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BEVIS OF HAMPTON

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Originally appearing in Volume V03, Page 837 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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BEVIS OF See also:

HAMPTON , the name of an See also:English metrical See also:romance. Bevis is the son of See also:Guy, See also:count of Hampton (See also:Southampton) and his See also:young wife, a daughter of the See also:king of See also:Scotland. The countess asks a former suitor, Boon or Devoun, See also:emperor of Almaine (See also:Germany), to send an See also:army to See also:murder Guy in the See also:forest. The See also:plot is successful, and she marries Doon. When threatened with future vengeance by her ten-See also:year-old son, she determines to make away with him also, but he is saved from See also:death by a faithful See also:tutor, is sold to See also:heathen pirates, and reaches the See also:court of King Hermin, whose See also:realm is variously placed in See also:Egypt and See also:Armenia (See also:Armorica). The exploits of Bevis, his love for the king s daughter Josiane, his See also:mission to King Bradmond of See also:Damascus with a sealed See also:letter demanding his own death, his imprisonment, his final vengeance on his stepfather are related in detail. After succeeding to his See also:inheritance he is, however, driven into See also:exile and separated from Josiane, to whom he is reunited only after each of them has contracted, in See also:form only, a second See also:union. The See also:story also relates the See also:hero's death and the fortunes of his two sons. The See also:oldest extant version appears to be Boeve de Haumtone, an Anglo-See also:Norman See also:text which See also:dates from the first See also:half of the 13th See also:century. The English metrical romance, See also:Sir Bcues of Hamtoun, is founded on some See also:French See also:original varying slightly from those which have been preserved. The oldest MS. dates from the beginning of the 14th century. The French chanson de geste, Beuve d'Hanstone, was followed by numerous See also:prose versions.

The printed See also:

editions of the story were most numerous in See also:Italy, where Bovo d'Antona was the subject of more than one poem, and the See also:tale was interpolated in the Reali di See also:Francia, the See also:Italian compilation of Carolingian See also:legend. Although the English version that we possess is based on a French original, it seems probable that the legend took shape on English See also:soil in the loth century, and that it originated with the Danish invaders. Doon may be identified with the emperor See also:Otto the See also:Great, who was the contemporary of the English king See also:Edgar of the story. R. Zenker (Boeve-Amlethus, See also:Berlin and See also:Leipzig, 1904) establishes a See also:close parallel between Bevis and the See also:Hamlet legend as related by Saxo Grammaticus in the Historia Danica. Among the more obvious coincidences which point to a See also:common source are the vengeance taken on a stepfather for a See also:father's death, the letter bearing his own death-See also:warrant which is entrusted to the hero, and his See also:double See also:marriage.' The See also:motive of the feigned madness is, however, lacking in Bevis. The princess who is Josiane's See also:rival is less ferocious than the Hermuthruda of the Hamlet legend, but she threatens Bevis with death if he refuses her. Both seem to be modelled on the type of Thyrdo of the See also:Beowulf legend. A fanciful See also:etymology connecting Bevis (Boeve) with Beowa (Beowulf), on the ground that both were See also:dragon slayers, is inadmissible.

End of Article: BEVIS OF HAMPTON

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