An Anthology Of Medieval Love Debate Poetry

"An accurate, elegant rendering of major late-medieval texts, crucial to our understanding of the courtly tradition and of Chaucer. Ideal for classroom use."--William Calin, University of Florida "Elegant and graceful translations of the most important authors of the late Middle Ages; each work brings a new take on the topic of love. A superb resource for students and scholars in comparative literature and medieval studies."--Wendy Pfeffer, University of Louisville This very first anthology of medieval love debate poems--comprising five masterpieces of the genre--explores the many compelling mysteries raised by the experience of romantic love. Some have been translated into modern English for the first time. With wit, ingenuity, and humor, these poems suggest intriguing answers to what contemporary inquirers would call questions of gender and sexual politics: Who loves better, men or women? Are men or women more faithful in love? Are women obligated to reciprocate the attentions of an ardent male? What qualities in a lover do women most desire? The contributors provide a foundation for the love debate genre and medieval literary treatments of love, as well as pertinent facts of literary history and biographical details about the poets, whose work spans more than 100 years. The volume features works that have been recognized for centuries as central texts of the medieval tradition: Christine de Pizan's Debate of the Two Lovers, Alain Chartier's Debate of the Four Ladies, Geoffrey Chaucer's The Legend of Good Women, and Guillaume de Machaut's Judgment of the King of Bohemia and Judgment of the King of Navarre. Each translation is appropriately annotated for student use. R. Barton Palmer is Calhoun Lemon Professor of Literature at Clemson University. Barbara K. Altmann is associate professor of French at the University of Oregon.

"Altmann is making a major contribution by providing this much-needed text of Christine's significant but inadequately known debate poems, together with essential philological, codicological, and historical background, annotations, together with a landmark literary-critical preface."--Nadia Margolis, editor, The Christine de Pizan Society Newsletter This new edition of Christine de Pizan's love debate poems supercedes the only other modern edition (1886) by working from all existing fifteenth century versions and by using as a base manuscript the version now generally acknowledged as the definitive copy. The poems, Livre du Debat de deux amans, the Livre des Trois jugemens, and the Livre du Dit de Poissy are spirited discussions, of approximately 2000 lines, concerning the finer points of late-medieval love doctrine and protocol. Written early in the fifteenth century, they are significant both because of their contribution to the tradition of debates and dits by such authors as Guillaume de Machaut, Jean Froissart, and Alain Chartier, and because their author is arguably the most important female writer in the west before Austen. Alongside the texts, Altmann provides the first extended study of these debates in their own right, offering a literary historical background to the form, analyzing Christine's use of the traditional form and content of the love debate, and providing sections on the codicology and philology of the poems. She also provides an introduction, summary, and textual notes for each of the poems as well as a glossary for nonspecialist readers. Barbara K. Altmann is associate professor of French at the University of Oregon and author of articles on French medieval verse in French Studies and elsewhere.

This interdisciplinary handbook provides extensive information about research in medieval studies and its most important results over the last decades. The handbook is a reference work which enables the readers to quickly and purposely gain insight into the important research discussions and to inform themselves about the current status of research in the field. The handbook consists of four parts. The first, large section offers articles on all of the main disciplines and discussions of the field. The second section presents articles on the key concepts of modern medieval studies and the debates therein. The third section is a lexicon of the most important text genres of the Middle Ages. The fourth section provides an international bio-bibliographical lexicon of the most prominent medievalists in all disciplines. A comprehensive bibliography rounds off the compendium. The result is a reference work which exhaustively documents the current status of research in medieval studies and brings the disciplines and experts of the field together.

"Machaut's Legacy deepens our appreciation of the poet's wide-ranging accomplishments and influences, which span from the Middle Ages to the postmodern era. It stakes out exciting new territories and provocative theses, all of which enhance our understanding of this genius of world literature."--Tison Pugh, author of Chaucer's (Anti-)Eroticisms and the Queer Middle Ages "This richly erudite volume contextualizes Machaut as a seminal medieval poet whose work extends its reach well into the modern era. Machaut's Legacy pulls the reader through almost 700 years of literary history, illustrating the extraordinary influence that this writer had on his contemporaries, as well as his lasting impact on the modern novel."--Lynn T. Ramey, author of Black Legacies: Race and the European Middle Ages "Truly brilliant. Makes a claim to a paradigm shift in how we envisage the history of literature. Palmer and Kimmelman make an excellent case for Machaut as the major innovator in narrative and that his genre, the dit, heralds modernism or even postmodernism."--William Calin, author of The Lily and the Thistle: The French Tradition and the Older Literature of Scotland "An ambitious work that seeks, with great acuity, the origin of the kind of 'novel' in the dit and not in the romaunt. It examines the development of the judgment poetry format through the study of three texts by Machaut, pondering on this intricate form."--Jacqueline Cerquiglini-Toulet, author of A New History of Medieval French Literature A daring rewrite of literary history, contributors to this volume argue that the medieval poet, composer, and musician Guillaume de Machaut was the major influence in narrative craft during the late Middle Ages and long after. Examining Machaut's series of debate poems, part of the French tradition of dit amoureux (love tales), contributors highlight the genre's authorial self-consciousness, polyvocality, and ambiguity of judgment. They contend that Machaut led the way in developing and spreading these radical techniques and that his innovations in form and content were forerunners of the modern novel. R. Barton Palmer, Calhoun Lemon Professor of Literature and director of film studies at Clemson University, is coeditor of An Anthology of Medieval Love Debate Poetry. Burt Kimmelman, professor of English at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, is the author of The Poetics of Authorship in the Later Middle Ages: The Emergence of the Modern Literary Persona.

In 1401, Christine de Pizan (1365–1430?), one of the most renowned and prolific woman writers of the Middle Ages, wrote a letter to the provost of Lille criticizing the highly popular and widely read Romance of the Rose for its blatant and unwarranted misogynistic depictions of women. The debate that ensued, over not only the merits of the treatise but also of the place of women in society, started Europe on the long path to gender parity. Pizan’s criticism sparked a continent-wide discussion of issues that is still alive today in disputes about art and morality, especially the civic responsibility of a writer or artist for the works he or she produces. In Debate of the “Romance of the Rose,” David Hult collects, along with the debate documents themselves, letters, sermons, and excerpts from other works of Pizan, including one from City of Ladies—her major defense of women and their rights—that give context to this debate. Here, Pizan’s supporters and detractors are heard alongside her own formidable, protofeminist voice. The resulting volume affords a rare look at the way people read and thought about literature in the period immediately preceding the era of print.

The significance of the works of Alain Chartier in the development of European literature.

Offering the first comprehensive study of Guillaume de Machaut’s vast corpus of text and music, the 18 essays in this collection explore the author’s engagement with the ethical, political, and aesthetic concerns of his time. Building on interdisciplinary interest in Machaut, this collection broadens discussion of his work by exploring overlapping interests in his poetry and music; addressing lesser-studied writings; offering fresh perspectives on lyric, authorial voice, and performance; and engaging more critically with his reception by medieval bookmakers, modern editors, and the music industry. The result is a promising map for future research in the field that will be of interest to students and specialists alike.

First full-length study of what the manuscript contexts can reveal about early reactions to Chaucer, and in particular his treatment of women.