Mester de clerecía is the term traditionally used to designate the first generations of learned poetry in medieval Ibero-Romance dialects (the precursors of modern Castilian and other Romance languages of the Iberian Peninsula). In its time, this poetry was anything but traditional. These long poems of structured verse reappropriate the heroic past through the retelling of legends from Classical Antiquity, saints’ lives, miracle stories, Biblical apocrypha, and other tales. At the same time, the poems recast the place of their authors, and learned characters within their stories, in the shifting dynamics of their thirteenth and fourteenth century present. Contributors are Pablo Ancos, Maria Cristina Balestrini, Fernando Baños Vallejo, Andrew M. Beresford, Olivier Biaggini, Martha M. Daas, Emily C. Francomano, Ryan Giles, Michelle M. Hamilton, Anthony John Lappin, Clara Pascual-Argente, Connie L. Scarborough, Donald W. Wood, and Carina Zubillaga.

Never before has there appeared in English such a collection of essays concerning Alexander the Great's legacy in world literature. From Greek and Latin works of the Classical Period through Medieval texts in Syriac, Persian, Coptic, Arabic, Ethiopic and Hebrew, as well the European languages, the fourteen chapters cover the gamut of Alexander literary studies as compiled by some of the foremost scholars in each field, bringing the reader up-to-date on everything Alexander. These experts share their results after years of investigation in the field, and, in doing so, point the reader toward the essence of each of the myriad of Alexander romances, while at the same time including copious notes and bibliography to prepare the reader for his or her own Alexander journey. Contributors include: Richard Stoneman, Saskia Dönitz, Daniel Selden, Josef Wiesehöfer, David Ashurst, Laurence Harf-Lancner, Danielle Buschinger, Juan Pedro Monferrer Sala, Roberta Morosini, Maura Lafferty, Peter Kotar, David Zuwiyya

The New Companion to the Libro de buen amor provides a platform for exploring current, innovative approaches to this classic poem. It is designed for specialists and non-specialists from a variety of fields, who are interested in investigating different aspects of Juan Ruiz’s poem and developing fruitful new paths for future research. Chapters in the volume show how the book engages with Christian, Jewish and Muslim cultures, and delve into its legacy in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Part One sheds light on intersecting cultural milieux, from the Christian court of Castile, to the experience of Jewish and Muslim communities. Part Two illustrates how the poem’s meaning through time can be elucidated using an array of theoretical and interdisciplinary approaches. Contributors are Nora C. Benedict, Erik Ekman, Denise K. Filios, Ryan D. Giles, Michelle Hamilton, Carlos Heusch, José Manuel Hidalgo, Gregory S. Hutcheson, Veronica Menaldi, Simone Pinet, Michael R. Solomon. See inside the book

This volume brings together a number of distinguished scholars in the field of Poema de mio Cid studies. It provides an informed introduction to key literary aspects of the poem, and thoroughly examines many of the complex issues that are crucial for a comprehensive understanding of the work (historical context, ideological motivations, prosification in medieval chronicles, the poem’s place in the canon of Spanish literature). Equally important are the new findings that have been put forward since the 1970s, when scholars started to challenge Ramón Menéndez Pidal’s theories that had dominated the philological discourse since the beginning of the twentieth century. Contributors are Matthew Bailey, Simon Barton, Francisco Bautista, Juan Carlos Bayo Julve, Federico Corriente, Leonardo Funes, Luis Galván, Fernando Gómez Redondo, Eukene Lacarra Lanz, Salvatore Luongo, Georges Martin, Alberto Montaner, Javier Rodríguez Molina, Mercedes Vaquero, Roger Wright, and Irene Zaderenko.

This Companion presents fifteen original and engaging essays by leading scholars on one of the most influential genres of Western literature. Chapters describe the origins of early verse romance in twelfth-century French and Anglo-Norman courts and analyze the evolution of verse and prose romance in France, Germany, England, Italy, and Spain throughout the Middle Ages. The volume introduces a rich array of traditions and texts and offers fresh perspectives on the manuscript context of romance, the relationship of romance to other genres, popular romance in urban contexts, romance as mirror of familiar and social tensions, and the representation of courtly love, chivalry, 'other' worlds and gender roles. Together the essays demonstrate that European romances not only helped to promulgate the ideals of elite societies in formation, but also held those values up for questioning. An introduction, a chronology and a bibliography of texts and translations complete this lively, useful overview.

This book provides a comprehensive, state-of-the-art account of the field, reaffirming Iberian Studies as a dynamic and evolving discipline offering promising areas of future research. It is an essential tool for research in Iberian Studies.

Why devote a Companion to the "mirrors for princes", whose very existence is debated? These texts offer key insights into political thoughts of the past. Their ambiguous, problematic status further enhances their interest. And although recent research has fundamentally challenged established views of these texts, until now there has been no critical introduction to the genre. This volume therefore fills this important gap, while promoting a global historical perspective of different “mirrors for princes” traditions from antiquity to humanism, via Byzantium, Persia, Islam, and the medieval West. This Companion also proposes new avenues of reflection on the anchoring of these texts in their historical realities. Contributors are Makram Abbès, Denise Aigle, Olivier Biaggini, Hugo Bizzarri, Charles F. Briggs, Sylvène Edouard, Jean-Philippe Genet, John R. Lenz, Louise Marlow, Cary J. Nederman, Corinne Peneau, Stéphane Péquignot, Noëlle-Laetitia Perret, Günter Prinzing, Volker Reinhardt, Hans-Joachim Schmidt, Tom Stevenson, Karl Ubl, and Steven J. Williams.