Texts and Contexts of Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Laud Misc. 108

Kimberly K. Bell,, Ph.D. (2002) in English, Georgia State University, is Associate Professor of English at Sam Houston State University. She has published articles on various Middle English texts, including Havelok the Dane (2008).Julie Nelson Couch, Ph.D. (2000) in English, Brown University, is Associate Professor of English at Texas Tech University. She has published several articles on texts found in the Bodleian Library, MS Laud Misc. 108, including two recent articles on Havelok the Dane (2008).

"this collection sets out to demonstrate that SEL is an important witness to the emergence of Middle English, and that its series of texts can be read as a series, yielding unique insight into medieval literary culture. This it accomplishes quite well. It is my hope that this volume will serve as a model for scholars to approach other manuscripts, for only with a team of scholars, working together intensively over the same codex, are we poised to see the complexities and nuances of medieval England's literary culture." Mike Johnston (Purdue University) in The Medieval Review 11.10.18

• List of Figures … xAcknowledgments … xiList of Abbreviations … xiiiList of Authors … xviiIntroduction: Reading Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Laud Misc. 108 as a “Whole Book” … 1Kimberly K. Bell and Julie Nelson CouchPART ONETHE MANUSCRIPT AND ITS PROVENANCEI. Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Laud Misc. 108: Contents, Construction, and Circulation … 21A. S. G. EdwardsII. Talk in the Camps: On the Dating of the South English Legendary, Havelok the Dane, and King Horn in Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Laud Misc. 108 … 31Thomas R. LiszkaIII. “Very Like a Whale”?: Physical Features and the “Whole Book” in Oxford, Bodleian Library,MS Laud Misc. 108 … 51Murray J. EvansIV. “Her Y Spelle”: The Evocation of Minstrel Performance in a Hagiographical Context … 71Andrew TaylorV. Miscellaneous Masculinities and a Possible Fifteenth-Century Owner of Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Laud Misc. 108 … 87Christina M. FitzgeraldPART TWOTHE MANUSCRIPT AND ITS TEXTSVI. A Text for Its Time: The Sanctorale of the Early South English Legendary … 117Diane SpeedVII. The Audience and Function of the Apocryphal Infancy of Jesus Christ in Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Laud Misc. 108 … 137Daniel T. KlineVIII. The Eschatological Cluster—Sayings of St. Bernard, Vision of St. Paul, and Dispute Between the Body and the Soul—in Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Laud Misc. 108 ... 157J. Justin BrentIX. Genre, Bodies, and Power in Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Laud Misc. 108: King Horn, Havelok, and the South English Legendary … 177Andrew LynchX. The Early South English Legendary and Difference: Race, Place, Language, and Belief … 197Robert MillsXI. The Magic of Englishness in St. Kenelm and Havelok the Dane … 223Julie Nelson CouchXII. “holie mannes liues”: England and its Saints in Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Laud Misc. 108’s King Horn and South English Legendary … 251Kimberly K. BellXIII. Somer Soneday: Kingship, Sainthood, and Fortune in Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Laud Misc. 108 … 275Susanna FeinEpilogue: Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Laud Misc. 108 and Other English Manuscripts … 299A. S. G. EdwardsBibliography … 303Index of Manuscripts … 323General Index … 325Figures following 329