[1] While the work is named for the Saracen knight Palamedes, and some manuscripts identify him explicitly as one of the central figures, Meliadus (Tristan's father) and his great friend Guiron le Courtois are by far the most important characters, and give their names to the two sections of the romance.
Lacy described it as consisting largely of "[a] series of abductions, battles, and seemingly random adventures".
[1] Many tales are told along the way, including the story of Meliadus' kidnapping of the Queen of Scotland and his subsequent battle with her husband in which Guiron must rescue him.
[2] Rustichello, more famous as the man who put Marco Polo's Travels into writing, evidently adapted his version from a manuscript that had come to Italy with Edward I of England around 1272.
The work is organized roughly into two halves, focusing on the adventures of its principal protagonists, Meliadus and Guiron le Courtois, and was often divided into two different texts, particularly in the printed editions of the early 16th century.