Oft him an-haga are gebideþMetodes mildse þeah-þe he mod-cearigGeond lagu-lade lange scoldeHreran mid handum hrim-cealde sæWadan wræc-lastas. Wyrd biþ ful aræd.Swa cwæþ eard-stapa earfoþa gemyndigWraþra wael-sleahta wine-maga hryre.Oft ic scolde ana uhtna gehwelceMine ceare cwiþan nis nu cwicra nanðe ic him mod-sefan minne durreSweotule asecgan. Ic to soþe watðæt biþ on eorle indryhten þeawðæt he his ferhþ-locan fæste bindeHealde his hord-cofan hycge swa he wille.

L'aventure d'un autre lai,Cum ele avient, vus cunterai:Fait fu d'un mut gentil vassal;En bretans l'apelent Lanval.

A Kardoel surjurnot li reis,Artur, le pruz et li curteis,Pur les Escoz e pur les Pis,Que destruieient le païs;En la tere de Loengre entroënt E mut suvent la damagoënt.A la pentecuste en estéI aveit li reis sujurné.Asez i duna riches duns: E as cuntes e as baruns,A ceus de la table roünde-- N'ot tant de teus en tut le munde.Femmes e tere departi,Par tut, fors un qui l'ot servi:Ceo fut Lanval, ne l'en sovient,Ne nul des soens bien ne li tient.

L'aventure d'un autre lai,Cum ele avient, vus cunterai:Fait fu d'un mut gentil vassal;En bretans l'apelent Lanval.

A Kardoel surjurnot li reis,Artur, le pruz et li curteis,Pur les Escoz e pur les Pis,Que destruieient le païs;En la tere de Loengre entroënt E mut suvent la damagoënt.A la pentecuste en estéI aveit li reis sujurné.Asez i duna riches duns: E as cuntes e as baruns,A ceus de la table roünde-- N'ot tant de teus en tut le munde.Femmes e tere departi,Par tut, fors un qui l'ot servi:Ceo fut Lanval, ne l'en sovient,Ne nul des soens bien ne li tient.

The adventure of another lay,Just as it happened, I'll relay:It tells of a very nice nobleman,And it's called Lanval in Breton.

King Arthur was staying at Carduel--That King of valiant and courtly estate--His borders there he guarded well Against the Pict, against the Scot,Who'd cross into Logres to devastate The countryside often, and a lot.He held court there at Pentecost,The summer feast we call Whitsun,Giving gifts of impressive cost To every count and each baron And all knights of the Round Table.Never elsewhere so many, such able Knights assembled! Women and land He shared out with generous hand To all but one who'd served. Lanval He forgot: no man helped his recall.

The opening lines of Lanval in Anglo-Norman

Lanval_Shoaf_001.mp3

43-ca. 420 Roman invasion and occupation of Britain

ca. 450 Anglo-Saxon Conquest

597 St. Augusting arrives in Kent; beginning of Anglo-Saxon

conversion to Christianity

871-899 Reign of King Alfred

1066 Norman Conquest

1154-1189 Reign of Henry II

ca. 1200 Beginnings of Middle English literature

1360-1400 Geoffrey Chaucer; Piers Plowman; Sir Gawain and

the Green Knight

(the Norton Anthology’s chronology, p.1)

43-ca. 420 Roman invasion and occupation of Britain

ca. 450 Anglo-Saxon Conquest

597 St. Augusting arrives in Kent; beginning of Anglo-Saxon

conversion to Christianity

871-899 Reign of King Alfred

1066 Norman Conquest

1154-1189 Reign of Henry II

ca. 1200 Beginnings of Middle English literature

1360-1400 Geoffrey Chaucer; Piers Plowman; Sir Gawain and

the Green Knight

(the Norton Anthology’s chronology, p.1)

Beowulf

Lanval

43-ca. 420 Roman invasion and occupation of Britain

ca. 450 Anglo-Saxon Conquest

597 St. Augusting arrives in Kent; beginning of Anglo-Saxon

conversion to Christianity

871-899 Reign of King Alfred

1066 Norman Conquest

1154-1189 Reign of Henry II

ca. 1200 Beginnings of Middle English literature

1360-1400 Geoffrey Chaucer; Piers Plowman; Sir Gawain and

the Green Knight

(the Norton Anthology’s chronology, p.1)

Beowulf

Lanval

England in the 8th Century

The Angevin Empire in the 12th Century

Bayeux Tapestry, Normandy

Harold Godwinson becomes King of England (from the Bayeux Tapestry)

Halley’s comet appears, April 1066(from the Bayeux Tapestry)

The Normans invade England, 1066 (from the Bayeux Tapestry)

William the Conqueror at the battle of Hastings, October 1066(from the Bayeux Tapestry)

Death of Harold at Hastings, 1066 (from the Bayeux Tapestry)

The Normans invade England The Simpsons invade the Flanders

The Tower of London ( the White Tower is in the center)

Henry II Plantagenet, King of England 1154-1189

The Angevin Empire in the 12th Century

Henry II and Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury

Richard I (“the Lionhearted”), King of England 1189-1199

John I, King of England 1199-1216 A copy of the Magna Carta

Marie de France (later 12th century)

A manuscript of Marie’s Lais (BN MS Arsenal 3142, early 13th c.)

A fourteenth-century copy of Marie de France’s Yonec (BN MS fr. 24432)

L'aventure d'un autre lai,Cum ele avient, vus cunterai:Fait fu d'un mut gentil vassal;En bretans l'apelent Lanval.

A Kardoel surjurnot li reis,Artur, le pruz et li curteis,Pur les Escoz e pur les Pis,Que destruieient le païs;En la tere de Loengre entroënt E mut suvent la damagoënt.A la pentecuste en estéI aveit li reis sujurné.Asez i duna riches duns: E as cuntes e as baruns,A ceus de la table roünde-- N'ot tant de teus en tut le munde.Femmes e tere departi,Par tut, fors un qui l'ot servi:Ceo fut Lanval, ne l'en sovient,Ne nul des soens bien ne li tient.

The adventure of another lay,Just as it happened, I'll relay:It tells of a very nice nobleman,And it's called Lanval in Breton.

King Arthur was staying at Carduel--That King of valiant and courtly estate--His borders there he guarded well Against the Pict, against the Scot,Who'd cross into Logres to devastate The countryside often, and a lot.He held court there at Pentecost,The summer feast we call Whitsun,Giving gifts of impressive cost To every count and each baron And all knights of the Round Table.Never elsewhere so many, such able Knights assembled! Women and land He shared out with generous hand To all but one who'd served. Lanval He forgot: no man helped his recall.

The opening lines of Lanval in Anglo-Norman

Lanval_Shoaf_001.mp3