The long period of men’s absences and women’s widening responsibility resulted, as always under such circumstances, in a certain feminization of social outlook, evident in the burgeoning of courtly love. Today statistical reading studies show that sex is a prime factor in determining reading interests and that romantic fiction is predominantly a feminine taste.[6] Historic evidence of these facts can be seen in the rapid spread of chivalric romance between the twelfth and fourteenth centuries. The earliest romances written down in the twelfth century were comparatively simple and direct, showing close relation to the epics and _chansons de geste_ which preceded them. Subsequently, partly because crusaders brought home oriental tales of intricacy and sophistication exceeding any style current in Europe, plots incorporated magical and fantastic elements and developed greater elaboration. Still later, after the revival of classical learning in the early renaissance, pastorals developed in rough imitation of Latin models, but with plot structure nearer that of their medieval narrative sources. Medieval and Renaissance Fiction The first romance mentioned by students of this genre as containing anything relevant to sex variance is _Huon of Bordeaux_, which appeared in French about 1220. (It has been consulted by the present writer only in the English translation of Lord Berners, first printed in 1543.) The tale was basically a derivative from the Charlemagne cycle or “Matter of France,” and the first part, though incorporating fantasy in the person of Oberon, King of the Fairies, runs fairly true to its source. But like many popular stories it acquired sequels, and when the action reaches the third generation we find Huon’s granddaughter, Ide, serving among the Holy Roman Emperor’s forces in the guise of a knight, a feministic touch alien to the original epic.