Against All England: Regional Identity and Cheshire Writing, 1195-1656 (ReFormations: Medieval and Early Modern)

Against All England examines a diverse set of poems, plays, and chronicles produced in Cheshire and its vicinity from the 1190s to the 1650s that collectively argue for the localization of British literary history. These works, including very early monastic writing emanating from St. Werburgh's Abbey, the Chester Whitsun plays, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, seventeenth-century ceremonials, and various Stanley romances, share in the creation and revision of England's cultural tradition, demonstrating a vested interest in the intersection of landscape, language, and politics. Barrett's book grounds itself in Cestrian evidence in order to offer scholars a new, dynamic model of cultural topography, one that acknowledges the complex interlacing of regional and national identities within the longue durée extending from the post-Conquest period to the Restoration. Covering nearly five centuries of literary production within a single geographical location, the book challenges still dominant chronologies of literary history that emphasize cultural rupture and view the "Renaissance" as a sharp break from England's medieval past. -- Provided by publisher From Cloister To Corporation: Imagining Chester In Benedictine Encomium And Saint's Life -- Grounds Of Grace: Mobile Meaning And Processional Performance In The Chester Whitsun Plays -- Chester's Triumph: Absence And Authority In Seventeenth-century Civic Ceremonial -- Cheshire The County : Destabilizing National Identity In Regional Romance -- Heraldic Devices/chivalric Divisions: Sir Gawain And The Green Knight And The Scrope-grosvenor Trial -- Two Shires Against All England: Celebrating Regional Affinity In The Stanley Family Romances. Robert W. Barrett, Jr. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 279-295) And Index. From cloister to corporation: imagining Chester in benedictine encomium and saint's life Grounds of grace: mobile meaning and processional performance in the Chester Whitsun plays Chester's triumph: absence and authority in seventeenth-century civic ceremonial Heraldic devices/chivalric divisions: Sir Gawain and the green knight and the Scrope-Grosvenor trial Two shires against all England: regional honor and tudor ambition in the Stanley family romances. Cover 1 Half title 2 Series page 3 Title page 4 Copyright 5 Dedication 6 Contents 8 Figures 10 Acknowledgments 12 Abbreviations 16 Maps 17 Introduction 20 Part 1: Chester the City 44 1. From Cloister to Corporation 46 2. Grounds of Grace 78 3. Chester’s Triumph 115 Part 2: Cheshire the County 150 4. Heraldic Devices/Chivalric Divisions 152 5. Two Shires against All England 190 Epilogue 226 Notes 242 Bibliography 298 Index 315 This book examines poems, plays, and chronicles produced in Cheshire from the 1190s to the 1650s that collectively argue for the localization of British literary history.