Introduction

Summary

The centrality of the role of the scribe in studies of later medieval English literature has developed inexorably over the past four decades. During this time scholarly interest has shifted from literary texts themselves to the manuscripts in which they survive. It has also broadened from an exclusive focus on the authors whose wit, imagination and learning generated works of literature to a more inclusive consideration of the whole process of writing, and one that acknowledges the craftsmanship of those who physically committed the authors’ words to parchment and paper. Any graduate student embarking on the study of medieval literature in the third decade of the twenty-first century can expect to encounter questions of scribal culture and book production sooner rather than later in their studies, and will find that deeper acquaintance of those major medieval authors and texts that have featured on the syllabus at undergraduate level will be freighted with a searching appreciation of their cultural and historical milieux. Even though graduate students may not actually be expected to read medieval texts from manuscript to any great extent as part of their assessed work they will usually be provided with training in at least the rudiments of palaeography, codicology and textual criticism as part of any taught Masters programme, in anticipation that knowledge of these skills will be necessary for successful further doctoral study as well as for parallel careers in the archival and library sectors. Such training has, of course, been available in the past, especially at locations such as Toronto and York and St Andrews where there have traditionally been significant concentrations of medieval scholars, and at those universities which own or have convenient access to extensive collections of medieval manuscripts. The key difference is the now universal and routine expectation that students of medieval English literature will need such skills; previously training in palaeography and diplomatics was assumed to be essential only for students of medieval history, since their research was always expected to require archival work and the examination of original medieval documents. This change in approach in the subject of medieval English literature is due to a combination of factors, not all of which are academically driven.