Elaine Treharne - The Oxford Handbook of Medieval Literature in English

THE OXFORD HANDBOOK OF

MEDIEVAL
LITERATURE
IN ENGLISH

THE OXFORD HANDBOOK OF

Edited by
ELAINE TREHARNE
and
GREG WALKER
with the assistance of
WILLIAM GREEN

Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP

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Oxford University Press 2010

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First published 2010
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Typeset by SPI Publisher Services, Pondicherry, India
Printed in Great Britain
on acid-free paper by
CPI Antony Rowe, Chippenham, Wiltshire

ISBN 978-0-19-922912-3

1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

The Oxford Handbook to Medieval Literature aims to provide advanced Medieval undergraduates and graduate students with an accessible set of scholarly essays on key themes, written by leading scholars. The editors thank all the contributors for making their job so enjoyable and free of problems.

We should also like to thank William Green, who has ably assisted us in the editing process, Kate Lechler for the Manuscript Index and Andrew McNeillie who contracted us to undertake this project for OUP and has kept a benevolent eye upon our progress ever since.

Finally, Greg Walker would like to thank Randall Stevenson, Sarah Carpenter, David Salter, Sarah Dunnigan, John J. McGavin, the Southampton Cavaliers cricket team, Sharon, Matthew, David and Tessa and, of course, his esteemed co-editor; while Elaine Treharne wishes to thank her venerable co-editor, and to say how grateful she is to Andy, Joffy, and Izzy as always.

ELAINE TREHARNE

A.S. G. EDWARDS

ORIETTA DA ROLD

SIMON HOROBIN

NICHOLAS PERKINS

ELIZABETH EVENDEN

RALPH HANNA

JAYNE CARROLL

SIN ECHARD

NICOLA MCDONALD

JOHN J. McGAVIN

BELLA MILLETT

DIANE WATT

ANDREW GALLOWAY

MISHTOONI BOSE

DANIEL ANLEZARK

ANDREW PRESCOTT

THOMAS A. BREDEHOFT

STEPHEN KELLY

ELISABETH DUTTON

GILLIAN RUDD

KATHRYN KERBY-FULTON

KATHY LAVEZZO

SAMANTHA ZACHER

ALCUIN BLAMIRES

JACQUELINE STODNICK

HELEN FULTON

ALISON WIGGINS

WENDY SCASE

ELIZABETH ELLIOTT

THORLAC TURVILLE-PETRE

JEFFREY JEROME COHEN

ANKE BERNAU

ALFRED HIATT

ASA SIMON MITTMAN AND SUSAN M. KIM

MARY BAINE CAMPBELL

GREG WALKER

T-O map in Isidore of Sevilles Etymologiae. London, British Library, MS Royal 6.c.1, fol. 108v.

Zonal map in Macrobius, Commentarii in Somnium Scipionis. London, British Library, MS Harley 2772, fol. 70v

The Cotton or Anglo-Saxon world map. London, British Library, MS Cotton Tiberius B.V, fol. 56v.

The Sawley Map. Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 66, p. 2.

The Hereford Map. Dean and Chapter of Hereford and the Hereford Mappa Mundi Trust.

The Hereford Map (detail of northern Europe and Asia)

The Hereford Map (detail of southern Africa)

Daniel Anlezark is Senior Lecturer in English at the University of Sydney.

Anke Bernau is Lecturer in Medieval Literature and Culture at the University of Manchester.

Alcuin Blamires is Professor of English Literature at Goldsmiths College, University of London.

Mishtooni Bose is Christopher Tower Official Student in Medieval Poetry in English, Christ Church, University of Oxford.

Thomas Bredehoft is Teaching Assistant Professor in English at West Virginia University.

Mary Baine Campbell is Professor of English and American Literature at Brandeis University.

Jayne Carroll is Lecturer in the History of English and, from 2010, Director of the Institute for Name-Studies at the University of Nottingham.

Jeffrey Jerome Cohen is Professor and Chair of English and Director of the Medieval and Early Modern Studies Institue at the George Washington University.

Orietta Da Rold is Lecturer in Medieval Literature at the University of Leicester.

Elisabeth Dutton is Senior Research Fellow at Worcester College, University of oxford.

Sian Echard is Professor of English at the University of British Columbia.

A. S. G. Edwards is Professor of Textual Studies at De Montfort University.

Elizabeth Elliott is Tutor in English and Scottish Literature at the University of Edinburgh.

Elizabeth Evenden is Lecturer in English at Brunel University.

Helen Fulton is Professor of English and Director of the Research Institute for Arts and Humanities, Swansea University.

Andrew Galloway is Professor of English at Cornell University.

Ralph Hanna is Professor of Palaeography and Tutorial Fellow at Keble College, University of Oxford.

Alfred Hiatt is Reader in Old and Middle English Literature at Queen Mary, University of London.

Simon Horobin is Reader in Medieval English Language and Tutorial Fellow at Magdalen College, University of Oxford.

Stephen Kelly is Lecturer in English at Queens University Belfast.

Kathryn Kerby-Fulton is Notre Dame Professor of English at the University of Notre Dame.

Susan M. Kim is Associate Professor of English at Illinois State University.

Kathy Lavezzo is Associate Professor of English at the University of Iowa.

Nicola McDonald is Senior Lecturer in English at the University of York.

John J. McGavin