Copyright by William Joseph Taylor 2009
Copyright by William Joseph Taylor 2009 The Dissertation Committee for William Joseph Taylor certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: ‘That country beyond the Humber’: The English North, Regionalism, and the Negotiation of Nation in Medieval English Literature Committee: _________________________ Elizabeth Scala, co-supervisor _________________________ Daniel Birkholz, co-supervisor _________________________ Marjorie Curry Woods _________________________ Mary Blockley _________________________ Geraldine Heng ‘That country beyond the Humber’: The English North, Regionalism, and the Negotiation of Nation in Medieval English Literature by William Joseph Taylor, B.A., M.A. Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Texas at Austin December 2009 For Laura Poi le vidi in un carro trïumfale, Laurëa mia con suoi santi atti schifi sedersi in parte, et cantar dolcemente. (Petrarch, Canzoniere CCXXV) Acknowledgements A number of individuals have supported me throughout the writing of this dissertation and in my graduate work. It gives me great pleasure to acknowledge their contributions here. First, I want to thank my two advisors and mentors, Elizabeth Scala and Daniel Birkholz. Liz Scala, for several years now, has provided me a steady balance of tough love, rigorous expectation, and critical acumen for which I can never repay. Her advice, her tutelage, and her direction were vital to my development as a scholar and to the success I have already known in academia. Months of dissertation anxiety and the crafting of a far-fetched project were met by Liz’s emphatically simple suggestion: “Why don’t you work on the North?” She could only ask this because she visited each of my professors individually to inquire as to my interests in seminars, and her inquiry testifies to her dedication as an advisor and teacher.
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