197:
seen him before, she too recognizes him, and the two fall in love. Two years and two months however pass before their first love meeting, which takes place secretly at night in the royal garden. The meeting ends suddenly when a jealous courtier discovers them and
Belthandros is put in jail. In order to save her lover's life, Chrysantza convinces her faithful chambermaid, Phaidrokaza, to take the blame by declaring that the prince had visited her instead. The king believes the story and a forced marriage between Belthandros and Phaidrokaza takes place.
193:. He is then summoned by the lord of the castle, Eros, who announces to him a beauty contest at which Belthandros must give a wand to the most beautiful among forty princesses. The contest takes place and Belthandros gives the wand to the most beautiful princess, whereupon all that surrounds him suddenly disappears "like a dream", leaving him alone in the castle. At this point he resolves to go out and seek the princess.
201:
separated and thrown up on the far bank. Chrysantza comes upon the corpse of one of the retainers, made unrecognizable from the river. Thinking it is
Belthandros, she is about to fall on the dead man's sword, when Belthandros himself appears to forestall her. The lovers reach the seacoast where they find a ship sent by king Rhodophilos in search for his son. The romance ends with their return to
47:. The work describes the love story between a young couple: Belthandros and Chrysantza. The original version of the work was probably composed in 13th or 14th century, while it bears traces of later remodeling that may belong to the 15th century. The world in which the action takes place coincides loosely with the real political geography of 13th-century
196:
After a short journey he arrives in
Antioch where he meets the king of the city, is accepted as his liegeman, and soon becomes an intimate of the royal household. There he meets his daughter Chrysantza, whom he recognizes as the princess he chose at the Castle of Eros. Although Chrysantza has never
200:
The following days the couple continues to meet secretly, but soon the situation becomes unsatisfactory, and they decide to flee, together with the chambermaid and two retainers. On the way, they cross a flooded river, where
Phaidrokaza and the two retainers are drowned, while the two lovers are
59:
Belthandros and
Chrysantza was probably composed in 13th or early 14th century (1310–1350) by an anonymous author. The text bears some traces of remodeling and linguistic simplifications, and its final form belongs to the 15th century. The romance consist of 1,348 lines in unrhymed
133:, which harkens back to earlier Byzantine practice. In this mixture of motifs, the work represents the partial absorption of French cultural elements, following the extensive contact and intermingling of Byzantines and Franks during the period of the
219:. Moreover, it follows a completely symmetrical plot, which is mainly divided between the realm of the fantastic, i.e. the Castle of Eros, and the real world, i.e. Antioch and the love with Chrysantza.
189:. Belthandros leaves his escorts outside and enters the castle alone. There he sees an inscription that tells of his predestined love between him and Chrysantza, the daughter of the king of
169:. There he sees a fiery star in the depths of a river (a metaphor for love) and follows it to the north. In this way he finds a castle built of precious gems, which belongs to King
88:
or some elements like the names of the protagonists, which are hellenized forms of western
European names: Belthandros (Bertrant/Bertram), Rhodophilos (Rudolf). On the other hand,
157:) prince and youngest son of king Rhodophilos, quarrels with his father and leaves his home to seek his fortune. After wandering in the hostile lands of Anatolia and dealing with
265:. All three however share a heritage from the 12th-century Byzantine romances, whose conventions they follow, as well as a strong and pervading presence of Frankish elements.
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The romance offers various scenes of striking realism, with allegory and imaginative lyricism, while some critics consider it superior in imaginative power to the
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disagreed with this view and support that the romance was written by a Greek, but in a land which had been familiar for a long time with the
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motives. The romance also includes elements typical of the earlier, 12th-century
Byzantine romances, such as the use of elaborate
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723:
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107:, supports that the work is entirely Greek in its construction, descriptions and ideas without any western influences:
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371:
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Three
Medieval Greek Romances: Velthandros and Chrysandza, Kallimachos and Chrysorroi, Livistros and Rodamni
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190:
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205:, where a wedding ceremony is performed and Belthandros is proclaimed heir to his father's kingdom.
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675:. Translated by Gavin Betts. New York: Garland Library of Medieval Literature, 98 (B). 1995.
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romance followed parallel evolution, independent of each other, and both were affected by
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68:. The original version of the work is lost, and the text survives in a single manuscript,
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and its conventions, like the 13th-century
Byzantine world. Another historian,
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32:Τα κατά Βέλθανδρον καὶ Χρυσάντζαν or Διήγησις ἐξαίρετος Βελθάνδρου τοῦ Ῥωμαίου
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In comparison to other contemporary
Byzantine romances, such as the tale of
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Belthandros und Chrysantza: vulgargriechisches Gedicht aus dem Mittelalter
234:. The castle of king Eros (or castle of love) is probably inspired by the
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261:, while Belthandros' travails in Anatolia are largely drawn from the
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The study of medieval Greek romance: a reassessment of recent work
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185:), and is full of various miracles and magnificent statues and
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contains fewer "fairy-tale" elements, but stronger loans from
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230:, and also reflects the 7th-8th century Byzantine custom of
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A group of scholars believe that the romance was based on a
72:, folios 1–40, dating at the earliest to the 16th century.
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work, still unknown or lost, due to similarities with the
372:"Byzantinistik/Neogräzistik. Lehrveranstaltungen SS 2006"
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Petrakis Mike; Psiloglou Basil; Keramitsoglou Iphigenia.
695:(Original text of the romance with German translation).
316:Agapitos Panagiotis A.; Smith Ole Langwitz (1992).
654:History of the Byzantine Empire, 324–1453, Vol. 2
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322:. Museum Tusculanum Press. p. 58.
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129:and buildings, or the occurrence of
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222:The beauty contest resembles the
630:The novel in the ancient world
610:Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium
530:. Gaer Associates. p. 28.
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627:Schmeling, Gareth L. (1996).
657:. Univ of Wisconsin Press.
613:, Oxford University Press,
244:Kallimachos and Chrysorrhoe
137:, and especially after the
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565:The medieval Greek romance
255:Belthandros and Chrysantza
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21:Belthandros and Chrysantza
583:Beck, Hans Georg (1971).
562:Beaton, Roderick (1996).
238:of the Provençal poetry.
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693:(in German). O. Wigand.
687:Ellissen Adolf (1862).
498:Schmeling, pp. 725–726
429:Kazhdan, pp. 280, 1804
351:Kazhdan (1991), p. 280
250:Libistros and Rhodamne
70:codex Parisiensis 2909
589:. Munich: C.H. Beck.
709:Byzantine literature
524:Dalven, Rae (1949).
161:bandits, he reaches
724:14th-century novels
719:13th-century novels
527:Modern Greek poetry
468:Beaton, pp. 112–113
376:Universitat Leipzig
605:Kazhdan, Alexander
224:Judgement of Paris
209:Contents and style
664:978-0-299-80926-3
640:978-90-04-09630-1
620:978-0-19-504652-6
596:978-3-406-01420-8
575:978-0-415-12032-6
514:Schmeling, p. 726
477:Beck, pp. 120–121
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66:Modern Greek
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714:Greek poems
360:Beaton p. 3
232:bride-shows
131:bride shows
117:Hellenistic
703:Categories
381:2010-04-09
269:References
228:Epic Cycle
187:automatons
122:ekphraseis
105:J. B. Bury
90:Krumbacher
633:. BRILL.
226:from the
155:Byzantine
38:Byzantine
651:(1958).
135:Crusades
98:Frankish
49:Anatolia
556:Sources
159:Turkish
127:gardens
76:Sources
41:romance
36:) is a
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163:Tarsus
175:Greek
151:Roman
113:Greek
94:Diehl
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26:Greek
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171:Eros
111:and
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