"Ami and Amile" Life as Medieval French Knights for Charlemagne 1st Hand Account

Ami and Amile: a Medieval Tale of Friendship, Translated from the Old French by Samuel N. Rosenberg and Samuel Danon, with a New Afterword by David Konstan.

DESCRIPTION: Softcover: 168 pages. Publisher: The University of Michigan Press; (1997). This prose translation of the medieval French verse narrative Ami et Amile recounts the legendary friendship of two valiant knights who serve Charlemagne, face together the hatred of an archetypal villain, confront the daunting challenges of women and love, and accept extraordinary sacrifices for each other's sake.

The compelling translation by Samuel N. Rosenberg and Samuel Danon is accompanied by an introduction on the background, genre, and general sense of the tale. The volume also includes an afterword by David Konstan, which examines the medieval work's concept of friendship within a perspective extending back to classical antiquity.

CONDITION: NEW. New oversized softcover. The University of Michigan Press (1997) 168 pages. Unblemished, unmarked, pristine in every respect. Pages are clean, crisp, unmarked, unmutilated, tightly bound, unambiguously unread. Satisfaction unconditionally guaranteed. In stock, ready to ship. No disappointments, no excuses. PROMPT SHIPPING! HEAVILY PADDED, DAMAGE-FREE PACKAGING! Meticulous and accurate descriptions! Selling rare and out-of-print ancient history books on- line since 1997. We accept returns for any reason within 30 days! #1820a.

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PLEASE SEE PUBLISHER, PROFESSIONAL, AND READER REVIEWS BELOW.

PUBLISHER REVIEW:

REVIEW: Miracles mark the end of their lives, and their shared tomb becomes a pilgrims' shrine. The compelling translation by Samuel N. Rosenberg and Samuel Danon is accompanied by an introduction on the background, genre, and general sense of the tale. This translation will reveal Ami and Amile as a major work of the French Middle Ages. In elegant and forceful prose, it weaves together the themes of friendship and love and the status of women, of sin and punishment, the moral problem of doing wrong for the right reason, and the mythic affliction of leprosy.

The work will foster lively literary and philosophical discussion. Ami and Amile is of interest to a wide range of readers, including students of history, comparative literature, and gender studies. Medievalists will find it a welcome addition to their libraries and a captivating experience for their students. The volume is published in the series Stylus: Studies in Medieval Culture, edited by Eugene Vance, University of Washington. Samuel N. Rosenberg is Professor of French and Italian at Indiana University; Samuel Danon is Professor of French at Reed College.

Co-Translator Samuel N. Rosenberg is Professor of French and Italian at Indiana University. Co-Translator Amuel Danon is Professor of French, at Reed College. The afterward was written by David Konstan, Professor of Classics, Brown University.

PROFESSIONAL REVIEW:

REVIEW: An expressive and illuminating translation of the Old French poem, shedding light on the idea of friendship in medieval Europe. "Ami and Amile", whether in its original medieval French or in translation, has attracted considerable interest since the time our English version was first published. A work of hybrid genre, both more than a chanson de geste and less, a hagiographic text devoid of saints, and a romance whose main protagonists are not lovers but friends, the poem is an object ready for scrutiny in today's critical attempts to understand the developing forms of medieval narrative and their interconnections-to trace, in particular, the evolution of epic and its relation to tales centered more on personal than on public concerns.

READER REVIEW:

REVIEW: A classic tale of medieval chivalry during the reign of Charlemagne the Great. A superb translation. Surely appeals to both those who are interested in life in Medieval Europe, as well as those who appreciate classic works of literature. Highly recommended.

ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND:

History of the European Middle Ages: In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or Medieval Period lasted from the 5th to the 15th century. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and merged into the Renaissance and the Age of Discovery. The Middle Ages is the middle period of the three traditional divisions of Western history: classical antiquity, the medieval period, and the modern period. The medieval period is itself subdivided into the Early, High, and Late Middle Ages.

Population decline, counter-urbanization, collapse of centralized authority, invasions, and mass migrations of tribes. All of these had begun in Late Antiquity and continued in the Early Middle Ages. The large-scale movements of the Migration Period, including various Germanic peoples, formed new kingdoms in what remained of the Western Roman Empire. In the 7th century, North Africa and the Middle East which were once part of the Byzantine Empire fell. These regions came under the rule of the Umayyad Caliphate. The Caliphate was an Islamic empire founded by Muhammad's successors.

Although there were substantial changes in society and political structures, the break with classical antiquity was not complete. The still-sizeable Byzantine Empire, Rome's direct continuation, survived in the Eastern Mediterranean and remained a major power. The empire's law code, the Corpus Juris Civilis or "Code of Justinian", was rediscovered in Northern Italy in 1070 and became widely admired later in the Middle Ages. In the West, most kingdoms incorporated the few extant Roman institutions.

Monasteries were founded as campaigns to Christianize pagan Europe continued. The Franks, under the Carolingian dynasty, briefly established the Carolingian Empire during the later 8th and early 9th centuries. It covered much of Western Europe but later succumbed to the pressures of internal civil wars combined with external invasions: Vikings from the north, Magyars from the east, and Saracens from the south.

During the High Middle Ages, which began after 1000, the population of Europe increased greatly. Technological and agricultural innovations allowed trade to flourish. The Medieval Warm Period climate change allowed crop yields to increase. The Medieval Manor System involved the organization of peasants into villages. The villages in turn owed rent and labor services to the nobles. The Feudal System encompassed a political structure whereby knights and lower-status nobles owed military service to their overlords in return for the right to rent from lands and manors. The Manor and Feudal systems were two of the ways society was organized in the High Middle Ages.

First preached in 1095 A.D. the Crusades were a series of military attempts by Western European Christians to regain control of the Holy Land from Muslims. Kings became the heads of centralized nation-states. This reduced crime and violence but made the ideal of a unified Christendom more distant. Intellectual life was marked by scholasticism,. Scholasticism was a philosophy that emphasized joining faith to reason, and by the founding of universities. The theology of Thomas Aquinas, the paintings of Giotto, the poetry of Dante and Chaucer, the travels of Marco Polo, and the Gothic architecture of cathedrals such as Chartres are among the outstanding achievements toward the end of this period and into the Late Middle Ages.

• Condition: Brand new
• Book Title: Ami and Amile: A Medieval Tale of Friendship
• Topic: Medieval, Cultural History, Historic Figures, Social History, Ancient World, Classic Literature
• Format: Trade Paperback
• Type: Biography
• Publication Year: 1997
• Publisher: The University of Michigan Press
• Genre: Ancient Literature, Art & Culture, History
• Narrative Type: Nonfiction
• Author: Samuel N. Rosenberg, Samuel Danon
• Language: English
• Intended Audience: Young Adults, Adults
• Region: Europe
• Country: France
• Subjects: History & Military
• Subject: History
• Length: 168 pages
• Dimensions: 9 x 6 x ¾ inch; ¾ pound
• ISBN: 0472066471