Zelauto’s Polinarda and the Palmerin Romances

Abstract

In his Zelauto, published in 1580, Anthony Munday alludes to a character called Polinarda. In fact, he borrowed this name from the Palmerin cycle of romances, which originated in the Iberian Peninsula in 1511. After analysing the narrative context in which Polinarda appears in Zelauto, this note identifies parallel episodes in Palmerin d’Oliva and Palmerin of England that may have inspired Munday. This discussion also reveals how in 1580 Munday was acquainted with the Palmerin romance narratives and how his project of translating the Iberian books of chivalry was subordinate to the commercial strategy of his printer, John Charlewood.