I owe a debt of gratitude to two colleagues who, by inviting me to hold forth on a topic of my own choosing, assisted me, more perhaps than they realise, in putting my thoughts on medieval irony in order and on to paper. The first such stimulus came from Professor Hans Kuhn who invited me to direct the medieval section of the Fifth Graduate Workshop in German at the Australian National University, Canberra in May 1971, and who generously accepted the theme of this book as the topic for that session. The second stimulus, no less valuable than the first, came from Professor Fredi Chiappelli, Director of the Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles, who likewise invited me to the Center in 1975. To both these colleagues, and also to those who participated at Canberra and at Los Angeles, I am immensely indebted for their encouragement to finish this work.

To other friends and colleagues I am glad to record my warm thanks for reading my manuscript and giving me the benefit of their advice: Hans Fromm, Peter Ganz, Peter Johnson and Marianne Wynn. Franz Bäuml and Michael Curschmann have helped by their constant readiness to share my concerns and discuss my problems with me.

My thanks are also due to the Council of Trinity College and to the Electors to the Tiarks Fund at Cambridge, both of whom gave financial support for the publication of this book.