The literary geography of Middle English alliterative long-line poetry

282 Pages·1997·15.27 MB·English

by  Patricia Ann Byles Cathcart Price

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THE LITERARY GEOGRAPHY OF MIDDLE ENGLISH
ALLITERATIVE LONG-LINE POETRY
A THESIS
SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL
OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA BY
PATRICIA ANN BYLES CATHCART PRICE
IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS
FOR THE DEGREE OF
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
Calvin B. Kendall, Advisor
July, 1997
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UMI Number: 9738470
Copyright 1997 by
Price, Patricia Ann
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UNIVERSITY OF MINN ESOTA
This is to certify that I have examined this copy of a doctoral thesis by
Patricia A. Price
and have found that it is complete and satisfactory in all respects,
and that any and all revisions required by the final
.examining committee have been made.
Calvin B. Kendall
Name of Faculty Adviser(s)
O JJ
Signature of Faculty Adviserfs)
GRADUATE SCHOOL
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® Patricia Ann Byles Cathcart Price
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
An endeavor of this size and scope is not accomplished without the help and
support of a number of people. I am grateful to all who offered suggestions,
proofread, discussed issues, or provided other practical support as I grappled with this
often unwieldy project.
My first steps were guided by Lea Thompson Olsan, who encouraged me to
ask questions and seek information by whatever means necessary. I have also been
fortunate in my committee members at the University of Minnesota, past and present,
including Fred Suppe, Oliver Nicholson, David Wallace, John Watkins, Edward
Savage, Stephanie Cain Van D’Elden, and Barbara Hanawalt. My director, Calvin B.
Kendall, has assisted me with generosity, fortitude, and patience throughout the
project, for which I thank him.
I owe a great debt to the various members of my "shadow committee,"
including Jill Averil Keen, Patricia Eldred, Elizabeth Dachowski, Gloria Betcher and
Jana Schulman, for their astute questions and essential critiques. Other colleagues
offered different types of support: Donna White, Roy and Elan Stephens, Shari
Horner, Sonia Feder-Lewis, and Sonia Apgar.
My greatest debt is to my family, who have endured the past decade with
equanimity and grace. My mother, Patricia Cathcart, has supported my educational
efforts from childhood. My stepsons Ben and Jeremiah, have been kind and helpful
throughout the process. Christopher has urged me forward, and Catherine has
provided both moral and practical support to enable me to finish this endeavor. Ken is
a man for all seasons: computer maven, chef, parent, and boon companion on the
journey, whether down the London streets of Winner and Waster and Piers Plowman
or on the road to the post office and copy shop.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.................................................................................................. iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS .................................................................................................... iv
Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................. 1
Overview ........................................................................................................................ 1
Alliterative Long-Line Poetry and Its Geography .................................................. 3
Selection of Texts ......................................................................................................... 6
Literary Geography ...................................................................................................... 8
Prior Studies Focused on Geographical Allusions................................................ 10
Historical Background................................................................................................ 13
Literary Studies and Place Name Allusions ........................................................... 17
Late Medieval Geography ......................................................................................... 19
Chapter 2. GEOGRAPHICAL RESOURCES IN LATE MEDIEVAL ENGLAND 20
Medieval Geography................................................................................................... 22
British Travelers.......................................................................................................... 33
Narrative Sources ....................................................................................................... 37
Conclusion ................................................................................................................... 47
Chapter 3. THE GEOGRAPHY OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY .................................... 47
Patience and Cleanness............................................................................................... 48
Patience......................................................................................................................... 50
Overview ............................................................................................................ 50
Literary Geography .......................................................................................... 57
Cleanness...................................................................................................................... 60
Overview ............................................................................................................ 60
Literary Geography .......................................................................................... 65
The Siege of Jerusalem............................................................................................... 71
Overview ........... 71
Literary Geography .......................................................................................... 80
St. Erkenwald............................................................................................................... 84
Overview ............................................................................................................ 84
Literary Geography .......................................................................................... 91
Conclusion ................................................................................................................... 97
Chapter 4. POETRY ON CONTEMPORARY THEMES.......................................... 100
Winner and Waster and The Parlement of the Three Ages ............................. 102
Winner and Waster ................................................................................................. 103
Overview ................................................................................................... 103
Literary Geography ....................................................................................... 110
The Parlement of the Three Ages.......................................................................... 120
Overview ....................... 120
Literary Geography ....................................................................................... 128
iv
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R-dxarri the Redness 2nd Mum and me Somsegger.......................................... I 3c
Richard toe Reddess................................................................................................ ‘35
Ov«v3e» ........ 138
Literary Geography ........................................................................................ 1-2
Mtttti and Sotfasegoer ............................................................................................... 150
Overview ................................................................................................ 150
literary Geography ....................................................................................... 15-i
Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 158
Chapters. THE GEOGRAPHY OF LEGENDARY HISTORY ............................. 16C
The Wars of Alexander .......................................................................................... 160
Overview ............. 160'
Literary Geography ........................................................................................ 168
Conclusion ...................................................................................................... 189
William of Palerne ................................................................................................... 191
Overview ..................................................................................................... 191
Literary Geography ........................................................................................ 196
Conclusion ...................................................................................................... 205
Morte Arthure ........................................................................................................... 206
Overview ......................................................................................................... 206
Literary Geography ........................................................................................ 217
Conclusion ...................................................................................................... 241
Chapter 6. CONCLUSION ............................................................................................. 243
Appendix 1. PLACE NAME ALLUSIONS IN SELECTED POEMS .................... 253
Appendix 2. PNA COUNTS ............................................................................................ 256
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................. 257
v
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CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
Overview
Little has been written exploring the complex relationship between graphic
representations of the medieval world and their verbal counterparts. Nonetheless, as
geographical knowledge and interest progressively expanded from the mid-thirteenth
century onward, such knowledge was expressed in a variety of writings: chronicles,
travel tales, wonder books, romances, and quasi-histories of the period. In turn, travel
narratives fueled the imaginations of travelers like the anonymous makers of the first
portalan charts, graphic aids to coastal navigation which became increasingly accurate
and ambitious as the fourteenth century unfolded. The zeal for travel and discovery
culminated by the late fifteenth century in the extraordinary exploits of those who
navigated from the known world to the margins of the map. In 1488, Bartholomew
Diaz rounded the Cape of Good Hope; by 1492, Columbus was bound for the new
world.1
This virtual explosion of geographical knowledge offered authors, artists,
and artisans (including book illustrators and mapmakers) new raw material to
incorporate in their work whether graphic, fictional, legendary, or personal. Thus,
there is a close correspondence between the world portrayed on mappae mundi with
their often extensive written texts and the world of medieval narrative with its
embedded geography of pilgrimage, trade, diplomacy and war.
The inclusion of often long and complex written texts on maps like the
Ebsdorf or Hereford mappae mundi, and the integration of rather explicit travel
1 For discussion of medieval travel writing and "the other" see Mary B. Campbell, The
Witness and the Other World: Exotic European Travel 400-1600 (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University
Press, 1988). For an account of Early Modem representations of the New World and how they were
influenced by wonder books and accounts like those of Mandeville, see Stephen Greenblatt, Marvelous
Possessions: The Wonder of the New World (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991).
1
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