not outright promotes, crusading reform and action for a mixed audience of lesser knights and non-nobles.” Leila Norako agrees with Manion's view and elaborates upon it in her 2013 article “Sir Isumbras and the Fantasy of Crusade,” even arguing that Sir Isumbras belongs in the further sub-category of “recovery romance.” She notes the connection between Isumbras carving a cross into his arm and taking of the cross by crusaders. Furthermore, she posits that Sir Isumbras represents a cultural fantasy that belied the reality of a divided Christendom and powerful Islamic enemy. Miscellaneous Eight medieval versions of the Man Tested By Fate are known; except for an exemplum in Gesta Romanorum and the legend of Saint Eustace, all such tales are highly developed romances, such as Sir Isumbras. Sir Isumbras is noteworthy among them for a blunt realism of language; while most have the hero performing menial labor, Isumbras is described in detail laboring at a smithy. Some have drawn attention to close parallels in the story of Sir Isumbras, and in other medieval hagiographic works, with tales from Iran and northern India. Influences The poem was almost entirely unknown until it was published in the mid-Nineteenth century. Tom Taylor, the editor of Punch added some humorous lines in a parody of the original's style. This scene was painted by John Everett Millais as Sir Isumbras at the Ford (1857), which is also the title of a novel by D. K. Broster, published in 1918. Notes Further reading Bremond, Claude. "La famille séparée". In: Communications, 39, 1984. Les avatars d'un conte, sous la direction de Claude Bremond. pp. 5–45. [DOI: https://doi.org/10.3406/comm.1984.1577] ; www.persee.fr/doc/comm_0588-8018_1984_num_39_1_1577 External links Sir Isumbras, TEAMS Middle English Texts Sir Isumbras translated and retold in modern English prose, for the general reader. Isumbras, Sir Middle English poems Narrative poems Middle English literature Romance (genre) ATU 850-999