Groundbreaking surveys of the complex interrelationship between the languages of English and French in medieval Britain.
With co-editors: CAROLYN COLLETTE, MARYANNE KOWALESKI, LINNE MOONEY, AD PUTTER, and DAVID TROTTER
England was more widely and enduringly francophone in the Middle Ages than our now standard accounts of its history, culture and language allow. The French of England (also known as Anglo-Norman and Anglo-French) is the language of nearly a thousand literary texts, of much administration, and of many professions and occupations. English literary, linguistic and documentary history is deeply interwoven both with a continually evolving spectrum of Frenches used within and outside the realm, and cannot be fully grasped in isolation.
The essays in this volume open up andbegin writing a new cultural history focussed on, but not confined to, the presence and interactions of francophone speakers, writers, readers, texts and documents in England from the eleventh to the later fifteenth centuries. They return us to a newly-alive, multi-vocal, complexly multi-cultural medieval England, in which the use of French and its interrelations with English and other languages involve many diverse groups of people. The volume's size testifies to the significance of England's francophone culture, while its chronological range shows the need for revision across the whole span of our existing narratives about medieval English linguistic and cultural history..
Contributors: HENRY BAINTON, MICHAEL BENNETT, JULIA BOFFEY, RICHARD BRITNELL, CAROLYN COLLETTE, GODFRIED CROENEN, HELEN DEEMING, STEPHANIE DOWNES, MARTHA DRIVER, MONICA H. GREEN, RICHARD INGHAM, REBECCA JUNE, MARYANNE KOWALESKI, PIERRE KUNSTMANN, FRANCOISE H. M. LE SAUX, SERGE LUSIGNAN, TIM WILLIAM MACHAN, JULIA MARVIN, BRIAN MERRILEES, RUTH NISSE, MARILYN OLIVA, W. MARK ORMROD, HEATHER PAGAN, LAURIE POSTLEWATE, JEAN-PASCAL POUZET, AD PUTTER, GEOFFRECTOR, DELBERT RUSSELL, THEA SUMMERFIELD, ANDREW TAYLOR, DAVID TROTTER, ELIZABETH M. TYLER, NICHOLAS WATSON, JOCELYN WOGAN-BROWNE, ROBERT F. YEAGER
Language and Culture in Medieval Britain : The French of England, c.1100-c.1500
Description
Table of Contents
Introduction
French Language in Contact with English: Social Context and Linguistic Change (mid 13th-14th centuries) - Serge Lusignan
The Language of Complaint: Multilingualism and Petitioning in Later Medieval England - W. Mark Ormrod
The Persistence of Anglo-Norman 1230-1362: A Linguistic Perspective - Richard Ingham
Syntaxe anglo-normande: etude de certaines caracteristiques du XIIe au XIVe siecle [with English summary] - Pierre Kunstmann
'"Fi a debles," quath the king.' Language Mixing in England's Vernacular Historical Narratives, c.1290 - c. 1340 - Thea Summerfield
Uses of French Language in Medieval English Towns - Richard H Britnell
The French of England in Female Convents: The French Kitcheners' Accounts of Campsey Ash Priory - Marilyn Oliva
The French of England: A Maritime lingua franca? - Maryanne Kowaleski
John Barton, John Gower and Others: Variation in Late Anglo-French - Heather Pagan and Brian Merrilees
John Gower's French and his Readers - Robert F. Yeager
'Stuffed Latin': Vernacular Evidence in Latin Documents - D A Trotter
From Old English to Old French - Elizabeth M. Tyler
Translating the 'English' Past: Cultural Identity in the Estoire des Engleis - Henry Bainton
The Languages of England: Multilingualism in the Work of Wace - Francoise H M Le Saux
An Illustrious Vernacular: The Psalter en romanz in Twelfth-Century England - Geoff Rector
Serpent's Head/Jew's Hand: Le Jeu d'Adam and Christian-Jewish Debate in Norman England - Ruth Nisse
Salerno on The Thames: The Genesis of Anglo-Norman Medical Literature - Monica Green
'Cest livre liseez...chescun jour': Women and Reading c.1230-c.1430 - Jocelyn Wogan-Browne
French Devotional Texts in Thirteenth-Century Preachers' Anthologies - Helen Deeming
Augustinian Canons and their Insular French Books in Medieval England: Towards An Assessment - Jean-Pascal Pouzet
Eschuer peche, embracer bountee: Social Thought and Pastoral Instruction in Nicole Bozon - Laurie Postlewate
The Cultural Context of the French Prose remaniement of the Life of Edward the Confessor by a Nun of Barking Abbey - Delbert W. Russell
The Vitality of Anglo-Norman in Late-Medieval England: The Case of the Prose Brut Chronicle - Julia Marvin
France in England: Anglo-French Culture in the Reign of Edward III -
Lollardy: The Anglo-Norman Heresy? - Nicholas Watson
The Languages of Memory: The Crabhouse Nunnery Manuscript - Rebecca June
French, English and the Late-Medieval Linguistic Repertoire - T W Machan
Aristotle, Translation and the Mean: Shaping the Vernacular in Late Medieval Anglo-French Culture - Carolyn P Collette
Writing English in a French Penumbra: The Middle English 'Tree of Love' in MS Longleat 253 - Julia Boffey
The French of English Letters: Two Trilingual Verse Epistles in Context - Ad Putter
The Reception of Froissart's Writings in England: The Evidence of the Manuscripts - G Croenen
'Me fault faire': French Makers of Manuscripts for English Patrons - Martha W. Driver
The French Self-Presentation of an English Mastiff: John Talbot's Book of Chivalry - Andrew Taylor
A 'Frenche booke called the Pistill of Othea': Christine de Pizan's French in England - Stephanie Downes
Bibliography
Author Description
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. W M Ormrod is Professor of Medieval History at the University of York.
The late W. MARK ORMROD was Professor Emeritus of History at the University of York; he published extensively on later medieval history. Nicholas Watson teaches English at Harvard University. His research focuses on medieval English and North European literature, intellectual history, visionary writing and the role of the written vernacular. JULIA BOFFEY is Professor of Medieval Studies in the Department of English at Queen Mary University of London. 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. Andrew Taylor is Professor of English at the University of Ottawa.