Canonizing the apocryphal : London, British library MS Egerton 2781 and its visual, devotional and social contexts [thesis]

756 Pages·1996·32.6 MB·English

by  Kathryn A. Smith

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CANONIZING THE APOCRYPHAL:
London, British Library MS Egerton 2781 and its
Visual, Devotional and Social Contexts
by
Kathryn A. Smith
A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment
of the requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
Institute of Fine Arts
New York University
January, 1996
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
UMI Number: 9621836
Copyright 1996 by
Smith, Kathryn Ann
All rights reserved.
UMI Microform 9621836
Copyright 1996, by UMI Company. All rights reserved.
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(^) Kathryn A. Smith
All Rights Reserved, 1996
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The research and writing of a dissertation is an often
painfully solitary process. I wish to express my gratitude
to the people who assisted me during the years this thesis
was in preparation, and who enlivened immeasurably the time
I spent in the many cities, libraries and institutions in
which I lived and worked.
First, I would like to thank my dissertation adviser,
Prof. Jonathan Alexander, for his support of my work, both
in the preparation of the dissertation and throughout my
years as a graduate student. Prof. Alexander's
intellectual guidance and detailed and constructive
criticisms of drafts of numerous chapters were invaluable
in helping the thesis achieve its final shape. I am also
extremely grateful to Prof. Lucy Freeman Sandler, who first
brought MS Egerton 2781 to my attention over four years
ago, and who recognized in the manuscript a dissertation
topic perfectly suited to my intellectual interests and
strengths. Prof. Sandler's willingness to share her
knowledge of English fourteenth-century manuscripts and to
act as a sounding-board for my developing ideas helped
determine the contours and substance of the dissertation.
I am indebted to Profs. Alexander and Sandler for the
example of their scholarship, and for their sympathetic
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reading of my work.
For granting me virtually unlimited access to Egerton
2781 and other manuscripts and for assisting me in
obtaining photographs, I am grateful to Miss Janet
Backhouse, Mr. Julian Conway, and to the entire staff of
the Manuscripts Students' Room and Department of
Photographic Services at the British Library. My thanks
also go to Dr. Martin Kauffmann of the Bodleian Library;
Drs. Franqois Avril and Patricia Stirnemann of the
Bibliotheque Nationale; and to the staffs of these
libraries and those of the Conway Library, Courtauld
Institute of Art, and the Society of Antiquaries, London;
St. John's College, Corpus Christi College, Trinity
College, Emmanuel College, and the Fitzwilliam Museum and
University libraries, Cambridge; Exeter College Library,
Oxford; Trinity College Library, Dublin; the University
Library, Glasgow; the Pierpont Morgan Library, New York;
the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale
University, New Haven; and Dr. Lilian M. C. Randall, Dr.
Elizabeth Burin and the staff of the Walters Art Gallery,
Baltimore. In addition, I would like to thank the
following institutions and their staffs for enabling me to
study materials in their collections: the Warburg
Institute; the British Library Reading Room; Senate House
Library; Institute of Historical Research; and Dr.
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Williams' Library in London; the Institute of Fine Arts
Library; Metropolitan Museum of Art Library; Avery Art &
Architecture and Butler Libraries, Columbia University; the
New York Public Library; and General and Union Theological
Seminaries in New York; and the National Gallery of Art and
Folger Shakespeare Libraries, Washington, DC. Affiliation
with the Department of Art History, University College
London during the 1992-93 academic year afforded access to
their facilities, and I am grateful to the members of the
department and its staff for their generosity.
The research and writing of this dissertation could
not have been accomplished without the aid of a Robert
Lehman Fellowship from the Institute of Fine Arts (1991-
93); a Fulbright-Hays Full Grant for dissertation research
in London from the International Institute of
Education/Fulbright Commission (1992-93) ; and a Mary Davis
Fellowship from the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual
Arts, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC (1993-95). I
am grateful to these institutions for their support.
I owe special thanks to many scholars and friends for
advice, information, and encouragement. In particular, Ms.
Margot Mcllwain of the Institute of Fine Arts shared her
enthusiasm for English fourteenth-century manuscripts, and
was an ideal colleague and traveling companion during the
months that we were both in London. Dr. Michelle Brown of
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the British Library, Mr. Peter Kidd of the Courtauld
Institute of Art, Dr. Michael Michael of Christie's, Dr.
Julia Walworth of the Palaeography Room, Senate House, and
Dr. John Goodall of the Royal College of Arms were
exceptionally generous with their expertise. Prof. Phyllis
Roberts of C.U.N.Y., Prof. Evelyn B. Vitz of New York
University, Prof. William B. Mayer of Hunter College, and
Prof. Amnon Linder of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
provided invaluable advice and assistance both at the
beginning stages of and throughout my dissertation
research. Dr. Diana Tyson of University College London and
Prof. Evelyn B. Vitz assisted in the preparation of
transcriptions and translations of the Anglo-French texts
in Egerton 2781, and their advice and tutelage were of
incaluable help. Prof. Jonathan Alexander corrected my
Latin translations. However, I am solely responsible for
any errors that remain.
I am grateful for the comments, criticisms, and
collegiality of the following individuals: Ms. Erin
Barrett, Dr. Adelaide Bennett; Dr. Paul Binski; Dr. Stephan
Borghammar; Prof. Maureen Boulton; Mr. Anthony Burton of
the Museum of Childhood, Bethnal Green, London; Prof.
Walter Cahn; Dr. Jill Caskey; Prof. Madeline Caviness; Dr.
Michael Clanchy; Prof. Elizabeth Cropper; Prof. Thomas
Dale; Dr. David d'Avray; Dr. Ruth Dean; Dr. Lynda Dennison;
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Dr. Claire Donovan; Dr. Lois Drewer; Ms. Karen Duys; Prof.
Sharon Gerstel; Prof. Jeffrey Hamburger; Dr. Christopher de
Hamel; Dr. Ann Helmreich; Dr. George Henderson; Dr. John
Higgitt; Dr. Caroline Hull; Prof. George Keiser; Dr.
Elizabeth Kryder-Reid; Prof. Ann Kuttner; Ms. Susan
L'Engle; Dr. John Lowden; Dr. Richard Marks; Prof. James
Marrow; Dr. William Noel; Prof. Judith Oliver; Dr. Lilian
M. C. Randall; Ms. Lara Ruffolo; Ms. Ann Russ; Ms. Maria F.
P. Saffiotti; Dr. Karl Schuler; Dr. Veronica Sekules; Dr.
Claire Richter Sherman; Prof. Alison Stones; Dr. Virginia
Stotz; and Prof. Daniel Weiss; and all of the participants
in the seminars and professional meetings in which I
presented my work-in-progress.
I remember particularly the hospitality and generosity
of the following friends and colleagues during the years of
my research: Michelle and Cecil Brown; Alison Corbett and
Daniel Stashower; Joanna Kemp; Abby McGehee; Coral and
Lionel Mcllwain; Robert Parker; Lucy Freeman and Irving
Sandler; Karl Schuler; Andrew Shelton; Mariet Westermann
and Charles Pardoe; and Bryan Wyly. The predoctoral
fellows at CASVA during the 1994-95 academic year -- Maria
Gough, Jodi Hauptmann and Mariet Westermann in particular -
- provided both stimulation and welcome diversion during
the year of my writing-up.
I would like to thank my father, Ernest Smith, and my
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