The characters in The Swamp Dwellers fell into three groups: the parents Makuri and Alo-conservative, the corrupt priest Kadiye, who beguiles his superstitious followers; and the two positive individuals Igwezu and the Beggar, moving, wondering, seeking and then uncertain what they have found. It is a play of mood and atmosphere, constructed so as to… Continue reading Wole Soyinka’s Art of Characterization in the Play The Swamp Dwellers
Revolt: Jean Froissart, Chroniques
London, British Library, MS Royal 18 E.1, fol. 175r Language: French Manuscript date: 1460–80 Jean Froissart’s narrative of the revolt is valuable for several details it provides of the revolt, including, for instance, a sermon by John Ball, the priest from Kent and rebel leader. Manuscript Royal 18 E.1 was made in Flanders for William… Continue reading Revolt: Jean Froissart, Chroniques
Royal Benefactors
London, British Library, MS Cotton Nero D.vii, fols. 6v–7r (Golden Book of St. Albans) Language: Latin Manuscript date: 1380 The Golden Book of St. Albans (also known as the Liber Benefactorum, Book of Benefactors) is a record of the names of benefactors and their contributions to the Benedictine abbey of St. Albans (for more on… Continue reading Royal Benefactors
Regiment of Princes
Chaucer portrait: Thomas Hoccleve, Regiment of Princes British Library MS Harley 4866, fol. 88r Language: English (Southeast Midland) Manuscript date: ca. 1411 Portraits of Geoffrey Chaucer appear in the Ellesmere Canterbury Tales and in a few other Thomas Hoccleve Regiment manuscripts (see the image of an Ellesmere page, “Geoffrey Chaucer, Canterbury Tales,” p. 137). Hoccleve… Continue reading Regiment of Princes
Geoffrey Chaucer, Troilus and Criseyde
Cambridge, Corpus Christi College MS 61, fol. 1v Language: English (Southeast Midland) Manuscript date: ca. 1420 Chaucer wrote his “book of Troilus” about 1381–6; it survives in 16 manuscripts and the same number of fragments; Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, MS 61 is one of the earliest manuscripts. Only two others and an early Caxton print… Continue reading Geoffrey Chaucer, Troilus and Criseyde
Middle English Procession
London quickly received news of Henry V’s October 25, 1415, victory at Agincourt. Three days later, on October 28, the newly elected mayor, Nicholas Wotton, and many of London’s citizens processed on foot to Westminster to give thanks to God and praise for Henry before the queen and lords of the realm. In the month… Continue reading Middle English Procession
Sumptuary
Church writers, national and local administrations, and interested observers of society regularly condemned their contemporaries’ extravagant behavior and appearance. Manners, carriage, gestures, diet, drink, clothing, makeup, and hairstyles all formed a complex aggregation thought to be specific to particular estates, classes, genders, sexualities, and occupations (see “Feasts,” p. 190). The pestilences of the later fourteenth… Continue reading Sumptuary
Tournament (medieval)
Tournaments were part of a knight’s training for war, and they became the ritualistic occasion for demonstrations of military prowess and the development of male social status. More mock battles than jousts in lists, tournaments began to flourish in the twelfth century and tended more and more towards theatrical and elaborately decorated ceremonies as the… Continue reading Tournament (medieval)
Glossary
A abay see bay ac conj. but, and adighten, adyghtyn v. adorn adight, adyth p. adorned advoutri(e) see avouteri(e) after prep. according to agayn see ayen al conj. even if, although alday adv. always, all the time algate(s) adv. entirely, continually, nevertheless Alkaron n. Koran almes(se) n. pl. alms (almes-dede, good deed) als, also adv.… Continue reading Glossary
Enarratio (Analysis and Exposition of Texts)
Enarratio, the analysis and exposition of texts, was part of the discipline of grammar, itself one of the three major areas of study within the trivium (grammar, rhetoric, and logic or dialectic). Medieval grammar encompassed reading practices from simple grammar as we know it today to sophisticated literary interpretation. Enarratio means literally to lift a… Continue reading Enarratio (Analysis and Exposition of Texts)