An Anglo-Norman Reader

am very grateful to the many anonymous readers of my book, who have submitted helpful and enthusiastic reports, and to the editors at Open Book. In addition, my thanks are due yet again to Henrietta Leyser, who has always been so generous with ideas and advice for me; and to the librarians who have helped me to track untrackable material. Further, I am proud to honour the memory of another two remarkable women: Dominica Legge, and my old iend and colleague El ieda Dubois. El ieda o en told me how she used to meet Legge in the Bibliothèque Nationale, who would hale her off for cups of coffee and amuse her endlessly with talk about Anglo-Norman 'because', said El ieda, 'nobody else would listen!' Lastly, I cannot sufficiently express my gratitude to Quentin for help and love and everything. This book is dedicated to them, and to the Oxford Anglo-Norman Reading Group. vii viii Acknowledgements ## Copyright Acknowledgements I wish to thank the following people and publishers who have granted me permission to use their work. This book contains a large number of different texts, therefore my list must be set out as economically as possible. All the passages reproduced in this book are listed in my Bibliography in addition to being cited in footnotes, so it can easily be seen which passage is taken om which published work. Each publisher (or editor, in the case of previously-unpublished texts) is stated clearly in the principal citation of each text, normally in the introduction to it. I am also very grateful to colleagues, and relevant institutions, for help and advice in my efforts to trace copyright-holders. First, I thank the Anglo-Norman Text Society for their generous permission to use more than a dozen extracts, of varying length; each is identified in its place, as stated above. 1 I thank the British Library for permission to transcribe and use three pages, kindly provided by them, om three different manuscripts: the first introduces my second Part (An Anglo-Norman Miscellany), the second passage is appended to A Medical Compendium, and the third is appended to the Credo and Pater Noster. Next, in alphabetical order, I would like to thank the following: Alderney Bayeux Tapestry Finale Emma Cavell, for the first of Maud Mortimer's Letters Honoré Champion (Paris), for an extract om Le Roman des Franceis Tony Hunt, for two substantial texts: the Credo and Pater Noster, and the Sins attributed to Robert Grosseteste Livre de Poche (Paris), for an extract om Le Roman de Thèbes PMLA, for permission to use the Apprise de Nurture, reprinted by permission of the Modern Language Association of America om Anglo-Norman Books of Courtesy and Nurture, PMLA 44 (1929), pp. 432-7 Royston Raymond, for the story printed in my Appendix Selden Society, for permission to use part of the legal text Placita Corone William Allen, for permission to use an extract om the Roman de Fergus Acknowledgements......Page 8 Copyright Acknowledgements......Page 9 Abbreviations......Page 10 Bible Books......Page 11 Introduction......Page 12 Selection of Texts......Page 19 Principal Themes and Topics......Page 22 Treatment of Texts......Page 32 Story......Page 36 History......Page 39 Wace's Roman de Rou......Page 40 Description of England......Page 45 The French Chronicle of London......Page 55 Des Grantz Geanz......Page 71 Romance......Page 88 Roman de Thèbes (Amphiarax)......Page 89 Protheselaus......Page 101 Le Roman de Fergus......Page 109 Le Roman du Reis Yder......Page 119 The Anglo-Norman Folie Tristan......Page 135 Short Stories......Page 145 Tristan Rossignol......Page 146 Two Fabliaux......Page 154 Le Roi d'Angleterre et le Jongleur d'Ely......Page 160 An Anglo-Norman Miscellany......Page 178 Le Roman des Franceis, by André de Coutances......Page 181 L'Apprise de Nurture......Page 192 La Maniere du Langage......Page 201 Maud Mortimer's letters to the King......Page 216 Christine de Pisan's letter to Isabelle of Bavaria......Page 221 Doctors, Lawyers, and Writers......Page 233 A Medical Compendium......Page 235 Legal Texts......Page 242 `En autre ovre' (Prologues)......Page 253 Religious Writings......Page 265 Proverbes de Salemon (chapter 7)......Page 266 The Creation of Herman de Valenciennes......Page 280 Hagiography......Page 292 La Vie d'Edouard le Confesseur, by a Nun of Barking......Page 293 La Vie Seinte Audree, by Marie......Page 301 The Life of St. Catherine, by Clemence......Page 316 Maurice de Sully: Credo and Pater Noster......Page 328 Sermon on Joshua......Page 342 Rossignos......Page 362 Eight Deadly Sins, attributed to Robert Grosseteste......Page 370 Nicole Bozon, from Contes Moralisés, 128: Bad Company......Page 377 `Et pis y avait quat'e: enne histouaire de ma graond'mé'......Page 383 Primary Texts......Page 390 Secondary Texts......Page 398 Manuscripts......Page 406 Bible References......Page 407 General Index......Page 408 "This book is an anthology with a difference. It presents a distinctive variety of Anglo-Norman works, beginning in the twelfth century and ending in the nineteenth, covering a broad range of genres and writers, introduced in a lively and thought-provoking way. Facing-page translations, into accessible and engaging modern English, are provided throughout, bringing these texts to life for a contemporary audience. The collection offers a selection of fascinating passages, and whole texts, many of which are not anthologised or translated anywhere else. It explores little-known byways of Arthurian legend and stories of real-life crime and punishment; women?s voices tell history, write letters, berate pagans; advice is offered on how to win friends and influence people, how to cure people?s ailments and how to keep clear of the law; and stories from the Bible are retold with commentary, together with guidance on prayer and confession. Each text is introduced and elucidated with notes and full references, and the material is divided into three main sections based on Dean?s Catalogue: Story (a variety of narrative forms), Miscellany (including letters, law and medicine, and other non-fiction), and Religious (saints' lives, sermons, Bible commentary, and prayers). Passages in one genre have been chosen so as to reflect themes or stories that appear in another, so that the book can be enjoyed as a collection or used as a resource to dip into for selected texts. This anthology is essential reading for students and scholars of Anglo-Norman and medieval literature and culture. Wide-ranging and fully referenced, it can be used as a springboard for further study or relished in its own right by readers interested to discover Anglo-Norman literature that was written to amuse, instruct, entertain, or admonish medieval audiences." "This book is an anthology with a difference. It presents a distinctive variety of Anglo-Norman works, beginning in the twelfth century and ending in the nineteenth, covering a broad range of genres and writers, introduced in a lively and thought-provoking way. Facing-page translations, into accessible and engaging modern English, are provided throughout, bringing these texts to life for a contemporary audience. The collection offers a selection of fascinating passages, and whole texts, many of which are not anthologised or translated anywhere else. It explores little-known byways of Arthurian legend and stories of real-life crime and punishment; women's voices tell history, write letters, berate pagans; advice is offered on how to win friends and influence people, how to cure people's ailments and how to keep clear of the law; and stories from the Bible are retold with commentary, together with guidance on prayer and confession. Each text is introduced and elucidated with notes and full references, and the material is divided into three main sections: Story (a variety of narrative forms), Miscellany (including letters, law and medicine, and other non-fiction), and Religious (saints' lives, sermons, Bible commentary, and prayers). Passages in one genre have been chosen so as to reflect themes or stories that appear in another, so that the book can be enjoyed as a collection or used as a resource to dip into for selected texts. This anthology is essential reading for students and scholars of Anglo-Norman and medieval literature and culture. Wide-ranging and fully referenced, it can be used as a springboard for further study or relished in its own right by readers interested to discover Anglo-Norman literature that was written to amuse, instruct, entertain, or admonish medieval audiences."--Publisher's website.