Middle English Reading Group

All are welcome to come along, at whatever reading level you are; no familiarity with Middle English is required.

To be added to the mailing list please email Rose Albiston r.albiston@student.unimelb.edu.au or Stephanie Trigg sjtrigg@unimelb.edu.au

Resources

Online Middle English Dictionary

Middle English Basic Pronunciation and Grammar

An Introduction to Middle English - California State University site

Online Etymological Dictionary

J. A. Burrow and Thorlac Turville-Petre, A Book of Middle English, Blackwell 1992, 2nd ed. 1996.

Next Meeting

The group meets fortnightly on Mondays, 11:00-12:00 via Zoom. The next meeting is Monday 3 August. We will be continuing with Part 2 of the Stanzaic Morte Arthur from line 1632, beginning:

Then was the queene glad ynow,
When she saw Launcelot du Lake,
That nigh for joy she fell in swough,
But as the lordes her gan up take.
Note: the online version of the text is out of alignment with glosses and line numbers, so this stanza does not line up properly with line 1632.

An online edition of the text is available at https://metseditions.org/texts/6Xwe62df8dzKu46LS19R4flVVK66z1X.

Rose has put together a summary of what was covered in last week’s session for those who were absent:
The king asks Sir Mador to dine with the court first, as there’s still a chance that a knight will put himself forward to fight for the queen. Bors shares a laugh with Lionel and then leaves the table to prepare himself for battle. When he returns, the king is overcome with happiness to see that Bors has repaid the king’s care of him. Sir Mador formally accuses the queen of treason, just as a strange, intimidating knight—Lancelot in disguise!—bursts into the hall.
Lancelot declares that he will take up the fight against Sir Mador to protect the queen, and they head outside; the court follows. The knights meet each other with such force that they are both immediately unhorsed, and they have to fight on foot. They fight from morning to night, and they neither give nor take an inch. Lancelot has never before faced an opponent who has come so close to killing him. Eventually, Lancelot manages to strike Sir Mador, and Sir Mador cries for mercy. Sir Mador asks that Lancelot reveal his identity; he does, and Sir Mador is delighted that he held his own for so long against such a knight. He officially releases the queen from the charge of his brother’s death. The king recognises Lancelot, and the entire court rushes to take him in their arms and kiss him.
Hooray, Lancelot’s back!

To be added to the mailing list please email Rose Albiston r.albiston@student.unimelb.edu.au or Stephanie Trigg sjtrigg@unimelb.edu.au

Previous Texts

The Middle English Reading Group started in 2002. Since then we have read:

  • Robert Henryson’s Testament of Cresseid
  • Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde
  • Psalm 23
  • Ywain and Gawain
  • Bevis of Hampton
  • William Caxton's 'Golden Legend'
  • The Man of Law's Tale
  • The Shepherds’ Play (N-Town Cycle)
  • Sir Thopas
  • The Awntyrs off Arthur
  • Confessio Amantis
  • Hoccleve’s Letter of Cupid
  • Patience
  • The Owl and the Nightingale
  • Polychronicon
  • The Brut of England
  • King Horn
  • Alliterative Morte Arthure
  • Piers Plowman
  • The Parlement of the Thre Ages
  • Wynnere and Wastoure
  • The Book of the Duchess
  • Sir Launfal
  • Havelok the Dane
  • Pearl
  • The Summoner’s Tale
  • The Friar’s Tale
  • The Second Shepherds’ Play (Towneley Cycle)
  • Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
  • Sir Orfeo
  • The Reeve’s Tale
  • John Lydgate's The Siege of Thebes