This volume brings together related examples of medieval didactic dialogues. Texts of this kind
were designed both to instruct their readers or audience in doctrine wisdom morality and
Christian truth and at the same time to entertain them through witty verbal exchanges enigmas
and riddles. The texts that have been assembled here grew out of a common source that
originated in Latin writing. However no Latin text that can be identified as a witness to the
source has survived and to help compensate for this missing part of the textual tradition the
editors have reconstructed a Latin version using clues provided by the vernacular texts. Those
edited here are: the Old English Prose 'Solomon and Saturn' the Middle English 'Master of
Oxford's Catechism' the Old English 'Adrian and Ritheus' and the Old Icelandic 'Dialogue
between a Pupil and his Master'.
