Caxton's Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye

Love and the folly of war is the theme of Caxton’s translation of Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye, the first book printed in English. Covering the genealogy of the ancient Greek gods and the Troy legend, the seminal work is provided here in a new edition with an extensive introduction by the editor.

---

The book is about the genealogy of the ancient Greek gods and the legend of Troy.





William Caxton, for almost thirty years, led his life as a merchant, a diplomat and a cosmopolitan in Bruges, at that time the most prosperous international center of trade in northern Europe. This book is his translation of Raoul Lefèvre’s French original, as well as being the first printed book in English.





The undercurrent throughout the book is an everlasting and universal theme of mankind: «love and war/peace», the human nature of love and the folly of war. Thus, the ancient pagan gods are humanized and modernized in the late Middle Ages without mentioning Christianity. Both Lefèvre and Caxton shared the antiwar sentiments in this book, which consists of the genealogy of the ancient Greek gods in Books I and II and the Troy legend in Book III.





This new edition, with an extensive introduction by the editor, makes this text accessible to new audiences.