Who wrote about the past in the Middle Ages, who read about it, and how were these works disseminated and used? History was a subject popular with authors and readers in the Anglo-Norman world. The volume and richness of historical writing in the lands controlled by the kings of England, particularly from the 12th century, has long attracted the attention of historians and literary scholars. This collection of essays returns to the processes involved in writing history, and in particular to the medieval manuscript sources in which the works of such historians survive. It explores the motivations of those writing about the past in the Middle Ages (such as Orderic Vitalis, John of Worcester, Symeon of Durham, William of Malmesbury, Gerald of Wales, Roger of Howden, and Matthew Paris), and the evidence provided by manuscripts for the circumstances in which copies were made.

About the Author
Laura Cleaver is Senior Lecturer in Manuscript Studies at the Institute of English Studies, School of Advanced Study, University of London. Her research focuses on manuscripts made in England and France in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries and on the sale of pre-modern manuscripts in the early twentieth century. Laura Cleaver is Senior Lecturer in Manuscript Studies at the Institute of English Studies, School of Advanced Study, University of London. Her research focuses on manuscripts made in England and France in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries and on the sale of pre-modern manuscripts in the early twentieth century. CHARLES C. ROZIER is Lecturer in Medieval Studies at the University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK. S.D. Church is Professor in Medieval Studies at the University of Lincoln. Kathryn Gerry centres her research on the cult of saints and monastic culture in Anglo-Norman England. She has published on medieval manuscripts and the so-called minor arts, curated exhibitions at the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, and the Bowdoin College Museum of art, Brunswick, Maine, and has taught at several colleges and universities in the US; she is currently Visiting Assistant Professor of Art History at Bowdoin College.

Reviews
This volume thus offers a rich variety of insights into the diversity and complexity of Anglo-Norman historical writing. . . . [It] achieves its goal of using manuscripts to add nuance to our understanding of Anglo-Norman historical writing. * MANUSCRIPT STUDIES *
The quality of the essays, and the originality of many of their findings, should, if nothing else, serve to spur other researchers into action. * FRANCIA *



Book Information
ISBN 9781914049118
Author Laura Cleaver
Format Paperback
Page Count 288
Imprint York Medieval Press
Publisher York Medieval Press