Before the 1760s -- with the major exception of Chaucer -- nearly
all of Middle English literature lay undiscovered and ignored.
Because established scholars regarded later medieval literature as
primitive and barbaric, the study of this rich literary heritage
was relegated to antiquarians and dilettantes. In The Making of
Middle English, 1765-1910, David Matthews chronicles the gradual
rediscovery of this literature and the formation of Middle English
as a scholarly pursuit.
Matthews details how the careers, class positions, and ambitions
of only a few men gave shape and direction to the discipline.
Mostly from the lower middle class, they worked in the church or in
law and hoped to exploit medieval literature for financial success
and social advancement. Where Middle English was concerned,
Matthews notes, these scholars were self-taught, and their
amateurism came at the price of inaccurately edited and often
deliberately "improved" texts intended for a general public that
sought appealing, rather than authentic, reading material.
This study emphasizes the material history of the discipline,
examining individual books and analyzing introductions, notes,
glossaries, promotional materials, lists of subscribers, and
owners' annotations to assess the changing methodological
approaches of the scholars and the shifts in readership. Matthews
explores the influence of aristocratic patronage and the societies
formed to further the editing and publication of texts. And he
examines the ideological uses of Middle English and the often
contentious debates between these scholars and organizations about
the definition of Englishness itself.
A thorough work of scholarship, The Making of MiddleEnglish
presents for the first time a detailed account of the formative
phase of Middle English studies and provides new perspectives on
the emergence of medieval studies, canon formation, the politics of
editing, and the history of the book.
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