A translation of three works from the second half of the 13th century: Rutebeuf's Renart le Bestourné, the anonymous Le Couronnement de Renart and Jacquemart Gielée's Renart le Nouvel. These savage and highly entertaining satires are in a league of their own, and Renart le Nouvel contains important music which is reproduced in the text.

First translation of two vivid accounts of French thirteenth-century tournaments, rich in detail and an impassioned defence of tournaments and their importance. The Romance of Le Hem and The Tournament at Chauvency are eyewitness accounts of the famous tournaments held in 1278 at Le Hem on the banks of the Somme in north-eastern France, and in 1285 at Chauvency in Lorraine. Written within weeks of the events they describe, they record in vivid detail not only the jousts and the melees but also the entertainments and dramatic interludes which preceded, followed and embellished these festivals of martial sport. As Sarrasin makes clear, theatre as well as jousting, and jousting in the context of enacted stories, were central to what took place at Le Hem, involving elaborate role-play by participants as figures from Arthurian romance. And few medieval accounts of events have such thrilling immediacy as Jacques Bretel's record of Chauvency. He sat in a prime place, on the fourth step of the stand, and the reader sees and hears the action as if sitting at his shoulder - and eavesdrops on conversations, too. He gives remarkable insights into the surprising role played by song, and into how the whole event was perceived and understood. These intriguing works are invaluable source material for scholars not only of medieval chivalry and tournaments but also of festivities and performance.

Arthurian Literature has established its position as the home for a great diversity of new research into Arthurian matters. It delivers fascinating material across genres, periods, and theoretical issues. TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT The richness and interdisciplinarity of the Arthurian tradition are well represented by the essays collected here, which range from early Celtic texts to twentieth-century children's books, and include discussion of Welsh, Irish,English, French and Latin material in both literary and historical contexts. Many of the articles focus on less well-known late medieval versions of the legend, a somewhat neglected area until recently: an Irish Grail narrative, the Burgundian prose Erec, the enormous prequel Perceforest, Ysaie le Triste, Le Conte du Papegau, and Froissart's Melyador (the last three discussed as exercises in nostalgia). Meanwhile, anotherchapter approaches Sir Gawain and the Green Knight from the perspective of forest ecology. The contributions represent expanded and revised versions of selected papers given at the XXIIIrd Triennial Congress of the International Arthurian Society held in Bristol in July 2011; they include two of the plenary lectures, one on "Celtic Magic" and one on the reception of Geoffrey of Monmouth in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Elizabeth Archibald is Professor of English Studies at Durham University, and Principal of St Cuthbert's Society; David F. Johnson is Professor of English at Florida State University, Tallahassee. Contributors: Richard Barber, Nigel Bryant, Aisling Byrne, Carol J. Chase, Sian Echard, Helen Fulton, Michael W. Twomey, Patricia Victorin.

A highly readable version of this remarkable and largely unexplored work. Perceforest is one of the largest and certainly the most extraordinary of the late Arthurian romances. Justly described as "an encyclopaedia of 14th-century chivalry" and "a mine of folkloric motifs", it is the subject ofrapidly increasing attention and research. The author of Perceforest draws on Alexander romances, Roman histories and medieval travel writing (not to mention oral tradition, as he gives, for example, the distinctly racy first written version of the Sleeping Beauty story), to create a remarkable prehistory of King Arthur's Britain. It begins with the arrival in Britain of Alexander the Great. His follower Perceforest, the first of Arthur's Greek ancestors, is made king of the island and finds it infested by the "evil clan" of Darnant the Enchanter. Magic plays a dominant part in the adventures which follow, as Perceforest ousts Darnant's clan despite their supernaturalpowers. He founds the knightly order of the "Franc Palais", an ideal of chivalric civilisation prefiguring the Round Table of Arthur and indeed that of Edward III. But that civilisation is, the author shows, all too fragile. The vast imaginative scope of Perceforest is matched by its variety of tone, ranging from tales of love and enchantment to bawdy comedy, from glamorous tournaments to unvarnished descriptions of the havoc wrought by war.And the author's surprising view of pagan gods and the coming of Christianity is as fascinating as the prominence he gives to women and his understanding of how the world of chivalry should work. Because of its enormous length - it runs to over a million words - Nigel Bryant has provided a version which gives a complete account of every episode, linking extensive passages of translation, to make a manageable and highly readable version (including the previously unpublished Books Five and Six), of this remarkable and largely unexplored work. Nigel Bryant has worked as a producer for BBC Radio 3 and as head of drama at Marlborough College. This is his fourth majortranslation of medieval Arthurian romance.

Bertrand du Guesclin was one of the main architects of the recovery of France. From humble beginnings he rose to become one of the great heroic figures of French history. This is the first English translation of Cuvelier's epic poem about him. Bertrand du Guesclin is one of the great French heroes of the Hundred Years War, his story every bit as remarkable as Joan of Arc's. The son of a minor Breton noble, he rose in the 1360s and '70s to become the Constable of France- a supreme military position, outranking even the princes of the blood royal. Through campaigns ranging from Brittany to Castile he achieved not only fame as a pre-eminent leader of Charles V's armies, but a dukedom in Spain, burial among the kings of France in the royal basilica at Saint-Denis, and recognition as nothing less than the "Tenth Worthy", being ranked alongside the nine paragons of chivalry who included Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Charlemagne and King Arthur. His is a truly spectacular story. And the image of Bertrand, and many of the key events in his extraordinary life, are essentially derived from The Song of Bertrand du Guesclin, this epic poem by Cuvelier. Written in the verse-form and manner of a chanson de geste, it is the very last of the Old French epics and an outstanding example of the roman chevaleresque. It is a fascinating and major primary source forhistorians of chivalry and of a critical period in the Hundred Years War. This is its first translation into English. Cuvelier is a fine storyteller: his depictions of battle and siege are vivid and thrilling, offering invaluable insights into medieval warfare. And he is a compelling propagandist, seeking through his story of Bertrand to restore the prestige of French chivalry after the disastrous defeat at Poitiers and the chaos that followed, andseeking, too, to inspire devotion to the kingdom of France and to the fleur-de-lis. NIGEL BRYANT is well known for his lively and accurate versions of medieval French authors. His translations of Chretien de Troyes' Perceval and all its continuations and of the extraordinary late Arthurian romance Perceforest have been major achievements; he has also translated Jean le Bel's history of the early stages of the Hundred Years War, and the biography of William Marshal.

The career of William Marshal, who rose from being the penniless, landless younger son of a middle-ranking nobleman to be regent of England in the minority of Henry III, is one of the most extraordinary stories of the Middle Ages.His biography was completed shortly after his death by a household minstrel and we are fortunate that it survives to give a unique portrait of a twelfth-century knight's life in the early days of tournaments and chivalry as wellas his career in warfare and politics.

Bertrand du Guesclin was one of the main architects of the recovery of France. From humble beginnings he rose to become one of the great heroic figures of French history. This is the first English translation of Cuvelier's epic poem about him. Bertrand du Guesclin is one of the great French heroes of the Hundred Years War, his story every bit as remarkable as Joan of Arc's. The son of a minor Breton noble, he rose in the 1360s and '70s to become the Constable of France- a supreme military position, outranking even the princes of the blood royal. Through campaigns ranging from Brittany to Castile he achieved not only fame as a pre-eminent leader of Charles V's armies, but a dukedom in Spain, burial among the kings of France in the royal basilica at Saint-Denis, and recognition as nothing less than the "Tenth Worthy", being ranked alongside the nine paragons of chivalry who included Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Charlemagne and King Arthur. His is a truly spectacular story. And the image of Bertrand, and many of the key events in his extraordinary life, are essentially derived from The Song of Bertrand du Guesclin, this epic poem by Cuvelier. Written in the verse-form and manner of a chanson de geste, it is the very last of the Old French epics and an outstanding example of the roman chevaleresque. It is a fascinating and major primary source forhistorians of chivalry and of a critical period in the Hundred Years War. This is its first translation into English. Cuvelier is a fine storyteller: his depictions of battle and siege are vivid and thrilling, offering invaluable insights into medieval warfare. And he is a compelling propagandist, seeking through his story of Bertrand to restore the prestige of French chivalry after the disastrous defeat at Poitiers and the chaos that followed, andseeking, too, to inspire devotion to the kingdom of France and to the fleur-de-lis. NIGEL BRYANT is well known for his lively and accurate versions of medieval French authors. His translations of Chretien de Troyes' Perceval and all its continuations and of the extraordinary late Arthurian romance Perceforest have been major achievements; he has also translated Jean le Bel's history of the early stages of the Hundred Years War, and the biography of William Marshal.

A dramatization of Dickens's classic novel, requiring a cast of between 11 and 30. The complex story moves forward quickly with the use of open staging.

The career of William Marshal (1146/7-12), who rose from being the penniless, landless younger son of a middle-ranking nobleman to be regent of England in the minority of Henry III, is one of the most extraordinary stories of theMiddle Ages. His biography was completed shortly after his death by a household minstrel and we are fortunate that it survives to give a unique portrait of a twelfth-century knight's life in the early days of tournaments and chivalry as well as his career in warfare and politics.

By his contemporaries, Raoul de Houdenc was 'mentioned in the same breath as Chretien de Troyes as one of the masters of French poetry' (Keith Busby, The New Arthurian Encyclopaedia). The writers of later romances deemed Raoul's work worthy of memory on a par with the Prose Lancelot, and placed Raoul and Chretien on the same level in terms of authority. Raoul de Houdenc was a major and innovative figure in 13th-century French literature. His surviving works are unusually diverse: they include an impassioned tract about the values of chivalry (The Romance of the Wings), two superbly crafted Arthurian romances (Meraugis of Portlesguez and The Avenging of Raguidel), and a swingeing polemic against declining standards especially among the bourgeoisie (The Burgess's Burgeoning Blight). And with his hugely influential satire The Dream of Hell he was the very first to compose allegory in the vernacular, mastering to perfection the art of parody and the unexpected. After a long period of neglect Raoul is finally receiving the scholarly attention he deserves, and this is the first translation into English of his complete surviving works. The Avenging of Raguidel 'must surely be counted as one of the most fascinating and innovative of the French Gawain romances' - Norris J. Lacy.

Perceforest is one of the largest and certainly the most extraordinary of the late Arthurian romances, and is almost completely unknown except to a handful of scholars. But it is a work of exceptional richness and importance, and has been justly described as "an encyclopaedia of 14th-century chivalry" and "a mine of folkloric motifs." Its contents are drawn not only from earlier Arthurian material, but also from romances about Alexander the Great, from Roman histories and from medieval travel writing - not to mention oral tradition, including as it does the first and unexpurgated version of the story of the Sleeping Beauty. Out of this, the author creates a remarkable prehistory of King Arthur's Britain, describing how Alexander the Great gives the island to Perceforest, who has to purge the island of magic-wielding knights descended from Darnant the Enchanter, despite their supernatural powers. Perceforest then founds the knightly order of the "Franc Palais," an ideal of chivalric civilisation which prefigures the Round Table of Arthur and indeed that of Edward III; but that civilisation is, as the author shows, all too fragile. The action all takes place in a pagan world of many gods, but the temple of the Sovereign God, discovered by Perceforest, prefigures the Christian world and the coming of the Grail and Arthur. Nigel Bryant has recently adapted this immense romance into English; even in his version, which gives a complete account of the whole work but links extensive sections of full translation with compressed accounts of other passages, it runs to nearly half a million words. A Perceforest Reader is an ideal introduction to the remarkable world portrayed in this late flowering of the Arthurian imagination.

The first ever translation of the whole of the rich and compelling body of tales contained in Chretien's poem and its four Continuations. The mysterious and haunting Grail makes its first appearance in literature in Chretien de Troyes' Perceval at the end of the twelfth century. But Chretien never finished his poem, leaving an unresolved story and an incomplete picture of the Grail. It was, however, far too attractive an idea to leave. Not only did it inspire quite separate works; his own unfinished poem was continued and finally completed by no fewer than four other writers. The Complete Story of the Grail is the first ever translation of the whole of the rich and compelling body of tales contained in Chretien's poem and its four Continuations, which are finally attracting the scholarly attention they deserve. Besides Chretien's original text, there are the anonymous First Continuation (translated here in its fullest version), the Second Continuation attributed to Wauchier de Denain, and the intriguing Third and Fourth Continuations - probably written simultaneously, with no knowledge of each other's work - by Manessier and Gerbert de Montreuil. Two other poets were drawn to create preludes explaining the background to Chretien's story, and translated here also are their works: The Elucidation Prologue and Bliocadran. Only in this, The Story of the Grail's complete form, can the reader appreciate the narrative skill and invention of the medieval poets and their surprising responses to Chretien's theme - not least their crucial focus on the knight as a crusader. Equally, Chretien's original poem was almost always copied in conjunction withone or more of the Continuations, so this translation represents how most medieval readers would have encountered it. Nigel Bryant's previous translations from Medieval French include Perlesvaus - the High Bookof the Grail, Robert de Boron's trilogy Merlin and the Grail, the Medieval Romance of Alexander, The True Chronicles of Jean le Bel and Perceforest.

The chronicles of Jean le Bel are one of the most important sources for the beginning of the Hundred Years' War. This is the first English translation of a work written from eyewitness accounts and personal experience. The chronicles of Jean le Bel, written around 1352-61, are one of the most important sources for the beginning of the Hundred Years' War. They were only rediscovered and published at the beginning of the twentieth century, thoughFroissart begins his much more famous work by acknowledging his great debt to the "true chronicles" which Jean le Bel had written. Many of the great pages of Froissart are actually the work of Jean le Bel, and this is the first translation of his book. It introduces English-speaking readers to a vivid text written by a man who, although a canon of the cathedral at Liege, had actually fought with Edward III in Scotland, and who was a great admirer of the English king. He writes directly and clearly, with an admirable grasp of narrative; and he writes very much from the point of view of the knights who fought with Edward. Even as a canon, he lived in princely style, with a retinue oftwo knights and forty squires, and he wrote at the request of John of Hainault, the uncle of queen Philippa. He was thus able to draw directly on the verbal accounts of the Crecy campaign given to him by soldiers from Hainault who had fought on both sides; and his description of warfare in Scotland is the most realistic account of what it was like to be on campaign that survives from this period. If he succumbs occasionally to a good story from one of theparticipants in the wars, this helps us to understand the way in which the knights saw themselves; but his underlying objective is to keep "as close to the truth as I could, according to what I personally have seen and remembered, and also what I have heard from those who were there". Edward may be his hero, a "gallant and noble king", but Le Bel tells the notorious story of his supposed rape of the Countess of Salisbury because he believed it to be true,puzzled and shocked though he was by his material. It is a text which helps to put the massive work of Jean Froissart in perspective, but its concentrated focus and relatively short time span makes it a much more approachable and highly readable insight into the period.

Vivid translation of one of the earliest and most important Grail romances. The High Book of the Grail (Perlesvaus) is one of the most fascinating of medieval Arthurian romances, standing apart from the main tradition represented by the great romance cycles on which Malory based his work. Written in the first half ofthe thirteenth century, it represents a totally different view of the legend of the Holy Grail from that found in Wolfram von Eschenbach or the French Quest of the Holy Grail, though all derive from Chretien's Perceval; the unknown author adds a much greater religious emphasis, and a desire to glorify crusading chivalry for the secular adventures of Arthur, Perceval, and Lancelot. The framework of the romance is the struggle of Arthur and his knights to impose - by force - the New Law of Christianity in place of the Old Law. Unusually, Arthur's knights are seen collectively as members of a kingdom, rather than as individual knights on quests, defending the land against treason and paganism, and advancing to convert the heathen of other lands. This unique view of the Arthurian world is now made accessible to students of medieval literature, Arthurian enthusiasts, andto historians interested in the world of chivalry and its attitudes. NIGEL BRYANT's previous Arthurian books include The Legend of the Grail, Chretien de Troyes' Perceval and its Continuations, and Robert de Boron's Merlin and the Grail.

This trilogy establishes a provenance for the Holy Grail and, through the figure of Merlin, links Joseph of Arimathea with mythical British history and with the knightly adventures of Perceval's Grail quest. It is hard to overstate the importance of this trilogy of prose romances in the development of the legend of the Holy Grail and in the evolution of Arthurian literature as a whole. They give a crucial new impetus to the story of the Grail by establishing a provenance for the sacred vessel - and for the Round Table itself - in the Biblical past; and through the controlling figure of Merlin they link the story of Joseph of Arimathea with the mythical Britishhistory of Vortigern and Utherpendragon, the birth of Arthur, and the sword in the stone, and then with the knightly adventures of Perceval's Grail quest and the betrayal and death of Arthur, creating the very first Arthurian cycle. Ambitious, original and complete in its conception, this trilogy - translated here for the first time - is a finely paced, vigorous piece of storytelling that provides an outstanding example of the essentially oral nature of early prose. NIGEL BRYANT is head of drama at Marlborough College. He has also provided editions in English of the anonymous thirteenth-century romance Perlesvaus, published as The High Book of the Grail, and Chretien's Perceval: The Story of the Grail.

Constructed from the many and often contradictory Grail legends, here is a single, consistent and accessible narrative for the general reader - now available in paperback. The Grail legends have been appropriated by novelists as diverse as Umberto Eco and Dan Brown yet very few have read for themselves the original stories from which they came. All the mystery and drama of the Arthurian world are embodied in the extraordinary tales of Perceval, Gawain, Lancelot and Galahad in pursuit of the Holy Grail. The original romances, full of bewildering contradictions and composed by a number of different writers, dazzle with the sheer wealth of their conflicting imagination. In Nigel Bryant's hands, this enthralling material becomes truly accessible. He has constructed a single, consistent version of the Grail story in modern English which reasserts its relevance as one of the great and enduring works of literature. NIGEL BRYANT's previous Arthurian books include The High Book of the Grail (Perlesvaus), Chretien de Troyes' Perceval and its Continuations, and Robert de Boron's Merlin and the Grail.

The chronicles of Jean le Bel are one of the most important sources for the beginning of the Hundred Years' War. This is the first English translation of a work written from eyewitness accounts and personal experience. The chronicles of Jean le Bel, written around 1352-61, are one of the most important sources for the beginning of the Hundred Years' War. They were only rediscovered and published at the beginning of the twentieth century, thoughFroissart begins his much more famous work by acknowledging his great debt to the "true chronicles" which Jean le Bel had written. Many of the great pages of Froissart are actually the work of Jean le Bel, and this is the first translation of his book. It introduces English-speaking readers to a vivid text written by a man who, although a canon of the cathedral at Liege, had actually fought with Edward III in Scotland, and who was a great admirer of the English king. He writes directly and clearly, with an admirable grasp of narrative; and he writes very much from the point of view of the knights who fought with Edward. Even as a canon, he lived in princely style, with a retinue oftwo knights and forty squires, and he wrote at the request of John of Hainault, the uncle of queen Philippa. He was thus able to draw directly on the verbal accounts of the Crecy campaign given to him by soldiers from Hainault who had fought on both sides; and his description of warfare in Scotland is the most realistic account of what it was like to be on campaign that survives from this period. If he succumbs occasionally to a good story from one of theparticipants in the wars, this helps us to understand the way in which the knights saw themselves; but his underlying objective is to keep "as close to the truth as I could, according to what I personally have seen and remembered, and also what I have heard from those who were there". Edward may be his hero, a "gallant and noble king", but Le Bel tells the notorious story of his supposed rape of the countess of Salisbury because he believed it to be true,puzzled and shocked though he was by his material. It is a text which helps to put the massive work of Jean Froissart in perspective, but its concentrated focus and relatively short time span makes it a much more approachable and highly readable insight into the period.

The mysterious and haunting Grail makes its first appearance in literature in Chretien de Troyes' Perceval at the end of the twelfth century. But Chretien never finished his poem, leaving an unresolved story and an incomplete picture of the Grail. It was, however, far too attractive an idea to leave. Not only did it inspire quite separate works; his own unfinished poem was continued and finally completed by no fewer than four other writers. The Complete Story of the Grail is the first ever translation of the whole of the rich and compelling body of tales contained in Chretien's poem and its four Continuations, which are finally attracting the scholarly attention they deserve. Besides Chretien's original text, there are the anonymous First Continuation (translated here in its fullest version), the Second Continuation attributed to Wauchier de Denain, and the intriguing Third and Fourth Continuations - probably written simultaneously, with no knowledge of each other's work - by Manessier and Gerbert de Montreuil. Two other poets were drawn to create preludes explaining the background to Chretien's story, and translated here also are their works: The Elucidation Prologue and Bliocadran. Only in this, The Story of the Grail's complete form, can the reader appreciate the narrative skill and invention of the medieval poets and their surprising responses to Chretien's theme - not least their crucial focus on the knight as a crusader. Equally, Chretien's original poem was almost always copied in conjunction withone or more of the Continuations, so this translation represents how most medieval readers would have encountered it. Nigel Bryant's previous translations from Medieval French include Perlesvaus - the High Bookof the Grail, Robert de Boron's trilogy Merlin and the Grail, the Medieval Romance of Alexander, The True Chronicles of Jean le Bel and Perceforest.

The Stone Age monuments at Avebury in Wiltshire are world-famous, attracting thousands of visitors each year. Two of the most dramatic are the enormous burial chamber known as the West Kennet Long Barrow, and Silbury Hill, the largest man-made mound in Europe. Less well known is Silbury's 'sister' mound at Marlborough a few miles due east, but this is nothing less than the legendary burial place of Merlin. These extraordinary sites are the key locations of the novel 'Merlin's Mound', in which an adolescent is awakened in startling fashion to their meaning and original purpose. It will appeal to everyone from the protagonist's age upward with a taste for myth, legend and visions.

First translation of two vivid accounts of French thirteenth-century tournaments, rich in detail and an impassioned defence of tournaments and their importance. The Romance of Le Hem and The Tournament at Chauvency are eyewitness accounts of the famous tournaments held in 1278 at Le Hem on the banks of the Somme in north-eastern France, and in 1285 at Chauvency in Lorraine. Written within weeks of the events they describe, they record in vivid detail not only the jousts and the melees but also the entertainments and dramatic interludes which preceded, followed and embellished these festivals of martial sport. As Sarrasin makes clear, theatre as well as jousting, and jousting in the context of enacted stories, were central to what took place at Le Hem, involving elaborate role-play by participants as figures from Arthurian romance. And few medieval accounts of events have such thrilling immediacy as Jacques Bretel's record of Chauvency. He sat in a prime place, on the fourth step of the stand, and the reader sees and hears the action as if sitting at his shoulder - and eavesdrops on conversations, too. He gives remarkable insights into the surprising role played by song, and into how the whole event was perceived and understood. These intriguing works are invaluable source material for scholars not only of medieval chivalry and tournaments but also of festivities and performance.

The Livre Charny (Charny's Book), by the 14th century French knight Geoffroi de Charny, translated here by Nigel Bryant with an introduction by Ian Wilson. The poem known as the Livre Charny (Charny's Book), by the fourteenth-century French knight Geoffroi de Charny, has never been published, Nigel Bryant's brilliant new translation of this long-neglected poem, based on a hitherto overlooked original Charny manuscript housed in Oxford, vividly conveys Charny's self-deprecating and extraordinarily down-to-earth attitudes towards the knightly career. Charny is surprisingly blunt in his descriptions of the mishaps and mortal dangers to be expected, from losing in a tournament, to homesickness on crusade, to being concussed whilst attempting to scale an enemy tower. Nothing else quite like it is to be found in medieval literature. Ian Wilson's introduction provides a markedly revised understanding of Charny's career as tournament performer, serving soldier, crusader, councillor, and finally royal standard-bearer: he was killed at Poitiers in 1356. Bryant and Wilson also argue that Charny's Book is so different in style from the Book of Chivalry, also attributed to him, that the latter is unlikely to be by the same author. Using the evidence of a hitherto unnoticed manuscript in Madrid, they show that the latter is likely to be a work of the 1380s composed by Charny's son of the same name, possibly as a kind of memorial to his heroic father.

The original version of one of the greatest and most potent of medieval legends. Chretien de Troyes' Perceval is the most important single Arthurian romance. It contains the very first mention of the mysterious grail, later to become the Holy Grail and the focal point of the spiritual quest of the knights of Arthur's court. Chretien left the poem unfinished, but the extraordinary and intriguing theme of the Grail was too good to leave, and other poets continued and eventually completed it. This is the only English translation to include selections from the three continuations and from the work of Gerbert de Montreuil, making the romance a coherent whole, and following through Chretien's essential theme of the making of a knight, in both worldlyand spiritual terms. It is thus the most complete account available in English of the essential Arthurian romance, the origin of the Grail legend.

Manor Farm is a sequel to the widely acclaimed Animal Farm by George Orwell that covered tumultuous events during the early twentieth century. A great deal has happened since then. Manor Farm continues the allegorical tale from the publication of Animal Farm to the present day. It is dedicated to George Orwell; 2013 is the 110th anniversary of his birth. Nigel Bryant is a management consultant specialising in the application of psychology in the workplace. His international experience includes projects in France, Germany, Ireland, The Netherlands and Nigeria. During his consultancy career he has acted as a Visiting Lecturer in various business schools. His areas of teaching include Intercultural Communication and Cultural Differences. Nigel's childhood was spent in Henley-on-Thames where he attended Henley Grammar School. He has maintained a lifelong interest in the politics and reality of socialism.

A single, consistent and accessible narrative of the Grail story, constructed from the principal motifs and narrative strands of all the original Grail romances. The quest for the Holy Grail is one of the most important elements in the story of King Arthur. Yet even among the many interested in the stories of the Round Table, very few have read at first hand the medieval masterpieces whichover a period of some forty years, in the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries, together became the foundation of the legend of the Grail. These romances, full of bewildering contradictions and composed by a numberof different writers with very different preoccupations, dazzle with the sheer wealth of their conflicting imaginative detail. In this new compilation, the enthralling material becomes truly accessible through his interweaving ofthe principal motifs and narrative strands of all the original Grail romances to construct a single, consistent version of the Grail story, while clearly tracing the development of its enigmatic and potent theme. All the mystery and drama of the Arthurian world are embodied in the extraordinary adventures of Perceval, Gawain, Lancelot and Galahad in their pursuit of the Grail. Told here as a unified, coherent narrative, the Grail legend reasserts its relevance as one of the great works of imaginative literature of the middle ages. NIGEL BRYANT's previous Arthurian books include The High Book of the Grail (Perlesvaus), Chretien de Troyes' Perceval and its Continuations, and Robert de Boron's Merlin and the Grail.

Nigel Bryant's is the first translation of an example of the many medieval romances about Alexander, as popular in their day as those about Arthur. The figure of Alexander the Great haunted the medieval imagination - as much as Arthur, as much as Charlemagne. His story was translated more often in medieval Europe than any work except the Gospels. Yet only small sections of the Alexander Romance have been translated into modern French, and Nigel Bryant's is the first translation into English. The Deeds and Conquests of Alexander the Great is Jehan Wauquelin's superb compendium, written for the Burgundian court in the mid-fifteenth century, which draws together all the key elements of the Alexandrian tradition.With great clarity and intelligence Wauquelin produced a redaction of all the major Alexander romances ofthe twelfth, thirteenth and fourteenth centuries - including the verse Roman d'Alexandre, The Vows of the Peacock and La Venjance Alixandre - to tell the whole story of Alexander's miraculous birth and childhood, hisconquests of Persia and India, his battles with fabulous beasts and outlandish peoples, his journeys in the sky and under the sea, his poisoning at Babylon and the vengeance taken by his son. This is an accomplished and exciting work by a notable writer at the Burgundian court who perfectly understood the appeal of the great conqueror to ambitious dukes intent upon extending their dominions. NIGEL BRYANT has translated five major Arthurianromances from medieval French, including Perceforest in which Alexander features prominently. He has also translated the fourteenth-century chronicles of Jean le Bel.