Medieval Romance and Material Culture

312 Pages·2015·33.241 MB·English

by  Nicholas Perkins

spine 18 mm
M R
Medieval romances glitter with the material objects that were valued and M
edieval oMance
exchanged in late-medieval society: lovers’ rings and warriors’ swords, holy e
relics and desirable or corrupted bodies. Romance, however, is also a genre d
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in which such objects make meaning on numerous levels, and not always in e and ateRial ultuRe
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predictable ways. These new essays examine from diverse perspectives how
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romances respond to material culture, but also show how romance as a genre l

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helps to constitute and transmit that culture. Focusing on romances circulating
o
in Britain and Ireland between the twelfth and sixteenth centuries, individual
m
chapters address such questions as the relationship between objects and
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protagonists in romance narrative; the materiality of male and female bodies; the n
interaction between visual and verbal representations of romance; poetic form c
e
and manuscript textuality; and how a nineteenth-century edition of medieval
a
romances provoked artists to homage and satire. n
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NICHOLAS PERKINS is Associate Professor and Tutor in English at St Hugh’s M
College, University of Oxford. a
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CONTRIBUTORS: Siobhain Bly Calkin, Nancy Mason Bradbury, r
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Aisling Byrne, Anna Caughey, Neil Cartlidge, Mark Cruse, Morgan Dickson,
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Rosalind Field, Elliot Kendall, Megan G. Leitch, Henrike Manuwald, C
Nicholas Perkins, Ad Putter, Raluca L. Radulescu, Robert Allen Rouse. u
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r
e
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C
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Cover illustration: Tristan and Iseut, with Mark hiding in a tree. Detail O
from an ivory casket (France?; fourteenth century). St Petersburg, L
A
The State Hermitage Museum, inv. no. F-61. Photograph © The State S
Hermitage Museum; photo by Alexander Koksharov. P
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Studies in Medieval Romance IN
Series editor: Corinne Saunders, University of Durham S
(
e
d
.)
Boydell & Brewer Ltd
PO Box 9, Woodbridge IP12 3DF (GB) and
668 Mt Hope Ave, Rochester NY 14620–2731 (US)
www.boydellandbrewer.com EDITED BY NICHOLAS PERKINS
Medieval Romance and Material Culture 9781843843900 v4.indd 1 23/09/2014 17:13
Medieval Romance and Material Culture
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Plate I Oxford, Bodleian Library MS Ashmole 45, fol. 2r.
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Studies in Medieval Romance
ISSN 1479–9308
Editorial Board
Corinne Saunders (General Editor)
Siobhain Bly Calkin
Rhiannon Purdie
Robert Allen Rouse
This series aims to provide a forum for critical studies of the medieval
romance, a genre which plays a crucial role in literary history, clearly reveals
medieval secular concerns, and raises complex questions regarding social
structures, human relationships, and the psyche. Its scope extends from the
early middle ages into the Renaissance period, and although its main focus is
on English literature, comparative studies are welcomed.
Proposals or queries should be sent in the first instance to one of the addresses
given below; all submissions will receive prompt and informed consideration.
Professor Corinne Saunders, Department of English, University of Durham,
Durham DH1 3AY
Boydell & Brewer Limited, PO Box 9, Woodbridge, Suffolk IP12 3DF
Previously published volumes in the series
are listed at the back of this book
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Medieval Romance
and Material Culture
Edited by
NICHOLAS PERKINS
D. S. BREWER
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© Contributors 2015
All Rights Reserved. Except as permitted under current legislation
no part of this work may be photocopied, stored in a retrieval system,
published, performed in public, adapted, broadcast,
transmitted, recorded or reproduced in any form or by any means,
without the prior permission of the copyright owner
First published 2015
D. S. Brewer, Cambridge
ISBN 978 1 84384 390 0
D. S. Brewer is an imprint of Boydell & Brewer Ltd
PO Box 9, Woodbridge, Suffolk, IP12 3DF, UK
and of Boydell & Brewer Inc.
668 Mount Hope Ave, Rochester, NY 14620–2731, USA
website: www.boydellandbrewer.com
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available
from the British Library
The publisher has no responsibility for the continued existence or accuracy
of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this book,
and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain,
accurate or appropriate
This publication is printed on acid-free paper
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Contents
List of Illustrations vii
List of Contributors xi
Acknowledgements xii
Abbreviations xiii
1 Introduction: The Materiality of Medieval Romance and The Erle
of Tolous
 Nicholas Perkins 1
2 Courtly Culture and Emotional Intelligence in the Romance of Horn
 Rosalind Field 23
3 Emplaced Reading, or Towards a Spatial Hermeneutic for Medieval
Romance
 Robert Allen Rouse 41
4 Devotional Objects, Saracen Spaces and Miracles in Two Matter of
France Romances
 Siobhain Bly Calkin 59
5 The Werewolf of Wicklow: Shapeshifting and Colonial Identity in
the Lai de Melion
 Neil Cartlidge 75
6 ‘Ladyes war at thare avowing’: The Female Gaze in Late-Medieval
Scottish Romance
 Anna Caughey 91
7 The Evolution of Cooperation in The Avowyng of Arthur
 Elliot Kendall 111
8 Ritual, Revenge and the Politics of Chess in Medieval Romance
 Megan G. Leitch 129
9 Adventures in the Bob-and-Wheel Tradition: Narratives and
Manuscripts
 Ad Putter 147
10 Reading King Robert of Sicily’s Text(s) and Manuscript Context(s)
 Raluca L. Radulescu 165
v
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Contents
11 The Circulation of Romances from England in Late-Medieval
Ireland
 Aisling Byrne 183
12 The Image of the Knightly Harper: Symbolism and Resonance
 Morgan Dickson  199
13 Carving the Folie Tristan: Ivory Caskets as Material Evidence of
Textual History
 Henrike Manuwald 215
14 Romancing the Orient: The Roman d’Alexandre and Marco Polo’s
Livre du grand Khan in Oxford, Bodleian Library MS Bodl. 264
 Mark Cruse 233
15 The Victorian Afterlife of The Thornton Romances 
 Nancy Mason Bradbury 253
Index 275
vi
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Illustrations
Figures
9.1 London, British Library MS Cotton Nero A.x, fol. 113r (olim
109r). Permission of the British Library. 152
9.2 Cambridge University Library MS Gg.4.27, fol. 305r.
Permission of the Syndics of Cambridge University Library. 153
9.3 New Haven, Yale University Beinecke Library MS 331, p. 168.
Permission of Beinecke Library. 159
10.1 Oxford, Trinity College MS 57, fol. 167r, reproduced with
permission of the President and Fellows of Trinity College,
Oxford. 170
10.2 Trinity College Dublin MS 432, fol. 60r, reproduced with
permission of the Board of Trinity College Dublin. 178
12.1 Manwaring Shurlock drawing of Tristan harping. By permission
of Llanerch Press Ltd. 202
12.2 Manwaring Shurlock drawing of Tristan teaching Iseut to harp.
By permission of Llanerch Press Ltd. 202
12.3 Oxford, Bodleian Library MS Fr. d. 16, fol. 10r. Printed with
permission from The Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford. 210
12.4 London, British Library MS Egerton 2867 fol. 244v. © The
British Library Board. 211
13.1 Paris, Musée de Cluny / Musée national du Moyen Âge, Cl.
23840, left end. © bpk / Réunion des musées nationaux /
Michel Urtado. 218
13.2 St Petersburg, The State Hermitage Museum, Inv. no. F-61,
lid. Photograph © The State Hermitage Museum / photo by
Vladimir Terebenin, Leonard Kheifets, Yuri Molodkovets. 225
13.3 St Petersburg, The State Hermitage Museum, Inv. no. F-61, left
end. Photograph © The State Hermitage Museum / photo by
Vladimir Terebenin, Leonard Kheifets, Yuri Molodkovets. 227
14.1 Oxford, Bodleian Library MS Bodl. 264, fol. 67r. Printed with
permission from The Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford. 236
14.2 Oxford, Bodleian Library MS Bodl. 264, fol. 255r. Printed with
permission from The Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford. 244
vii
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Illustrations
14.3 Oxford, Bodleian Library MS Bodl. 264, fol. 119r. Printed with
permission from The Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford. 248
14.4 Oxford, Bodleian Library MS Bodl. 264, fol. 226r. Printed with
permission from The Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford. 249
15.1 Title page, The Thornton Romances, ed. James Orchard
Halliwell. 256
15.2 Frederick Sandys, A Nightmare. © Birmingham Museums Trust. 262
15.3 Wood-engraved frontispiece designed by Edward Burne-Jones
for Syr Perecyvelle of Gales. Courtesy of Mortimer Rare Book
Room, Smith College, Northampton, MA, USA. 269
15.4 Wood-engraved frontispiece designed by Edward Burne-Jones
for Sire Degrevaunt. Courtesy of Mortimer Rare Book Room,
Smith College, Northampton, MA, USA. 270
15.5 Wood-engraved frontispiece designed by Edward Burne-Jones
for Syr Isambrace. Courtesy of Mortimer Rare Book Room,
Smith College, Northampton, MA, USA. 271
Plates
I Oxford, Bodleian Library MS Ashmole 45, fol. 2r. Printed with
permission from The Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford.
facing p. 1
The following plates appear between pp. 218 and 219
II Chertsey Tile: Tristan Harping before Mark; earthenware tile
reg. no. 1885,1113.8847. © The Trustees of the British Museum.
III The Pierpont Morgan Library, New York, MS G.25, fol. 3v. Gift
of the Trustees of the William S. Glazier Collection, 1984.
IV Paris, Musée de Cluny / Musée national du Moyen Âge, Cl. 23840,
front panel. © bpk / Réunion des musées nationaux / Michel Urtado.
V St Petersburg, The State Hermitage Museum, Inv. no. F-61, front
panel. Photograph © The State Hermitage Museum / photo by
Vladimir Terebenin, Leonard Kheifets, Yuri Molodkovets.
VI St Petersburg, The State Hermitage Museum, Inv. no. F-61,
right end. Photograph © The State Hermitage Museum / photo
by Vladimir Terebenin, Leonard Kheifets, Yuri Molodkovets.
VII St Petersburg, The State Hermitage Museum, Inv. no. F-61,
back panel. Photograph © The State Hermitage Museum / photo
by Vladimir Terebenin, Leonard Kheifets, Yuri Molodkovets.
viii
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