Description: Henry of Avranches, professional versifier to abbots, bishops, kings, and a pope, displays pyrotechnical verbal skill and playfulness that rivals the Carmina Burana and collections of rhymed secular verse. Yet The Saints' Lives also stands as self-conscious heir to the great classicizing tradition of twelfth-century epic poets.
Brief description: David Townsend is Professor of Medieval Studies and English at the University of Toronto.