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Record Number: 46842 Author(s)/Creator(s): Bower , Hannah, Contributor(s): Title: Josian: Extracts from the Middle English Romance Bevis of Hampton (c. 1300 CE) Source: Women in the History of Science: A Sourcebook.  Edited by Hannah Wills, Sadie Harrison and Erika Jones.  UCL Press, 2023.  Pages 66 - 70. The text extracts are from The Romance of Sir Beues of Hamtoun, EETS es 46, 48, 65. Edited by Eugen Kölbing. Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner and Co., 1885–1894. The translations are by the author. Available open access from JSTOR: https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv2w61bc7.18 Description: Article Type: Translation Subject (See Also): Beves of Hampton, Middle English Romance Herbs Josian (Literary Figure) Medicine Race and Racism Saracens in Literature Award Note: Geographic Area: British Isles Century: 14 Primary Evidence: Illustrations: Table: Abstract: The excerpts below come from the Middle English romance Bevis of Hampton (c. 1300), a tale which narrates the global exploits of a fictional disinherited English hero who eventually regains his father’s lands. Bevis is based on the twelfth-century Anglo-Norman romance Boeuve de Hamtoun and it survives, in part or whole, in nine manuscripts which differ greatly from one another. The first extract comes from the Auchinleck manuscript, a compendium of Middle English romances, saints’ lives, and other miscellaneous materials, which was copied in London in the 1330s. The passage describes Josian, a fictional Muslim princess who marries Bevis after converting to Christianity. Within the passage, Josian uses herbs to transform herself into a leper to prevent one of Bevis’s enemies from abducting her. The second extract, from a different, fifteenth-century manuscript copy of the poem, depicts a similar scene but in that version Josian’s skin colour is altered for her by one of Bevis’s male relations. [Reproduced from the chapter page on the JSTOR website: https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv2w61bc7.18] Related Resources: Author's Affiliation: Churchill College, University of Cambridge Conference Info: - , - Year of Publication: 2023. Language: English; Middle English ISSN/ISBN: 9781800084162 (print); 9781800084155 (online)

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