Courtly Literature and Clerical Culture


Book Description




Courtly Contradictions


Book Description

Where does courtly literature come from? What is the meaning of courtly love? What is the relation between religious and secular culture in the Middle Ages, and why does it matter? This book addresses these questions by way of contradiction, which is central both to medieval logic and to most modern protocols of reading.




A Companion to Alain Chartier (c.1385-1430)


Book Description

A Companion to Alain Chartier: Father of French Eloquence brings together fourteen contributions that offer a range of perspectives and insights into the works of this exceptional late medieval author. As heir to the past and herald of the future, Chartier reinvented the traditional, whether in Latin or French, verse or prose. Chartier’s open-ended, dialogic works and his own politically-engaged writing inspired his successors to think and write in new ways about ethics, the individual’s role in society, relationships between men and women, and the responsibility of a poet to his/her audience. As these essays show, Chartier’s renovation of poetic form and content had considerable influence over successive generations of writers in France and across Europe. Contributors are: Adrian Armstrong, Florence Bouchet, Emma Cayley, Daisy Delogu, Ashby Kinch, James C. Laidlaw, Marta Marfany, Deborah McGrady, Joan E. McRae, Jean-Claude Mühlethaler, Liv Robinson, Camille Serchuk, Andrea Tarnowski, Craig Taylor, and Hanno Wijsman.




Chartier in Europe


Book Description

The significance of the works of Alain Chartier in the development of European literature.




Love and Death in Medieval French and Occitan Courtly Literature


Book Description

Examines the association of love and death in medieval French and Occitan courtly literature using an approach informed by Lacanian psychoanalysis and Jacques Derrida. Offers new readings of canonical authors and texts, including Bernart de Ventadorn, Jaufre Rudel, Chrétien de Troyes, Thomas's Tristan, the Prose Lancelot, the Tristan en prose, La Mort le roi Artu, Marie de France, Le Chastelaine de Vergy, Le Castelain deCouci, and Le Roman de la Rose.




The Cambridge Companion to Medieval French Literature


Book Description

Medieval French literature encompasses 450 years of literary output in Old and Middle French, mostly produced in Northern France and England. These texts, including courtly lyrics, prose and verse romances, dits amoureux and plays, proved hugely influential for other European literary traditions in the medieval period and beyond. This Companion offers a wide-ranging and stimulating guide to literature composed in medieval French from its beginnings in the ninth century until the Renaissance. The essays are grounded in detailed analysis of canonical texts and authors such as the Chanson de Roland, the Roman de la Rose, Villon's Testament, Chrétien de Troyes, Machaut, Christine de Pisan and the Tristan romances. Featuring a chronology and suggestions for further reading, this is the ideal companion for students and scholars in other fields wishing to discover the riches of the French medieval tradition.




The Art of Courtly Love


Book Description

The social system of 'courtly love' soon spread after becoming popularized by the troubadours of southern France in the twelfth century. This book codifies life at Queen Eleanor's court at Poitiers between 1170 and 1174 into "one of those capital works which reflect the thought of a great epoch, which explain the secret of a civilization."




Literatures of the Hundred Years War


Book Description

From England and France to the Low Countries, Wales, Scotland, and Italy, the Hundred Years War (1337-1453) fundamentally shaped late-medieval literature. This volume adopts an expansive focus to reveal the transnational literary consequences of over a century of international conflict. While traditionally seen as an Anglo-French conflict, the Hundred Years War was a multilateral conflict with connections across the continent through alliances and proxy battles. Writers, whether as witnesses, diplomats, or provocateurs, played key roles in shaping the conflict, and the conflict equally impacted the course of literary history. The volume shows how a wide variety of genres and works are deeply engaged with responses to the war, from women’s visionary writing by figures like Catherine of Siena to anonymous lyric poetry, from Christine de Pizan’s Book of the City of Ladies to Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales.




The Complete Harley 2253 Manuscript, Volume 3


Book Description

British Library MS Harley 2253 is one of the most important literary works to survive from the English medieval era. In rarity, quality, and abundance, its secular love lyrics comprise an unrivaled collection. Intermingled with them are contemporary political songs as well as delicate lyrics designed to inspire religious devotion.




The Complete Harley 2253 Manuscript, Volume 1


Book Description

British Library MS Harley 2253 is one of the most important literary works to survive from the English medieval era. In rarity, quality, and abundance, its secular love lyrics comprise an unrivaled collection. Intermingled with them are contemporary political songs as well as delicate lyrics designed to inspire religious devotion.




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