British

• Beowulf (Denmark: Beowulf, a Geat, rescues King Hrothgar and the Danes from Grendel and his mother at Heorot in Zealand with sword Hrunting; fire-breathing dragon later kills Beowulf)
• Caedmon - (poems)

   Cynewulf - Dream of the Road, Christ, Exeter Book

  Unknown - The Wanderer, The Seafarer

  Bede - Ecclesiastical History of the English People

  Alfred - translated Boethius's De Consolatione Philosophiae
• Ulster Cycle (sagas about Deirdre [daughter of King Conchobar's storyteller Felim destined to be beautiful and bring death; she is raised by Lavarcham in woods; falls in love with Conchobar's nephew Naisi and flees to Alba with his brothers; they are persuaded to return and Usnech's sons are killed and Deirdre commits suicide], Emer, Bricriu Poison-tongue, Cathbad the Druid, Etain, Da Derga, Mac Datho, Conaire, and Conall Cernach; includes tale Cattle-Raid of Cooley [Cu Chulainn deters army of Queen Maeve while Red Branch warriors of Ulster awaken; duels and kills foster brother Ferdiad])
• Cu Chulainn [son of sun god Lugh, Cu Chulainn kills hound but takes its place until owner gets new one; trained by woman warrior Scathach; subdues Aoife and has son Conlaoch by her; Conlaoch returns later and kills many but is killed by Cu; Cu fights army of Queen Maeve; seduced by sea god Mananaan's wife Fand; Queen Medb of Cruachain creates imaginary host whom Cu fights to exhaustion and dies tied to pillar; wife Emer dies with him], King Conchobar, Medb and Ailill, Fergus, Cu Roi, Finnabair, Noisi
•  William the Conqueror - Domesday Book (census)

  William Langland - Piers Plowman (poet dreams in Malvern Hills about tower of Truth and dungeon of Wrong; Holy Church explains visions; Conscience persuades many to leave Seven Deadly Sins for St. Truth, and plowman Piers serves as guide for those who will help plow his half acre; like Dante's Divine Comedy)
• Troilus and Criseyde (Trojan prince Troilus pursues Cressida during Trojan War truce; Pandarus helps them get together; her dad exchanges her for a Trojan prisoner; Diomedes brings her to Greek camp and she is unfaithful, as Troilus's sister Cassandra predicted; Troilus sees Diomedes with brooch he gave Criseyde and fights him in battle but is killed by Achilles) 


  by Chaucer
•   House of Fame (finds engraving of Dido and Aeneas in Venus's Temple, lady Fame distributes fame and slander arbitrarily; unfinished),

  Chaucer
•  The Legend of Good Women (Queen Alceste has Chaucer write about 20 women who suffered or died because they were faithful in love, including Cleopatra, Thisbe, Dido, Medea, Ariadne, and Philomela),


  Chaucer
• The Book of the Duchess (elegy on death of John of Gaunt's wife Blanche of Lancaster, Halcyon and Ceyx story),

  chaucer
•  The Parliament of Fowls (Scipio Africanus appears to younger Scipio in dream; on Valentine's Day 3 fowls fight over formel eagle),


  Chaucer
• Prioress [schoolboy sings hymn about Mary in Jewish ghetto and has throat cut but is saved by Mary, who commands him to sing until a grain is removed from his tongue],

  Canterbury Tales
• Monk [17 8-line tragedies including Bernabo of Milan, Ugolino, Pedro of Spain, Pedro of Cyprus, Lucifer, Adam, Samson, Heracles, Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar, Zonobia, Nero, Holofernes, Antiochus, Alexander, Caesar, and Croesus]

  Canterbury Tales
• Friar [Summoner and Devil swear friendship],

  Canterbury Tales
•  Knight [Theseus defeats Creon at Thebes; Arcite dies after winning tournament for the hand of Hippolyta's sister Emily and his cousin Palamon marries her],

  Canterbury Tales
• Melibee [Melibee forgives 3 enemies who beat his wife Prudence and killed his daughter Sophie],

  Canterbury tales
•  Miller [carpenter John's wife Alison scorns Absolon but loves Nicholas, who convinces John to suspend three tubs in the attic in preparation for a second Flood; Absolon brands Nicholas's rump],

  Canterbury Tales
• Man of Law [mom of Sultan of Syria puts Constance adrift; washed ashore in Northumberland and marries King Alla],

  Canterbury Tales
• Wife of Bath [used tricks to keep first 4 husbands in hand; married 5th for love, but after a fight he let her run everything; foul witch tells Arthur's knight what women most desire is sovereignty over husbands and makes him marry her; he gives her choice of beauty or fidelity and gets both],

  Canterbury Tales
•    Physician [Virginia killed by judge father, whom Apius condemns to hanging but people revolt and the judge commits suicide],

  canterbury tales
•  Pardoner [3 revelers want to slay Death, who killed their friend with plague; find treasure under tree; stab and poison each other over the gold],

  Canterbury tales
• Nun's Priest [fox Don Russell seizes rooster Chauntecleer, as he had dreamed, but had been mocked by wife Pertelote],

  Canterbury Tales
• Parson [description of Confession, 7 Deadly Sins, and Penitence; Chaucer's Retractions],

  Canterbury Tales
• Reeve [miller Simkin steals grain from scholars John and Alan, who spend the night at his house and sleep with his wife and daughter],

  Canterbury tales
• Manciple [archer Phebus's white crow tells him his wife had affair; he kills her but then turns against the tattle-tale crow],

  Canterbury tales
•  Merchant [knight January's sight restored but his wife May has affair with Damyan]


  Canterbury tales
• Second Nun [Cecilia converts husband Valerian and his brother Tiburtius; Almachius tries to make them sacrifice to Jupiter but they refuse and are executed],


  Canerbury tales
• Shipman [monk John spends night with merchant's wife; John gets loan from merchant]

  Canterbury Tales
• Squire [knight brings gifts on birthday of Tartar king Cambuscan; Cambuscan's daughter Canacee wears ring that lets her talk to a falcon],

  Canerbury tales
• Canon's Yeoman [describes futility of alchemy],

  Canterbury tales
•   Clerk [Marquis Walter marries Griselda and tests her loyalty],

  Canterbury Tales
•  Roger the Cook [apprentice Perkin likes dice and women],


  Canerbury Tales
•     Franklin [Aurelius removes all rocks from British coast to win Arveragus's wife Dorigen])

  Canterbury Tales
• Geoffrey of Monmouth - Historia regum Britanniae (includes stories of Brute, great-grandson of Aeneas, King Lear, Cymbeline, and Arthur)
• Unknown - The Tale of Gamelyn (Gamelyn robbed of inheritance by older brother but leads band of outlaws in the forest and overthrows him)
• Pearl Poet - Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (green knight challenges Arthur's knights to behead him and be beheaded in a year; Gawain accepts and beheads him; year later goes to Green Chapel; Lord Bercilak gives Gawain hunting gains in return for kisses he gets from Bercilak's wife; he fails to give him green sash; Green Knight strikes at Gawain's neck thrice but only nicks it once since he avoided adultery; Green Knight was Bercilak; all planned by Morgan le Fay)
• Unknown - Everyman (Everyman receives summons from Death; friends Fellowship, Worldly Goods, and Beauty leave him but Good Deeds remains faithful but weak; morality play)
• Unknown - The Mabinogion (Welsh tales, translated by Lady Charlotte Guest)
• Wakefield Master - Towneley Mysteries (or Wakefield Mysteries; includes The Second Shepherd's Play)
• Unknown - Robin Hood (Robin Hood, possibly earl of Huntington, born at Locksley Nottinghamshire; formed group in Sherwood Forest including Little John, Friar Tuck, Will Scarlet, Allan-a-Dale, Will Stutly, and Maid Marian to rob rich and give to poor; opposed by sheriff; bled to death by prioress of Kirkley)
• Thomas Malory - Le Morte d'Arthur (Arthurian Legend - Camelot: King Arthur [becomes king by pulling sword Excalibur from stone, dies on island of Avalon], Queen Guinevere, Lancelot, Percival, Tristan and Iseult, Sir Gawain, Merlin, Mordred, Sir Galahad, and others; includes quests for the Holy Grail, beheading of Green Knight, conflict with Mordred at Camlan; printed by William Caxton)