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Amadis De GaulaThe fictional Spanish knight-errand Amads de Gaula was son of a King and a princess, and was the primary inspiration for Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra's Don Quixote. Abandoned at birth by his mother, he grew up as knight in a different kingdom. After many hardships, he meets his father, who was unaware of his existence, and marries a princess. He was corteous, gentle, sensitive and a devout christian. Contrary to most literary heroes of his time (French and German, for example) Amadis was a handsome man who would cry if refused by his lady, but invincible in battle, usually drenched in his own and his opponents blood. Called also Amadis sin Tiempo (Amadis without Time) by his mother (in allusion to the fact that being conceived outside marriage she would have to abandon him and he would probably die), he is the most representative hero of the Cavalier novel genre. His adventures ran for three books, probably the most popular of their time. The books show a complete idealization and simplification of knight-errantry. Even servants are hardly heard of, but there are many princesses, ladies and kings. Knights and damsels in distress are found everywhere. The book's style is reasonably modern, but lacks dialogue and the characters impressions, mostly describing the action. Noteworthy characters include Urganda la desconocida (Urganda the unknown), an ambiguous priestess with magical powers allowing her to change her aspect at will (hence the name) and the Endriago, a winged abomination born from two ogres, living in an island until Amads manages to kill it. The origin of Amads and his adventures is unknown. He is disputed by French, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese. An English origin or influence has been inferred from some of the character's names, Gaula possibly being a distortion of Wales. After the mostly oral history stabilized, an Spanish writer, Garci Rodrguez, edited it and published two books, the third appearing to be his own invention. His version is considered the definitive one, and it was the one who made the character widely known.
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