A Literary History of the English People, from the Origins to the RenaissanceJusserand, J. J. (Jean Jules)
History
A Literary History of the English People, from the Origins to the Renaissance
Jusserand, J. J. (Jean Jules)
English literature -- History and criticism
[164] Jean de Waurin, who wrote in French prose in the fifteenth century
his "Chroniques et anchiennes istoires de la Grant-Bretaigne" (ed.
Hardy, Rolls, 1864 ff.) was a Frenchman of France, who had fought at
Agincourt on the French side. The chronicle of Peter de Langtoft, canon
of Bridlington, Yorkshire, who lived under Edward I. and Edward II., was
printed by Thomas Wright, 1866 (Rolls), 2 vols. 8vo.
[165]
Engelond his a wel god lond | ich wene ech londe best ...
The see geth him al aboute | he stond as in an yle,
Of fon hii dorre the lasse doute | bote hit be thorgh gyle ...
Plente me may in Engelond | of alle gode ise.
W. A. Wright, "Metrical Chronicle of Robert of Gloucester," 1887
(Rolls), vol. i. pp. 1, 2. Robert's surname, "of Gloucester," is not
certain; see Mr. Wright's preface, and his letter to the _Athenaeum_, May
19, 1888. He is very hard (too hard it seems) on Robert, of whose work
he says: "As literature it is as worthless as twelve thousand lines of
verse without one spark of poetry can be."
[166] Among writings of this sort, written in French either by Frenchmen
or by Englishmen, and popular in England, may be quoted: Penitential
Psalms, a French version very popular in England, in a MS. preserved at
the University Library, Cambridge, thirteenth century ("Romania," vol.
xv. p. 305).--Explanation of the Gospels: the "Miroir," by Robert de
Greteham, in 20,000 French verses (_Ibid._).--Lives of Saints: life of
Becket in "Materials for the history of Thomas Becket," ed. Robertson,
1875 ff., 7 vols., and "Fragments d'une vie de St. Thomas" (with very
curious engravings), edited by Paul Meyer, 1885, 4to, Societe des
Anciens Textes; life of St. Catherine, by Sister Clemence de Barking,
twelfth century (G. Paris, "Romania," xiii. p. 400); life of St.
Josaphaz and life of the Seven Sleepers, by Chardry, thirteenth century
("Chardry's Josaphaz," &c., ed. Koch, Heilbronn, 1879, 8vo); life of St.
Gregory the Great, by Augier, of St. Frideswide's, Oxford, thirteenth
century (text and commentary in "Romania," xii. pp. 145 ff.); lives of
St. Edward (ed. Luard, Rolls, 1858); mention of many other lives in
French (others in English) will be found in Hardy's "Descriptive
Catalogue," Rolls, 1862 ff.--Manuals and treatises: by Robert
Grosseteste, William de Wadington and others (see below, p. 214).--Works
concerning Our Lady: "Adgars Marien Legenden," ed. Carl Neuhaus,
Heilbronn, 1886, 8vo (stories in French verse of miracles of the Virgin,
by Adgar, an Anglo-Norman of the twelfth century; some take place in
England); "Joies de Notre Dame," "Plaintes de Notre Dame," French poems
written in England, thirteenth century (see "Romania," vol. xv. pp. 307
ff.).--Moralised tales and Bestiaries: "Bestiaire" of Philippe de Thaon,
a Norman priest of the twelfth century, in French verse (includes a
"Lapidaire" and a "Volucraire," on the virtues of stones and birds),
text in T. Wright, "Popular Treatises on Science," London 1841,
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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