Hartman, Richard A. and Sandra C. Malicote. Elye of Saint-Gilles: A Chanson de Geste. New York 2011. A line-by-line prose translation.
Newth, Michael A. Aymeri of Narbonne: A French Epic Romance. New York 2005. A verse translation.
_____. Fierabras and Floripas: A French Epic Allegory. New York 2010. A verse translation.
_____. Heroes of the French Epic. Woodbridge 2005. Verse translations of six chansons de geste: Gormont and Isembart, The Song of William, Charlemagne’s Pilgrimage, Raoul of Cambrai, Girart of Vienne andThe Knights of Narbonne.
_____.The Song of Aliscans. New York and London 1992. A verse translation.
_____.The Song of Aspremont. New York and London 1989. A verse translation.
_____. The Song of Roland. New York 2011. A verse translation available in hard copy, ebook, audio book (with music), and as a downloadable performance script for re-enactment. Many other line-by-line prose translations of this, the most famous Old French Epic, are available.
Price, Glanville (ed.) William, Count of Orange: Four Old French Epics. London and Totowa, N.J. 1975. Prose translations of The Crowning of Louis, The Waggon-Train, The Capture of Orange and The Song of William.
Rosenberg, Samuel N. and Samuel Danon. Amis and Amile: A Medieval Tale of Friendship, translated from the Old French. Ann Arbor,1997. A line-by-line prose translation.
Translation © Michael A. H. Newth 2014
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First published 2014
D.S. Brewer
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ISBN 978 1 84384 361 0 (Hardback)
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An interest in the middle ages often brings the non-specialist reader up short against a word or term which is not understood or only imperfectly understood. This dictionary is intended to put an end to all that: it has been designed to be of real help to general readers and specialists alike.
The dictionary contains some 3,400 terms as headwords, all entwined with direct links throughout the eBook edition, ranging from the legal and ecclesiastic to the more prosaic words of daily life. Latin was the language of the church, law and government, and many Latin terms illustrated here are frequently found in modern books of history of the period; similarly, the precise meaning of Old English and Middle English terms may elude today's reader: this dictionary endeavours to provide clarity. In addition to definition, etymologies of many words are given, in the belief that knowing the origin and evolution of a word gives a better understanding. There are also examples of medieval terms and phrases still in use today, a further aid to clarifying meaning.
Ramon Llull, Noel Fallows (trans.), The Book of the Order of Chivalry (Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 2008).
“Over the centuries that it was read this brief book retained its relevance but how that applied must have changed and so Llull has provided even the modern reader with a lens through which to view the medieval world. We must thank Professor Fallows for polishing up this lens and making it available for viewing.” HOBILAR.
Ramon Llull (1232-1316) composed The Book of the Order of Chivalry between 1274 and 1276 as both an instrument of reform and an agent for change. His aim was to create and codify the rules for a unilateral Order of Chivalry. The book was an immediate success and widely disseminated across Europe, eventually reaching a medieval English audience, though through a fanciful translation of a translation by William Caxton, in which most of the stylistic nuances of the Catalan original were lost.
This new translation is directly from the original Catalan, so capturing for the first time in English the concise, austere style that characterises Llull's prose; it is presented with introduction and notes. It will be essential reading for all scholars and enthusiasts of medieval chivalric culture.
Available in Print
Michael A. H. Newth, Heroes of the French Epic: A Selection of Chansons de Geste (Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 2005).
“Make[s] accessible to a wide readership texts that are relatively neglected in the English-speaking world. Newth's work is therefore to be recommended.” MEDIUM AEVUM.
The chansons de geste, poems offering a narrative of heroic deeds, provided the chief means of cultural and imaginative expression in the French language for over one hundred years, and its surviving examples offer a fascinating insight into the matters and manners of their times. However, although they form a vital and varied body of verse, their literary achievements have been represented almost exclusively, and to some extent atypically, by the Chanson de Roland.
This volume offers a selection in translation of the surviving chansons. The poems translated here [Gormont and Isembart, The Song of William, Charlemagne's Pilgrimage, Raoul of Cambrai, Girart of Vienne and The Knights of Narbonne] are taken from all three Old French epic song cycles, and apart from their individual merits, display the complete range of themes, episodes and character types which were the life-blood of the chanson de geste genre. They vary considerably in metre and narrative length, tone and diction, but all reflect the general development in the artistic modes and social purposes of this heroic poetry during the main period of its popularity; the translation aims to preserve the dynamic, musical quality of the orally-transmitted originals. Each is accompanied by an introduction and a select bibliography, providing important information both for the general reader, and for those more familiar with the genre.
Heroines of the French Epic Page 61