write note on the medieval romances?
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Have you ever seen the movie The Princess Bride? If so, you might recall its swashbuckling scenes and its story of love and daring exploits. Although it was adapted from a book published in the 1970s, The Princess Bride shares a lot in common with medieval romance literature, a literary genre comprised of fictional works of chivalry and adventure from the Middle Ages.
Works of medieval romance literature were widely popular between the 5th and 16th centuries, and represented the bulk of major literary output at the time. There are examples of the genre composed in prose as well as in verse, with some of the earliest being poetic works closely resembling the verse epics of Ancient Greece and Rome in both form and content.
By the 17th century, the popularity of the genre was already dwindling, and writers were beginning to explore other avenues of expression. You might say that medieval romance literature received its final deathblow in 1605 and 1615 when the two parts of Don Quixote were published. The most notable work of Miguel de Cervantes is actually a satire that contrasts the chivalrous deeds performed in previous romance works with the bounds of reality. Let's take a look now at some of the characteristics of medieval romance literature that Cervantes would have satirized.