The Art of Courtly Love


Book Description

The social system of 'courtly love' soon spread after becoming popularized by the troubadours of southern France in the twelfth century. This book codifies life at Queen Eleanor's court at Poitiers between 1170 and 1174 into "one of those capital works which reflect the thought of a great epoch, which explain the secret of a civilization."




Writings on Love in the English Middle Ages


Book Description

This is a set of essays from many of the leading scholars in the world of medieval studies, which addresses a wide diversity of texts and genres and their diverse perspectives on love. Attention is given to interaction between English writings and putative continental and international influences, with particular emphasis on the works of Chaucer.







The Love of Books


Book Description




The Continuations of Chrétien's Perceval


Book Description

The Continuations of Chretien de Troyes' Perceval are here examined as constituting a discrete genre of medieval literature. The notion of Continuation in medieval literature is a familiar one - but difficult to define precisely. Despite the existence of important texts which are commonly referred to as Continuations, such as Le Roman de la Rose,Le Chevalier de la Charrette and, of course, the Perceval Continuations, the mechanics and processes involved in actually producing a Continuation have found themselves indistinguishable from those associated with other forms of medieval réécriture. The Perceval Continuations (composed c.1200-1230) constitute a vast body of material which incorporates four separately authored Continuations, each of which seeks to further,in some way, the unfinished Perceval of Chrétien de Troyes - though they are not merely responses to his work. Chronologically, they were composed one after the other, and the next in line picks up where the previous one left off; they thus respond intertextually to each other as well as to Chrétien, and only one actually furnishes the story as a whole with an ending. Here, these fascinating texts are used as a lens for examining, defining and distinguishing the whole concept of a Continuation; the author also employs theories as to what constitutes an "end" and what is "unfinished", alongside scrutiny of other medieval "ends" and Continuations. Dr Leah Tether isa Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Cultures of the Digital Economy Institute, Anglia Ruskin University.




Festschrift


Book Description

Distinguished scholars from both sides of the Atlantic make a major contribution to medieval literary studies in contributions ranging from early epic to Fernando de Rojas. Studies on cuaderna via' verse and the poets of the cancionero' figure prominently, as do the Libro de buen amor' and Celestina'; these are complemented by individual essays on texts outside the mainstream, on the language and versification of the period, on the prose writers of the fifteenth century, and on literary activity in Catalonia, Galicia and Portugal. The collection demonstrates the range of interest and approach characteristic of recent Hispanic scholarship, and provides new insights into the medieval mind at work in the Iberian peninsula. IAN MACPHERSON is former Professor of Spanish, University of Durham; RALPH PENNY is Professor of Romance Philology, Queen Mary and Westfield College, University of London. Studies in Honour of Professor Alan Deyermond, Queen Mary and Westfield College, University of London. Contributors: LOLA BADIA, RAFAEL BELTRAN, CHARLES BURNETT, LLUIS CABRE, ROSANNA CANTAVELLA, PEDRO CATEDRA, JUAN CARLOS CONDE LOPEZ, MARTIN DUFFELL, JOSE FRADEJAS LEBRERO, JOSE MANUEL FRADEJAS RUEDA, JOHN GORNALL, L.P. HARVEY, THOMAS R. HART, LOUISE M. HAYWOOD, DAVID HOOK, VICTOR INFANTES DE MIGUEL, JEREMY LAWRENCE, HELDER MACEDO, IAN MACPHERSON, IAN MICHAEL, ALBERTO MONTANER FRUTOS, D.G. PATTISON, RALPH PENNY, STEPHEN RECKERT, FRANCISCO RICO, REGULA ROHLAND DE LANGBEHN, NICHOLAS G. ROUND, PETER RUSSELL, DOROTHY S. SEVERIN, COLIN SMITH, BARRY TAYLOR, ARTHUR TERRY, J.E. VAREY, JULIAN WEISS, GEOFFREY WEST, JANE WHETNALL.




The Letter Collection of Peter Abelard and Heloise


Book Description

The letters of Abelard and Heloise contain a vivid account of one of the most celebrated love affairs in the western world that raised questions about love, marriage, and religious life in the Middle Ages. This much needed new edition of the Latin text contains English translation, a full introduction, extensive annotation, and detailed indexes.




Fifteenth-Century Studies


Book Description

This volume of Fifteenth-Century Studies is derived from the 1995 Fifteenth-Century Symposium, held in Kaprun, Austria. As usual, it includes essays on numerous aspects of life during the time:interdisciplinary in approach, topics include Piers Plowman, Christine de Pizan, and Ovid in the Florentine renaissance. Examinations of the recent critical attention given to late-medieval drama and to Villon complete the volume.




Abelard and Heloise: The Letters and Other Writings


Book Description

The most comprehensive compilation of the works of Abelard and Heloise ever presented in a single volume in English, The Letters and Other Writings features an accurate and stylistically faithful new translation of both The Calamities of Peter Abelard and the remarkable letters it sparked between the ill-fated twelfth-century philosopher and his brilliant former student and lover—an exchange whose intellectual passion, formal virtuosity, and psychological drama distinguish it as one of the most extraordinary correspondences in European history. Thanks to this edition, Latin-less readers will be better placed than ever to see why this undisputed milestone in the intellectual life of medieval France is also a masterpiece of Western literature. In addition to the The Calamities and the letters--the first complete English translation of all seven in more than eighty years--this volume includes an Introduction, a map, and a chronology, Abelard's Confession of Faith, letters between Heloise and Peter the Venerable, the Introduction to The Questions of Heloise, and selected songs and poems by Abelard, among them a previously untranslated shaped poem, Open Wide Your Eyes. Extracts of lost letters sometimes ascribed to Abelard and Heloise are given in appendixes.