New edition and modern English translation of the Anglo-Norman version of the story of Haveloc - one of the most popular of the Middle Ages. The story of Haveloc first appears in the oldest chronicle of the kings of England Britain, Geffrei Gaimar's Estoire des Engleis, and it is found in a substantial number of later accounts of English history. It is unusual in that it seemingly deals with "real" persons and events; but although names for the prototypes of Haveloc and other personages have been put forward, any search for historical evidence has been largely fruitless. The Haveloc story remains a legend, indeed one of the most compelling legends of the Middle Ages. The Anglo-Norman lay of Haveloc survives in only two manuscripts, one (H) unedited since the nineteenth century and the other (P) since1925. This volume provides new editions of both versions and an English facing-page translation of the version in H. Also included is a translation of the Haveloc episode in Gaimar's chronicle and an edition and translation of thevarious shorter chronicle accounts, in French, English and Latin, which continued into the seventeenth century and survive in a modern English folk-tale. Glyn S. Burgess is Emeritus Professor and Honorary Senior Fellow at the University of Liverpool; Leslie C. Brook is an Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the University of Birmingham.

Text and facing translation of a selection of French narrative lays, with Arthurian subject matter and interest. The lay was a flourishing genre in the French courts of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, related to romance rather as the modern short story is to the novel. Its most famous exponent is arguably Marie de France, but in addition to her twelve lays, a number of others, mainly anonymous, have also come down to us, usually referred to as Breton lays or simply as narrative lays. The eleven anonymous lays presented in this volume show the varied natureof the genre. First brought together as a collection by Prudence Tobin in 1976, they have been freshly edited from the manuscript sources. They are presented here with facing English translation, together with substantial introductions for each lay, which deal principally with thematic issues and questions of general literary interest. GLYN S. BURGESS is Emeritus Professor of French at the University of Liverpool. LESLIE C. BROOK is Honorary Senior Research Fellow in French at the University of Birmingham.

Text with facing translation of an undeservedly neglected, humorous French lay, in which the women of Arthur's court have their virtue challenged by a magic mantle. The Old French lay of Mantel belongs to the group of anonymous lays that were composed in the late twelfth or thirteenth century. These short narratives vary in tone and usually deal with some aspect of love, usually in anaristocratic, courtly setting. Here, this is Arthur's court, with its well-known characters involved, and the tone is satiric and comic; the story is a chastity test, which the ladies of the court undergo in public by donning themantle - if it does not fit, their behaviour is betrayed. The poem plays on the insecurities of the knights, who are at first confident of their loves' fidelity, but in the end are all too anxious to ignore their transgressions. The popularity of the lay is attested by its survival in five manuscripts, an unusually high number. It is edited here from MS Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, nouv. acq. fr. 1104, a manuscript containing twenty-four lays, including nine by Marie de France whose work has to some extent defined the genre. The text is accompanied by a facing translation, and presented with introduction, elucidatory notes, bibliography, and indices. Glyn S. Burgess is Emeritus Professor of French, University of Liverpool; Leslie C. Brook is Honorary Senior Research Fellow in French, University of Birmingham.