The Prose Brut and Other Late Medieval Chronicles: Books Have Their Histories. Essays in Honour of Lister M. Matheson

Description

The histories of chronicles composed in England during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries and onwards, with a focus on texts belonging to or engaging with the Prose Brut tradition, are the focus of this volume. The contributors examine the composition, dissemination and reception of historical texts written in Anglo-Norman, Latin and English, including the Prose Brut chronicle (c. 1300 and later), Castleford's Chronicle (c. 1327), and Nicholas Trevet's Les Cronicles (c. 1334), looking at questions of the processes of writing, rewriting, printing and editing history. They cross traditional boundaries of subject and period, taking multi-disciplinary approaches to their studies in order to underscore the (shifting) historical, social and political contexts in which medieval English chronicles were used and read from the fourteenth century through to the present day. As such, the volume honours the pioneering work of the late Professor Lister M. Matheson, whose research in this area demonstrated that a full understanding of medieval historical literature demands attention to both the content of the works in question and to the material circumstances of producing those works. Jaclyn Rajsic is a Lecturer in Medieval Literature in the School of English and Drama at Queen Mary University of London; Erik Kooper taught Old and Middle English at Utrecht University; until his retirement in 2007; Dominique Hoche is an Associate Professor at West Liberty University in West Virginia. Contributors: Elizabeth J. Bryan, Caroline D. Eckhardt, A.S.G. Edwards, Dan Embree, Alexander L. Kaufman, Edward Donald Kennedy, Erik Kooper, Julia Marvin, William Marx, Krista A. Murchison, Heather Pagan, Jaclyn Rajsic, Christine M. Rose, Neil Weijer Contents Plates Contributors Acknowledgements Curriculum Vitae of Lister M. Matheson Introduction A Memoir: The Whole Haggis: Lessons From the Work of Lister M. Matheson Part I. Uses of History 1 Piety, Community and Local History: Le Livere de Reis de Engleterre and its Context in Cambridge, Trinity College, MS R.14.7 2 The Seen and the Unseen: Miracles, Marvels and Portents in the Middle English Chronicle of Nicholas Trevet 3 ‘And Many Ofler Diuerse Tokens …’: Portents and Wonders in ‘Warkworth’s’ Chronicle 4 The Lawyer and the Herald Part II. The Prose Brut 5 Longleat House MS 55: An Unacknowledged Brut Manuscript? 6 Peculiar Versions of the Middle English Prose Brut and Textual Archaeology 7 The English Prose Brut Chronicle on a Roll: Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 546 and its History 8 Re-Printing or Remaking? The Early Printed Editions of the Chronicles of England Part III: Receptions and Afterlives of Late Medieval Chronicles 9 Trevet’s Les Cronicles: Manuscripts, Owners and Readers 10 Matthew Parker and the Middle English Prose Brut 11 Thomas Hearne and English Chronicles 12 The Manuscript of Castleford’s Chronicle : Its History and its Scribes 13 Bruts for Sale Appendix: Manuscripts of the Middle English Prose Brut sold or otherwise disposed of during the twentieth century Index of Manuscripts Cited General Index