Amadis of Gaul, Vol. 3 of 3

Amadís de Gaula #4

by Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo, Vasco de Lobeira

Excerpt from Amadis of Gaul, Vol. 4 of 4
The noise of this lamentation was so great that it reached the ship wherein was Oriana; but so soon as Queen Sardamira heard that it was for Salustanquidio's death, forgetting all her former grief, she wrung her hands and threw herself upon the ground, and began to exclaim, O generous prince and of high lineage, the light and the mirror of the whole Roman Empire, what a grief and a calamity will it be to all who love thee when they shall bear the tidings of thy unhappy and disastrous end, and what grief wilt thou feel O Emperor when thou shalt learn the death of this thy cousin, who was the strong shield of thine empire, and the destruction of thy fleet, and the disgraceful loss of thy Knights.
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361 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1508

About the author

Castilian author who arranged the modern version of the chivalric romance Amadis of Gaul, written in three books in the 13th century by an unknown author.

Montalvo added a fourth book of his own and also wrote a sequel, Las sergas de Esplandián (The Exploits of Esplandián or The Adventures of Esplandián) (oldest known printing, 1510), in which he tells the life and wandering of Amadis' eldest son.

He is also known for coining the name of California.

Reviews

[Space Orlando]

This book shows you the great depths that knight errantry went to during the 14th century. It's seen as a niche subgenre of historical literature that only literature grad students would know about, but I've been into knight errantry literature since Don Quixote [Where Amadis of Gaul is mentioned], then went to Fairie Queen, then Orlando Furioso, and then even Orlando Innamorato. Amadis was much different than all those because its written less in a epic poetry format, but reads rather almost like a modern prose book. The idea of Christ, God, Chivalry, Friendship, Kinship, The Court, Power, Knighthood, Love, Romance, Strife, Struggle, Contradiction, Its all here, there's something here for everybody and the book ends in the best way possible for works of that time period: Praise Be to God.

[Belié Beltrán]

Este cuarto libro es ya más sobre la parte de la vejez. Da comienzo con todo lo relativo a la guerra entre el rey Lisuarte y Amadís por el tema del emperador romano. En un momento, cuando Amadís rescata a Lisuarte de los ataques orquestados por Arcaláus, se termina de concertar la paz, se organiza la boda entre Amadís y Oriana, el libro da un bandazo hasta los arcos narrativos de otros personajes como Cuadrante, Florestán o Gandalín pero se abre el arco de aquel gigante, y el libro pareciera pretender extender las historias de Amadís un poco a la mala.

Con todo, el cierre de la novela es anticlimático, porque aunque no se dice, la forma en la que secuestran a Lisuarte es del estilo de Arcaláus, la orden que Urganda le da a Amadís de que se dedique a cuidarse de gobernar deja claro que Lisuarte ya no existe y el hecho de que Esplandián lleve armadura negra por la tristeza, habla del luto. Esa forma de dejar claro cómo ha cambiado el estatus del rey es un modo muy original. Quizá al libro le sobren algunas historias innecesarias, pero en general está muy bueno.