Government Scribes and Middle English Literature, 1400-1475 (H.P. Kraus Fellowship in Early Books and Manuscripts, Beinecke Library, Yale University)

This project has received generous support from Yale University's Beinecke Library with a one-month H.P. Kraus Fellowship in Early Books and Manuscripts.

The majority of surviving Middle English manuscripts dates from the fifteenth century. It is during this period that almost all copies of Chaucer’s and Gower’s works were produced, in addition to the work of other major poets such as Hoccleve, Lydgate, and Langland. However, our knowledge of authorial and scribal hands during this period is still far from satisfactory.

I believe that with a complete catalogue of the handwriting of fifteenth-century government scribes we will make significant progress toward identifying the scribal hands in Middle English literary manuscripts and gain a fuller understanding of the production of English literature during this period.