The literary romance – the medieval genre involving questing knights, courtly love, codes of chivalry and exotic, enchanted settings – rose again to high fashion during Lord Byron’s time. The form became one of the hallmarks of Romanticism, a period whose very etymology captures the cultural obsession with the glories of the Middle Ages. Several factors contributed to the revival, including interest in the power of the imagination and the desire to consolidate national literary histories during the rise of the nation-state. In general, the romance differs from the epic – the genre out of which it grew – because it prioritizes chivalric values such as honor and justice and centers on the rewards of courtly love obtained following combat in foreign lands.