Sir Tryamour
Encyclopedia
Sir Tryamour is a Middle English
tail-rhyme romance
that was written near the end of the fourteenth century, the time that Geoffrey Chaucer was writing his Canterbury Tales. Like almost all of the Middle English tail-rhyme romances to have survived from this period, the author of Sir Tryamour remains unknown. The story told in the poem shares many of the features that are commonly found in other Middle English verse romances: a badly-treated queen who is sent into exile, a young man who does not know his origins, damsels in distress, giants, feats of jousting, a tournament to win a maiden's hand in marriage.
The story concentrates its energies on battles rather than on any prolonged declarations of love. The greatest example of love in this romance is reserved for the loyalty shown by a dog to the body of his murdered master; and despite the presence of giants who need to be cut down to size – in the case of one scene quite literally – there are no mythological animals to match the griffin that appears in Sir Eglamour of Artois
, the dragon in Sir Degare or the unicorn in Sir Isumbras
, and no animals that snatch a hero away as a young child, as does a wolf in William of Palerne, and an ape and a lion in Octavian
.
, dating to the seventeenth. It is also found in one early printed version of the mid-sixteenth century. Fragments of the tale have also been found in one of the Rawlinson manuscripts in the Bodliean Library in Oxford, and in a couple of sixteenth century printed editions, including a volume printed by Wynkyn de Worde
.
Sir Tryamour is found complete in two manuscripts and one early printed copy:
Middle English
Middle English is the stage in the history of the English language during the High and Late Middle Ages, or roughly during the four centuries between the late 11th and the late 15th century....
tail-rhyme romance
Romance (genre)
As a literary genre of high culture, romance or chivalric romance is a style of heroic prose and verse narrative that was popular in the aristocratic circles of High Medieval and Early Modern Europe. They were fantastic stories about marvel-filled adventures, often of a knight errant portrayed as...
that was written near the end of the fourteenth century, the time that Geoffrey Chaucer was writing his Canterbury Tales. Like almost all of the Middle English tail-rhyme romances to have survived from this period, the author of Sir Tryamour remains unknown. The story told in the poem shares many of the features that are commonly found in other Middle English verse romances: a badly-treated queen who is sent into exile, a young man who does not know his origins, damsels in distress, giants, feats of jousting, a tournament to win a maiden's hand in marriage.
The story concentrates its energies on battles rather than on any prolonged declarations of love. The greatest example of love in this romance is reserved for the loyalty shown by a dog to the body of his murdered master; and despite the presence of giants who need to be cut down to size – in the case of one scene quite literally – there are no mythological animals to match the griffin that appears in Sir Eglamour of Artois
Sir Eglamour of Artois
Sir Eglamour of Artois is a Middle English verse romance that was written sometime around 1350. It is a narrative poem of about 1300 lines, a tail-rhyme romance that was quite popular in its day, judging from the number of copies that have survived – four manuscripts from the 15th century or...
, the dragon in Sir Degare or the unicorn in Sir Isumbras
Sir Isumbras
Sir Isumbras is a medieval metrical romance written in Middle English and found in no fewer than nine manuscripts dating to the fifteenth century...
, and no animals that snatch a hero away as a young child, as does a wolf in William of Palerne, and an ape and a lion in Octavian
Octavian (Middle English verse romance)
Octavian is a 14th-century Middle English verse translation and abridgement of a mid-13th century Old French romance of the same name. This Middle English version exists in three manuscript copies and in two separate compositions, one of which may have been written by the 14th century poet Thomas...
.
Manuscripts
The tale of Sir Tryamour is found complete in two manuscripts, one of the fifteenth century and one, the Percy FolioPercy Folio
The Percy Folio is a folio book of English ballads used by Thomas Percy to compile his Reliques of Ancient Poetry. Although the manuscript itself was compiled in the 17th century, some of its material goes back well into the 12th century...
, dating to the seventeenth. It is also found in one early printed version of the mid-sixteenth century. Fragments of the tale have also been found in one of the Rawlinson manuscripts in the Bodliean Library in Oxford, and in a couple of sixteenth century printed editions, including a volume printed by Wynkyn de Worde
Wynkyn de Worde
Wynkyn de Worde was a printer and publisher in London known for his work with William Caxton, and is recognized as the first to popularize the products of the printing press in England....
.
Sir Tryamour is found complete in two manuscripts and one early printed copy:
- Cambridge University Library MS Ff. 2.38 (mid-fifteenth century). Manuscript.
- British Library Additional 27879, the Percy Folio (c. 1650). Manuscript.
- Sir Tryamoure. Wyllyam Copland, London (mid-sixteenth century). Printed edition.