Middle English Literature

3
Gender, Sexuality,
and Difference
Amazons
Christine de Pisan, Boccaccio, and many medieval Troy stories told and
retold the ancient tales about Amazons. In them the land of “Femynye” is
said to be located (to the modern mind in typically inconsistent fashion)
beyond China and near the Caspian Sea. Though similar to many other
marvels in romances and travel narratives (see “The Far East,” p. 99),
Amazons are distinguished in some accounts because they guard the ten
lost tribes of Israel, Gog and Magog, from escaping the high hills that
enclose them, and they refuse Alexander the Great (356–323 bce) entry to
their land.
According to the extant manuscripts of Sir John Mandeville’s Book and
several other fifteenth-century sources, Mandeville was an English knight who
left his native St. Albans to travel to the East in 1322 and returned near the
time of writing his account, 1356 or 1357. However, it seems more likely
that the text originated in France about this time, its author making exten-
sive use of available pilgrimage narratives, romances, and encyclopedias. The
Book was quickly translated into English, Latin, and several other languages;
its popularity enormous, it survives in approximately two hundred and fifty
manuscripts and many early printed versions. About forty English manu-
scripts and fragments survive as well as several early printings.
The Prose Life of Alexander is primarily based on the pseudo-Callisthenic
Historia de preliis Alexandri Magni, written by Leo, archpope of Naples,
in the tenth century. It is one of several versions of the popular story of
Alexander to survive in English. A kind of mirror for princes, romance, and
epic, Alexander narratives attracted medieval writers and audiences because

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of Alexander’s heroic and human qualities: his wisdom, his success in defeat-
ing eastern kings, and his spectacular feats, but also his rise and premature
death, a confirmation of the fleeting presence of worldly glory and enjoy-
ment of sensuality.
Primary documents and further reading
Bunt, G. (1990) “An Exemplary Hero: Alexander the Great.” In H. Aersten and
A. A. MacDonald (eds.) Companion to Middle English Romance. Amsterdam: VU
University Press, 29–55.
Duggan, H. N. and T. Turville-Petre (eds.) (1989) The Wars of Alexander. EETS,
s.s. 10. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Higgins, I. M. (1997) Writing East: The “Travels” of Sir John Mandeville. Philadel-
phia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Kleinbaum, A. W. (1983) The War Against the Amazons. New York: New Press.
Mandeville, Sir John (1983) The Travels of Sir John Mandeville, trans. and intro.
C. W. R. D. Moseley. London: Penguin Books.
—— (2001) The Book of John Mandeville: An Edition of the Pynson Text with Com-
mentary on the Defective Version, ed. T. Kohanski. Tempe, AZ: Arizona Center for
Medieval and Renaissance Studies.
Martin, P. (1996) Chaucer’s Women: Nuns, Wives, and Amazons. Basingstroke,
Hampshire: Macmillan.
Seymour, M. C. (1993) Sir John Mandeville. Authors of the Middle Ages 1. Alder-
shot, Hampshire: Variorum.
Weinbaum, B. (1999) Islands of Women and Amazons: Representations and Realities.
Austin: University of Texas Press.
Weisl, A. J. (1995) Conquering the Reign of Femeny: Gender and Genre in Chaucer’s
Romance. Rochester, NY: D. S. Brewer.
Sir John Mandeville. British Library MS Cotton Titus C.xvi, fols. 64v–65v. In M. C. Seymour
(ed.) (1967) Mandeville’s Travels. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 113–14.
Language: English (Southeast Midland)
Manuscript date: ca. 1400
Besyde the lond of Caldee
1
is the lond of Amazoyne, that is the lond of
Femynye. And in that reme
2
is alle wommen and no man, noght as summe
men seyn that men mowe not lyve there but for because that the wommen
1
Chaldea in Southwest Asia; along with Mesopotamia and Arabia, Chaldea is said to lie
between two of the rivers flowing from paradise, the Tigris and Euphrates.
2
realm.
Amazons
89

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90
Gender, Sexuality, and Difference
wil not suffre no men amonges hem to ben here sovereynes. For sumtyme
ther was a kyng in that contrey, and men maryed as in other contreyes. And
so befelle that the kyng had werre with hem of Sichie,
3
the whiche kyng
highte Colepeus
4
that was slayn in bataylle and alle the gode blood of his
reme. And whan the queen and alle the othere noble ladyes sawen that thei
weren alle wydewes and that alle the rialle blood was lost, thei armed hem
and as creatures out of wytt thei slowen all the men of the contrey that
weren laft, for thei wolden that alle the wommen weren wydewes as the
queen and thei weren.
And fro that tyme hiderwardes thei nevere wolden suffren man to dwelle
amonges hem lenger than seven dayes and seven nyghtes, ne that no child
that were male scholde duelle amonges hem lenger than he were noryscht
and thanne sente to his fader. And whan thei wil have ony companye of
man, than thei drawen hem towardes the londes marchynge next
5
to hem.
And than thei [have] here loves that usen hem, and thei duellen with hem
an eight dayes or ten, and thanne gon hom ayen. And yif thei have ony
knave child, thei kepen it a certeyn tyme and than senden it to the fadir
whan he can gon allone and eten be himself or elles thei sleen it. And yif
it be a femele, thei don awey that on pappe
6
with an hote iren. And yif it
be a womman of gret lynage, thei don awey the left pappe that thei may
the better beren a scheeld. And yif it be a womman on fote, thei don awey
the [right] pappe for to scheten with bowe Turkeys, for they schote wel
with bowes.
In that lond thei have a queen that governeth alle that lond, and alle thei
ben obeyssant to hire. And alweys thei maken here queen by electoun that
is most worthy in armes, for thei ben right gode werryoures and orped
7
and
wyse, noble, and worthi. And thei gon often tyme in sowd
8
to help of other
kynges in here werres for gold and sylver as othere sowdyoures
9
don, and
thei meyntenen hemself right vygouresly. This lond of Amazoyne is an ile
alle envirouned with the see saf in two places where ben two entrees. And
beyonde that water duellen the men that ben here paramoures and hire
loves, where thei gon to solacen hem whan thei wole.
3
Ancient Scythia, north of the Black Sea and east of the Aral Sea.
4
Colopeus, King Scolopitus from Vincent of Beauvais, Speculum historiale.
5
adjacent.
6
breast.
7
courageous.
8
as soldiers.
9
soldiers.

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Lincoln Cathedral Library MS 91, fols. 26r–27r. In J. S. Westlake (ed.) (1913 for 1911) The