Ami et Amile, the story of identical-looking strangers turned best friends, was known in various forms in medieval Europe. The Old French version draws from Cicero's De Amicitia to redefine male friendship and re-situate epic in medieval literature and culture.
Prof. Katherine A. Brown's talk on Ami et Amile, an Old French chanson de geste composed around the year 1200, explored the relationships among various sources of the work, including De Amicitia, and the profound friendship between two knights that the story illustrates.
While Cicero's influence is evident throughout the work, the haunting story of Ami et Amile replaces all virtues with loyalty to the friend as the supreme good, thus enabling the eponymous heroes to transgress social norms and morality in the service of friendship. This extreme view of friendship suggests that the concept is open to interpretation and consequently lends itself well to applications in various genres. The different versions of the story highlight various aspects of friendship.