Medieval Historians of Anglo-Norman Britain

258 Pages·2017·1.73 MB·English

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Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School
5-2017
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Teresa Marie Lopez
University of Tennessee, Knoxville, [email protected]
Follow this and additional works at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss
Part of the Literature in English, British Isles Commons, and the Medieval History Commons
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Lopez, Teresa Marie, "Re-Writing English Identity: Medieval Historians of Anglo-Norman Britain. " PhD
diss., University of Tennessee, 2017.
https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss/4478
This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at TRACE: Tennessee
Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized
administrator of TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact
[email protected].
To the Graduate Council:
I am submitting herewith a dissertation written by Teresa Marie Lopez entitled "Re-Writing
English Identity: Medieval Historians of Anglo-Norman Britain." I have examined the final
electronic copy of this dissertation for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in
partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, with a major in
English.
Thomas Heffernan, Major Professor
We have read this dissertation and recommend its acceptance:
Laura Howes, R.M. Liuzza, Katherine Kong
Accepted for the Council:
Dixie L. Thompson
Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School
(Original signatures are on file with official student records.)
Re-Writing English Identity: Medieval Historians of Anglo-Norman Britain

A Dissertation Presented for the
Doctor of Philosophy
Degree
The University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Teresa Marie Lopez
May 2017
ii

Dedication
To my husband, Eric Swanson, for all his tireless efforts in supporting my work.
iii

Acknowledgements
I would like to express my deep gratitude to Drs. Thomas Heffernan, Laura Howes, R.M.
Liuzza, and Katherine Kong for their support and guidance throughout this dissertation process
and my graduate experience. Their assistance made it possible for me to complete this project,
and their expertise helped shape and sharpen the focus of my writing. Special thanks as well to
the English Department’s Director of Graduate Studies, Dr. Dawn Coleman, for providing
continued support and advice throughout my studies.
I would also like to thank all of my colleagues and friends for encouraging me to complete
my writing, especially Tara Ralph and Eric Swanson.
iv

Abstract
My dissertation uses post-colonial and narrative theories to examine the historiographic tradition
of twelfth-century England. This investigation explores the idea of nationhood in pre-modern
England and the relationship between history and romance in post-Conquest historical writings. I
analyze how Geoffrey of Monmouth, Henry of Huntingdon Geffrei Gaimar, and Laʒamon
imagine and narrate the explicit changes to the ruling elite in twelfth-century England, and how
this process constructs their idea of “Englishness.”
v

Table of Contents
Introduction: Conquest, History, and Romance in Twelfth-Century England ............................... 1
History as a Genre in the Twelfth Century ................................................................................. 4
Ethnicity and Political Identity ................................................................................................... 9
History and Romance ................................................................................................................ 14
Summary of Chapters ............................................................................................................... 16
Chapter 1: Geoffrey’s History and Historia: The Function of a Pseudo-History ................. 16
Chapter 2: Translating and Transforming Arthurian Historiography in Laʒamon’s Brut .... 17
Chapter 3: Henry of Huntingdon’s Historicizing of the Present........................................... 19
Chapter 4: Geffrei Gaimar’s Blending of History, Romance, and Cultural Identity ............ 20
Chapter 1 – Geoffrey’s History and Historia: The Function of a Pseudo-History ....................... 23
Geoffrey of Monmouth ............................................................................................................. 24
Geoffrey’s Motivation .............................................................................................................. 29
Civil War: The Context of the HRB ......................................................................................... 36
Geoffrey’s Sources.................................................................................................................... 41
Legitimacy and the Welsh ........................................................................................................ 42
Nationalism and King Arthur.................................................................................................... 47
Marked for Failure .................................................................................................................... 53
The Norman Future ................................................................................................................... 62
Conclusion: Establishing a Historical Voice ............................................................................ 67
Chapter 2 –Translating and Transforming Arthurian Historiography in Laʒamon’s Brut ........... 71
Laʒamon’s Sources ................................................................................................................... 73
Date of Composition ................................................................................................................. 80
Regional Context and the Language of the Brut ....................................................................... 87
Laʒamon .................................................................................................................................... 95
Richard and John....................................................................................................................... 99
Inscribing the Normans into English History ......................................................................... 104
Colonizing Albion ................................................................................................................... 106
King Arthur ............................................................................................................................. 111
Conclusion: Transforming England ........................................................................................ 118
Chapter 3 – Henry of Huntingdon’s Historicizing of the Present ............................................... 120
Henry of Huntingdon .............................................................................................................. 122
Henry as a Canon and Archdeacon ......................................................................................... 134
Historia Anglorum: The Manuscripts and Versions ............................................................... 137
vi

The Structure of the HA .......................................................................................................... 140
HA Sources ............................................................................................................................. 141
Henry as a Historian................................................................................................................ 148
Moral Motivations .................................................................................................................. 150
Kingdoms of Order ................................................................................................................. 160
Saxons ..................................................................................................................................... 161
Normans .................................................................................................................................. 167
Conclusion – Nationalism ....................................................................................................... 177
Chapter 4 – Geffrei Gaimar’s Blending of History, Romance and Cultural Identity ................. 181
Geffrei Gaimar ........................................................................................................................ 183
Gaimar’s Patrons and Supporters............................................................................................ 186
Regional Context of Lincolnshire ........................................................................................... 194
The Text .................................................................................................................................. 198
Sources .................................................................................................................................... 199
The Date of Composition and Historical Context ................................................................... 203
A Vernacular History .............................................................................................................. 211
Anglo-Saxon History as Romance .......................................................................................... 214
Culturally Blended History ..................................................................................................... 222
Conclusion – Multicultural History ........................................................................................ 230
Conclusion: History, Memory, and the Crafting of Identity ....................................................... 232
Works Cited ................................................................................................................................ 235
Primary Sources ...................................................................................................................... 236
Secondary Sources .................................................................................................................. 237
Further Reading ...................................................................................................................... 249
Vita .............................................................................................................................................. 250
1

Introduction: Conquest, History, and Romance in Twelfth-Century England

In the late twelfth century (ca.1179) Dialogus de Scaccario1 by Richard Fitz Nigel, the
discipulus and magister discuss the question of murder in an exchange that reveals more about
post-Conquest national identity than criminal activities. The magister defines the crime thusly:
“Murdrum enim idem est quod absconditum uel occultum” (X 80).2 The magister’s definition is
colored by the conflicts between Saxons and Normans: “In primitiuo itaque regni statu post
conquisitionem qui relicti fuerant de Anglicis subactis, in suspectam et exosam sibi
Normannorum gentem latenter ponebant insidias, et passim ipsos in nemoribus et locis remotis,
nacta opportunitate, clanculo iugulabant” (X 80).3 Most often, the magister claims, the murder of
a Norman was punished with a murdro debet, to which the discipulus asks if a similar
punishment is administered for the murder of an Englishman. The magister replies, “A prima
institutione non debet sicut audisti, set iam cohabitantibus Anglicis et Normannis et alterutrum
uxores ducentibus uel nubentibus, sic permixte sunt nationes ut uix decerni possit hodie, de
liberis loquor, quis Normannus sit genere…” (X 83).4 This short, imagined dialogue represents
not only the unrest in the immediate aftermath of the Norman Conquest but also the eventual
blending of two combative cultures, the English (Anglo-Saxons) and the Normans. How is such
“mixing” achieved within the hundred years between the Conquest and the publication of Fitz
Nigel’s Dialogus? Clues regarding the dissolution of stringent political and cultural boundaries

1 All quotes and translations come from Emilie Amt’s 2007 edition and translation of the text.
2 For ‘murder’ means something concealed or hidden.
3 In the state the kingdom was in just after the Conquest, those who were left of the defeated English secretly plotted
against the mistrusted and hated Normans, and now and then, when they had the chance, clandestinely murdered
them everywhere in woods and secluded places.
4 It wasn’t so at first, as you have heard, but now, with the English and the Normans living side by side and
intermarrying, the two nations are so mixed that today one can scarcely distinguish who is English and who is
Norman…
2

between Saxon and Norman can be traced through other literature of the twelfth century, namely
histories.
History and historians become key to understanding the delicate balance of conquest and
colonialism throughout time as writers respond to the contextual issues of their period. For the
medieval period, Robert W. Hanning performs a comprehensive analysis of the early medieval
“historical imagination” in his book The Vision of History in Early Britain. Closely examining
Bede, Gildas, Nennius, and Geoffrey of Monmouth, Hanning is specifically concerned with
studying the precommitments of the authors and the thematic concerns of their works. While the
text performs an extremely thorough analysis of early medieval England’s historical writings, it
addresses Anglo-Norman historians only as they pertain to the work of Geoffrey of Monmouth.
Hanning cannot easily explain the brevity of their existence, remarking, “A categorization of the
factors which militated against the continuation of the work of William, Henry, and Orderic lies
outside the scope of this study, and perhaps of modern scholarship” (173). However, Hanning
does suggest a possible explanation: “The passing of Geoffrey’s generation signaled the
disappearance of an all-inclusive medieval historical imagination; thereafter we must make an
important and unequivocal distinction between two separate traditions: the historical vision, and
the romantic vision” (176). According to Hanning, the influence of history as a comprehensive
genre gave way to romance after the twelfth century, based largely on the influence of Geoffrey
of Monmouth’s Historia Regum Britanniae (HRB). From that point on, King Arthur and the
chivalric stories of his court became firmly entrenched in the historical representation of the
matter of Britain.
I find the perspective on Anglo-Norman histories represented by Hanning’s work inadequate.
The lack of exploration on the “historical vision” of twelfth- and even early thirteenth-century