Li Chevaliers as Deus Espees

“Li Chevaliers as deus espees, also sometimes known as Mériadeuc, is one of those wonderfully exuberant Arthurian romances in which the thirteenth-century specialized. It is a dynamic meeting-ground for multitudinous narrative strands: studded with the standard tournaments and duels that test the prowess of its hero, punctuated with the conventional damsels in distress who are the motors of the action, and strongly charged with folklore motifs ... Professor Ivey is making that edition available to a wider readership – an initiative which will be widely welcomed in France as well as in English-speaking scholarly circles. Readers will now be able to appreciate for themselves the ways in which the different threads are made to cross and re-cross, in conformity with what is obviously a prearranged structure of narrative coincidences and interdependencies, to grasp the adroitness with which the poet resolves the almost unbearable complexity of his narrative, and to admire the ways in which his brazen intertextualities must have excited echoes and resonances in the well-informed audiences of thirteenth-century France ...” – (from the Preface) Dr. Jane H.M. Taylor, Durham University

“Up to today, Li Chevaliers as deus espees was read in the time-honored tradition written by the great Wendelin Foerster in 1877, when Romance Philology emerged as a discipline in universities. His edition has rendered an invaluable service to many generations of scholars, but has become difficult to find ... This edition by Dr. Ivey, without a doubt, fills a gap in the field of Arthurian studies by offering today’s public direct access to this too little-known text. This edition provides all the information necessary to appreciate the more than 12,000 lines that came down to us in one single manuscript, fr. 12603 of the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris ... Of particular interest are the literary aspects of the introduction , which brilliantly outline, from the interpretations of the romance by scholars from Gaston Paris and Wendelin Foerster up to today, how our understanding of Li Chevaliers as deus espees has evolved, enabling us to finally recognize the little masterpiece it is.” – Professor Richard Trachsler, Université de Paris IV-Sorbonne

“It is common knowledge that access to outstanding critical editions of primary texts is essential to scholars working on early literatures, but it is nonetheless a rare delight to come across one as carefully prepared as Dr. Robert Ivey’s Li Chevaliers as deus espees. 19th century editors like Foerster’s were largely unconcerned with preserving the integrity of the manuscript they encountered, and such editors preferred to make liberal changes to the text in order to make the edition conform for a more ‘ideal’ text with perfect rhyme, grammar and orthography ... this edition makes few changes to the manuscript as it was written, and in those instances where editorial decisions are required, Dr. Ivey takes a conservative stand and inserts as little of himself as possible into the text, indicating where he has made editorial judgments ...” – Professor Lynn Ramey, Vanderbilt University

Preface by Jane H.M. Taylor
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Li Chevaliers as deus espees
Notes on Poem
Index of Proper Names
Glossary
Bibliography

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