Medieval English Literature

Encyclopedia of the Medieval Chronicle

by Sarah Peverley

Ed. R. G. Dunphy, Published Brill, Leiden and Boston 2010. Online version available via http://referenceworks.brillonline.com

Entries on twenty-three English and Latin Chronicle(r)s: Adam of Usk, John Capgrave, William Caxton, Chronicle of the... more Entries on twenty-three English and Latin Chronicle(r)s: Adam of Usk, John Capgrave, William Caxton, Chronicle of the Rebellion in Lincolnshire, Chronicon Abbatiae Rameseiensis (Chronicle of Ramsey Abbey), Thomas Croftis, John Gower, John Hardyng, Historie of the Arrival of King Edward IV, John of Glastonbury, Henry Knighton, Lives of Henry V, John Lydgate, John Malverne, New Croniclys, Robert of Gloucester, John Rous, Short English Metrical Chronicle, John Somer, Thomas Castleford, John Vale, Warkworth's Chronicle, Westminster Chronicle.

Genderless Humanity: Christ as Mother in Julian of Norwich

by Laura Moncion

published in Canons, Undergraduate Journal of Religious Studies (2012)

Some thoughts on Sir Gawain

by Tibor Tarcsay

A seminar paper, no more.

The Cynewulfian version of the "hoptasia" - presentation

by Tibor Tarcsay

To be presented before the SEAS Scholarly Circle

Following on Pamela Gradon's article, an in-depth investigation of the possible sources and motivations behind... more Following on Pamela Gradon's article, an in-depth investigation of the possible sources and motivations behind Cynewulf's "Huns and Goths and the Frankish people, and Hugas".

Review of Tara Williams's "Inventing Womanhood: Gender and Language in Later Middle English Writing"

by Claudia Yaghoobi

in Comitatus: A Journal of Medieval and Renaissance Studies

Viagens de peregrinação: devoção, salvação e outras possibilidades

by Viviane Azevedo

Fabry, Irène. "Continuity and Discontinuity : Illuminating and Interlacing the Adventures of Viviane and Merlin in the Prose Merlin", Marginalia, 3, Illuminations, 2006.

by Irene Fabry-Tehranchi

La rareté des miniatures consacrées à l'histoire amoureuse de Merlin et Viviane, dont le développement est à la fois... more La rareté des miniatures consacrées à l'histoire amoureuse de Merlin et Viviane, dont le développement est à la fois épisodique et structuré par le recours au procédé de l'entrelacement, souligne son caractère marginal au sein de la narration. Les artistes et concepteurs de ces ouvrages manifestent une certaine réticence à l'égard d'aventures qui peuvent affecter l'autorité morale de Merlin, même si elles sont étroitement liées à la disparition du personnage et à la clôture du récit.

Fashioning Christine de Pizan in Tudor Defences of Women

by Stephanie Downes

Parergon 23.1 (2006): 71-92.

Thomas Hoccleve's Letter of Cupid and 'Martir Margarete'

by Stephanie Downes

Notes and Queries, April, doi: 10.1093/notesj/gjr045.

"Animal Agency, the Law of Kynde, and Chaucer's Message in _The Book of the Duchess_," in Rethinking Chaucerian Beasts, ed. Carolynn Van Dyke (Palgrave Macmillan). Forthcoming.

by Ryan Judkins

The Book of the Duchess demonstrates the co-existence of anthropocentrism and animal agency as it critiques John of... more The Book of the Duchess demonstrates the co-existence of anthropocentrism and animal agency as it critiques John of Gaunt's excessive grief for his lost wife.

John Hardyng's Chronicle

by Sarah Peverley

In The Albina Casebook, ed. by Margaret Lamont and Christopher Baswell (Broadview Press, 2012).

A critical edition of the two versions of John Hardyng's founding of Albion. Supported by introduction and commentary... more A critical edition of the two versions of John Hardyng's founding of Albion. Supported by introduction and commentary assessing Hardyng's approach to the pre-Brutian foundation myth of Albina and her thirty sisters.

L'Ebreo Errante dalle origini al XVI secolo

by Simonetta Falchi

“Des Gestes des Englays”: England and the English in Piers Langtoft’s Chronicle

by Helen Young

Published in Viator 42.1 (2011): 309-327

The chronicle of Piers Langtoft (ca. 1308), written in the French of England, problematizes any simple connection... more The chronicle of Piers Langtoft (ca. 1308), written in the French of England, problematizes any simple connection between linguistic and nationalist identities by valorizing English racial, cultural, and political identity. It rejects purgatorial models of the island’s past and presents an unbroken English rule spanning the centuries from the fall of the Britons to Langtoft’s own. Rather than finding the cause of the Norman Conquest in collective iniquity, Langtoft blames the perjury of Harold Godwinson and represents it as a change of power between individuals rather than peoples. This presentation of history and identity calls into question modern models of historiography which connect language and nationalism in England in the late Middle Ages.

Dynasty and Division: The Depiction of King and Kingdom in John Hardyng’s Chronicle

by Sarah Peverley

in The Medieval Chronicle III: Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on the Medieval Chronicle Doorn/Utrecht 12 – 17 July 2002, ed. by Erik Kooper (Rodopi: Amsterdam, 2004), pp. 149-70.

Composed during a period of increased dynastic awareness and political tension, John Hardyng’s late fifteenth-century... more Composed during a period of increased dynastic awareness and political tension, John Hardyng’s late fifteenth-century Chronicle survives in two versions. Previous scholars have labelled the first version a ‘Lancastrian’ account of history, written with little purpose other than to elicit financial reward and advocate the conquest of Scotland; the second is regarded as a ‘Yorkist’ revision. This article assesses Hardyng’s representation of the kings and their kingdom, with particular emphasis on the depiction of division within the realm; it demonstrates that Hardyng’s portrayal of Henry VI in the first version, and his use of commonplace imagery and themes, are conscientiously crafted to facilitate a wider-ranging political focus and concern with late medieval affairs than previously accepted. Conversely, comparable examples from the second version show that it is not exclusively concerned with fortifying the Yorkist dynasty, but that it promotes the same call for peace and good governance as the first version.

"Loke well about, ye that lovers be" (IMEV 1944) and a Sixteenth-Century Reader’s Response to John Hardyng’s Account of Joan of Kent

by Sarah Peverley

In Poetica, 69 (2008), 17-25.

This paper records a hitherto unrecorded example of the poem 'Loke well about, ye that lovers be' (Index of Middle... more This paper records a hitherto unrecorded example of the poem 'Loke well about, ye that lovers be' (Index of Middle English Verse 1944) in the margins of a manuscript of John Hardyng's Chronicle. Copied by a sixteenth-century reader of Hardyng's work, the poem appears to have been added as a response to Hardyng's portrayal of Joan of Kent, the mother of Richard II.

Political Consciousness and the Literary Mind in Late Medieval England: Men" Brought up of nought" in Vale, Hardyng, Mankind, and Malory

by Sarah Peverley

In Studies in Philology, 105:1 (2008), 1-29.

This paper explores the political consciousness of several Middle English works dating from the period c. 1450-70... more This paper explores the political consciousness of several Middle English works dating from the period c. 1450-70 through their use of a common politically charged phrase, 'men of nought'.

CHRONICLING THE FORTUNES OF KINGS: JOHN HARDYNG'S USE OF WALTON'S BOETHIUS, CHAUCER'S TROILUS AND CRISEYDE, AND LYDGATE'S 'KING …

by Sarah Peverley

In The Medieval Chronicle VII, 167-203.

The first version of John Hardyng’s Middle English verse Chronicle (c. 1457) draws on a fascinating array of sources... more The first version of John Hardyng’s Middle English verse Chronicle (c. 1457) draws on a fascinating array of sources to tell the story of Britain’s past. While much of the narrative draws upon earlier chronicles, such as Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia Regum Bri-tanniae and Robert Mannyng’sChronicle the work is occasionally indebted to more unusual sources beyond the chronicle genre, such as the French Vulgate Cycle of Arthurian romance, hagiography, and the poetry of Geoffrey Chaucer. This article addresses Hardyng’s use of Middle English poetry – namely Chaucer’s Troilus and Criseyde, Walton’s translation of Boethius’ Consolation of Phi¬losophy, and Lydgate’s ‘King Henry VI’s Triumphal Entry into London 21 February 1432’ – and considers how Hardyng’s poetic borrowings from contemporary authors contribute to his idiosyncratic presentation of the British past.

Sweet Old Things and Dirty Old Men[England and Rust] submission

by Suzanne England

Inspired by William F. May’s writings on the vices and virtues of the elderly we offer our reflections on his ideas as... more Inspired by William F. May’s writings on the vices and virtues of the elderly we offer our reflections on his ideas as they are revealed by Muriel Spark’s novel, Memento Mori.. May argues that exempting the old from moral criticism positions them as “moral nonentities” and relieves the old, their caretakers, and society of moral responsibility. We, the coauthors of this paper, are from two different disciplines, namely Renaissance and medieval literature (Martha Rust), and social work and critical gerontology (Suzanne England). We offer our individual readings of the ways the novel illustrates May’s ideas, and conclude with our thoughts about how our collaboration opened up space in our own thinking and for continuing cross-disciplinary dialogu

“Parlement of Foules” and “New Council”: medieval assemblies of animals in an Anglo-Bohemian perspective.

by Matous Turek

BA Thesis at the English Studies Department at Charles University in Prague (2011)

The thesis compares two late 14th century animal allegories, Geoffrey Chaucer's The Parliament of Fowls on the English... more The thesis compares two late 14th century animal allegories, Geoffrey Chaucer's The Parliament of Fowls on the English side and Smil Flaška of Pardubice's The New Council on the Bohemian. After an introduction dealing with the datings and possible genetic relationship between the texts, they are approached in search of parallel structural features and of commonly shared topoi.
Chapter 1 demonstrates how the two authors use the identical devices to persuade the reader to comprehend nature as an allegory, chiefly the antrophomorphisation of animals – the beasts and birds gain human attributes, human attitudes, but also human physique; on the basis of their natural and symbolical properties, animals represent human values and social classes, while systems of natural classification and hierarchy are transposed into human social organisations.
Chapter 2 looks at how the human community is allegorised in the two poems as a body politic in practical terms, how the animals are made to deliberate, debate and take part in a sophisticated social arrangement. Each of the two imaginary assemblies mimics surprisingly closely those held by the political representatives of the two realms at the time of composition; representing real-world power structures and communicative frameworks, the allegories portray the Bohemian and English polities in striking detail – from the monarch's
position through to the decision-making process as such. Close comparison then shows that the political philosophy behind the two texts, concerning the management of human polity, is fundamentally identical.
In chapter 3, with the help of late medieval philosophical and theological concepts, a transition is made from common political ideology towards features the two poems share in the areas of cosmology and eschatology. The analysis shows how the political message is in both poems complemented with and presupposed by a spiritual one, how both poems set forth universal belief systems before the reader and attempt to aid him to make the right decisions in problems which these belief systems pose.

Literary Nominalism and the Theory of Rereading Late Medieval Texts: a New Research Paradigm

by Richard Utz