Writing Regional Identities in Medieval England : From the Gesta Herwardi to Richard Coer De Lyon

Il periodo successivo alla conquista normanna vide una drammatica rivalutazione di cosa significasse essere inglese, a causa sia dell’avvento del dominio anglo-normanno che della maggiore interazione con altre culture attraverso il commercio, i viaggi, la migrazione e la guerra. Sebbene si pensi spesso che il contatto culturale consolidi l’identità nazionale, questo libro propone che questi incontri abbiano stimolato la formazione di identità regionali interculturali. A causa di queste diverse influenze culturali, il significato dell'identità inglese variava da regione a regione e si radicava nella terra, nella sua storia e nelle sue storie. Utilizzando romanzi e storie dell'ambiente letterario multilingue inglese, tra cui Gesta Herewardi , Fouke le Fitz Waryn e Richard Coer de Lyon, questo studio esamina alcune delle zone di contatto dell'Inghilterra e il modo in cui influenzano la comprensione delle identità inglesi durante i secoli dal XII al XIV. Passando dall'identità locale di Ely, alle regioni transculturali del Lincolnshire e delle Marche gallesi, e infine indagando l'Inghilterra come regione di confine da una prospettiva globale, questo libro esamina la diversità dell'inglese, gli effetti del contatto culturale sull'identità e come l'inglese gli scrittori immaginavano il loro posto nel mondo. An examination of how regional identities are reflected in texts from medieval England.The period after the Norman Conquest saw a dramatic reassessment of what it meant to be English, owing to both the advent of Anglo-Norman rule and increased interaction with other cultures through trade, travel, migration, and war. While cultural contact is often thought to consolidate national identity, this book proposes that these encounters prompted the formation of intercultural regional identities. Because of these different cultural influences, themeaning of English identity varied from region to region, and became rooted in the land, its history, and its stories. Using romances and histories from England's multilingual literary milieu, including the Gesta Herewardi, Fouke le Fitz Waryn, and Richard Coer de Lyon, this study examines some of England's contact zones and how they influence understandings of English identities during the twelfth to fourteenth centuries. Moving from local identity in Ely, to the transcultural regions of Lincolnshire and the Welsh Marches, and finally investigating England as a border region from a global perspective, this book examines the diversity of Englishness, the effectsof cultural contact on identity, and how English writers imagined their place in the world. EMILY DOLMANS is a lecturer in Medieval Literature at the University of East Anglia The period after the Norman Conquest saw a dramatic reassessment of what it meant to be English, owing to both the advent of Anglo-Norman rule and increased interaction with other cultures through trade, travel, migration, and war. While cultural contact is often thought to consolidate national identity, this book proposes that these encounters prompted the formation of intercultural regional identities. Because of these different cultural influences, the meaning of English identity varied from region to region, and became rooted in the land, its history, and its stories. Using romances and histories from England's multilingual literary milieu, including the Gesta Herewardi, Fouke le Fitz Waryn, and Richard Coer de Lyon, this study examines some of England's contact zones and how they influence understandings of English identities during the twelfth to fourteenth centuries. Moving from local identity in Ely, to the transcultural regions of Lincolnshire and the Welsh Marches, and finally investigating England as a border region from a global perspective, this book examines the diversity of Englishness, the effects of cultural contact on identity, and how English writers imagined their place in the world. Cover -- Contents -- List of Illustrations -- Acknowledgements -- Abbreviations -- Introduction -- 1. Coping with Conquest: Local Identity and the Gesta Herwardi -- 2. The View from Lincolnshire: Gaimar's Estoire des Engleis as Regional History -- 3. Locating a Border: Fouke le Fitz Waryn and the March of Wales -- 4. Englishness Outside England: Embracing Alterity in Medieval Romance -- 5. England at the Edge of the World -- Envoi -- Bibliography -- Index