In medieval England, the life of St. Edward the Confessor functioned as ideological myth; Henry I... more In medieval England, the life of St. Edward the Confessor functioned as ideological myth; Henry III used it to show that the Plantagenet dynasty had reconciled two ‘nations’ within England after the Norman Conquest. Edward’s post-Conquest hagiography generally supports a sacralized monarchy and its prerogatives. However, a lesser-known, anonymous version of Edward’s life exists in Middle English verse and resists royalist mythmaking from a more populist perspective. In the South English Legendary and in several Middle English chronicles, a counter-tradition of writing about Edward continues to sacralize the saint-king but simultaneously positions him as a symbol of resistance to Plantagenet rule. In this tradition, the rhetoric of sacral kingship works unexpectedly: rather than sanctifying the authority of the ruling house, it reminds readers of a previous, dead monarch, whose claim to sanctity (the fulfillment of Edward’s famous prophecy of the green tree) should act as a check on the abuse of power by the presently-reigning dynasty. From this point of view, resistance to the Crown can be seen, not as discouraged and limited by the idea of sacral monarchy, but instead as partly motivated by it.
In this article, I explore the potential that Magian symbolism offered for Edward III's political... more In this article, I explore the potential that Magian symbolism offered for Edward III's political purposes in the middle decades of the fourteenth century. Now most familiar as a symbol of devotion, the Three Kings' appeal as a legendary model of kingship has been ignored, and their prominence in Edward's reign should not be seen as merely incidental to his program of building a symbolic vocabulary of sacral kingship. The story of the Magi paired exotic mystical authority with a European currency that complemented his other, more Anglocentric, models of mythic kingship, St. George and Arthur. Edward's image-making program helps explain why the fourteenth century Historia Trium Regum might have attained such great popularity in England, how this text was likely read, and why several other works of fourteenth century art and literature attempt to link Magian symbolism with Plantagenet kingship. Within this context, we should read the Historia Trium Regum as a robustly political text, rather than only a devotional one. Reading the Historia as a work designed to appeal to the political imagination helps us understand a " Magian " model of kingship that was promoted under Edward, but has been glossed over by political historians because it amounted to little in terms of practical politics. It has been ignored by literary scholars as well, because it doesn't fit prevailing new historicist models of how sacral kingship operated ideologically.
Critical focus on the Series's depiction of madness and self-reflexivity has often downplayed Hoc... more Critical focus on the Series's depiction of madness and self-reflexivity has often downplayed Hoccleve's innovative formal strategies. This essay argues that the Series's narrative of social rehabilitation is part of a larger project to theorize secular poetic authority. Drawing upon the bureaucratic textual techniques that he employed in the Formulary, Hoccleve explores a "documentary poetic" based on the notion of citationality. The 'Compleinte' and 'Dialogue' pursue an analogy between madness and the absence of intentionality implied by the textual objectification of human relationships. Then, the 'Dialogue' shows how authority may be both instantiated and undermined by the citation of such textual forms. By utilizing the bureaucratic apparatus of contract, oath, and witness as a solution to the problem of rumor faced by his narrator, Hoccleve proposes an innovative solution to the problem of grounding secular poetic agency in a bureaucratic environment.
In medieval England, the life of St. Edward the Confessor functioned as ideological myth; Henry I... more In medieval England, the life of St. Edward the Confessor functioned as ideological myth; Henry III used it to show that the Plantagenet dynasty had reconciled two ‘nations’ within England after the Norman Conquest. Edward’s post-Conquest hagiography generally supports a sacralized monarchy and its prerogatives. However, a lesser-known, anonymous version of Edward’s life exists in Middle English verse and resists royalist mythmaking from a more populist perspective. In the South English Legendary and in several Middle English chronicles, a counter-tradition of writing about Edward continues to sacralize the saint-king but simultaneously positions him as a symbol of resistance to Plantagenet rule. In this tradition, the rhetoric of sacral kingship works unexpectedly: rather than sanctifying the authority of the ruling house, it reminds readers of a previous, dead monarch, whose claim to sanctity (the fulfillment of Edward’s famous prophecy of the green tree) should act as a check on the abuse of power by the presently-reigning dynasty. From this point of view, resistance to the Crown can be seen, not as discouraged and limited by the idea of sacral monarchy, but instead as partly motivated by it.
In this article, I explore the potential that Magian symbolism offered for Edward III's political... more In this article, I explore the potential that Magian symbolism offered for Edward III's political purposes in the middle decades of the fourteenth century. Now most familiar as a symbol of devotion, the Three Kings' appeal as a legendary model of kingship has been ignored, and their prominence in Edward's reign should not be seen as merely incidental to his program of building a symbolic vocabulary of sacral kingship. The story of the Magi paired exotic mystical authority with a European currency that complemented his other, more Anglocentric, models of mythic kingship, St. George and Arthur. Edward's image-making program helps explain why the fourteenth century Historia Trium Regum might have attained such great popularity in England, how this text was likely read, and why several other works of fourteenth century art and literature attempt to link Magian symbolism with Plantagenet kingship. Within this context, we should read the Historia Trium Regum as a robustly political text, rather than only a devotional one. Reading the Historia as a work designed to appeal to the political imagination helps us understand a " Magian " model of kingship that was promoted under Edward, but has been glossed over by political historians because it amounted to little in terms of practical politics. It has been ignored by literary scholars as well, because it doesn't fit prevailing new historicist models of how sacral kingship operated ideologically.
Critical focus on the Series's depiction of madness and self-reflexivity has often downplayed Hoc... more Critical focus on the Series's depiction of madness and self-reflexivity has often downplayed Hoccleve's innovative formal strategies. This essay argues that the Series's narrative of social rehabilitation is part of a larger project to theorize secular poetic authority. Drawing upon the bureaucratic textual techniques that he employed in the Formulary, Hoccleve explores a "documentary poetic" based on the notion of citationality. The 'Compleinte' and 'Dialogue' pursue an analogy between madness and the absence of intentionality implied by the textual objectification of human relationships. Then, the 'Dialogue' shows how authority may be both instantiated and undermined by the citation of such textual forms. By utilizing the bureaucratic apparatus of contract, oath, and witness as a solution to the problem of rumor faced by his narrator, Hoccleve proposes an innovative solution to the problem of grounding secular poetic agency in a bureaucratic environment.
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