Guy Beyond Borders: An Analysis of Guido de Warwick (ALC 414 MS)

Preserved at the very end of a (predominantly) twelfth-century homiletic collection in the Cistercian monastery in Alcobaça, Portugal, Guido de Warwick (Lisboa, Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal, Fundo Alcobaça, 414 MS, fols 252v–253v) is a little-known text the importance of which is relevant when considering the transborder nature of medieval English romance. While many studies have been devoted to the recreations, adaptations, distribution and reception of Arthurian texts in medieval Iberia, very little has been written about the reception of “England’s other Arthur” (Wiggins and Field, 2007: xv), that is, Guy of Warwick. This article seeks to address this gap and, working on the assumption that the very existence of Guido de Warwick indicates a local interest in the legend, I aim to analyse whether this text remains invested in themes such as English identity formation and crusading. Furthermore, given how Guy of Warwick and the Stanzaic Guy of Warwick have been read as evidence of the frenzied production of Crusade fantasies in post-Crusade medieval England, how is Guy characterised as a hero in Guido de Warwick ?