Origins
As mentioned above, the origin of Amadís and his adventures is disputed. A Spanish writer, Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo, edited and published the first printed edition (and earliest extant version) in three volumes in 1508. While the fourth volume is generally regarded as Rodríguez de Montalvo's own work, he claimed to be publishing earlier sources and it is generally accepted that the first three volumes derive from a previous manuscript or oral tradition. Montalvo's claims have recently been supported by Antonio Rodríguez Moñino's finding of four 15th century manuscript fragments (ca. 1420). The name "Esplandián" is clearly visible in one of these. The fragments belong to the collection of the Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley. In the Spanish translation of Egidio Colonna's De Regimine Principum, Amadís is mentioned and also the poet Enrico, who could well be Enrico de Castiglia. Egidio Colonna was in Rome 1267 when Henry of Castile was elected Senator. The translation was made around 1350 under King Peter the Cruel. This is the oldest mention of Amadis.
A Portuguese origin has been most widely accepted but Amadís has been justly claimed by the Spanish, due to the fact that there is no trace of any early Portuguese manuscript. The French and Italians have also claimed to have created Amadis. Also, the action seems, from the names of characters and places, to be supposed to be set primarily in England, and it is usually accepted that the name "Gaula" is related to "Wales". The plot ranges across the continent to Romania and Constantinople, and in the continuations as far as the Holy Land and the Cyclades. However, the romance's geography cannot be mapped onto the "real" Europe: it contains just as many fantastic places as real ones. Nevertheless it appears that the Island of the Boiling Lake is Pantelleria by Sicily.
Recently, a new theory of the work's authorship has been proposed by Santiago Sevilla (see talk page), claiming that the Infante Enrique of Castile was the original writer of the epic. Enrique of Castille lived for four years at the court of Edward I of England, who was married to his sister, queen Eleanor of Castile. According to this theory, the character Lisuarte is Edward, Oriana is Eleanor of England, the maid of Denmark is in fact the Maid of Norway, and Amadis is modelled after Simon de Montfort, the heroic Norman earl of Leicester. Furthermore, Esplandian could be his infamous warrior son, Guy de Montfort, count of Mola, Brian de Monjaste is in fact Enrique of Castile himself, and the battle against the Arabic king is the Battle of Benevento against King Manfred of Sicily, who had a host of Arabian light cavalry and Arab archers. The historical Enrique of Castile wandered, as knight errant and poet, to wage wars in Tunis, Naples and Sicily where he fought in those Battles of Benevento and Tagliacozzo, and became a prisoner of the Pope and Charles d'Anjou in Canosa di Puglia, and Castel del Monte, from 1268 to 1291, where he would have reputedly written a good part of Amadis, before returning to Spain to become Regent of Castile, before his death in 1304. According to the author of this theory, it would have been inconvenient for Enrique of Castille, due to his high office, to declare his authorship, but the work bears his marks as a poet and troubadour. It appears that Henry of Castile handed the manuscript of Amadis to King Diniz of Portugal in 1295, according to "O Romance de Amadis" by Alonso Lopes Vieira, and the account of the visit of Henry of Castile in Portugal to his nephew, the king.
Despite the various theories of the work's origins, Rodríguez de Montalvo's Spanish version, as the only complete edition known, is considered definitive, and it was the one who made the character widely known on a European scale. Unfortunately Rodríguez de Montalvo allowed the original manuscript to disappear, or lost it, and only a few pages were discovered in Spain by Antonio Rodríguez Moñino, Peofessor at the University of California, Berkeley, evidence of the lost XIII century's work.
Read more about this topic: Amadis De Gaula
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