Early English Text Society Original
2 primary works
Book 355
This is volume I of the first scholarly edition of the Golden Legend, the largest and most elaborate production of the first printer in English, William Caxton. It is an English translation of Jacobus de Voragine's Legenda aurea (ca. 1267), a collection of legends for the feasts of saints (the Sanctorale) and other major days of the liturgical year (the Temporale). The Legenda aurea was one of the most popular and influential books
in the later medieval Western world; it circulated widely, and was repeatedly translated into many vernacular languages. This volume reproduces Caxton's original text of the Temporale with modern punctuation and capitalization, notes on content, syntax and lexis, a detailed glossary, and an index of proper names.
Caxton's complex combination of sources is given particular attention: the principal one was a little-known reworking of the French translation made by Jean de Vignay, but he also used the Latin original and a previous English translation, the Gilte Legende, and made some personal additions. The Introduction considers the structure of the entire book that Caxton created, but focuses on the Temporale and the set of Old Testament legends that will follow in volume 2. It discusses their
sources and language, highlighting the differences between the first two volumes and the notable number of new words and senses. It also gives a detailed bibliographic account of this printing in its historical context and descriptions of all surviving copies.
in the later medieval Western world; it circulated widely, and was repeatedly translated into many vernacular languages. This volume reproduces Caxton's original text of the Temporale with modern punctuation and capitalization, notes on content, syntax and lexis, a detailed glossary, and an index of proper names.
Caxton's complex combination of sources is given particular attention: the principal one was a little-known reworking of the French translation made by Jean de Vignay, but he also used the Latin original and a previous English translation, the Gilte Legende, and made some personal additions. The Introduction considers the structure of the entire book that Caxton created, but focuses on the Temporale and the set of Old Testament legends that will follow in volume 2. It discusses their
sources and language, highlighting the differences between the first two volumes and the notable number of new words and senses. It also gives a detailed bibliographic account of this printing in its historical context and descriptions of all surviving copies.
Book 356
This is the first edition of a major work by the translator and hagiographer Osbern Bokenham. Unknown before the discovery of the unique manuscript in 2005, Bokenham's work comprises a complete translation of Legenda Aurea, a collection of saints' lives compiled by the Dominican friar Jacobus de Voragine which achieved widespread popularity throughout the Middle Ages and survives in over eight hundred manuscripts, supplemented with accounts of the lives of
various British saints, including those of Cedde, Felix, Edward, and Oswald.
Writing in the fifteenth century, Bokenham's work, which combines prose and verse, was influenced by major writers such as Chaucer and Lydgate, both in its content and in its verse forms and style, and thus sheds new light on their fifteenth-century reputation. Bokenham's work is also important for his naming of the patrons for whom he translated a number of these saints' lives, allowing scholars to trace networks of patronage amongst prominent members of the gentry and nobility in
fifteenth-century East Anglia.
various British saints, including those of Cedde, Felix, Edward, and Oswald.
Writing in the fifteenth century, Bokenham's work, which combines prose and verse, was influenced by major writers such as Chaucer and Lydgate, both in its content and in its verse forms and style, and thus sheds new light on their fifteenth-century reputation. Bokenham's work is also important for his naming of the patrons for whom he translated a number of these saints' lives, allowing scholars to trace networks of patronage amongst prominent members of the gentry and nobility in
fifteenth-century East Anglia.