Medieval Love Letters

'This wide-ranging anthology of love-letters covers both the theory and the practice of love in the medieval period. It includes manuals of instruction on how to write a love-letter and how to seduce a woman, accompanied by model examples, alongside love-lyrics in letter-form and romantic exchanges between real-life lovers, giving fascinating glimpses of the way that life and literature inflected each other. Heartbreak, longing, emotional ecstasy, clandestine meetings, jealousy, the threat of scandal, unwanted pregnancy, all make an appearance. Translation, an extensive introduction, and ample annotation make the texts easily accessible to present-day readers.' Jill Mann, University of Notre Dame

'With great philological skill and sure historical touch, uncovering new sources and illuminating much-loved poems, Putter and Stokes allow us to see, more fully than ever before, how medieval English literate and letter-writing society contrived to express amorous desires across three languages. Useful, stimulating, and highly recommended.' David Wallace, University of Pennsylvania

'The surprising insights offered by the juxtaposition of these literary and historical texts are skilfully teased out by Stokes and Putter's learned introduction and deeply scholarly commentaries. This volume will make compulsive reading for anyone with an interest in the literature – and the actual practice – of romantic letter-writing in the Middle Ages.' Rhiannon Purdie, University of St Andrews

'… a poignant and powerful reminder of how many forms of love have always been part of the human experience, not only in the present, but also in the distant past.' Mary C. Flannery, The Times Literary Supplement