Translators and their Prologues in Medieval England

An examination of French to English translation in medieval England, through the genre of the prologue. The prologue to Layamon's Brut recounts its author's extensive travels "wide yond thas leode" (far and wide across the land) to gather the French, Latin and English books he used as source material. The first Middle Englishwriter to discuss his methods of translating French into English, Layamon voices ideas about the creation of a new English tradition by translation that proved very durable.