Epics of the Middle Ages

This anthology gathers seven medieval narrative poems in modern English versions: the French chansons de geste of Roland, William of Orange, and Raoul of Cambrai; the Castilian Poem of the Cid; Wace's history of the Norman dukes; John Barbour's Bruce; and the crusading epic of Godfrey of Boulogne. The pieces treat feudal loyalty and feud, holy war, conquest, and the making of kingdoms from the Carolingian borderlands to Iberia, Normandy, Scotland, and the Levant. Heroes ride, swear, betray, and die in the service of lord, kin, or faith. There is no single plot. The volume is a reader of martial epic rather than a chronicle of the period or a single national cycle.

Quarter-bound in brown leather with patterned dark brown cloth boards with gilt lettering to spine. Dark brown slipcase.