Edited by Tony Hunt and translated by Jane Bliss, with an Introduction by Henrietta Leyser
FRETS OPS vol. 1 (MRTS vol. 385) ACMRS Press, 2010
“Cher alme”: Texts of Anglo-Norman Piety offers fourteen hitherto unedited Anglo-Norman texts of doctrine and devotion, together with their first-ever translations into English. Medievalists and others, including historians of religion and culture, have increasingly come to appreciate the French of England as a major language for vernacular pastoralia and the formation of the self in medieval England from the twelfth to the late fourteenth centuries, and one that has to be considered together with medieval English and Latin. This volume offers a valuable resource for scholars of medieval English literary culture and will inform and delight readers of all kinds: moving and vivid glimpses of medieval beliefs, hopes and fears repeatedly leap to the eye in works for and by medieval women and men. Tony Hunt’s editions, noted as forthcoming in Ruth J. Dean’s Anglo-Norman Literature: A Guide to Texts and Manuscripts, will be welcomed by all who wish to read these works in their original language, while Jane Bliss’s translations will ensure that readers new to the field have access to its riches. Henrietta Leyser’s introduction provides important context for these new texts.