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Athelston
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Athelston is an anonymous Middle English verse romance in 812 lines, dating from the mid or late 14th century.[1][2] Modern scholars often classify it as a "Matter of England" romance, because it deals entirely with pre-Conquest English settings and characters.[3] It is mainly written in twelve-line stanzas rhyming AABCCBDDBEEB, though the poet occasionally varies his meter with stanzas of eight, six, or four lines.[4] The poem survives in only one manuscript, the early 15th-century Gonville and Caius MS 175, which also includes the romances Richard Coer de Lyon, Sir Isumbras and Beves of Hamtoun. It has no title there.[5] Athelston was first printed in 1829, when C. H. Hartshorne included it in his Ancient Metrical Tales.[6]
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