Characters and plot

The story narrates the star-crossed love of King Perin of Gaula and Elisena of
England, resulting in the secret birth of Amads. Abandoned at birth on a barge 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 Arcalas, 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 Perin, Amads
overcomes the challenges of the enchanted Insola Firme (a sort of peninsula),
including passing through the Arch of Faithful Lovers.
Despite Amads' 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 Amads. The knight (later famously parodied in Don Quixote) changes his
name to Beltenebros and indulges in a long period of madness on the isolated Pea
Pobre.
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 Esplandin is the result of this one
illicit meeting.
Rodrguez de Montalvo asserts that in the "original" Amads, Esplandin eventually
kills his father for this offense against his mother's honor; however, Montalvo
amends this defect and resolves their conflict peaceably.
Oriana and Amads defer their marriage for many years due to enmity between
Amads and Oriana's father Lisuarte. Amads absents himself from Britain for at
least ten 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 Esplandin'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 reek and whose body is covered in scales.
As a knight, Amads is courteous, gentle, sensitive and a Christian who dares to
defend free love. Unlike most literary heroes of his time (French and German, for
example), Amads 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 opponent's
blood.
Literary significance[edit]
Called also Amads 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 chivalric

romance. His adventures ran to four volumes, probably the most popular such tales
of their time. Franois de la Noue, one of the Huguenot captains of the 16th century,
affirmed that reading the romances of Amadis had caused a "spirit of
vertigo"[2] 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 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 was praised by the usually demanding Juan de Valds, 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, especially the
tendency to place theverb at the end of the sentence; as well as other such details,
such as the use of the present participle, which bring Amads into line with
the allegorical 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 "Amads" can be perceived in
the few original famous pages analyzed by Antonio Rodrguez Moino: It is lively
and straight to the facts of war and love, with brief dialogs, all quite elegant and
amusing. Amads 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 Amads, and often compares his hero's adventures to his own.
Historically, Amads was very influential amongst the
Spanish conquistadores. Bernal Daz del Castillo mentioned the wonders
of Amads when he was marveled by his first site of Tenochtitlan (modern Mexico
City) and such place names as California come directly from the work.
Origins[edit]
As mentioned above, the origin of Amads and his adventures is disputed. Garci
Rodrguez de Montalvo, a Spanish writer, is traditionially the author of the version
whose earliest surviving edition is 1508. He claimed sole ownership only of Book IV.
The existence of a prior version of Books I to III has been supported by Antonio
Rodrguez Moino's identification of four 15th-century manuscript fragments (ca.
1420). The name "Esplandin" is clearly visible in one of these. The fragments
belong to the collection of the Bancroft Libraryat the University of California,
Berkeley. They show that contrary to the usual view that Montalvo expanded the
first three books, they show that he abbreviated them. [citation needed]
In the Spanish translation of Egidio Colonna's De regimine principum, Amads is
mentioned and also the poet Enrico, who could well be Enrico de Castiglia. Egidio

Colonna was in Rome 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 Amads.[citation needed]
The place called Gaula is a fictional kingdom within Brittany. It has in the past been
identified with Wales or France, but it is best understood as a completely legendary
place.[3]
Recently, a new theory of the work's authorship has been proposed by Santiago
Sevilla, claiming that the Infante Enrique of Castile was the original writer of the
epic. Enrique of Castille lived for four years at the court of Edward I of England, who
was married to his sister, queen Eleanor of Castile. According to this theory, the
character Lisuarte is Edward, Oriana is Eleanor of England, the maid of Denmark is
in fact the Maid of Norway, and Amadis is modelled after Simon de Montfort, the
heroic Norman earl of Leicester. Furthermore, Esplandian could be his infamous
warrior son, Guy de Montfort, count of Mola, Brian de Monjaste is in fact Enrique of
Castile himself, and the battle against the Arabic king is the Battle of
Benevento against King Manfred of Sicily, who had a host of Arabian light cavalry
and Arab archers. The historical Enrique of Castile wandered, as knight-errant and
poet, to wage wars in Tunis, Naple,s and Sicily where he fought in those Battles of
Benevento and Tagliacozzo, and became a prisoner of the Pope and Charles d'Anjou
in Canosa di Puglia, and Castel del Monte, from 1268 to 1291, where he would have
reputedly written a good part of Amadis, before returning to Spain to become
Regent of Castile, before his death in 1304. According to the author of this theory, it
would have been inconvenient for Enrique of Castille, due to his high office, to
declare his authorship, but the work bears his marks as a poet and troubadour. It
appears that Henry of Castile handed the manuscript of Amadis to King Diniz of
Portugal in 1295, according to "O Romance de Amadis" by Afonso Lopes Vieira, and
the account of the visit of Henry of Castile in Portugal to his nephew, the king. [citation
needed]

Despite the various theories of the work's origins, Rodrguez de Montalvo's Spanish
version, as the only complete edition known, is considered definitive, and it was the
one which made the character widely known on a European scale. Unfortunately
Rodrguez de Montalvo allowed the original manuscript to disappear, and only a few
pages of the a lost prior version were discovered in Spain by Antonio RodrguezMoino, and are now conserved at the University of California, Berkeley. These
reveal that rather than enlarging on the source text, Montalvo abbreviated it. [4]