bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Printing
Authors: Driver Martha W.
Published: June 2017

Printing began in different parts of the British Isles at different times. William Caxton is famed as the first English printer who brought the printing press to Westminster in 1476. The earliest books in Scotland were produced by Walter Chepman and Androw Myllar in 1507. Printing comes later in the sixteenth century to Wales and Ireland (and so is beyond the focus of this volume). The role of printing in promoting literacy, culture, and religious reform cannot be underestimated.
D
unstan
Authors: Saltzman Benjamin A.
Published: June 2017

St. Dunstan was an important figure in the late Anglo‐Saxon church and the political landscape of tenth‐century Wessex. Early in his career, he spent time in the courts of King Æthelstan, King Edmund, and King Eadred. He was appointed abbot of Glastonbury in the early 940s and built up the abbey's endowment, and, after a period of exile on the Continent, he was appointed archbishop of Canterbury in 960 and held the position until his death in 988.
Vainglory
Authors: Hawtree Richard
Published: June 2017

Vainglory
is an Old English Christian poem attacking the sin of pride. It is found in the tenth‐century Exeter Book and shares a didactic style with other poems in this manuscript including
The Gifts of Men
and
Precepts
.
Vainglory
counsels its audience to renounce the vices of gluttony and drunkenness in favor of that godly humility which alone leads to true wisdom. The poet's approach is adversarial, contrasting the degenerate and profligate drunkard, who spreads discord among his companions at the feast, with the humble man who, shunning the vanities of worldly excess, merits eternal life.
L
aud
T
roy
B
ook
Authors: Mueller Alex
Published: June 2017

The
Laud Troy Book
is a Middle English verse translation of Guido delle Colonne's
Historia destructionis Troiae
, a Latin prose account of the fall of Troy. As one of three surviving and contemporary English translations of Guido's history, the
Laud Troy Book
distinguishes itself as a romance in the style of
Havelok
and
Horn
. Composed in octosyllabic couplets, the poem relishes in the bloodshed by its tragic hero Hector and his chivalric counterparts, Troilus, Achilles, and Penthesilea. While the deeds of these warriors are praised, the poem never loses sight of the impending fall of Troy, caused by the treachery of the villain Aeneas.
St. A
ugustine
G
ospels
Authors: Paz James
Published: June 2017

The St. Augustine Gospels (Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 286) is an illuminated Vulgate gospelbook dating from the sixth century. It was one of a remarkable group of manuscripts collected by Matthew Parker (1504–75), archbishop of Canterbury, and presented by him to Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. The main hand of the manuscript is a sixth‐century uncial, typical of that which influenced English uncial. While paleographers agree that the manuscript was written in Italy, it has traditionally been associated with St. Augustine's mission to England in 597. The St. Augustine Gospels represent the oldest and perhaps most precious book kept in the Parker Library and it is still used for the swearing‐in of new archbishops of Canterbury.
S
ir
C
leges
Authors: Clifton Nicole
Published: June 2017

Sir Cleges
is a short romance sometimes associated with the Breton Lays, combining the folkloric motifs of the Spendthrift Knight, the Unseasonal Fruit (Christmas cherries), and the Shared Blows in an Arthurian setting; manuscript context suggests that Cleges is both an example of faith and a warning against lavish spending.
Thornton Manuscripts
Authors: Johnston Michael
Published: June 2017

Robert Thornton was the scribe of two important compilations of Middle English literature (London, British Library, MS Additional 31042 and Lincoln, Cathedral Library,MS91). Thanks to his efforts at producing these manuscripts, we have the only surviving copies of numerous literary texts from medieval England, including, most importantly,Wynnere and Wastoure, The Sege of Melayn, and the alliterativeMorte Arthure. Thornton is also valuable to contemporary scholarship because he provides us with an example of a flesh‐and‐blood lay reader of the English Middle Ages, giving us insight into the literary and religious interests of such people.
N
orthern
H
omily
C
ycle
Authors: Shimomura Sachi
Published: June 2017

The
Northern Homily Cycle (NHC)
is a versified Middle English homiletic collection organized around the liturgical year. Its manuscripts, including two expanded versions, span the early fourteenth to the fifteenth century; its popularity seems to follow on pastoral reforms occasioned by the Fourth Lateran Council. While primarily northern in dialect, its first expansion appears in midland dialect in the Vernon and Simeon manuscripts. The
NHC
presents clear Gospel lessons drawing on conventional sources and
exempla
, and may have been used for preaching, pastoral education, or private lay devotional reading. Its language, breadth, multiple versions, and networks of accumulated textual influence attest to its versatility and continuing value during shifting religious climates.
Metre,OldEnglish
Authors: Beechy Tiffany
Published: June 2017

Old English metre is the vernacular verse form produced in Anglo‐Saxon England. Its “classical” form consists of a poetic line of two verses bound together by alliteration, though verse is not lineated in manuscripts but rather written out across the page continuously, like prose; each verse is made up of at least four syllables, usually with two metrically significant stresses carrying the alliteration. Since no treatise on Old English metre exists from the Anglo‐Saxon period, modern scholars must deduce its principles based on extant verse texts along with whatever theoretical principles and comparative methods seem appropriate. Accordingly, there is ongoing debate and little consensus regarding the exact nature of the metre and even regarding the seemingly basic distinction between verse and prose.
B
lickling
H
omilies
Authors: Getz Robert
Published: June 2017

The Blickling Homilies, 18 anonymous Old English homilies preserved in Princeton University Library, Scheide MS 71, constitute one of the earliest collections of vernacular preaching texts from Anglo‐Saxon England. The Blickling manuscript was written in an unknown scriptorium c. 1000, but the composition of many of the homilies, the work of multiple authors, may pre‐date the English Benedictine reform of the late tenth century, thus representing an earlier preaching tradition and religious culture than that attested by most extant Old English homilies, including those of Ælfric and Wulfstan.
Continental Influences
Authors: Gaston Kara
Published: June 2017

This entry discusses French and Italian influences on English literature, beginning in the twelfth century and focusing on poetry inflected by Ovid'sMetamorphosesand theRomance of the Rose. Tracing various authors' adaptations of the Narcissus myth, it shows how intertextual connections and relationships of influence helped shape the way that vernacular writers represented the role of the poet and the function and value of poetry.
Leland,John
Authors: Bevill R. Scott
Published: June 2017

John Leland was the founder of early modern antiquarian studies in England. Despite his incapacitating mental illness late in life, he nevertheless crafted an impressive legacy of historical writing based on his extensive travels throughout the British Isles. His most notable works includeDe viris illustribus, a dictionary of literary biography of British writers from antiquity to his present day,Assertio inclytissimi Arturii regis Britanniae, a defense of the historical King Arthur, andThe Itinerary of John Leland the Antiquary, a collection of notebooks detailing his research during his multiple journeys across Britain. He is, in many cases, the only source of documentation for library collections before and during the dissolution of the monasteries.
D
anelaw
Authors: Benham Jenny
Published: June 2017

Danelaw refers to the eastern and northern regions of the English kingdom in which Danish law was thought to prevail, as opposed to Mercian law to the west and West Saxon law to the south. The term was coined in the eleventh century, but the idea of a geographical area distinct from those controlled by the English originates with the Viking settlements of the ninth century and the treaty between Alfred and Guthrum.
Christ
I
,
II
, &
III
Authors: Hostetter Aaron K.
Published: June 2017

Traditionally understudied and rarely translated or edited, the three Christ poems (
The Advent Lyrics
,
The Ascension
, and
The Final Judgment
) are nonetheless powerful examples of vernacular Christian poetry, ripe for future critical exploration. Often studied in terms of their literary sources and analogues, they have infrequently been explored for their poetic effects or political implications.
Amadas etYdoine
Authors: Doggett Laine E.
Published: June 2017

Amadas et Ydoineis a minor, anonymous romance in Old French that includes the typical romance element of a knight who must earn his lady's love and atypical ones such as a graveyard battle between Amadas and a demon knight. It depicts the long process of falling in love, then the couple's response to Ydoine's forced marriage amid the courtly politics surrounding inheritance and the influence of the barons. The romance has been criticized for its exaggerations and extremes and at times simply neglected. Early discussion examined sources and contexts. The major strands of recent criticism include analyses that account for the plot extremes, intertextual readings of Tristan romances andCligés, elements of the marvellous and the role of the three witches/fairies/Fates, the complex marriage politics that Ydoine deftly handles, and the narrator's misogynist tirades. They proffer reading strategies ranging from Jungian to didacticism to travesty.
C
olum
C
ille,
St.
(
C
olumba)
Authors: Wooding Jonathan M.
Published: June 2017

Colum Cille (Gaelic: “dove of the church”) was a monastic founder and abbot of Irish origin based in the Inner Hebrides between 563 and 597
CE
. The monastery he founded on the island of Iona became pivotal in communications – political as well as religious – between Ireland, the Pictish kingdom, and Anglo‐Saxon England. Literary works produced on Iona in the sixth through eighth centuries were influential throughout Britain and Ireland.
B
rian
B
oru
Authors: Mhaonaigh Máire Ní
Published: June 2017

Brian Boru is perhaps the best‐known of all medieval Irish kings. He rose to prominence in the second half of the tenth century and extended his sway throughout most of Ireland. A skillful political operator as well as an astute military commander, he used his acumen to amass considerable power. He was killed in the battle of Clontarf in 1014 and quickly became the subject of legend; a literary biography of him, “The war of the Irish against the foreigners” (
Cogadh Gáedhel re Gallaibh
), was written in the early twelfth century and has influenced our perception of him ever since.
A
sser
Authors: Carella Kristen
Published: June 2017

Asser was the Welsh‐born bishop of Sherborne and possibly also of St. David's. He was recruited by the Anglo‐Saxon King Alfred to join his circle of intellectuals. There, he became one of Alfred's chief advisors, reading aloud to the king and possibly also teaching him to translate Latin into Old English. Asser played a key role in King Alfred's program to translate important literary and religious works into vernacular Old English. He is most famous for his unfinished
Life
of Alfred.
A
domnán
Authors: Carella Kristen
Published: June 2017

Adomnán, abbot of Iona from 679 to 704, was an Irish‐born cleric, statesman, and author of a number of texts in both Latin and vernacular Old Irish. These include law tracts, hagiography, a description of the Holy lands, and a number of poems. His most famous work, however, is his Life of St. Columba. Adomnán was involved in political and religious affairs throughout Ireland and northern Britain, including Anglo‐Saxon Northumbria, where he developed a special relationship with King Aldfrith of Northumbria and Abbot Ceolfrith of Monkwearmouth‐Jarrow.
P
eter of
B
lois
Authors: Cotts John D.
Published: June 2017

Peter of Blois was a twelfth‐century secular cleric from the Loire region of France who spent most of his career in England. A product of the schools of Tours and Paris, Peter worked in England in the aftermath of the Becket Controversy and compiled one of the twelfth century's most important Latin letter collections. He also wrote treatises, sermons, and poems, all of which offer crucial insights into the spiritual and intellectual life of the twelfth‐century secular clergy.
Chivalry
Authors: Vines Amy N.
Published: June 2017

Chivalry was one of the most powerful social and ethical structures in the Middle Ages, but it is also one of the least understood by scholars. Established around the year 1200CE, chivalry comprised a code of conduct for the fighting nobility; the tenets of chivalry include bravery, honor, virtue, generosity, and courtesy. The code of knighthood influenced both historical and literary writers throughout the medieval period, providing a structure of restraint and civilization to a privileged and highly armed class of warriors.
St. Albans
Authors: Kaufman Alexander L.
Published: June 2017

St. Albans is a Benedictine monastery in Hertfordshire. During the Middle Ages, it was home to one of the largest libraries in England, and it produced and copied a large number of manuscripts. Matthew Paris and Thomas Walsingham authored many chronicles, histories, and other writings while in St. Albans monastery.
Otherworlds
Authors: Wooding Jonathan M.
Published: June 2017

The “Otherworld journey” is a central motif in medieval literature from the Celtic‐speaking regions of Britain and Ireland. The denizens of the Otherworld/s are variously pre‐Christian and Christian; they play occasional roles in the present world. The ability to make the journey between our world and Otherworld/s accords heroic status to both secular and monastic protagonists of medieval narratives. Celtic Otherworld‐journey motifs influenced other European literatures, especially through the wide influence of the Hiberno‐Latin legend of St. Brendan, adaptations of the legend of St. Fursey, and the French reception of the “matter of Britain.” The motif has continued into modern folklore.
W
hiteacre,
N
igel
Authors: Cotts John D.
Published: June 2017

Nigel Whiteacre was a twelfth‐century Latin poet and member of the monastic cathedral chapter of Christ Church, Canterbury. He left behind a substantial body of Latin verse, including the well‐known and highly regarded
Speculum stultorum
(Mirror of fools), which pokes fun at the ambitions of contemporary scholars. Nigel also wrote an important prose satire of ambitious clergy titles,
Tractatus contra curiales et officiales clericos
(Treatise on clerics who are courtiers and officials). His importance stems not only from the quality of his verse but also from his insights on contemporary clerical culture.
AncreneWisse
Authors: Gunn Cate
Published: June 2017

Ancrene Wisseis an important text in early Middle English, written originally at the request of three sisters who required guidance in the vocation of recluses they had chosen. It is important as a guide to the anchoritic life and spirituality but also contains advice that was applicable to a wider readership. It remained popular, in the original English, and in Latin and French translation, for three centuries.
A
uraicept na n‐Éces

/The Scholars' Primer
Authors: Poppe Erich
Published: June 2017

Auraicept na n‐Éces
(The scholars' primer) is the title for the recensions and versions of a medieval Irish tract on various linguistic topics, prominent among them the origin of the Irish language, key categories of its grammatical and metrical analysis, and the presentation of some nominal paradigms. The text was part of the linguistic curriculum of poets and is structured along two dimensions, horizontally, as a series of books, and vertically, as a “canonical” core with a large amount of glossing and commentary. This core has tentatively been dated to an early stage in the Old Irish period (c. 700 to c. 900
CE
), while the end of a common tradition for the commentaries has been placed around 1100, even though material continued to be added in the course of transmission which lasted into the eighteenth century. The earliest manuscripts now extant are thought to date from the fourteenth century.
R
hamant
O
tuel
Authors: Poppe Erich
Published: June 2017

Rhamant Otuel
is the Middle Welsh prose version of the Old French
chanson de geste Otinel
, the final addition to a cycle about Charlemagne,
Ystorya Charlymaen
, made up of Welsh versions of the
Pseudo‐Turpin Chronicle
, the
Chanson de Roland
, and the
Pèlerinage de Charlemagne à Jerusalem
. It is found in three of the eight medieval manuscripts of the cycle, and it shares the form “Otuel” as the name of its Saracen hero as well as some other textual features with the French
Otinel
in the Anglo‐Norman Middlehill manuscript and the Mende fragment respectively, with the three Middle English
Otuel
texts, and with the Old Norse
Af Otúel
, a branch of
Karlamagnús
saga.
Rhamant Otuel
establishes a positive counter‐image of Charlemagne's encounters with Saracens, contrasting them with the tragic events of the battle of Roncevaux, narrated in detail in the
Pseudo‐Turpin Chronicle
and in the Chanson.
Ystoryaeu Seint Greal
Authors: Poppe Erich
Published: June 2017

Ystoryaeu Seint Greal
(
YSG
) (Stories of the Holy Grail) is the title of the Middle Welsh translation of two early thirteenth‐century French Grail romances,
La Queste del Saint Graal
, and
Perlesvaus
or
Li Haut Livre du Graal
. The two texts are perceived as a minimal cycle, but some incompatibilities remain. The translation of
YSG
is dated to the end of the fourteenth century, because of the association of its oldest manuscript (Peniarth 11, around 1400) with Hopcyn ap Thomas, who may have commissioned the translation.
H
ywel
D
da, Laws
Authors: Roberts Sara Elin
Published: June 2017

This entry considers the Law of Hywel (
Cyfraith Hywel
), or medieval Welsh law, the law developed and used in Wales in the Middle Ages. The extant law manuscripts and their groupings are discussed, and the early historiography of the law is considered. Then the nature of the law is examined, looking at what was contained in the law, and the fact that this was a compensation‐based system. The division of the laws into main redaction texts and additional material is given some consideration as recent historiography in the laws has questioned the traditional view of the compilation of the laws.
C
yfranc
L
ludd a
L
lefelys
Authors: Williams Patricia
Published: June 2017

Cyfranc Lludd a Llefelys
is a Middle Welsh prose tale included in the
Mabinogion
corpus and also in various Welsh versions of Geoffrey of Monmouth's
Historia regum Britannie
. Some elements are reminiscent of the Irish story of Nuada and Lugh but its main theme is the Welsh claim to be the descendants of the indigenous Britons who ruled over the entire island.
Gower,John
Authors: Yeager R.F.
Published: June 2017

John Gower (d. 1408), contemporary and friend of Chaucer, wrote major poetry in Latin, Anglo‐Norman, and Middle English. His work had wide readership during his lifetime until the early eighteenth century, influencing most salient English writers, including Chaucer, Lydgate, Hoccleve, Dunbar, Henryson, Sidney, Spenser, Shakespeare, Jonson, and Milton. Gower's tomb in Southwark Cathedral is one of the best extant examples of late fourteenth‐century funerary sculpture.
Red Book of Hergest/
Llyfr Coch Hergest
Authors: Fulton Helen
Published: June 2017

The Red Book of Hergest is a late‐fourteenth‐century vellum manuscript compiled in Glamorgan, South Wales. It is written in three hands, the main one known to be that of Hywel Fychan ap Hywel Goch. Hywel's patron was Hopcyn ap Tomas ab Einion of Ynysforgan near Swansea. The Red Book is written entirely in Middle Welsh and contains an anthology of most of the significant texts of medieval Wales, including the tales of the
Mabinogion
, bardic poetry, historical chronicles, translations into Welsh of the French Charlemagne cycle, and a translation into Welsh of the Troy story from the Latin of Dares Phrygius. Five praise‐poems in the Red Book to Hopcyn ap Tomas indicate his importance as a patron of Welsh‐language culture in medieval Glamorgan.
Owain Glyndŵr
Authors: Marchant Alicia
Published: June 2017

For around 15 years from 1400 until his death around 1415, Owain Glyndŵr led an extraordinary rebellion in Wales. This was not solely a military endeavor; Owain Glyndŵr sought to establish a self‐governing Wales, independent of England. He implemented policies, formed international alliances, and held parliaments. Innovatively, Owain Glyndŵr sought to strengthen Welsh culture and national identity by fostering Welsh language, literature, and history through education.
H
iberno‐
L
atin Literature
Authors: Herren Michael
Published: June 2017

This entry covers the principal genres of Hiberno‐Latin literature (sixth to twelfth century) with representative examples. It focuses on school literature, hagiography, religious poetry, and wisdom literature in the pre‐Carolingian period then notes developments that follow in the works of Hiberno‐Latin writers active in the Carolingian Empire, where the acrostic and panegyric are new genres to be mastered. The entry also addresses sources available to Irish writers and their engagement with Greek over the entire span.
H
istoria
G
ruffudd
ap C
ynan
Authors: Jankulak Karen
Published: June 2017

Historia Gruffudd ap Cynan
(The history of Gruffudd ap Cynan) is a unique, near‐contemporary, biography of a Welsh ruler from Norman‐era Wales. It cannot be read as a straightforward, accurate, account of its subject's life, but its emphases illuminate the complex world of Welsh, Hiberno‐Scandinavian, and Norman struggles for power and the place of historical propaganda in these.
Exegesis
Authors: Johnson Ian
Published: June 2017

“Exegesis” is a technical term for “interpretation,” chiefly reserved for the daunting business of interpreting texts of authority. Medieval “exegetes” (i.e., commentators) adjudicated the meanings and teachings of the Bible and wielded colossal cultural power and influence. The most important features of Latin exegetical tradition involve the distinction between the roles of author and commentator; the different levels of meaning to be drawn from authoritative texts; and the array of literary‐theoretical terms and concepts found in prologues to commentaries. The commentaries written by medieval exegetes – their techniques, terms, and attitudes – constituted a lively and ever‐developing resource of precedents and models for how vernacular writers composed their works, and how in their paratexts they represented and “sold” themselves and their texts to their readerships. The range and importance of this exegetical sensibility to Old and Middle English literature are illustrated with a variety of examples.
MiddleEnglishCharlemagne Romances
Authors: Hardman Phillipa
Published: June 2017

The ten English Charlemagne Romances, produced in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, focus on a small group of subjects from the Matter of France that were already popular in insular Frenchchansons de geste: the stories of Charlemagne's nephew, Roland, and of two Saracens who challenge Charlemagne and subsequently become Christian knights, Fierabras and Otinel. Each romance retells the original story in a new way, or creates a new narrative in response to the tradition, reflecting contemporary anxieties about the threat posed to Christendom by the rise of the Ottoman Turks. Unlike the medieval tales of Arthurian knights or of Guy of Warwick, the Charlemagne romances did not survive into postmedieval popular culture; however, modern critical concerns with their characteristic topics of religious warfare and encounters between East and West have helped to revive interest in them.
S
ir
O
rfeo
Authors: White Tom
Published: June 2017

The fourteenth‐century “Breton lay”
Sir Orfeo
transposes the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice to medieval England. With no immediate source for the poem identifiable, it is perhaps best thought of as a collation of multiple textual traditions, thematic influences, and literary motifs. Classical, Christian, Celtic, and vernacular romance materials all contribute to its central narrative of loss, exile, and return. The “ympe‐tre” [grafted tree] and the fairy underworld, replete with both dazzling and unsettling details, provide two of the most memorable images in the corpus of literature of medieval Britain. Further, and as in a number of Breton lays, the poem self‐consciously situates itself at the porous boundary between orality and literacy, bracketing its narrative with a reflection on how such works are variously “wrouȝt, /… yfounde and forþ ybrouȝt / … made” (ll. 13–16).
Gifts of Men, The
Authors: Updegraff Derek
Published: June 2017

The Gifts of Men
is an Old English poem listing many of the skills people are given by God as they live together in community, ranging from aristocratic skills in hunting and fighting to Christian skills in piety and church service. The poem praises God both for dispensing so many different abilities among people and also for limiting the number of gifts each person can receive.
Fortunes of Men,The
Authors: Updegraff Derek
Published: June 2017

The Fortunes of Menis an Old English poem listing predominantly negative outcomes a person might suffer in life as maturation into youth and adulthood distances the child from his parents. Following the list of fortunes, a shorter list gives examples of some of the skills people receive in life, and the poet declares that God distributes the gifts and directs the fortunes of all people.
C
haucer:

T
roilus and
C
riseyde
Authors: Windeatt Barry
Published: June 2017

Chaucer's
Troilus and Criseyde
is a tale of the great love and sorrow of Troilus, Prince of Troy, and Criseyde, widowed daughter of the traitor Calchas. While Chaucer's tale is primarily a translation and adaptation of Boccaccio's
Filostrato
, his insight into human character, his flair for dialogue and comedy, and his exploration of the philosophical and spiritual dimensions of his narrative make his version profoundly original in both design and implication.
SirTryamour
Authors: McLoone Katherine
Published: June 2017

Sir Tryamour is a late fourteenth‐century Middle English romance that includes examples of the common tropes of the calumniated queen and faithful dog.
Laȝamon
Authors: Kleinman Scott
Published: June 2017

Laȝamon is the name claimed by the author of the early Middle English poem known to modern readers as Laȝamon'sBrut. Most likely writing in the first quarter of the thirteenth century, Laȝamon produced one of the earliest ambitious poems after the Norman Conquest. Laȝamon'sBrutis a translation of Wace'sRoman de Brut, itself derived from Geoffrey of Monmouth'sHistoria regum Britannie, which recounts the settlement of Briton by Trojan exiles under the leadership of Brutus, the succession of kings of the Britons who followed, the arrival of the Romans, the reign of King Arthur, and the coming of the Saxons. TheBrutis the first English‐language contribution to the “matter of Britain” tradition. Although Laȝamon closely follows the narrative arc of his source material, he frequently expands or redacts sections and integrates external material from folklore or other written sources.
Havelok theDane
Authors: Kleinman Scott
Published: June 2017

Havelok the Daneis the modern name for an early Middle English poem most likely composed between 1290 and 1300, one the earliest of a group poems that forms the “matter of England.” The story of Havelok, a Danish prince who is exiled to England, becomes a kitchen scullion, is married to the heir to the English throne, and eventually becomes king of both England and Denmark, goes back to at least the twelfth century. It was widespread in both chronicle and folklore, particularly in eastern England. The Middle English poem is one of the earliest English romances but departs from the typical romance character in its folksy tone and attention to a wide range of social classes. These qualities may reveal oral origins or may have been cultivated by the poet, who, like earlier and later writers, used Havelok's story and the history of Scandinavian settlement to explore the ethnic, political, and social dynamics of England.
C
hristianity in
B
ritain
Authors: Stöber Karen
Published: June 2017

The Christianization of Britain and Ireland was a complex process that began in the Roman period and was continued by St. Augustine, sent by Pope Gregory the Great on a mission to the Anglo‐Saxons in 597. Our evidence for this process is uneven, but something of the early diocesan and monastic structures of Britain and Ireland can be known, demonstrating that the early Christian communities in the islands were run by ecclesiastical hierarchies at whose heads were bishops and abbots who intended to extend the new faith and to impose unity of doctrine and liturgy across the region.
B
ook of
D
urrow
Authors: Tilghman Benjamin C.
Published: June 2017

The Book of Durrow is a decorated manuscript containing the four Gospels. It has been dated on paleographical grounds to the seventh century and localized variously to Ireland, Scotland, and Northumbria. It is notable for the fine quality of its script and as a very early example of the use of carpet pages and highly ornamented initials in Insular manuscripts.
Macaronic Texts
Authors: Archibald Elizabeth
Published: June 2017

Macaronic texts contain a mixture of languages, often but not always including Latin; they reflect the complex multilingual landscape of medieval Britain. They are found in a wide variety of medieval writing, literary, religious, and legal; in some cases the choice of languages is practical, but the effect can be pious, comic, or satirical.
Englyn
Authors: Salisbury Eurig
Published: June 2017

Englyn
is arguably the oldest surviving metre in Welsh prosody and typically forms a monorhyme quatrain in full
cynghanedd
. Its use as part of a series of
englynion
in early periods was gradually superseded by the rise of the epigrammatic discrete
englyn
in the late medieval period.
Mythology,
C
eltic
Authors: Hemming Jessica
Published: June 2017

The influence of Celtic mythology on the literatures of medieval Britain and Ireland is visible in varying degrees across the range of Insular languages and traditions. Celtic mythology contributes significantly to medieval Irish literature, with the Otherwordly Túatha Dé Danann, or people of the
sídhe
, featuring in a large body of texts. The mythological concepts of the sovereignty goddess and sacral kingship are also pronounced in Irish tradition. The role of mythology in Welsh narratives is less obvious and more open to interpretation. Several tales from the
Mabinogion
deal with aspects of the Otherworld and other native mythological concepts, as do some of the poems of the legendary Taliesin. Scottish Gaelic literature shares with Irish the cycle of semi‐mythological stories about Finn Mac Cumaill. In non‐Celtic literatures, the principal influence from Celtic mythology is upon the Arthurian cycle, mainly, but not exclusively, via the works of Geoffrey of Monmouth.
Ruin, The
Authors: Dailey Patricia
Published: June 2017

Situated between “The Husband's Message” and Riddle 61 on folios 123b, 124a, and 124b of the Exeter Book, the Old English poem
The Ruin
comprises 49 lines of alliterative verse (over 36 manuscript lines), of which 14 have sustained damage due to a transversal burn mark that penetrates the manuscript pages. The poem describes features of a once lively edifice and envisions how the weathered wall‐stone attests to the workings of fate (
wyrd
) upon the building and its former inhabitants. Through its use of verbal and alliterative recall, the poem orients the reader's attention to consider the former liveliness of the ruin and its relevance to the present, allowing the reader to circulate in time and sound around the mental representation of a ruin. The wall's witnessing of past events, events both destructive and festive, sets in motion a poetic meditation on the patterning and effects of time on materiality.
Descent into
H
ell/
J
ohn the
B
aptist's Prayer
Authors: Rambaran‐Olm M.R.
Published: June 2017

The Descent into Hell
or
John the Baptist's Prayer
is one of a group of shorter religious, Old English poems contained in the Exeter Book. The 137‐line alliterative poem focuses on a narrative involving John the Baptist as he awaits Christ's descent into hell on Easter‐eve. Liturgical cues throughout the poem suggest that it may have been composed to accompany or replace a longer Easter sermon. Narrative, structural, and linguistic inconsistencies have led previous scholars to criticize various aspects of the poem with much of the scholarly critique focusing on the poem's inferiority in relation to other descensus narratives. However, the poem has had a resurgence in interest with a reinterpretation focusing on the theme of baptism.
Mystical Writing
Authors: Renevey Denis
Published: June 2017

Following intense investigation in the last decades, perceptions of what is “mystical writing” has led to an expansion of the corpus, combined with a multiplicity of approaches on the main texts borrowed from the literary tradition. While the writings of Margery Kempe and Julian of Norwich have received much attention, the writings of Walter Hilton and theCloudauthor suffer from partial neglect. Current research focuses on fifteenth‐century new devotionalism and contributes to a reassessment of the Rollean corpus, as well as the genre of the compilation, which reached its apogee in that period.
Dublin
Authors: Duffy Seán
Published: June 2017

Originally an early Christian monastery, the emergence of what became the city of Dublin began with the establishment of a Viking encampment in 841CE; this became Ireland's first town and, by the eleventh century, de facto capital, a position confirmed by its designation as headquarters of the English colony established by HenryIIin 1171.
U
í
N
éill
Authors: Duffy Seán
Published: June 2017

The Uí Néill, claiming descent from Niall Nóigiallach (“Niall of the Nine Hostages”), claimed kingship of all Ireland from the seventh to the tenth century CE, although they usually only controlled the northern half and their dominance was overturned by the Munster king Brian Boru in 1002.
Skaldic Poetry
Authors: Jesch Judith
Published: June 2017

“Skaldic” (from Old Norse
skald
, “poet”) is the name given to the large corpus of verse that is a peculiarly Scandinavian development of the common Germanic alliterative long line. Much skaldic poetry also uses a rarefied diction consisting of poetic synonyms (
heiti
) and a rich range of kennings that go beyond the simple two‐element forms known from Old English poetry.
Cnut
Authors: Jesch Judith
Published: June 2017

Knútr Sveinsson, king of England, Denmark, and Norway, usually known in England as Cnut or Canute, was a member of the Viking fleet led by his father Sveinn Forkbeard which invaded the kingdom of Æthelred the Unready in 1013 and he was chosen leader of the fleet on Sveinn's death in 1014. Cnut came to an agreement to share the kingdom with Edmund Ironside in 1016 and became sole king of England on Edmund's death later that year.
G
ogynfeirdd
Authors: Owen Ann Parry
Published: June 2017

The
Gogynfeirdd
were professional poets who composed Welsh praise poetry for the Welsh princes and nobility. They include the Poets of the Princes (
Beirdd y Tywysogion
) who sang in the courts of the Welsh princes and nobility from c. 1100 until the demise of the last prince of independent Wales in 1282/83, and later fourteenth‐century poets (
Gogynfeirdd diweddar
) who continued to sing in the same style and using the same type of language and metres. These later
Gogynfeirdd
are sometimes called
Beirdd yr Uchelwyr,
“poets of the gentry,” as they were by now singing under the patronage of the Welsh gentry (
uchelwyr
). The term
Gogynfeirdd
was coined by the antiquarian Lewis Morris (1701–65), and can be loosely translated as “the fairly early poets,” to distinguish them from the
Cynfeirdd,
“the early poets,” who flourished between the sixth and the eleventh centuries.
Vercelli Book
Authors: Zacher Samantha
Published: June 2017

The Vercelli Book is a tenth‐century manuscript that contains 23 prose items and the poemsAndreas,Fates of the Apostles,Soul and Body I,Homiletic Fragment I,The Dream of the Rood, andElene. The biggest mystery surrounding the collection is how and why this English manuscript ended up in northern Italy, and eventually in the Cathedral Library of Vercelli. The makeup of the manuscript is also unusual, since it contains a partial liturgical program, and several homilies for the same feast and fast days. Recent scholarship has focused on the links between the poetic and prose texts, and the various Latinate sources and influences that guided their composition.
Codicology
Authors: Rold Orietta Da
Published: June 2017

Codicology is that branch of scholarship which studies the manuscript book in its material realization and, more broadly, in all its cultural and historical interrelationships. This entry looks at the historical and conceptual development of the discipline over time, offering comments on how the discipline is moving forward.
Fouke le Fitzwaryn
Authors: Helbert Daniel G.
Published: June 2017

This entry covers the Anglo‐Norman family romance,
Fouke le Fitzwaryn
(c. 1260). The historical events which inspired the romance, the major plot elements, audience, distribution, and interpretation are discussed.
Swithun,St.
Authors: Hayward Paul Antony
Published: June 2017

A product of the late tenth‐century monastic reformation, the cult of St. Swithun was developed for the purpose of validating the reform of the Old Minster, Winchester. Though it was reworked many times, in no less than 12 hagiographical works, the core ideas of the saint's legend can be traced to Lantfred'sTranslatio et miracula sancti Swithuni, a work composed between 971 and 975.
SirIsumbras
Authors: Radulescu Raluca L.
Published: June 2017

Sir Isumbrasis one of the most popular hagiographic or penitential romances in Middle English, attested to by the numerous extant copies in manuscript and early print. Its plot follows, in part, the martyrdom of St. Eustace, although Isumbras undertakes penance willingly rather than having to embrace conversion, and he does not lose his life at the end of the story. The happy ending proposed by the romance version of this penitential journey resonated with the middle‐class audiences of this late fourteenth‐century Middle English text as it was copied into numerous gentry‐owned manuscripts. This is not surprising: following his heart‐felt penitence Isumbras enjoys even more power and status inthislife, alongside his long‐lost, then returned, sons and wife.
Brythonic
Authors: Leach Katherine
Published: June 2017

This entry discusses the Brythonic languages: Welsh, Breton, and Cornish, the surviving Brythonic languages which continue to be used today, and Cumbric, an extinct Brythonic language. The Brythonic languages are a branch of the Insular Celtic language family, along with Goidelic, the other branch, which consists of Irish, Scottish Gaelic, and Manx.
Urien of Rheged
Authors: Jacques Michaela
Published: June 2017

This entry discusses Urien of Rheged, a historical sixth‐century ruler of northern Britain mentioned in
Historia regum Britannie
and
Historia Brittonum
, as well as the legendary material that sprang up around him after his death, including the poems of Taliesin, Canu Llywarch Hen, and Arthurian material.
Gramadegau'r Penceirddiaid
/Bardic Grammars
Authors: Jacques Michaela
Published: June 2017

This entry discusses
Gramadegau'r Penceirddiaid
(The Grammars of the Chief Bards), a collection of vernacular bardic tracts concerned with grammar, metre, and proper uses of poetry.
Gildas
Authors: Tedford Margaret
Published: June 2017

Gildas was a British Latin writer and ecclesiastic of the sixth century (approx. c. 500–570CE). His most famous work, written around 540CE, is theDe excidio Britanniae, a fierce invective addressed to the secular and ecclesiastical rulers of his day. Although initially studied for its historical perspective on post‐Roman Britain and as the only contemporary account of theadventus saxonum, the arrival of the Saxons to Britain, the text is not a true history but is instead a Christian moral exhortation. Gildas is heavily influenced by Old Testament prophets and models the British people as the “new Israel,” being punished for their sins by military defeat and famine. TheDe excidiowas an influence on later writers such as Bede, Wulfstan, and Geoffrey of Monmouth.
Classical InheritanceII: Post‐Conquest and Late MedievalBritain
Authors: Galloway Andrew
Published: June 2017

This entry and Classical Inheritance I provide a wide background of the classical inheritance relevant to literature written in Britain in Latin, French, Irish, Old and Middle English, and Scots between the fall of Rome and the fifteenth century. This entry concentrates on post‐Conquest and late medieval Britain (1066–c. 1500).
Ériu
Authors: Mhurchú Síle Ní
Published: June 2017

Ériu
is the name of Ireland. The eponymous goddess appears in Irish literature from the ninth century onward where she is depicted as a sovereignty goddess. The concept of a goddess, whether named Ériu or otherwise, bestowing sovereignty on the rightful king of Ireland is common in Irish literature. The sovereignty goddess may be depicted as a hag or loathly lady who is transformed when she is kissed by the rightful king and Ireland may be personified as a young maiden, an old woman or a royal consort. In the
Lebor Gabála
(Book of invasions), three goddesses, Ériu, Banba, and Fotla (Éire, Banba, and Fódla) give their names to Ireland but primacy is given to Ériu. The depiction of Ériu and other figures as sovereignty goddesses generally carries political objectives.
BurySt.Edmunds
Authors: Younge George
Published: June 2017

The Benedictine Abbey of Bury St. Edmunds was a thriving center for monastic literary culture during the medieval period. In addition to promoting Saint Edmund, monks from the abbey wrote sophisticated works of sacred biography and Marian devotional literature. Bury St. Edmunds also had a thriving tradition of Anglo‐Norman religious literature. Luminaries from Bury St. Edmunds include Jocelin of Brakelond, Denis Pyramus, and John Lydgate.
A
ugustine of
C
anterbury
Authors: Siemens James
Published: June 2017

Sent by Pope Gregory I to establish a Roman mission among the peoples of Britain, Augustine would serve as the first archbishop of Canterbury for seven years, converting thousands to the Christian religion in the Anglo‐Saxon kingdoms. His work was marked by many miracles and immense growth in numbers and status for the Roman Church. The Celtic bishops, however, remained unconvinced by his authority, and it would be a generation before Canterbury would exert greater influence over a church that included Britons and Saxons alike.
P
ierre
de
L
angtoft
Authors: Murchison Krista A.
Published: June 2017

Pierre de Langtoft (d. after 1305) was a canon of the Augustinian Bridlington Priory and a poet, best known for his Anglo‐Norman
Chronique,
a verse chronicle of England (c. 1296–1305). Written during the Wars of Scottish Independence, the chronicle has a notably anti‐Scottish bent. It is recognized as offering a relatively populist account of Edward I's reign and contains some unique details from this period, including nine soldiers' songs which may have been sung during the wars.
P
ierre
d
'
A
bernon
Authors: Murchison Krista A.
Published: June 2017

Pierre d'Abernon (fl. 1267–77) was an Anglo‐Norman poet and translator from Surrey. He is best known for his
Lumere as lais
(c. 1267–68), an extensive compendium of Christian doctrine addressed primarily to the laity. He also composed the
Secré de secrez
(c. 1267–77), which was probably the first French translation of the
Secretum secretorum
, and
La vie Seint Richard
(c. 1270–77), a translation of Ralph of Bocking's
vita
(c. 1270) of Richard Wych, the bishop of Chichester (c. 1197–1235).
G
awain
Authors: Rushton Cory James
Published: June 2017

Gawain is a major character in the Arthurian legend, nephew to King Arthur and often the preeminent knight of the Round Table. In early French and Latin texts and in many Middle English texts, Gawain is both the most capable and the most courteous of Arthur's best‐known followers. Unlike most of his counterparts, notably Lancelot and Tristram, Gawain never has a single overwhelming love interest. This leaves him available as a questing knight whose loyalty is often to his uncle first, and to the idea of the quest second. In his earlier appearances, he is the knight who welcomes or supports newer knights, and who is a model of courtesy toward women; these aspects of his character disappear in late medieval French texts, replaced by a darker Gawain prone to murdering his rivals and even to rape. His reputation has recovered in the twentieth and twenty‐first centuries, a consequence of the discovery of “
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
” and a revival of interest in Chrétien de Troyes.
H
olland,
R
ichard (

B
uke of the
H
owlat

)
Authors: van Heijnsbergen Theo
Published: June 2017

Richard Holland's
Buke of the Howlat
(c. 1450) is a late medieval Scottish alliterative bird‐fable in verse, ostensibly dealing with relations between rulers and subjects, kings and nobles. More recent research has highlighted its intrinsic literary merits as an intricate and ambitious contribution to a post‐Chaucerian poetics which explores the potential of writing in Scots to investigate how family history and writing for patronage can provide a platform for exploring moral and political questions as well as for a poem probing its own literary identity.
BeunansMeriasek
Authors: Padel O.J.
Published: June 2017

An account of a Cornish‐language play of a local saint, dating from 1504, and including the legend of St. Silvester, the fourth‐century pope.
Percy Folio
Authors: Radulescu Raluca L.
Published: June 2017

Known among modern scholars by the name of its owner and subsequent editor, Thomas Percy, the seventeenth‐century miscellaneous manuscript London, British Library, Add. MS 27879 occupies an important, though not easy to define, place in the history of medieval literature scholarship. It contains numerous Arthurian and non‐Arthurian romances, popular ballads, and historical poems of late medieval/early modern origin, in most cases likely copied from early prints. Primarily due to the nature of its contents, the history of its ownership, and its difficult historical positioning, somewhere in between romance popularity in the age of print (in the early sixteenth century) and the turn toward the past that was going to characterize the Romantic movement in the eighteenth century, the Percy Folio remains both insufficiently explored and relatively poorly integrated in studies of late medieval English literature, with few exceptions. Its richness resides in the complex relationships between texts preserved elsewhere and in this manuscript, which deserve further exploration, both from the perspective of the manuscript's scribe/compiler and his first audiences, and their presentation in editions – from Percy'sReliques of Ancient Poetryto the twentieth century.
Gower:Latin Poetry
Authors: Echard Siân
Published: June 2017

John Gower was a trilingual poet who wrote in English, French, and Latin. This entry discusses his Latin poetry, considering his short poems; the long satirical and political worksVox clamantisandCronica tripertita; and the role of Latin in Gower's vernacular works, particularly in his Middle EnglishConfessio Amantis.
Torrent of Portyngale
Authors: Rushton Cory James
Published: June 2017

Torrent of Portyngale
is a Middle English poem found in a corrupt fifteenth‐century, and in fragments from later, printed editions. It is heavily influenced by the legend of St. Eustace, and has connections to other late Middle English.