Belianis from Greece

First translation into English Belianis under the title The Honour of Chivalry in 1598.

Belianís de Grecia, or more accurately the Hystory of the magnanimous, brave and invincible knight Don Belianís de Grecia, is a Spanish chivalric book, written by Jerónimo Fernández from Burgos, lawyer of the court of Emperor Carlos V. Its first and second parts were published for the first time in Seville in 1545, being reprinted in Burgos, by Martín Muñoz, in 1547, and deal with the life of Prince Don Belianís of Greece, fictitious eldest son of Emperor Belanio of Greece and Empress Clarinda.

Plot

The work refers in detail to the prodigious chivalrous feats of Don Belianís and his love affairs with Princess Florisbella, daughter of the Soldan of Babylon, who was also sought by Prince Perianeus of Persia. He was protected by the wise Fristón, a charmer who lived in the Jungle of Death, while Belianís received the protection of another magician, the wise Belonia. Belianís is heir to the Greek empire; eldest son of Emperor Don Belanio of Greece, a name must be made to consider himself worthy of succeeding him and his chivalrous adventures and love experiences take place both in the West and in the East, where he falls in love with the said princess Florisbella, After a multitude of exploits and adventures, Also complemented by those experienced by his brothers, friends and colleagues, Don Belianís finally achieves fame as a gentleman and the love of the beautiful Florisbella, but, before the wedding can take place, an enchanted car kidnaps the female protagonists of the story., thus beginning a new adventure whose resolution announces for the next installment of the novel.

Spanish, Portuguese and English editions and sequels

The book by Mr. Fernández was one of the most popular in the chivalric genre. Its first and second parts were reprinted in Burgos (1547 and 1587), Estella (1564) and Zaragoza (1580). He also had a well-known admirer in Carlos V, whose interest in him is attributed to the fact that his author started a continuation, which due to his death was completed by his brother Andrés Fernández. There is a modern edition by Lilia E. Ferrario de Orduna (Kassel, Reichenberger, 1997, 2 vols.).

The third and fourth part of Belianís of Greece (Third and fourth part of the invincible prince don Belianís of Greece, in which the freedom of the princesses that were taken from Babylon is told, Burgos, Pedro de Santillana's workshop, 1579) failed to achieve the success of the first two and, although they were reprinted, no copy of this reprint survives.

A fifth part, written by Pedro Guiral de Verrio to refer to the events of Don Belflorán, son of Don Belianís and Florisbella, remained unpublished, but there are handwritten copies of it in the National Libraries of Madrid and Vienna.

There is another fifth part in Portuguese, written by Francisco de Portugal, which was left unpublished, and in which the adventures of Don Belflorán and other knights are recounted, and the love affairs of Belflorán with Princess Belianisa. The manuscript is kept in the Torre do Tombo in Lisbon.

The first two parts of the original Belianís were translated into Italian by Oratio Rinaldi and published in 1586-1587. The initial chapters of the first part of the Belianís were translated into French by the Chevalier de Beuil and published in 1625, but although it had been announced that the series would consist of four volumes, the remaining three never appeared.

The first part of the original Belianís was translated from Italian into English and published in London in 1598, under the title Honour of chivalry (Honor of chivalry). This version was not initially very successful, as it was not reprinted until 1650; but in 1664 a second part was published, entirely original, which is the only case of an English continuation of a Spanish chivalric book. This second part, whose author is identified only by the initials J.S., was reprinted in 1671 and the following year a third part was added, also entirely original and apparently the work of J.S. himself. In 1673 the first part was reprinted and in 1703 it was published. they reprinted all three parts in a single edition.

Belianís of Greece and Don Quixote

Belianís de Grecia was one of the favorite books of Don Quixote de la Mancha, who attributed the disappearance of his library to the enmity of the wise Fristón (I, 7). Cervantes, who knew the work well, repeatedly mocked in Don Quixote the infinite wounds that the protagonist gave and received, and suggested a series of reforms to improve the work.

The ingenious hidalgo «...praised his author for finishing that book with the promise of that endless adventure, and many times he wanted to take up his pen and finish it to the letter as promised there » (Don Quixote, I, 1). Due to this and other passages in Don Quixote, the possibility has been suggested that Cervantes thought of writing or began a continuation of Belianís de Grecia, whether it was a new one of Books I–II, making up for the deficiencies it found in Books III–IV, or a Book V.