To omit from
the fifteenth century nearly all account of its romances and plays
and ballads is like omitting the part of Hamlet the Dane from
Shakespeare's greatest tragedy.
The passion for long romances or romantic poems had already arisen in
the fourteenth century, and, to some extent, in the thirteenth. Even
just before 1300, we meet with the lays of _Havelok_ and _Horn_. In
the fourteenth century, it is sufficient to mention the romances of
_Sir Guy of Warwick_ (the earlier version), _Sir Bevis of Hamtoun_,
and _Libeaus Desconus_, all mentioned by Chaucer; _Sir Launfal_,
_The Seven Sages_ (earlier version, as edited by Weber); _Lai le
Freine_, _Richard Coer de Lion_, _Amis and Amiloun_, _The King of
Tars_, _William of Palerne_, _Joseph of Arimathea_ (a fragment),
_Sir Gawain and the Grene Knight_, _Alisaunder of Macedoine_ and
_Alexander and Dindimus_ (two fragments of one very long poem),
_Sir Ferumbras_, and _Sir Isumbras_. The spirited romance generally
known as the alliterative _Morte Arthure_ must also belong here,
though the MS. itself is of later date.
The series was actively continued during the fifteenth century, when
we find, besides others, the romances of _Iwain and Gawain_, _Sir
Percival_, and _Sir Cleges_; _The Sowdon_ (Sultan) _of Babylon_;
_The Aunturs_ (Adventures) _of Arthur_, _Sir Amadas_, _The Avowing
of Arthur_, and _The Life of Ipomidoun_; _The Wars of Alexander_,
_The Seven Sages_ (later version, edited by Wright); _Torrent of
Portugal_, _Sir Gowther_, _Sir Degrevant_, _Sir Eglamour_, _Le Bone
Florence of Rome_, and _Partonope of Blois_; the prose version of
_Merlin_, the later version of _Sir Guy of Warwick_, and the verse
Romance, of immense length, of _The Holy Grail_; _Emare_, _The Erl
of Tolous_, and _The Squire of Low Degree_.
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