Luard, Henry Richards, ed., Lives of Edward the Confessor: La Estoire de Seint Aedward le Rei, Vita Beati Edvardi Regis et Confessoris, Vita Aeduuardi Regis qui Apud Westmonasterium Requiescit. (London: Longman, Brown, Green, Longmans, and Roberts, (Rolls Series, No. 3), 1858).

Text name(s):

Number of pages of primary source text: 435

Medieval Author(s): Aelred of Rievaulx

Dates: 1004 - 1450

Archival Reference: MS. Bibl. Publ. Ee. Iii. 59; MS. Bodl. Seld. 55; MS. Cius Coll. Camb. 153

Original Language(s): French - Other; Latin;

Translation: Original language included. English translation.

Translation Comments: Translated line by line

Geopolitical Region(s): British Isles; England;

County/Region:

Apparatus: Index Glossary Facsimile Introduction

Comments:

This volume contains three works related to the life of Edward the Confessor (c. 1004-1066). The is a poem in Norman French about the saint, dedicated to Eleanor of Provence, the Queen of Henry III (1216-1272). The poem survives in an elegant manuscript that was probably made between 1236 and 1264. The text covers the entire life of the Confessor and ends with the battle of Hastings in 1066. The editor has also included an English translation of the poem as well as a glossary to assist readers who would like to grapple with the French on their own. Although the overall quality of the edition is very good, Luard’s translation of the poem has been criticized and should be used in conjunction with the French. The second work in this book is a fifteenth-century abridged version of Aelred of Rievaulx’s Life of Edward the Confessor. Aelred’s work was extremely popular and survives in several manuscripts. The final portion of the volume contains excerpts from a thirteenth-century prose adaptation of a history that was written by a Saxon contemporary of Edward. This author seems to have had connections with Godwin, Earl of Kent, and with Queen Edith. The third work is likely to be the first Life of Edward the Confessor. There are other modern editions of the Lives of Edward the Confessor: K. Y. Wallace, La Estoire de Seint Aedward le Rei, Anglo-Norman Text Society 41, 1983. M. R. James, Le Estoire de Seint Aedward le Rei, Roxburghe Club, 1920.

Introduction Summary:

The introduction describes the surviving manuscripts and the contents of this volume. The author includes summaries of each of the works, his assessment of the authorship of each work, and a sketch of the historical events during the reign of Edward the Confessor.

Cataloger: SES