Traditionality and Genre in Middle English Romance

'Traditionality and Genre' looks for a new approach to romance, a way to assess and interpret individual romances in terms of their shared features of style, structure and implied audience. It identifies these features in the romances in the Auchinleck manuscript before proceeding to a study of romance style as it is employed in 'Amis and Amiloun', and romance structure in 'Guy of Warwick'. The legendary Guy was adopted by the earls of Warwick as their ancestor, and this, coupledwith the romance's more broadly commemorative intention, is used by the author to demonstrate the essentially conservative appeal of romance generally. 'The Squyr of lowe degre', a late and sophisticated romance, finally substantiated the author's observations on romance style and structure. These three romances also inter-relate in other ways, borrowing from and alluding to each other in characteristic fashion, and thus providing further opportunities to study the common features of the genre.