SOURCE: "Beves of Hamtoun" in Counsel and Strategy in Middle English Romance, D. S. Brewer, 1993, pp. 60-90, 139-58.

In the excerpt below from an essay that emphasizes the significance of good counsel in several medieval romances, Barnes traces Bevis's growing maturity, linking it to his willingness to accept the judgment or advice of others. She also discusses the issues of kingship and tyranny raised in the final section of the poem.

… An adaptation, with some emendations and interpolations,⁴⁴ of the Anglo-Norman Boeve d 'Hamtoune,⁴⁵ Beves of Hamtoun shares certain superficial similarities of theme and structure with Guy of Warwick. In this instance, however, the role of counsel in the hero's life is not directed towards an understanding of the ethos of chivalry but to the overcoming of tyranny and injustice.

Although they are not marked by a change in verse form, Beves, like Guy, falls into two distinct...