[387] “Merlin,” 1498, “Artus,” 1501, “Tristan,” 1528, “Sancto Grial,” 1555, and “Segunda Tabla Redonda,” 1567, would seem to be the series of them given by the bibliographers. But the last cannot, perhaps, now be found, though mentioned by Quadrio, who, in his fourth volume, has a good deal of curious matter on these old romances generally. I do not think it needful to notice others, such as “Pierres y Magalona,” 1526, “Tallante de Ricamonte,” and the “Conde Tomillas,”--the last referred to in Don Quixote, but otherwise unknown. The rival story of Charlemagne, however,--perhaps from the greatness of his name,--seems to have been, at last, more successful. It is a translation directly from the French, and therefore gives none of those accounts of his defeat at Roncesvalles by Bernardo del Carpio, which, in the old Spanish chronicles and ballads, so gratified the national vanity; and contains only the accustomed stories of Oliver and Fierabras the Giant; of Orlando and the False Ganelon; relying, of course, on the fabulous Chronicle of Turpin as its chief authority. But, such as it was, it found great favor at the time it appeared; and such, in fact, as Nicolas de Piamonte gave it to the world, in 1528, under the title of “The History of the Emperor Charlemagne,” it has been constantly reprinted down to our own times, and has done more than any other tale of chivalry to keep alive in Spain a taste for such reading.[388] During a considerable period, however, a few other romances shared its popularity. “Reynaldos de Montalban,” for instance, always a favorite hero in Spain, was one of them;[389] and a little later we find another, the story of “Cleomadez,” an invention of a French queen in the thirteenth century, which first gave to Froissart the love for adventure that made him a chronicler.[390] [388] Discussions on the origin of these stories may be found in the Preface to the excellent edition of Einhard or Eginhard by Ideler (Hamburg, 1839, 8vo, Band I. pp. 40-46). The very name, _Roncesvalles_, does not seem to have occurred out of Spain till much later. (Ibid., p. 169.) There is an edition of the “Carlo Magno” printed at Madrid, in 1806, 12mo, evidently for popular use, and I notice others since. [389] There are several editions of the First Part of it mentioned in Clemencin’s notes to Don Quixote (Parte I. c. 6); besides which, it had succession, in Parts II. and III., before 1558. [390] The “Cleomadez,” one of the most popular stories in Europe for three centuries, was composed by Adenez, at the dictation of Marie, queen of Philip III. of France, who married her in 1272. (Fauchet, Recueil, Paris, 1581, folio, Liv. II. c. 116.) Froissart gives a simple account of his reading and admiring it in his youth. Poésies, Paris, 1829, 8vo, pp. 206, etc.