"This book presents the first modern English translation of the twelfth-century "Chronicle of Pseudo-Turpin," a work, part history and part "chanson de geste," concerning Charlemagne and the Crusade in Spain, with particular reference to St. James and Compostela, and including preface, introduction, notes, glossary, bibliography and index"--

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 1976.

This unique Middle English text, not previously published, of the immensely popular story of Charlemagne's Spanish wars and defeat at Roncevaux, has only recently been discovered. It is one of the earliest prose romances, pre-dating Sir Thomas Malory's Morte D'Artur by more than a decade. This version testifies to a distinctive British tradition of the Charlemagne story. The manuscript's history locates the text in Lancastrian and regional politics of the mid-fifteenth century.

"Reading Spiegel's book is like seeing the scattered pieces of a jigsaw puzzle of history and literature suddenly assembled in a dazzling new image, a picture that could not have been made without the master piece, the manuscript that Professor Spiegel was the first person in almost 800 years to read and interpret. Her effort is a tour de force of no mean proportion."--Stephen G. Nichols Jr., author of Romanesque Signs

Originally published in 1993, The Medieval Charlemagne Legend is a selective bibliography for the literary scholar, of historical and literary material relating to Charlemagne. The book provides a chronological listing of sources on the legend and man is split into three distinct sections, covering the history of Charlemagne, the literature of Charlemagne and the medieval biography and chronicle of Charlemagne.

The first full-length examination of the medieval Charlemagne tradition in the literature and culture of medieval England, from the Chanson de Roland to Caxton. The Matter of France, the legendary history of Charlemagne, had a central but now largely unrecognised place in the multilingual culture of medieval England. From the early claim in the Chanson de Roland that Charlemagne held England as his personal domain, to the later proliferation of Middle English romances of Charlemagne, the materials are woven into the insular political and cultural imagination. However, unlike the wide range of continental French romances, the insular tradition concentrates on stories of a few heroic characters: Roland, Fierabras, Otinel. Why did writers and audiences in England turn again and again to these narratives, rewriting and reinterpreting them for more than two hundred years? This book offers the first full-length, in-depth study of the tradition as manifested in literature and culture. It investigates the currency and impact of the Matter of France with equal attention to English and French-language texts, setting each individual manuscript or early printed text in its contemporary cultural and political context. The narratives are revealed to be extraordinarily adaptable, using the iconic opposition between Carolingian and Saracen heroes to reflect concerns with national politics, religious identity, the future of Christendom, chivalry and ethics, and monarchy and treason. PHILLIPA HARDMAN is Readerin Medieval English Literature (retired) at the University of Reading; MARIANNE AILES is Senior Lecturer in French at the University of Bristol.

This book offers a companion volume to Italica's Pilgrim's Guide to Santiago de Compostela by William Melczer, with the complete text of Book II of the Codex Calixtinus, the twenty-two miracles associated with St. James, including the famous miracle of the hanged boy, who revives when his father returns from his pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. The introduction analyzes the types, places, and recipients of the miracles and discusses the appearances of St. James himself in these stories.

The pilgrimage route to Compostela is graced with an exceptional witness from its early days: the Liber Sancti Jacobi or Book of Saint James. This book is found most famously in a twelfth-century manuscript from the library of the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, as well as in various other manuscripts. The text provides an encyclopedia on Saint James the Great and on the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, the traditional site of his burial in Galicia in northwestern Spain. Of the five books included in the manuscript, Book I, the longest, contains the Sermons and Liturgy of Saint James. It is published here in English translation for the first time. It consists of two major sections: the first contains sermons and readings on Saint James, and the second presents a compendium of liturgical prose, poetry, and musical material suitable for the feasts of Saint James. Book I is accompanied here with the first full translation of the addenda that consists of material gathered subsequent to the compilation of the original five books and that was inserted at its end. The sermons and readings include works attributed to Pope Calixtus and Pope Leo, and others authored by Gregory the Great, Jerome, Bede, Eusebius, Augustine, and John Chrysostom. These sermons and readings stand as self-contained units that fit into the liturgies. The liturgical material is a compendium of readings and music for the feast days related to Saint James, including his Calling, Translatio, Passion, and Miracles. The musical pieces are the most extensive collection of musical materials dedicated to a single saint in the twelfth century. They include antiphons, responsorials, hymns, and processionals, with both older and original melodies. This book of the Liber Sancti Jacobi provides a picture of the power and importance of the saint, reflecting his significance and that of Santiago de Compostela, along with Rome and Jerusalem one of the three major Christian pilgrimage sites during the Middle Ages. 566 pages. Preface, introduction, notes, bibliography, index, and illustrations