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 14 September. We will be continuing with Part 2 of the Stanzaic Morte Arthur from line 1958, beginning:

There was no steel stood them again,
Though fought they but a little stound;
Lordinges that were much of main,
Many good were brought to ground;

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

Note: the online version of the text is out of alignment with glosses and line numbers. A PDF  is here.
Stephanie has put together a summary of what was covered in last week’s session for those who were absent:

Caught in Guenevere’s chamber with only his sword but no armour, Lancelot has let one knight in, killed him, and shut the door. He dresses himself in this armour and leaps out to attack Agravain and his men. He kills them all but Mordred escapes. Lancelot goes to his chamber where Bors and other knights remain anxiously with a sense of foreboding. More than a hundred knights and squires gather in Lancelot’s support and they go to the forest.

Mordred reports the death of Agrarian to  Arthur and Gawain. Arthur decides it is time to burn the queen. Gawain will not watch, and his brothers Gaheriet and Gaheries also absent themselves. The king summons them by name. Gawain still refuses to go, but the younger brothers attend, unarmed.

Lancelot’s squire brings the news to Lancelot and they all head to the scene of execution. The queen is standing, about to be burned, and Lancelot leaps into action, parting the very large crowd as he goes.

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