Literary patronage in medieval England (7th-14th centuries): a survey

Abstract

This article provides a critical overview of literary patronage in England throughout the Middle Ages. During the Anglo-Saxon period literary patronage took mainly two forms: (1) a poet or scop who was attached to a noble household (e.g., Deor), and (2) an entertainer or gleoman who made a living by performing in front of diff erent audiences (e.g., Widsith). Th e herdsman Cædmon is a special case, since he became a religious poet through divine intervention and with the patronage of the abbess Hild. With the Norman Conquest came a new mode of aristocratic patronage that favoured the appearance of the vernacular author (e.g., Wace), who wrote his works in Anglo-Norman; in contrast, it was the jongleurs that used English to entertain the popular classes. The advent of vernacular authorship in English (e.g., Chaucer and Gower) occurred in the second half of the fourteenth century, and the patronage of King Richard ii played no small part.