Excerpts from texts (with translation) from the French of medieval England offer a guide to medieval literary theory.

Excerpts from texts (with translation) from the French of medieval England offer a guide to medieval literary theory.

From the twelfth to the fifteenth centuries, French was one of England's main languages of literature, record, diplomacy and commerce and also its only supra-national vernacular. As is now recognised, the large corpus of England'sFrench texts and records is indispensable to understanding England's literary and cultural history, the multilingualism of early England, and European medieval French-language culture in general.
This volume presents a full, representative collection of texts and facing translations from England's medieval French. Through its selection of prologues and other excerpts from works composed or circulating in England, the volume presents a body of vernacular literary theory, in which some fifty-five highly various texts, from a range of genres, discuss their own origins, circumstances, strategies, source materials, purposes and audiences. Each entry, newly edited from a single manuscript, is accompanied by a headnote, annotation, and narrative bibliography, while a general introduction and section introductions provide further context and information. Also included are essays on French in England and onthe prosody and prose of insular French; Middle English versions of some of the edited French texts; and a glossary of literary terms.
By giving access to a literate culture hitherto available primarily only to Anglo-Norman specialists, this book opens up new possibilities for taking English francophony into account in research and teaching.

Jocelyn Wogan-Browne is Thomas F.X. and Theresa Mullarkey Chair in Literature, Fordham University, New York, and formerly Professor of Medieval Literature, University of York; Thelma Fenster is Professor Emerita of French and Medieval Studies, Fordham University; Delbert Russell is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of French, University of Waterloo.

General Introduction
Establishment of texts and translations, and conventions used
Part IFaus Franceis andDreit Engleis: on Language
De Britain ki ore est apelé Engletere / About Britain which is now called England
A Nun of Barking AbbeyLe romanz de saint Edward, rei et confessur / The Vernacular Life of St Edward, King and Confessor, 1163-70, and its proseremaniement
WaceLe Roman de Rou / The Romance of Rollo and the Dukes of Normandy
Hue de RotelandeIpomedon / The Romance of Ipomadon
Robert GrossetesteLe Chasteau d'amour / The Castle of Love
Waldef / The Romance of Waldef
Walter of BibbesworthTretiz de Langage / How to Speak French
Manières de langage: Spoken French for Business
'Quant vus frez a seignours...': Dictaminal Training attributed to Thomas Sampson
'Pur ceo que j'estoie requis...' : Treatise on conveyancing
John BartonDonait françois / The French Donatus
Andrew HornQui veut bone electioun faire andLa feste royale du Pui, fromLiber custumarum / The Book of the Customs of London
John GowerMirour de l'omme / The Mirror of Humanity
Part IISi sa dame ne li aidast: authorship and the patron
BenedeitLe Voyage de saint Brendan / The Voyage of St Brendan
GaimarL'Estoire des Engleis / The History of the English
Adgar/WilliamLe Gracial / The Book of Grace
Guernes de Pont-Ste-MaxenceLa Vie de Saint Thomas / The Life of St Thomas Becket
Simon of WalsinghamLa Vie de sainte Fey virgine et martire / The Life of St Faith, virgin and martyr
Matthew ParisLa Vie de saint Edmund, arcevesque de Cantorbire / The Life of St Edmund, Archbishop of Canterbury
Robert of GreathamMiroir ouEvangile des Domnees / Mirror orThe Sunday Gospels
Herman de ValenciennesLi Romanz de Dieu et de sa mere / The Romance of God and his Mother
Sir Thomas Gray of HeatonScalacronica / The Ladder Chronicle
Part IIIPrimes dirrum la dreyte fey: the conduct of reading, hearing and seeing
Guillaume le Clerc de NormandieLe Bestiaire divin / The Holy Bestiary
La Destructioun de Rome / The Destruction of Rome
Pierre d'Abernon de FetchamLumere as lais / Light for Laypeople
Apocalypse du manuscrit Lambeth: La Pénitence illustrée / The Lambeth Apocalypse: Penitence Diagram
Les Enfaunces de Jesu Crist / The Childhood of Jesus Christ
'Par ceste figure l'en poet savoer...' / 'Using this diagram, one can find out...'
John of HovedenRossignos / The Nightingale
St Edmund of Canterbury [ascribed]Mirour de seinte eglyse / Mirror of Holy Church
Sermons on Joshua
Angier of St FrideswideDialogues de saint Gregoire / Dialogues of St Gregory the Great
William Waddington [ascribed]Le Manuel des pechiez / The Manual of Sins
Part IVKi veult oïr: forming audiences and creating textual communities
WaceLa Vie de seint Nicolas / The Life of St Nicholas
La Vie de seint Clement / The Life of St Clement the Pope
Commentary on theChant des chanz / Commentary on the Song of Songs
Denis PiramusLa Vie Saint Edmund le Rey / The Life of St Edmund the King
Thomas of KentLe Roman de toute chevalerie /Romance of the Best Chivalry (Alexander the Great)
La Seinte Resurreccion / The Holy Resurrection
ChardriLa Vie de seint Josaphaz / The Life of St Josaphat
Fouke le Fitz Waryn / The Romance of Fouke le Fitz Waryn
'Sicom Aristotele nous dit' / Treatise on Menstruation
'Quant Deus out la femme fete' / Ornatus mulierum
Jofroi de Waterford and Servais CopaleSecré de Secrez / The Secret of Secrets
Le Miracle de Sardenai / The Miracle at Sardenaia
Jean de Mandeville [?]Le Livre des merveilles du monde / The Book of the Wonders of the World
'Coment la Mesun de Crabhus...comencerunt' / 'How they founded the nunnery of Crabhouse'
Part VSi come en latyn trovay escrit: the lineage of the text
EverartDistichs of Cato
Simund de FreineRoman de Philosophie / The Romance of Philosophy
Sanson de NantuilLes Proverbes de Salemon / Commentary on Solomon's Proverbs
Rauf de LinhamKalender/Calender
[Robert de Boron, Walter Map, ascribed]L'Estoire del saint Graal / The History of the Holy Grail
Walter de la Hove [?]Chronique / The Mohun Chronicle
Poème sur l'ancien testament /Poem on the Old Testament
Le Débat des hérauts d'armes de France et d'Angleterre / The Debate between the Heralds of France and England
Part VI Essays and resources
England and French
Poetry and Prose in the French of England
Middle English Versions of French Entries
Lists of Alternative Arrangements of the Entries
Glossary of literary terms
Bibliography