Family and Friends

This volume analyses the generational relationships in the so-called ‘ancestral romances’; narratives in verse form composed in the centuries after the Norman Conquest of England in 1066. The romances respond to the Normans’ strong need for continuity and stability to support the establishment of their rule by preserving socio-cultural values and morals from the Anglo-Saxon and Norman past in an archaising style. At the same time, they reflect the concerns and interests of their contemporary audience by addressing current issues and offering idealised solutions. Generation is a dominant topic in the narrative pattern, and genealogical-dynastic relationships play as much a central role as relationships between members of separate age cohorts. Detailed literary analyses of the four romances ‘King Horn’; ‘Havelok the Dane’; ‘Bevis of Hampton’ and ‘Athelston’ emphasise this generational pattern and open new perspectives not only on the texts themselves but also on their socio-historical background.