Description
Book SynopsisWho wrote about the past in the Middle Ages, who read about it, and how were these works disseminated and used? History was a subject popular with authors and readers in the Anglo-Norman world. The volume and richness of historical writing in the lands controlled by the kings of England, particularly from the 12th century, has long attracted the attention of historians and literary scholars. This collection of essays returns to the processes involved in writing history, and in particular to the medieval manuscript sources in which the works of such historians survive. It explores the motivations of those writing about the past in the Middle Ages (such as Orderic Vitalis, John of Worcester, Symeon of Durham, William of Malmesbury, Gerald of Wales, Roger of Howden, and Matthew Paris), and the evidence provided by manuscripts for the circumstances in which copies were made.
Trade ReviewThis volume thus offers a rich variety of insights into the diversity and complexity of Anglo-Norman historical writing. . . . [It] achieves its goal of using manuscripts to add nuance to our understanding of Anglo-Norman historical writing. * MANUSCRIPT STUDIES *
The quality of the essays, and the originality of many of their findings, should, if nothing else, serve to spur other researchers into action. * FRANCIA *
Table of ContentsIntroduction: Making and Reading History Books in the Anglo-Norman World Did the Purpose of History Change in England in the Twelfth Century? - Michael Staunton England's Place within Salvation History: An Extended Version of Peter of Poitiers' Compendium Historiae in London, British Library, Cotton MS Faustina B VII - Andrea Worm Computus and Chronology in Anglo-Norman England - Anne Lawrence-Mathers A Saint Petersburg Manuscript of Excerptio Roberti Herefordensis de Chronica Mariani Scotti - Gleb Schmidt Autograph History Books in the Twelfth Century - Laura Cleaver Paul the Deacon's Historia Langobardorum in Anglo-Norman England - Laura Pani Durham Cathedral Priory and its Library of History, c. 1090 - c. 1150 - Charles C. Rozier King John's Books and the Interdict in England and Wales - Stephen D. Church Artistic Patronage and the Early Anglo-Norman Abbots of St Albans - Kathryn Gerry Matthew Paris, Cecilia de Sanford and the Early Readership of the Vie de Seint Auban - Laura Slater New Readers, Old History: Gerald of Wales and the Anglo-Norman Invasion of Ireland - Caoimhe Whelan Bibliography
