Dear Gawain supporter,
Following on from my translations of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and King Arthur's Death, I am now in the process of translating a third Middle English masterpiece, the romance of William of Palerne - or William and the Werewolf, as it was named by the 19th Century paleographer Sir Frederic Madden. The book is currently 34% funded with 150 supporters and I need your help in bringing it life.
Support the book here
To support the book, please click >>> HERE <<<
If you have already supported the book, please accept my apologies for contacting you; you may read no further (but please do watch the short film to remind yourself about the book). If you have not yet done so, please will you support this, the third book in my series of alliterative romances? As before, as well as a transation, the book will feature my own linocut prints, a detailed introduction, glossary of terms and copious notes to help the reader grasp fully both the poem and the time in which it was set.
About the project
As the accompanying (very short) film shows, William and the Werewolf is my biggest project yet. The romance, at 5500 lines, is nearly twice the length of Sir Gawain and 1000 lines longer than King Arthur's Death. It was translated from an earlier French romance by a man known only as "William" in around 1350. He was working for the literary connoisseur, Sir Humphrey de Bohun, who lived at Pleshey in Essex; the remains of his enormous motte and bailey castle still survive and dominate the village today.
A book for our own time
My work is focused on bringing to a new audience the romances of the alliterative revival of the fourteenth century and bringing the work of their scribes to new audiences in our time. William and the Werewolf is unusual for the alliterative genre because it has an incredible positivity and a real understanding of people at all levels of society. It also contains all the elements which make up the heart of a mediaeval romance: courtly love, chivalry, battle, magic and more.
Although at its heart it features the love story between its central characters William and Melior, it draws in key themes still relevanto to us today:overcoming injustice; empathy to others; women's rights; the importance of good governance; and forgiveness.
Translated as it was in the shadow of the Black Death, William and the Werewolf reveals a hope for a better world; a message so relevant to us today as we face a pandemic of our own and when the balance between life and death is so fragile. Please do support the book if you can, or even upgrade your current pledge - pledge here.
Thank you for your help in making this happen. I am sure scribe William himself would have been delighted to know his work was being reborn anew with the help of people he could never even have imagined!
Michael Smith
PS watch out for the special pledge rewards - including original linocut prints (and one featuring the cover art!). There are also special pledge options for Valentine's Day too! Don't forget - every supporter has their name printed in the back as a patron. Be a patron here.