Medieval Romance, Medieval Contexts Studies in Medieval Romance ISSN 1479–9308 Series Editors Corinne Saunders Editorial Board Roger Dalrymple Rhiannon Purdie Robert Allen Rouse This series aims to provide a forum for critical studies of the medieval romance, a genre which plays a crucial role in literary history, clearly reveals medieval secular concerns, and raises complex questions regarding social structures, human relationships, and the psyche. Its scope extends from the early Middle Ages into the Renaissance period, and although its main focus is on English literature, comparative studies are welcomed. Proposals or queries should be sent in the first instance to one of the addresses given below; all submissions will receive prompt and informed considera- tion. Professor Corinne Saunders, Department of English, University of Durham, Durham, DH1 3AY Boydell & Brewer Limited, PO Box 9, Woodbridge, Suffolk, IP12 3DF Previously published volumes in the series are listed at the back of this book Medieval Romance, Medieval Contexts Edited by RHIANNON PURDIE AND MICHAEL CICHON D. S. BREWER © Contributors 2011 All Rights Reserved. Except as permitted under current legislation no part of this work may be photocopied, stored in a retrieval system, published, performed in public, adapted, broadcast, transmitted, recorded or reproduced in any form or by any means, without the prior permission of the copyright owner First published 2011 D. S. Brewer, Cambridge ISBN 978 1 84384 260 6 D. S. Brewer is an imprint of Boydell & Brewer Ltd PO Box 9, Woodbridge, Suffolk IP12 3DF, UK and of Boydell & Brewer Inc. 668 Mount Hope Ave, Rochester, NY 14604, USA website: www.boydellandbrewer.com The publisher has no responsibility for the continued existence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this book, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Papers used by Boydell & Brewer Ltd are natural, recyclable products made from wood grown in sustainable forests Printed in Great Britain by CPI Antony Rowe, Chippenham and Eastbourne Contents Acknowledgements vii Contributors viii Abbreviations ix Introduction: Romance and its Medieval Contexts 1 Rhiannon Purdie and Michael Cichon 1 The Pleasure of Popular Romance: A Prefatory Essay 9 Derek Pearsall 2 Representations of Peasant Speech: Some Literary and Social 19 Contexts for The Taill of Rauf Coilyear Nancy Mason Bradbury 3 ‘As ye have brewd, so shal ye drink’: the Proverbial Context of 35 Eger and Grime Michael Cichon 4 Ekphrasis and Narrative in Emaré and Sir Eglamour of Artois 47 Nicholas Perkins 5 What’s in a Name? Anglo-Norman Romances or Chansons de 61 geste? Marianne Ailes 6 ‘For Goddes loue, sir, mercy!’: Recontextualising the Modern 77 Critical Text of Floris and Blancheflor John A. Geck 7 Roland in England: Contextualising the Middle English Song 91 of Roland Phillipa Hardman 8 Romance Baptisms and Theological Contexts in The King of Tars 105 and Sir Ferumbras Siobhain Bly Calkin 9 Modern and Medieval Views on Swooning: the Literary and 121 Medical Contexts of Fainting in Romance Judith Weiss 10 Walking (between) the Lines: Romance as Itinerary/Map 135 Robert Rouse 11 Romances of Continuity in the English Rous Roll 149 Yin Liu 12 ‘Ex Libris domini duncani / Campbell de glenwrquhay/ miles’: 161 The Buik of King Alexander the Conquerour in the household of Sir Duncan Campbell, seventh laird of Glenorchy Emily Wingfield 13 ‘Pur les francs homes amender’: Clerical Authors and the 175 Thirteenth-Century Context of Historical Romance Rosalind Field Index 189 Acknowledgements This volume developed from a selection of the forty-odd papers presented at the 11th Biennial ‘Romance in Medieval Britain’ conference hosted by the School of English at the University of St Andrews in March 2008: we extend our warm thanks to the School for its support. We are also very grateful to St Thomas More College in the University of Saskatchewan for their award of financial support towards the publication of this volume. We wish to thank Maha Kumaran for generous help in preparing the Index. As always, we owe a debt of gratitude to our patient editor Caroline Palmer, the anonymous readers of the press for their input in shaping the volume, and to Boydell & Brewer’s superb copy-editing team. We also wish to thank all of our contributors for their good-humoured willingness to align what were in some cases quite different papers with this volume’s theme and focus. Most importantly, we offer our heartfelt thanks to our respective families: Neale, Isaac and Russell; Lisa, Signy and Soren. Rhiannon Purdie and Michael Cichon St Andrews, Scotland, and Saskatoon, Canada vii Contributors Marianne Ailes is Senior Lecturer in French in the School of Modern Languages at the University of Bristol. Nancy Mason Bradbury is Professor and Chair, Department of English Language and Literature, at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. Siobhain Bly Calkin is Associate Professor in the Department of English at Carleton University, Ottawa. Michael Cichon is Associate Professor in the Department of English at St Thomas More College, University of Saskatchewan. Rosalind Field is Emerita Reader in Medieval Literature at Royal Holloway, University of London. John A. Geck is completing his doctoral thesis in Middle English romance at the Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Toronto. Phillipa Hardman is Reader in Medieval English Literature in the Department of English Language and Literature at the University of Reading. Yin Liu is Assistant Professor in the Department of English at the University of Saskatchewan. Derek Pearsall is Gurney Professor of English, Emeritus, at Harvard Univer- sity. Nicholas Perkins is University Lecturer and Tutor in English at St Hugh’s College, University of Oxford. Rhiannon Purdie is Senior Lecturer in Medieval English in the School of English, University of St Andrews. Robert Rouse is Associate Professor of English Literature at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver. Judith Weiss is an Emerita Fellow of Robinson College, University of Cambridge. Emily Wingfield is a Junior Research Fellow at Churchill College, University of Cambridge. viii