E-Books →Robert the Devil The First Modern English Translation of Robert le Diable, an Anonymous French Romance of the Thirteent

Robert is born after his mother, a childless noblewoman, secretly calls upon Satan to help her conceive. His wicked behavior as a boy and, later, as a destructive young man is so brutal that one day Robert prevails upon his mother to reveal the secret of his birth and thus the source of his wickedness. Upon learning the truth, he leaves his privileged home in Normandy to seek salvation. Robert's lengthy penance―under the aegis of the Pope and a pious hermit―begins with his acting as a mute fool in the Roman Emperor's court and ends with his sainthood. In between he plays the hero's role in defeating the Turks in battle and turns down the hand of the Emperor's daughter in marriage, choosing instead to return to the hermit's abode.
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