The British Foundation Legend Of Albina And Her Sisters Its Sources Development And Place In Medieval Literature Lisa M Ruch by Lisa M. Ruch instant download after payment.

This study focuses on the British matriarchal foundation tale of Albina and her sisters, which was popular throughout the final two centuries of the Middle Ages. The narrative appeared in a wide variety of chronicle texts, in French, English, Latin, Welsh, and Dutch, in both verse and prose forms. The dynamic qualities of the text---how it was adapted to meet the changing needs of medieval writers and audiences---reveal that the tale's inclusion in so many chronicles and its insertion in the Matter of Britain allowed writers to create their own version of truth to suit narrative and rhetorical needs. Yet despite the many versions of the tale which proliferated in the Brut chronicle tradition and certain related texts, it remained consistent in its affirmation of systems of morality, politics, and patriarchy evinced in the literature and histories of medieval England. The narrative's depiction of the transgressions of the murderous sisters and the punishments they endured reinforced the status quo. It was not until the end of the Middle Ages that Albina and her sisters were portrayed more admirably, as their narrative was integrated as a prologue into tales of chivalry and adventure. Despite the widespread copying of the Middle English prose Brut chronicle and its printing early in the Renaissance, the Albina narrative did not long survive the scrutiny of humanist scholars, who dismissed it as fabulous. The analogues, growth, dissemination, and downfall of the Albina narrative are detailed in this study, which also includes, as appendices, a tentative list of surviving manuscripts and a transcription of an atypical and hitherto unpublished Middle English version with folkloric ties to Shropshire.