Literary Theory and Criticism in the Later Middle Ages
Interpretation, Invention, Imagination

Reasserts the central importance of medieval scholastic literary theory through a collection of newly-commissioned expert essays.

Ardis Butterfield (Edited by), Ian Johnson (Edited by), Andrew Kraebel (Edited by)

9781108716628, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 25 September 2025

348 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.8 cm, 0.504 kg

'From Gillespie's opening tribute, the book comes full circle with a concluding bibliography of Minnis's publications to date, compiled by Gina Marie Hurley and Clara Wild - a research project in itself. To survey Alastair Minnis's career from such a vantage point is to be struck once again not only by the enduring value of what has already been achieved under his broadly interdisciplinary remit for medieval literary studies, but also by the extent to which approaches rooted in the analysis of scholastic intellectuality and practice continue to bear fruit.' David Lavinsky, Speculum: A Journal of Medieval Studies

This collection makes a new, profound and far-reaching intervention into the rich yet little-explored terrain between Latin scholastic theory and vernacular literature. Written by a multidisciplinary team of leading international authors, the chapters honour and advance Alastair Minnis's field-defining scholarship. A wealth of expert essays refract the nuances of theory through the medium of authoritative Latin and vernacular medieval texts, providing fresh interpretative treatment to known canonical works while also bringing unknown materials to light.

The career and contribution of Alastair Minnis Vincent Gillespie
Introduction: criticism, theory and the medieval text Andrew Kraebel
1. Access through accessus: gateways to learning in a manuscript of school texts Marjorie Curry Woods
2. Scholastic theory and vernacular knowledge Jocelyn Wogan-Browne
3. Poetics and biblical hermeneutics in the thirteenth century Gilbert Dahan
4. Robert holcot and De vetula: beyond Smalley's assessment Ralph Hanna
5. The inspired commentator: theories of interpretive authority in the writings of Richard rolle Andrew Kraebel
6. Guitar lessons at blackfriars: Vernacular Medicine and Preachers' Style in Henry Daniel's Liber uricrisiarum Joe Stadolnik
7. The re-cognition of doctrinal discourse and scholastic literary theory: affordances of ordinatio in Reginald Pecock's Donet and reule of Crysten religioun Ian Johnson
8. Arts of love and justice: property, women and golden age politics in Le Roman de la Rose Jessica Rosenfeld
9. The many sides of personification: Rhetorical Theory and Piers Plowman Nicolette Zeeman
10. Encountering vision: dislocation, disquiet, perplexity in bonaventure, The Squire's Tale and Pearl Mary Carruthers
11. George Colvile's translation of the consolation of philosophy Ian Cornelius
12. When did the emotions become political? Medieval Origins and Enlightenment Outcomes Rita Copeland
Bibliography of the Works of Alastair Minnis Gina Marie Hurley and Clara Wild
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Literary studies: classical, early & medieval [DSBB]