Place names are all over Southampton with characters from the Bevis legend: Bevis (a slave turned hero), Josian (the independant Princess) the Lions and the giant Ascupart.
Lynn Forest-Hill is launching her new book Bevis of Hampton as a ‘limited festival edition’ for Southampton’s first literary festival SO: To Speak, which takes place in October 2015.
I am so looking forward reading this translation of the story of Sir Bevis (Hero of Southampton) from Middle English into modern English. I had a sneak preview when I was shown a few of the pages for layout purposes. It has excellent explanatory notes under each page of text. Lynn Forest-Hill is a literary scholar specializing in Medievalism, she is a Fellow of the Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Culture at the University of Southampton and is the Education Officer for the Tolkien Society.
Lynn has written multiple papers regarding J.R.R. Tolkien’s works and her research has been used in articles featured in the Times Literary Supplement. For the last nine years, She has been leading three local reading groups; one studies Shakespeare’s work and the other two focus on the examination of poetry.
I have been following her research on this book on her blog, where she has wonderful links to this legend including a film and even one on how middle english sounds: https://bevisofhampton.wordpress.com
For more about the SO: To Speak festival:
http://www.sotospeakfestival.org
For more about the legend of Bevis and the Romance poem:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bevis_of_Hampton +
http://www.tudorrevels.co.uk/articles.php?itemId=58
Thanks for posting this. I read a Middle English version of the tale many years ago – I’d really like to see a modern English translation.
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I have just discovered your site and am intrigued yet a bit confused. Liked the idea about cats and read with interest about the wicker case full of old letters – will follow you to find out more..
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Thanks! Yes, I suspect my blog may need a little more explanation about “Why the memoirs of an Elizabethan cat?” (apart from the discovery of the old documents, of course) so I’m thinking about how to do this without detracting from the cats’ story…
Cheers. (Love your photographs, BTW.)
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What about explaining under your ‘about’ section – editing and adding to the bit about the old documents?” – very intriguing.
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Maybe a sub-page in the About section – I’m mulling it over. 🙂
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How did he become Bevois? How odd that it was originally spelt how it’s pronounced, or have I missed something?
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It was originally Bevis, then because of all the French merchants that lived in Southampton (English was considered just for peasants until Chaucer) it became Beue, Bevois or Beavous for the upperclass French speakers. Many place names were changed to a French spelling: Lepe (the beach), Belmont road etc. Southampton had a French Street and an English Street (the High Street or QE2 Mile). After the French Raid on Southampton in 1338, the town’s citizens Anglocised the sound of all the French names, it was a great revolution. So that now Bevois and Bevis is pronounced in exactly the same way. When people pronounce the names the French Way – it is a tell-tale sign that the person speaking was not born and raised here.
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I knew about French Street and English Street. I didn’t realise that the French raid made everyone start pronouncing everything differently.
It took me quite a while as a child to realise that Beaulieu and ‘Bewley’ were the same place and I was quite old before I even saw Bevois written down. I think St Denys is my favourite anglicised place name.
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Oh! Yes I forgot about Beaulieu and St Denys – this is interesting – often wondered about Hamble Le Rice
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P.S. ARUNDEL, the name of Sir Bevois’ horse, and gave its name to Arundel Castle and the 70s shopping centre in Portsmouth, was probably an anglicised version of the French Hirondelle (swallow or swift).
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That makes sense, because Hirondelle would have been pronounced a bit like Arundel.
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Hi I have a token coin. Any value? Sir Bevios? Kindly respond. Thainks. Camille Roxanne Rorant
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£15 on Ebay! OR You might like to take it to the Caravan Art Gallery, who are having a display about Southampton. Photos, stories, artefacts and paraphernalia https://southamptonfringe.com/event/artcarpark-the-caravan-gallery
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