Guillaume de Palerme

Guillaume de Palerne or in modern spelling Palerme ("William of Palerne" or "Palermo") is a French romance poem, later translated into Middle English where it is also known as William and the Werewolf. The French verse romance is thought to have been composed anywhere from the late 12th to late 13th century (cf. § Dating). The verse version in French survives in a single 13th century manuscript (l'Arsenal 6565 olim 178).

The prose version of the French romance (created <1535) went through early printed editions. The edition from Nicolas Bonfons of Paris passed through several post-incunabula editions (c. 1550–1590?), into the 17th century.

The English poem in alliterative verse, commissioned by Humphrey de Bohun, 6th Earl of Hereford, was written c. 1350 (or more precisely between 1335/6 and 1361) by a poet named William. A single surviving manuscript of the English version (dating to the end of the 14th century) is held at King's College, Cambridge. The English prose was printed in 1515 by Wynkyn de Worde, even earlier than the printing of the French prose.