Legend & Romance

Most of the heroes of legend actually existed, but not as they appear in the stories written about them. It's likely Arthur Pendragon was a minor Welsh chieftain partly responsible for ousting the Romans, not the king of a united Britain with his own personal wizard. Robin of Lockesly probably rebelled against Norman rule on behalf of the native Saxons, but he was hardly the stave-swinging, arrow-splitting jovial bandit of popular myth. And the French warrior Roland did ride with Charlemagne, but most likely didn't kill armored soldiers with the haft of his spear when his sword was broken.

And there are dozens more, many less-well-known but no less heroic, whose exploits grew until only the most superlative language sufficed to explain and record them. Heroes like the Cid, who led his Spaniards to drive out the usurping Moors; or Sigurd, who outwitted dragons and killed werewolves to keep his magic ring of invisibility; or Pwyll, who eventually became friends with Arawn, Lord of the Underworld, after the two traded places for a year and a day. Or Sir Gawain, or Cu Chulainn, or Egil Skallagrimsson, or Beowulf, or Vainamoinen.

If these heroes were so great, you may say, why do their deeds need to be blown out of all proportion? can't we just remember what they actually did, and honor them for that? Which is what modern literature does all the time, one might add—it demystifies our heroes, so that we do admire some things about them while also being (at times, painfully) aware of their shortcomings and failures. This democratization of heroes is at least partly due to a general abandonment of standards, and partly to a desire to keep everyone average and "relatable" (whatever that means).

Past ages understood far better the need for heroes that are smarter, stronger and more virtuous than the rest of us. If we just followed each others' examples we'd end up with each others' flaws and weaknesses, which is pretty much what has happened in our average society with its average heroes (or worse, its anti-heroes). With actual heroes to follow, there is a standard to progress toward, examples to inspire and guide us along a genuinely noble path even in our prosaic and ignoble world.

The word romance conjures images of smooching sweethearts and garden trysts, but it was initially used to describe the recorded stories about these legendary heroes—their quests, battles, suffering and love affairs. It referred to the Romance languages, particularly French, in which most of them were written, though its application is broader and includes the stories themselves. Fortunately many of them have survived and exist now in English translation that nevertheless manages to capture the glory, terror, violence and beauty of the original texts. While many opt for moralistic tales that blatantly show readers the best approach to any situation, we prefer these visceral tales that rather demonstrate right and wrong through the behavior of heroes both real and imagined.

Review by C. Hollis Crossman
C. Hollis Crossman used to be a child. Now he's a husband and father who loves church, good food, and weird stuff. He might be a mythical creature, but he's definitely not a centaur. Read more of his reviews here.
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56 Items found Print
Active Filters: 11th grade (Ages 16-17)
Arthurian Romances
by Chrétien de Troyes
from Penguin Classics
for 10th-Adult
in Medieval Literature (Location: LIT2-MED)
Battle of Maldon together with The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth
by J.R.R. Tolkien, edited by Peter Grybauskas
from HarperCollins
for 10th-Adult
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$30.00
Bulfinch's Medieval Mythology
Dover Thrift Editions
by Thomas Bulfinch
from Dover Publications
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$10.00
Canterbury Tales
by Geoffrey Chaucer (edited by Peter Beidler)
from Bantam Books
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$5.09
Chronicles
by Jean Froissart
from Penguin Classics
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$18.00
Elfin Knight
by Edmund Spenser & Toby Sumpter
from Canon Press
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$20.00
Faerie Queene
Penguin Classics
by Edmund Spenser
from Penguin Classics
Allegory/Epic Poetry for 10th-Adult
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
$22.00
Faerie Queene Book 1
by Edmund Spenser, edited with an introduction by Carol V. Kaske
from Hackett Publishing Company
Allegory/Epic Poetry for 10th-Adult
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
$15.00
Faerie Queene Book 2
by Edmund Spenser
from Hackett Publishing Company
Allegory/Epic Poetry for 10th-Adult
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
$14.00
Faerie Queene Book 3 & 4
by Edmund Spenser
from Hackett Publishing Company
Allegory/Epic Poetry for 10th-Adult
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
$16.00
Faerie Queene Book 5
by Edmund Spenser
from Hackett Publishing Company
Allegory/Epic Poetry for 10th-Adult
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
$14.00
Faerie Queene Book 6
by Edmund Spenser
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Allegory/Epic Poetry for 10th-Adult
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$14.00
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Allegory/Epic Poetry for 10th-Adult
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$68.40
Fierce Wars and Faithful Loves
by Roy Maynard & Edmund Spenser
from Canon Press
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Glittering Plain
by William Morris
from Newcastle Publishing Co
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History of the Kings of Britain
Penguin Classics
by Geoffrey of Monmouth
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Illustrated Bulfinch's Mythology: Age of Fable
by Thomas Bulfinch
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Illustrated Bulfinch's Mythology: Legends of Charlemagne
by Thomas Bulfinch
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by Thomas Bulfinch, illustrated by Giovanni Caselli
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John Burnet of Barns
by John Buchan
1946 Reprint from Thomas Nelson and Sons Ltd
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Le Morte d'Arthur
Signet Classics
by Sir Thomas Mallory
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Le Morte d'Arthur
by Sir Thomas Malory
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Le Morte d'Arthur
Signet Classics
by Sir Thomas Mallory
from Random House
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Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun
by J.R.R Tolkien, Edited by Christopher Tolkien
Reprint from Mariner Books
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$16.95
Mabinogion
by Anonymous, Jeffrey Gantz
from Penguin Classics
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$14.00
Mabinogion
by Anonymous, Translated by Sioned Davies
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$13.95
Once and Future King
by T. H. White
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$9.99
Once and Future King
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Once and Future King / Book of Merlyn
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Paradise Lost
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Parzival and Titurel
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Romance of King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table (abridged)
by Sir Thomas Mallory, illustrated by Arthur Rackham
from Weathervane Books
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$12.00 (1 in stock)
Romance of Tristan and Iseult
by Hilaire Belloc
from Dover Publications
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$6.95
Romance of Tristan and Iseult
by Joseph Bedier (reteller), translated by Hilaire Belloc and Paul Rosenfeld, introduction by Padraic Colum, illustrated by Serge Ivanoff
from Heritage Press
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Saga of the Volsungs
by Anonymous, Jesse L. Byock
from Penguin Classics
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$16.00 $8.00 (1 in stock)
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
by Anonymous, translated by Jessie Weston
2nd edition from Dover Publications
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Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
by Anonymous, translated by Marie Borroff and edited by Laura Howes
2nd edition from W. W. Norton and Co.
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Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
by Anonymous, translated by W. S. Merwin
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
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$15.00
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
by Anonymous, translated by Burton Raffel
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Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
by Anonymous, translated by Brian Stone
from Penguin Classics
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$12.00
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
by Anonymous, translated by Marie Borroff
from W. W. Norton and Co.
for 10th-Adult
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Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
by Anonymous, translated by Bernard O'Donoghue
Reissue from Penguin Classics
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$12.00
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
by Anonymous, translated by Jessie L. Weston
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight / Pearl / Sir Orfeo
by Anonymous, J. R. R. Tolkien (Translator)
from Ballantine Books
Medieval Fairy Tale/Poetry for 8th-Adult
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$8.99
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight / Pearl / Sir Orfeo
by Anonymous, J. R. R. Tolkien (Translator)
from Mariner Books
Medieval Fairy Tale/Poetry for 8th-Adult
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$16.99
Song of Hiawatha
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, illustrated by Frederic Remington
from Bounty Books
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Song of Roland
Penguin Classics
by Dorothy Sayers, translator
from Penguin Classics
Medieval Poetic Epic for 10th-Adult
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$14.00
Song of the Cid
by Anonymous
Dual Language from Penguin Classics
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$19.00 $10.00 (1 in stock)
Story of Kullervo
by J.R.R. Tolkien
1st edition from Houghton Mifflin
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Story of Kullervo
by J.R.R. Tolkien
from Houghton Mifflin
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$16.99
Tale of the Cid: and Other Stories of Knights and Chivalry
by Andrew Lang
from Dover Publications
for 6th-Adult
$9.95
Wagner's Ring of the Nibelung I: The Rhinegold
by Robert Lawrence, illustrated by Alexandre Serebriakoff
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 5th-Adult
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Wagner's Ring of the Nibelung II: The Valkyrie
by Robert Lawrence, illustrated by Alexandre Serebriakoff
from Grosset & Dunlap
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Wagner's Ring of the Nibelung III: Siegfried
by Robert Lawrence, illustrated by Alexandre Serebriakoff
from Grosset & Dunlap
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Wagner's Ring of the Nibelung IV: Twilight of the Gods
by Richard Wagner, adapted by Robert Lawrence, illustrated by Alexandre Serebriakoff
from Grosset & Dunlap
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Warrior Princess
by Edmund Spenser, edited and annotated by Roy Maynard
from Canon Press
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$20.00