Norton-Smith, John, ed. John Lydgate: Poems. Clarendon Medieval and Tudor Series. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1966. [ Troy Book 2.479-551, 565-72, 578-631, 638-41, 651-67, 681-92, 695-710.] Stephen Fry writes, “It is worth remembering of course that Homer’s Iliad doesn’t cover the causes of the War … the Apple of Discord, the Judgement of Paris, birth of Achilles, abduction of Helen and so on – nor the end of the war. The action of the Iliad begins in the final year of the ten year siege of Troy and dramatises the weeks that begin with the feud between Agamemnon and Achilles and end with the death of Hector.” The experience of reading Homer—unless you decide to learn ancient Greek—will always be deeply affected by the skill of the translator. Fortunately Stephen Fry has some recommendations. He writes, “There are so many books of the historical facts behind Troy and its fall, and many magnificent translations of Homer. I particularly recommend Emily Wilson’s Odyssey and either Stephen Mitchell or Robert Fagles’s Iliad.” While Murray’s theories of witchcraft as an organised and surviving pagan religion have been discredited by subsequent research, her work vividly depicts the old and widely held beliefs, ideas and traditions surrounding witches which, naturally, may have long informed the operations of individuals and sporadic groups attempting to undertake a practice of witchcraft historically, and into the present. Many of her own more innovative ideas too have been hugely influential and have provided the blueprints to various modern day witchcraft traditions, leading to Margaret Murray being referred to, justifiably, as the ‘Grandmother of Wicca.’

The bookishness of this literary context shows itself perhaps most apparently in Lydgate's rhetorical amplifications. Pearsall observes, "Lydgate's expansiveness clearly forms part of a deliberate poetic style" (1970, p. 7), but for Troy Book it may be still nearer the case to speak of a poetics of amplification. The conceptual and thematic counterpart to the poet's task of "making" is the addition of new materials suitable to the passage that Lydgate is translating at any given point. Lydgate finds the warrant for such practice in Guido himself. Guido adds rhetorical colors to "[t]his noble story" and "many riche flour / Of eloquence to make it sownde bet / He in the story hath ymped in and set" (Pro. 363-66). Lydgate's amplifications take the form of learned digressions on mythography and science, additional speeches, set-piece descriptions, formal laments, and seasonal descriptions. The aim of such amplification is not, however, merely dilation. Ebin contends that the additions are part of a program directed toward securing a place within literary culture: "Lydgate's changes in the Troy Book reveal his concern with elevating the narrative and creating a monumental version of the story in English, loftier and more impressive than any before him" (1985, p. 51). Moreover, the additions afford Lydgate the opportunity to develop his own thematic interests. His reproval of Guido's antifeminism, though by no means unproblematic (see note to 3.4343-4448), is one example. Benson argues that Lydgate uses Christine de Pisan's Epistre Othea to introduce a new view of Hector and the value of prudence (1980, pp. 124-29). Schirmer finds three major themes in Lydgate's formal digressions: transitoriness, war and discord, and encyclopedic learning (p. 47). Given how much we enjoyed the first two books in Stephen Fry‘s Greek myth trilogy— Mythos and Heroes—we’ve been eagerly anticipating the third book, Troy, a retelling of the Trojan War, which is now out. We asked him to tell us which sources and books he found most useful as he embarked on his retelling of the epic tale of the fall of Troy. We are delighted to welcome Kerry Wisner to Troy Books and present the The Willow Path – Witchcraft, Hermetics A bronze limited edition of 50 of The Horned Hand – an ancient symbol of power and protection, a traditional Apotropaic Charm against the Evil Eye in Italian folk magic.Eleanor Antin (b. 1935), 'Judgement of Paris', after Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640). Chromogenic print, edition 4/5, from 'Helen's Odyssey', 2007. Romare Bearden (1911–1988), 'The Sirens' Song'. Collage of various papers with paint and graphite on fibreboard, 1977. Cotton Augustus A.iv is the base text chosen for this edition of selections from Troy Book, as it was for Henry Bergen's complete edition of the poem prepared for the Early English Text Society early in this century. Cotton Augustus offers the most complete early text. Written on vellum leaves measuring 26 x 15 inches, the manuscript is composed of 155 folios, gathered in eight-leaf quires. The script is an Anglicana formata, with the characteristic double-lobed a, e, and g. The letter d is looped. Both s and long s are used. The two-shaped r replaces the regular r after the letter o, but the forked r does not appear. Cotton Augustus contains only Troy Book. The text is arranged in double columns of 49 lines, except for the rhyme royal stanzas of the Envoy and the two eight-line stanzas of the final Envoy and Verba translatoris. The first miniature (fol. 1ra) contains the arms of Sir Thomas Chaworth (d. 1458) and his second wife, Isabella de Ailesbury below the portrait of Lydgate and Henry V. A short description of the manuscript appears in the British Museum catalogue compiled by H. L. D. Ward and J. A. Herbert. A more extensive description is contained in Bergen's edition (4:1-4). We ask experts to recommend the five best books in their subject and explain their selection in an interview.

The "Gest Hystoriale" of the Destruction of Troy. Ed. G. A. Panton and D. Donaldson. Early English Text Society, o.s. 39 and 56. London: John Childs and Son, 1869 and 1874; rpt. in one vol. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1968.In Stephen Fry's exceptional retelling of our greatest story, TROY will transport you to the depths of ancient Greece and beyond. Chaucer's Boccaccio: Sources of "Troilus" and the "Knight's" and "Franklin's Tales." Trans. N. R. Havely. Chaucer Studies 3. Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 1980. Pp. 167-80, 213-14. [Excerpts from Le Roman de Troie.] Troy Book survives in 23 manuscripts, testifying to the popularity of the poem during the 15th century. [12] It was printed first by Richard Pynson in 1513, and second by Thomas Marshe in 1555. A modernized version sometimes attributed to Thomas Heywood, called The Life and Death of Hector, appeared in 1614. Troy Book exercised an influence on Robert Henryson, Thomas Kyd, and Christopher Marlowe, and was one of Shakespeare's sources for Troilus and Cressida. [13] Criticism [ edit ] Frigii Daretis Ylias: De bello Troiano. In Werke und Briefe von Joseph Iscanus. Ed. Ludwig Gompf. Leiden: Brill, 1970.

Scott, Kathleen L. Later Gothic Manuscripts: 1390-1490. 2 vols. Vol. 6 of A Survey of Manuscripts Illuminated in the British Isles. London: Harvey Miller, 1996.The story of a great city, plunged into a 10-year war over the abduction of the most beautiful woman in the world, is irresistibly dramatic and tragic. This allure has sent adventurers and archaeologists in quest of the lost city, which is now widely believed to have existed. Pearsall, Derek. "Chaucer and Lydgate." In Chaucer Traditions: Studies in Honour of Derek Brewer. Ed. Ruth Morse and Barry Windeatt. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990. Pp. 39-53.

and the Hidden Wisdom of the Magical Arts. The book is the first of a forthcoming trilogy The Geassa, which presents a codification of his training and practice of the Art, focusing on Traditional Witchcraft.The other defining feature of Lydgate's literary context is the influence of Chaucer as both inspiration and rival. Troy Book contains laudatory passages that not only offer praise for Chaucer but also shape literary history by establishing him as the father of English poetry. Robert O. Payne observes that Chaucer offered Lydgate a double model of poetic originator and craftsman (p. 255). Chaucer is "Noble Galfride, poete of Breteyne" (2.4697). His great achievement is to have exploited the rhetorical possibilities of English and thereby to have established it as a literary idiom comparable to classical languages and other European vernaculars. He was the firste "to reyne / The gold dewedropis of rethorik so fyne, / Oure rude langage only t'enlwmyne" (2.4698-4700). He is the "chefe poete" (3.4256), the English counterpart of Petrarch as poet laureate. Boffey, Julia. "The Reputation and Circulation of Chaucer's Lyrics in the Fifteenth Century." Chaucer Review 28 (1993), 23-40.