The Romance of Thebes (Roman de Thèbes), trans. by Joan M. Ferrante and Robert W. Hanning. The French of England Translation Series (FRETS), 11. Tempe, AZ: Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 2018, ix, 365.

Abstract

Much of high medieval culture was deeply influenced by the reception of classical literature, as best represented by the genre of the romans antiques, the Roman de Thèbes, the Roman d’Enéas, and the Roman de Troie. These were based, in turn, on the Thebaid of Statius (92 C.E.), Vergil’s Aeneid (after 19 B.C.E.), and the story of Troy as retold by Dares Phrygias and Dictys Cretensis (in Greek, first century C.E., lost today; in Latin, fourth century C.E. [Dictys] and sixth century C.E. respectively [Dares]). Two of the most respected medieval French scholars, Joan M. Ferrante and Robert W. Hanning, now provide new access to the Roman de Thèbe through their English translation, which they have based on the personal copy owned by Henry Despenser (1370–1406), Bishop of Norwich, well known especially for his ruthless suppression of the Peasant Revolt in 1381. This manuscript is today housed in the British Library, London, under Add. 34114, fol. 164a-226d, and it was critically edited by Francine Mora-Lebrun with a facing page modern French translation in 1995. Ms. A (Paris, BnF, fr. 375) was recently edited by Luca di Sabatino (2016), which could not be consulted here for obvious reasons. Ms. C (Paris, BnF, fr. 784) was edited by Guy Reynaud de Lage in 1966, 1968, then re-edited along with a facing-page modern French translation by Aimé Petit in 2008).