readers who care to learn about the author and his career, Robert Calder’s thoroughly proficient biography provides ample opportunity. munro beattie / Carleton University Hetoum; Glenn Berger, ed., A Lytell Cronycle: Richard Pynson’s Trans lation (c 1520) of La Fleur des Histoires de la terre d’Orient (c 1307) (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1988). lxviii, 203. $47.50 The Armenian aristocrat Hetoum wrote La Fleur des histoires de la terre d’Orient about 1307. It is in four parts: the first a geographical survey of Central Asia and the Middle East, the second a historical survey of the regions, the third an account of the rise of the Mongols and the subse quent conflicts between the Mongol rulers of Persia and the Moslem rulers of Egypt, the fourth an outline of a proposal for a new Crusade involv ing an alliance between the Mongols, the neighbouring Christian nations, and Western Europe. Hetoum’s work was very popular and influential in the later Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Mandeville’s Travels, for ex ample, used parts of La Fleur des Histoires, and two Tudor translations were made of which one was presented to the Duke of Buckingham and the other to Henry VIII. However, it is not a well-known work today, and Glenn Berger’s edition of Richard Pynson’s A Lytell Cronycle and selections from the British Library MS Royal 18.B.26 is the only complete English text of Hetoum’s work currently available. A Lytell Cronycle is the sixth in the series put out by Toronto Medieval Texts and Translations of important yet difficult to find medieval works. The quality of Berger’s editing is exemplary. He has had to deal with the id iosyncrasies of two different texts as well as the errors in translation from the French original. Berger has followed modern usage in word-division, punc tuation, capitalization, and paragraphing; however, he has kept Pynson’s spelling of well-known Mongol names such as Cangius and Cobila can for Genghis and Kublai Khan. It is understandable that Berger would not un necessarily change Pynson’s spelling, but Berger’s spelling of proper names can be erratic. “Genghis” appears, for example, in three forms: Cangius in Pynson’s text, Genghis in the notes and commentary, and Chinggis on a map! Overall, none the less, Berger’s editing is helpful. He includes notes on English/French variants which elucidate the obscurities in Pynson’s transla tion or record significant omissions and additions to the original. In addition to a useful introduction to the historical background of Hetoum’s life and work as well as the Tudor translations and a discussion of the different meth ods of translation, the editor provides a fascinating look into the chivalric 119 atmosphere of the early Henrician court and the diplomatic maneuverings which made the seemingly anachronistic idea of a crusade appear momen tarily appealing. To Hetoum’s text Berger provides maps and illustrations as well as copious historical notes and commentary, a selective bibliography, textual notes, notes on English/French variants, an index of proper names and places, and a glossary. To enable the reader to compare translations, selections from the British Library MS appear in an appendix. The volume is printed with admirable accuracy. The appeal of this volume to the historian is obvious. As an Armenian, Hetoum had an unusual perspective on the Middle East of the late thirteenth century and the convergence of four cultures, Western Crusader, Armenian Christian, Moslem, and Persian Mongol. Hetoum is often inaccurate or confused in his historical facts, as Berger carefully points out and corrects in his commentary, but he was close to the historical events and may have been an eyewitness to some of them. His firsthand knowledge of the Mongols and their culture is exceptional. The appeal of this text for the student of English literature is less evi dent. La Fleur des Hisioires was a basic source for Mandeville’s Travels and it is disappointing that the editor does not provide more indication of which particular parts of Hetoum’s text were used. Berger’s commentary is focussed largely on the historical aspects of Hetoum’s text...