Authors, Factions, and Courts in Angevin England: A Literature of Personal Ambition (12th–13th Century) (The New Middle Ages)

Authors, Factions, and Courts in Angevin England: A Literature of Personal Ambition (12th-13th Century) advances a model for historical study of courtly literature by foregrounding the personal aims, networks, and careers as the impetus for much of the period’s literature. The book takes two authors as case studies – Gerald of Wales and Walter Map – to show how authors not only built their own stories but also used popular narratives and the tools of propaganda to achieve their own, personal goals. The purpose of this study is to overturn the top-down model of political patronage, in which patrons – and particularly royal patrons – set the cultural agenda and dictate literary tastes. Rather, Fabrizio De Falco argues that authors were often representative of many different interests expressed by local groups. To pursue those interests, they targeted specific political factions in the changeable political scenario of Angevin England. Their texts reveal a polycentric view of cultural production and its reception. The study aims to model a heuristic process which is applicable to other courtly texts besides the chosen case-studies. Acknowledgments 6 Contents 8 List of Figures 11 Chapter 1: Introduction: But What Is the Point of Courtly Writing? 12 Case Studies and the Structure of the Book 18 References 23 Part I: The Hydra: The Court’s Body and Its Wandering Heads 26 Chapter 2: Re-thinking Literature at the English Royal Court, Its Protagonists and Contexts 28 The Reign and Court of Henry II (1154–1189) 28 Henry II’s Choices and the Growth of the Courtly Body 29 Talking Heads: Courtiers’ Profiles 31 Authors and Texts at the Service of Royal Propaganda 34 The Mirror of the Court: Courtiers Making Their Offices 34 More Royalist than the King: Courtiers and Royal Propaganda 37 Common Language, Personal Ends: The Pragmatic Use of Literature 41 Models, Themes, and Specificities of Angevin Court Literary Culture 41 Who Tolls the Bell: A Literature of Personal Ambition 44 Tools for a Comprehensive Approach to Courtly Texts 47 Living in a Material World: Curiales as Pragmatic Intellectuals 48 Networked Entertainment: Courtly Writings, Agency, Texts, and Society 50 References 52 Chapter 3: Starting at the Bottom: The Authors 60 Twelfth-Century Authorship in England 61 The Importance of Being an Author: Models of Literary Agency 61 ‘Affine Variety’: Officium, Lives, and Ambitions in a Delimited Text 64 A Multilingual Chanter: Walter Map 67 An Englishman in Wales: Map’s Early Networks and Cultural Background 68 Friends in High Places: Walter Map’s Path into the Royal Court 70 A Zealous Writer: Gerald of Wales 73 A Family Man: Convergences and Empowerment in South Wales 74 An Insider at Court: Intermediation and Conspiracy 76 Courtiers beyond the Court: Places, Networks, and Purposes 78 Somewhere over the Court: The Wanderings of Walter Map and Gerald of Wales 79 The Churches and the Marches: Exploiting Local Conflicts for Personal Ambitions 82 References 86 Part II: The Messages between the Lines: A Political Reading of Courtly Texts 95 Chapter 4: An Accurate Curriculum: Walter Map’s De Nugis Curialium 97 A Contrived but Uncompleted Opera 97 Living on the Welsh Frontier 101 I Know Who Lives Here: Walter Map and the Welsh Marchers 102 Noisy Neighbours: The Cistercians in Wales 104 The Right Man in the Right Place: Walter Map as a Marcher Bishop 107 Talking about Kings 109 Two and a Half Kings: Henry II, Louis VII, and Henry the Young King 110 The King of Portugal and Apollonides: Literary Avatars for Real Rulers 112 Three Knights and a Revolt: Henry the Young King, Richard I, and Philip of Alsace in 1173 117 Who Is Pious? Monastic Orders and False Saints 119 Not All Monks: English Exceptions in a Material World 120 True Saints Perform Miracles: Bernard of Clairvaux and Peter of Tarentaise 124 The High Way to Rome: Thorny Anglo-Papal Relations 127 Possible Publics: An Identikit 129 References 134 Chapter 5: A Family Business: Gerald of Wales’ Topographia Hibernica 145 A First Step for an Ambitious Project 146 Making the Irish Frontier 150 On an Island Far, Far Away: Scientific Proof of Ireland’s Remoteness 151 No Ordinary Barbarians: Constructing Irish Cultural Barbarism 153 Ireland or the Cross: Gerald of Wales’ Cultural Opportunism between Crusaders and Martyrs 155 Waiting for a King 157 Making Ireland English Again: The Past, Present, and Future History of the Island 158 Outdated Historiography for a New Ireland: Gerald of Wales and the Kings’ Responsibility 160 Conquerors, Kings, and Officers: The Anglo-Irish Battleground of Topographia Hibernica 162 What Is a Monk? Monasteries between Local Networks and Newcomers 164 Monks Cannot Administer Souls: The Problems of Irish Devotion 165 Monks Administering Bishoprics: The Unreformed Irish Church 167 Monk Island: Irish Elites and Control over the Dioceses 169 Topographia Hibernica at Court 171 To the Attention of the Royal Court: Reports on English Officers, Geraldines, and Irish Saints 172 Ecclesiastical Tastes: Topographia Hibernica, the Bishop of Hereford, the Archbishops of Canterbury, and Rome 175 References 179 Part III: The Real World Is Here: The Role of Courtly Literature between Factions and Crisis 187 Chapter 6: Surviving in the Upside-Down: Henry II’s Courtiers under Richard I’s Reign (1189–1199) 189 A Brave New World: New Rulers and Old Companies 190 Paying the Price for a Kingdom: Old Rebels, New Lords 190 Blood Is Thicker than Water: The Royal Family 192 Mediators, Delegates, and Junctions: Bishops and Archbishops 194 The Wheel of Fortune: Patrons and Arts in Richard I’s England 197 Reaching the Top: New Courts, New Narratives 197 Turned Down: The Death and Legacy of Baldwin of Forde and Ranulf de Glanville 200 Far from the King’s Grace: Henry II’s Courtiers outside the Court 203 From Palermo to Chesterton: Peter of Blois’ and Gerald of Wales’ Networks 203 A Past Yet to Come: Walter Map’s Early Career and Networks 206 Finding New Places and New Readers in a Fragmented Kingdom 208 Gambling Years: Courtiers, Justiciars, Archbishops, and Kings 209 Starting Anew with Old Stories: The Bishops of Henry II in the 1190s 213 References 216 Chapter 7: Moving Text into Action: Local Careerism and International Crisis 223 Political and Cultural Centres at the End of the Twelfth Century 223 A Cultural Centre for a Borderland: Hereford and the Welsh Marches 224 Courtiers, Saints, and Archbishops at the Crossroads of Lincoln 227 Almost at the Top: Networks and Ambitions 230 Converging Interests: The Networks of Lincoln and Oxford 231 Factions, Ambitions, and Elections: Gerald of Wales and Walter Map Becoming Bishops 234 All Hail the New King: John’s Necessities and Authors’ Hopes 238 Moving the Engines: John’s New and Old Friends 238 A King of the Welsh Marches: John’s Politics and Authors’ Ambitions 240 Cupio Dissolvi 244 Losing Ground: The Years of Welsh Activism 244 The Death of Hubert Walter: The Last Chance for Gerald of Wales’ Ethnographic Exploits 247 References 250 Chapter 8: Conclusion: Contingently Situated Literature and Court Dynamics 258 Situatedness and Ambition, a Heuristic Device for Exceptional Texts 264 References 270 Index 273