<i>Sir Tristrem</i>

&lt;b&gt;A vibrant revival of a neglected witty and daring medieval gem and a foundational work for English romance and translation studies. Essential reading for students of medieval literature and manuscript culture.&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;In the late thirteenth century as English began to assert itself against Anglo-Norman and French literary traditions &lt;i&gt;Sir Tristrem&lt;/i&gt; emerged as one of the earliest and most inventive Middle English romances. Uniquely preserved in the Auchinleck Manuscript this poem reimagines the Tristan legend with a bold comic tone distinctive stanza form and a sharp awareness of its audience's expectations. Both a translation and a transformation of Thomas of Britain's &lt;i&gt;Tristran&lt;/i&gt; (c.1170) it stands alongside the more courtly German and Norwegian retellings by Gottfried von Strassburg and Brother Robert of Norway-yet diverges from both in its brevity tonal shifts and performative agility.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;This edition pairs a lively modern English verse translation with the complete Middle English text-offering for the first time a dual-language format that remains sensitive to the poem's performance-driven origins. The accompanying study reconsiders &lt;i&gt;Sir Tristrem&lt;/i&gt; not only as literature but as a document of transmission: oral scribal and manuscript. It explores its triangulated relationship with other Tristan traditions its place within a manuscript collection of romances shaped by translation and the formal innovations through which it reshapes a familiar narrative.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;Resisting the reductive labels of its critical past &lt;i&gt;Sir Tristrem&lt;/i&gt; as presented here reclaims its role as a serious playful and quintessentially English contribution to medieval narrative tradition.