Saturday, April 18, 2026 · 天火 · tianmu.org
Medieval
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Texts
Cligès — Chrétien de TroyesCligès — Chrétien de Troyes' twelfth-century Arthurian romance (c.1176), translated by W.W. Comfort: the story of Alexander and Sordamour, the love of Cligès and Fenice, and the rivalry with Tristan and Isolt — the founding text of the romance genre.Erec et Enide — Chrétien de TroyesErec et Enide — Chrétien de Troyes' first Arthurian romance (c.1170), translated by W.W. Comfort: the story of Erec's marriage to Enide and his descent into leisure, his humiliation, and the long journey of trials through which both husband and wife prove their worth.Hero Tales and Legends of the Rhine — Lewis SpenceHero Tales and Legends of the Rhine — Lewis Spence's 1915 survey: the mythology and folklore of the Rhine valley — the Nibelung legend, Charlemagne and Roland, the Lorelei, the Bishop and the Rats, Faust, the Wandering Jew, and the legendary history of the great river from source to sea.King Arthur — Tales of the Round Table — Andrew LangKing Arthur: Tales of the Round Table — Andrew Lang's 1902 retelling: a prose narrative of the complete Arthurian cycle drawn from Malory, from Arthur's birth to the passing to Avalon — written for younger readers but faithful to the tragic arc of the legend.Le Morte d'Arthur — Sir Thomas MaloryLe Morte d'Arthur — Sir Thomas Malory's fifteenth-century prose compilation of Arthurian legend, edited by H. Oskar Sommer (1889): the complete cycle from Arthur's birth through the quest of the Holy Grail to the final battle and the passing of Arthur — the foundational English prose epic.Orlando Furioso — Ludovico AriostoOrlando Furioso — Ludovico Ariosto's Renaissance epic (1532), translated by William Stewart Rose (1823): the madness of Orlando, Angelica and Medoro, the war of Charlemagne against the Saracens, Ruggiero and Bradamante, and the vast chivalric imagination of the Italian Renaissance.Stories from the Faerie Queene — Mary MacleodStories from the Faerie Queene retold by Mary Macleod (1910) — the allegorical adventures of Spenser's knights and heroines retold in clear prose narrative, covering the Knights of Holiness, Temperance, Chastity, Friendship, Justice, and Courtesy.The Champions of the Round Table — Howard PyleThe Champions of the Round Table by Howard Pyle (1905) — retelling of the Arthurian cycle focusing on Lancelot, Percival, and Tristram, the second book in Pyle's celebrated four-volume King Arthur series illustrated by the author.The High History of the Holy Graal — Sebastian EvansThe High History of the Holy Graal — Sebastian Evans' 1898 translation of the Perlesvaus, the twelfth-century Old French Grail romance: the quest for the Holy Grail, the Fisher King, the Waste Land, and the adventures of Perceval, Gawain, and Lancelot in the enchanted landscape of Britain.The Lusiad — Luís de CamõesThe Lusiad (Os Lusíadas) by Luís de Camões (1572) — Portugal's national epic, recounting Vasco da Gama's voyage to India in ten cantos of classical verse, translated by William Julius Mickle (1776), the most celebrated English rendering.The Nibelungenlied — Daniel ShumwayThe Nibelungenlied, the great Middle High German epic of Siegfried, Kriemhild, and the fall of the Burgundians — translated by Daniel B. Shumway (1909).The Ring of the Nibelung — Richard WagnerThe Ring of the Nibelung — Richard Wagner's four-opera cycle rendered as prose narrative by Margaret Armour (1910): Das Rheingold, Die Walküre, Siegfried, and Götterdämmerung — the complete Ring Cycle from the theft of the gold to the fall of Valhalla.The Song of Roland — C.K. Scott MoncrieffThe oldest surviving major work of French literature — the betrayal and fall of Roland at Roncevaux Pass, where Charlemagne's greatest knight sounds his horn too late and dies with Durendal unbroken. Anonymous Old French chanson de geste of the eleventh century, translated by C.K. Scott Moncrieff, 1919.The Story of Beowulf — Strafford RiggsThe Story of Beowulf retold by Strafford Riggs (1933) — a vigorous prose retelling of the Old English epic, following Beowulf from his swimming contest with Breca through the killing of Grendel and Grendel's mother to the final dragon-fight, decorated by Henry Pitz.The Vita Merlini — Geoffrey of MonmouthThe Vita Merlini (Life of Merlin) by Geoffrey of Monmouth, c. 1150 — a Latin poem on the life of the prophet and wizard Merlin, his madness in the forest after the battle of Arfderydd, his cosmological visions, his dialogue with Taliesin, and his final retirement to the Observatory of Seventy Doors; translated by John Jay Parry (1925).