In French Lessons in Late Medieval England, Rory Critten translates two manuals found together in one fifteenth-century manuscript, Cambridge University Library, MS Dd.12.23: Liber Donati (LD) and Commune Parlance (CP). These are presented in facing-page format alongside the previously published edition of each text, making them accessible linguistically but also materially, since the original editions produced for the Anglo-Norman Text Society are not so easily obtained today. The LD (see Liber Donati: A Fifteenth-Century Manual of French, ed. Brian Merrilees and Beata Sitarz-Fitzpatrick [1993]) combines grammatical content (conjugations and verb lists) with a series of model dialogues allowing for the exposition of appropriate situation-specific vocabulary: we are shown a range of conversations including between tradespeople and clients; travelers of equal status; gentlemen and ladies; and a child and an adult. The CP is composed of dialogues in a similar vein to the latter part of the LD; it was previously edited in Manières de langage (1396, 1399, 1415) (ed. Andres M. Kristol [1995], 1–36). Critten's new title for this work is drawn from a rubric found in CUL MS Dd.12.23 (see 18 for discussion).

The volume's introduction offers an excellent summary of the current state of research on medieval Anglo-French and its modes of transmission. Researchers looking for a way into the topic are strongly encouraged to browse the footnotes to this section, which contain a treasure trove of references to important work in the field, as well as the handy “Further Reading” section. Next comes Critten's translation, which is readable, accurate, and nuanced. He takes a strong stance on—and an evident pleasure in—the translation of insult and obscenity, keen to transmit the idiomatic flavor of the original into modern English: for instance, where the Anglo-Norman Dictionary defines “se sourdre le cul” as “to bestir oneself”, Critten's translation offers the more colorful “get off your arse”, which nicely fits the confrontational informality of an exchange between two men sharing a room at an inn (95n212). Translation difficulties and ambiguities are noted in the accompanying commentary, demonstrating an exemplary honesty about the role of judgment in both establishing and interpreting the medieval text. I noted only one clear error: on 84, “la siel” is surely a bucket with which Pierre is to fetch water for his master, rather than salt.

The translation is followed by a section of Notes and Commentary full of useful explication, with further reference throughout to relevant scholarly work in the field. Critten's commentary on the grammatical content of LD strikes me as especially valuable, since this type of material has received next-to-no attention from scholars hitherto (a state of affairs that one hopes this volume will help to remedy). He observes that the verb list in LD Part A includes many French terms that have both a general and specialized legal sense (e.g., “ascouter”: listen to, or: give an official hearing to), helpfully setting out both. Critten insists throughout on the point that “in light of the variation now known to characterize the morphology and syntax of the medieval French verb,” what were once considered eccentricities or erroneous forms in Anglo-French are now viewed more often as a constituent part of the spectrum of Old and Middle Frenches (121, but on this point, see further the discussion on 4–6). One consequence of this evolving understanding is that researchers need to approach these materials with an open mind, and Critten's practice embodies this principle throughout. His philosophy of maximal tolerance for variant forms leads him to restore manuscript readings corrected by the editors whose texts he reproduces. It is especially interesting to have this snapshot of actual language use by the copyist of a text that aims to impart linguistic accuracy. Crucially, Critten's Textual Notes (170–78) list the instances where he has upheld a manuscript reading against editorial emendations, allowing readers to form their own judgment. As he notes, it is not always easy to decide where to draw the line between linguistic variation and scribal error, and I might have been less tolerant of one or two forms (such as “j'oloie” [n. xii] where the scribe may have mistranscribed the “a” of “j'aloie” as an “o,” or “plus loigement” [n. ciii], which Kristol corrects to “plus loignement”), but the overall aim of presenting the available linguistic evidence of Anglo-French as directly as possible is a welcome one.

The commentary is notably strong on imagining the pedagogical contexts to which the materials might lend themselves, such as how the attention paid to power differentials, and the appropriate language for negotiating these, might be handled in class. Such observations are an astute reminder that these texts are prompts for pedagogic performance. In a similar vein, Critten points out passages in the dialogues that may have been useful to both domestic and emigrant English users of French, reminding the reader that it is not just in the present day that language learning generates social and geographic mobility. It is certainly intriguing how different manuscripts differ in where they situate the action; a scene might be set in Oxford in one copy and in Paris in another (see further the discussion on 18–19).

The availability of this volume as a free PDF alongside hardback and paperback formats is a welcome initiative from Arc Humanities Press, which will facilitate its use for teaching and stimulate research on the teaching of Anglo-French. Overall, this is an important, timely, and high-quality volume, which will serve to underpin more extensive study of the teaching and learning of French in medieval Britain.