Medieval Storybook

"Every medievalist with a sense of humor has wanted to do this sort of book, but too few have. Morris Bishop gives us a delightful collection of medieval storytelling, ranging from the twelfth to the fifteenth century, in Latin, Norse, French, Spanish, Italian, and English. Recommended for all popular collections and especially for children."—Library Journal

"A pleasant collection of medieval tales intended for light reading. There are the usual bits and pieces from the Arthurian legend, from the lais and the collections like the ‘Decameron,’ from saints’ lives, and from the moralized exempla of the preachers’ handbooks, all illustrating the lighter side of the extraordinarily rich tradition of medieval narrative art."—Virginia Quarterly Review

From the rich store of medieval tales, Morris Bishop brings together a delightful collection of thirty-five stories. Some are romantic, some religious, some realistic, some even scurrilous. There are merry tales and moral tales, sagas, allegories, and fables. They vary widely in theme and their characters represent every class of medieval society. The tales in A Medieval Storybook vividly illustrate medieval life and thought. Above all they excel as stories, and demonstrate the high level attained by narrative art in the Middle Ages and the great gift the medieval writers had for creating lively and memorable characters. Some of the stories in the book were translated by Bishop; others were translated in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Line drawings by Alison Mason Kingsbury add considerably to the charm of this collection.

The late Morris Bishop was Kappa Alpha Professor of Romance Literature and University Historian at Cornell University. He was the author of A History of Cornell, also from Cornell University Press.