New Directions in Medieval Manuscript Studies and Reading Practices: Essays in Honor of Derek Pearsall

by Kathryn Kerby-Fulton (Editor), John J. Thompson (Editor), Sarah Baechle (Editor)

Overview

This volume gathers the contributions of senior and junior scholars—all indebted to the pathbreaking work of Derek Pearsall—to showcase new research prompted by his rich and ongoing legacy as a literary critic, editor, and seminal founder of Middle English manuscript studies. The contributors aim both to honor Pearsall’s work in the field he established and to introduce the complexities of interdisciplinary manuscript studies to students already familiar with medieval literature.

The contributors explore a range of issues, from the study of medieval literary manuscripts to the history of medieval books, libraries, literacy, censorship, and the social classes who used the books and manuscripts—nobles, children, schoolmasters, priests, merchants, and more. In addressing reading practices, essays provide a wealth of information on marginal commentaries, images and interpretive methods, international transmission, and early print and editorial methods.

Contributors: Sarah Baechle, Julia Boffey, Peter Brown, Katie Ann-Marie Bugyis, Christopher Cannon, A. I. Doyle, Martha W. Driver, Siân Echard, Nicole Eddy, A. S. G. Edwards, Hilary E. Fox, Karrie Fuller, Maura Giles-Watson, Phillipa Hardman, Kathryn Kerby-Fulton, Jill Mann, William Marx, Sarah McNamer, Carol M. Meale, Linne Mooney, Melinda Nielsen, Theresa O’Byrne, Stephen Partridge, Oliver Pickering, Susan Powell, Elizabeth Scala, A. C. Spearing, John J. Thompson, Edward Wheatley, Jocelyn Wogan-Browne, Hannah Zdansky, Nicolette Zeeman.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780268033279
Publisher:	University of Notre Dame Press
Publication date:	11/15/2014
Pages:	574
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.60(d)

About the Author

Kathryn Kerby-Fulton is professor emerita of English at the University of Notre Dame. She is the author and editor of a number of books, including Books under Suspicion: Censorship and Tolerance of Revelatory Writing in Late Medieval England (University of Notre Dame Press, 2006).

John J. Thompson is chair of English Textual Cultures and director, Institute for Collaborative Research in the Humanities, at Queen’s University Belfast. He is editor of a number of books, including Imagining the Book: Medieval Texts and Cultures of Northern Europe (co-edited with Stephen Kelly).

Sarah Baechle is a post-doctoral fellow in English at the University of Notre Dame.

Table of Contents

List of Illustration xi

Preface Kathryn Kerby-Fulton xvii

A Brief Biographical Sketch of Derek Pearsall Linne Mooney xxi

Part I Celebrating Pearsallian Reading Practices

Foreword to Part I Christopher Cannon 1

1 Narrative and Freedom in Troilus and Criseyde A. C. Spearing 7

2 How Good Is the Outspoken south English Legendary Poet? A New Edition of the Prologue to the Conception of Mary Oliver Pickering 34

3 Derek Pearsall, Secret Shakespearean Martha W. Driver 55

Part II England and International: Studies in Courtly Verse and Affectivity inspired by the Work of Elizabeth Salter and derek Pearsall at York

Foreword to Part II William Marx 73

4 The tongues of the Nightingale: "Hertely redying" at English Courts Jocelyn Wogan-Browne 78

5 Wings, Wingfields, and Wynnere and Wastoure Susan Powell 99

6 The author of the Italian Meditations on the Life of Christ Sarah Namer 119

7 Handling The Book of Margery Kempe: The Corrective Touches of the Red ink Annotator Katie Ann-Marie Bugyis 138

Part III The making of a field: York's 1981 Manuscripts and readers thirty years later

Foreword to Part III John J. Thompson 159

8 Assessing Manuscript context: Visible and Invisible evidence in a Copy of the Middle English Brut Julia Boffey 165

9 Books with Marginalia from St. Mark's Hospital, Bristol A. I. Doyle 177

10 John Colyns, Mercer and Bookseller of London, and Cuthbert Tunstall's Second Monition of 1526 Carol M. Meale 192

11 Selling Lydgate Manuscripts in the Twentieth Century A. S. G. Edwards 207

Part IV Newer Directions in Manuscript studies I: Regional and Scribal Identities

Foreword to Part IV Sian Echard 221

12 "And fer ouer be French flod": A Look at Cotton Nero A. x from an International Perspective Hannah Zdansky 226

13 Langlandian Economics in James Youge's Gouernaunce: Translation and Ethics in Fifteenth-Century Dublin Hilary E. Fox 251

14 Manuscript Creation in Dublin: The Scribe of Bodleian e. Museo MS 232 and Longleat MS 29 Theresa O'Byrne 271

Part V Newer Directions in manuscript studies II: Women, Children, and Literacy at Work in late medieval and early tudor england

Forword to Part V Philllipa Hardman 293

15 The Romance of History: Lambeth Palace MS 491 and Its Young Readers Nicole Eddy 300

16 Langland in the early modern Household: Piers Plowman in oxford, Bodleian Library MS Digby 145, and Its Scribe-annotator Dialogues Karrie Fuller 324

17 Playing as Literate Practice: Humanism and the Exclusion of Women Performers by the London Professional Stages Maura Giles-Watson 342

Part VI Chaucerian and Post-Chaucerian Reading Practices

Foreword to Part VI Edward Wheatley 359

18 Quoting Chaucer: Textual Authority, the Nun's Priest, and the Making of the Canterbury Tales Elizabeth Scala 363

19 Chaucer, the Continent, and the Characteristics of Commentary Sarah Baechle 384

20 Hoccleve in Canterbury Peter Brown 406

21 The Legacy of John Shirley: Revisiting Houghton MS Eng 530 Stephen Partridge 425

Part VII What a Poet Is "Entitled to Be Remembered By": Editorial Philosophies and the Langlandian Legacy of Derek Pearsall

Foreword to Part VII Nicolette Zeeman 447

22 Was the C-Reviser's Manuscript Really So Corrupt? Jill Mann 452

23 Emending Oneself: Compilatio and Revisio in Langland, Usk, and Higden Melinda Nielsen 467

24 Confronting the Scribe-Poet Binary: The Z Text, Writing Office Redaction, and the Oxford Reading Circles Kathryn Kerby-Fulton 489

List of Contributors 516

Index of Manuscripts and Incunabula 518

General Index 524

Editorial Reviews

"New Directions in Medieval Manuscript Studies and Reading Practices marks the heritage of the distinguished scholar Derek Pearsall while highlighting his continuing influence on medieval manuscript studies. Buoyed by fine work of senior scholars, the collection also introduces readers to stimulating work by an upcoming generation of more recent practitioners, all of whom address crucial issues in the field: the particulars of individual manuscripts, including scribal practice, marginal commentary, and audience reception. The result is a fine collection at once canonical in some respects and innovative in others." —Paul H. Strohm, Anna S. Garbedian Professor Emeritus of the Humanities, Columbia University

"The range of topics covered in this impressive collection—manuscript studies, Lydgate, Chaucer, Gower, Hoccleve, Langland, and romance—attests to the wide-ranging influence Derek Pearsall has exerted on the field of medieval studies. It is hard to think of a scholar since the inception of English studies who has had a greater effect on so many fields of Middle English literature. The lively contributions in this volume come from Derek's colleagues, admirers, students, and students of his students, demonstrating that 'Pearsallian reading practices' will live on long into the future." —Michael Johnston, Purdue University

"This volume is an impressive tribute to Derek Pearsall's legacy and an important resource for anyone interested in manuscripts, scribes, annotators, and readers. It offers resounding evidence of the many ways that manuscript studies is a necessity for understanding medieval literary texts and textual production." —Misty Schieberle, University of Kansas

“As a tribute to a distinguished scholar, this volume of essays could hardly be finer. Assembled from contributions presented in London at the 2011 conference in honour of the 80th birthday of Derek Pearsall, the range and diversity of subjects covered are as absorbing as the work of the man himself.” —The Review of English Studies

“On balance, this [is] a finely produced collection with many accomplished contributions. It will reward readers’ exploration.” —Modern Philology

From the Publisher

On balance, this [is] a finely produced collection with many accomplished contributions. It will reward readers’ exploration.

Modern Philology

As a tribute to a distinguished scholar, this volume of essays could hardly be finer. Assembled from contributions presented in London at the 2011 conference in honour of the 80th birthday of Derek Pearsall, the range and diversity of subjects covered are as absorbing as the work of the man himself.

The Review of English Studies

New Directions in Medieval Manuscript Studies and Reading Practices marks the heritage of the distinguished scholar Derek Pearsall while highlighting his continuing influence on medieval manuscript studies. Buoyed by fine work of senior scholars, the collection also introduces readers to stimulating work by an upcoming generation of more recent practitioners, all of whom address crucial issues in the field: the particulars of individual manuscripts, including scribal practice, marginal commentary, and audience reception. The result is a fine collection at once canonical in some respects and innovative in others."

Paul H. Strohm

On balance, this [is] a finely produced collection with many accomplished contributions. It will reward readers’ exploration.

 Modern Philology