Edmund Spenser's chivalric romance is one of the most influential in the English language. Rapturously received on its first publication in 1590, and on its continuation in 1596, it has been read and enjoyed by generations ever since.

The Faerie Queene is an allegory whose aim is to "fashion a gentleman or noble person in vertuous and gentle discipline." And the central character in each book represents one of the moral virtues: the Knight of the Redcrosse, holiness; Sir Guyon, temperance; Britomartis, chastity, and so on. The work opens with Redcrosse undertaking a quest in aid of his beloved, Una. To succeed, and be united with Una, Redcrosse must overcome his own human failings as well as the evil tricks of the magician Archimago. All the joys and sorrows of human life are experienced by Redcrosse and his fellow-knights, as they struggle to defeat evil, uphold virtue and with chivalric fame.