From Chanson de Geste to Epic Chronicle

From Chanson de Geste to Epic Chronicle
Author: Gérard Gouiran
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 228
Release: 2020-03-25
Genre: History
ISBN: 1351028367

In this collection of essays Gérard Gouiran, one of the world's leading and much-loved scholars of medieval Occitan literature, examines this literature from a primarily historical perspective. Through texts offering hitherto unexplored insights into the history and culture of medieval Europe, he studies topics such as the representation of alterity through female figures and Saracens in opposition to the ideal of the Christian knight; the ways in which the narrating of history can become resistance and propaganda discourse in the clash between the Catholic Church and the French on the one hand, and the Cathar heretics and the people of Occitania on the other; questions of intertextuality and intercultural relations; cultural representations fashioning the West in contact with the East; and Christian dissidence in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Written in an approachable style, the book will be of historical, literary and philological interest to scholars and students, as well as any reader curious about this hitherto little-known Occitan literature. (CS1087).

The Canso d'Antioca

The Canso d'Antioca
Author: Carol Sweetenham
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 346
Release: 2017-09-08
Genre: History
ISBN: 1351893416

The Canso d'Antioca is a fascinating text which deserves more attention than it has received. It is a fragment of a much larger epic describing the events of the First Crusade, related to the Old French Chanson d'Antioca but with many unique features. As such it presents a double interest to scholars of both history and literature. It is a source text for the First Crusade with information not contained in any other source. It is also an early and seminal text for Occitan epic, few examples of which survive. And arguably it represents the first work of vernacular verse history in France, raising fundamental questions about the junction of epic and historiography. This is the first published edition of the text since Paul Meyer's version in 1884. It is based on the single extant manuscript of the Canso found in Roda in Northern Spain and now in Madrid, accompanied by a translation into English on facing pages. The text is supported by detailed notes and a glossary of proper names cross-referenced to all major First Crusade sources. The introduction discusses in detail the history of the text and manuscript, the value of the Canso as a historical document, and its place both within the historical tradition of the Crusade and within Occitan literary tradition and 12th-century vernacular historiography.

Poetic, Scientific and Other Forms of Discourse

Poetic, Scientific and Other Forms of Discourse
Author: Joshua Whatmough
Publisher: Univ of California Press
Total Pages: 298
Release: 2024-03-29
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 0520314565

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1956.

Baldwin of Bourcq

Baldwin of Bourcq
Author: Alan V. Murray
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 266
Release: 2021-11-18
Genre: History
ISBN: 1000479803

Awarded the Verbruggen Prize 2022 for the best book on medieval military history. Baldwin of Bourcq left his home in France in 1096 to join the great crusade summoned by Pope Urban II for the liberation of the holy sites and Christian peoples of Syria and Palestine from the domination of the Muslim Turks. In 1100 he became ruler of the Franco-Armenian county of Edessa. In 1118 he succeeded to the kingdom of Jerusalem. In just over two decades this younger son of a minor French count had become one of only a dozen kings in Western Christendom. To defend the principalities of Outremer against their Turkish and Egyptian enemies he travelled thousands of miles and led his troops in over two dozen campaigns. He spent two extended periods in Turkish captivity, yet he outlived almost all of his fellow crusaders, and died leaving the succession to his kingdom secure. This is the first biography in any language of a remarkable man. Drawing on a wide range of narrative and documentary sources, it gives an account of Baldwin’s ancestry and life from his first recorded appearance up to his death in 1131. It explains the complex and shifting geopolitics of the principalities of Outremer and the Muslim territories around them, and explores Baldwin’s character as a ruler and leader in war, the significance of his wide-ranging kinship network, and the succession to the kingdom of Jerusalem. Baldwin of Bourcq will appeal to students, teachers and researchers in Medieval History, especially Crusade Studies and Military History.

Naming and Namelessness in Medieval Romance

Naming and Namelessness in Medieval Romance
Author: Jane Bliss
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer Ltd
Total Pages: 263
Release: 2008
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 1843841592

A survey of the significance of names, or their absence, in medieval English, French, and Anglo-Norman romance.

HarperCollins College Outline History of Western Music

HarperCollins College Outline History of Western Music
Author: Hugh M. Miller
Publisher: Harper Collins
Total Pages: 324
Release: 1991-08-14
Genre: Study Aids
ISBN: 0064671070

Prepared for students by renowned professors and noted experts, here are the most extensive and proven study aids available, covering all the major areas of study in college curriculums. Each guide features: up-to-date scholarship; an easy-to-follow narrative outline form; specially designed and formatted pages; and much more.

Sacred Fictions of Medieval France

Sacred Fictions of Medieval France
Author: Maureen Barry McCann Boulton
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
Total Pages: 396
Release: 2015
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 1843844141

A study of the immensely popular "lives" of Christ and the Virgin in medieval France.

The Troubadours

The Troubadours
Author: Linda M. Paterson
Publisher: Reaktion Books
Total Pages: 196
Release: 2024-08-12
Genre: History
ISBN: 1789149916

An engaging and accessible introduction to the music, poetry, and lives of the medieval singer-songwriters. Composing songs of love and war in medieval Western and Southern Europe, troubadours spanned the social spectrum from powerful nobles to penniless minstrels. This book delves into the everyday worlds of these remarkable poet-musicians, famed for their innovative use of language and music as well as the lasting impact of their work on audiences then and now. The troubadours’ songs explored ideas about courtly love as well as medieval perceptions of gender, class, war, and chivalry. Linda M. Paterson examines the troubadours’ music, performance, and legacy, pairing fresh translations with the original texts to highlight the enduring beauty of their songs and poetry.