Excerpts from texts (with translation) from the French of medieval England offer a guide to medieval literary theory.From the twelfth to the fifteenth centuries, French was one of England's main languages of literature, record, diplomacy and commerce and also its only supra-national vernacular. As is now recognised, the large corpus of England'sFrench texts and records is indispensable to understanding England's literary and cultural history, the multilingualism of early England, and European medieval French-language culture in general. This volume presents a full, representative collection of texts and facing translations from England's medieval French. Through its selection of prologues and other excerpts from works composed or circulating in England, the volume presents a body of vernacular literary theory, in which some fifty-five highly various texts, from a range of genres, discuss their own origins, circumstances, strategies, source materials, purposes and audiences. Each entry, newly edited from a single manuscript, is accompanied by a headnote, annotation, and narrative bibliography, while a general introduction and section introductions provide further context and information. Also included are essays on French in England and onthe prosody and prose of insular French; Middle English versions of some of the edited French texts; and a glossary of literary terms. By giving access to a literate culture hitherto available primarily only to Anglo-Norman specialists, this book opens up new possibilities for taking English francophony into account in research and teaching. Jocelyn Wogan-Browne is Thomas F.X. and Theresa Mullarkey Chair in Literature, Fordham University, New York, and formerly Professor of Medieval Literature, University of York; Thelma Fenster is Professor Emerita of French and Medieval Studies, Fordham University; Delbert Russell is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of French, University of Waterloo.

General IntroductionEstablishment of texts and translations, and conventions usedPart I Faus Franceis and Dreit Engleis: on LanguageDe Britain ki ore est apelé Engletere / About Britain which is now called EnglandA Nun of Barking Abbey, Le romanz de saint Edward, rei et confessur / The Vernacular Life of St Edward, King and Confessor, 1163-70, and its prose remaniementWace, Le Roman de Rou / The Romance of Rollo and the Dukes of NormandyHue de Rotelande, Ipomedon / The Romance of IpomadonRobert Grosseteste, Le Chasteau d'amour / The Castle of LoveWaldef / The Romance of WaldefWalter of Bibbesworth, Tretiz de Langage / How to Speak FrenchManières de langage: Spoken French for Business'Quant vus frez a seignours...': Dictaminal Training attributed to Thomas Sampson'Pur ceo que j'estoie requis...' : Treatise on conveyancingJohn Barton, Donait françois / The French DonatusAndrew Horn, Qui veut bone electioun faire and La feste royale du Pui, from Liber custumarum / The Book of the Customs of LondonJohn Gower, Mirour de l'omme / The Mirror of HumanityPart II Si sa dame ne li aidast: authorship and the patronBenedeit, Le Voyage de saint Brendan / The Voyage of St BrendanGaimar, L'Estoire des Engleis / The History of the EnglishAdgar/William, Le Gracial / The Book of GraceGuernes de Pont-Ste-Maxence, La Vie de Saint Thomas / The Life of St Thomas BecketSimon of Walsingham, La Vie de sainte Fey virgine et martire / The Life of St Faith, virgin and martyrMatthew Paris, La Vie de saint Edmund, arcevesque de Cantorbire / The Life of St Edmund, Archbishop of CanterburyRobert of Greatham, Miroir ou Evangile des Domnees / Mirror or The Sunday GospelsHerman de Valenciennes, Li Romanz de Dieu et de sa mere / The Romance of God and his MotherSir Thomas Gray of Heaton, Scalacronica / The Ladder ChroniclePart III Primes dirrum la dreyte fey: the conduct of reading, hearing and seeingGuillaume le Clerc de Normandie, Le Bestiaire divin / The Holy BestiaryLa Destructioun de Rome / The Destruction of RomePierre d'Abernon de Fetcham, Lumere as lais / Light for LaypeopleApocalypse du manuscrit Lambeth: La Pénitence illustrée / The Lambeth Apocalypse: Penitence DiagramLes Enfaunces de Jesu Crist / The Childhood of Jesus Christ'Par ceste figure l'en poet savoer...' / 'Using this diagram, one can find out...'John of Hoveden, Rossignos / The NightingaleSt Edmund of Canterbury [ascribed], Mirour de seinte eglyse / Mirror of Holy ChurchSermons on JoshuaAngier of St Frideswide, Dialogues de saint Gregoire / Dialogues of St Gregory the GreatWilliam Waddington [ascribed], Le Manuel des pechiez / The Manual of SinsPart IV Ki veult oïr: forming audiences and creating textual communitiesWace, La Vie de seint Nicolas / The Life of St NicholasLa Vie de seint Clement / The Life of St Clement the PopeCommentary on the Chant des chanz / Commentary on the Song of SongsDenis Piramus, La Vie Saint Edmund le Rey / The Life of St Edmund the KingThomas of Kent, Le Roman de toute chevalerie /Romance of the Best Chivalry (Alexander the Great)La Seinte Resurreccion / The Holy ResurrectionChardri, La Vie de seint Josaphaz / The Life of St JosaphatFouke le Fitz Waryn / The Romance of Fouke le Fitz Waryn'Sicom Aristotele nous dit' / Treatise on Menstruation'Quant Deus out la femme fete' / Ornatus mulierumJofroi de Waterford and Servais Copale, Secré de Secrez / The Secret of SecretsLe Miracle de Sardenai / The Miracle at SardenaiaJean de Mandeville [?], Le Livre des merveilles du monde / The Book of the Wonders of the World'Coment la Mesun de Crabhus...comencerunt' / 'How they founded the nunnery of Crabhouse'Part V Si come en latyn trovay escrit: the lineage of the textEverart, Distichs of CatoSimund de Freine, Roman de Philosophie / The Romance of PhilosophySanson de Nantuil, Les Proverbes de Salemon / Commentary on Solomon's ProverbsRauf de Linham, Kalender/Calender[Robert de Boron, Walter Map, ascribed], L'Estoire del saint Graal / The History of the Holy GrailWalter de la Hove [?], Chronique / The Mohun ChroniclePoème sur l'ancien testament /Poem on the Old TestamentLe Débat des hérauts d'armes de France et d'Angleterre / The Debate between the Heralds of France and EnglandPart VI Essays and resourcesEngland and FrenchPoetry and Prose in the French of EnglandMiddle English Versions of French EntriesLists of Alternative Arrangements of the EntriesGlossary of literary termsBibliography