Have you been waiting for 700 years for this classic work on chivalry to be available in a modern English translation?
You know you have!
Boydell is publishing it and Noel Fallows is the translator, and the book should be out sometime next year. Rumor has it that it will be very reasonably priced.
Some of you may be under the impression that you have read this book in English. You are right. The Book of the Order of Chivalry was one of the very first books ever printed in English. William Caxton was both the printer and the translator. So it is out there. However, Caxton translated not from the original Catalan, but from A French version. Also, the English he translated into was late 15th century English. I don't know that technically counts as Middle English or Modern English but it's very difficult for most readers.
So your wait is over almost!
Image: this has no caption, but my guess is that it shows Llull teaching and preaching, which he did a lot of.
So is this a translation from original manuscript sources in Catalan? If so, it will be interesting to compare it to Caxton's version. I'm sure by the time of his translation from French to English the text had already been through some textual changes to appeal to various readerships in the 14th and 15th centuries, especially considering some of the ways knighthood had changed over that time. (Not to mention Caxton's own commentary on the state of English chivalry.)
ReplyDeleteIf you don't mind, I have shared this on my Facebook Fan Page-Modern Medievalist. I like your blog and I intend to follow it.
ReplyDeleteAll my very best!
David Baker