Breton Lai - Middle English Lais

Middle English Lais

  • 'Sir Orfeo', 'Sir Degaré', 'Sir Gowther', 'Emaré' and 'The Erle of Toulouse', all by anonymous authors
  • 'Lay le Freine', a translation of Marie de France's 'Le Fresne'
  • 'The Franklin's Tale' from the Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer. ('The Wife of Bath's Tale' is sometimes identified as a Breton lai, but in fact it contains none of the generally-agreed defining features of the genre.)
  • 'Sir Launfal', by Thomas Chestre (a retelling of an earlier Middle English lai, 'Landavale', itself a translation of Marie de France's 'Lanval')


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