Amadis de Gaula - Sequels and Translations

Sequels and Translations

Amadís of Gaul's popularity was such that in the decades following its publication, dozens of sequels of sometimes minor quality were published in Spanish, Italian and German, together with a number of other imitative works. Montalvo himself cashed in with the continuation Las sergas de Esplandián (Book V), and the sequel-specialist Feliciano de Silva (also the author of Second Celestina) added four more books including Amadis of Greece (Book IX). Miguel de Cervantes wrote Don Quixote as a parody of the resulting genre. Cervantes and his protagonist Quixote, however, keep the original Amadís in very high esteem.

The later books increasingly use techniques and incidents borrowed from the ancient Greek novel (Heliodorus, Longus and Achilles Tatius) and the pastoral novel from Italy and Spain (Jacopo Sannazaro and Jorge de Montemayor).

The Spanish volumes, with their authors and the names of their main characters:

• Books I–IV : 1508 (Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo) : Amadís de Gaula.
• Book V : 1510 (Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo) : Esplandián
• Book VI : 1510 (Páez de Ribera) — this volume was universally maligned
• Book VII : 1514 (Feliciano de Silva) : Lisuarte de Grecia
• Book VIII : 1526 (Juan Díaz) — Diaz had Amadis die in this volume which was much criticized
• Book IX : 1530 (Feliciano de Silva) : Amadis de Grecia (Amadis of Greece)
• Book X : 1532 (Feliciano de Silva) : Florisel de Niquea
• Book XI : 1535 & 1551 (Feliciano de Silva) : Rogel de Grecia
• Book XII : 1546 (Pedro de Luján) : Silves de la Selva

The Italian Continuation:

• Books XIII–XVIII (Mambrino Roseo da Fabriano)

The German Continuation:

• Books XIX–XXI : 1594–5

In Germany and England, Amadís was known chiefly through its French translations, and in England the cycle was generally referred to by its French title Amadis de Gaule. The French translations did not follow the Spanish book divisions exactly, and the entire cycle in the French version extends to 24 volumes.

French translations, with their translators:

• Book I : 1540 (Nicolas de Herberay des Essarts)
• Book II : 1541 (Nicolas de Herberay des Essarts)
• Book III : 1542 (Nicolas de Herberay des Essarts)
• Book IV : 1543 (Nicolas de Herberay des Essarts)
• Book V : 1544 (Nicolas de Herberay des Essarts)
• (Spanish book VI was rejected as apocryphal)
• Book VI : 1545 (Nicolas de Herberay des Essarts) (actually Spanish Book VII)
• (Spanish Book VIII was rejected because it told of the death of Amadis)
• Book VII : 1546 (Nicolas de Herberay des Essarts) (actually Spanish Book IXa)
• Book VIII : 1548 (Nicolas de Herberay des Essarts) (actually Spanish Book IXb)
• Book IX : 1551 (Giles Boileau & Claude Colet) (actually Spanish Book Xa)
• Book X : 1552 (Jacques Gohory) (actually Spanish Book Xb)
• Book XI : 1554 (Jacques Gohory) (actually Spanish Book XIa)
• Book XII : 1556 (Guillaume Aubert) (actually Spanish Book XIb)
• Book XIII : 1571 (Jacques Gohory) (actually Spanish Book XIIa)
• Book XIV : 1574 (Antoine Tyron) (actually Spanish Book XIIb)
• Books XV – XXI : 1576–1581
• Books XXII–XXIV : after 1594

In Portugal, and other parts of Iberia, the Amadis cycle also launched other adventure series, such as:

• Palmerin d'Oliva — original anonymous text in Castilian: 1511
• Primaleon of Greece, son of Palmerin d'Oliva — original anonymous text in Castilian: 1512
• Palmeirim de Inglaterra (Palmeirim of England) — original Portuguese text by Francisco de Morais Cabral : c.1544 (published 1567)
• Dom Duardos — original Portuguese text by Diogo Fernandes
• Dom Clarisel de Bretanha — original Portuguese text by Gonçalves Lobato
• Crónica do Imperador Clarimundo (Chronicle of Emperor Clarimund) — original Portuguese text by João de Barros
• Sagramor — original Portuguese text by Gonçalo Fernandes Trancoso