3 - Multiple Remediation

Summary

MULTIPLE REPRESENTATIONS, mentions and allusions in many different media and genres across time are necessary for the memory of an event to remain in the memorial canon, and for it to harbour the symbolism and mythical qualities of a memory site in the community. Erll refers to this process as ‘remediation’. In the case of the Norman Conquest these representations, mentions and allusions have been going on for more than 900 years. It is naturally very difficult to cover the whole history of the mentions, reworkings and uses of the memory of the Conquest throughout that time. For a general survey I refer the reader to Marjorie Chibnall's survey of the debates on the Conquest. My own coverage will be selective in presenting the eras and issues which are the most interesting and relevant from the point of view of memory of the Conquest among the general public today, and also in presenting phenomena which are of interest with respect to the functioning and processes of memory of the distant past.

Remediating the Early Accounts

Remediation is not just a matter of repeated mentions of the famous event in different media and genres, but also of re-use of previous mentions, creating thus a long-lasting and wide-ranging web of intertextuality. One fascinating issue for our topic of study is the role of the small number of very early accounts of the Conquest dating from the eleventh century and the early twelfth century.