Reading the Medieval in Early Modern England [Paperback]

A contributory volume on the effect of medieval culture and literature on early modern England.Written by an international team of both medievalists and early modernists, essays in this volume consider the ways in which medieval culture made itself felt in the literature and culture of Renaissance England. The book addresses the cross-period interest, exploring the ways in which the Middle Ages were reconstructed.Written by an international team of both medievalists and early modernists, essays in this volume consider the ways in which medieval culture made itself felt in the literature and culture of Renaissance England. The book addresses the cross-period interest, exploring the ways in which the Middle Ages were reconstructed.In English literary and historical studies the border between the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, and hence between 'medieval' and 'early modern' studies, has become increasingly permeable. Written by an international group of medievalists and early modernists, the essays in this volume examine the ways in which medieval culture was read and reconstructed by writers, editors and scholars in early modern England. It also addresses the reciprocal process: the way in which early modern England, while apparently suppressing the medieval past, was in fact shaped and constructed by it, albeit in ways that early modern thinkers had an interest in suppressing. The book deals with this process as it is played out not only in literature but also in visual culture - for example in mapping - and in material culture - as in the physical destruction of the medieval past in the early modern English landscape.List of illustrations; Notes on contributors; Acknowledgements; List of abbreviations; Introduction: reading the medieval in early modern England David Matthews and Gordon McMullan; Part I. Period: 1. Diachronic history and the shortcomings of Medieval Studies James Simpson; 2. Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay and the rhetoric of temporality DeannlÃ