SOURCE: An introduction to The Ancient English Romance of William and the Werwolf, Burt Franklin, 1832, pp. i-xvii.

In the essay below, Madden reviews the circumstances surrounding the composition of William of Palerne, discussing in particular the likely date of composition, the patron for whom this translation of the French poem Guillaume de Palerne was written, and what is known about the origins of Guillaume de Palerne.

The Romance of William and the Werwolf, contained in the present volume, is printed from an unique Ms. preserved in the library of King's College, Cambridge, and its literary history renders it of more than common interest to the poetical antiquary. It is to the memorable Rowleian controversy we are indebted for the first notice of this poem in its English dress. In that singular dispute, in which Jacob Bryant, Fellow of King's College, and the Rev. Jeremiah Milles, D. D. Dean...