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An edition with facing annotated translation of the twelfth-century Medieval French popular romance Guillaume d’Angleterre. The claim to fame of this verse narrative is to have had its authorship attributed (falsely) to Chrétien de Troyes, the most famous of all twelfth-century Medieval French narrative poets. This prototypical adventure romance and is representative of a literary genre that has recently seen a renewal of interest among medieval literary critics.
An amusing tale of late twelfth-century social mobility, the romance tells of a bewildering series of adventures that befall a fictitious king who deliberately abandons his royal status to enter the ‘real’ world of knights, wolves, pirates and merchants. He and his family, dispersed by events between Bristol, Galway and Caithness, are finally reunited at Yarmouth thanks to a climactic stag hunt.
The book is designed for students of French, Medieval Studies, Comparative Literature and English, and for all medieval scholars interested in having an English version of a typical medieval adventure romance. It is the first authoritative English translation of this text, and all of its critical material is new.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.47788/TXVU9029
As a modern-language version of a lesser-known medieval work, Prof. Short’s edition and translation not only contribute to deepening our appreciation of the text and its tradition but also act as a reminder that hybrid, not easily classifiable texts falling outside of formed canons are undeniably worthy of scholarly attention.
— Maria Slautina, Speculum: A Journal of Medieval Studies
Ian Short was Professor of French at Birkbeck College University of London from 1983 until retirement in 2005. A medievalist with a specialism in Anglo-Norman and the twelfth century, he has published widely and edited and translated numerous texts into French and English.
Introduction
Conspectus of principal narrative episodes
Guillaume d’Angleterre ◊ William of England
Corrections to the manuscript text
Bibliography
Index of persons and places