Description

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Medieval English Travel: A Critical Anthology is a comprehensive volume that consists of three sections: concise introductory essays written by leading specialists; an anthology of important and less well-known texts, grouped by destination; and a selection of supporting bibliographies organized by type of voyage. This anthology presents some texts for the first time in a modern edition. The first section consists of six companion essays on 'Places, Real and Imagined', 'Maps and the Organization of Space', 'Encounters', 'Codes and Languages', 'Trade and Exchange', and 'Politics and Diplomacy'.

The organizing principle for the anthology is one of expansive geography. Starting with local English narratives, the section moves to France, en-route destinations, the Holy Land, and the Far East. In total, the anthology contains twenty-six texts or extracts, including new editions of Floris & Blancheflour, The Stacions of Rome, The Libelle of Englyshe Polycye, and Chaucers 'Squire's Tale', in addition to less familiar texts, such as Osbern Bokenham's Mappula Angliae, John Kay's Siege of Rhodes, 1480, and Richard Torkington's Diaries of Englysshe Travell.

The supporting bibliographies, in turn, take a functional approach to travel, and support the texts by elucidating contexts for travel and travellers in five areas: 'commercial voyages', 'diplomatic and military travel', 'maps, rutters, and charts', 'practical needs, languages, and currencies', and 'religious voyages'.

About the Author

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Anthony Bale, Professor of Medieval Studies and Deputy Dean of Arts, Birkbeck, University of London, Sebastian Sobecki, Professor of Medieval English Literature and Culture, University of Groningen Anthony Bale is Professor of Medieval Studies and Deputy Dean of Arts at Birkbeck, University of London. He has published widely on medieval literature, culture, and religion. In particular, his work has explored relations between Christians and Jews in medieval England and, more recently, the culture of medieval pilgrimage. He has also edited and translated several medieval texts, and published a new translation and edition of The Book of Margery Kempe (Oxford University Press, 2015). His current work explores travel, books, and pilgrimage between England and the Holy Land in the later Middle Ages. Sebastian Sobecki is Professor of Medieval English Literature and Culture at the University of Groningen. His research concentrates on medieval English and early Tudor literature, especially Chaucer and Gower. He is author of Unwritten Verities: The Making of England's Vernacular Legal Culture, 1463-1549 (University of Notre Dame Press, 2015).