SOURCE: An introduction in Three Middle English Romances, David Nutt, 1911, pp. 1-2.

In the following excerpt, Hibbard alludes briefly to Bevis's genre classification, possible origins, metrical schemes, and wide popularity.

… Beves of Hampton differs materially from both Horn and Havelok. Although originally, perhaps, a viking tale of the tenth century,¹⁶ in its extant forms it is a typical romance of adventure. There is no notably English feature in it save a few place-names and the obviously late addition telling of Beves's fight with the London citizens.¹⁷ It would seem, rather, that Beves was an international character. Five versions of his story in French, six in Italian, others in Scandinavian, Dutch, and Welsh, attest his popularity; in Russia 'he was the most acclimated hero of the chivalric epic.'¹⁸ The wide wandering of his story was like his own fabled adventurings, from England to Africa, and up and...