The Ideal of Friendship in 'Amis and Amiloun'

The Middle English romance Amis and Amilon propounds an aspirational message for its audience that being hend (noble) and trew leads to both an earthly and a heavenly reward: lasting companionship. One must be a true friend and be completely loyal to one’s companion in all circumstances. Friendship is described as a sacred bond in the same terms as marriage, although marriage is shown to be secondary to it: the wife’s role is to support her husband and his sworn brother. Those who oppose this relationship or seek to thwart or supplant it are described in the strongest terms as treacherous, envious, and even evil. True friendship thus becomes an absolute good, and loyalty to it a measure of goodness. This article foregrounds the romance’s negotiation of religious and secular bonds and, in contrast to other critical interpretations of the text, argues that its dynamic may be most appropriately read in the light of contemporary theologies of friendship, particularly those of Aelred of Rievaulx and Richard de Saint-Victor.