4 This essay explores the origins of this story, addresses why Osbern chose to introduce it into the legend of Dunstan, and asks what his careful remodelling of the tale can reveal about the purposes of hagiographical narratives. St Dunstan (909–988) had been dead for over a century and at least two different accounts of his Life had already been written, but Osbern of Canterbury was the first to tell this tale in his Vita S. 3 Few in the nineteenth century, however, could have known of its origins, nor indeed have imagined its novelty when the story first entered the hagiographical tradition in the final decade of the eleventh century. In fact, so famous was the tale that Barham felt it needed no further explanation. Richard Harris Barham was correct in his 1837 lay lampooning the legend of St Dunstan: the tale of the saint tweaking the devil’s nose was indeed one which everyone knew. He took up the tongs and caught hold of his nose. Miri Rubin, Queen Mary, University of Londonįor submission guidelines and further information please visit Margaret Clunies Ross, University of Sydney Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht, Stanford UniversityĬhristiane Klapisch-Zuber, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Paris Within this generous brief, they recognize only two criteria: excellence and originality. The editors aim to engage with intellectual and cultural pluralism in the Middle Ages and now. The title announces an interest both in new writing about medieval culture and in new academic writing. Its scope is inclusive of work across the theoretical, archival, philological, and historicist methodologies associated with medieval literary studies. New Medieval Literatures is an annual of work on medieval textual cultures.
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