The King of Tars is a medieval English chivalric romance, an amplified version of the oldest variant found in the Reimchronik, which is found in three manuscripts including the Auchinleck manuscript. It dates from c. 1330, or perhaps earlier. It contains many specific religious phrases, and is consistently religious in intent. In addition, The King of Tars exhibits attributes of other genres typical of the medieval period, including hagiography, political drama, and miracle tale. Synopsis The king of Tars refuses the proposal from the pagan king of Damas (Damascus) to marry the princess of Tars, but after the king of Damas wages war on the land of Tars, slaughtering numerous Christian knights, the princess agrees to marry him to prevent further conflict. The couple does not wed directly after the princess reaches the Sultan’s palace, however, since she has not yet converted to his pagan faith (and he refuses to convert to Christianity). On her very first night away from her family, the princess, lying alone in her bed, dreams of a hundred black hounds, each barking at her simultaneously. Afraid to push any of them away for fear of being bitten, the princess attempts to flee, only to approach three devils, each “brent as a drake” (burnt as a dragon). Just as it seems all hope is lost, one of the black hounds transforms before her eyes into Jesus Christ, dressed in a white surcoat, and promises her that she need not dread anything of Ternagaunt (Saracen trinity’s version of the Father) or Mahoun (Muhammad). In lines 452-453, Christ claims that “Thi Lord that suffered passioun / Schal help thee at thi nede.” The princess arises from the dream, unclothed and vulnerable in her bed, but comforted by Christ’s message. After being taken to the Sultan's temple—a room strewn with idols ranging from that of the Islamic prophet Muhammad to Jove, Jupiter, and Apollo (from Greco-Roman mythology)-- the princess is forced to convert to her husband's pagan religion, during which time she pays lip service to the king's gods and secretly continues to practice her own religion. Soon they conceive, and the princess gives birth to a formless child, and each blames the other's false religion. The king and the princess agree to pray to their respective deities to restore their child to beauty and health. The Sultan's prayers are fruitless, so the princess demands that a Christian priest