TY - JOUR
T1 - Defiant Devotion in MS Laud Misc. 108: The Narrator of Havelok the Dane and Affective Piety
AU - Couch, Julie
PY - 2008
Y1 - 2008
N2 - Resituating the early Middle English romance Havelok the Dane in its hagiographical
manuscript context helps to account for its effusive, emotional narrator. Juxtaposed
to the personal, prayerful narrator of the South English Legendary found in the same
manuscript, Bodleian Library, Laud Misc. 108, the narrator of Havelok emerges
as an instigator of affective, meditative response. Reading the responsive role of
the Havelok audience as possessing a meditative aspect aligns the poem with the
manuscript’s devotional concerns and practices. Ultimately, Havelok directs an
audience’s affective receptivity toward an investment in rightful secular power.
AB - Resituating the early Middle English romance Havelok the Dane in its hagiographical
manuscript context helps to account for its effusive, emotional narrator. Juxtaposed
to the personal, prayerful narrator of the South English Legendary found in the same
manuscript, Bodleian Library, Laud Misc. 108, the narrator of Havelok emerges
as an instigator of affective, meditative response. Reading the responsive role of
the Havelok audience as possessing a meditative aspect aligns the poem with the
manuscript’s devotional concerns and practices. Ultimately, Havelok directs an
audience’s affective receptivity toward an investment in rightful secular power.
M3 - Article
SP - 53
EP - 79
JO - Parergon: Journal of the Australian & New Zealand Association for Medieval and Early Modern Studies
JF - Parergon: Journal of the Australian & New Zealand Association for Medieval and Early Modern Studies
ER -