The Book of the Duchess, Chaucer's first major poem, is foundational for our understanding of Chaucer's literary achievements in relation to late-medieval English textual production; yet in comparison
The Grail is one of the most enduring literary motifs in publishing history. In spite of an ever-changing world, the reading public has maintained a fascination for this enigmatic object, as well as t
The legend of Theophilus stages an iconic medieval story, its widespread popularity attesting to its grip on the imagination. A pious clerk refuses a promotion, is demoted, becomes furious and makes a
New essays demonstrate Gower's mastery of the three languages of medieval England, and examine the cultural re-definitions which his translations of literary traditions and languages achieved.
Monsters abound in Old and Middle English literature, from Grendel and his mother in Beowulf to those found in medieval romances such as Sir Gowther. Through a close examination of the way in which t
The world of medieval romance is one in which magic and `the marvellous' are constantly present: in otherwordly encounters, in the strange adventures experienced by questing knights, the experience o
Best known for their love-songs and their invention of Courtly Love, the troubadours were fascinated by debate and devised their entire, multifaceted lyric production on the basis of dialogue. This d
This study brings the songs of the trouveres to an encounter with Lacanian psychoanalytic theories of signification, sexual difference and unconscious desire. In trouvere song desire functions as a me
This first collection of major studies of aspects of the Robin Hood tradition brings together material published in a wide variety of journals, often difficult of access. It demonstrates the many dif
Within the large-scale historiography of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century warfare and the early modern military revolution there remain many unanswered questions about the individual soldier and the
Thomas Hoccleve, Margery Kempe, John Audelay and Charles d'Orléans present themselves as the makers not only of their texts, but also of the books that transmitted their writing. This new study a
The nature, conditions and place of medieval theatre performance remain somewhat mysterious, with scholarship in the field tending to be devoted to its context, and to the texts themselves. The essays
A possible direct link between the two greatest literary collections of the fourteenth century, Boccaccio's Decameron and Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, has long tantalized readers because these works sh
Skin is the parchment upon which identity is written; class, race, ethnicity, and gender are all legible upon the human surface. Removing skin tears away identity, and leaves a blank slate upon which
The three narrative lays presented here form a sequel to the authors' Eleven Old French Narrative Lays (French Arthurian Literature series IV, 2007). No new edition of Ignaure has appeared since 1938
Lettering the Self argues that letters in medieval and early-modern France reveal the contours of the pre-modern self. Letters in this period were complicated compositions which, in addition to their
This is a study of four colossal medieval works - the Cycle de Guillaume d'Orange, the Vulgate Cycle, the Prose Tristan and the Roman de Renart - that are normally considered separately. By placing t
The theme of the quest in Arthurian literature - mainly but not exclusively the Grail quest - is explored in the essays presented here, covering French, Dutch, Norse, German, and English texts. A num
The idea of kingship forms a recurrent theme in the poems of the so-called `Ricardians', John Gower, William Langland, the Gawain-poet and Chaucer - unsurprisingly, during a period of considerable tu
This book investigates the concept of the New Jerusalem, the City of God, as an architectural ideal during the middle ages, and the way in which it is represented allegorically in patristic writings,
This work explores and untangles the theme of rape, and its counterpart ravishment, in Anglo-French cultural tradition between the disintegration of the classical world and the Renaissance. Tracing de
Saint Birgitta of Sweden (canonised in 1391) is one of the most important female figures of medieval Europe. She participated vigorously in its political life, attempting through her writings to end
In virtually all the literary traditions of the world there are works of verbal art that depend for part of their effect on the juxtaposition of proseand verse. This volume takes the first step toward
From the time when the writer J.T. Knowles first adapted Thomas Malory's Morte Darthur for a juvenile audience in 1862, there has been a strong connection between children and the Arthurian legend. Be
Medieval Paris' paradigmatic poet, François Villon, has long captured the imaginations of creative writers. Attracted by his beguilingly pseudo-autobiographical literary persona and a body of wor
Romances were immensely popular with medieval readers, as evidenced by their ubiquity in manuscripts and early print. The essays collected here deal with the textual transmission of medieval romances
Amid saints and sinners, open secrets and queer codes, the mechanisms of confession and the infliction of torture, what is unspeakable in the Middle Ages - and who decides? Aspiring to the ineffable g
Direct speech between characters, or to the "reader", is a a major part of such Old English poems as Beowulf, but its impact and use have been neglected. This book uses linguistic theories t
The so-called Sunday Letter was a text fabricated in the early middle ages, as a letter from Christ which dropped out of heaven. In spite of its obviously spurious nature, it was widely read and cop
The idea of place, and of being displaced, is a powerful leit-motif in Northern Irish poetry. It is here explored in depth, from the 1960s to the present day.
This fourth volume of entries, culled in the main from BBSIA, covers the years 1993 to 1998 inclusive. The cumulative volumes of the Bibliography offer an exhaustive author and title database of the
The red-ink names that decorate the Winchester manuscript of Malory's Morte Darthur are striking; yet until now, no-one has asked why the rubrication exists. This book explores the uniqueness and them
The contexts for the The Once and Future King are here expertly analysed through the lenses of previously unpublished materials (and drawings) from the Ransom Center. The author concentrates on Whit
How was Alexander the Great - controversial king, conqueror, explorer, and pupil of Aristotle, the subject of histories, romances, epic poetry, satires, and sermons in most of the languages of Europe
