French Arthurian Literature IV: Eleven Old French Narrative Lays

Text and facing translation of a selection of French narrative lays, with Arthurian subject matter and interest. The lay was a flourishing genre in the French courts of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, related to romance rather as the modern short story is to the novel. Its most famous exponent is arguably Marie de France, but in addition to her twelve lays, a number of others, mainly anonymous, have also come down to us, usually referred to as Breton lays or simply as narrative lays. The e