The fifteenth century in England saw a radical shift in the idea of England as a nation and the nature of ‘Englishness’ itself, a sometimes discomfiting re-definition of the concept of the ‘court’, and an efflorescence of some literary genres and modes together with a crisis in others. This collection of essays seeks to focus on concepts of nation, court and culture as these were treated in English poetry of the period and the studies included are variously political, cartological, textual, and thematic in orientation. The volume is driven by a desire to examine the literature of what has until recently been a neglected period but with reference to political and cultural issues which are prominent in much current literary scholarship. It includes contributions from several of the leading international scholars in the field of late-medieval English literature.

Contributors: Derek Pearsall (Harvard), John Scattergood (TCD), Phillipa Hardman (Reading), J.A. Burrow (Bristol), John J. Thompson; Sue Bianco (U York), Julia Boffey (London), Tony Davenport (London), Helen Cooney (U Nottingham), Douglas Grey (Oxford).