A History of Anglo-Latin Literature, 1066-1422

For over a hundred years there has been no comprehensive history of later medieval Anglo-Latin literature (which constitutes an astonishing nine-tenths of English literary activity in the period). The century and a half since the last major work on this subject have seen the discovery and editing of many important texts. The view is commonly held that English literary culture declined after the Norman Conquest and revived only in the fourteenth century in the work of writers such as Chaucer; this view ignores the flourishing tradition of Latin literature written between England's enforced entry into the European mainstream and the rise of the vernacular and humanism. A.G. Rigg's new history reveals a very rich corpus of writings, comprising epic, lyric, comedy, satire, prose anecdote, romance, saints' lives and devotional texts. Authors such as Geoffrey of Monmouth, John of Salisbury, Gerald of Wales and John Gower are now presented in the context of the host of other Anglo-Latin writings, both major and minor. This chronological history gives quotations in the original Latin with English translations in verse or prose; Anglo-Latin metres are explained and exemplified in an Appendix.