SCHOLARSHIP

Links to medieval texts

Medieval texts and references

It is to be noted that some but not all of these editions or translations were published during J.R.R. Tolkien’s lifetime.

On Beowulf (the 8th-10th century medieval poem): the manuscript (British Library); Old English text and translation
Anglo-Saxon riddles (translation in modern English; see also this index)
Sir Orfeo (13th-14th century poem, text and notes)
The Battle of Maldon (10th century poem; a translation; another translation with a map and a commentary…)
‘Dirige…’ (antiphon, quoted in The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth by J.R.R. Tolkien): text and translation.
Thomas Malory: Le Morte D’Arthur, volume I; Le Morte D’Arthur, volume II
The Mabinogion: (medieval Welsh stories; text)
Sagas: see the Viking Society website; and read Christopher Tolkien’s edition of Saga of King Heidrek the Wise
Joseph Wright’s Grammar of the Gothic Language (1910)
From the Cotton Nero A.x. Project: the website of the complete project.
The Defense of Poesy, Sir Philip Sidney (1595), in English Essays: Sidney to Macaulay, The Harvard Classics (1909-14)