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''Gesta Romanorum'' is a Latin collection of anecdotes and tales that was probably compiled about the end of the 13th century or the beginning of the 14th. It still possesses a two-fold literary interest, first as one of the most popular books of the time, and secondly as the source, directly or indirectly, of later literature, in Geoffrey Chaucer, John Gower, Giovanni Boccaccio, Thomas Hoccleve, William Shakespeare, and others. Of its authorship nothing certain is known. It is conjecture to associate it either with the name of Helinandus or with that of Petrus Berchorius (Pierre Bercheure). It is debated whether it took its rise in England, Germany or France. ==Content== The work was evidently intended as a manual for preachers, and was probably written by one of the clerical profession. The name, ''Deeds of the Romans'', is only partially appropriate to the collection in its present form, since, besides the titles from Greek and Latin history and legend, it comprises fragments of different origins, Asian and European. The unifying element of the book is its moral purpose, but the work contains a variety of material. It includes, for example: * the germ of the romance of ''Guy of Warwick''; * the story of the three caskets, as in ''The Merchant of Venice''; * the story of ''Darius and his Three Sons'', versified by Thomas Occleve; * part of Geoffrey Chaucer's ''Man of Lawes Tale''; * a version of the Crescentia cycle, similar to (though more piously phrased than) ''Le Bone Florence of Rome'';〔Margaret Schlauch, ''Chaucer's Constance and Accused Queens'', New York: Gordian Press 1969 p 111〕 * a tale of the emperor Theodosius, the same in its main features as that of Shakespeare's ''King Lear''; * the story of the ''Three Black Crows''; * the ''Hermit and the Angel'', later known from Thomas Parnell's version; * a story identical with the ''Fridolin'' of Schiller; and * a retelling of the ''Man Tried by Fate'', a story also known in the legends of Saint Eustace and chivalric romances such as Sir Isumbras.〔Laura A. Hibbard, ''Medieval Romance in England'' p. 3 New York Burt Franklin,1963〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Gesta Romanorum」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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