The Sociology of Middle English Romance: Three Late Medieval Compilers
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
THE SOCIOLOGY OF MIDDLE ENGLISH ROMANCE: THREE LATE MEDIEVAL COMPILERS DISSERTATION Prepared in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Michael Robert Johnston, M.Litt. The Ohio State University 2007 Dissertation Committee: Richard Firth Green, Advisor Frank Coulson Lisa Kiser Ethan Knapp ____________________________________ Advisor English Graduate Program ABSTRACT My dissertation brings a new perspective to the study of Middle English romance by demonstrating how manuscript evidence can both enrich and challenge critical assumptions about the genre. The material form in which romances were encountered in the Middle Ages gives us insight into how its original readers would have encountered the genre. Such evidence should be central to our attempts to place romance within cultural history. My dissertation synthesizes the concerns of cultural history and codicology—disciplines within medieval studies that are not often considered together— by examining four compilations of late medieval romance. In each chapter, I advance an argument about the various textual interpretations suggested by the material form of a single manuscript. In particular, I examine the thematic patterns emerging across the romances within each manuscript. The main line of investigation centers on how the romances in each manuscript are arranged, and how groupings of texts encourage readers of the manuscript to attend to certain issues in the texts. I also take into account how the other (“non-romance”) texts in each manuscript affect the interpretation of each individual romance. Finally, I consider how the romances relate to, reflect and/or refract i the specific interests of their compilers and how the social position of each compiler (e.g., his class identity, his regional identity, his political affiliations) shaped the ways in which he collected and preserved his texts. Each manuscript raises a unique set of questions with regards to the romances it contains, ranging from the clash of traditional aristocratic values with mercantile identity (as in Chapter One) to the relationship between largesse and estate management (as in Chapter Four). Chapter One addresses London, British Library MS Harley 2252, a commonplace book compiled by John Colyns, a merchant in early sixteenth-century London. The romances in this collection were the product of a team of professional book producers, and Colyns purchased these texts and included them at the center of his collection. The rest of the pieces in this manuscript are in Colyns’s hand. Both romances in this collection, Ipomadon and the Stanzaic Morte Arthure, give voice to a traditional social ethic, one which connects virtue with nobility of blood. The pieces Colyns himself copied, by contrast, exhibit a “mercantile” social ethic, based on a model of social mobility through competition. A bibliographical analysis also bears out this contrast between the two romances and the texts written in Colyns’s own hand: Colyns’s own texts are the product of an amateur book producer, the product of one collecting items for personal consumption. The two romances, on the other hand, bear the typical signs of professionally produced books from the fifteenth century. I show, then, that contrasting material forms of these two groups of texts complement their ideological tension. Chapter Two is a study of Lincoln, Cathedral Library MS 91, an anthology of romances compiled by Robert Thornton, a middling member of the North Yorkshire ii gentry, over the period 1420-65. Thornton organizes his romances into two distinct units. When read together, the texts in the first section (the Prose Life of Alexander and the Alliterative Morte Arthure) pose challenging questions about the stability of monarchical power. As I demonstrate through a codicological analysis, the placement of these texts at the head of the manuscript was a conscious choice by Thornton with important thematic consequences for his manuscript, for he lived in a world dominated not by the king but by warring noble families in the run-up to the Wars of the Roses. Thus, these texts evincing a “cool distance” from the crown make sense, given the pressures of Thornton’s political situation. A second group of five romances is found in the next section of this manuscript. These texts are less complicated, as they triumphantly celebrate two issues at the heart of gentry life in late medieval England: father-son relationships (mediating concerns over inheritance), coupled with the desire for social mobility (particularly of the landed gentry into the ranks of the titled nobility). Chapter Three takes up London, British Library MS Additional 31042, also compiled by Robert Thornton. To date, scholars have claimed that the romances in this manuscript intimate a form of affective piety. However, I urge a new direction in our understanding of Thornton’s religiosity by demonstrating that he reserved Lincoln, Cathedral Library MS 91 for more traditionally pious texts, while in the Additional Manuscript he has gathered texts that effect a different religious ethic: in particular, these texts figure forth an aggressive, militaristic Christianity that gains its strength from the suffering of Jews and Moslems. iii Chapter Four investigates Princeton, University Library MS Taylor 9, compiled by the Irelands of Hale, a gentry family in fifteenth-century Lancashire. This manuscript contains only three romances, The Awntyrs off Arthure, Sir Amadace, and The Avowing of Arthur. Taken together, these three texts attempt to define and test an aristocratic gift- giving economy, wherein one does not need to reckon costs, and one can give liberally without fear of the supplies drying up. Such attitudes were constitutive of aristocratic ideology in the later Middle Ages; however, these three texts have received scant critical attention, and no one has yet considered how they work in conjunction as a mouthpiece for such an ideology. Furthermore, the records of the manorial court of Hale, which was run by the Irelands, are bound up with these three romances. These court records show the Irelands collecting and tabulating their annual feudal dues from each of their tenants. In conjunction with the romances, which insist on an abundance that is provided by God and does not need to be counted, a significant contrast emerges. In this manuscript, then, ideology comes into contact with the real relations of production. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS One of my primary debts of gratitude goes to my advisor, Richard Firth Green, whose consistent generosity has made the dissertation experience surprisingly enjoyable. By my count, I have now applied for twenty-one grants or fellowships, and through all of my requests for letters on my behalf, his support for my work has never waned. But beyond his generosity in writing letters, I have truly appreciated and benefited from his open office door. By this point in my academic career, I have spent countless hours in his office talking over ideas in progress or discussing my work in its various stages. Such conversations have been one of the highlights of my career as a graduate student. I am also indebted to the other members of my committee. Frank Coulson first introduced me to palaeography—I can only hope that the deliberate approach to manuscripts that he urged in the classroom has rubbed off on me. He has patiently checked my Latin and even took the time to give me a private lesson in codicology at Ohio State’s Rare Books and Manuscripts Room. Lisa Kiser’s insightful comments have contributed to my project immensely. In particular, her careful and detailed attention to my prose has fostered a precision in my writing style that will benefit me greatly in the v future. Finally, Ethan Knapp has consistently challenged me to “unpack” my theoretical assumptions, and several conversations with him have sent me scurrying off to read Benjamin, Jameson, Lukács, Macherey, and Williams. I owe much of the theoretical architecture of this project to these stimulating conversations. I must also acknowledge those professors under whom I studied before beginning this project. Their insights into literature and their patient guidance form a large part of why I chose to pursue a graduate degree in English in the first place. In particular, I have fond memories of the faculty at John Carroll University. Fr Francis Ryan, SJ, first inspired my interest in Middle English literature by encouraging me to read Disney’s The Sword in the Stone and Richard Harris and Vanessa Redgrave’s Camelot next to Geoffrey of Monmouth and Thomas Malory. In addition, I received excellent instruction from Sheila McGinn, who taught me how to write an essay longer than five pages, and Carin Ruff, who helped shepherd me through the process of selecting and applying to graduate school. I also spent a wonderful year at the University of St Andrews being introduced to the canon of Middle English literature, and I am particularly grateful to Ian Johnson for his support of my work and his infectious enthusiasm for Langland, and Rhiannon Purdie for her diligent guidance on my M.Litt. thesis. At The Ohio State University, two courses in particular—both outside the realm of Middle English—were fundamental in shaping my dissertation. David Brewer’s course on Historicisms provided the opportunity to begin formulating thoughts on how one could bring archival work into conversation with literary criticism, and this question has continued to drive my work. John N. King’s History of the Book course first vi introduced me to the theoretical works of Jerome McGann and D. F. McKenzie, and his patient encouragement of my study of Robert Crowley’s editions of Piers Plowman resulted in my first professional publication. In addition, courses and conversations with Alastair Minnis and Drew Jones have provided me with scholarly and pedagogical models that I will draw on for years to come.