The aim of this project is to initiate a re-examination of the culture, and cultural dynamics, of the West Country in the Middle Ages and their role in shaping the identity of Medieval England as a whole. It was within West Country landscapes that were formed the legends on which much national history was founded. The churches and clerical communities of the region were a source of ecclesiastical leadership and spiritual inspiration; the region generated an early and energetic tradition of learning and literature, and between the twelfth and the sixteenth centuries it was also renowned for its creativity and innovation in architecture and the production of books, indeed even for early experimentation in printing. The West Country was also a frontier between the English polity and its expanding dominion in Wales and Ireland and, at least in the later Middle Ages, what might be termed the emerging Atlantic world. As such it served as a point-of-exchange, where a wide variety of cultural commodities – language, textual traditions, doctrines – were traded and transmitted. Here London English confronted rich variations in vocabulary and usage.
The rich, diverse cultural traditions of the Medieval West have attracted much attention from researchers, but for the most part they have been the subject of discrete studies. The aim of this project is to engender an integrated approach, examining these themes from a variety of disciplinary perspectives and within the context of the region as a whole. The project builds on a number of recent projects completed by members of the Centre for Medieval Studies; it also seeks to extend extra-mural partnerships which have been fostered over a number of years with the Library and Archives of Hereford Cathedral and Wells Cathedral. In the course of developing the project, it is hoped to add further partners, such as the Library and Archives of Gloucester and Exeter Cathedrals, Bristol Public Library and Bristol Record Office, and Berkeley Castle.
The principal objectives for 2010/11 are threefold: to convene three, thematic research workshops, in February, April and July, involving researchers within and beyond Bristol, to mount a day symposium in later 2011, and to prepare an application for a maOutline
The West Country – broadly, the region that extends westward from Salisbury Plain to the Severn Basin, the Wye Valley and the coastlines of Somerset, Dorset, Devon and Cornwall – played a critical role in the making of medieval England. Within these landscapes were formed (and focused) the legends – Arthur, Joseph of Arimathea – which became the corner-stones of national identity. It was the loci sacri of the west – Glastonbury, Hailes, Hereford, St Michael’s Mount – and the cults they garnered, which were among the earliest and most enduring in English Christianity. The clerical communities connected with them were a constant source of ecclesiastical leadership and spiritual inspiration: it should not be overlooked that the Benedictine, Cluniac and Cistercian monastic movements in Britain each began in the west. The region also generated an early and energetic tradition of learning and literature: the scholars and writers of the west made important contributions to classical studies (Aldhelm), historical writing (William of Malmesbury and Jordan Fantosme of Winchester), and pseudo-history (Geoffrey of Monmouth), science (Adelard of Bath) and translation (John Trevisa); at the end of the Middle Ages the region could lay claim the to largest purpose-built library in northern Europe (Wells Cathedral) and one of the earliest printing presses outside London (Tavistock). The west was also a crucible of English material culture. The twelfth-century scriptoria of Cirencester, Gloucester, Hereford and Malmesbury can rival those of Normandy for their quality; the late medieval centres of artistic patronage — notably Berkeley, but also the city of Bristol, and the abbeys of Glastonbury, Milton and Sherborne, among others — sponsored some of the finest achievements of this period in architecture, sculpture and painting. Some of the earliest examples of Gothic architecture in England were in the West Country, including the abbey at Keynsham (begun probably c. 1166). The West Country was also a frontier between the English polity and its expanding dominion in Wales and Ireland and, at least in the later Middle Ages, what might be termed the emerging Atlantic world. As such it served as a point-of-exchange, where a wide variety of cultural commodities – language, textual traditions, doctrines – were traded and transmitted. Here London English confronted rich variations in vocabulary and usage. Here the liturgy of Sarum Use met the Use of the Marches (at Hereford) and perhaps a host of discrete monastic Uses. Here there was also a rich fund of literary motifs and themes which were not to be found in the popular literature of London and the South East. Here also, detached from their academic origin, the doctrines of popular Lollardy were harboured, in the same Gloucestershire heartland from which William Tyndale emerged after 1500.
The rich, diverse cultural traditions of the Medieval West have previously been the subject of discrete studies. The aim of this project is to engender an integrated approach, examining these themes from a variety of disciplinary perspectives and within the context of the region as a whole. The project builds on a number of recent projects completed by members of the Centre for Medieval Studies, including Evan Jones’ Bristol/Ireland project (2007-9: ESRC), Beth Williamson/Jon Cannon’s Bristol Cathedral (2008: BIRTHA, Alumni foundation); it also seeks to extend extra-mural partnerships which have been fostered over a number of years with the Library and Archives of Hereford Cathedral and Wells Cathedral. In the course of developing the project, it is hoped to add further partners, such as the Library and Archives of Gloucester and Exeter Cathedrals, Bristol Public Library and Bristol Record Office, and Berkeley Castle.
Objectives
The project has three principal objectives. The first is to convene a sequence of research workshops devoted to themes connected to the West Country as a case-study in the formation and reception of medieval culture. External participants will be drawn from research institutions within the region (Bath, Exeter, UWE) and further afield, and from archives, libraries and heritage organisations (Cadw, English Heritage, National Trust), and cathedrals (Wells, Hereford and Gloucester). The workshops will incorporate the presentation of short working-papers from participants engaged in relevant research, together with plenary discussion of the key questions that emerge. We plan also to have some of our regular Centre for Medieval Studies research seminars devoted to the theme, and to devote a half-day conference within the normal calendar of events to the theme, thus embedding this project within the regular activities of the Centre next year.
The second objective is to convene a one-day symposium, informed by the themes and questions arising from the three workshops, as the culmination of the first year of the project. The symposium will raise awareness of the project theme as a whole, publicise preliminary insights arising from the workshops, and engage a wide range of audiences, both academic and public. The symposium will be associated with a public sung Vespers from the Hereford Use at St Mary Redcliffe, performed by the University’s Schola Cantorum. During the project period, we will investigate the possibility of arranging a three-part exhibition, with collaboration between Bristol University Library Special Collection, the Bristol Public Records Office and the Bristol Central Library, designed to raise the profile of the research opportunities within the theme of the Medieval West. We would apply for external funding to support this initiative.
The third objective is to establish a network of researchers, drawn from participants in the preceding workshops, to take the project forward to explore both small and larger funding bids.
Expected Outcomes and Outputs
The project will deliver the following outcomes:
· The formation of a research network on the Medieval West
· The identification of key research questions to inform a funding bid
· The formation of collaborative arrangements to underpin a funding bid
· The initial preparation of a funding bid
The project will deliver the following outputs:
· Three workshops and a symposium presenting research papers
· A volume of essays arising from the Symposium and Workshops to be published in the Bristol Medieval Studies series
· A public exhibition (subject to additional funding)