Reading for Week Three: Selections From Otia Imperialia By Gervase Of Tilbury

Otia Imperialia, or “Recreation for an Emperor” was written by Gervase of Tilbury in or after 1211 CE for Otto IV, the Holy Roman Emperor from 1209 until 1215. It is part encyclopedia, part cosmography, part geography, and part history, as well as a Mirror of Princes (a genre of work intended for royalty to model good royal behaviour to them) and part simply an entertaining story book.

Please listen to this reading in preparation for week three of the Werewolves Course.

Reading from:

Banks, S. E., and J. W. Binns, eds. Otia Imperialia : Recreation for an Emperor. By Gervase of Tilbury. Oxford: Clarendon, 2002. Print. Oxford Medieval Texts. 813-815; 87-89.

Music:

Arden-Taylor, Paul. Medieval Dance Tunes Sequence.