Arthur and the grail stories appeared in this French prose cycle together for the first time; scholars explore its social, historical, literary and manuscript contexts and account for its enduring interest. The early thirteenth-century French prose Lancelot-Grail Cycle (or Vulgate Cycle) brings together the stories of Arthur with those of the Grail, a conjunction of materials that continues to fascinate the Western imagination today. Representing what is probably the earliest large-scale use of prose for fiction in the West, it also exemplifies the taste for big cyclic compositions that shaped much of European narrative fiction for three centuries. A Companion to the Lancelot-Grail Cycle is the first comprehensive volume devoted exclusively to the Lancelot-Grail Cycle and its medieval legacy. The twenty essays in this volume, all by internationally known scholars, locate the work in its social, historical, literary, and manuscript contexts. In addition to addressing critical issues in the five texts that make up the Cycle, the contributors convey to modern readers the appeal that the text must have had for its medieval audiences, and the richness of composition that made it compelling. This volume will become standard reading for scholars, students, and more general readers interested in the Lancelot-Grail Cycle, medieval romance, Malory studies, and the Arthurian legends. Contributors: RICHARD BARBER, EMMANUELE BAUMGARTNER, FANNI BOGDANOW, FRANK BRANDSMA, MATILDA T. BRUCKNER, CAROL J. CHASE, ANNIE COMBES,HELEN COOPER, CAROL R. DOVER, MICHAEL HARNEY, DONALD L. HOFFMAN, DOUGLAS KELLY, ELSPETH KENNEDY, NORRIS J. LACY, ROGER MIDDLETON, HAQUIRA OSAKABE, HANS-HUGO STEINHOFF, ALISON STONES, RICHARD TRACHSLER. CAROL DOVER is associate professor of French and director of undergraduate studies, Georgetown University, Washington DC.

A Knight's Own Book of Chivalry Geoffroi de Charny. Introduction by Richard W. Kaeuper. Translation by Elspeth Kennedy "Of exceptional interest for the light shed on the ethos, style, and tastes of the secular aristocracy of the later Middle Ages. Charny's book offers an exploration and explanation of the values and proper manner of life for Christian knights and men at arms by someone who was a knight himself. . . . A real boon to the historian."--"London Review of Books" "Kaeuper and Kennedy have done scholars a tremendous service in their publication of the excellent 1996 edition. . . . This slimmed-down version now provides teachers of chivalry, warfare, and gender with an excellent resource for the classroom."--"Medieval Review" On the great influence of a valiant lord: "The companions, who see that good warriors are honored by the great lords for their prowess, become more determined to attain this level of prowess." On the lady who sees her knight honored: "All of this makes the noble lady rejoice greatly within herself at the fact that she has set her mind and heart on loving and helping to make such a good knight or good man-at-arms." On the worthiest amusements: "The best pastime of all is to be often in good company, far from unworthy men and from unworthy activities from which no good can come." Enter the real world of knights and their code of ethics and behavior. Read how an aspiring knight of the fourteenth century would conduct himself and learn what he would have needed to know when traveling, fighting, appearing in court, and engaging fellow knights. Composed at the height of the Hundred Years War by Geoffroi de Charny, one of the most respected knights of his age, "A Knight's Own Book of Chivalry" was designed as a guide for members of the Company of the Star, an order created by Jean II of France in 1352 to rival the English Order of the Garter. This is the most authentic and complete manual on the day-to-day life of the knight that has survived the centuries, and this edition contains a specially commissioned introduction from historian Richard W. Kaeuper that gives the history of both the book and its author, who, among his other achievements, was the original owner of the Shroud of Turin. Geoffroi de Charny (1304?-56) was considered the quintessential knight of his age by his contemporaries. He was killed at the Battle of Poitiers. Richard W. Kaeuper is Professor of History at the University of Rochester. He is the author of a number of books, including "Chivalry and Violence in Medieval Europe." Elspeth Kennedy is Sometime Fellow at St. Hilda's College, Oxford University. The Middle Ages Series 2005 128 pages 6 x 9 ISBN 978-0-8122-1909-8 Paper $17.95t 12.00 World Rights History Short copy: Composed at the height of the Hundred Years War by Geoffroi de Charny, one of the most respected knights of his age, "A Knight's Own Book of Chivalry" is an invaluable guide to fourteenth-century knighthood.

"The Book of Chivalry" is the most pragmatic of all surviving chivalric manuals. Written at the height of the Hundred Years War, it includes the essential commonplaces of knighthood in the mid-fourteenth century and gives a close-up view of what one knight in particular absorbed of the medieval world of ideas around him, what he rejected or ignored, and what he added from his experience in camp, court, and campaign.Geoffroi de Charny was one of the quintessential figures of his age, with honors and praise bestowed upon him from both sides of the English Channel. He prepared the "Book of Chivalry" as a guide for members of the Company of the Star, a new but short-lived order of knights created by Jean II of France in 1352 to rival the English Order of the Garter.Elspeth Kennedy here edits the original French text of Charny and provides a facing-page translation for the modern reader. Richard. W. Kaeuper's historical study places both man and his work in full context. In the formal themes that give Charny's book structure, and in his many tangential comments and asides, this work proves a rich source for investigating questions about the political, military, religious, and social history of the later Middle Ages. With this translation, the prowess and piety of knights, their capacity to express themselves, their common assumptions, their views on masculine virtue, women, and love once more come vividly to life.

Cumulatively [the volumes] are of increasing value as repositories of scholarship on the multi-dimensional subject of knighthood ... highly informative and useful. ALBION Studies treating a wide variety of aspects of knighthood. Topics include the way in which the word "knight" has been used, studying the terminology and ritual concerned with "making a knight"; the circumstances and implications ofthe knighting of the social elite of England between 1066 and 1272; the difficulties of distinguishing between knight and clerk, as exemplified by Abelard's multi-faceted image; the debt which Geoffrey de Charny's treatise on chivalry owes to the ideas and ideals of knighthood in Arthurian prose romances; and the linguistic competence of the twelfth-century knightly classes as courtly audience of troubadour song. There are also important contributions onthe warhorse; and on the fortifications of fourteenth-century English towns, arguing that they were more the expression of bourgeois aspirations than a response to serious military threat. Professor STEPHEN CHURCH teaches in the Department of History, University of East Anglia; Dr RUTH HARVEY is lecturer in French, Royal Holloway and Bedford New College. Contributors: RICHARD BARBER, MATTHEW BENNETT, JONATHAN BOULTON, MICHAEL CLANCHY, CHARLES COULSON, RUTH HARVEY, ELSPETH KENNEDY, AD PUTTER

This wide-ranging and instructive collection makes a valuable addition to the fast-growing body of work on medieval chivalry.' HISTORY