Simple books for devout readers: Recovering a fifteenth-century middle English genre

Weisweaver, Sara

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/105745 Copy

Description

Title

Simple books for devout readers: Recovering a fifteenth-century middle English genre

Author(s)

Weisweaver, Sara

Issue Date

2019-06-10

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

Camargo, Martin

Doctoral Committee Chair(s)

Camargo, Martin

Committee Member(s)

• Wright, Charles D.
• Barrett, Robert
• Symes, Carol

Department of Study

English

Discipline

English

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Degree Level

Dissertation

Keyword(s)

Middle English, devotional miscellany, devotional anthology, object-oriented ontology, OOO, manuscript studies, fifteenth-century England, common profit, vernacular anthology, vernacular miscellany, vernacular devotional literature, devotional literature, medieval devotional literature, new materialism, textualis, gothic textualis, medieval codicology

Abstract

This project recovers an overlooked fifteenth-century genre using a methodology informed by Object-Oriented Ontology. I collected fourteen manuscripts based on shared core features—portable size, small text box, textualis-leaning script, simple layout, primarily black ink with sparse yet helpful rubrication, and few or no illustrations. I argue that these books constitute a Middle English devotional genre, which I call the Simple Book. All of these books not only share a format, they also share similar types of devotional texts, and ultimately the format and texts work in tandem to create a humble, devotional reading experience. The Simple Book offered a rich, meaningful, and complete devotional reading program to readers with limited means. It defines itself by its use, both in its physical presentation to readers and in its narrative structuring, which I describe as both “welcoming” and “friendly.” By illustrating how a shift from named entities (title, author) to physical affordances makes anonymous texts and their readers legible, this materials-first approach to Middle English devotional manuscripts suggests alternate ways to address the problematically unwieldy genre of the “devotional miscellany.”

Graduation Semester

2019-08

Type of Resource

text

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http://hdl.handle.net/2142/105745

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2019 Sara Weisweaver

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