Overview
For many, Shakespeare represents the advent of modernity. It is easy to
forget that he was in fact a writer deeply embedded in the Middle Ages,
who inherited many of his shaping ideas and assumptions from the
medieval past. This collection brings together essays by internationally
renowned scholars of medieval and early modern literature, the history
of the book and theatre history to present new perspectives on
Shakespeare and his medieval heritage. Separated into four parts, the
collection explores Shakespeare and his work in the context of the
Middle Ages, medieval books and language, the British past, and medieval
conceptions of drama and theatricality, together showing Shakespeare's
work as rooted in late medieval history and culture. Insisting upon
Shakespeare's complexity and medieval multiplicity, Medieval Shakespeare
gives readers the opportunity to appreciate both Shakespeare and his
period within the traditions that fostered and surrounded him.