Date of Sir Orfeo

• Probably dates to c. 1300
• Survives in 3 manuscripts. The translated text in the Longman Anthology is based upon a compilation of
  • National Library of Scotland, MS Auchinleck W.4.1--the earliest and possibly the most faithful to the original, and
  • British Museum, MS Harley 3810--which dates to the early 15th century.

Composition of Sir Orfeo

• Dialect and vocabulary of the ME versions indicate possible composition in the southwestern part of the Anglian areas, possibly written around London.
• Part of the East Midland romance tradition of the late 13th and 14th centuries
• Claims to depend upon a Breton lai as its source

Also influenced by

• The classical myth of Orpheus and Euridice, known to the medieval world through the works of Virgil, Ovid, and Boethius
• Celtic fairy lore

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