The Linguistic Past in Twelfth-Century Britain
The Linguistic Past in Twelfth-Century Britain

Author: Sara Harris

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2017-10-12

Total Pages: 295

ISBN-13: 1316851559

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How was the complex history of Britain's languages understood by twelfth-century authors? This book argues that the social, political and linguistic upheavals that occurred in the wake of the Norman Conquest intensified later interest in the historicity of languages. An atmosphere of enquiry fostered vernacular literature's prestige and led to a newfound sense of how ancient languages could be used to convey historical claims. The vernacular hence became an important site for the construction and memorialisation of dynastic, institutional and ethnic identities. This study demonstrates the breadth of interest in the linguistic past across different social groups and the striking variety of genre used to depict it, including romance, legal translation, history, poetry and hagiography. Through a series of detailed case studies, Sara Harris shows how specific works represent key aspects of the period's imaginative engagement with English, Brittonic, Latin and French language development.

The Linguistic Past in Twelfth-Century Britain
The Linguistic Past in Twelfth-Century Britain

Author: Sara Harris

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2017-10-12

Total Pages: 295

ISBN-13: 1107180058

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This book shows how depictions of etymology were used by twelfth-century poets, translators, bureaucrats and historians to portray Britain's past.

The Long Twelfth-Century View of the Anglo-Saxon Past
The Long Twelfth-Century View of the Anglo-Saxon Past

Author: Martin Brett

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2016-03-03

Total Pages: 438

ISBN-13: 1317025156

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Scholars have long been interested in the extent to which the Anglo-Saxon past can be understood using material written, and produced, in the twelfth century; and simultaneously in the continued importance (or otherwise) of the Anglo-Saxon past in the generations following the Norman Conquest of England. In order to better understand these issues, this volume provides a series of essays that moves scholarship forward in two significant ways. Firstly, it scrutinises how the Anglo-Saxon past continued to be reused and recycled throughout the longue durée of the twelfth century, as opposed to the early decades that are usually covered. Secondly, by bringing together scholars who are experts in various different scholarly disciplines, the volume deals with a much broader range of historical, linguistic, legal, artistic, palaeographical and cultic evidence than has hitherto been the case. Divided into four main parts: The Anglo-Saxon Saints; Anglo-Saxon England in the Narrative of Britain; Anglo-Saxon Law and Charter; and Art-history and the French Vernacular, it scrutinises the majority of different genres of source material that are vital in any study of early medieval British history. In so doing the resultant volume will become a standard reference point for students and scholars alike interested in the ways in which the Anglo-Saxon past continued to be of importance and interest throughout the twelfth century.

Literary Variety and the Writing of History in Britain's Long Twelfth Century
Literary Variety and the Writing of History in Britain's Long Twelfth Century

Author: Jacqueline M. Burek

Publisher: Boydell & Brewer

Published: 2023-01-10

Total Pages: 295

ISBN-13: 1914049101

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Histories of Britain composed during the "twelfth-century renaissance" display a remarkable amount of literary variety (Latin varietas). Furthermore, British historians writing after the Norman Conquest often draw attention to the differing forms of their texts. But why would historians of this period associate literary variety with the work of history-writing? Drawing on theories of literary variety found in classical and medieval rhetoric, this book traces how British writers came to believe that varietas could help them construct comprehensive, continuous accounts of Britain's past. It shows how Latin prose historians, such as William of Malmesbury, Henry of Huntingdon, and Geoffrey of Monmouth, filled their texts with a diverse array of literary forms, which they carefully selected and ordered in accordance with their broader historiographical aims. The pronounced literary variety of these influential histories inspired some Middle English verse chroniclers, including Laȝamon and Robert Mannyng, to adopt similar principles in their vernacular poetry. By uncovering the rhetorical and historiographical theories beneath their literary variety, this book provides a new framework for interpreting the stylistic and organizational choices of medieval historians.

Language and History in Early Britain
Language and History in Early Britain

Author: Kenneth Hurlstone Jackson

Publisher: Four Courts Press

Published: 1953

Total Pages: 788

ISBN-13:

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Language and History in Early Britain establishes the linguistic facts in the period running from the British speech of Roman times through to the 'Middle' stages of the functionally and psychologically distinct languages, Welsh, Cornish and Breton.

Language and Culture in Medieval Britain
Language and Culture in Medieval Britain

Author: Jocelyn Wogan-Browne

Publisher: Boydell & Brewer Ltd

Published: 2013

Total Pages: 562

ISBN-13: 1903153476

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The essays in this volume form a new cultural history focused round, but not confined to, the presence and interactions of francophone speakers, writers, readers, texts and documents in England from the 11th to the later 15th century.

A New Literary History of the Long Twelfth Century
A New Literary History of the Long Twelfth Century

Author: Mark Faulkner

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2022-07-28

Total Pages: 315

ISBN-13: 1009033093

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A New Literary History of the Long Twelfth Century offers a new narrative of what happened to English language writing in the long twelfth century, the period that saw the end of the Old English tradition and the beginning of Middle English writing. It discusses numerous neglected or unknown texts, focusing particularly on documents, chronicles and sermons. To tell the story of this pivotal period, it adopts approaches from both literary criticism and historical linguistics, finding a synthesis for them in a twenty-first century philology. It develops new methodologies for addressing major questions about twelfth-century texts, including when they were written, how they were read and their relationship to earlier works. Essential reading for anyone interested in what happened to English after the Norman Conquest, this study lays the groundwork for the coming decade's work on transitional English.

Conceptualizing Multilingualism in England, C.800-c.1250
Conceptualizing Multilingualism in England, C.800-c.1250

Author: Elizabeth M. Tyler

Publisher: Brepols Publishers

Published: 2011

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9782503528564

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Throughout the period 800-1250, English culture was marked by linguistic contestation and pluralism: the consequence of migrations and conquests and of the establishment and flourishing of the Christian religion centred on Rome. In 855 the Danes 'over-wintered' for the first time, re-initiating centuries of linguistic pluralism; by 1250 English had, overwhelmingly, become the first language of England. Norse and French, the Celtic languages of the borderlands, and Latin competed with dialects of English for cultural precedence. Moreover, the diverse relations of each of these languages to the written word complicated textual practices of government, poetics, the recording of history, and liturgy. Geographical or societal micro-languages interacted daily with the 'official' languages of the Church, the State, and the Court. English and English speakers also played key roles in the linguistic history of medieval Europe. At the start of the period of inquiry, Alcuin led the reform of Latin in the Carolingian Empire, while in the period after the Conquest, the long-established use of English as a written language encouraged the flourishing of French as a written language. This interdisciplinary volume brings the complex and dynamic multilingualism of medieval England into focus and opens up new areas for collaborative research.

Medieval Historical Writing
Medieval Historical Writing

Author: Jennifer Jahner

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2019-11-28

Total Pages: 689

ISBN-13: 1316732207

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History writing in the Middle Ages did not belong to any particular genre, language or class of texts. Its remit was wide, embracing the events of antiquity; the deeds of saints, rulers and abbots; archival practices; and contemporary reportage. This volume addresses the challenges presented by medieval historiography by using the diverse methodologies of medieval studies: legal and literary history, art history, religious studies, codicology, the history of the emotions, gender studies and critical race theory. Spanning one thousand years of historiography in England, Wales, Ireland and Scotland, the essays map historical thinking across literary genres and expose the rich veins of national mythmaking tapped into by medieval writers. Additionally, they attend to the ways in which medieval histories crossed linguistic and geographical borders. Together, they trace multiple temporalities and productive anachronisms that fuelled some of the most innovative medieval writing.