This site has bibliographic infromation, two different translations (*grin* for easy comparison purposes) as well as the Old English version and notes on the manuscript.
Set around the frame of travelers telling tales while on pilgrimage to Canterbury, Chaucer's tales spread the spectrum from religious to ribald to epic and back again. There are plentiful publications of The Matter of Arthur
Suprisingly enough, one rarely hears tales of King Arthur, Queen Guinevaire, Merlin, Sir Gawain, or any of the other colorful crew of the Round Table. But of course, these are wondeful tales of love, treachery, magic, betrayal, mystery, and more that are all period. *smile* And as one would expect, there are plenty of tales which can be found in manuscripts which were both written and published in period.
This one crosses between English and French and it was written by Chretien de Troyes. However, it concerns an Arthurian romance, so I'm placing it here under The Matter of Arthur and leaving it for people whose personae are either English or French to let me know if Eric and Enide is only French.
Also by, Chretien de Troyes, see above speech about Eric and Enide.
Lanceleot, or the Knight of the Cart
One of my favorite Arthurian romance tales, again by Chretien de Troyes.
The High History of the Holy Graal
a very forsooth translation of this 13th century work, written to be a conintuation of Chretien de Troyes Perceval .
Mallory's well-known 15th Century writing of Arthur tales.
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
One of the most interesting of the Arthurian romances, in my opinion, by everyone's favorite author anonymous. This is a somewhat strange Middle English dialect, so I'd recommend buying the print translation translated into modern English (but still in alliterative verse). The above link will take you to a site with information on Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, but not to a modern translation as I could not find one on the web.
The thirteenth century Welsh version of the Arthur tales, containing a version of Eric and Enide, and tales of Taliesen among others. The above link is to a very "forsooth" translation by Lady Charlotte Guest so I'd suggest only using it if you cannot find anything else, and then please, please, please reword things to cut-out the "thee's and thou's"
Definitely a British Isles poem, and can be considered part of the Matter of Arthur. This is one version of the Tristan and Isolde story. The link above will take you to a Middle-English text (with copious notes) as well as a fabulous historical intro with a listing of bibliographic information for analogous version. Gottfried von Strassburg wrote a thirteenth century German version of the tale.
People often forget this, but histories are a wonderful place to look for stories. One can find origin stories as well as stories of conquest, war, etc.
Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation
The exhaustive work by Bede (673-735) One caveat to this one though is that the text is very heavy, and probably not well-suited to a beginning teller.
Originally compiled by King Alred the Great in 890 scribes edded to it through the 12th Century. Another text probably not well-suited for a beginning teller, but useful for an advanced teller who is interested in expanding nuggets of history into stories.
Geoffrey of Monmouth's 12th Century work which is one of the oldest "histories" of England. English medieval histories are not my strong suit, but I believe that Monmouth's work is fictional compared to what modern scholarship has determined about actual English history. But there are some great stories in it. The above link takes you to an essay about the work, not to an online copy of it, as I could not find an online copy.
Let us not forget hagiography! In addition to being a very period type of story for a Christian personae to tell, some of the saint's stories are pretty entertaining! The above link will take you to an exhaustive source for hagiographic sources, many in the original language in addition to English translations.
This 13th Century work by Jacobus de Voragine deserves special mention as it was the major period sourcebook for hagiography. I couldn't find any English online editions of it, but the link will take you to Amazon where you can find an English translation of it.
A page with English translations of everything in the Ulster cycle except the two epics given below.
The Destruction of Da Derga's Hostel
A twelfth century Celtic epic which is part of the Ulster cycle.
The story that leads up to the Tain Bo Cualgne. This site has an English translation paired with the Irish.
the great Irish epic. This link isn't a great English translation, but it's complete and pairs it with the Irish.
This site gives information on the Fennian cycle, but not the stories themselves.
The Voyage of Bran, Son of Febal, to the Land of the Living An anonymous medieval Irish saga, this site offers both English and Irish texts.
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