Classical Rhetoric in the Middle Ages: The Medieval Rhetors and Their Art 400-1300, with Manuscript Survey to 1500 CE is a completely updated version of John Ward’s much-used doctoral thesis of 1972, and is the definitive treatment of this fundamental aspect of medieval and rhetorical culture.

Follows the threads of ancient rhetorical theory into the Middle Ages and examines the distinctly Medieval rhetorical genres of perceptive grammar, letter-writing, and preaching. These various forms are compared with one another and placed in the context of Medieval society. Covering the period 426 A.D. to 14.

Classical Rhetoric in the Middle Ages: The Medieval Rhetors and Their Art 400-1300, with Manuscript Survey to 1500 CE is a completely updated version of John Ward's much-used doctoral thesis of 1972, and is the definitive treatment of this fundamental aspect of medieval and rhetorical culture. It is commonly believed that medieval writers were interested only in Christian truth, not in Graeco-Roman methods of 'persuasion' to whatever viewpoint the speaker / writer wanted. Dr Ward, however, investigates the content of well over one thousand medieval manuscripts and shows that medieval writers were fully conscious of and much dependent upon Graeco-Roman rhetorical methods of persuasion. The volume then demonstrates why and to what purpose this use of classical rhetoric took place.

While the study of rhetoric has received a much-needed revival dating from about 1945, historical writing was not a favored object of scrutiny among the many studies of rhetoric's influence on medieval literature, education, and preaching (from the introduction). By 1978, some scholars had resolved to rectify this problem, and organized sessions at the thirteenth International Congress on Medieval Studies. This volume stands as a selection of works presented there, helping to fortify the strength of interest and inquiry directed toward rhetoric's symbiosis with historiography in centuries past (from the introduction).

Originally published between 1981 and 2003, the thirteen essays collected here cover topics in medieval rhetoric from its origins in late antiquity through the end of the Middle Ages. Most of the essays are concerned with the teaching of prose composition, especially the art of letter writing known as the ars dictaminis, and many of them focus on specific textbooks that were used for such instruction, in particular those composed in England from the twelfth through the fifteenth centuries. Individual essays are devoted to works by major figures such as Saint Augustine, Peter of Blois, and Geoffrey of Vinsauf; to teaching programmes at important academic centres such as Oxford and Bologna; and to such topics as the relationship between the art of letter writing and the art of poetry, the oral dimension of medieval epistolography, the manuscript traditions of influential textbooks, medieval genre terminology, and the position of medieval rhetoric within a continuous disciplinary history rooted in classical rhetoric.

Since its original publication by UNC Press in 1980, this book has provided thousands of students with a concise introduction and guide to the history of the classical tradition in rhetoric, the ancient but ever vital art of persuasion. Now, George Kennedy offers a thoroughly revised and updated edition of Classical Rhetoric and Its Christian and Secular Tradition. From its development in ancient Greece and Rome, through its continuation and adaptation in Europe and America through the Middle Ages and Renaissance, to its enduring significance in the twentieth century, he traces the theory and practice of classical rhetoric through history. At each stage of the way, he demonstrates how new societies modified classical rhetoric to fit their needs. For this edition, Kennedy has updated the text and the bibliography to incorporate new scholarship; added sections relating to women orators and rhetoricians throughout history; and enlarged the discussion of rhetoric in America, Germany, and Spain. He has also included more information about historical and intellectual contexts to assist the reader in understanding the tradition of classical rhetoric.

Rhetoric in the Middle Ages: A History of Rhetorical Theoryfrom Saint Augustine to the Renaissance was first published in 1974 by the University of California Press and won the national book award of the Speech Communication Association. It has since been translated into Italian, Spanish, and Polish. In 2001 it, along with its companion anthology, Three Medieval Rhetorical Arts, was reprinted by the Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies (ACMRS), and remains in print. In the more than four decades since the book first appeared, a vast number of studies of medieval rhetoric have appeared and the field has advanced enormously. This Bibliographic Supplement allows readers to survey scholarly developments since 1974. It is organized into four chapters following the four sections of the original book: ancient rhetoric and its continuations, ars dictaminis, arts of poetry and prose, and ars praedicandi. Each chapter consists of a bibliographic essay discussing key works since 1974 in context and a bibliography specific to that chapter's subject.