''Sir Tristrem'' is a 13th-century

Middle English Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English p ...

romance Romance (from Vulgar Latin , "in the Roman language", i.e., "Latin") may refer to: Common meanings * Romance (love), emotional attraction towards another person and the courtship behaviors undertaken to express the feelings * Romance languages, ...

of 3,344 lines, preserved in the

Auchinleck manuscript The Auchinleck Manuscript, NLS Adv. MS 19.2.1, is an illuminated manuscript copied on parchment in the 14th century in London. The manuscript provides a glimpse of a time of political tension and social change in England. The English were contin ...

in the

National Library of Scotland The National Library of Scotland (NLS) ( gd, Leabharlann Nàiseanta na h-Alba, sco, Naitional Leebrar o Scotland) is the legal deposit library of Scotland and is one of the country's National Collections. As one of the largest libraries in the ...

. Based on the ''Tristan'' of

Thomas of Britain Thomas of Britain (also known as Thomas of England) was a poet of the 12th century. He is known for his Old French poem ''Tristan'', a version of the Tristan and Iseult legend that exists only in eight fragments, amounting to around 3,300 lines of v ...

, it is the only surviving verse version of the Tristan legend in Middle English.

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External links

Transcription and manuscript facsimile
(National Library of Scotland)
Text with glossary and notes
(Robbins Library Digital Projects)
''Sir Tristrem''
translated and retold in modern English prose, the story from Edinburgh, National Library of Scotland MS Advocates 19.2.1 (the Auchinleck MS) (translated and retold from University of Rochester, Middle English Text Series – Texts Online: Middle English from Alan Lupack (Ed), 1994, ''Lancelot of the Laik and Sir Tristrem'', Medieval Institute Publications for TEAMS). 13th-century poems Arthurian literature in Middle English Middle English poems Tristan and Iseult {{poem-stub