SOURCE: “Guillaume de Palerne: A Medieval ‘Best Seller’,” PMLA, Vol. 41, No. 4, December, 1926, pp. 785-809.

In the following essay, McKeehan focuses on the plot of Guillaume de Palerne. McKeehan discusses the numerous similarities between this story and several other tales, particularly Floriante et Florete, a French romance written circa 1300, Cormac Mac Art, an Irish tale about a prince raised by a wolf, and the Lai de Melion, a “Celtic Werwolf Tale.” McKeehan also investigates the elements of the story that were likely to have increased its popularity among contemporary audiences.

So many things about the Middle Ages seem strange to the modern reader that it is easy to over-emphasize the differences between the points of view and the methods of medieval and of modern writers. Especially is this true of the writers of fiction. We seldom get more than a brief glimpse of the medieval fiction-writer, specifically the author...