An Epitome of Biblical History

An epic of some 500 lines on the life of Alexander the Great, Walter of Châtillon’s Alexandreis ranked from the late twelfth century until the close of the Middle Ages among the most successful and widely read works of Latin literature. Walter's poem marks the apogee of classicizing medieval epic on ancient themes, emulating Silver Latin verse style with notable success.

Over 200 manuscripts survive, a considerable number of them extensively glossed and so attesting the importance the poem came quickly to enjoy as a teaching text. This volume presents one free-standing version of the more or less ‘standard’ commentary, as recorded in a Liège manuscript of the late fourteenth century, on a celebrated passage from the poem.