Somewhat ‘of the old manner of romances and somewhat of the new’: Francis Kirkman’s continuations toDon Bellianis of Greece

Abstract

The aim of this article is to assess Francis Kirkman’s claim that his Bellianis of Greece Part II (1664) and Part III (1672), his two continuations to the English translation of Part I (1598) of the Spanish chivalric romance Belianís de Grecia (1547), purposefully mix features of sixteenth-century romances of chivalry with elements of the so-called new romances that had consolidated in England in the mid-seventeenth century following French models. Kirkman’s singular crossbred romances are discussed here with regard to four specific aspects that reveal their mixed nature: (1) disruption and the observance of the principles of unity of action and true resemblance; (2) representations of love as a peace-seeking force, and (3) as inseparable from the mandates of decorum; and (4) notions of heroism, particularly that of women. This analysis ultimately disassembles Kirkman’s continuations in order to show how he, in practice, deliberately and successfully produces a hybrid romance form out of one of the seminal old-school books of knight-errantry.

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