Month: April 2023

The world needs more strong, active women leaders in love with men. As always, men are to blame. Men have been socially constructed as tools to protect women by engaging in violence against men and to provide material goods for women and children. Marginalizing and obscuring men’s intrinsic beauty contributes to the lack of strong, active women leaders. Nonetheless, progress toward gender equality and social justice can be imagined. The twelfth-century Old French Romance of Horn {Roman de Horn} shows how appreciating Horn’s masculine physical beauty stimulated Rigmel and Lenburc to become strong, active women leaders in love with men.

The Romance of Horn describes Horn’s masculine physical beauty in a way scarcely imaginable today. This young man wasn’t merely dreamy. He seemed more than divine:

God! How they noted his beauty throughout the hall!
And all said that he must be some enchanted being
and that such could never have been made by God.

{ Deu taunt fu sa beaute par la sale notéé
E si dient par tut ke cest chose facéé
E ke onc mes de deu ne fu tiel figuréé. }[1]

In the eyes of the young countess Herselot, Horn’s masculine beauty was ineffable:

She saw an angelic young gentleman,
who was noble and graceful and had beauty so fine
that no clerk nor sage divine could describe it.

{ … vev le danzel angelin
Cum est gent e molle e en beaute si fin
K e descrire nel pot nul clerc sage devin }

At the great annual royal feast for Pentecost, Horn served noble ladies wine. They yearned for him to serve them more intimately:

God! How was heard praise of his bearing and his complexion.
No lady-lord at the sight of him didn’t love him,
and didn’t want to hold him under her ermine coverlet,
embracing him lovingly without her husband knowing.

{ Deu cum orent loe sa facun sa colur.
Dame nel ad vev ki vers li nait amur
E nel vousist tenir suz hermin couertur
Embracie belement sanz sev de seignur. }

Medieval literature frankly acknowledged the risks of husbands being cuckolded, even though the four-seas paternity doctrine and the massive state “child support” monetary tribute system hadn’t yet been developed. However, not just for husbands did Horn’s masculine beauty create risk. When Horn entered into knightly service to Egfer, son of the Irish king Gudreche, the king warned his son:

But one thing I say to you — that you should be careful,
if you go courting, that you don’t bring him there with you,
because he is of such radiant beauty
that you compared to him will be little praised,
you who previously surpassed all men in beauty.

{ Mes une rien vus di ioe dont seiez purgardez.
Si alez donneier ke oue vus nel menez,
Kar il est de beaute issi enluminez
Ke vus la v’il iert petit serrez preisez.
Ki tuz homes aunceis de beaute passiez. }

The king’s comparison underscores that women in medieval France greatly appreciated men’s physical beauty.[2]

Princess Rigmel, the beautiful young daughter of King Hunlaf of Brittany, heard about Horn’s beauty. She sought to meet him. Not content to wait passively for him to text her first, she arranged for Horn to be brought to her. With lavish gifts she bribed the royal seneschal Herland to bring him. Herland promised to do so, but later feared because Horn personally served the king. Herland therefore brought Rigmel another handsome young man named Haderof.

Men should not be treated merely as objects of exchange in women’s amorous intrigues. Rigmel fully understood that seminal insight from meninist literary criticism. When she learned that Herland brought her Haderof, not Horn, Rigmel was furious. Acting as a powerful woman leader, she castigated and threatened the royal seneschal. Not even deigning to address Herland directly, she spoke about him to his face:

Oh! See how I am shamed with the presumption of Herland, son of Toral!
By the saints whom God has made, he wasn’t loyal
who mockingly brought here a commoner,
so as to test me fully as if I were a whore.
If this is known to King Hunlaf, he’ll badly regard this day.
I shall be well avenged, or I’ve never been angry at anything.
He’ll be dragged fully into pieces by a horse’s tail.
No royal young woman was ever made so disgraced
as I am by this insolent wretch who has made himself a seneschal.
By God, I have few friend if they don’t avenge this evil,
if they don’t seek his disgraceful humiliation.

{ A voi cum sui hunie quidez le fiz Toral
Pur les seinz que deus fist ke ne seie leal
K ici mas amene par gabeis un vassal
Tut pur mei essaier cum fusse cummunal.
Si est vif rei Hunlaf mar vint cest áiornal
I oe men vengerai bien ia nen irra par al.
Tut len ferai detraire a coes de cheval
Ne fu mes si honie pucele enperial.
Cum cist surquide mad ki se fet seneschal.
Par deu poi ai amis s’il nevengent cest mal.
S’il ne quierent de lui hunissement vergundal. }

Herland actually was treating the young man Haderof as a whore and Rigmel as a “Jane.” Such a gender configuration of prostitution is scarcely ever acknowledged. Herland merely apologized to Princess Rigmel and promised to bring Horn to her, no matter what the king would do to him.

Medieval culture, drawing upon classical Virgilian tradition, credited women with being dynamic and adaptable, as well as having strong, independent desires. Herland, the seneschal subservient to Rigmel, recognized women’s strengths:

Because a woman’s heart changes very often,
when she sees a beautiful young man, she soon falls in love
and very soon, however one might object, madly loves him.
She will leave him for no one, neither friend nor parent,
and for nothing would a person chastise her about it.
Because if you chastise her for it and beat her harshly,
you will lose all, for she will love him then more strongly.

{ Kar corage remue a feme mut sovent
Quant veit bel bacheler de samur tost ses prent
E bien tost ki ken peist si leime folement.
Nel larreit pur nuli pur ami ne parent
I a pur nient len fereit nuls hom chastiement.
Kar si lenchastiez e batez durement
Tut auerez coe perdu taunt lamera plus forment. }

Herland himself was more sluggish in perception and in thought. Only after many gifts from Rigmel did he realize what she wanted from him. He disastrously misjudged in bringing her Haderof in place of Horn. He served her as she desired only after she became furious at him.

Women and men support women much more than men. So it was with Herselot, a count’s daughter. She served Rigmel, supported her, and assured her:

“Lady-lord,” said Herselot, “you will have him. I foretell it.
I saw in a dream, by which I know for certain,
that he made to you a noble gift of a peregine falcon.
You put it in your bosom under your silk dress,
and would not give it away for Pepin’s kingdom.
I know well that you will have a son from that young man.”

{ Dame dist Herselot vus lauerez iol devin.
Un a visiun vi par quei sai kert issin
Quil vus fist un gent dun dun faukun muntarsin.
El sein le metiez de desuz losterin
Sinel donissez pas pur le regne Pepin.
Bien sai ke eiert un fiz ke auerez del meschin. }

In Marie de France’s lai Laustic,a wife longs for her lover as for a nightingale. Medieval women imagined men giving them the bird to be not a hostile gesture, but a delightful encounter. After seeing Horn at a royal dinner, Herselot gushed about him to Rigmel:

Lady-lord, God ordains for you
one I have seen who is truly an angel!
For the sickness you have, he has the cure.
Neither a countess nor a queen can gaze upon him
who is not at the sight of him very inclined to know him.
He is dressed in a tunic of crimson color.
It’s greatly tight about his flanks and trails on the ground.
I believe that this one is Horn, who rules over everyone.
If he’s this one, there is no such other from here to Palestine,
not among Christians nor among the Saracen people.
Henceforth I would like that you would be at his order,
to do his command under an ermine coverlet.

{ … dame deu vus destine.
D’une rien quai veu ki bien est angeline.
Del mal quauez év il en ad la mescine.
Nel poet pas esgarder cuntesse ne reine.
Ke tresque lad veu ne seit vers lui acline
Vestu ad un bliaut la colur ad purprine
Estreit est mut es flancs e par terre traine
Ioe crei que coe est Horn ke tute gent destine.
S’il est coe tiel nen ad de ci quen palestine
Ne entre crestiens ne en gent sarazine
Desor vuil ke seiez de sa diseipline.
A faire sun comand suz cuvertur hermine. }[3]

Herselot wasn’t just mouthing a conventional expression. She shockingly wished that she herself had sex with Horn:

Please God, I wish he had raped me
and had me to himself in a chamber or forest.
I would do his will by Saint Catherine!
I wouldn’t make that known to my parents or cousins.

{ Plust adeu ke de mei oust faite ravine
E mei oust sul a sul en chambre v’en gaudine.
Ioe fereie sun boen par sainte katherine
Ia nel savereit par mei parente ne cosine. }

Women shouldn’t publicly express desire to have men rape them. Rape is a grave crime. Penal systems vastly gender-disproportionately punish persons with penises. While freedom of erotic imagination might be acceptable, and in any case is difficult to police, men should not be set up as rapists in words uttered or written.

When Herland brought Horn to her, Rigmel took charge of the meeting. She acted courteously, but assertively:

Welcome, seneschal! From me you have warm thanks
when you are so loyal. There will be for you a reward
since you have brought to me Aalof’s son Horn.
And welcome, Lord Horn! Much have I desired
to see you — know that much a long time has passed.
Sit here towards me so that we may get acquainted.
Lord Herland, who has been here earlier, will go to be
with the young women there who will fully grant his requests.

{ Bien viengez seneschal de mei aiez bon gre
Quant estes si leal vus iert guerredone
Ke le fiz Aaluf ca mavez amene.
E bien viengez sire Horn mut vus ai desire
A veeir coe sacez mut ad grant tens passe
Ca serez de vers mei ke seions acointe.
Danz Herland sen irra ki ad ci ainz este
As puceles de la dunt iad grant plente. }

Rigmel apparently offered her serving-maidens to Herland as some mothers offered their daughters to men. Rigmel drew Horn toward her and immediately took the initiative in love:

Of you very well is true what all say —
that you are the most beautiful man living in this age.
I offer you my love, if you would assent to it.
By this ring that I hold, I would have possession of you.
Never have I said this before to any man in the world,
nor will I say it to any other by my knowledge,
but I would rather be burned in a blazing fire.

{ De vus est mut bien veir coe que tuit sunt cuntant
Ke taunt bel home nad en cest siecle vivant.
Ioe vus otrei mamur si lestes otreiant
Par cest anel que tienc vus en sui seisissant
Unkes mes a nul hom del mund ne dis taunt
Ne ia autre nel dirrai par le mien esciant
Mez vodreie estre arse en un feu ardant. }

Rigmel made clear that she, although strong and active, wasn’t promiscuous. Not all strong, independent women leaders are like Empress Theodora.

Rigmel didn’t seek to dominate Horn. Instead, she confidently declared herself warmly receptive to him:

You could love me, if that were your pleasure.
You would find me neither false nor deceitful toward you,
for I would do nothing but all that you request.

{ Amer me purriez si vostre pleisir ere.
Ne me truverez vers vus fausse ne losengiere.
Ke ne face de quoer tute vostre preiere }

Women historically have been regarded as more socially sophisticated than men. That makes women better at lying and deceiving, as well as in web thinking. Rigmel renounced that female advantage. In her astonishing rejection of men’s traditional gender burden in love, she not only took the initiative in asking Horn to love her, but also offered him an expensive ring. Compared to this medieval woman, modern women tend to be much more passive in love.

As a result of historical gender injustice, men tend to lack appropriate self-esteem. So it was with Horn. He refused Rigmel’s love and her ring because he felt that he hadn’t yet proved himself worthy:

Lovely lady, by Saint Marcel!
I would rather be completely burned in a furnace
than such be given to me to use while I am a young man
who has not yet carried arms before the tower of a castle,
nor yet engaged iron in a tournament or joust.
That isn’t considered a custom of persons of my lineage.
But when I have struck a knight from his horse
or pieced a shield in its center or in the rim,
then I can wear a ring engraved with a chisel.

{ … bele par saint marcel
Meuz voldreie estre ars tut vis en un furnel
Ke en mun dei lousse taunt cum sui iouencel.
Ainz ke armes porte devant tur de chastel
E ke usse en turnei feru u encembel.
N’est pas us a la gent aki lignage apel
Mes quant auerai vassal abatu de putrel
U estroe escu en bucle u’en chauntel.
Dunc pus porter anel entaille á cisel. }[4]

Men must understand that they are intrinsically worthy of women’s love. Engaging in violence against men shouldn’t be regarded as making men more worthy of women’s love. Horn didn’t understand that Rigmel knew him better than he knew himself. Horn ignorantly refused her ring:

So do not give it to me because you don’t know me.
I don’t know myself, nor have I yet been tested,
so I don’t want to conclude with you a love-contract.

{ Pur coe nel me donez kar ne me conoissiez.
Ioe ne sai ki ioe sui ne fui onc espruvez
Pur coe ne vuil del vostre ne fermer amistez. }

Men leaders have failed men. Most men don’t know themselves and their intrinsic worth. Strong, active women leaders in love with men can help to promote gender justice for men.

When the perfidious courtier Wikele accused Horn of a serious sexual offense, Rigmel showed social strength that Horn lacked. Compared to women, men have always been more vulnerable to accusations of sexual offenses. Wikele told the king that Horn had sex with the king’s daughter Rigmel. Moreover, Wikele claimed that Horn said to others:

I won’t marry her,
but as long as it pleases me, I’ll warm her in bed.

{ .. ia nel espuserai.
Mes taunt cum me plarra si la soignanterai. }

With the gender bias prevalent throughout history, the king judged that his adult daughter allegedly having consensual sex with Horn implied that Horn had betrayed him. Women can do no wrong. Men with their penises are intrinsically prone to evil, or so penal systems of punishment affirm.

Horn sought to disprove through judicial combat the nonsensical sexual allegation agains him. The king, however, wanted him to swear an oath in denial. Horn regarded swearing an oath to be beneath his dignity as a man. Rigmel self-confidentially offered a humane way forward. She declared that she and Horn should ignore allegations that they had consensual sex:

If that were true, so Saint Richer help me,
it wouldn’t do anything to me, because so much can I love you
that the pain would be sweet for me to endure for you.

{ Si coe fust verite si mait saint Richer
Ne me fust dunc a nient kar mut vus pus amer.
Si me fust duz le mal pur vus endurer. }

In fact, she wanted to have sex with Horn. It was sweet for her to imagine having sex with him. Nonetheless, Horn left the realm because he was falsely accused of having consensual sex with the eagerly amorous princess.

Fleeing from gender injustice, Horn went to live in Ireland. Irish women, like English women, greatly admired Horn’s masculine physical beauty:

His face by its beautiful casting
was much noted and made delight for the lady-lords
who among themselves said that he was a divine being
and many said that she would be born lucky
who there made her pleasure and with him became intimate.
Such pleasure she would long remember, so evil sufferings would be smooth sailing.

{ … face out bien moulléé
Mut fu diversement par ces dames notéé
Kar entreles dient ke cest chose faéé
E si dient plusur ke bor fust cele néé
Kin oust fait sun pleisir e de lui fust privéé.
Taunt cum len sovendreit de mal navereit haschéé. }

Horn took up knightly service with Egfer, son of the Irish king Gudreche. When King Gudreche’s daughter Lenburc saw Horn, she gazed upon him at length. Then, as a strong, active woman leader in love with a man, she drank half the wine that filled a golden goblet. She commanded a boy to take to Horn that half-emptied golden cup and the following message:

Lenburc, the king’s daughter with a lovely body,
sends you a hundred greetings of the great, highest god.
By me she has sent you this shining golden vessel.
She drank half from it. You drink the remainder,
sir, by such covenant as I will now say to you.
For love of her, she requests that you drink the wine.
Keep for youself the vessel of fine gold.
Then drink from it, if you please, mornings and evenings.
By this you will love her, and your loving her will be more fine.
Remember her when you go on the road.
Tell her your name, and what is your lineage,
and for what you came to this side of the sea.

{ Lenburc fille le rei od le cors avenaunt
Vus maunde cent saluz del deu hautisme grant.
Par mei vus enveie cest vessel dor luisant.
Ele enbut la meitie bevez le remanaunt
Par tiel covent sire cum ioe vus ere disaunt
Pur samur vus requiert ke vus bevez le vin
A vostre oes retendrez le vessel dor fin.
Dunt beverez si vus plest al seir v’ al matin
Par itaunt lamerez si iert lamur plus fin.
Sovendra vus de li quant irrez le chemin
Maundez li vostre num e quel est vostre lin
E pur quei venistes en cest utre marin. }

Lenburc’s message might be interpreted as sexual harassment today, if anyone cared about men being sexually harassed. Horn, however, was more concerned about Lenburc’s hasty and superficial judgment of him. In a message to her, he declared that she needed to get to know him better:

I don’t take fire from straw that soon makes failure.
Very quickly it lights, and it goes out quickly.
Such love is foolish when it doesn’t come reasonably.

{ Ne pris pas feu d’estreim tost fet defectiun
Mut tost est alume e tost fet orbeisun
Si est de fol amur quant ne vient par raisun. }

Like many men, Horn was less concerned about being sexually harassed than with a woman’s loyalty and steadfastness in love.

Strong, active women leaders in love with men are subservient to neither fathers nor mothers. Lenburc’s mother urged her not to be foolish in loving Horn. Mothers were the ultimate authority in medieval life. Nonetheless, for Lenburc in love with Horn, mother didn’t matter:

And her mother gently told her to desist from her folly,
but she loved him more, without regard for her mother’s authority.

{ Si li dit soavet quele laist sa folie
Mes ele len aime plus ne dute sa mestrie. }

In fact, Lenburc made a further initiative in love with Horn. She sent to him the following message:

My young lady says she will give you her possessions.
Nothing that you wish of hers will ever be denied to you —
palfreys and warhorses and weapons that she has.
Refined gold and coins will enrich you well,
because if you love her, she will love you.

{ Ma daunzele vus dit ses aveirs vus donra
Rien que voldrez del soen ia mes ne vus faudra.
Palefreiz e destriers e armes ke ele a
Dor quit e de deniers bien vus enrichera.
Pur coe ke vus lamez ele vus amera. }

That’s how a strong, independent woman acts in love with a man. Of course not all women are wealthy princesses. Nonetheless, all women can be strong, active women leaders in love with men.

Study of medieval literature offers the best hope for true progress towards gender equality and social justice. Without strong, active women leaders in love with men, such progress will never be realized.[5] Nurturing, encouraging, and supporting strong, active women leaders in love with men is far more important than encouraging women to become computer programmers, engineers, and physicists. STEM workers matter less to civilization’s future than does women’s love for men.

* * * * *

Read more:

• Galeron & Ganor show medieval women’s initiative in love with men
• Esmerée courageously offered healing to lovesick Galeran
• invective against men risks supporting castration culture

Notes:

[1] Thomas, Romance of Horn {Roman de Horn} vv. 452-4, Old French (Anglo-Norman) text of manuscript C (MS. Cambridge, University Library, Ff.6.17, folios 1ra-94rb) (normalized slightly) from Brede & Stengel (1883), my English translation, benefiting from that of Weiss (2009). Subsequent quotes from Roman de Horn are similarly sourced.

Brede & Stengel (1883) is a semi-diplomatic edition of Roman de Horn, hence it’s quite difficult to read. Michel (1845) provides a simpler but much less reliable edition. Comparing these editions shows the enormous expertise and labor of textual scholarship. Pope (1955) provides a more accessible edition of manuscript C. Weiss (2009) translates Pope’s edition, with some deviations. In addition to minor normalizations and simplifications of Brede & Stengel, I’ve incorporated some reading from manuscript O, usually consistent with Weiss’s English translation. The freely available, online Anglo-Norman Dictionary is helpful for reading the Anglo-Norman editions.

The cleric Thomas identifies himself as the author of Roman de Horn in its first laisse and its final laisse (laisse 245). Nothing is known about Thomas other than what he wrote in the Roman de Horn. In the first laisse, Thomas indicates that he’s old. In the final laisse, Thomas describes his son Wilmot as a good poet. Thomas probably wrote Roman de Horn about 1170 in England. This romance apparently reflects Viking raids into Britain in the eight through tenth centuries. Weiss (2009) p. 3,

Romances concerning Horn, or similar stories, occurs in a variety of languages and versions. Schofield (1903). One related story is the Anglo-Norman lai Haveloc, written about 1200. A shorter, simpler romance of Horn exists as the late-thirteenth-century English romance King Horn. For a Middle English edition, Herzman, Drake & Salisbury (1999). For English modernizations of King Horn, Eckert (2015) and Scott-Robinson (2019). The extent of the influence of the Anglo-Norman Roman de Horn on the Middle English King Horn is a matter of considerable scholarly controversy. In any case, Anglo-Norman romance had considerable influence on Middle English romance. Wadsworth (1972).

Subsequent quotes above from Roman de Horn are from vv. 946-8 (She saw an angelic young gentleman…), 475-8 (God! How was heard praise…), 2323-27 (But one thing I say to you…), 876-86 (Oh! See how I am shamed…), 683-9 (Because a woman’s heart…), 729-34 (“Lady-lord,” said Herselot…), 953-64 (Lady-lord, God ordains for you..), 966-9 (Please God, I wish he had raped me…), 1060-7 (Welcome, seneschal!…), 1102-8 (Of you very well is true…), 1127-9 (You could love me…), 1149-57 (Lovely lady, by Saint Marcel…), 1166-8 (So do not give it to me…), 1891-2 (I won’t marry her…), 2027-9 (If that were true, so Saint Richer help me…), 2186-91 (His face by its beautiful casting…), 2413-24 (Lenburc, the king’s daughter…), 2445-7 (I don’t take fire from straw…), 2469-70 (And her mother gently told her…), 2496-2500 (My young lady says…).

[2] Gos interpreted medieval women’s desiring gaze according to her ideological fictions: “her desiring gaze can be seen as a fiction designed to justify and naturalize the exchange of women along the lines of patriarchal priorities.” Gos (2012) p. 41. The male gaze, in contrast, really desires to see a woman’s face, as long as her face isn’t the face of a Medusa.

[3] Weiss (2009) doesn’t translate Roman de Horn vv. 956-7.

[4] Modern literary scholars have treated uncritically men’s lack of self-esteem and their striving to establish their “worth.” Burnley perceived Horn as “an ideal for his age.” Burnley (1967) p. 86. Worth perceived Horn as “a figure of truth, action and divine favour.” Worth (2015) p. 59. Horn is “a perfect, multifaceted Insular hero, whose worth and singular identity can be inevitably recognised and celebrated universally.” Id. p. 61. Horn’s unnecessary quest for self-worth is littered with bodies of men he has violently killed.

[5] According to Weiss, strong, active women leaders in love with men “usurp the male role.” Weiss (1991) p. 160. To promote gender equality, more women should take up men’s gender burdens. The contrast between medieval literature of men’s sex protest and the great women leaders of medieval romance indicates that those leaders failed to overcome oppressive gender injustices. Cf. id. pp. 151-2. Cooper interpreted strong, active women leaders in love with men as “wishful thinking of male readers.” Cooper (2004) p. 225. Men readers rightly wish for gender justice. So too should critically thinking literary scholars.

Weiss (1991), Cooper (2004), and Gos (2012) are based upon dominant gender myths. Those works, like much other medieval scholarship, fundamentally misunderstands gender in medieval European society and in western culture today. Consider, for example, Cooper’s summary of part of the Middle English King Horn. After Horn left Rimenhild (the princess corresponding to the Anglo-Norman Rigmel) because of the false sexual accusation against him:

Both lovers then undergo parallel processes of testing and trial: she by resisting rival suitors; he by demonstrating his merit through a succession of combats that finally win him back his own kingdom.

Cooper (2004) p. 228. Having to endure deadly violence is hardly a parallel process to resisting person seeking to love you.

[images] (1) Mary, Duchess of Burgundy, 1477-1782. Fifteenth-century painting attributed to Master of the Legend of the Magdalene. Preserved in the Castle of Gaasbeek. Via Wikimedia Commons. (2) Princess Augusta of Bavaria, reigned as Viceine of Italy from 1805-1814. Painted by Karl Joseph Stieler about 1825. Via Wikimedia Commons.

References:

Brede, Rudolf, and Edmund Stengel, eds. 1883. Das anglonormannische Lied von wackern Ritter Horn. Genauer Abdruck der Cambridger, Oxforder und Londoner Handschrift. Ausgaben und Abhandlungen aus dem Gebiete der romanischen Philologie, 8. Marburg: Elwert.

Burnley, J. E. 1967. An Investigation of the differences in ideas and emphases in five middle English romances (Floris and Blauncheflour; King Horn; Havelok the Dane; Amis and Amiloun; Ipomadon) and the old French versions of the same subjects, with special reference to narrative technique, characterisation, tone and background. Masters thesis, Durham University, UK.

Cooper, Helen. 2004. The English Romance in Time: Transforming Motifs from Geoffrey of Monmouth to the Death of Shakespeare. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Review by Richard Moll and by Jordi Sánchez-Martí.

Eckert, Kenneth. 2015. Middle English Romances in Translation: Amis and Amiloun | Athelston | Floris and Blancheflor | Havelok the Dane | King Horn | Sir Degare. Havertown: Sidestone Press.

Gos, Giselle. 2012. Constructing the Female Subject in Anglo-Norman, Middle English and Medieval Irish Romance. D. Phil. Thesis, Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Toronto, Canada.

Herzman, Ronald B., Graham Drake, and Eve Salisbury. 1999. Four Romances of England: King Horn, Havelok the Dane, Bevis of Hampton, Athelston. Kalamazoo, Mich: Published for TEAMS (the Consortium for the Teaching of the Middle Ages) in association with the University of Rochester by Medieval Institute Publications, Western Michigan University.

Michel, Francisque Xavier, ed. 1845. Horn et Rimenhild. Recueil de ce qui reste des poëmes relatifs à leurs aventures composés en françois, en anglois et en écossois dans les treizième, quatorzième, quinzième et seizième siècles publié d’après les manuscrits de Londres, de Cambridge, d’Oxford et d’Edinburgh. Paris: Maulde et Renou pour le Bannatyne Club.

Pope, Mildred K. 1955. The Romance of Horn by Thomas. Volume I: Text, Critical Introduction and Notes. Anglo-Norman Texts, 9-10. Oxford: Blackwell.

Pope, Mildred K., revised and completed by T. B. W. Reid. 1964. The Romance of Horn by Thomas. Volume II: Descriptive Introduction, Explicative Notes and Glossary. Anglo-Norman Texts, 12-13. Oxford: Blackwell.

Schofield, William Henry. 1903. “The Story of Horn and Rimenhild.” PMLA. 18 (1): 1–83.

Scott-Robinson, Richard, trans. 2019. King Horn. Eleusinianm. Online.

Wadsworth, Rosalind. 1972. Historical Romance in England: Studies in Anglo-Norman and Middle English Romance. D. Phil., Department of English, University of York.

Weiss, Judith. 1991. “The Wooing Woman in Anglo-Norman Romance.” Pp. 149-161 in Maldwyn Mills, Jennifer Fellows, and Carol M. Meale, eds. Romance in Medieval England. Cambridge: D.S. Brewer.

Weiss, Judith. 2009. The Birth of Romance in England: The Romance of Horn, The Folie Tristan, The Lai of Haveloc, and Amis and Amilun; Four Twelfth-Century Romances in the French of England. Tempe, AZ: Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies (ACMRS).

Worth, Liliana. 2015. ‘Exile-and-Return’ in Medieval Vernacular Texts of England and Spain 1170-1250. Ph.D. Thesis, Oxford University, UK.