Li Chevaliers As Deus Espees

A verse poem in the Arthurian tradition, a genre popular in the Middle Ages, whose themes have been used in western European literature. It has received little attention despite its detailed development of character, of gender roles and their chivalric context, and of contemporary customs.

First modern critical edition of an important Arthurian romance, with facing translation.

This book proposes a fundamental revision of the history of early French romance: it argues that oral and performed traditions were far more important in the development of romance than scholars have recognised. Starting with issues of orality and literacy, it is argued that the form in which romances were composed was not the invention of clerics but was, rather, an oral form. The second part of the book looks at performance, and shows that romances such as those of Chretien invited voiced presentation; moreover, they were frequently recited from memory, sung, and acted out in dramatic fashion. Romances can, and should, still be performed today.

This major reference work is the fourth volume in the series "Arthurian Literature in the Middle Ages". Its intention is to update the French and Occitan chapters in R.S. Loomis’ "Arthurian Literature in the Middle Ages: A Collaborative History" (Oxford, 1959) and to provide a volume which will serve the needs of students and scholars of Arthurian literature. The principal focus is the production, dissemination and evolution of Arthurian material in French and Occitan from the twelfth to the fifteenth century. Beginning with a substantial overview of Arthurian manuscripts, the volume covers writing in both verse (Wace, the Tristan legend, Chretien de Troyes and the Grail Continuations, Marie de France and the anonymous lays, the lesser known romances) and prose (the Vulgate Cycle, the prose Tristan, the Post-Vulgate Roman du Graal, etc.).

Details of all published Arthurian work post 1978 to 1992. If one wants to scoop up nearly everything on an Arthurian subject, there is no substitute for the Arthurian Bibliography series. ANGLIA In 1981 the first Arthurian Bibliography appeared, an exhaustive alphabetical author-listing of all critical material recorded in the standard Arthurian bibliographies up to 1978. This was followed in 1983 by the second volume, giving full indexes by topic, key-word and individual work/author to form a complete subject-index of every topic in Arthurian literature. Summaries and reviews were also indicated where they existed. Arthurian Bibliography III updates this invaluable reference work for Arthurian scholars to 1992. Compiled from the BBSIA, it conveniently contains both author-listing and subject-index in one volume.

Modern theoretical approaches throw new light on the concepts of face and faciality in the Roman de la Rose and other French texts from the Middle Ages.