Barlam and Iosaphat: a Middle English Life of Buddha

Barlam and Iosaphat is a 15th-century Middle English prose version of the popular Latin vita of Barlaam et Josaphat, a Christianized account of an idolatrous Latin king who was led to the faith by his mentor, Barlam. In addition to the traditional accounts associated with Buddha's life--the prediction at birth, the four encounters, the temptation by women, the great renunciation--this Middle English text includes the ten apologues generally associated with the Western versions.