At the end of the same century St.
Augustine's Abbey, Canterbury, had in its library of over
eighteen hundred books only a few romances; while in
Leicester Abbey, among a library of about three hundred
and fifty books, we find only the Troy book, Drian
and Madok, Beves of Hamtoun, all in French, Gesta
Alexandri Magni, and one or two others. Edward III
bought a book of romance from a nun of Amesbury
in 1331--a work of such interest that he kept it in his
room. There are plenty of other instances. But in no
case have we found an excessive number of romances
in monastic libraries, and the charges--if they can
worthily be called charges--so often made against monks
on this score fall to the ground.[3]
[1] Toxophilus, Arber's ed., p. 19.
[2] Camb. Eng. Lit., iii. 364.
[3] Cf Warton, ii. 95.
The romances oftenest appearing in monastic catalogues
and other records are the following: The Story of Troy,
especially Joseph of Exeter's Latin version, the great
Arthurian cycle, the beautiful story of Amis and Amiloun,
renowned all over Europe, Joseph of Arimathea, Charlemagne,
Alexander, which was of the best of romances,
Guy of Warwick, which was very popular, and the semi-
historical Richard Coeur de Lion.
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