Reading Robert Thornton's Library
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Reading Robert Thornton’s Library: Romance and Nationalism in Lincoln, Cathedral Library MS 91 and London, British Library MS Additional 31042 By Danny Gorny Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctorate of Philosophy degree in English. Department of English Faculty of Arts University of Ottawa © Danny Gorny, Ottawa, Canada, 2013 ii ABSTRACT Robert Thornton of East Newton, Yorkshire (c.1367-c.1465) is the most important scribe of late-medieval England: the only amateur scribe we know to be responsible for the concurrent production of multiple manuscript anthologies. This project constitutes the first extended study devoted exclusively to Robert Thornton and his books that treats them both as independent and as in conversation with each other. By uniting the concerns of codicology and cultural history, we can gain new insights into the effect of each manuscript’s textual sequences while also considering the effect of the distribution of texts among both manuscripts. Moreover, by examining Thornton’s romances in their original material and social contexts, we can read them as they would have been encountered by Thornton and his intended readers, and gain insight into the social and cultural anxieties that may have led to their organization and distribution among his two books. Chapter 1 compares Thornton’s compilations to those of analogous manuscripts, and demonstrates that Thornton took a more active role than most contemporary compilers did in rearranging and editing his texts in order to emphasise shared themes and interests within his books. Chapters 2 and 3 of this dissertation examine the nature of each of Thornton’s manuscripts in turn. Chapter 2 demonstrates that Lincoln Cathedral Library MS 91 is a book meant to be used in the maintenance of social, spiritual, and physical health, written to be a useful tool for as wide a range of people as possible. Chapter 3 demonstrates that British Library MS Additional 31042 is a history book that traces the development of Christian civilization from its beginnings in the Holy Land to its present form in Thornton’s England. This dissertation then assesses Thornton’s whole library. Chapter 4 examines the literary contexts of Thornton’s romances, demonstrating that they are divided into thematic iii groups that emphasise conflict between the interests of individuals and the interests of the individual and communal identities with which they associate. Chapter 5 examines the social context of Thornton’s romances, demonstrating that Thornton employs the discourse of English nationalism produced during the Council of Constance (1414-1418), and that he therefore distributed his romances in order to emphasise England’s superiority to France. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost I would like to thank my advisor, Dr. Andrew Taylor, for his intellectual support, his keen eye for argument, and his breadth of expertise. Andrew turned out to be the best supervisor I could have hoped for in numerous ways I never expected. His encouragement to me to keep up with my hobbies in order to gain perspective kept me from falling into a rut, and his astute advice on time management ensured I was always progressing. Without his encouragement, patience, and support, this dissertation would not have been possible. I would also like to thank Dr. Geoff Rector, who, over the course of numerous conversations, has encouraged me to step back and look at the big picture more times than I can count. I must acknowledge the professors under whom I have studied before beginning this project. In particular, I would like to thank Dr. Siobhain Bly Calkin for introducing me to both Middle English romance and to manuscript studies in general. I would also like to thank Dr. Janice Schroeder for instilling within me my passion for literary studies as a window into alien cultures, Dr. Victoria Burke for sharing her almost-outsider’s perspective on my work, and Dr. Kouky Fianu for teaching me how to deal with history. I would like to extend special thanks to my friends, medievalists and others, who have seen me to the end of this project. Adrienne Mills’ encouragement and advice have renewed my excitement in this project on various occasions, sometimes at moments when things looked quite bleak, and her curiosity has motivated me to continue my work. Kristin Bourassa has helped out with everything from brainstorming to editing, and has kept me on the straight-and-narrow with her historian’s perspective. Special thanks must go to Frances Rowat for staving off confusion and panic, especially in the editing process, and providing v me with the occasional meal to keep me going; to Valerie Sabaliauskas for her support over the course of the year of the knee-tentacles; to Nicholas Pacella for keeping me active in my downtime; and to Nick Milne for his patience with my increasingly odd questions about Catholicism. Finally, I would like to thank Cecille Freeman and Amanda Stiglick for being the way of the future and reminding me that we’re all in this together. The annual conference of the Canadian Society of Medievalists has provided me with numerous opportunities to share my work. I would especially like to thank the CSM for giving me the opportunity to meet and speak with Rhiannon Purdie and Ardis Butterfield, both of whom inspired me to take on this project. This project was made possible with the generous support of the Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges, and Universities (Ontario Graduate Scholarship) and the University of Ottawa. I would like to thank the Faculty of Graduate and Postgraduate Studies, CUPE, and the APTPUO for their generous support for travel on research and to conferences where I shared my work. This project depended on work with original sources. I am grateful to the British Library for allowing me access to not only Thornton’s manuscript, but also a number of other contemporary manuscripts I was able to examine alongside it. I would also like to thank the Lincoln Cathedral Library, and particularly Dr. Nicholas Bennett, for access to Thornton’s manuscript and for exceedingly good taste in meat pies for lunch. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ii Acknowledgements iv Introduction 1 Chapter 1 – Robert Thornton and his Manuscripts 9 1.1 – Life and Milieu 12 1.2 – Codicological Makeup and Scribal Practise 16 1.3 – Editorial Practise and Patterns of Textual Transmission 28 1.4 – Thornton as Compilator and Author 42 Chapter 2 – Lincoln Cathedral Library MS 91: A Guide to Living 51 2.1 – Organizational Features 52 2.2 – The Romances 56 2.2.1 – Exemplarity in the Prose Alexander and the Morte Arthure 62 2.2.2 – Exemplarity in the Shorter Romances 78 2.2.2.1 – Familial Romances 81 2.2.2.2 – Feudal Romances 94 2.3 – Secularity and Spirituality in Thornton’s Religious Texts 106 2.4 – Thornton’s Reference Texts: Practicality and Utlility 116 Chapter 3 – British Library MS Additional 31042: Cultural Fragmentation 119 3.1 – Organizational Features 121 3.2 – Christian History, Narrative and Romance 140 3.3.1 – The Siege of Jerusalem: Establishing Roman Christianity 147 3.3.2 – The Crusading Romances and the Failure of Absolutism 157 3.4 – The Debate Poems and the Roots of Disunity 169 3.5 – Historicity and Sympathy in the London Thornton MS 175 Chapter 4 – Romance in Robert Thornton’s Library 178 4.1 – Why Romance? 182 4.2 – The Lincoln Romances: Individuals in Crisis 193 4.3 – The London Romances: Communities at War 206 4.4 – Self and Society in Thornton’s Library 220 Chapter 5 – Nationalism in Robert Thornton’s Library 224 5.1 – Nationalism, Identity Formation, and Romance 226 5.2 – The Council of Constance and the Formulation of Medieval English Identity 235 5.3 – Thornton’s Nostalgia and Fifteenth-Century English Identity 245 5.4 – The Representation of England in the Lincoln MS 259 5.5 – The Representation of France in the London MS 271 5.6 – Thornton and the Nation 287 Conclusion 291 Appendix A - Contents of Lincoln, Cathedral Library MS 91 294 Appendix B - Contents of London, British Library MS Add. 31042 303 Bibliography 307 1 Introduction Introduction Robert Thornton (c.1397-c.1468), Lord of East Newton, Yorkshire, is now one of the best-known manuscript compilers of late medieval England. The two manuscripts Thornton wrote between 1430 and 1450, Lincoln, Cathedral Library MS 91 and London, British Library MS Additional 31042, preserve numerous texts extant in few or no other witnesses, among them the Prose Alexander, the alliterative Morte Arthure, Sir Perceval of Galles, The Siege of Milan, and Wynnere and Wastoure. Thornton also preserves the best witnesses of texts such as The Parlement of the Thre Ages and Sir Eglamour of Artois.1 Because Thornton stands out as one of the few Middle English amateur scribes responsible for the concurrent production and compilation of multiple manuscripts, provides us with a unique opportunity to examine the work of a medieval reader, editor and compiler. Although each of Thornton’s manuscripts is long and complex enough to warrant a monograph on its own, scholars have tended to read his books piecemeal, limiting their exposure only to his more attractive texts or to those that best fit the argument at hand. This approach is understandable: Thornton’s books together amount to over five hundred pages of apparently disparate material, from romances to devotional aids to a medical manual in one book, and from Christian history, to crusading romance, to discourses on mercy, and debates in the other. They are but rarely discussed as mutually interactive. Medieval miscellanies are often more internally coherent than an initial assessment might suggest (Mills and Rogers; Shailor).