Sir Gowther

Sir Gowther is a relatively short Middle English tail-rhyme romance in twelve-line stanzas, found in two manuscripts, each dating to the mid- or late-fifteenth century. The poem tells a story that has been variously defined as a secular hagiography, a Breton lai and a romance, and perhaps "complies to a variety of possibilities." An adaptation of the story of Robert the Devil, the story follows the fortunes of Sir Gowther from birth to death, from his childhood as the son of a fiend, his wicked early life, through contrition and a penance imposed by the Pope involving him in a lowly and humiliating position in society, and to his eventual rise, via divine miracles, as a martial hero and ultimately to virtual canonization. But despite this saintly end, "like many other lays and romances, Sir Gowther derives much of its inspiration from a rich and vastly underappreciated folk tradition."

The story of Sir Gowther is found in two manuscripts: British Library Royal MS 17.B.43 and National Library of Scotland MS Advocates 19.3.1. Both of these manuscripts date from the mid- to late-fifteenth century. The romance itself was probably composed in around 1400.

Both instances of this Middle English romance are composed in twelve-line, tail-rhyme stanzas, like many other Middle English romances, such as Ipomadon, Emaré, Sir Launfal and Octavian, each verse rhyming aabccbddbeeb. The copy in National Library of Scotland MS Advocates 19.3.1 is 756 lines long.

(This summary is based upon the copy of Sir Gowther found in National Library of Scotland MS Advocates 19.3.1.)

The Duke of Austria is childless and threatens his wife with divorce if she does not quickly conceive. She is in an orchard one morning when a person she believes to be her husband arrives and they make love beneath the trees. However, she has been the victim of the utmost deception. She has been deceived in much the same way that the Duchess of Tintagel is deceived when King Uther Pendragon, cast into the likeness of her husband by Merlin, fathers King Arthur upon her in the Vulgate Merlin. Like the wife of Sir Orfeo, she is accosted by a fay in an orchard. The anonymous author of Sir Gowther has already told us: "I searched high and low for a Breton lay and have brought out of this marvellous region the following tale:

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