The Prose 'Brut' and Other Late Medieval Chronicles
The histories of chronicles composed in England during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries and onwards, with a focus on texts belonging to or engaging with the Prose Brut tradition, are the focus of this volume. Dr Erik Kooper is one of the editors. The Brut chronicle is named after its first hero: Brutus, the legendary founder of Britain.
The contributors examine the composition, dissemination and reception of historical texts written in Anglo-Norman, Latin and English, including the Prose Brut chronicle (c. 1300 and later), Castleford's Chronicle (c. 1327), and Nicholas Trevet's Les Cronicles (c. 1334), looking at questions of the processes of writing, rewriting, printing and editing history. They cross traditional boundaries of subject and period, taking multi-disciplinary approaches to their studies in order to underscore the (shifting) historical, social and political contexts in which medieval English chronicles were used and read from the fourteenth century through to the present day.
As such, the volume honours the pioneering work of the late Professor Lister M. Matheson, whose research in this area demonstrated that a full understanding of medieval historical literature demands attention to both the content of the works in question and to the material circumstances of producing those works.
About the editors
Jaclyn Rajsic is a Lecturer in Medieval Literature in the School of English and Drama at Queen Mary University of London; Erik Kooper taught Old and Middle English at Utrecht University; until his retirement in 2007; Dominique Hoche is an Associate Professor at West Liberty University in West Virginia.
- Title: The Prose Brut and Other Late Medieval Chronicles (Books have their Histories: Essays in Honour of Lister M. Matheson)
- Editors: Jaclyn Rajsic, Erik Kooper, Dominique Hoche
- Publisher: Boydell & Brewer, 2016
- ISBN: 9781903153666