middle english, 1100-1500

The legend of Robin Hood began more than 600 years ago. The man, if he existed at all, lived even earlier. In this definitive work, Professor Sir James Holt, one of Britain's premier historians and author of the standard work on the Magna Carta, unravels pure invention from real possibility and offers the results of some thirty years of research.

Contains three stories from the age of chivalry, knights and holy quests.

Discusses the English writers during the four centuries between the Norman Conquest and the Renaissance in their historical context.

A biography of the 15th century knight who collected stories about King Arthur and his knights and rewrote them into a work that was to influence poets and writers throughout the ages.

A guide for students studying the works of Chaucer, which explains how to interpret Middle English language, discussing pronunciation and definitions in twentieth-century context, as well as the variations on the fourteenth-century London dialect Chaucer used throughout his works.