Medieval treats

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OK, I'm so in love with the anonymous bard of Tristan et Iseult I just have to get more in the same vein... anybody know any other delicious medieval classics that (cough) one's PC-addled education may have neglected? This stuff is addictive.

― Ann Sterzinger (Ann Sterzinger), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 00:29 (twenty-one years ago)

i made chutney recently from a recipe that supposedly dates back to that time period... but that's not the kind of medieval treat that you're looking for, is it?

― lauren (laurenp), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 00:35 (twenty-one years ago)

no, but that sounds pretty neat too.

― Ann Sterzinger (Ann Sterzinger), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 00:39 (twenty-one years ago)

Aucassin et Nicolette! I like the Romace of the Rose too, good gradual shift from spiritual meditations into pr0n. Bits of the Ancrine Wisse are pretty staggering, rhetorically, it's a fun read but not really, y'know, a story. (Part 6 is most of the good stuff, it's a good chapter to go, "uh, they thought like /this/, wtf?"). People rate Gawain, I'm not sure though.

(Troilus above everything, if I'm allowed to cheat...)

― Gregory Henry (Gregory Henry), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 00:42 (twenty-one years ago)

I guess dante counts! I dunno when you mean, really. I'm really into like 1300-1450 in England, there're all these awesome fusions betwen renaissance-impacted cultcha (like, y'know, we have now) and this retreating one that's totally, utterly alien and barbarous and occasionally magic.

― Gregory Henry (Gregory Henry), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 00:47 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh wow, I know nada. I am all ears, bub. I like the French and the English stuff and I now have a copy of Dante with the French translation on facing pages but that's such a monster and I've already read it in English... mmm I think I'm going to love this point where magic and reason fuse...

― Ann Sterzinger (Ann Sterzinger), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 04:17 (twenty-one years ago)

I just found a copy of Lais de Marie de France for $4.50!!

― Ann Sterzinger (Ann Sterzinger), Wednesday, 30 June 2004 02:43 (twenty-one years ago)

I typed a message suggesting that and then deleted it!!

― Casuistry (Chris P), Wednesday, 30 June 2004 08:45 (twenty-one years ago)

Also perhaps the Decameron is worth keeping an eye out for. I've only read the "controversial" stories, though. Someday I'll hunker down with the rest of it. Probably.

― Casuistry (Chris P), Wednesday, 30 June 2004 08:46 (twenty-one years ago)

chris, you dirty old sage!

there is a famous flemish fable about a fox (wow! that' s 4 f-words!)

― erik, Wednesday, 30 June 2004 09:49 (twenty-one years ago)

The travels of Marco Polo is sitting on my coffee table.

― Mikey G (Mikey G), Wednesday, 30 June 2004 10:30 (twenty-one years ago)

Is that dirrrty?

― Casuistry (Chris P), Wednesday, 30 June 2004 18:16 (twenty-one years ago)

There is a French Arthurian tale about a werewolf (Marie de France) that's interesting. I bet it's in your book, Ann.(combining mythologies!) I've heard about these letters of Abelard and Heloise...

― jocelyn (Jocelyn), Wednesday, 30 June 2004 19:02 (twenty-one years ago)

I started reading Abelard & Heloise but didn't get much past the introduction. Someday!

― Casuistry (Chris P), Wednesday, 30 June 2004 19:45 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh, oh, one more: Mandeville's Travels are amazing. They're this totally made-up travel book, he goes on pilgrimage to Jerusalem and then wanders off east and east until he gets to the wall of Paradise, via the Great Kahn, Prestor John's Land, etc. They were read as fact until like 1650 or something. (The "I loved him for the dangers in his past" speech from Othello is from it).

― Gregory Henry (Gregory Henry), Friday, 2 July 2004 02:04 (twenty-one years ago)

two weeks pass...

Years ago I read a book published by Norton entitled "Medieval Romances," which had an enjoyable collection of tales from Arthurian legend. If you want something in a less-legendary vein, though, I cannot recommend Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales" highly enough; the man is unparalleled as an observer of European society during the Middle Ages.

― Mark Klobas, Thursday, 22 July 2004 02:35 (twenty-one years ago)

Haven't you heard that no one reads anymore? That's so yesterday.

― Frank Marcopolos, Saturday, 31 July 2004 03:52 (twenty-one years ago)

I just started the Decameron today and read through the first two days. It's pretty good!

― Casuistry (Chris P), Saturday, 31 July 2004 04:24 (twenty-one years ago)

There is a French Arthurian tale about a werewolf (Marie de France) that's interesting. I bet it's in your book, Ann.(combining mythologies!) I've heard about these letters of Abelard and Heloise...

Oh yeah, I loved that one! There was a very spooky illustration -- it read to me more like a fairy tale than a courtly-type story, though. Not that that's at all bad. It's just interesting how fine the line is between what's considered a children's story and what's just a very old tale for grown-ups.

― Ann Sterzinger (Ann Sterzinger), Tuesday, 3 August 2004 20:47 (twenty-one years ago)

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