Medieval Romance and Material Culture

by Nicholas Perkins (Editor), Ad Putter (Contribution by), Aisling Byrne (Contribution by), Anna Caughey (Contribution by), Elliot Kendall (Contribution by)

Overview

Studies of how the physical manifests itself in medieval romance - and medieval romances as objects themselves.

Medieval romance narratives glitter with the material objects that were valued and exchanged in late-medieval society: lovers' rings and warriors' swords, holy relics and desirable or corrupted bodies. Romance, however, is also agenre in which such objects make meaning on numerous levels, and not always in predictable ways. These new essays examine from diverse perspectives how romances respond to material culture, but also show how romance as a genre helps to constitute and transmit that culture. Focusing on romances circulating in Britain and Ireland between the twelfth and sixteenth centuries, individual chapters address such questions as the relationship between objects and protagonists in romance narrative; the materiality of male and female bodies; the interaction between visual and verbal representations of romance; poetic form and manuscript textuality; and how a nineteenth-century edition of medieval romances provoked artists to homage and satire.

NICHOLAS PERKINS is Associate Professor and Tutor in English at St Hugh's College, University of Oxford.

Contributors: Siobhain Bly Calkin, Nancy Mason Bradbury, Aisling Byrne, Anna Caughey, Neil Cartlidge, Mark Cruse, Morgan Dickson, Rosalind Field, Elliot Kendall, Megan G. Leitch, Henrike Manuwald, Nicholas Perkins, Ad Putter, Raluca L. Radulescu, Robert Allen Rouse,

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781843843900
Publisher:	BOYDELL & BREWER INC
Publication date:	02/19/2015
Series:	ISSN , #18
Pages:	311
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Ad Putter is Professor of Medieval English at the University of Bristol, UK, co-director of Bristol's Centre for Medieval Studies, and Fellow of the British Academy. He is the author and editor of numerous books, with a particular interest in Medieval Romance texts and the works of the Gawain poet. He is currently leading a research project on the literary heritage of Anglo-Dutch relations.

Dr Raluca Radulescu is Senior Lecturer in Medieval Literature, Bangor University

ROBERT ROUSE Associate Professor, Department of English at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations vii

List of Contributors xi

Acknowledgements xii

Abbreviations xiii

1 Introduction: The Materiality of Medieval Romance and The Erle of Tolous Nicholas Perkins 1

2 Courtly Culture and Emotional Intelligence in the Romance of Horn Rosalind Field 23

3 Emplaced Reading, or Towards a Spatial Hermeneutic for Medieval Romance Robert Allen Rouse 41

4 Devotional Objects, Saracen Spaces and Miracles in Two Matter of France Romances Siobhain Bly Calkin 59

5 The Werewolf of Wicklow: Shapeshifting and Colonial Identity in the Lai de Melion Neil Cartlidge 75

6 'Ladyes war at thare avowing': The Female Gaze in Late-Medieval Scottish Romance Anna Caughey 91

7 The Evolution of Cooperation in The Avowyng of Arthur Elliot Kendall 111

8 Ritual, Revenge and the Politics of Chess in Medieval Romance Megan G. Leitch 129

9 Adventures in the Bob-and-Wheel Tradition: Narratives and Manuscripts Ad Putter 147

10 Reading King Robert of Sicily's Text(s) and Manuscript Context(s) Raluca L. Radulescu 165

11 The Circulation of Romances from England in Late-Medieval Ireland Aisling Byrne 183

12 The Image of the Knightly Harper: Symbolism and Resonance Morgan Dickson 199

13 Carving the Folie Tristan: Ivory Caskets as Material Evidence of Textual History Henrike Manuwald 215

14 Romancing the Orient: The Roman d'Alexandre and Marco Polo's Livre du grand Khan in Oxford, Bodleian Library MS Bodl Mark Cruse 233

15 The Victorian Afterlife of The Thornton Romances Nancy Mason Bradbury 253

Index 275

Editorial Reviews

The variety and richness of medieval culture are amply served by the range of studies.

TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT

From cover to cover, this book is hard to put down. The prose, the content, and ultimately the context give much pause to consider new angles in medieval material culture scholarship.

COMITATUS

Vigorously engages with current work on materialisms.

REVIEW OF ENGLISH STUDIES

Vigorously engages with current work on materialisms. REVIEW OF ENGLISH STUDIES

From cover to cover, this book is hard to put down. The prose, the content, and ultimately the context give much pause to consider new angles in medieval material culture scholarship. COMITATUS

The variety and richness of medieval culture are amply served by the range of studies. TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT

From the Publisher