Bovo d’Antona (Bovo of Antona)

This chivalric epic is one of the most important and well-known works of Old Yiddish literature. Composed in Padua in 1507, it was first published in Isny (Germany) in 1541. An adaptation of the Italian chivalric poem Buovo d’Antona—which is itself based on a popular Anglo-Norman romance that circulated throughout medieval Europe, Sir Bevis of Hampton—Bovobukh, as it is called in Yiddish, is written in ottava rima, the first application of this form in Yiddish: eight-line stanzas with the rhyme scheme abacabcc. The epic relates the adventures of the knight Bovo and his love for the beautiful princess Drusiana (Druzana). After numerous obstacles, the lovers live happily ever after. The work was significantly altered to suit Jewish readers; its length was radically reduced, its characters Judaized, biblical motifs added, and erotic elements omitted. Bovobukh achieved immense popularity. Although various rabbinic figures declared it unsuitable reading material, over the following centuries dozens of editions were printed. Its language was later adapted for modern Yiddish readers, and the common Yiddish term Bove-mayse, meaning a fantastical story, derives from its title.