Middle English Literature – A Historical Sourcebook

The documents have been chosen to complement the themes and styles that appear in the literature, enabling students to compare fourteenth- and fifteenth-century creative writing with contemporary debates on a range of important topics such as friars, marriage, Lollardy, the perception of non-Western others, lechery, law, the revolt of 1382, books, and the English language. Twelve images are also included.

Modern English translations have been used where the texts were originally written in Latin and French, but Middle English selections remain in Middle English, with glosses and explanatory footnotes where necessary. Succinct introductions help to place the documents in relation to historical, authorial, and manuscript contexts. Select bibliographies list other related medieval works and the most helpful secondary studies.