Sir Isumbras - Variants

Variants

Eight medieval versions of the Man Tested By Fate are known; except for an exemplum in Gesta Romanorum and the legend of Saint Eustace, all such tales are highly developed romances, such as Sir Isumbras.

Sir Isumbras is noteworthy among them for a blunt realism of language; while most have the hero performing menial labor, Isumbras is described in detail laboring at a smithy.

In Sir Isumbras, the wife suffers no particular hardships when separated from her husband; this is the romantic practice, but differentiates it from Saint Eustace, where the heroine lives a life of humble self-support, similar to the legends of Helena, mother of Constantine, and such romances as Emaré.