Companion to Medieval English Literature and Culture, c.1350 - c.1500

Peter Brown is Professor of Medieval English Literature at the University of Kent. His book publications include A Companion to Chaucer (Wiley-Blackwell, 2000), Reading Dreams: The Interpretation of Dreams from Chaucer to Shakespeare (1999), Chaucer at Work: The Making of the Canterbury Tales (1994) and, with Andrew Butcher, The Age of Saturn: Literature and History in the Canterbury Tales (1991).

• List of Illustrations ix Notes on Contributors xAcknowledgements xvAbbreviations xviIntroduction 1PART I Overviews 71. Critical Approaches 9David Raybin2. English Society in the Later Middle Ages: Deference, Ambition and Conflict 25S. H. Rigby3. Religious Authority and Dissent 40Mishtooni Bose4. City and Country, Wealth and Labour 56Sarah Rees Jones5. Women's Voices and Roles 74Carol M. MealePART II The Production and Reception of Texts 916. Manuscripts and Readers 93A. S. G. Edwards7. From Manuscript to Modern Text 107Julia Boffey8. Translation and Society 123Catherine Batt PART III Language and Literature 1419. The Languages of Medieval Britain 143Laura Wright10. The Forms of Speech 159Donka Minkova11. The Forms of Verse 176Donka MinkovaPART IV Encounters with Other Cultures 19712. England and France 199Ardis Butterfi eld13. Britain and Italy: Trade, Travel, Translation 215Nick Havely14. England's Antiquities: Middle English Literature and the Classical Past 231Christopher Baswell15. Jews, Saracens, 'Black Men', Tartars: England in a World of Racial Difference 247Geraldine HengPART V Special Themes 27116. War and Chivalry 273Richard W. Kaeuper and Montgomery Bohna17. Literature and Law 292Richard Firth Green18. Images 307Peter Brown19. Love 322Barry WindeattPART VI Genres 33920. Middle English Romance 341Thomas Hahn and Dana M. Symons21. Writing Nation: Shaping Identity in Medieval Historical Narratives 358Raluca L. Radulescu22. Dream Poems 374Helen Phillips23. Lyric 387Rosemary Greentree24. Literature of Religious Instruction 406E. A. Jones25. Mystical and Devotional Literature 423Denise N. Baker26. Accounts of Lives 437Kathleen Ashley27. Medieval English Theatre: Codes and Genres 454Meg Twycross28. Morality and Interlude Drama 473Darryll GrantleyPART VII Readings 48929. York Mystery Plays 491Pamela King30. The Book of Margery Kempe 507Ruth Evans31. Julian of Norwich 522Santha Bhattacharji32. Piers Plowman 537Stephen Kelly33. Subjectivity and Ideology in the Canterbury Tales 554Mark Miller34. John Gower and John Lydgate: Forms and Norms of Rhetorical Culture 569J. Allan Mitchell35. Thomas Hoccleve, La Male Regle 585Nicholas Perkins36. Discipline and Relaxation in the Poetry of Robert Henryson 604R. James Goldstein37. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight 619Kevin Gustafson38. Blood and Love in Malory's Morte Darthur 634Catherine La FargeIndex 649

"Overall, this book, another one of Peter Brown's Herculean labors, is a true gift to medieval scholarship. A compendium of useful information and bibliographic references, it will be useful to a wide variety of medieval-ists, whether undergraduates, graduates, faculty, or independent scholars, formany years to come." (Modern Philology, 2 November 2011) "A very solid introduction to the scansion of fourteenth- and fifteenth-century verse is published in the new volume of Wiley-Blackwell's Companion series: A Companion to Medieval Literature and Culture, c.1350-c.1500, edited by Peter Brown." (Ywes, 28 August 2011)“These thorough, engaging essays decertify many canonical certainties … Highly Recommended.” CHOICE“Another grand project that combines breadth and depth … A highly eminent collection of thirty-eight contributions ranges over a variety of topics.”Medium Aevum"There is plenty here for everybody, and all of it written in a way accessible to the general reader as well as to the student, or fellow specialist."Reference Reviews