Conceptualizing Multilingualism in England, c.800-c.1250

Description

Throughout the period 800–1250, English culture was marked by linguistic contestation and pluralism: the consequence of migrations and conquests and of the establishment and flourishing of the Christian religion centred on Rome. In 855 the Danes ‘over-wintered’ for the first time, re-initiating centuries of linguistic pluralism; by 1250 English had, overwhelmingly, become the first language of England. Norse and French, the Celtic languages of the borderlands, and Latin competed with dialects of English for cultural precedence. Moreover, the diverse relations of each of these languages to the written word complicated textual practices of government, poetics, the recording of history, and liturgy. Geographical or societal micro-languages interacted daily with the ‘official’ languages of the Church, the State, and the Court. English and English speakers also played key roles in the linguistic history of medieval Europe. At the start of the period of inquiry, Alcuin led the reform of Latin in the Carolingian Empire, while in the period after the Conquest, the long-established use of English as a written language encouraged the flourishing of French as a written language. This interdisciplinary volume brings the complex and dynamic multilingualism of medieval England into focus and opens up new areas for collaborative research. Front matter (“Contents”, “List of Illustrations”, “Acknowledgements”, “List of Abbreviations”), p. i Free Access Introduction. England and Multilingualism: Medieval and Modern, p. 1 Elizabeth M. Tyler https://doi.org/10.1484/M.SEM-EB.4.8001 Multiliteralism in Anglo-Saxon Verse Inscriptions, p. 15 Thomas A. Bredehoft https://doi.org/10.1484/M.SEM-EB.4.8002 Writing the Mother Tongue in the Shadow of Babel, p. 33 Nicole Guenther Discenza https://doi.org/10.1484/M.SEM-EB.4.8003 Translating Technical Terms in Law-Codes from Alfred to the Angevins, p. 57 Bruce O’Brien https://doi.org/10.1484/M.SEM-EB.4.8004 Multilingualism at the Court of King Æthelstan: Latin Praise Poetry and The Battle of Brunanburh, p. 77 Samantha Zacher https://doi.org/10.1484/M.SEM-EB.4.8005 Abbo of Fleury in Ramsey (985–987), p. 105 Roger Wright https://doi.org/10.1484/M.SEM-EB.4.8006 Byrhtferth’s Enchiridion: The Effectiveness of Hermeneutic Latin, p. 121 Rebecca Stephenson https://doi.org/10.1484/M.SEM-EB.4.8007 Negotiating Welshness: Multilingualism in Wales Before and After 1066, p. 145 Helen Fulton https://doi.org/10.1484/M.SEM-EB.4.8008 Crossing Conquests: Polyglot Royal Women and Literary Culture in Eleventh-Century England, p. 171 Elizabeth M. Tyler https://doi.org/10.1484/M.SEM-EB.4.8009 Cnut’s Poets: An Old Norse Literary Community in Eleventh-Century England, p. 197 Matthew Townend https://doi.org/10.1484/M.SEM-EB.4.8010 ‘The English’ and ‘the Irish’ from Cnut to John: Speculations on a Linguistic Interface, p. 217 Julia Crick https://doi.org/10.1484/M.SEM-EB.4.8011 Multilingualism, Social Network Theory, and Linguistic Change in the Transition from Old to Middle English, p. 239 Juan Camilo Conde-Silvestre, Mª Dolores Pérez-Raja https://doi.org/10.1484/M.SEM-EB.4.8012 Linguistic Contiguities: English Manuscripts 1060–1220, p. 255 Orietta Da Rold, Mary Swan https://doi.org/10.1484/M.SEM-EB.4.8013 The Making of Domesday Book and the Languages of Lordship in Conquered England, p. 271 Stephen Baxter https://doi.org/10.1484/M.SEM-EB.4.8014 Roman Past and Roman Language in Twelfth-Century English Historiography, p. 309 Lars Boje Mortensen https://doi.org/10.1484/M.SEM-EB.4.8015 Can an Englishman Read a Chanson de Geste?, p. 321 Andrew Taylor https://doi.org/10.1484/M.SEM-EB.4.8016 Anglo-Norman Multiculturalism and Continental Standards in Guernes de Pont-Sainte-Maxence’s Vie de Saint Thomas, p. 337 Thomas O’Donnell https://doi.org/10.1484/M.SEM-EB.4.8017 Intra-textual Multilingualism and Social/Sociolinguistic Variation in Anglo-Norman, p. 357 David Trotter https://doi.org/10.1484/M.SEM-EB.4.8018 Back matter (“Note on series”), p. 369