The Routledge Companion to Medieval English Literature PDF
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THE ROUTLEDGE COMPANION TO MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE The Routledge Companion to Medieval English Literature offers a new, inclusive, and comprehensive context to the study of medieval literature written in the English language from the Norman Conquest to the end of the Middle Ages. Utilising a Trans-European context, this volume includes essays from leading academics in the field across linguistic and geographic divides. Extending beyond the traditional scholarly discussions of insularity in relation to Middle English literature and ‘isolationism’, this volume: • Oversees a variety of genres and topics, including cultural identity, insular borders, linguistic interactions, literary gateways, Middle English texts and traditions, and modern interpretations such as race, gender studies, ecocriticism, and postcolonialism. • Draws on the combined extensive experience of teaching and research in medieval English and comparative literature within and outside of anglophone higher education and looks to the future of this fast-paced area of literary culture. • Contains an indispensable section on theoretical approaches to the study of literary texts. This Companion provides the reader with practical insights into the methods and approaches that can be applied to medieval literature and serves as an important reference work for upper-level students and researchers working on English literature. Raluca Radulescu is Professor of Medieval English Literature and Director of the Centre for Arthurian Studies at Bangor University, Wales, UK. She is currently the elected Vice-President of the International Arthurian Society. Her work focuses on the intersections between text and con- text, including social and political culture, with a particular focus on medieval romance, chronicles and political propaganda, manuscript miscellanies, and gentry studies. Sif Rikhardsdottir is Professor and Chair of Comparative Literature at the University of Iceland and Head of the Institute of Research in Literature and Visual Arts. She works on cross-cultural transmission and literary histories, comparative literary theory, gender, literary emotions, and voice in medieval European literature. ROUTLEDGE LITERATURE COMPANIONS Also available in this series: The Routledge Companion to Literature and Class Edited by Gloria McMillan The Routledge Companion to the British and North American Literary Magazine Edited by Tim Lanzendörfer The Routledge Companion to Literature and Emotion Edited by Patrick Colm Hogan, Bradley J. Irish and Lalita Pandit Hogan The Routledge Companion to Yan Lianke Edited by Riccardo Moratto and Howard Yuen Fung Choy The Routledge Companion to Korean Literature Edited by Heekyoung Cho The Routledge Companion to Humanism and Literature Edited by Michael Bryson The Routledge Companion to Narrative Theory Edited by Paul Dawson and Maria Mäkelä The Routledge Companion to Literature of the U.S. South Edited by Katharine A. Burnett, Todd Hagstette, and Monica Carol Miller The Routledge Companion to Literary Urban Studies Edited by Lieven Ameel The Routledge Companion to World Literature, Second Edition Edited by Theo D’haen, David Damrosch, and Djelal Kadir The Routledge Companion to Medieval English Literature Edited by Raluca Radulescu and Sif Rikhardsdottir For more information on this series, please visit: www .routledge .com /Routledge -Literature -Companions /book -series /RC4444 THE ROUTLEDGE COMPANION TO MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE Edited by Raluca Radulescu and Sif Rikhardsdottir Cover image: Portolan chart, 1516, HM 427, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California First published 2023 by Routledge 605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158 and by Routledge 4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2023 selection and editorial matter, Raluca Radulescu and Sif Rikhardsdottir; individual chapters, the contributors The right of Raluca Radulescu and Sif Rikhardsdottir to be identified as the authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. ISBN: 978-0-367-18649-4 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-032-32429-6 (pbk) ISBN: 978-0-429-19739-0 (ebk) DOI: 10.4324/9780429197390 Typeset in Bembo by Deanta Global Publishing Services, Chennai, India CONTENTS Acknowledgements ix List of Contributors x List of Figures xvii Abbreviations xviii Note on Referencing xx General Introduction: Medieval English Literature in Trans-European and Global Contexts 1 Raluca Radulescu and Sif Rikhardsdottir PART I The Forms of Literature: Introduction 13 Raluca Radulescu and Sif Rikhardsdottir 1 Orality, Vocality, and Textuality 15 Karl Reichl 2 Vernacularity 27 Wendy Scase 3 Books and Materiality 39 J. R. Mattison and Alexandra Gillespie 4 Form and Genre 57 Julie Orlemanski PART II Insular Borders, Linguistic Interactions: Introduction 71 Raluca Radulescu 5 Middle Welsh 75 Helen Fulton v Contents 6 Irish 88 Aisling Byrne 7 Scots 98 Caitlin Flynn 8 Multilingualism 107 Ad Putter PART III Literary Gateways: Introduction 121 Sif Rikhardsdottir 9 ‘Travel’ of the Mind via Study: translatio studii et imperii 125 Elizaveta Strakhov 10 ‘Travel’ of the Soul via Religiosity: Imaginary and Actual Pilgrimages 136 Ryan Perry 11 French-Speaking Courts and Literary Dominance in Europe 149 Keith Busby 12 The Norman Rule 162 Laura Ashe 13 The Venetian Gateway: Commerce, Plague, Oriental Motifs 173 Sif Rikhardsdottir 14 Origination and Mediation: Sicily 186 David Wallace 15 Islamic Pathways and Imaginary Borders 199 Shirin A. Khanmohamadi 16 Mercantile Networks 212 Craig E. Bertolet 17 Maps and the Medieval World at Large 223 Matthew Boyd Goldie PART IV Middle English Texts and Traditions: Introduction 233 Raluca Radulescu 18 The Endurance of Early English Literary Traditions 237 Orietta Da Rold vi Contents 19 Geoffrey of Monmouth and the Chronicle Tradition 248 Jaclyn Rajsic 20 Marie de France and Middle English Romance 259 Cory James Rushton 21 Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and the Alliterative Tradition 268 Lawrence Warner 22 Geoffrey Chaucer 278 Marion Turner 23 John Gower 289 Siân Echard 24 William Langland: European Poet? 300 Marco Nievergelt 25 Hoccleve and Lydgate: Transnationalism and Tradition 311 Sebastian J. Langdell 26 Margery Kempe, Julian of Norwich, and Female Spirituality 321 Laura Kalas 27 The Middle English Lyrics in Their European Context 332 Christiania Whitehead 28 Medieval English Drama and Performance 345 Charlotte Steenbrugge 29 Thomas Malory 356 Raluca Radulescu 30 Hagiography 367 Karen A. Winstead PART V The Modern Middle Ages: Introduction 379 Sif Rikhardsdottir 31 Emotion 383 Andrew Lynch 32 Race 394 Wan-Chuan Kao vii Contents 33 Gender/Queer 404 Laura Saetveit Miles and Samantha Katz Seal 34 Postcolonialism 416 Patricia Clare Ingham and Abby Ang 35 Ecocriticism 426 Michael J. Warren 36 Human/Animal 436 Karl Steel 37 Medievalism 445 David Matthews Timeline 455 Index 463 Index of Manuscripts 478 viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS All books are a labour of love. Scholarship and teaching of early periods of history and culture, one could argue, involve even more commitment, in some ways, due to the nature of the skills, lan- guages, and open mindedness required. As editors of this volume, we came to it in both capacities, as researchers and teachers, and started from our ‘dream list’ of what we would want a comprehen- sive approach to late medieval England and Europe to cover. In the process, one needs to narrow the focus, plunge into new territories, travel new paths. As a whole, we envisage this volume as much more than the sum of all the chapters, and the novelty proposed by new angles and new, complementary topics. Thus we trace our engagement with English literature, on the one hand, and comparative European literature, on the other, with an open mind, and a broad understanding of the fact that much more can be done. Conceived in the British Library in London, mapped out in Venice, and brought to a conclu- sion in Paris, the volume’s journey into existence epitomises the breadth of its geographic span and the tangents of cultural and geographic significance for medieval English literary history. We owe immense gratitude to our contributors, who endured with us through the pandemic to bring this volume to fruition and to our generous and patient colleagues who read parts of the volume at various stages and provided useful feedback on the various chapters or the companion as a whole. We would particularly like to mention Wendy Scase, David Wallace, Alastair Minnis, and Helen Cooper for their incredible kindness and generosity and to thank them for their astute insights and helpful suggestions and encouragement. We are further indebted to the external readers for their positive and helpful feedback and to the press for their patience. Each companion or handbook to a topic breaks new ground, and we hope ours will do the same. ix
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