I don't think I'm really justified in a new thread here, as I just wanted to follow up Isumbras and this appeared to be the only one with much of a mention of him.
Anyway I idly clicked on 'Random Page' in Wikipedia and came up with this.....
Quote:
Sir Isumbras is the hero of a medieval metrical romance written in middle English.
The romance was circulating in England before 1320, when William of Nassington referred to it in his Speculum Vita. His comment is revealing, for he disparages stories of Isumbras as vanities (along with those of the equally popular and pious Guy of Warwick and Bevis of Hampton), an indication that he saw a generic difference between it and the legends of saints. However, in several manuscripts, Isumbras is grouped with saints' legends and other religious materials.
According to the Cambridge History of English and American Literature the theme of Sir Isumbras is that of Christian humility, the story being an adaptation of the legend of Saint Eustace. Sir Isumbras is a an over-proud knight who is offered the choice of happiness in his youth or his old age. He chooses the latter, and falls from his high estate by the will of Providence. He is severely stricken; his possessions, his children and, lastly, his wife, are taken away; and he himself becomes a wanderer. After much privation he trains as a blacksmith, learning to forge anew his armour, and he rides into battle against a sultan. Later, he arrives at the court of the sultan's queen, who proves to be his long-lost wife. He attempts to Christianise the Islamic lands over which he now rules, provoking a rebellion which is then defeated when his children miraculously return to turn the tide of battle.
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).
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No doubt The Prof was familiar with the tale of old Isumbras!
This begs a question, is there any possible link between our Isumbrasses?
The tale of the years has - 2340 Isumbras I becomes thirteenth Thain, and first of the Took line. The Oldbucks occupy the Buckland.
The Took family tree has Isumbras III and IV and presumably there must have been an Isumbras II, but I fancy no. 1 as our likely culprit here.
Could the Sir Isumbras tale give an inkling (sorry
) into the transfer of power from the Oldbucks to the Tooks in the days of Isumbras 1st? Perhaps Isumbras was a gentlehobbit who lost all his family and position but returned to a position of ruling the kingdom, or Shire here? Food for thought or outrageous over-speculation? The over-proud knight could apply to an earlier 'fool of a Took' right enough.
Maybe its a possible fanfic lead at least, and I also like the idea of a hobbit Miss Marple tracking down the dastardly perpetrators of the Stair Incident at Great Smials, as descibed above.
(though I'm now worried, having used the 'F' word that davem will be tracking me down with a replica Anduril [£199.99 from Franklin mint no doubt], step away from the weapon davem ! Lal, tell 'im I'm not worth it,
)
Cheers
Rumil