Clerical Discourse and Lay Audience in Late Medieval England (Cambridge Studies in Medieval Literature, Series Number 37)

The translation of learned Latin materials into English between around 1370 and 1410 was a highly controversial activity. It was thought likely to make available to lay audiences the authoritative and intellectual information and methods of argument previously only accessible to an educated elite - and with that knowledge the power of information. Fiona Somerset's 1998 study examines what kinds of academic material were imported into English, what sorts of audience were projected for this kind of clerical discourse and how writers positioned themselves with respect to potential audience and opponents. The well-known concerns with clerical corruption and lay education of authors such as Langland, Trevisa, and Wyclif are linked to those of more obscure writers in both Latin and English, some only recently edited, or only extant in manuscript.

This book investigates how late medieval English writers who translated specialized academic knowledge from Latin into English often projected unprecedented sorts of lay audiences for their writing, and worried about the potential results of making the information they presented more widely available. The well-known concerns with clerical corruption and lay education of authors such as Langland, Trevisa, and Wyclif are linked to those of more obscure writers in both Latin and English, some only recently edited, or only extant in manuscript.

. . . And so seculer power owep and is bounden to ponisshe by just peyne of his swerd, pat is, worldly power, try[u]auntis rebellinge azens God and trespassing azens man by what kyn trespas; and, pat is more, to chastise his sugetis by peyne or turment of here body.

investigates The Politics Of Vernacular Translation In Late Medieval England, With Particular Attention To Langland, Trevisa And Wyclif.