It is an honor to contribute to this volume celebrating James Simpson, whose teaching, publications and friendship have been central to what being a scholar means to me. Among the many qualities of his work, I have found some to be particularly influential. First, clear-eyed argument, identifying key questions to ask in a way that invites us to investigate alongside him. Second, his willingness to take many kinds of writing seriously, despite the consensus view about their merits. Third, analyzing how a range of discourses (both in the sense of discursive fields in texts, but also critical discourses) help to not only communicate ideas but to form them. And finally (for this essay, at least), the ability not only to find larger patterns among texts and ideas but also to test those patterns against acute readings of individual examples. In James's work, then, we see both wood and trees – sometimes both the topography or ecology of whole regions and also the markings on individual leaves, with plausible connections made between those scales of analysis. Further, he draws on previous creative and critical books to develop a productive field for debate about a wide range of texts, ideas and institutions. Here I shall discuss one of those areas of debate: that of romance's thinking and its genre.

James is better known for his work in other areas (amply reflected in this volume), but he has written about romance several times, making powerful arguments about the structure of romances, their generic affiliation, and the way that they yield ethical value. This position is most clearly presented in “Derek Brewer's Romance,” but also developed in several other pieces. While giving support to some of James's insights – how his work helps to illuminate romances – I shall also ask how his work unsettles, or provokes debate, and how we might develop or modify some of those insights. In particular, how do we approach the relationship between overall structural coherence and local variation or counter-current; and how do unhappy endings pressurize our understanding of romance, which is, in James's argument, an inherently comic genre?

You have already heard about how much was done by former kings to cut back on both their own outlays and on those of the realm, establishing rules for themselves and their subjects in order to accumulate wealth and become rich. They maintained that, if the people were wealthy, then the king was wealthy also, and that a king who had wealth in his treasury was always able to defend his country and make war, whenever that were deemed necessary, and without causing any harm or detriment to his people. They considered that nobody could be so certain of remaining at peace as to be immune from unexpected adverse events.

To accumulate great wealth they all acted in the following way: every year the kings were informed by their comptrollers of finance of all the expenditure that they had incurred, not only in embassies but also in all other actions that it was necessary to accomplish. The comptrollers told them of what, over and above that amount, still remained from their revenues and the levying of duties, both in money and in other forms of income. The order was then issued for the purchase, from these sources, of quantities of gold and silver to be placed in the castle in Lisbon in a tower built for the purpose and known as the Torre Albarrã or Outer Tower. This tower was greatly fortified, though its construction was never completed. It was located over the main gate of the castle, and in it was stored most of the wealth which the kings had amassed in gold, silver and coins. The keys to the tower were held, one by a custodian of the Monastery of São Francisco, another by a prior of the Monastery of São Domingos, and the third by a member of the chapter of the city's cathedral.

The kings had the following method of amassing gold and silver. In all the large and small towns of the realm that were suitable for this purpose, the kings had their money-changers who bought silver and gold from anyone wanting to sell: they alone were authorized to make such purchases. At the end of the year each one took what he had bought to the designated place where it was to be deposited in the treasury.

A number of historians have written in praise of King Pedro [of Portugal], relating that he reigned in peace throughout his lifetime and that it was not in vain that fortune saw fit to guide his reign, at its beginning, middle, and end, through peace and unbroken calm. When he came to power on the death of his father, King Afonso, he found the kingdom free of any dissension likely to lead to conflict with any king, whether of Spain or of some more distant land. In addition, when he became king, he immediately sent Aires Gomes da Silva and Gonçalo Eanes de Beja to his nephew, the King of Castile, with a message, and a nobleman by the name of Fernán López de Estúñiga, representing the king, travelled from Castile to see King Pedro. It was duly agreed that the two kings would be true and loyal friends, and their mutual friendship was signed and sealed at that time.

A year later, when King Pedro was in Évora, a group of messengers arrived from the King of Castile, namely Don Samuel Leví, his chief treasurer, along with García Gutiérrez Tello, the chief magistrate of Seville, and Gómez Fernández de Soria, the governor of that city; these men negotiated a more binding truce between the two kings than the previous one.

On this occasion it was also decided that Prince Fernando, the eldest son of the King of Portugal and heir to the throne, was to marry Princess Beatriz, the daughter of the King of Castile, and that their betrothal should be carried out by their proctors between the middle of the coming February and the last day of March; then the marriage would take place on the last day of April. Moreover, as his daughter's dowry, the King of Castile should give the same amount of money as King Afonso of Portugal had given his daughter Maria when she married his father, King Alfonso. The King of Portugal was to give Princess Beatriz, as dowry and bond, the same amount of money that his father, King Afonso, had given Princess Constanza when she was married to him.

The King of Castile left Lamego, quite defenceless and with very few followers, for there were no more than about 200 horsemen riding with him. He arrived in Monterrey, a town in Galicia, and from there he wrote messages to Logroño, to Soria and to Zamora, all of which were on his side, urging them to hold on, for he would bring them help. He informed the King of Navarre and the Prince of Wales that he was in Galicia and wished to know what support he could expect from them. There he waited for the Archbishop of Santiago and for Don Fernando de Castro, his standard-bearer and Provincial Governor of the provinces of León and Asturias, who prior to this had come to Galicia in answer to his command. He spoke with all the prelates, knights and squires, as well as with representatives of the cities, towns and fortresses, with the result that all of them took his side.

For three weeks they remained in council, deliberating whether it was better to go on to Zamora and from there to Logroño, since King Enrique and his forces were in Seville, or to go to Bayonne in England to make a personal plea for aid from the Prince of Wales. The king preferred the advice to go to England rather than to return once more to his kingdom, for he trusted as little in those who had expressed their support for him as in those others who were not on his side. He left Monterrey and went to spend the Feast of Saint John in Santiago [de Compostela] in Galicia; there he agreed with his followers to kill the archbishop and seize his strongholds.

Don Suero [the Archbishop] came trustingly on his command on the Feast of Saint Peter, for the king had sent to summon him to the council. However, as he was coming in through the city he was slain at the door of the Cathedral of Santiago by Fernán Pérez Turrichao and Gonzalo Gómez Gallinato, two knights who hated him and whom the king had ordered to kill him. They also killed Pero Álvarez, the Dean of Santiago, a man of great learning and wisdom. The king was watching from the top of the church while all this was done.

We have told you about the deaths of the Master Don Fadrique and Prince Joan, which you have just heard about, not because we take any pleasure in relating cruel deeds. Rather, we have presented them at some length and in greater detail than the deaths of others, because they were very important people, and in order to enable you to see exactly how the king had them killed.

For this reason, although the year's truce that the cardinal had brought about between King Pedro [of Castile] and the King of Aragon was still in force, when Count Enrique heard about the death of his brother, Don Fadrique, and when Prince Ferran, the Marquis of Tortosa, was told of the death of his brother, Prince Joan, they decided to join forces and entered Castile.

The count entered via Soria and arrived at the town of Serón, which he plundered; he then made an assault on the castle of Alcázar, with a view to seizing it. Then he returned to Aragon. As for Prince Ferran, he entered via the kingdom of Murcia and caused severe damage there. The king learnt of this while he was in Valladolid and immediately sent troops to protect the borders with Aragon. Then he went to Seville where he ordered twelve galleys to be built post-haste for war. While this was being done, six Genoese galleys arrived (the Genoese were at the time at war against the Catalans). The king was delighted to see these and commissioned them for 1,000 crossed doblas each per month.

With these eighteen galleys the king duly arrived at a town called Guardamar, which belonged to Prince Ferran, and on the morning of 17 August he ordered a substantial number of troops to leave the galleys and attack the town. He took it by force, even though it was well protected by its ramparts, and many of the townspeople took refuge in the castle.

Then, about midday, amidst all the fighting, as frequently happens in this region, a mighty onshore wind began to rage. As the galleys were unmanned the wind blew them all ashore. Only two escaped this fate because they were further out to sea, one belonging to the king and one to the Genoese.

As mentioned elsewhere in this book, at the beginning of King Pedro's reign, the King of Castile gave orders in which he sent for the body of Queen Maria, his mother. She had passed away in Portugal whilst King Afonso [IV], her father, was still alive. He let it be known through a letter to King Pedro, his uncle, that it was his wish to transfer her body and lay it to rest in Seville, in the Royal Chapel, alongside King Alfonso [XI], his father. Accordingly, he ordered the Archbishop of Seville and other prelates from his kingdom to accompany the body of the queen. In addition, he commanded that Gómez Pérez, his Purveyor of the Royal Household, to whom the body was to be entrusted, should travel ahead to make all appropriate preparations for the body to be transferred in an honourable manner and to organize everything necessary for the transfer, so that when the prelates arrived they could find everything ready and leave immediately.

This greatly pleased King Pedro, who wrote asking the King of Castile to send for the body whenever he saw fit. The King of Castile immediately sent his purveyor, who was entrusted with the body in the town of Évora, where it lay, so that he could organize the preparations in accordance with the orders he had been given. When the archbishop and the other prelates and people came for the queen's body, a letter was brought to King Pedro from his nephew, the King of Castile, which read as follows:

While King Pedro was in Seville, he heard news of all these events, and after much thought he agreed with his followers to ask for help from the King of Portugal, his uncle. To give the latter weightier reasons to be moved to grant him this help, he sent word to remind him that he was well aware that a marriage had been arranged between his own daughter, Princess Beatriz, and Prince Fernando, the first-born son of the King of Portugal; therefore he was sending him the princess and all the dowry that had been agreed she would receive at the time of the marriage. Moreover, he declared that Princess Beatriz would inherit the kingdoms of Castile and León. He sent her immediately away from Seville, and with her Martín López de Trujillo, a man in whom he had a great deal of trust, and also a certain quantity of doblas that had been left to the princess by her mother, María de Padilla, along with jewels, seed-pearls and other things.

After Princess Beatriz had left Seville for Portugal, King Pedro had news that King Enrique was heading towards Seville from Toledo. Consequently, he decided to send for the treasure that he kept in the castle of Almodóvar, which was all in gold and silver coins. He ordered a galley to be fitted out and in it he placed this treasure, as well as all the wealth he had in the city. He gave command of the galley to his treasurer Martín Yáñez, ordering him to go to Tavira, a town in Portugal in the kingdom of the Algarve, and to watch over the galley until he arrived there. He also had many pack-mules loaded with all his wealth, and took with him a very great amount of gold and precious stones and pearls, both those he had taken from the Red Emir and his people and much other wealth that he had gathered, along with as much of the silver as he could take along.

When the king was thus prepared to leave Seville, he was told that the citizens were rising up against him and meant to rob him there where he was. Fear-stricken, he left at once for Portugal.

Just as in the writings about this king we found that he was dearly loved by his people because he ruled according to the law and justice, as well as for the good governance he maintained in his kingdom, so it is fitting that we should say a little about each of these things, so that you can have an understanding of what olden ways were like.

In all the judicial decisions the king proceeded in this way: all the petitions that were given to him were handed to Gonçalo Vasques de Góis, his private secretary, who passed them on to a secretary of his choosing, who in turn was in charge of distributing and giving each one of them to the appropriate magistrate. As for the petitions that were common law cases, the magistrates through whom they had to pass immediately ordered their secretaries to draw up the charters, so that on the same day or the next the parties involved had their cases brought to a conclusion. The secretary who did not act in this way thereby lost the king's favour.

With regard to the other petitions that were subject to royal grace and favour, as they concerned the Crown estate, one of the comptrollers got his secretary to enter those petitions on a list. The secretary would also write out the petitions that the comptroller brought to him, describing whom they were from and what they were about. This document was held by the magistrate. When he later went over the petitions with the king, if he found more petitions to have been entered on the list than he had ordered to be included, according to the document in his power, then the magistrate would lose the king's favour for that mistake.

As soon as decisions had been reached with the king on the listed cases, the magistrates informed each person of the favour the king was granting them and they ordered their secretaries to write up the charters immediately. These had to be done the same day or no later than the following, or they suffered the penalty we have described.

According to the testimony of a number of authors who have written about the deeds of this King of Castile, he was very good at giving free rein to whatever his wild, unruly nature demanded of him, to such an extent that we could well be criticized for not being more discreet in our narration of other people's ill deeds, particularly those which cast upon them a wicked and shameful reputation, if we were to record in detail every ugly thing that could be said of him. Therefore, we shall leave aside many such deeds about which others have written and mention only the most important ones.

This king did not have any of the virtues and qualities which it is fitting for good kings to possess. People say that he was very lascivious, so much so that when a woman took his fancy, whether they were noblewomen, wives of knights, or even nuns or of any other state, he showed no respect for any of them. He greatly coveted what others had to the point of derangement, and only wanted in his Royal Council men who would praise his ideas and his actions. He had many good, honourable people put to death, some for foolish reasons, simply for giving him good advice, and others for no good reason, on the slightest suspicion, so that many worthy men avoided him, fearing for their lives. No man was safe in his presence, even if he had served him well and had been treated by him with honour and great generosity. Leaving aside the false accusations he brought against his victims in order to kill them, we shall speak briefly only of the executions and nothing else.

During the second year of his reign Doña Leonor Núñez de Guzmán was put to death. She had in the past been the mistress of his father and was the mother of Count Enrique [de Trastámara], who was later to become king. Although some people claim that this had come about on the order of King Pedro's mother, Queen Maria, it is certain that she would not have given an order of that nature without the consent of her son. The king gave all the possessions of Leonor Núñez to his mother.

At this time the King of Portugal was staying in the palace of Valada, which is near a town called Santarém; this was in the month of May. By the time King Pedro [of Castile] sent his daughter Princess Beatriz to marry Prince Fernando, as you have heard a little earlier, with the purpose of getting better aid from his uncle the King of Portugal, news had previously arrived in Valada, where the King of Portugal was staying, that the King of Castile was sending him two of his daughters who were already in Alcáçovas, 20 leagues away. But no one could say with certainty why the king was sending them or with what intention. The King of Portugal, who had not heard that the king his nephew was in such a predicament, supposed that the princesses were coming for a different reason, even though there was no other reason besides that one, and ordered suitable lodgings to be made ready in his palace.

The King of Castile left his kingdom, and made such haste along the way, without stopping anywhere, that before his daughter Princess Beatriz could come to where the King of Portugal was, he caught up with her on the road along which she was travelling. King Pedro [of Castile] came to Serpa, and from there to Beja, and from there to Coruche, which was 6 leagues from the place where his uncle the King of Portugal was staying. From there he sent word to him that he was coming, with a message about the aid and support that he needed from him, and also about the marriage of his daughter to Prince Fernando, his son. When he learned of this, the King of Portugal was perplexed, and sent to tell King Pedro not to come any further and to remain where he was until he received a message from him.

The King of Portugal summoned his son Prince Fernando, who was not there, and discussed the matter with him and his counsellors. Some said that he should see King Pedro, give him shelter in his kingdom and help him to recover his lands.

The King of Castile left Seville once more, at the beginning of 1364 in the fifteenth year of his reign, invading Aragon via the kingdom of Valencia and capturing Alicante and other townships. On arriving at Burriana, he noticed a number of galleys and other ships bringing to [the city of] Valencia provisions which were desperately needed. He therefore deviated from his journey in order to prevent their arrival and pitched his camp at a place known as the Grao, which is next to the sea and half a league from the city. There, every day, he awaited his fleet and the Portuguese galleys which were due to come to his aid. They were all in Cartagena already, but the weather had not yet allowed them to depart.

While King Pedro was without news of the King of Aragon, a squire arrived to inform him that the King of Aragon and Count Enrique, along with all the other great lords and armies, which probably amounted to 3,000 horsemen, as well as many foot soldiers, were approaching in great secrecy and were intent on doing battle with him before he left that place. Moreover, keeping pace with them at sea were a dozen galleys and other ships bringing supplies; to avoid discovery, they had not lit any fires for three nights and on the following day they would confront him.

On hearing this, the king left at once and went to Murviedro, which lay 4 leagues away. On the morning of the following day the King of Aragon arrived with all his men. They set up camp between Murviedro and the sea, at a league away from the town, whilst their galleys and ships lay close at hand [as they travelled down the coast to Valencia]. In that way the city received aid both by land and by sea.

After twelve days the King of Castile's fleet arrived, comprising twenty of his own galleys and forty naos, as well as ten galleys from Portugal, sent by his uncle to help him. The Aragonese fleet, on seeing the Castilian vessels, were stricken with fear and headed up the River Cullera. King Pedro went aboard his fleet at once and stationed them at the mouth of the river, planning to seize the Aragonese galleys.

King Enrique departed from Toledo knowing all that had happened to King Pedro in Seville and likewise in Portugal, and how he had gone afterwards to Galicia. He arrived in Córdoba, where he was received with great pleasure, and from there he went on his way to Seville, knowing that the city supported him. There he was received with such great rejoicing that, although the king arrived near the city early in the morning, it was after midday when he entered his palace.

The king distributed rewards to his followers and to those troops who were travelling with him, in such a fashion that all of them were most contented, and he sent them back to their own lands. But Sir Bertrand du Guesclin and other great lords remained with him, along with some Englishmen and Bretons, some 1,500 lances in all.

The king stayed in Seville for four months. Before he left there, he wrote to King Pedro of Portugal to declare how he wished to have peace and friendship with him. He said that he would send to the border such men as he trusted to represent him, and asked King Pedro also to send envoys to the border so that they might reach an agreement on their plans.

Thus it was that King Enrique sent Don Juan, who was the Bishop of Badajoz, and Diego Gómez de Toledo, a knight. In turn, the King of Portugal sent Dom João, who was the Bishop of Évora, and Dom Álvaro Gonçalves [Pereira], who was the Prior of the Order of the Knights Hospitaller. They all met together on the banks of the [river] Caya on the border between the two kingdoms. There they agreed on behalf of the two kings that they should be loyal friends to each other and maintain peace and concord.

It was also decided that the King of Castile should try as hard as he could to induce the King of Aragon to be the friend of the King of Portugal, as he himself was, and to intercede with the King of Aragon to allow Princess Maria, daughter of the aforesaid King Pedro of Portugal, to come to Portugal with all of her belongings, or to live in whatever country she might prefer, she who had been the wife of Prince Ferran, the Marquess of Tortosa.

In 1356, when King Pedro of Castile had been on the throne for almost seven years, while in Seville he ordered a galley to be equipped for a leisure trip to go and view the tunny-fishing grounds. He sailed to Sanlúcar de Barrameda and saw, there in the harbour, ten Catalan galleys and one large vessel the captain of which was an Aragonese knight named Messer Francesc del Perelló. The ships were going to support the King of France against the King of England, by order of the King of Aragon.

When the captain came into port to take on supplies he found two vessels from Piacenza, loaded with oils, bound for Alexandria, whereupon he seized them, declaring that they were the property of the Genoese, with whom the Catalans were at war at the time. The king sent word to him to say that, since these vessels were in a port which belonged to his kingdom, he was not to seize them, at least out of respect for the king's presence. The captain replied that those people were enemies of the King of Aragon and therefore he had every right to do so. The king sent word to him a second time, saying that, if he did not relinquish them, he would have all the Catalan merchants who were in Seville put in prison there and all their possessions confiscated.

In spite of all this, the commander of the galleys did not wish to obey the king's instructions and sold the vessels there and then for 700 doblas. He then went on his way without another word to the king. The king was greatly displeased by this and with good reason, but the vengeance he wrought was out of all proportion, for, just as a tiny spark can start a huge fire if the right materials are to hand, so it was that, simply to take his revenge on Aragon for this incident, King Pedro, mad with rage, instigated a cruel and bloody war against Aragon, which was to last for many years, as you will hear presently.

First of all, he ordered all the Catalan merchants who were in Seville to be seized and all their possessions confiscated. The following day, he made a swift departure from the city by land, put all the Catalan merchants in chains and then sold off everything they had.

King Pedro hated procuresses and witches, so that as a result of the punishments he inflicted upon them there were very few women who had such occupations. When he was in Beira, he found out that one by the name of Helena had procured a woman for Admiral Lançarote Pessanha and that he had slept with her. Her name was Violante Vasques. The king had the procuress burnt immediately and gave orders for the admiral to be beheaded. Although the members of his Royal Council strove to save the admiral from his wrath, they could never convince the king to agree, so the admiral fled. He was exiled and put from him for a long time, losing his royal allowance and all his benefits, as well as his position. Not knowing how to remedy this situation, the admiral decided to send a message to the Doge and the Council of Commoners of Genoa asking them to write to the king on his behalf, requesting him to grant the favour of a pardon. On seeing the admiral's message, the Genoese wrote to the king asking him to set aside his wrath. The letter from Gabriele Adorno, the Doge of Genoa, and the elders of that city's Council of Commoners read as follows:

After the arguments you have heard, given in the presence of men of learning as well as of many common people, those of poor and simple understanding easily believed it and decided that all they had heard was the truth, as they were not able to unravel the thread of such an intricate story. Others, who were more sophisticated in their understanding, educated and very discerning, scrutinized the facts minutely to see if what they had heard could be true or not, and found them mentally unacceptable, thinking it was totally against reason.

Whether one believes something that one hears depends on one's reason and not on one's wishes. Therefore, the prudent man who hears something that his reason cannot accept will then wonder at it and become very doubtful. This is why there were plenty of people amongst those present who were not very happy with such a story, since they saw that what was presented to them had no basis in reason. If anybody wishes to ask why they thought all these things to be sheer pretence, let this question be answered by their reasons, which to us appear very clear.

Those who said the opposite to those who defended it as a true story explained themselves as follows. They argued that the Ancients, especially that shining light of philosophy, Aristotle, who wrote a brief treatise on this topic, could not accept the idea that a reasonable man in good health and fully in command of his senses could be so overcome by forgetfulness that he would be unable to remember any important thing that happened in the past.

As nobody has a memory of present or future events, they therefore of necessity remember past things that have already happened. Memory is when the image of something seen or heard in the external world is always present in the capacity for remembrance. Recollection is when something done or heard has left the capacity for remembrance but is remembered again on seeing another similar thing.

The great vexation that King Pedro of Castile felt on account of the poor reception he had encountered in Portugal caused him at times to be unable, when speaking, not to express his anger about it. Sometimes, when there were many men around the Prince [of Wales], he complained of the poor reception he had found from his uncle the king, when he was hoping to find the opposite. He said that he did not mind it as much for his own sake as for that of the princesses his daughters, whom the King of Portugal should have welcomed and protected at his request. Speaking of the matter at great length, he gave many indications through his gestures and facial expressions that he had a great desire to take revenge.

This was spoken in such a way and in such words that inevitably someone wrote to the King of Portugal about it. Being familiar with King Pedro's twisted disposition, and foreseeing what could come of this, he arranged to send someone to defend him before the prince, to show that the fault had not lain with him, both in his reception of King Pedro and regarding the hospitality to his daughters. He sent the Bishop of Évora and Gomes Lourenço do Avelar, who arrived in Gascony, where King Pedro and the prince were staying at the time. Once they arrived, the prince decreed a day and time for them to deliver their message, which they laid before him in the presence of the King of Castile. They began by relating in detail everything that certain people were saying in Portugal regarding the grievances of which King Pedro was complaining, blaming the king his uncle, but they stated that they had come to prove that he was blameless, as His Highness would be able to see clearly.