Description
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
