James I’s The Kingis Quair is a hidden gem of medieval poetry, written in 1424 by a Scottish king held prisoner in England from the age of eleven until almost thirty years old. The poem narrates his capture and imprisonment, and how he fell in love one beautiful spring morning with an English noblewoman, Joan Beaufort. In a dream vision, we find out what King James learned about good and bad fortune from the goddess Minerva and from Fortune herself, and how he discovered the nature of true love. The poem was influenced by Chaucer’s dream visions, but also has its own whimsical charms.
This ebook offers an accurate yet very readable prose translation of The Kingis Quair by University of Oxford academic Dr Jenni Nuttall, Fellow and Lecturer at St Edmund Hall. This version of the poem in contemporary English is designed for students and for readers wishing to explore fifteenth-century poetry who might find the original Middle Scots language difficult to understand. This translation is presented stanza-by-stanza so it can be easily read alongside the original text.
