This book drove Don Quixote mad. What will it do to you?
Amadis of Gaul. Published in Spain in 1508, this novel is a masterpiece of medieval fantasy. It inspired a century of best-selling sequels in seven languages and changed the way we think about knights, chivalry, damsels in distress, and courtly life in castles. These books made Don Quixote go mad and believe he was a heroic knight-errant like Amadis.
"Oh good knight, God help thee and give thee virtue / that thou mayst end well all that thou hast begun to do! / Oh handsome knight! In him, chivalry gets its due / for he above all keeps it most noble and true!" – Song about Amadis, Chapter 9.
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Amadis fought with such courage and wrath that the blows he gave were amazing. He struck one knight on the arm, and it fell to the earth, and that knight began to flee, shouting with the ravings of death. He attacked another whose he helmet had already knocked from his head, and his sword sliced through his neck. – From Chapter 35.
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"Arrogant knight, full of villainy, now ye shall pay for the evil that ye did. Arm yourself at once. If not, I must kill you unarmed, for with evildoers like you, one should have no restraint." — Amadis, in Chapter 6, about to avenge a damsel who had been raped.
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"What is this, my lord knight? Why do ye want to kill my dwarf?" — Amadis, in Chapter 22, coming to the aid of his vassal.
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"It is the best of all the books composed in this genre." From Chapter 6, Don Quixote de la Mancha, referring to Amadis of Gaul.
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George Frederic Handel wrote the opera Amadigi di Gaula based on Amadis of Gaul. It premiered at the Haymarket Theatre in London on May 25, 1715.
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California and Patagonia got their names from a sequel to Amadis of Gaul.
Translator. I hold a Master's-level Diploma in Translation from the Chartered Institute of Linguists Educational Trust and I am an member of the American Translator's Association.
As an author, my science fiction novel "Semiosis" is available from Tor Books at https://us.macmillan.com/semiosis/sueburke/9780765391353/