Literary Codicologies: The Conditions of Middle English Literary Production, c. 1280-1415 by Helen Marshall A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Centre for Medieval Studies University of Toronto © Copyright by Helen Marshall 2014 Literary Codicologies: The Conditions of Middle English Literary Production, c. 1280-1415 Helen Marshall Doctor of Philosophy Centre for Medieval Studies University of Toronto 2014 Abstract This dissertation studies three important textual projects that speak to the conditions of Middle English literary production from 1280-1415: the West Midlands collection of saints’ lives compiled at the end of the thirteenth century known as the South English Legendary; NLS, MS Advocates 19.2.1 (Auchinleck), a compilation of romances, historical and religious texts copied by six scribes in London in the 1330s; and the Prick of Conscience, an anonymous penitential treatise from the north of England and one of the most widely produced Middle English texts of the second half of the fourteenth century. Central to this dissertation is a methodology that connects techniques of bibliographic description including dialect analysis, comparison of layout and booklet structure, and identification of scribal hands with a holistic examination of how texts were produced and circulated. This dissertation argues, firstly, England’s vernacular literary culture was shaped by the relationship between manuscripts and texts; secondly, that the manuscript producing activities of secular and religious manuscript users, and of various institutions (monastic, fraternal, civil), were interpenetrative rather than discrete; thirdly, that the production of Middle English manuscripts was never isolated from other languages and other kinds of textual production including documentary production and the production of religious books; and, fourthly, that England’s vernacular literary culture at the national level depended ii upon and emerged from local instances of production, the circulation of manuscripts and texts beyond their site of production, and the institutional and cultural ties that facilitated the resulting networks of textual exchange. Although the textual projects under study in this dissertation differ in date, genre, origin and form, they show how certain elements—local resources, the availability of exemplars, the organization and training of scribes, and techniques of book-making— contributed to and sustained the development of a national Middle English literary culture. iii Dedication To my sister Laura who kept me company during the long, dark teatime of the soul. iv Acknowledgments I began writing the “Acknowledgements” to this dissertation on April 25th, 2013—approximately four months before I handed in my dissertation. I remember the date because it marked a turning point for me in the way I considered the project: it was the moment at which I passed from the stage I have almost fondly come to call the “scary middles” to the “end game”—when the date of submission was set firmly in my mind and the light at the end of the tunnel seemed in sight. But as I have continued to edit, redraft, reshape, expand, delete, and generally whip into shape this dissertation, I have returned as much to my “Acknowledgements” as I have every other chapter. This is because when I was in the “scary middles” it felt like I was alone, and it is only as I approached the end of that struggle that I was able to see, genuinely, how many people were there alongside me all the way through and the inexpressible debt of gratitude that I owe them. This dissertation could not have been written without the tremendous support of my family and friends who have kept me fed and clothed and as happy as a doctoral student can hope to be. I want to single out as well the contributions of my adviser Alexandra Gillespie who continues to amaze me with her dedication to her students and her impressive command of the field. She has been both an inspiration in times of intellectual discovery and a cattle-prod in times of exhaustion—in short, she is a force of nature, and it has been my pleasure and privilege to work with her. Thanks also go to the many scholars who have helped me on my way and served as guides in their own right at one stage or another in this process: Arthur Bahr, Simon Horobin, William Robins, David Townsend and Daniel Wakelin. Further to this, I owe a tremendous thanks to my fellow graduate students (of whom there are many I’ve benefited from), but most specifically, Peter Buchanan, Emma Gorst, Kathleen Ogden and Christopher Pugh for your encouragement, your help, and your inspiration. Lastly, I want to thank my those friends who listened to me babble with both enthusiasm and distress about the project that I was undertaking, and for providing the necessary hand-holding to get me to the finish line: Tricia George, Jennifer McDermott, Sandra Kasturi, Michael Matheson, Sophie Roberts, Robert Shearman and Brett Alexander Savory. Lastly, I humbly acknowledge the support of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council which awarded me an MA-level Canada Graduate Scholarship in 2006, a Ph. D-level v Canada Graduate Scholarship in 2007, and a Michael Smith Foreign Study Supplement to conduct research in England in 2009. vi Table of Contents Dedication ...................................................................................................................................... iv Acknowledgments ........................................................................................................................... v Table of Contents .......................................................................................................................... vii List of Plates ................................................................................................................................... x List of Figures ................................................................................................................................ xi List of Abbreviations .................................................................................................................... xii List of Appendices ....................................................................................................................... xiii Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 1 1 The Conditions of Middle English Literary Production ............................................................ 1 2 Understanding “English” Writing: The Iceberg Model ............................................................. 6 3 Rethinking England’s National Literary Cultures.................................................................... 12 3.1 National Cultures, National Communities ........................................................................ 13 3.2 National Literary Cultures and the Circulation of Texts .................................................. 15 4 Re-Imagining the Grounds of English Literature ..................................................................... 18 Chapter 1 Models of National Book Production ......................................................................... 24 1 Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 24 2 Books, Bookmen, and Book-Making in the Middle Ages ....................................................... 27 3 Fragmentation and Miscellaneity? Booklet Culture in Late Medieval England ...................... 45 4 Major Texts, Major Authors .................................................................................................... 56 Chapter 2 “Of Holi Dawes Maked”: Making Early South English Legendaries ........................ 67 1 Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 67 2 Contexts and Backgrounds ....................................................................................................... 69 2.1 The Authorship of the SEL ............................................................................................... 69 3 Producing the South English Legendaries ............................................................................... 78 vii 3.1 The “Redactionist” Approach and the “Fluid Corpus” Approach .................................... 78 3.1.1 The Redactionist Approach ................................................................................... 78 3.1.2 The “Fluid Corpus” Approach .............................................................................. 81 3.1.3 The SEL as an Open Compilation ......................................................................... 84 3.1.4 The SEL as a Fixed or Consolidated Compilation .............................................. 101 4 Conclusions ............................................................................................................................ 122 Chapter 3 “Of Freynsch No Latin Nil Y Tel More”: Assembling the Auchinleck Manuscript, 1330-1340 .......................................................................................................... 125 1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 125 2 Backgrounds and Contexts ....................................................................................................