Sir Isumbras: A Medieval Fairy Tale

Sir Isumbras is a medieval English poem about the fall and redemption of a knight. Sir Isumbras is a proud knight who is punished by God in order to make him humble. Sir Isumbras loses his sons to wild beasts and his wife to the villainous Sultan. After working in obscurity for many years as a blacksmith, he joins the war of Christendom against the Sultan. Then, after wandering in poverty as a pilgrim in penance for his sins, he rescues his wife and, with the help of his miraculously returned sons and their beast companions, conquers the Sultan’s empire and makes it Christian. Besides being an exciting tale of knightly adventure, Sir Isumbras raises questions about gender and class, belief in the supernatural, providence, moral transformation, and interreligious relations.