PREFACE. 1 Amadis of Gaul was written by Vasco Lobeira, a Portugueze, who was born at Porto, fought at Aljubarrota where he was knighted upon the field of battle by King Joam of Good Memory, and died at Elvas, 1403; where he formed a Morgado, an entailed and unalienable estate, which afterwards descended to the Abreus of Alcarapinha. The Spanish version, which is the oldest extant, is by Garciordonez de Montalvo, Regidor of Medina del Campo. He says he has corrected it from the old originals, which were corrupted by different and bad writers, and badly composed in an ancient (RECAP) 3167 135 2803 Forrestal 574410 fashion; that he has abridged it of many superfluous words, and inserted others of a more polished and elegant style. The Comte de Tressan has claimed the work as a French production. It is doing too much honour to Vasco Lobeira, he says, to consider him as the author. The French translation by Nicolas d'Herberay was indeed made from the Castilian, but there is reason to believe that he only restored it to the literature of his own country, from which it had first been taken by the Spaniards. D'Herberay remembered certain manuscripts of Amadis in the Picard language, and these he thought might be the originals which Montalvo modernized. These manuscripts, says the Comte, might very easily fall into the hands of the Spaniards. Philip the Good, or Charles the It is indeed probable that Amadis was in the Duke of Burgundy's Library, for Philip the Good married Bold might have found them when they carried their arms into Picardy; thus they might get into the library of Marie of Burgundy, and her son the Archduke Philip might carry them into Spain. The Comte does not found his opinion entirely upon this concatenation of contingencies; he thinks he has seen a manuscript of Amadis, in the Romance, or what D'Herberay calls the Picard language, among Queen Christina's collection in the Vatican; from the manifest superiority of the three first books to all the continuation, he argues that they cannot have been written in the same country; and from their good taste and high tone of sentiment he proves thut Isabel daughter of Joam of Portugal. The children of Joam were distinguished for their love of literature. If she carried with her this Romance, it is not unlikely that a French translation may have been made, anterior to Montalvo's version. |