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AMIS ET AMILES

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Originally appearing in Volume V01, Page 859 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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AMIS ET AMILES , the See also:

title of an old See also:French See also:romance based on a widespread See also:legend of friendship and See also:sacrifice. In its earlier and simpler See also:form it is the See also:story of two See also:friends, one of whom, Amis, was smitten with leprosy because he had committed See also:perjury to See also:save his friend. A See also:vision informed him that he could only be cured by bathing in the See also:blood of Amiles's See also:children. When Amiles learnt this he killed the children, who were,- however, miraculously restored to See also:life after the cure of Amis. The See also:tale was probably of See also:Oriental origin, and introduced to the See also:West by way of See also:Byzantium. It found its way into French literature through the See also:medium of Latin, as the names Amicus and Amelius indicate, and was eventually attached to the Carolingian See also:cycle in the 12th-See also:century chanson de geste of Amis et Amiles. This poem is written in decasyllabic assonanced See also:verse, each See also:stanza being terminated by a See also:short See also:line. It belongs to the heroic See also:period of French epic, containing some passages of See also:great beauty, notably the See also:episode of the slaying of the children, and maintains a high level of See also:poetry throughout. Amis has married Lubias and become See also:count of Blaives (Blaye), while Amiles has become See also:seneschal at the See also:court of See also:Charlemagne, and is seduced by the See also:emperor's daughter, Bellisant. The lovers are betrayed, and Amiles is unable to find the necessary supporters to enable him to clear himself by the See also:ordeal of single combat, and fears, moreover, to fight in a false cause. He is granted a See also:reprieve, and goes in See also:search of Amis, who engages to personate him in the combat. He thus saves his friend, but in so doing perjures him-self.

Then follows the leprosy of Amis, and, after a See also:

lapse of years, his See also:discovery of Amiles and cure. There are obvious reminiscences in this story of See also:Damon and Pythias, and of the classical instances of sacrifice at the divine command. The legend of Amis and Amiles occurs in many forms with slight See also:variations, the names and positions of the friends being sometimes reversed. The See also:crown of martyrdom was not lacking, for Amis and Amiles were slain by Ogier the Dane at See also:Novara on their way See also:home from a See also:pilgrimage to the See also:Holy See also:Land. Jourdain de Blaives, a chanson de geste which partly reproduces the story of See also:Apollonius of See also:Tyre, was attached to the geste of Amis by making Jourdain his See also:grandson. The versions of Amis and Amiles include—(a) numerous Latin recensions in See also:prose and verse, notably that given by See also:Vincent de See also:Beauvais in his See also:Speculum historiale (See also:lib. See also:xxiii. cap. 162-2(6 and 169) ; (b) an Anglo-See also:Norman version in short rhymed couplets, which is not attached to the Charlemagne legend and agrees fairly closely with the See also:English Amis and Amiloun (Midland See also:dialect, 13th century) ; these with the old Norse version are printed by E. Kolbing, Altengl. Bibl. vol. ii. (1889), and the English romance also in H. See also:Weber, Metrical Romances, vol. ii. (181o) ; (c) the 12th-century French chanson de geste analysed by P.

See also:

Paris in Hist. litt. de la See also:France (vol. xxii.), and edited by K. See also:Hofmann (See also:Erlangen, 1882) with the addition of Jourdain de Blaives; (d) the Latin Vita Sanct. See also:Amici et Amelii (pr. by Kolbing, op. cit.) and its Old-French See also:translation, Li amities de Ami et Amite Pd. L. Mnlaad and C. d'Hericauit in Nouvelles .. . du xiii• siecle (Paris, 1856); (e) a 14th-century See also:drama, Un See also:Miracle de Notre See also:Dame d'Amis et Amite, ed. L. J. N. Monmerque and F. Michelin Thedtre fr. au moyen dge (1839) ; (f) old Norse, Icelandic, Danish versions, &c. (see K.

Hofmann, op. cit.); (g) an See also:

imitation which under the name of See also:Oliver and Artus was current in many See also:languages and was the subject of Hans See also:Sachs's See also:comedy, See also:Die treuen Gesellen (1556) ; (h) Engelhart and Engeltrut, by the minnesinger See also:Conrad von See also:Wurzburg (ed. M. See also:Haupt, See also:Leipzig, 1844, 2nd ed., 1900) ; (i) the See also:late prose romances, with many changes and additions, Milles et Amys, printed by A. Verard (Paris, c. 1503), &c., for which see G. See also:Brunet, See also:Manuel du libraire, s.v. " Milles." A different version of the legend is inserted at considerable length in L' Ysloire See also:des See also:Sept sages (ed. G. Paris, See also:Soc. des anc. texles fr., 1876), in which the friends are called See also:Alexandre and See also:Louis, and Bellisant Florentine. For a further bibliography see L. See also:Gautier, Bibl. des chansons de geste (Paris, 1897). See also:William See also:Morris's version of the French romance was printed at the Kelmscott See also:Press in 1894: See also the See also:essay by W.

See also:

Pater in The See also:Renaissance, 1893.

End of Article: AMIS ET AMILES

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