I pomedon

Abstract

There exist three separate Middle English translations of Hue de Rotelande's twelfth‐century Anglo‐Norman romance Ipomédon : the lengthy Yorkshire tail‐rhyme romance of Ipomadon ; the much shorter couplet Lyfe of Ipomydon , and the incomplete prose Ipomedon . In all versions, the tale is memorable for the eponymous hero's determination to perform all of his deeds of prowess incognito, adopting ever more humiliating disguises as he strives to make himself worthy of his love, the heiress of Calabria, who has vowed to marry only the best knight in the world. The Middle English versions drop the irony and periodic misogyny that pervade Hue's treatment of his material.