of the campus of the University of California, Berkeley, is the university's primary special-collections library. It was acquired from its founder, Hubert Howe Bancroft, in 1905, with the proviso that it retai ...

at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

. They show that, contrary to the usual view that Montalvo ''expanded'' the first three books, instead he abbreviated them.

Earlier mentions of Amadis

In the Spanish translation of

Egidio Colonna Giles of Rome O.S.A. (Latin: ''Aegidius Romanus''; Italian: ''Egidio Colonna''; c. 1243 – 22 December 1316), was a Medieval philosopher and Scholastic theologian and a friar of the Order of St Augustine, who was also appointed to the po ...

's ''De regimine principum'', ''Amadís'' is mentioned and also the poet Enrico, who could well be Enrico de Castiglia. Egidio Colonna was in Rome in 1267 when Henry of Castile was elected Senator. The translation was made around 1350 under King Peter the Cruel. This is the oldest mention of ''Amadís''.

Sequels in Spanish

''Amadis of Gaul''s popularity was such that in the decades following its publication, dozens of

sequel A sequel is a work of literature, film, theatre, television, music or video game that continues the story of, or expands upon, some earlier work. In the common context of a narrative work of fiction, a sequel portrays events set in the same ...

s of sometimes minor quality were published in Spanish, Italian, and German, together with a number of other imitative works. Montalvo himself cashed in with the continuation ''

'' (Book V), and the sequel-specialist Feliciano de Silva (also the author of ''Second Celestina'') added four more books including '' Amadis of Greece'' (Book IX).

wrote ''

'' as a burlesque attack on the resulting genre. Cervantes and his protagonist Quixote, however, keep the original ''Amadís'' in very high esteem. The Spanish volumes, with their authors and the names of their main characters: * Books I–IV: <1508 (Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo): Amadís de Gaula * Book V: 1510 (Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo): Esplandián * Book VI: 1510 (Páez de Ribera) – this volume was universally maligned * Book VII: 1514 ( Feliciano de Silva): Lisuarte de Grecia * Book VIII: 1526 (Juan Díaz) – Diaz had Amadis die in this volume which was much criticized * Book IX: 1530 (Feliciano de Silva): Amadís de Grecia ( Amadis of Greece) * Book X: 1532 (Feliciano de Silva): Florisel de Niquea * Book XI: 1535 & 1551 (Feliciano de Silva): Rogel de Grecia * Book XII: 1546 (Pedro de Luján): Silves de la Selva

Translations, continuations and sequels in Castilian and other languages

Castilian sequels: * – original anonymous text in Castilian: 1511 * (son of Palmerin de Olivia) – original anonymous text in Castilian: 1512 In Germany and England, ''Amadís'' was known chiefly through its French translations, sometimes much revised, and in England the cycle was generally referred to by its French title ''Amadis de Gaule''. The French translations did not follow the Spanish book divisions exactly, and the entire cycle in the French version extends to 24 books. Note that the book numbers of the French translation do not always correspond to the book numbers of the Spanish originals, and in both languages, "book" is not the same as "printed volume"; physical printed books sometimes contained more than one "book" of the series. French translations, with their translators: * Book I: 1540 ( Nicolas de Herberay des Essarts) * Book II: 1541 (Nicolas de Herberay des Essarts) * Book III: 1542 (Nicolas de Herberay des Essarts) * Book IV: 1543 (Nicolas de Herberay des Essarts) * Book V: 1544 (Nicolas de Herberay des Essarts) * (Spanish book VI was rejected as apocryphal) * Book VI: 1545 (Nicolas de Herberay des Essarts) (actually Spanish Book VII) * (Spanish Book VIII was rejected because it told of the death of Amadis) * Book VII: 1546 (Nicolas de Herberay des Essarts) (actually Spanish Book IXa) * Book VIII: 1548 (Nicolas de Herberay des Essarts) (actually Spanish Book IXb) * Book IX: 1551 (Giles Boileau & Claude Colet) (actually Spanish Book Xa) * Book X: 1552 (Jacques Gohory) (actually Spanish Book Xb) * Book XI: 1554 (Jacques Gohory) (actually Spanish Book XIa) * Book XII: 1556 (Guillaume Aubert) (actually Spanish Book XIb) * Book XIII: 1571 (Jacques Gohory) (actually Spanish Book XIIa) * Book XIV: 1574 (Antoine Tyron) (actually Spanish Book XIIb) * Books XV–XXI: 1576–1581 * Books XXII–XXIV: after 1594 The German Continuation: * Books XIX–XXI : 1594–5 The Italian Continuation: * Books XIII–XVIII (Mambrino Roseo da Fabriano) In Portugal, the Amadis cycle also launched other adventure series, such as: * (''Palmeirim of England'') – original Portuguese text by Francisco de Morais Cabral: c.1544 (published 1567) * – original Portuguese text by Diogo Fernandes * – original Portuguese text by Gonçalves Lobato * (''Chronicle of Emperor Clarimund'') – original Portuguese text by

João de Barros João de Barros () (1496 – 20 October 1570), called the ''Portuguese Livy'', is one of the first great Portuguese historians, most famous for his ''Décadas da Ásia'' ("Decades of Asia"), a history of the Portuguese in India, Asia, and southea ...

* – original Portuguese text by Gonçalo Fernandes Trancoso

Operas

*'' Amadis'' (1684) by

Jean-Baptiste Lully Jean-Baptiste Lully ( , , ; born Giovanni Battista Lulli, ; – 22 March 1687) was an Italian-born French composer, guitarist, violinist, and dancer who is considered a master of the French Baroque music style. Best known for his operas, he ...

*''

Amadis de Grèce ''Amadis de Grèce'' (''Amadis of Greece'') is an opera by the French composer André Cardinal Destouches, first performed at the Académie Royale de Musique (the Paris Opera) on 26 March 1699. It takes the form of a ''tragédie en musique'' in a p ...

'' (1699) by

André Cardinal Destouches André Cardinal Destouches (sometimes called des Touches) (baptised 6 April 1672 – 7 February 1749) was a French composer best known for the ''opéra-ballet'' ''Les élémens''. Biography Born in Paris, the son of Étienne Cardinal, a ...

*''

Amadigi di Gaula ''Amadigi di Gaula'' ( HWV 11) is a "magic" opera in three acts, with music by George Frideric Handel. It was the fifth Italian opera that Handel wrote for an English theatre and the second he wrote for Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington in ...

'' (1715) by

George Frideric Handel George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel (; baptised , ; 23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) was a German-British Baroque music, Baroque composer well known for his opera#Baroque era, operas, oratorios, anthems, concerto grosso, concerti grossi, ...

*'' Amadis de Gaule'' (1771) by

Jean-Benjamin de La Borde Jean-Benjamin François de la Borde (5 September 1734 – 22 July 1794) was a French composer, writer on music and '' fermier général'' (farm tax collector). Born into an aristocratic family, he studied violin under Antoine Dauvergne and composi ...

and

Pierre Montan Berton Pierre Montan Berton (7 January 1727 – 14 May 1780) was a French composer and conductor. He resided primarily in Paris and was an opera director. Pierre's son Henri Montan Berton Henri-Montan Berton (17 September 1767 – 22 Apri ...

*'' Amadis de Gaule'' (1779) by

Johann Christian Bach Johann Christian Bach (September 5, 1735 – January 1, 1782) was a German composer of the Classical period (music), Classical era, the eighteenth child of Johann Sebastian Bach, and the youngest of his eleven sons. After living in Italy for ...

*'' Amadis'' (1922) by

Jules Massenet Jules Émile Frédéric Massenet (; 12 May 1842 – 13 August 1912) was a French composer of the Romantic era best known for his operas, of which he wrote more than thirty. The two most frequently staged are '' Manon'' (1884) and ''Werther' ...

References

External links

Full text in Spanish

''Amadis de Gaula''
– images of a 1526 edition of the original

text
''The ancient, famous and honourable history of Amadis de Gaule.''
ooks 1 and 2- Early English Books Online
Vasco Lobeira: ''Amadis de Gaul'', Book I
translated by

Robert Southey Robert Southey ( or ; 12 August 1774 – 21 March 1843) was an English poet of the Romantic school, and Poet Laureate from 1813 until his death. Like the other Lake Poets, William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Southey began as a ra ...

, who erroneously says the author's name was Garciordonez de Montalvo.
Volumes 2-4 in English. The Gutenberg Project
* – Italian libretto by

Nicola Francesco Haym Nicola Francesco Haym (6 July 1678 – 31 July 1729) was an Italian opera librettist, composer, theatre manager and performer, literary editor and numismatist. He is best remembered for adapting texts into libretti for the London operas of Georg ...

for the opera by Handel * {{DEFAULTSORT:Amadis De Gaula 14th-century books 1508 books Arthurian literature Renaissance literature Series of books Spanish novels Characters in Spanish novels Romance (genre) Spanish fantasy novels Novels set in England Don Quixote Etymology of California