Legends and Satires from Mediæval Literature

This volume of translations is prepared especially for the use of college sophomores who are studying English poetry of the fourteenth century, but it is hoped that other reader...

In his left hand his bow he bare, And by his side his quiver ware: In powre he sits past all compare, And with his flames the worlde doth dare.

Then the devils went out of the hall, leading the knight with them to a strange place, where nothing good entered, only hunger, thirst, and cold. He could see no tree, could hea...

And then there came to them a fair young man, and full courteously he welcomed them all, and called every monk by his name, and he said that they were much bound to praise the n...

And after, Saint Brandon sailed southward three days and three nights, and on the Friday they saw an island, and then Saint Brandon began to sigh, and said: "I see the island wh...

"Never in all my life have I had such great happiness as came to me after I was put into the oven. Both brands and coals, in truth, that were beneath my feet, like fair flowers,...

Chelidonius is a stone which one finds in the stomach of a swallow. It is not very beautiful, but it surpasses all the beautiful stones in usefulness. It is of ten sorts and of...

Sir Penny's counsel gives great aid To those who have his law obeyed, As the assizes show. He lengthens life and saves from death, But love him not o'er well, God saith, For cov...

The poem itself is of significance because, as forerunner of poems of the order of "The Romance of the Rose," it illustrates significant mediæval traits. The attitude towards na...

The most popular satire in the Middle Ages is found in the fabliaux, short tales which picture, with great zest, racy incidents in the lives of common people whose hidden sins o...