Essays in Manuscripts Geography — Vernacular Manuscripts of the English West Midlands Form the Conquest To The Sixteenth Century

Until the 1970s, medieval manuscripts were studied for literary or artistic content alone with little interest shown in the circumstances under which they were made. Recently scholars have started looking at each manuscript as unique, reflecting a particular time and place. This collection of essays grew out of a symposium on manuscripts written in the West Midlands dialect of Old and Middle English. Edited by Wendy Scase (Middle English, Birmingham), they represent different points of view on interpretation but all agree on the importance of manuscripts to help the medievalist understand the history of a region. Because it covers the time from 1066 to the early sixteenth century, the book also traces changes in language and culture over the period is this specific part of England. The work is not indexed. Distributed in North America by The David Brown Book Co.