SOURCE: Bourne, Ella. “Classical Elements in The Gesta Romanorum.” In Vassar Medieval Studies, edited by Christabel Forsyth Fiske, pp. 345-76. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1923.

In the essay below, Bourne examines the themes and sources of a number of tales in the Gesta Romanorum.

The popularity of the Gesta Romanorum during the Middle Ages is abundantly shown by the enormous number of manuscripts which are still to be found in the libraries of England and of continental Europe. Its importance for the history of literature, particularly since the thirteenth century, can be no less clearly seen by a glance at the tables at the end of Oesterley's critical Latin edition in which are listed, under the number of each tale, writings which have in whole or in part been influenced by the Gesta, or in some cases have perhaps had a common source. The list of such titles...