Paying the minstrel: a cultural study of B.L.MS Harley 913

Abstract

To date no inclusive study of the contents of British Library MS Harley 913 has been undertaken, despite the prevalence of scholarly opinion attesting to the manuscript's importance. In the absence of a facsimile or edition of Harley 913 it may be difficult for others to "visualize" the manuscript as a whole, especially in view of the number of studies concerning only its Middle Hiberno-English poetry. For this reason, in this study I have decided on the approach of letting the manuscript speak for itself; each of the texts will be discussed in turn - as they appear in the manuscript - allowing for the development of individual cultural themes and reformist concerns, and permitting the reader to experience the cumulative effect of "reading" the manuscript as it exists today

Date of Award	Jul 2001
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Queen's University Belfast
Supervisor	John Thompson (Supervisor)