Ancient, classical and medieval texts Books

Book SynopsisThe three poems (Satires 7, 8 and 9) that comprise Book 3 of the Satires form a brilliant collection, displaying Juvenal at the height of his powers and in the full breadth of his interests.

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Book SynopsisLibanius of Antioch (AD 314-93), teacher, rhetorician and eloquent exponent of Greek paideia, was one of the most prolific letter writers of late antiquity with more than 1500 surviving letters from an even greater total. This volume contains the first English-language translation of all the letters written between 388 and 393, which provide insights both into his professional and personal circumstances and the changes taking place in the political, religious and social environment of the late fourth century. The letters while fulfilling many of the usual functions of late antique correspondence as vehicles in creating or maintaining friendship networks, promoting relationships with men in power, supporting rhetoric and Hellenic learning and seeking favours for friends, students and protégés, also reveal Libanius’ reaction to his circumstances at the end of his life – his waning influence as a teacher, the hostility directed towards him by factions in Antioch and in Constantinople, the loss of friends and loved ones, in particular his son, and his ill health and impending mortality. Trade Review‘[E]xcellent… not only an extremely useful resource for bringing together a still seldom-considered group of texts, but an overall exemplar which gives hope that, in in the not-too-distant future, all the letters of Libanius will be available in translation.’ Translated from German: ‘[V]orzüglichen… nicht nur ein extrem nützliches Hilfsmittel für die Erfassung einer noch immer viel zu selten in den Blick genommenen Textgruppe, sondern hat auch allgemeinen Vorbildcharakter, der hoffen lässt, dass in nicht allzu ferner Zukunft sämtliche Libaniosbriefe in Übersetzung vorliegen warden.’ Raphael Brendel, Zeitschrift für Geschichtswissenschaft

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Book SynopsisThe four selected speeches were composed by a professional speechwriter, Isaeus, for litigants contesting inheritance claims in the Athenian courts of the fourth century BC. They offer some intriguing glimpses into the domestic life of (mainly wealthy) Athenian families, with sometimes scandalous stories of forged wills, family quarrels, illegitimate children, divorce, and prostitution. The narratives feature positive and negative Athenian stereotypes of women (dutiful wife or deceitful seductress). In the first comprehensive English language commentaries on these speeches for over 100 years. the main focus is on legal issues as the key to understanding Isaeus’s rhetorical strategy. The aim is to show that he did not, as modern scholars have sometimes argued, ignore the law and seek to win cases for his clients on purely moral grounds. Rather, through carefully constructed narratives and persuasive but sometimes convoluted argumentation, he sought to convince the judges that the law was on his clients’ side. The combination of translations and commentaries makes the selected speeches accessible to readers with little or no knowledge of classical Greek. No familiarity with Athenian law is assumed, but the book will also be useful to specialists seeking to explore Isaeus’s work in greater depth.

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Book SynopsisOvid’s Fasti is a journey through ancient Rome, using the calendar as a guide. The reader of this poem tours the monuments of the Augustan-era city, witnesses both urban and rustic seasonal festivals, and commemorates the epic events of long-past history. The reader also experiences the passage of the year, as measured by the natural world: the rising and setting of constellations, the migration of birds, and the comforting rhythms of agriculture. Throughout, Ovid enlivens the narrative with myths, including Romulus and Remus, Callisto and Jupiter, Lucretia and Tarquinius, Hercules and Cacus, and many more. In doing so, he evokes the questions of what constitutes justice, or glory, or patriotism. The result is a lively tour of the Roman year—sometimes thoughtful, sometimes tragic, sometimes triumphant or even farcical—that interweaves human customs into the natural world, and gives occasional glimpses of awe-inspiring divinities on the streets of Rome. This volume covers the first half of the Fasti (Books I-III), including the original Latin text and also a new translation in clear, idiomatic prose on facing pages. An introduction on Ovid’s life and Augustan literature, as well as an incisive commentary with up-to-date bibliography, give the reader extensive background to interpret the text.

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Book SynopsisGregory Palamas, a monk of Mount Athos and metropolitan of Thessalonike from 1347 to 1357, was a leading fourteenth-century Byzantine intellectual. He was the chief spokesman for the hesychasts in the controversy bearing that name, which began when a charge of heresy was laid against him in 1340 and ended with his proclamation as a saint in 1368. Although excellent English translations of some of Palamas’ theological writings are available, very few texts relating to his historical role have yet been translated. This book contains the first English translation of the contemporary Life of Palamas by Philotheos Kokkinos, which is our principal source of biographical information on him. Also translated into English for the first time are the Synodal Tomoi from 1341 to 1368, which chart the progress of the hesychast controversy from the viewpoint of the victors, together with the corpus of material relating to Palamas’ year of captivity among the Turks, which offers a unique insight into conditions for Christians and Muslims in the early Ottoman emirate. The translations, all of which are based on critical texts, are preceded by introductions which set Palamas in his historical context and propose some changes to the conventional chronology of his life. Trade Review'Norman Russell, a renowned scholar of patristic, Byzantine, and modern Greek theology, must be thanked for his enormous contribution in Gregory Palamas: The Hesychast Controversy and the Debate with Islam... For anyone who is interested in the figure of St. Gregory Palamas and the ecclesiastical events of the middle Palaiologan period, this is an essential volume to own.'The Pappas Patristic Institute ‘This very careful work, endowed with clear translations, well introduced and annotated... will render the greatest service both to researchers and to students’ Marie-Hélène Blanchet, Revue des Études Byzantines (translated from French)Table of ContentsGeneral Introduction1. Byzantium in the Mid-Fourteenth Century2. The Hesychast Controversy3. The Main Characteristics of Palamite Theology4. Palamas in Captivity among the Turks5. A Contested Saint6. The Reception of Palamas7. Texts and EditionsI. The Life of Gregory Palamas by Philotheos KokkinosII. The Synodal Tomos of 1341III. Letters from Prison in Constantinople1. To John Gabras2. To Philotheos 3. To Bessarion4. To the Empress AnnaIV. The Synodal Tomos of 1347 and Related Documents1. The Synodal Tomos of February 13472. The Prostagma of John VI Kantakouzenos of March 13473. The Anti-Palamite Tomos of July 1347V. The Synodal Tomos of 1351VI. Palamas in Captivity among the Turks1. Letter to his Church2. The Debate with the Chionai3. Letter to an Unknown RecipientVII. The Synodal Tomos of 1368GlossaryBibliographyIndexes

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Book SynopsisThis book reconceives the rewriting of Byzantine hagiography between the eighth and fourteenth centuries as a skilful initiative in communication and creative freedom, and as a form of authorship. Three men – Makarios (late C13th-C14th), a monk; Constantine Akropolites (d.c.1324), a statesman; and an Anonymous educated wordsmith (c. C9th) – each opted to rewrite the martyrdom of a female virgin saint who suffered and died centuries earlier. Their adaptations, respectively, were of St. Ia of Persia (modern-day Iran), St. Horaiozele of Constantinople, and St. Tatiana of Rome. Ia is described as a victim of the persecutions of the Persian Shahanshah, Shapur II (309–79 C.E), Horaiozele was allegedly a disciple of St Andrew and killed anachronistically under the emperor Decius (249–51 C.E), and Tatiana, we are told, was a deaconess, martyred during the reign of emperor Alexander Severus (222–35 C.E). Makarios, Akropolites, and the Anonymous knowingly tailored their compositions to influence an audience and to foster their individual interests. The implications arising from these studies are far-reaching: this monograph considers the agency of the hagiographer, the instrumental use of the authorial persona and its impact on the audience, and hagiography as a layered discourse. The book also provides the first translations and commentaries of the martyrdoms of these virgin martyrs.Trade Review'The three texts are translated into clear English, which is pleasant to read. The notes shed light on several aspects of the stories, notably their lexical richness. Alwis brings three female figures from Byzantine hagiography out of oblivion while creating an original discussion about re-writing not only as a linguistic and rhetorical practice but also a social one. This is a fine study about hagiography as a literary object, drawing on the ancestral strength of story/ narrative as a means of communication.’ Anna Lampadaridi, Revue des Études ByzantinesTranslated from French. 'As first-time translations to English, these texts, and the monograph that introduces them, are valuable additions to the extant research, and provide new insight and perspectives for anyone interested in mediaeval history and hagiography.' Sissel Undheim, Plekos‘[Narrating Martyrdom] is a welcome addition to the growing number of Greek hagiographical texts available in English… and offers valuable insights into the three authors’ techniques of rewriting their model texts.’ Alice-Mary Talbot, Church HistoryTable of Contents1. A Note on the Editions and Translations2. IntroductionNarratology, Focalisation, and CommunicationThe Rewritten Text: the SimulacrumManuscript Context and AudienceRewriting as Social Action, and Hagiography as Double-DiscourseRewriting Perceptions from the Past3. The Authors: Makarios, Constantine Akropolites, and the Anonymous4. The Virgin Martyrs5. AdaptationMakarios and Saint IaAkropolites and Saint HoraiozeleThe Anonymous and Saint TatianaWhat is Metaphrasis?6. Conclusions7. Translations and Commentaries for each martyrdom

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Book SynopsisThis is the second volume of a collection which includes all the significant remains of tragedies produced by the contemporaries and successors of the three classic Greek tragedians (Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides). Greek texts and sources are accompanied by English translations, related historical information, detailed explanatory notes and bibliographies. Volume Two includes more than a dozen poets of the fourth and early third centuries (Astydamas, Carcinus, Chaeremon, Theodectas, Moschion and others), the Alexandrian Pleiad, Ezechiel’s Exagôgê (a tragedy based on the biblical Exodus), and some anonymous material derived from ancient sources or rediscovered papyrus texts. Remnants of the satyr-plays of this period are included in a separate Aris & Phillips Classical Texts volume, Euripides Cyclops and Major Fragments of Greek Satyric Drama, edited by Patrick O’Sullivan and Christopher Collard (2013).Trade Review‘Cropp offers an effective overview of what we know of Greek tragedy from the fourth century onwards… the commentary, concise and fluent but at the same time punctual and not without original suggestions, allow one easy use of the text even for those who do not have specialist knowledge on the subject.’ Paolo B. Cipolla, Exemplaria Classica (translated from Italian)

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Book SynopsisThemistius and Valens offers the first complete English translation and analysis of Themistius’ speeches for or on behalf of the emperor Valens (r. 364-378). As a westerner and a Latin speaker, Valens had a tough job to convince the aristocracies of Constantinople and the East that he shared their expectations and knew how to preserve their wealth and security. By 364 Themistius already enjoyed huge influence. He was famous as a philosopher who was ‘an exceptional citizen’, and his leadership of the dramatic expansion of the senate in 359 gave him the best address book in town. His ambition and political sense made him a perfect ally for communicating imperial policy and action. These speeches present the major issues Valens faced: his right to rule alongside the western emperor, his brother Valentinian, his handling of the revolt of Procopius, his ability to manage the empire’s economy and borders, his wars against the Goths and the Persians, his controversial religious and judicial policies, and the clever diplomatic work Themistius undertook for him in the lead up to his death in battle in 378.Trade Review'Among those volumes known to the reviewer of the Translated Texts for Historians series this one is without a doubt amongst the best.' Raphael Brendel, Zeitschrift für Geschichtswissenschaft Translated from German, 'Unter den dem Rezensenten bekannten nicht wenigen verdienstvollen Bänden der Reihe „Translated Texts for Historians“ gehört dieser ohne Zweifel zu den besten.''Swain fulfilled the aim expressed in the introduction, making the volume an indispensable work for all those interested in “the political history of the key transitional period of the 360s and 370s.' Simone Mehr, Bryn Mawr Classical Review'This is a fantastic book that offers the reader an easy and yet detailed and erudite overview of the subtle chains of policy, obligation, and ambition that bound Themistius to Valens and Valens to Themistius... For anyone with an interest in Themistius, in Valens, or in the East Roman Empire in the mid fourth century, it is a must read.' Adrastos Omissi, Plekos

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Book SynopsisThe 'De venenis' attributed to 'Malachias Hibernicus' is a portable discussion of vices and virtues. Probably composed about 1280, originally as an aid for Franciscan preachers, it adopts the innovative metaphor that sin is a poison removed by various 'treacles'. Its argumentative mode is to adduce scientific data about venomous beasts, the sins, and the antidotes to their poisons, the 'remedial' virtues. From these 'facts' of natural history, Malachy constructs homiletic similitudines (analogical figures). These, typically of a sort designed for use in sermones ad status, he applies to vicious and virtuous activities, and perhaps particularly ones peculiar to Ireland. Although Malachy the Irishman and his On Poison have received only a handful of scholarly notices in the last century, in the later Middle Ages, his was a widely known book. A lengthy introduction presents evidence for the wide circulation of Malachy's text and the little that is known of the author. It further addresses literary issues: the work's genre, hovering between a treatise on vices and virtues, a compendium of scientific information, and a handbook for preachers; Malachy's efforts at compilation of authoritative materials; and a preliminary account of some early users, including William Langland and Robert Holcot. The introduction concludes by examining the insuperable difficulties involved in editing the text. The centre of the volume presents an annotated preliminary text and translation, together with some account of early interpolations the text received. The volume concludes with three indexes, one with all biblical citations, one of all Malachy's other citations, and a third of Malachy's similitudines, his moralised scientific information.Trade Review‘Perhaps the greatest gift a longtime editor and skilled Latinist can leave for less experienced successors is a reliable edition and accurate translation of an influential text that they may not have encountered and cannot read as fluently. Hanna has given his colleagues exactly that.’ Edwin D. Craun, The Medieval Review‘Hanna’s book is the first edition of De veneno since 1518, and his excellent translation on facing pages makes the text easily accessible beyond a scholarly audience… This book belongs on the shelf of every medievalist and may also be of interest to many a lay person.’ Rüdiger Spahl, Archiv für das Studium der neueren Sprachen und Literaturen

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Book SynopsisPearl is a moving elegy written in the late fourteenth century, in which a grief-stricken narrator struggles to come to terms with the death of his baby daughter. He meets her, now transformed into a beautiful young lady, in a dream, where she attempts to bring him to understand the place of death in the divine plan, and where he is granted a sight of the heavenly Jerusalem. Pearl is celebrated as a jewel among medieval poems, although it is the most challenging of the four works by the anonymous author of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.This new critical edition is designed to offer the maximum support for the reader of the poem. The text is accompanied by a close translation, and each of the twenty sections of the poem is provided with an introductory headnote as well as a running commentary. A general introduction supplies the necessary background information, on manuscript and authorship, form and structure, sources and influences, style, vocabulary and verse-form. The bibliography selects the most significant of the extensive critical studies. Written for both the specialist and the general reader, this book is an essential guide to this profound and complex poem. Designed as a replacement for E. V. Gordon’s standard edition of 1953 this is the only edition of Pearl to be accompanied by a literal translation and a full literary commentary and is the fruit of the author's 40 years of teaching medieval literature.

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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Book SynopsisThe seventh-century BCE Greek poet Mimnermus of Smyrna, whom C. M. Bowra called “the most accomplished and the most musical” of the early elegists, has not been as lucky as other poets of his era. Not updated by any recent papyrological discoveries (unlike e.g. Simonides, Archilochus or Sappho), his corpus remains slim, while the last full-scale commentary on his poems is now thirty years old. Hence the aim of this book is straightforward: to bring this unjustly understudied poet back to the forefront of research, and to advocate that, however exciting a papyrological discovery may be, one does not need new fragments to rediscover a classical author, insofar as “every rereading of a classic is as much a voyage of discovery as the first reading” (I. Calvino). This edition introduces a new Mimnermus, whose melancholy, it is argued against the common assumption, is only a generic pretext; behind that elegiac facade lurks a very playful poet, not just verbally and metrically spirited, but also ironical and risqué on occasions. The Introduction and Commentary analyze figurative language, alternative meanings, authorial markers, implied audience, performative clues, program of composition, narrative structure, intertextuality, and reception.Table of ContentsIntroduction Text and Translation Commentary Appendix I: Metrical notes Appendix II: Testimonia of lost fragments Appendix III: Theognis’ or Mimnermus’? Bibliography

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Book SynopsisThomas Hoccleve produced the first author-curated 'collected poems' in the English language, preserved in two complementary manuscripts: Huntington Library, MSS HM 111 and HM 744 (copied 1422-26). This is the first full modern edition of these poems. The twenty-eight pieces span Hoccleve's entire career: they range from stirring devotional verse, to playful autobiography, deft translations of Latin and French texts, and timely political verse. The collection comprises the entirety of Hoccleve's poetic corpus, save his two longer works, the Regiment of Princes and the Series. It includes some of Hoccleve's most celebrated and widely studied poems, including 'The Epistle of Cupid', 'La Male Regle', 'To Sir John Oldcastle', 'Complaint Paramount', 'Learn to Die', and 'The Court of Good Company'. This edition engages for the first time with newly identified sources of poems; it also offers comprehensive textual variants for the poems, a full up-to-date chronology, and explanatory notes that engage with the wealth of recent scholarship on Hoccleve – including newly discovered details about Hoccleve's life and the dates of his poems, his relationship with heresy and orthodox reform movements, and his positioning within London scribal circles and coterie readerships.Table of ContentsACKNOWLEDGMENTS CHRONOLOGY LIST OF MANUSCRIPTS & SIGLA INTRODUCTION NOTES ON EDITORIAL PRACTICE HM 1111. Complaint Paramount 2. To Sir John Oldcastle 3. La Male Regle 4. For Henry V at Kennington 5-6. Knights of the Garter 7. Mother of Life 8. The Bones of Richard II 9. Balade to Edward, Duke of York 10. Mother of God 11. Balade to John, Duke of Bedford 12. Balade to the Chancellor 13. Balade and Roundel to Henry Somer 14. Regiment of Princes envoi 15. Victorious King 16. Balade to John Carpenter 17. The Court of Good Company 18. Balade for Robert Chichele HM 744 1. Inuocacio ad patrem 2. Ad filium 3. Ad spiritum sanctum 4. Worshipful Maiden 5. Mother of Grace 6. The Monk Who Clad the Virgin 7. The Epistle of Cupid 8. Henry V’s Last Return 9. Three Roundels 10. Learn to Die TABLE: POEMS WITH WITNESSES BEYOND HM 111 & 744 TEXTUAL VARIANTS BIBLIOGRAPHY

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Book SynopsisIphigenia in Tauris tells the story of the princess Iphigenia who was sacrificed by her father Agamemnon to expedite his campaign against Troy but was rescued by the goddess Artemis and transported to the land of the Taurians. There she herself must perform human sacrifices as a priestess of Artemis in the local cult. Troy has now been sacked, and Agamemnon murdered by his wife and avenged by his son Orestes. With his mother's blood on his hands, Orestes is guided by Apollo to seek purification through bringing the image of the Tauric Artemis to Greece, and so is reunited with his sister. The drama centers on Orestes' near-sacrifice at Iphigenia’s hands, their recognition in the nick of time, and their ingenious and thrilling escape to bring the cult of Artemis to Halae and Brauron near Athens. Martin Cropp’s first edition was originally published in 2000 and provided the first commentary on the play since those of Maurice Platnauer (Oxford, 1938) and Hans Strohm (Munich, 1949). It contributed significantly to a revival of interest in what had been a rather neglected and underrated play. This new edition incorporates substantial revisions to the introduction and commentary and some corrections to the Greek text and translation in light of reviews of the first edition and other recent work.

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Book SynopsisIphigenia in Tauris tells the story of the princess Iphigenia who was sacrificed by her father Agamemnon to expedite his campaign against Troy but was rescued by the goddess Artemis and transported to the land of the Taurians. There she herself must perform human sacrifices as a priestess of Artemis in the local cult. Troy has now been sacked, and Agamemnon murdered by his wife and avenged by his son Orestes. With his mother's blood on his hands, Orestes is guided by Apollo to seek purification through bringing the image of the Tauric Artemis to Greece, and so is reunited with his sister. The drama centers on Orestes' near-sacrifice at Iphigenia’s hands, their recognition in the nick of time, and their ingenious and thrilling escape to bring the cult of Artemis to Halae and Brauron near Athens. Martin Cropp’s first edition was originally published in 2000 and provided the first commentary on the play since those of Maurice Platnauer (Oxford, 1938) and Hans Strohm (Munich, 1949). It contributed significantly to a revival of interest in what had been a rather neglected and underrated play. This new edition incorporates substantial revisions to the introduction and commentary and some corrections to the Greek text and translation in light of reviews of the first edition and other recent work.

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Book SynopsisJohn Ridewall's Fulgencius metaforalis is a moralising commentary on Fulgentius's sixth-century Mitologiae, an introduction to the classical gods and their stories. Composed in Oxford in the 1330s and subject to almost immediate local (and broader English) use, the work was a pan-European success, and more than 100 manuscripts preserve Ridewall's text in some form. Fulgencius metaforalis has been edited before, nearly a century ago, by a great medievalist, Hans Liebeschütz; he, however, did not recognise that the manuscript he presented was a fragment, containing only about one-third of the whole. This volume provides Ridewall's entire text, as usually communicated, with a translation. In addition, it contains a substantial introduction; this outlines various difficulties in the transmission of Fulgencius and evidence for the work's extensive medieval reception. Annotation to the text identifies and indexes Ridewall's sources – most of his mythographic knowledge reflects either Remigius of Auxerre's commentary on Martianus Capella or the Third Vatican Mythographer; and offers one manuscript tabula/index, useful for seeing how readers may have accessed the work piecemeal (by manuscript consultation, not, as frequently claimed, as a set of 'memory diagrams').Table of ContentsAbbreviations Preface Introduction The author: on John Ridewall The Fulgencius and its dissemination The use and influence of the text Constructing Fulgencius: Ridewall's library Editing Fulgencius metaforalis Appendix: notes on the manuscripts Bibliography Fulgencius metaforalis: The text Book 1 1 Idolatry 2 Saturn/Prudence 3 Jupiter/Love and Friendship 4 Juno/Memory 5 Neptune/Intelligence 6 Pluto/Foresight 7 Apollo/Truth 8 Phaeton/Ambition 9 Mercury/Eloquence 10 Danae/Modesty and Women's Greed 11 Ganymede/Sodomy 12 Perseus/Courage 13 Alceste/Marital Continence Book 2 1 Paris/Injustice 2 Minerva/Contemplative Life 3 Juno/Worldly Life 4 Venus/The Life of Pleasure Appendix: Two inserted discussions Textual notes The A tabula A brief commentary Indexes Biblical references Fontes

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Book SynopsisThe Findern Manuscript (Cambridge University Library, Ff.1.6): A New Edition of the Unique Poems is the first critical edition of the thirty-four unique and unattributed Middle English poems contained in Cambridge, University Library MS Ff.1.6. This collection of unique poems is significant for its size and thematic coherence, and for the insight it provides into regional literary culture, that of south Derbyshire, in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. The poems, mainly short lyric texts, but also the narrative poem, The Parliament of Love, two topical complaints, and a romance known as the ‘Alexander-Cassamus Fragment’, are significant for the evidence they provide for creative responses to the metropolitan literature of previous generations, especially to the works of Chaucer, Gower, Hoccleve and Lydgate. The poems explore a range of amatory, religious and philosophical themes in a variety of lyric forms and genres. Their anonymity and experimentation with lyric voice and style make them an important site for exploring the contribution of women, as well as men, to late medieval regional literary culture.

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Book SynopsisCommenting on the Bible was the principal way in which early medieval Christians conducted the work of theology; commentaries also open a window for modern readers onto the way in which these people strove to understand humanity, the world and history through complex acts of layered winterpretation and cross-referencing within the sacred text. Bede's commentary on Luke, composed in the first half of the 710s, is a turning point in his career as an exegete. It is ambitious in its length, but also in its subject-matter, because the life of Christ is the key to the meaning of the entire Bible. To expound a Gospel also entails engaging with a formidable body of commentary by the Church Fathers. In Bede's case, the Luke commentary marks as well the moment when he publically asserts his own intellectual authority by displaying his mastery of the Patristic tradition, and by deftly confronting criticisms of his earlier works. Finally, Bede's treatment of Luke was highly influential in the Carolingian Renaissance, and in the compilation of the Glossa Ordinaria in the twelfth century. This translation is thus an important resource for historians, as well as scholars interested in the role of the Bible in medieval culture.Table of ContentsIntroduction 1. Why did Bede compose a Commentary on Luke? 2. The structure of On Luke. 3. Bede's expository strategies. 4. Key themes in On Luke. 5. Bede's style and vocabulary. 6. The manuscripts and the transmission of the text. 7. List of full manuscripts and manuscripts of extracts of Bede's Commentary on Luke. 8. Editions of Bede's Commentary on Luke. 9. Principles governing the present translation. Bede: Commentary on Luke Appendix 1. Emendations to text of CCSL 120. Appendix 2. Chapter numbers and Eusebian canon section numbers. Appendix 3. Luke canon section and table number with equivalent canon section numbers and modern chapter/verse parallels in Matthew, Mark, and John. Bibliography Index of Sources General Index

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Book SynopsisThe ‘Percy Folio’ (BL MS Add. 27879), a seventeenth-century miscellany of ballads, romances and songs is a highly significant document in English poetry. It was crucial to the success and credibility of Bishop Thomas Percy’s Reliques of Ancient English Poetry (1765). A best-seller that inspired many including Wordsworth and Sir Walter Scott, the Reliques made ballads a subject worthy of study and respect, in no small part due to the supposed antiquity of the Folio’s contents, Percy even claiming that one Arthurian piece was known to Chaucer. For the first time ever this volume publishes critical editions of all eleven Arthurian texts in the Percy Folio, with transcriptions taken directly from BL MS Add. 27879. The book opens with a discussion of the manuscript’s history and ownership, the place of these Arthurian texts within a ballad tradition, attitudes to King Arthur up to the early eighteenth century, and Percy’s interest in and knowledge of Arthurian legend. A particular focus has been the role played by performance in the evolution of the Arthurian material. Each text is prefaced by a Headnote with endnotes, references to previous editions, and suggestions for further reading. The texts themselves are complemented by Explanatory Notes for the reader, and Textual Notes which include transcripts of Percy’s own annotations. The book concludes with a comprehensive bibliography. Contributors: John Withrington, Gillian Rogers, Elizabeth Darovic, Maldwyn Mills, Raluca Radulescu, Diane Speed, Marion Trudgill and Elizabeth Williams.Table of ContentsINTRODUCTION The Manuscript Discovery of the Manuscript Contents and Date The Scribe/Compiler at work The Scribe/Compiler: background and identity The Scribe/Compiler: sources and composition Percy’s Annotations The Arthurian texts in the Percy Folio Assembling the Reliques ‘This vague and indiscriminating name’ A Matter of Taste ‘This Tale Grew in the Telling’ Conclusion The Arthurian background King Arthur as an Historical Figure Enlisting the Arthurian Legend The Arthurian Legend in Literature and Prophecy Percy and the Arthurian Legend Previous editions and methodology adopted for this edition Appendix and Endnotes THE TEXTS King Arthur and King Cornwall Sir Lancelott of Dulake The Turke & Gowin The Marriage of Sir Gawaine Sir Lambewell Merline Kinge Arthurs Death The Grene Knyght Boy and Mantle Libius Disconius Carle off Carlile Bibliography

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Book SynopsisThe Boke of Gostely Grace is a Middle English translation of the Liber specialis gratiae by the German visionary Mechthild of Hackeborn (12411298), a Benedictine/Cistercian nun at the convent of Helfta.

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Book SynopsisEnglish translation of a variety of texts from women's books of hours, with introduction, notes, and an interpretive essay. The book of hours is said to have been the most popular book owned by the laity in the later middle ages. Women were often patrons or owners of such books, which were usually illustrated: indeed, the earliest surviving exemplar made in England was designed and illustrated by William de Brailes in Oxford in the mid-thirteenth century, for an unknown young lady whom he portrayed in the book several times. This volume brings together a selection of texts taken from books of hours known to have been owned by women. While some will be familiar from bibles or prayer-books, others have to be sought in specialist publications, often embedded in other material, and a few have not until now been available at all in modern editions or translations. The texts are complemented by an introduction setting the book of hours in its context, an interpretive essay, glossary and annotated bibliography.Trade ReviewHas something of interest to those interested in women writers [.] is also a helpful text for those interested in medieval women readers. * YEAR'S WORK IN ENGLISH STUDIES *

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Book SynopsisDescriptive catalogue provides a crucial guide to one of the most important repositories of medieval manuscrips. Merton College, Oxford, one of the oldest colleges in the University, was founded in 1264. Its library contains some 328 complete medieval manuscript books (plus several hundred fragments in, or extracted from, the bindings of early printed books), dating from the ninth to the late fifteenth century. Most of them came to the College before the Reformation, and are the remains of its medieval collection, part of which was chained in the library, part in circulation amongst the Fellowship. Together with the College's surviving medieval archive, which includes no fewer than twenty-three book-lists, this material provides an important window on intellectual life at the University of Oxford between the thirteenth and sixteenth centuries, and on the manufacture, acquisition and use of the books that supported it. This first catalogue of the medieval manuscripts since 1852 offers full and detailed descriptions of each item, supported by a colour frontispiece, 50 colour plates, and 107 black and white plates. Its introduction provides the first detailed history of Merton's medieval library, including an account of the building anddesign of the College's 'Old Library', built in the 1370s, western Europe's oldest library room still in use today; and the volume is completed with four appendices (including a comprehensive set of extracts from the College's medieval account rolls referring to its books and library) and two indexes. RODNEY M. THOMSON is Professor of History and Honorary Research Associate in the School of History and Classics, University of Tasmania.Trade ReviewAt the centre of the volume stand what Thomson always provides, a sequence of impeccable and very detailed descriptions; one can be assured that Merton books and their contents are now superlatively publicized. * MEDIUM AEVUM *Conveys a vivid picture of the intellectual world of medieval Oxford, not only in terms of what texts were available but of how books were produced, acquired and cared for. [It] proves so informative about the lives of books that it will surely become a fruitful resource for future scholars, and not only those concerned with the medieval university. * ASSOCIATION for MANUSCRIPTS and ARCHIVES in RESEARCH COLLECTIONS NEWSLETTER *A substantial amount of information is provided for each manuscript in a format which is easy to understand and concise. The catalogue is also well illustrated, with a number of colour and black-and-white plates. * TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT *Table of ContentsIntroduction Catalogue Appendix A: The Greek Manuscripts Appendix B: Extracts from the Merton account rolls relating to books and the library Appendix C: Merton College books in John Bale's Index Appendix D: The section on Merton manuscripts in Thomas James' Ecloga Index of Manuscripts General Index

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Book SynopsisText and translation of comic plays sheds light on a fascinating era of theatrical production. `[Opens] up an entirely new corpus of texts for scholars and readers familar with and interested in European dramatic texts from this period, but who have heretofore not had access to them due to the language barrier.' Professor David F. Johnson, Florida State University, Tallahassee During the Middle Ages and early modern period, a dramatic culture of astonishing vitality developed in the Low Countries. Owing to the activities of organisationsknown as rederijkerskamers, or "chambers of rhetoric", drama became a central aspect of public life in the cities of the Netherlands. The comedies produced by these groups are particularly interesting. Drawing their forms and narratives from folklore and popular ritual, and entertaining in their own right, they also bring together a range of important concerns; they respond directly to some of the key developments in the period, reflecting the political and religious turmoil of the Reformation and Dutch Revolt, the emergence of humanism, and the appearance of an early capitalist economy. This collection brings together the original Middle Dutch text of ten of these comic plays, with facing translation into modern English. The selection is divided evenly between formal stage-plays and monologues, and provides a representation of the full range of rederijker drama, from the sophisticatedFarce of the Fisherman, with its sly undermining of audience expectation, to the hearty scatology of A Mock-Sermon on Saint Nobody, and the grim gallows humour of The Farce of the Beggar. An introduction and notes place the plays in their context and elucidate difficulties of interpretation. Ben Parsons is Teaching Fellow at the University of Leicester; Bas Jongenelen is teacher of Dutch Literature at Fontys Lerarenopleidingin Tilburg.Trade ReviewThis volume is a rich source for getting acquainted with the vast comic literature of the Low Countries, providing material and thought for further study and, in so doing (and who could gainsay the benefit of that?), making us readers laugh. * SPECULUM *A very welcome addition to the existing literature. * FOLKLORE *[Makes] an important part of the Dutch literary heritage accessible to scholars from the Anglophone world. * EDITIONEN IN DER KRITIK *Provides a useful window into the Renaissance theatrical tradition [...] The editors have tapped a rich vein in the vital and diverse tradition of vernacular Dutch comic drama. * COMITATUS *Table of ContentsTranslators' Note Introduction: The Older the Hollander the More Foolish: Comedy, Foolery and the Chambers of Rhetoric in the Medieval Low Countries Part I: Dramatic Monologues This is the Madness The Guild of the Blue Barge A Mock Sermon on Saint Nobody The Oath of Master Pawnbroker A Wise and Wonderful Prognostication Part II: Farces The Farce of the Beggar A Play of Three Lovers The Farce of the Fisherman Jack Sweet-tooth A Farce of the Barefoot Brothers Bibliography

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Book SynopsisFemale mysticism, usually nourished in contemplative surroundings, in Blannbekin's case drew its inspiration from urban life; Weithaus identifies her visions as "street mysticism". This early example of a spiritual diary incorporating the visions of a female mystic offers a glimpse of religious women's daily life and spiritual practices. Her visions comment on memorable events such as a popular bishop's visit to town during which people were trampled to death; the consequences of a rape committed by a priest; thefts of the Eucharist and the work of witches. Christ, for Blannbekin, is not only bridegroom, but also shopkeeper, apothecary, and axe-wielding soldier, and it was her vision of swallowing Christ's foreskin which led to her eventual censorship. Life and Revelations has only relatively recently been rediscovered by Austrian scholar Peter Dinzelbacher, and this translation is based on his critical edition. Ulrike Wiethaus is Associate Professor, Interdisciplinary Appointments, Wake Forest University.Trade ReviewScholars of women's spirituality will welcome this entrée to th etext of a lively, hitherto inaccessible author. * CATHOLIC HISTORICAL REVIEW [hardback edition] *

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Book SynopsisAnne of France (1461-1522) composed these lessons - presented as a portrait of an ideal princess - as guidance in negotiating the pitfalls facing a woman in the world of politics. First English translation. Anne of France (1461-1522), daughter of Louis XI and sister of Charles VIII, was one of the most powerful women of her time. As the fifteenth century drew to a close, Anne composed a series of enseignements, "lessons", forher daughter Suzanne of Bourbon. These instructions represent a distillation of a lifetime's experience, and are presented through the portrait of an ideal princess to help her negotiate the difficult passage of a woman in the world of politics. The lessons are here translated into English for the first time and accompanied by full introduction, commentary and notes. Professor Sharon L. Jansen teaches in the Department of English, Pacific Lutheran University.Trade ReviewOffers explication for non-specialist readers but at the same time provides serious scholarship. [...] A thoughtful and informative book which offers a sympathetic reassessment of Anne. * RICARDIAN *The translation is well-annotated where historical and literary explanations are needed. * YEAR'S WORK IN MODERN LANGUAGE STUDIES (hardback editions) *

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Book SynopsisLate eleventh-century spiritual counsel for a woman recluse, anticipating medieval advice literature for anchoresses. Goscelin's Liber Confortatorius is extraordinary both as an example of high-medieval spiritual practice and as a record of a personal relationship. Written in about 1083 by the monk Goscelin to a protegee and personal friend, the recluse Eva, it takes up the tradition of St Jerome's letters of spiritual guidance to women, and anticipates medieval advice literature for anchoresses. As a compendious treatise, it has much to tell us about the intellectual interests and preoccupations of religious people in the late eleventh century. As a personal document, it allows a fascinating and uncommonly intimate insight into the psychology of religious life and the relationships betweenmen and women in the high middle ages. This English translation is presented here with notes and introduction. Monika Otter is Associate Professor of English and Comparative Literature, Dartmouth College.Trade ReviewProvides ambitious students of the Middle Ages with a rare opportunity to experience in English the complex, rich, and often impenetrable world of the monastic imagination, as dazzling in what it reveals as it is frustrating for what it conceals. * THE MEDIEVAL REVIEW *

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Book SynopsisSelections from this widely varied original mystical treatise offer insight into the lives of C13 female religious in northern Europe. Here is one of the great surprises of German medieval literature. Compiled between c.1250 and c.1282, it is an extraordinary piece of imaginative writing. It integrates visions, auditions, dialogues, prayers, hymns, lyrical love poems, letters, allegories and parables, and draws creatively on features from hagiography, the disputation, the treatise, and magic spells, as the author documents her relationship with God and with her contemporaries. Selectionsfrom the text are presented here in translation with introduction and notes. Dr Elizabeth A. Andersen teaches in the School of Modern Languages, Newcastle University.Trade ReviewReaders will welcome this thoughtful selection. * JOURNAL OF ENGLISH & GERMANIC PHILOLOGY (hardback edition) *

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Book SynopsisTranslation of Christine's autobiographical Vision, both dealing with her own life and career, and offering a possible solution to the troubled state of France at the time. Christine de Pizan's The Vision is both a powerful contemporary response to the chaos that would eventually precipitate Henry V's invasion of France, and a fascinating view of the author's own progress as a woman reader, writer, and public commentator in the late Middle Ages. As a long-time intimate of the French court, Christine here analyses the origins of the civil strife in which France found itself in 1405, and offers a possible future, callingfor its resolution in the voice of a prophet. Alongside her documentation of the difficulties faced by a medieval woman left widowed early in life, she also explores issues of gender and authorship, interpretation and misinterpretation in her remarkable career as a writer and advisor of princes. Glenda McLeod is Professor Emerita, Gainesville State College; Charity Cannon Willard was Professor Emerita, Ladycliff College.Trade ReviewThis new rendering into modern English, with its excellent essays and scholarly bibliography, will certainly be read with great profit. * MEDIUM AEVUM *Essential. * CHOICE *

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Book SynopsisThe first modern translation of one of the most influential books to come from the middle ages. The Gilte Legende was widely read as a model for everyday life, including the education of women through examples set by early Christian martyrs. This book divides the lives of female saints into: the "ryght hooly virgins",who vocally defend their bodies against Roman persecution; "holy mothers", who give up their traditional role to pursue a life of contemplation; the "repentant sinners", who convert and voice their defiance against a society thatdemanded silence in women; and the "holy transvestites", who cast off their gender identity to find absolution and salvation. Their lives reach through the ages to speak to a modern audience, forcing a re-examination of women's roles in the medieval period. LARISSA TRACY is Adjunct Assistant Professor of English at Georgetown University and George Mason University. Series editor JANE CHANCETrade Review[The author] is to be commended for her effort to make these important and interesting legends accessible to a wider audience. * ANGLIA *

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Book SynopsisEnglish translation of a variety of texts from women's books of hours, with introduction, notes, and an interpretive essay. The book of hours is said to have been the most popular book owned by the laity in the later Middle Ages. This volume brings together a selection of texts taken from books of hours known to have been owned by women. While some will be familiar from bibles or prayer-books, others have to be sought in specialist publications, often embedded in other material, and a few have not until now been available at all in modern editions or translations. The texts arecomplemented by an introduction setting the book of hours in its context, an interpretive essay, glossary and annotated bibliography.Trade ReviewHas something of interest to those interested in women writers [.] is also a helpful text for those interested in medieval women readers. * YEAR'S WORK IN ENGLISH STUDIES *

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Book SynopsisEdition with English translation of Middle Dutch version of the adventures of Gawain. The gem in the crown of Middle Dutch Arthurian romance, the Roman van Walewein embodies the transformation of popular folktale into courtly romance. The framework of the romance is a tripartite series of quests, in which the hero, Walewein, must acquire and relinquish successive marvellous objects. Events are set in motion after Arthur and his knights have completed their meal, when a flying chess set enters the hall; Walewein embarks on a series ofquests to capture it and bring it back to Arthur. This edition of the text, accompanied by facing English translation, brings this important work to a wider audience; it is accompanied by an introduction, variants and rejected readings, and critical notes. David F. Johnson is Professor of English, Florida State University; Geert H.M. Claassens is Professor of Middle Dutch Literature at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium.Trade ReviewScholars of Arthurian romance who wish to add Middle Netherlandic texts to their scholarly discussion, or anyone simply wanting the pleasure of reading a good medieval story, will welcome these volumes... each translation reads wonderfully.. highly welcome additions to medieval scholarship. * SPECULUM *

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Book SynopsisAn adaptation of an Old French romance with parallel text, notes and a detailed introduction. Some time in the first quarter of the thirteenth century, Guillaume le Clerc composed the story of Fergus, a romance in which the main character features as a "new" Perceval in a realistically depicted Scottish landscape. Shortlythereafter, perhaps as early as 1250, the story was translated into Middle Dutch. The Ferguut, however, is an adaptation of the Old French Fergus, rather than a slavish translation. The result is a romance which possesses all the appeal of the Old French Fergus, but at the same time reveals something of the Middle Dutch romancer's tastes and techniques. This volume offers the first ever English translation, facing a new edition of thetext, and will thus bring this important work to a wider audience; it is accompanied by an introduction, variants and rejected readings, and critical notes. David F. Johnson is Professor of English, Florida State University; Geert H.M. Claassens is Professor of Middle Dutch Literature at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium.

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Book SynopsisThe romances translated here are contained in the so-called Lancelot Compilation. Compiled in the early fourteenth century by five scribes, its 241 extant folios contain the lion's share of Arthurian romance in Middle Dutch, no fewer than ten texts. The core of this compilation is comprised of translations into rhymed couplets of the Lancelot-Queste-Mort, into which seven additional romances have been inserted. The result is a compilation that successfully transforms a number of disparate texts into an ordered sequence of ten Arthurian romances, a project that rivals similar ones in better known European vernaculars, and bears comparison with Malory's Morte Darthur. Parallel text with notes and an introduction. < The romances are: the Wrake van Ragisel (Vengeance of Raguidel), the Ridder metter mowen (Romance of the Knight of the Sleeve), Lanceloet en het hert metde witte voet (Lancelot and the Hart with the White Foot), Walewein ende Keye, and Torec. David F. Johnson is Professor of English, Florida State University; Geert H.M. Claassens is Professor of Middle Dutch Literature at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium.Trade ReviewAll that was excellent about Johnson and Claassen's editions of Walewein and Ferguut in Dutch Romances I and II is similarly excellent in this ambitious presentation of five important Arthurian romances little known beyond Dutch scholarship. [.] Make[s] accessible a wonderful set of texts hitherto unavailable to those who do not read (Middle) Dutch. * SPECULUM *

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Book SynopsisText and facing English translation of a version of the Tristan story from north-east Italy. The Tristano Corsiniano is preserved in a unique manuscript of the Biblioteca Corsiniana housed at the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei in Rome (MS 55.K.5; formerly Rossi 2593). Written in a mixture of northeastern Italian dialects, the manuscript was probably copied in the third quarter of the fourteenth century. The contents are a much abbreviated descendent of the noted French prose Roman de Tristan; opening with Dinadan's amusing discoursesand misadventures, the majority of the story concerns the famous three-day Tournament at Loverzep, and concludes with King Arthur and Lancelot visiting Tristan, Yseut and their companions. The manuscript, although not luxurious,is heavily decorated with designs that perfectly reflect the vigorous and spirited narrative style. This volume presents a new edition of the text, accompanied by the first ever translation into English, thereby making this important version of the Tristan story available more widely. It also includes an introduction, listing of illuminations, bibliography and explanatory notes. Gloria Allaire is Assistant Professor of Italian at theUniversity of Kentucky.Trade ReviewIn the translation of the manuscript, Allaire finds a felicitous balance between being faithful to the original Italian text with its own repetitions and inconsistencies while also making the English narrative readable and enjoyable. * ARTHURIANA *Table of ContentsIntroduction Text and Translation Appendix: Typology of Illuminations Bibliography Index of Proper Names

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Book SynopsisEdition and translation of this important genre of Old Welsh poetry. The "Stanzas of the Graves" or "Graves of the Warriors of the Island of Britain", attributed to the legendary poet Taliesin, describe ancient heroes' burial places. Like the "Triads of the Island of Britain", they are an indispensable key to the narrative literature of medieval Wales. The heroes come from the whole of Britain, including Mercia and present-day Scotland, as well as many from Wales and a few from Ireland. Many characters known from the Mabinogion appear, often with additional information, as do some from romance and early Welsh saga, such as Arthur, Bedwyr, Gawain, Owain son of Urien, Merlin, and Vortigern. The seventh-century grave of Penda of Mercia, beneath the river Winwæd in Yorkshire, is the latest grave to be included. The poems testify to the interest aroused by megaliths, tumuli, and other apparently man-made monuments, some of which can be identified with known prehistoric remains. This volume offers a full edition and translation of the poems, mapped with reference to all the manuscripts, starting with the Black Book of Carmarthen, the oldest extant book of Welsh poetry. There is also a detailed commentary on their linguistic, literary, historical, and archaeological aspects.Table of ContentsPart I Study INTRODUCTION 1. SERIES I, SERIES III, AND THE SO-CALLED 'SERIES II' AND 'SERIES IV' 2. DATING ENGLYNION Y BEDDAU 3. THE GROWTH, RELATIONSHIP, AND TRANSMISSION OF THE TEXTS 4. THE REDISCOVERY AND STUDY OF ENGLYNION Y BEDDAU 5. EDWARD LHWYD'S INDEX TO ENGLYNION Y BEDDAU 6. METRICS Part II Editions, Translations, and Commentary List of the Englynion 7. SERIES I 8. SERIES III

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Book SynopsisCatalogue of the famous collection of French manuscripts at the Parker Library, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. The celebrated Parker Library at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, contains over sixty manuscripts of importance for medieval French studies, including chronicles and genealogies, royal statutes, religious works, sermons, prayers, meditations, commentaries and glosses, romances, songs and lyrics, letters, treatises on medicine, law, morality, language, spelling, alchemy, astrology and geography. Some of these are well known, but others are obscure, unedited, or new discoveries. This important new reference work, a Catalogueof the French manuscripts in the library, makes available detailed information about these sources, with full bibliographical references.

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Book SynopsisThe scholarly quality of all of these contributions does justice to the richness of the entire collection. MODERN LANGUAGE REVIEW Articles examining aspects of the French manuscripts in the Parker Library. `This wide-ranging volume contains Philippe Ménard's study of the Proverbs in MS 450 - Elspeth Kennedy's contribution on the prose Lancelot in MS 45 -concentrating on how the manuscript gives evidence of a medieval tendencyto improve a romance text in terms of narrative consistency; Danielle Quéruel's essay on the Chronique d'un Ménestrel de Reims in MS 435 - Françoise Ferrand's discussion of the magnificent Apocalypse in MS 20, which she suggests maywell have been produced to commemorate the coronation of Edward III; René Stuip's brief survey of the mid-fifteenth-century Histoire des Seigneurs de Gavre (MS 91) - Diana Tyson's examination of the five prose Brutmanuscripts,followed by a lengthy analysis by J.C. Thiolier of one of them, Thomas de Gray's Scalacronica(MS 133) with its interesting royalist slant on the murder of Thomas Becket; Jacques Beauroy's study of MSS 37and 301, examples of treatises on agricultural management - Fittingly, the editor's tail-piece is on fragments of French texts in the Parker Library - the volume is an interesting contribution.' FRENCH STUDIES NIGEL WILKINSis Librarian at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. The contributors are: PHILIPPE MÉNARD, ELSPETH KENNEDY, DANIELLE QUÉRUEL, FRANÇOISE FERRAND, RENÉSTUIP, JEAN-CLAUDE THIOLIER, DIANA TYSON, JACQUES BEAUROY, NIGEL WILKINSTrade ReviewThe scholarly quality of all of these contributions does justice to the richness of the entire collection. * MODERN LANGUAGE REVIEW *

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Book SynopsisPublished by Boydell & Brewer Inc.

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Book SynopsisFirst modern edition of four romances from the medieval Scottish tradition. The four romances in this collection have been unjustly neglected. Indeed, Florimond, King Orphius and Sir Colling were entirely unknown to modern audiences - despite some late-medieval references to the first two -until fragmentary copies were unearthed in the National Archives of Scotland in the 1970s: all three are researched and fully edited for the first time here. King Orphius, closely and significantly related to the famous Middle English romance Sir Orfeo, is supplemented here with the Laing fragment discovered by the present editor in 2010. Roswall and Lillian survives in later prints and was a favourite text of Sir Walter Scott's - he owned at least three copies of it - but it has not been edited since the nineteenth century. Each text is supplied with comprehensive explanatory notes and an introduction, including full discussion of extant witnesses and circulation history; linguistic and other evidence for date and provenance; literary context; analogues and influences. There is a combined glossary, and an Appendix presents the text of the English Percy Folio ballad "Sir Cawline" as derived from the Scots Sir Colling. Dr Rhiannon Purdie is Senior Lecturer in Medieval English, University of St Andrews.Trade ReviewA landmark in the on-going transmission of these works. It is an edition for all: the comprehensive textual and interpretative analysis adds much detail to our knowledge of these four texts while helping a new generation of readers to encounter and appreciate the tales for the first time. * SCOTTISH STUDIES NEWSLETTER *Makes available texts that were virtually unknown to modern readers. [It] is sure to inspire new studies of four romances that have been overlooked for far too long. * TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT *Table of ContentsIntroduction Editorial Procedure Texts Florimond of Albany Sir Colling the Knycht King Orphius Roswall and Lillian Explanatory Notes Appendix: The Percy Folio 'Sir Cawline' Glossary Index of Names and Places Bibliography

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Book SynopsisAunt Tula (La tia Tula), published in 1921, is one of the few novels written by Miguel de Unamuno to centre on a female protagonist. It is a vivid, nuanced portrait of the intelligent, wilful and yet vulnerable Tula. Despite having no biological children of her own, the unmarried Tula becomes the primary maternal figure for successive generations of children; some related to her, others not. Her chaste maternity is presented as a complex response to her long-held, self-sacrificing romantic love for her brother-in-law, her antipathy for the submissive role expected of bourgeois married women, and Tula's fear of her own physicality. Julia Biggane's translation captures the accessibility of style and richness of literary substance in the original, and the introduction equips the reader with an understanding of the text's wider material contexts and historical significance. Of special interest is the novel's representation of womanhood and maternity, itself inflected by wider social changes in countries across Western Europe and Russia during the first two decades of the 20th century.Table of Contents Acknowledgements Introduction Bibliographical Note Tia Tula / Aunt Tula Notes

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Book SynopsisAunt Tula (La tia Tula), published in 1921, is one of the few novels written by Miguel de Unamuno to centre on a female protagonist. It is a vivid, nuanced portrait of the intelligent, wilful and yet vulnerable Tula. Despite having no biological children of her own, the unmarried Tula becomes the primary maternal figure for successive generations of children; some related to her, others not. Her chaste maternity is presented as a complex response to her long-held, self-sacrificing romantic love for her brother-in-law, her antipathy for the submissive role expected of bourgeois married women, and Tula's fear of her own physicality. Julia Biggane's translation captures the accessibility of style and richness of literary substance in the original, and the introduction equips the reader with an understanding of the text's wider material contexts and historical significance. Of special interest is the novel's representation of womanhood and maternity, itself inflected by wider social changes in countries across Western Europe and Russia during the first two decades of the 20th century.Table of Contents Acknowledgements Introduction Bibliographical Note Tia Tula / Aunt Tula Notes

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Book SynopsisRamon del Valle-Inclan is one of Spain's greatest dramatists. His particular legacy is theesperpento, a satirical mode combining tragedy and farce and characterised by its use of the grotesque.The Dead Man's Finery (1926) andThe Captain's Daughter (1927) are two short esperpentos that satirise the military, which for Valle-Inclan encapsulated the worst and most retrogressive qualities of the Spanish nation. InThe Dead Man's Finery, Johnny Bluster is a decommissioned veteran of the Spanish American War who steals a dead man's clothes in order to woo a prostitute. A parody of the Don Juan legend, the play takes the problematic, protean and devilish Don Juan and sets his outrageous behaviour in a very particular social and historical context.The Captain's Daughteris the most historically and politically oriented of Valle-Inclain's works for the theatre. A man is killed and the accident of his death sets off a chain of events in which exploitation and self-interest are the orchestrating forces, concluding in a military coup that topples the government. An overt satire of the rise to power of General Primo de Rivera in 1923, the play dispenses with the individual protagonist and portrays a society in crisis. Notorious for his recondite use of language, Valle-Inclain emphasises the popular idiom without ever falling into picturesque realism. Rather than recreate accurate modes of speech he creates a mode of expression that highlights incongruity and contrast, emphasising the puppet-like quality of his characters. Translated here for the first time into English, the plays are accompanied by a critical introduction and notes to guide the reader or director of these plays. Notorious for his recondite use of language, in these plays Valle-Inclan emphasises the popular idiom without ever falling into picturesque realism; rather than recreate accurate modes of speech he creates a mode of expression that brings together all the play's characters, regardless of their status or place in society. The emphasis on incongruity and contrast creates a peculiarly sarcastic tone that permeates the dialogue. The plays are accompanied by a critical introduction and notes to guide the reader or director of these plays, both fine examples of Valle-Inclan's expressionistic and experimental theatre.Table of Contents Translator’s Note Critical Introduction Bibliography Las galas del difunto/The Dead Man’s Finery Notes La hija del capitán/The Captain’s Daughter Notes

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Book SynopsisGoing Down to Morocco (Bajarse al moro), is one of the most emblematic and best known theatrical work of recent times in Spain. It both contributed to and documented La Movida, a drug-fuelled youth movement that placed Madrid firmly on the global cultural map in the early 1980s. Alonso de Santos' play, a commercial and critical success when first staged in 1985, was made into a film starring Antonio Banderas in 1989. Chusa, a free-spirited and spontaneously generous young drug smuggler introduces Elena, a middle-class runaway, to the apartment she shares with her cousin Pepito and her boyfriend Alberto, a rookie policeman. The result is chaos in their previously disorderly but happy life. The comedy explores opposing lifestyles of young people in 1980s Spain, during a period of radical social change. It is characterised by humour, creative use of contemporary slang, and intertextual film references. Duncan Wheeler's translation of the original play marks with footnotes the changes made in the new version done in 2008 for a high-profile revival to celebrate its twenty-fifth anniversary. This edition also includes an unpublished interview conducted by Duncan Wheeler with Alonso de Santos in 2010.Table of Contents Introduction Bibliography Interview with JoséLuis Alonso de Santos Bajarse al moro/Going Down to Morocco

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Book SynopsisGoing Down to Morocco (Bajarse al moro), is one of the most emblematic and best known theatrical work of recent times in Spain. It both contributed to and documented La Movida, a drug-fuelled youth movement that placed Madrid firmly on the global cultural map in the early 1980s. Alonso de Santos' play, a commercial and critical success when first staged in 1985, was made into a film starring Antonio Banderas in 1989. Chusa, a free-spirited and spontaneously generous young drug smuggler introduces Elena, a middle-class runaway, to the apartment she shares with her cousin Pepito and her boyfriend Alberto, a rookie policeman. The result is chaos in their previously disorderly but happy life. The comedy explores opposing lifestyles of young people in 1980s Spain, during a period of radical social change. It is characterised by humour, creative use of contemporary slang, and intertextual film references. Duncan Wheeler's translation of the original play marks with footnotes the changes made in the new version done in 2008 for a high-profile revival to celebrate its twenty-fifth anniversary. This edition also includes an unpublished interview conducted by Duncan Wheeler with Alonso de Santos in 2010.Table of Contents Introduction Bibliography Interview with JoséLuis Alonso de Santos Bajarse al moro/Going Down to Morocco

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Book SynopsisAeschylus starts his tetralogy boldly, making the Danaids themselves prologue, chorus and protagonist. Guided by their father Danaus, these girls have fled from Egypt, where their cousins want to marry them, to seek asylum in Argos: they claim descent from Io, who was driven to Egypt five generations earlier when Zeus' love for her was detected by jealous Hera. In the long first movement of the play the Danaids argue their claim, pressing it with song and dance of pathos and power, upon the reluctant Argive king. He, forced eventually by their threat of suicide, puts the case to his people, who vote to accept the girls, but while they sing blessings on Argos, Danaus spies their cousins' ships arriving. Left on their own when he goes for help, they sing more seriously of suicide, and seek sanctuary upstage when the Egyptians enter. A remarkable tussle of two choruses ensues; in the nick of time the king arrives, sees off the Egyptians (but they promise a return) and offers his hospitality. The girls want their father, however, and go when guided by him and his escort of Argive soldiers. Their final song has elements of wedding song in it; they share it, provocatively, with the Argives. The rest of the tetralogy is lost, but enough is known to indicate that marriage is the theme. Aeschylus probably surprised his first audience in his use of the myth; his command of theatre and poetry is fully mature. A.J.Bowen is an Emeritus Fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge. From 1993 to 2007 he was Orator of the University.Trade ReviewThis is a fine commentary, in which the editor has omitted no point of significance or dispute.Colin Leach, Classics for AllTable of Contents Introduction: Synopsis (1) Text and facing translation Apparatus criticus Commentary Bibliography Index

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