Fifteenth Century Literary Culture with Particular

FIFTEENTH CENTURY LITERARY CULTURE WITH PARTICULAR* REFERENCE TO THE PATTERNS OF PATRONAGE, **FOCUSSING ON THE PATRONAGE OF THE STAFFORD FAMILY DURING THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY Elizabeth Ann Urquhart Submitted for the Degree of Ph.!)., September, 1985. Department of English Language, University of Sheffield. .1 ''CONTENTS page SUMMARY ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ill INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER 1 The Stafford Family 1066-1521 12 CHAPTER 2 How the Staffords could Afford Patronage 34 CHAPTER 3 The PrIce of Patronage 46 CHAPTER 4 The Staffords 1 Ownership of Books: (a) The Nature of the Evidence 56 (b) The Scope of the Survey 64 (c) Survey of the Staffords' Book Ownership, c. 1372-1521 66 (d) Survey of the Bourgchiers' Book Ownership, c. 1420-1523 209 CHAPTER 5 Considerations Arising from the Study of Stafford and Bourgchier Books 235 CHAPTER 6 A Brief Discussion of Book Ownership and Patronage Patterns amongst some of the Staffords' and Bourgchiers' Contemporaries 252 CONCLUSION A Piece in the Jigsaw 293 APPENDIX Duke Edward's Purchases of Printed Books and Manuscripts: Books Mentioned in some Surviving Accounts. 302 NOTES 306 TABLES 367 BIBLIOGRAPHY 379 FIFTEENTR CENTURY LITERARY CULTURE WITH PARTICULAR REFERENCE TO THE PATTERNS OF PATRONAGE, FOCUSSING ON THE PATRONAGE OF THE STAFFORD FAMILY DURING THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. Elizabeth Ann Urquhart. Submitted for the Degree of Ph.D., September, 1985. Department of English Language, University of Sheffield. SUMMARY The aim of this study is to investigate the nature of the r61e played by literary patronage in fostering fifteenth century English literature. The topic is approached by means of a detailed examination of the books and patronage of the Stafford family. The fifteenth century witnessed the "triumph of English" and its acceptance as a prestigious literary language; it was an age interested in literature. That interest frequently manifested self in the patronage of new works in English. The patterns of patronage were altering in various ways, but the patronage of indi- vidual magn&tes still served as an example. The choice of one noble family as a focal point offered a "ready-made" and well-documented social group for analysis; in an allied field, histOrical studies have proved immensely informative. Similar studies are contributing to our understanding of fifteenth century literary history, The pattern is still incomplete, and there are several families worthy of andawaiting investigation, The Staffords are such a family, They were known to have been involved in literary activity, including some patronage; 'they were powerful; and they survived the fifteenth century, offering some scope for a search for family literary patterns and patterns of book-ownership and acquisition, The background to this study is provided by the first three chapters, which discuss the Staffords 1 political and financial history, and the costs of book-ownership and patronage, The problem,' atic nature of the evidence for their literary activity is discussed, followed by a survey of the books associated with the Staffords and their Bourgchier kin of the half-blood during the years 1372-1533. Various considerations arising from this survey are then set out. The patterns of Stafford and Bourgchier book-ownership and literary patronage are then compared with those discernible for some contemporaries, and established as a context for the creation of fifteenth century English literature, I ACKNOWLEDGE WITH GRATITUDE THE ADVICE OFFERED BY PROFESSOR N F BLAKE, PROFESSOR D A PEARSALL, PROFESSOR E SALTER, DR J D BURNLEY, DR A I DOYLE, MS. L. McGOLDRICK, MRS G SPRIGGS, AND MANY OTHERS. THANKS ARE ALSO DUE TO GRAHAM, WHO LIVED WITH THIS FOR SEVERAL YEARS, AND AMANDA WHO TYPED IT. 'INTRODUCTION The aim of this study Is to investigate the nature of the r6le played by literary patronage in fostering fifteenth century English literary culture. The topic is approached by means of a detailed examination of the books and patronage of a noble English family, the Staffords. Fifteenth century England may not look like promising terrain in which to search for literary culture. There is a lingering tendency 1 to view the fifteenth century as a period 'disinherited of literature', 2 'the despair of most literary critics', or - more generously - as some kind of hiatus between the glories of Ricardian and Renaissance literature, a 'shallow trough rather than an abysss in the history of 3 English poetry'. Yet it was also the century which witnessed the "triumph of English" and its acceptance as a prestigious literary language, largely thanks to the brave example of Chaucer, 'of wel seyinge 4 first in oure language'. Fifteenth century Englishmen - particularly fifteenth century English poets - may have had some difficulty in absor- bing all the rich complexities of Chaucer's literary language, but they 5 still attempted to follow where the master had trodden. The fifteenth century fostered an enormous growth in the volume of works written in English, whose 'sheer bulk alone affords prima facie evidence of the interest Of the century in the written word.' 6 Admittedly, not overmuch was exactly new, but it was new in English. As Pearsall puts it, 'Translation is the characteristic activity of the fifteenth century, as if English, coming late to the scene, had to absorb into itself a means of learning and learned writing before it could move forward.17 Although we may not appreciate many of the unspectacular (and occasidn- 8 ally 'elephantine' results), there was certainly a considerable amount of literary activity, and the processes which stimulated it are worthy of attention. One of these stimuli was literary patronage. Bennett speaks of the fifteenth century as an age 'interested in literature', 9 and one of the ways in which this interest frequently manifested itself was in the patronage of new works in English - new works on old themes, often enough, but new works in English nonetheless. As Lucas points out, 'in terms of sheer volume English literary patronage reached a peak in the fifteenth century. ' 1 ° It is not just the extension of literary patronage to works in English as opposed to French or Latin) which is of interest, however, but changes in the patterns of patronage, and the rble of the aristocracy as a source of patronage. Prior to this period, medieval literary patronage in England seems to have followed a fairly regular pattern. In its simplest terms, the bare outline was usually as follows: the patron (for various reasons) wished for a piece on a particular topic, asked another person to write it, received the finished product, and possibly paid for it. The moti- vations persuading both parties to embark on this enterprise were, naturally, less simple. Why, for instance, did the patron want the item he commissioned? One reason might be the patron's wish for a work that presented particular kinds of information in a readily assimilable form, perhaps in the vernacular rather than Latin - his own reference book. This might be kept for his sole use, but prof:41)1y some early patrons might be moved, like the fifteenth century Sir Miles Stapleton, 1 1 'to profyte hem Oat schuld come after hym..- Another good reasdn was provided by piety. This might result in a request for an eglifying 2 devotional treatise on the "life" of a saint for whom the patron had a partfcular devotion, for instanCe: a "good work". 12 Again, the patron might have had an eye to others' benefit, and this was probably the case with works of entertainment too, since 'books were scarce and it was ordinary good manners to share their contents among a group'. 13 There may also have been complex motives of personal vanity involved. Literary patronage was a magnificent expression of the patron's literary good taste (and ability to afford the luxuries of 'fine living' ), 14 particularly if the work was circulated with a handsome dedication that promised to confer 15 fame on the patron. One aspect of this was the patronage of an "ancestral romance", which reflected the glories of an (often spur- ious) ancestor's achievements on to the patron, and could be used 16 for propaganda purposes. This use of carefully directed literary patronage as propaganda is also a reminder that the patron could enjoy a certain amount of control over what was written, choosing the topic and perhaps selecting certain aspects for special emphasis: 17 'The lord paid the piper and was entitled to call the tune.' Another feature of the basic patronage pattern which provokes some questions is the patron's choice of writer. Acquaintance with the writer was perhaps the most usual reason for the choice; this could come about in a number of ways. Prior to the fifteenth century, the writer was probably most likely to come to notice through being a member of the patron's own household such as his chaplain or secretary, but might attract the Oatron's attention through performing similar functions in the household of a friend or relative. Members of reli- gious foundations with which the patron was associated might also be 3 18 called upon for contributions. Occasionally the writer might recommend himself, but such initiatives were less frequent. So far the advantages have all seemed to be on the patron's side, but there were also some advantages for the writer in this transaction. The most obvious was the prospect of reward. Although one might expect financial reward to be the norm, there are not many English records of monetary payments in return for literary commissions, and of promised rewards being paid, as frank as William the Clerk's praise of ... sire Raul, son seignuor Por qui il fu en cest labor, Ou'il li a ben guerdone, Promis li a ben done, 19 Ben li a covenant tenu.

Load more