Maps and Monsters in Medieval England / Edition 1

by Asa Simon Mittman

Overview

This study centers on issues of marginality and monstrosity in medieval England. In the middle ages, geography was viewed as divinely ordered, so Britain's location at the periphery of the inhabitable world caused anxiety among its inhabitants. Far from the world's holy center, the geographic margins were considered monstrous. Medieval geography, for centuries scorned as crude, is now the subject of several careful studies. Monsters have likewise been the subject of recent attention in the growing field of monster studies, though few works situate these creatures firmly in their specific historical contexts. This book sits at the crossroads of these two discourses (geography and monstrosity), treated separately in the established scholarship but inseparable in the minds of medieval authors and artists.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780415976138
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	02/06/2006
Series:	Studies in Medieval History and Culture
Edition description:	1ST
Pages:	292
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Asa Mittman

Table of Contents

Introduction: Medieval English Manuscripts, Maps and Monsters:
A User's Guide

Part One: Mapping the Outer Edges of the World
Chapter 1: Mythical Origins
Chapter 2: Mapping Identity
Chapter 3: The Monsters on the Edge

Part Two: The Marvels of the East over Three Centuries and a Millennium
Chapter 4: The Reality and Persistence of Monsters
Chapter 5: Containment and Consumption
Chapter 6: Monstrous Sin and Salvation

Part Three: Lexical Spaces as Battlegrounds
Chapter 7: Monstrous Nature
Chapter 8: The Monster Within
Chapter 9: Saints in the Margins

Conclusion: Dwelling in the Monster