Essays in manuscript geography : vernacular manuscripts of the English West Midlands from the Conquest to the sixteenth century / edited by Wendy Scase.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Scase, Wendy.

Series:

Medieval texts and cultures of Northern Europe ; 10.

Medieval texts and cultures of Northern Europe

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Manuscripts, English (Middle)--England--West Midlands--History.

Manuscripts, English (Middle).

Manuscripts, English (Old)--England--West Midlands--History.

Manuscripts, English (Old).

Manuscripts, English--History--To 1500.

Manuscripts, English.

Manuscripts, Medieval--England--History.

Manuscripts, Medieval.

Manuscripts, Medieval--England--West Midlands--History.

Manuscript preparation (Authorship).

History.

Books and reading.

Books.

West Midlands (England)--Intellectual life.

West Midlands (England).

Books--England--History--400-1450.

Books and reading--England--West Midlands--History.

Books and reading--England--History--To 1500.

England.

British Library--Manuscript--Harley 2253.

British Library.

Manuscript preparation (Authorship)--England--West Midlands--History.

England--West Midlands.

Physical Description:

xii, 294 pages : illustrations, map ; 25 cm.

Other Title:

Vernacular manuscripts of the English West Midlands from the Conquest to the sixteenth century

Place of Publication:

Turnhout : Brepols, [2007]

Summary:

The medieval English West Midlands has long been associated with the production of vernacular texts, in Old and Middle English, and with the making of several famous manuscripts. The aim of this volume is to re-think assumptions about medieval literature and the region in the light of new research in medieval book history. A series of specially commissioned essays in 'manuscript geography' examines the making and use of texts and books in relation to cultural networks in the region and beyond. Included are case studies of manuscripts of Worcester and the Worcester diocese from the eleventh to the thirteenth centuries; investigations of manuscript production in fourteenth-century Shropshire and its wider regional links; and essays on textual cultures in Warwickshire from the activities of the aristocrats and gentry of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries to the projects of later antiquarians. Essays in the final section of the volume reflect on the possibilities of large-scale, corpus-based research on medieval manuscript books. Collectively the essays identify and explore some of the investments of traditional regionalist accounts of vernacular literary culture and model new theoretical and methodological approaches.

Contents:

Bishops and their texts in the later eleventh century: Worcester and Exeter / Elaine Treharne

Mobile libraries: Old English manuscript production in Worcester and the West Midlands, 1090-1215 / Mary Swan

The pastoral context of the Trinity and Lambeth homilies / Bella Millett

Compilation and purpose in MS Harley 2253 / Susanna Fein

Oppositional thematics and metanarrative in MS Harley 2253, quires 1-6 / Carter Revard

Mapping points west of West Midlands manuscripts and texts: Irishness(es) and Middle English literary culture / John J. Thompson

The Clopton manuscript and the Beauchamp affinity: patronage and reception issues in a West Midlands reading community / Ryan Perry

Inventing visual history: re-presenting the legends of Warwickshire / Martha W. Driver

Owners and copyists of John Rous's armorial rolls / David Griffith

The manuscripts of the West Midlands Catalogue Project / Rebecca Farnham

Middle English romance and the West Midlands / Alison Wiggins

Fingerprinting paper in West Midlands medieval manuscripts / Orietta Da Rold.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

2503516955

9782503516950

OCLC:

166628041