French
The Heptaméron (Marguerite de Navarre)
A collection of stories modeled on Boccaccio's Decameron, with the major difference being that the stories told had to be true. The frame tale concerns five men and five women forced to take refuge in an abbey and who tell each other tales to pass the time. The original intent appears to have been to collect one hundred tales together, but the book stops a little past seventy tales (hence the title).
The ten characters in the frame tale are probably based on the people within the French court at the time, and a number of convincing theories exist as to whom each charcter represents, although it is not even certain that the author has been correctly attributed. Certainly the frame tale serves to provide an interesting and amusing dialogue between stories as well as exciting the interest of academics.
Of the stories themselves the most interesting are Story 8, about a husband who brings about his own cuckolding and Story 11 which is toilet humour at its best.
Online Sources
Modern Editions
The Heptameron
A fairly good introduction contains notes on the providence of the text, the little on the life of Marguerite de Navarre, speculation as to the identity of the characters in the frame tale a notes on the translations. The translation itself is very readable.
The Heptameron
Translated by P.A.Chilton
1984, Penguin Books
The Breton Lais (Marie de France)
Although Marie de France is the first known female writer of the Middle Ages, very little is known about her other than her work. She was the best exponent of the Lai, and her collection of Lais remains extant in a number of sources.
Online resources
Modern Editions
The Lais of Marie de France
Translated by Glyn S. Burgess and Keith Busby
1986, Penguin Books
The Romance of Reynard
This group of stories started to appear in France around the twelfth century. The major characters of these stories are all animals who are given human virtues and, more commonly, vices. The main characters of these stories, and the one with more than his share of vices, is Reynard the Fox. He is treacherous, venal, greedy, sly and malicious, but is usually portrayed in such a way that the audience will side with him. As there are many authors of the Reynard stories the quality of the compositions is variable, as is the intent of the story itself.
As almost all stories of this sort were written at the time the Romance of Reynard is in octosylabic rhyming couplets. The better stories concerning Reynard include Reynard's trial, Reynard the Minstrel and Reynard and the Peasant Liétard.
Modern Editions
The Romance of Reynard the Fox
Translated by D.D.R. Owen
1994, Oxford University Press
Fabliaux
The fabliau (pl. fabliaux) is a descendant of the ancient fable, although it has undergone some notable changes. The first is that the fabliau deals with humans rather than animals. The second is that the fabliau could fairly be described as bawdy. Most deal with immoral acts but don't go out of their way to condemn them. Certain tales condemn the peasant trying to elevate his station in life, or priests who get too greedy, but others are merry tales of how men became cuckolds through their own foolishness.
There are some one hundred and fifty fabliaux that have survived to our time and all but one are in octosyllabic rhyming couplets.
Online Sources
Modern Collections of Fabliaux
Gallic Salt
This book contains eighteen fabliaux in translated verse, with the original appearing on the facing page. The translated verse is in octosyllabic rhyming couplets in keeping with the original form. The one exception to this is Baillet, whose more song like structure is also transposed into English (Baillet is the one Fabliau that does not use octosyllabic rhyming couplets). There is a detailed 36 page introduction as well as a pronunciation guide to Old French.
Gallic Salt
Translated by Robert Harrison
1974, University of California Press
Fabliaux
A good collection of 22 fabliaux all translated into prose, except for The Knight Who Conjured Voices, which is translated into verse. At the end of each story there are a set of notes (usually about a page or so) explaining, among other things, the traditional tales that the fabliau was sourced from and whatever is known about the author. The positioning of what would otherwise have been called an introduction behind each story works very well, though the use of an afterword rather than a foreword probably does not.
Fabliaux
Translated, with Notes and Afterword, by Robert Hellman and Richard O'Gorman
1965, Arthur Barker Limited
Cuckolds Clerics and Countrymen
A collection of ten fabliaux, all translated into verse. Each story contains an introduction, and the book also has a twelve page introduction. The poetry is all in octosyllabic rhyming couplets, the same as the original fabliaux. In general the translations are quite good and manage to convey the original charm of the fabliau. Occasionally, however, there is the odd strained passage or dubious rhyme ('watch' and 'catch' for instance). In general the quality of the poetry in Gallic Salt is probably better.
Cuckolds Clerics and Countrymen Medieval French Fabliaux
Translated by John DuVal
Introduction, texts and notes by Raymond Eichmann
1982, The University of Arkansas Press
The French Fabliau B.N. MS. 837
This is a two volume set containing the text and translation of the forty fabliaux from Bibliothèque National Manuscript number 837. The translation is direct and line by line on the page opposite the original. There is a twenty one page introduction covering the nature of the fabliau and the manuscript.
The French Fabliau B.N. MS. 837
Edited and translated by Raymond Eichmann and John DuVal
Volume 16, Series A, Garland Library of Medieval Literature
1984, Garland Publishing Inc.
Copyright Conrad Leviston (2000)