Valentine and Orson
Valentine and Orson is a
Synopsis
It is the story of twin brothers, abandoned in the woods in infancy. Valentine is brought up as a
Early modern versions
The tale is probably based on a lost French original, with Orson originally described as "sans nom" i.e. the "nameless" one. A 14th-century French chanson de geste, Valentin et Sansnom (i.e. Valentin and "Nameless") has not survived but was translated/adapted in medieval German as Valentin und Namelos (first half of the 15th century).[1]
The kernel of the story lies in Orson's upbringing and wildness, and is evidently a folk-tale,
with a purely artificial connection to the Carolingian cycle. The story of the wife unjustly accused with which it is bound up is sufficiently common, and was told of the wives both of Pippin and Charlemagne. The work has a number of references to other, older, works, including: Floovant,
Like nearly all popular romances of chivalry of the period, the French chanson de geste was adapted into a prose romance by the end of the 15th century;[2] several versions from the 16th century are extant; the oldest prose version dates from 1489[1] (published in Lyon by Jacques Maillet).[2] An English-language version, The Historye of the two Valyannte Brethren: Valentyne and Orson, written by Henry Watson, printed by William Copland about 1550, is the earliest known of a long series of English versions - some of which included illustrations. One such illustrated variant of the tale was prepared by S R Littlwood and accompanied by the illustrations of Florence Anderson when published in 1919.
Other Renaissance versions exist in Italian, Spanish, Swedish, Dutch,[1] German, and Icelandic. The number of translations show a European success for the tale.[1] The works of François Rabelais have a number of echoes to the romance.[2]
A pageant of Valentine and "Urson" was presented in London at
Modern versions and adaptations
Thomas Dibdin wrote an adaptation in 1804 which was later performed at the Theatres Royal Covent Garden, Haymarket, and Bath.
Nancy Ekholm Burkert wrote and illustrated a version of the story in 1989, in which the story is told through the lens of a traveling group of players (including two brothers) who bring the story to a village in Flanders in the Middle Ages.
See also
- Gilgamesh & Enkidu, in the Epic of Gilgamesh
Notes
- ^ ISBN 2-2530-5662-6
- ^ a b c Authur Tilly. Studies in the French Renaissance. New York: Barnes & Noble, 1968, pp. 13, 14, 16, 17, 25.
- ^ Cyrus Mulready, 'Sidney's Unities and the Staging of Romance', Mary Ellen Lamb & Valerie Wayne, Staging Early Modern Romance: Prose Fiction, Dramatic Romance, and Shakespeare (Routledge, 2009), pp. 50-51.
- ^ Valentine and Orson: Lost Plays Database
References
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Valentine and Orson". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 27 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
