Skip to Main Content

Insular Books: Vernacular manuscript miscellanies in late medieval Britain

Online ISBN:
9780191771996
Print ISBN:
9780197265833
Publisher:
British Academy
Book

Insular Books: Vernacular manuscript miscellanies in late medieval Britain

Margaret Connolly (ed.),
Margaret Connolly
(ed.)

Honorary Research Fellow

Honorary Research Fellow, School of English, University of St Andrews
Find on
Raluca Radulescu (ed.)
Raluca Radulescu
(ed.)

Reader in Medieval Literature, Co-Director of the Institute for medieval and Early Modern Studies, Bangor University and Aberystwyth University

Reader in Medieval Literature, Co-Director of the Institute for medieval and Early Modern Studies, Bangor University and Aberystwyth University, Bangor University
Find on
Published:
11 June 2015
Online ISBN:
9780191771996
Print ISBN:
9780197265833
Publisher:
British Academy

Abstract

This volume aims to rethink critical assumptions about a particular type of medieval manuscript: the miscellany. A miscellany is a multi-text manuscript, made up of mixed contents, often in a mixture of languages; such a volume might be the work of one compiler or several, and might have been put together over a short period of time or over many years (even over several generations). Such variety proves problematic when attempting to form critical judgements, particularly in terms of terminology and definitions. These issues are explored in the introduction, and the fifteen essays that follow discuss a great number of manuscript miscellanies produced in Britain in the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries. Some of the chapters offer new insights into very well-known miscellanies, whilst others draw attention to little-known volumes. Whilst previous studies of the miscellany have restricted themselves to disciplinary or linguistic boundaries, this collection uniquely draws on the expertise of specialists in the rich range of vernacular languages used in Britain in the later Middle Ages (Anglo-French, Middle English, Older Scots, Middle Welsh). As a result, illuminating comparisons are drawn between miscellany manuscripts that were the products of different geographical areas and cultures. Collectively the chapters in Insular Books explore the wide range of heterogeneous manuscripts that may be defined as miscellanies, and model approaches to their study that will permit a deeper and more nuanced understanding of the production of these assemblages, as well as their circulation and reception in their own age and beyond.

Contents
Close
This Feature Is Available To Subscribers Only

Sign In or Create an Account

Close

This PDF is available to Subscribers Only

View Article Abstract & Purchase Options

For full access to this pdf, sign in to an existing account, or purchase an annual subscription.

Close