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IMC 2011: Sessions

Session 616: Wealth in Medieval Romance and Ballads: Sources and Circulation, II

Tuesday 12 July 2011, 11.15-12.45

Sponsor:School of English / St Andrews Institute of Mediaeval Studies, University of St Andrews
Organiser:Rebecca Kerry, School of English, University of St Andrews
Moderator/Chair:Ad Putter, Department of English, University of Bristol
Paper 616-a'He Tolde oute Foure Hundred Pounde by Eight and Twenty Score': Gifts and Loans in A Gest of Robyn Hode
(Language: English)
Rebecca Kerry, School of English, University of St Andrews
Index terms: Economics - General, Folk Studies, Language and Literature - Middle English
Paper 616-bFeasting in Middle English Romance: Wealth or Social Ritual?
(Language: English)
Meghan Glass, Department of English Studies, Durham University
Index terms: Daily Life, Language and Literature - Middle English, Social History
Paper 616-cWealth in Fantasy and Reality: The Manuscripts of Middle English Romance
(Language: English)
Gareth Griffith, Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Bristol
Index terms: Language and Literature - Middle English, Manuscripts and Palaeography
Abstract

This is one of two sessions on the sources, circulation, and displays of wealth in medieval romance. Being a good knight is expensive, for not only are there the costs of horse and armour, the ideal of chivalry stresses generosity and other displays of wealth. This is no less true in medieval romance and ballads. These three papers explore unevenness of wealth and the redistribution of riches, whether that imbalance is found somewhere within the text or between the wealth depicted in the romances and that evidenced by the manuscript in which it circulated.