Language and Culture in Medieval Britain - 9781903153475

England was more widely and enduringly francophone in the Middle Ages than our now standard accounts of its history, culture and language allow

The French of England (also known as Anglo-Norman and Anglo-French) is the language of nearly a thousand literary texts, of much administration, and of many professions and occupations. English literary, linguistic and documentary history is deeply interwoven with a continually evolving spectrum of Frenches used within and outside the realm, and cannot be fully grasped in isolation

The essays in this volume open up and begin writing a new cultural history focused on, but not confined to, the presence and interactions of francophone speakers, writers, readers, texts and documents in England from the eleventh to the later fifteenth centuries. They return to us a newly alive, multi-vocal, complexly multi-cultural medieval England, in which the use of French and its interrelations with English and other languages involve many diverse groups of people

The volume's size testifies to the significance of England's francophone culture, while its chronological range shows the need for revision across the whole span of our existing narratives about medieval English linguistic and cultural history

This is a groundbreaking and important collection and will be regarded as essential reading in years to come. Ralph Hanna, Speculum

[T]his volume is a major contribution both to the study of French (continental as well as insular) and English language and culture in the Middle Ages. Anglia

A volume whose publication should have long-term influence on those who study medieval culture, as well as those who are interested specifically in the field of Anglo-Norman language and literature. Journal Of English & Germanic Philology

A resource which will be of great interest and use to scholars approaching the French of England from a broad range of perspectives Modern Language Review