Category Archives: English, Middle

Troilus: Reading in a paved parlor

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About the scene and clip:
This clip is a two-part dramatization of Book 2, lines 78-119, of Troilus and Criseyde, performed in Middle English with Modern English subtitles. Part I dramatizes the scene in which Criseyde and her friends are reading aloud to each other in a paved parlor. Part II recreates how medieval audiences would have experienced Chaucer’s poem.

About the work:
The great 14th-century English poet Geoffrey Chaucer is primarily famous for The Canterbury Tales, but he is also the author of several other major works. In Troilus and Criseyde, he retells the tragic story of the Trojan prince, Troilus, and Criseyde. (This story is actually more medieval than classical: it comes from the Roman de Troie by the 12th-century French poet Benoït de Sainte-Maure; Boccaccio also tells the story in Il Filostrato, which is Chaucer’s primary source.) Chaucer tells of Troilus’ love for the beautiful young widow, Criseyde; his extreme timidity as a lover; the intervention of her uncle Pandarus on their behalf; their love-affair; her move to the Greek camp (being forced by her father to do so); her taking of a new lover, the Greek warrior Diomedes; and the heartbroken Troilus’ death in battle. The work is written in “rhyme royal” (seven-line stanzas in iambic pentameter). Shakespeare drew heavily on Chaucer’s poem for his tragedy Troilus and Cressida.

About the genre:
Troilus and Criseyde to some degree defies genre classification, but it draws strongly on romance tradition.

Medieval romances are typically long narratives of love and adventure in which an aristocratic hero (or occasionally a heroine) proves himself in combat and courtship. Medieval romance arose in France and Anglo-Norman England in the 12th century and spread through Western and even Eastern Europe. Many early romances tell the stories of knights and ladies at King Arthur’s court. In the 12th and 13th centuries, romances are composed in verse (typically octosyllabic rhymed couplets), and are commonly performed aloud from memory by minstrels; romances are also sometimes read aloud. In the 13th century, some romances begin to be written in prose; public and private readings become more frequent.

About the edition/translation:
The Riverside Chaucer, eds. Larry Benson, Robert Pratt, F.N. Robertson, Oxford, Oxford Paperbacks, 3rd Rev. Ed., 1988: Troilus and Criseyde, Book 2, lines 78-119.

About the performer/ensemble:
Prof. Joyce Coleman produced and directed the film. Kevin Caliendo (actor, screenwriter), Mark Collett (actor, screenwriter), Christina Norman Dotson (actor, screenwriter), Emily Duda (actor, costumer), Lee Green (actor, location scout), Kimberly Martinson (Antigone, music researcher), Alex Miner (actor, screenwriter), and Ryan Schaller (actor, “Siege of Thebes” researcher) are all graduate students in English and History at the University of Oklahoma (2006). Prof. David Levy (“Philosophical Strode”) is an emeritus professor of History, and Prof. Alan Velie (“Moral Gower”) is a professor of English, both at the University of Oklahoma. Dr. Lynne Levy (Chloe) and Dr. Dan Ransom are, respectively, the Managing Editor and the Director of the Chaucer Variorum. Dr. Elisabeth Dutton (Criseyde) teaches at Oxford University.

About the production:
This video was created for a graduate course taught by Prof. Joyce Coleman at the University of Oklahoma in spring 2006: “Authorship through Medieval Eyes.” The film was shot on April 13, 2006 at the University of Oklahoma. Copies of the video with detailed liner notes are available through Prof. Joyce Coleman of the University of Oklahoma. We offer our thanks to her, a member of the advisory board of the website, for allowing us to use this clip.

Gawain: Green Knight’s challenge

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About the scene and clip:
This clip gives a somewhat abridged performance of the opening scenes of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Linda Marie Zaerr tells the story in Middle English, with brief summary passages in Modern English. Laura Zaerr accompanies her on a harp.

About the work:
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, one of the best loved works of medieval literature, is an anonymous Middle English romance of the 14th century. The style is “alliterative”: each poetic line is dominated by a certain letter sound that is repeated.

The story: At Christmas, a strange, huge, all-green knight arrives at King Arthur’s court. He challenges all present to an exchange of blows with his great axe. Gawain accepts, and cuts off the knight’s head—but the green man does not die! Rather, he picks up his head and, before riding away, reminds Gawain that in a year it will be his turn to receive his blow. Gawain, in his dutiful quest for the Green Knight, encounters many adventures—in particular, at a castle where he has an exchange of gifts with the lord, and where the lady attempts repeatedly to seduce the virtuous and honorable Gawain. He finally finds the Green Knight—in a surprising conclusion to the romance.

About the genre:
Medieval romances are typically long narratives of love and adventure in which an aristocratic hero (or occasionally a heroine) proves himself in combat and courtship. Medieval romance arose in France and Anglo-Norman England in the 12th century and spread through Western and even Eastern Europe. Many early romances tell the stories of knights and ladies at King Arthur’s court. In the 12th and 13th centuries, romances are composed in verse (typically octosyllabic rhymed couplets), and are commonly performed aloud from memory by minstrels; romances are also sometimes read aloud. In the 13th century, some romances begin to be written in prose; public and private readings become more frequent.

About the edition/translation:
One edition of this frequently-edited work is Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, ed. J. R. R. Tolkien and E. V. Gordon, 2nd ed. revised by Norman Davis, Oxford, Clarendon, 1968.

About the performer/ensemble:
Linda Marie Zaerr is Professor of English at Boise State University and a professional performer of medieval literature who has performed widely at scholarly conferences and given many concerts. In her performances she narrates, acts, sings, and plays the vielle. Laura Zaerr, who lives in Oregon, teaches at the University of Oregon and at Willamette University in Salemis; she is a professional harpist and composer who performs widely.

About the production:
This clip is taken by permission from a DVD of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight that was produced by TEAMS and the Chaucer Studio with Shira Kammen, Laura Zaerr and Linda Marie Zaerr. Copies of the DVD can be purchased from the Chaucer Studio. For further information, contact the director of the Chaucer Studio, Professor Paul Thomas (paul_thomas@byu.edu; phone: 801-422-2531).

Wife of Bath: Crone turns into beautiful woman

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About the scene and clip:
In this final scene of the tale, performed here in Middle English, the ugly crone turns into a beautiful woman, to the great delight of her new husband, the knight. The performer plays both parts—as well as that of the storyteller, the Wife of Bath. A shawl aids in transitions, as well as providing a comic touch.

About the work:
Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, dating from around the last decade of the 14th century, tells how a group of pilgrims journey to the shrine of St. Thomas Becket at Canterbury and agree to tell stories on the way there and back, to pass the time. The two dozen or so pilgrims represent various classes and stations of men and women, both lay and religious. There are tales of many different types, including a fabliau (“The Miller’s Tale”) and a miracle story (“The Prioress’s Tale”). Tales are told in a wide range of styles, from the high, noble, and serious, to the low and the bawdy. Most of the tales are in verse, generally in rhymed couplets; a few are in prose. The Canterbury Tales exists in many manuscripts but is fragmentary: as we have the work, the pilgrims do not actually get to Canterbury, or back, and scholars disagree as to the order in which the tales should go. But this collection of great stories, often told by highly memorable characters, is one of the masterpieces of medieval literature.

The Wife of Bath is among the most forceful and memorable figures in The Canterbury Tales. In the lengthy prologue to her tale, she talks about marriage (virginity was not for her!), and about her five husbands, most of whom she bullied and dominated. The story the Wife of Bath tells comes from Arthurian tradition: a bold knight of King Arthur’s court is sentenced to death as a punishment for rape, but the Queen intervenes on his behalf and arranges for him to be pardoned—but only if he can find the answer to the question: what do women want most? After a long and fruitless search, an old crone gives him the answer, but she makes him promise that in return he will grant whatever she asks of him. She demands his hand in marriage. He reluctantly assents and marries her—but, to his delight, she turns into a beautiful young woman.

Another clip on this website–“Wedding of Gawain: What do women want?”–is from a work that tells essentially the same story as Chaucer’s “Wife of Bath’s Tale”—only there, the knight is Sir Gawain.

About the genre:
This story belongs to the tale tradition. The tale, like the epic, is an ancient genre and one found everywhere in the world. Many tales are firmly rooted in oral tradition and are recited or told by amateur and professional storytellers and performers. Other tales are the work of literarily sophisticated authors and are often intended to be read aloud or silently from written texts. Some tales circulate separately, while others are part of collections, which may be set in complex frames (as in the case of Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Boccaccio’s Decameron and Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales). There are many sub-groups of tales with specific characteristics; see for example the “lai” and the “fabliau.”

About the edition/translation:
There are many editions of The Canterbury Tales. This is the final scene of the work.

About the performer/ensemble:
Evan Wilson is an English major in the College of Arts and Science at New York University (2010).

About the production:
This performance was created for “Acting Medieval Literature,” taught at New York University by Prof. Timmie (E.B.) Vitz, in spring 2010. Sam Erenberger was the videographer.

Gawain: Green Knight leaves and King Arthur reacts

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About the scene and clip:
The Green Knight has just picked up his head and left the hall. King Arthur manages to respond to this astounding—and disturbing—marvel in a kingly and cheerful manner, and the Christmas feast begins.

About the work:
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, one of the best loved works of medieval literature, is an anonymous Middle English romance of the 14th century. The style is “alliterative”: each poetic line is dominated by a certain letter sound that is repeated.

The story: At Christmas, a strange, huge, all-green knight arrives at King Arthur’s court. He challenges all present to an exchange of blows with his great axe. Gawain accepts, and cuts off the knight’s head—but the green man does not die! Rather, he picks up his head and, before riding away, reminds Gawain that in a year it will be his turn to receive his blow. Gawain, in his dutiful quest for the Green Knight, encounters many adventures—in particular, at a castle where he has an exchange of gifts with the lord, and where the lady attempts repeatedly to seduce the virtuous and honorable Gawain. He finally finds the Green Knight—in a surprising conclusion to the romance.

About the genre:
Medieval romances are typically long narratives of love and adventure in which an aristocratic hero (or occasionally a heroine) proves himself in combat and courtship. Medieval romance arose in France and Anglo-Norman England in the 12th century and spread through Western and even Eastern Europe. Many early romances tell the stories of knights and ladies at King Arthur’s court. In the 12th and 13th centuries, romances are composed in verse (typically octosyllabic rhymed couplets), and are commonly performed aloud from memory by minstrels; romances are also sometimes read aloud. In the 13th century, some romances begin to be written in prose; public and private readings become more frequent.

About the edition/translation:
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, tr. Brian Stone, Penguin, 2nd ed., London, 1974, I: 21, pp. 38ff. One edition of this frequently-edited work is Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, ed. J. R. R. Tolkien and E. V. Gordon, 2nd ed. revised by Norman Davis, Oxford, Clarendon, 1968.

About the performer/ensemble:
Colleen Smith is a Drama student in the Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts (2009).

About the production:
This performance was created for “Acting Medieval Literature,” taught by Prof. Timmie (E.B.) Vitz in spring 2009. It was videoed in the classroom by a fellow student.

Tam Lin: Unaccompanied song

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About the scene and clip:
A solo performer sings the full version of Child ballad 39A unaccompanied.

About the work:
Tam Lin is number 39 of 305 English and Scottish ballads collected by Francis James Child in the late 19th century. Child collected 14 variations of the Tam Lin ballad; 39A he considered to be the oldest variation, although the inherent oral tradition of the ballad makes it impossible to date it with accuracy. The earliest printed reference to the ballad comes from an anonymous 1549 tract titled The Complaynt of Scotlande: vyth ane Exortatione to the Thre Estaits to be vigilante in the Deffens of their Public veil. The ballad is referred to as one of the “ancient” tales told in Scotland.

There are clues to the age of the ballad in the language used. For example, Janet is described as wearing a “kirtle,” a garment that was popularly worn in Scotland from the 14th through 16th centuries. The expression “syne,” meaning “directly after,” fell out of use in the mid 15th century, as did the term “aboon” for “above.” This version of the ballad is commonly dated to the late 14th century, as the majority of the colloquial terminology used in the ballad was at its peak popularity at that time.

The musical notation of this ballad, by James Johnson in the 18th century, was part of a large compilation he collected on popular Scottish songs.

The ballad tells the story of Janet, a young woman who is the daughter of a nobleman. She enters the woods of Carterhaugh (an area near modern-day Selkirk, Scotland), where she meets Tam Lin, a fairy knight who guards the well there. Tam Lin requires a tribute of all who pass the well, and Janet pays the tribute of her virginity. She becomes pregnant and returns to her father’s hall, where her pregnancy is discovered. Although her father wants her to marry one of his knights, Janet refuses, claiming that only Tam Lin – the true father of her child – will be her husband. She returns to the well, where Tam Lin tells her that he was once a mortal knight. He then explains that on Halloween, she can win him back from the fairies if she can pull him down off a white horse and hold him in her arms while he turns into various dangerous animals and objects. Janet accomplishes this, and Tam Lin is transformed from a fairy knight back into a naked mortal man. The Queen of Fairies curses the pair as she acknowledges that Tam Lin belongs to Janet now.

About the genre:
A ballad is a song that tells a story; ballads are often fairly long, composed of a dozen or more stanzas. Although many other songs, both long and short, also tell stories, the term “ballad” used in this particular sense dates from the late Middle Ages. Some late-medieval ballads and a great many early-modern ballads survive, some of them in multiple versions, and throughout the world. Documentation for ballad melodies is in general substantially later than for the texts.

About the edition/translation:
The classic edition for traditional ballad texts, often with many variants, is The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, ed. Francis James Child, New York, Dover, 1965, 5 vols (orig. 1888). This song is Vol. I, No. 39. The musical notation the performer uses comes from Scots Musical Museum, Originally Published by James Johnson with Illustrations of the Lyric Poetry and Music of Scotland by William Stenhouse, Hatboro, PA, Folklore Associates, 1962 (orig. 1787).

About the performer/ensemble:
Gina Guadagnino graduated from New York University in May 2003 with a major in English; she minored in Medieval and Renaissance Studies and Irish Studies. She has loved Tam Lin since childhood (2008).

About the production:
This performance was created for this website. It was videoed in a reception room at New York University in spring 2008.

Robin Hood and the golden arrow, guitar accompaniment

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About the scene and clip:
The performer sings the ballad and accompanies himself on a guitar. (A fellow student serves as music stand from which the performer reads the words of the song.)

About the work:
Robin Hood and the Golden Arrow is one of many ballads about the legendary popular hero Robin Hood, yeoman outlaw, defender of the poor and weak against the rich and powerful. Such songs and tales arose in 14th-century England, and this ballad may have originated in the medieval Gest of Robyn Hode. The ballads tell of Robin Hood’s life and numerous adventures, and of his encounters with a wide array of characters. In this lengthy ballad, Robin Hood, dressed in red instead of green, and therefore unrecognized, bears away the prize of archery—the golden arrow—against the arrogant Sheriff of Nottingham. Robin Hood ballads continue to be sung today in the United Kingdom and in parts of the United States.

About the genre:
A ballad is a song that tells a story; ballads are often fairly long, composed of a dozen or more stanzas. Although many other songs, both long and short, also tell stories, the term “ballad” used in this particular sense dates from the late Middle Ages. Some late-medieval ballads and a great many early-modern ballads survive, some of them in multiple versions, and throughout the world. Documentation for ballad melodies is in general substantially later than for the texts.

About the edition/translation:
A recent edition of the text of this ballad is in Robin Hood and Other Outlaw Tales, ed. Stephen Knight and Thomas H. Ohlgren, Kalamazoo Michigan, Medieval Institute Publications, 1997 (this ballad is also at present available on the web: search “TEAMS texts online”). The classic edition for traditional ballads, often with many variants, is The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, ed. Francis James Child, New York, Dover, 1965, 5 vols (1888); this song is Vol. 3, No. 152. Ballad melodies, like the words, often exist in many versions; for this song, as for most, the surviving melodies are substantially later than the Middle Ages; see Bertrand Harris Bronson, The Singing Tradition of Child’s Popular Ballads, Princeton, N.J., Princeton University Press, 1959-72, 4 vols.; Vol. 3, p. 52.

About the performer/ensemble:
Greg Powell is a Drama student in the Experimental Theatre Wing at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts (2005).

About the production:
This performance was created for a group independent study with Prof. Timmie (E.B.) Vitz in fall 2005. It took place on December 15, 2005, as part of an event titled “Making It Real: Performing the Middle Ages,” at an Off-off-Broadway venue in New York City—The American Place Theatre, 266 West 37th St (22nd floor). The performance was also sponsored by “Storytelling in Performance,” a workshop funded by the Humanities Council of New York University and co-directed by Profs. Timmie Vitz, Nancy Regalado and Martha Hodes. Gina Guadagnino was the videographer.

Robin Hood and the bold peddler, guitar accompaniment

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About the scene and clip:
The performer sings the ballad and accompanies himself on the guitar.

About the work:
Robin Hood and the Pedlar Bold is one of many ballads about the legendary popular hero Robin Hood, yeoman outlaw, defender of the poor and weak against the rich and powerful. Such songs and tales arose in 14th-century England, though this ballad is not among the early ones. The ballads tell of Robin Hood’s life and numerous adventures, and of his encounters with a wide array of characters, some of whom he recruits to his merry band. The bold peddler of this ballad turns out to be Robin’s own cousin, Gamble Gold—and at the end, they dine and drink cheerily together. Robin Hood ballads continue to be sung today in the United Kingdom and in parts of the United States.

About the genre:
A ballad is a song that tells a story; ballads are often fairly long, composed of a dozen or more stanzas. Although many other songs, both long and short, also tell stories, the term “ballad” used in this particular sense dates from the late Middle Ages. Some late-medieval ballads and a great many early-modern ballads survive, some of them in multiple versions, and throughout the world. Documentation for ballad melodies is in general substantially later than for the texts.

About the edition/translation:
The classic edition for traditional ballad texts, often with many variants, is The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, ed. Francis James Child, New York, Dover, 1965, 5 vols (1888); this song is Vol. 3, No. 132. The melody of this ballad also exists in several versions; see Bertrand Harris Bronson, The Singing Tradition of Child’s Popular Ballads, Princeton, N.J., Princeton University Press, 1959-72, 4 vols.; Vol. 3, p. 40.

About the performer/ensemble:
Greg Powell is a Drama student in the Experimental Theatre Wing at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts (2005).

About the production:
This performance was created for a group independent study with Prof. Timmie (E.B.) Vitz in fall 2005. It took place on December 15, 2005, as part of an event titled “Making It Real: Performing the Middle Ages,” at an Off-off-Broadway venue in New York City—The American Place Theatre, 266 West 37th St (22nd floor). The performance was also sponsored by “Storytelling in Performance,” a workshop funded by the Humanities Council of New York University and co-directed by Profs. Timmie Vitz, Nancy Regalado and Martha Hodes. Gina Guadagnino was the videographer.

Wedding of Gawain: What do women want?

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About the scene and clip:
This clip shows two scenes from the romance. In the first, a strange knight demands that King Arthur find out what women want, or he will kill and dishonor him. In the second scene, the King and Gawain go in search of the answer; they discover that only the loathsome Dame Ragnell knows–and she will divulge the answer only if Gawain agrees to marry her. (He does marry her, and at the end Ragnell turns into a beautiful woman.) Here and throughout the video, the performer alternates between narrating and impersonating all the various characters in turn, using costumes, props, and stage settings.

About the work:
The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnell is a late-medieval Arthurian romance, one of many Middle English romances devoted to the great knight of King Arthur’s court, Sir Gawain. The work is composed in tail-rhyme stanzas.

About the genre:
Medieval romances are typically long narratives of love and adventure in which an aristocratic hero (or occasionally a heroine) proves himself in combat and courtship. Medieval romance arose in France and Anglo-Norman England in the 12th century and spread through Western and even Eastern Europe. Many early romances tell the stories of knights and ladies at King Arthur’s court. In the 12th and 13th centuries, romances are composed in verse (typically octosyllabic rhymed couplets), and are commonly performed aloud from memory by minstrels; romances are also sometimes read aloud. In the 13th century, some romances begin to be written in prose; public and private readings become more frequent.

About the edition/translation:
Sir Gawain: Eleven Romances and Tales, ed. Thomas G. Hahn, Kalamazoo, MI, TEAMS (Consortium for the Teaching of the Middle Ages), Middle English Texts Series, 1995.

About the performer/ensemble:
Linda Marie Zaerr is Professor of English at Boise State University (2004) and a professional performer of medieval literature who has performed widely at scholarly conferences and given many concerts. In her performances she narrates, acts, sings, and plays the vielle.

About the production:
The video from which this clip is taken was recorded by the Chaucer Studio, with support from TEAMS (Consortium for the Teaching of the Middle Ages), Kalamazoo, MI. For purschase and further information, contact the director of the Chaucer Studio, Professor Paul Thomas (paul_thomas@byu.edu; phone: 801-422-2531).