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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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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Loot
Nadine Gordimer
Paperback
(2)
R398
R330
Discovery Miles 3 300
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