The essays in this volume form a new cultural history focused round, but not confined to, the presence and interactions of francophone speakers, writers, readers, texts and documents in England from the 11th to the later 15th century.

The twelve articles in this volume promote the growing contacts between medieval linguistics and medieval cultural studies generally. Articles address medieval English linguistics, and the interrelation in Anglo-Saxon England between Latin and vernacular language and culture.

The twelve articles in this volume promote the growing contacts between medieval linguistics and medieval cultural studies generally. Articles address medieval English linguistics, and the interrelation in Anglo-Saxon England between Latin and vernacular language and culture.

An examination of what the translation of medieval French texts into different European languages can reveal about the differences between cultures.

In Obscene Pedagogies, Carissa M. Harris investigates the relationship between obscenity, gender, and pedagogy in Middle English and Middle Scots literary texts from 1300 to 1580 to show how sexually explicit and defiantly vulgar speech taught readers and listeners about sexual behavior and consent. Through innovative close readings of literary texts including erotic lyrics, single-woman's songs, debate poems between men and women, Scottish insult poetry battles, and The Canterbury Tales, Harris demonstrates how through its transgressive charge and galvanizing shock value, obscenity taught audiences about gender, sex, pleasure, and power in ways both positive and harmful. Harris's own voice, proudly witty and sharply polemical, inspires the reader to address these medieval texts with an eye on contemporary issues of gender, violence, and misogyny.

A compact collection of focused introductions to and inquiries into medieval England, representing both history and literature.

This anthology brings together medieval documents and narratives illustrative of the political, social, economic, and cultural history of England during the Middle Ages. Authors and subjects included are both secular and clerical, male and female, mighty and low. Along with classic texts, such as the Domesday Book and Magna Carta, the collection also contains materials on less frequently addressed topics, such as the persecution of Jews, and the writings of a number of women, such as Margery of Kempe and Queen Isabella of Angoul?me.