English derivatives from the tale of Ipomedon "The three different Middle English versions of the Anglo-Norman Ipomedon attest to the popularity of this text in England" and its influence can be seen in other works. Thomas Chestre's tale of the Fair Unknown Thomas Chestre wrote an Arthurian romance Lybeaus Desconus in the late-fourteenth century in which a young man arrives at King Arthur's court not knowing his own name, having been brought up in seclusion in the forest by his mother. Despite his inexperience at fighting, he asks, like the fool Ipomadon, that the first request to the king for a champion be given to him. King Arthur, like King Meleager, complies with this odd request, having named the young man the Fair Unknown. Soon afterwards, a maiden called Ellyne appears asking for a champion to defeat her mistress's enemies. Like Ipomadon, the Fair Unknown reminds the king of his promise, and to the consternation of the damsel and her dwarf, is allowed to set off with her. Only by proving himself in combat during the journey, like Ipomadon when he follows the angry maiden Imayne disguised as a fool, does the Fair Unknown stem the scorn, derision and verbal abuse heaped upon him by a far from happy maiden. Like Imayne too, Ellyne falls in love with her knight as he begins to prove himself in combat. At the end of the journey, of course, they both rescue their respective ladies. Sir Gowther In an anonymous fifteenth century Middle English romance called Sir Gowther, the eponymous anti-hero is given a penance by the Pope only to eat food that has been in the mouth of a dog. Sir Gowther eats under the table of a great lord in the guise of 'Hob tho fole' – Hob the fool – but when Saracens attack, the lowly Hob fights in the field on three successive days in black armour, red armour and finally in white armour, all miraculously provided for him. At the end of each day these arms mysteriously vanish away and no one knows who the invincible knight has been. Roswall and Lillian This Scottish romance, "certainly as early as the sixteenth century and perhaps [belonging] to the fifteenth", is found only in printed editions, the earliest dating to 1663. Unjustly robbed of his princely identity in a foreign land, Roswell becomes very friendly with the daughter of the