Intertextual Potential and the Reader in the Bevis Tradition: Boeve de Haumtone, Bevis of Hampton and Beuve de Hantonne

Mary Bateman

doi:10.1007/s11061-023-09763-y

Intertextual Potential and the Reader in the Bevis Tradition: Boeve de Haumtone, Bevis of Hampton and Beuve de Hantonne

Mary Bateman^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Department of English

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article (Academic Journal) › peer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)

Abstract

This article investigates the role that reader-oriented, unlimited intertextuality – that is, intertextual references only as perceived or even mis-perceived by readers – might have had to play in the transmission, adaptation, and development of the Bevis of Hampton narratives across English and Francophone traditions. In recent years, a number of studies have demonstrated the importance of the multi-text manuscript as a medium for texts to be integrated into new reading communities, and I therefore use multi-text Bevis manuscripts as a starting point for my enquiry. In particular, this article focuses on an Anglo-Norman Boeve de Haumtone manuscript (Leuven, Universiteitsbibliotheek, MS G. 170 or the 'Firmin-Didot manuscript', now lost), an English Bevis of Hamptonmanuscript (British Library, Egerton MS 2862) and a copy of the so-called “first version” of the continental French Beuve de Haumtone (Bibliothèque nationale de France MS Fr. 25516). Beginning with the “intratexts” that occur within the confines of the Firmin-Didot codex, this article moves forward to consider, in more hypothetical terms, the different textual encyclopedias that may have been available to the historic readers of Bevis manuscripts, and the ways in which readerly understandings (and misunderstandings) of a text's intertextuality could prompt new narrative branches to sprout forth, and eventually lead to the emergence of new traditions.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	167-183
Number of pages	17
Journal	Neophilologus
Volume	107
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/s11061-023-09763-y
Publication status	Published - 27 Mar 2023

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
I extend my thanks to several colleagues for feeding back on earlier versions of this article: these include Miriam Edlich-Muth, Marianne Ailes, and Johannes Junge-Ruhland and his colleagues at the University of Stanford’s Centre for Medieval and Early Modern Studies. I also thank Corin Corley for providing feedback on the French translations contained in this article. This research was generously funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) as part of the project “From Insular to European Romance: The Medieval Bevis-Tradition in Multi-Text Manuscript Contexts” (Prof. Miriam Edlich-Muth PI).

Funding Information:
I extend my thanks to several colleagues for feeding back on earlier versions of this article: these include Miriam Edlich-Muth, Marianne Ailes, and Johannes Junge-Ruhland and his colleagues at the University of Stanford’s Centre for Medieval and Early Modern Studies. I also thank Corin Corley for providing feedback on the French translations contained in this article. This research was generously funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) as part of the project “From Insular to European Romance: The Medieval Bevis-Tradition in Multi-Text Manuscript Contexts” (Prof. Miriam Edlich-Muth PI).

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023, The Author(s).

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title = "Intertextual Potential and the Reader in the Bevis Tradition: Boeve de Haumtone, Bevis of Hampton and Beuve de Hantonne",

abstract = "This article investigates the role that reader-oriented, unlimited intertextuality – that is, intertextual references only as perceived or even mis-perceived by readers – might have had to play in the transmission, adaptation, and development of the Bevis of Hampton narratives across English and Francophone traditions. In recent years, a number of studies have demonstrated the importance of the multi-text manuscript as a medium for texts to be integrated into new reading communities, and I therefore use multi-text Bevis manuscripts as a starting point for my enquiry. In particular, this article focuses on an Anglo-Norman Boeve de Haumtone manuscript (Leuven, Universiteitsbibliotheek, MS G. 170 or the 'Firmin-Didot manuscript', now lost), an English Bevis of Hamptonmanuscript (British Library, Egerton MS 2862) and a copy of the so-called “first version” of the continental French Beuve de Haumtone (Biblioth{\`e}que nationale de France MS Fr. 25516). Beginning with the “intratexts” that occur within the confines of the Firmin-Didot codex, this article moves forward to consider, in more hypothetical terms, the different textual encyclopedias that may have been available to the historic readers of Bevis manuscripts, and the ways in which readerly understandings (and misunderstandings) of a text's intertextuality could prompt new narrative branches to sprout forth, and eventually lead to the emergence of new traditions.",

author = "Mary Bateman",

note = "Funding Information: I extend my thanks to several colleagues for feeding back on earlier versions of this article: these include Miriam Edlich-Muth, Marianne Ailes, and Johannes Junge-Ruhland and his colleagues at the University of Stanford{\textquoteright}s Centre for Medieval and Early Modern Studies. I also thank Corin Corley for providing feedback on the French translations contained in this article. This research was generously funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) as part of the project “From Insular to European Romance: The Medieval Bevis-Tradition in Multi-Text Manuscript Contexts” (Prof. Miriam Edlich-Muth PI). Funding Information: I extend my thanks to several colleagues for feeding back on earlier versions of this article: these include Miriam Edlich-Muth, Marianne Ailes, and Johannes Junge-Ruhland and his colleagues at the University of Stanford{\textquoteright}s Centre for Medieval and Early Modern Studies. I also thank Corin Corley for providing feedback on the French translations contained in this article. This research was generously funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) as part of the project “From Insular to European Romance: The Medieval Bevis-Tradition in Multi-Text Manuscript Contexts” (Prof. Miriam Edlich-Muth PI). Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2023, The Author(s).",

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N2 - This article investigates the role that reader-oriented, unlimited intertextuality – that is, intertextual references only as perceived or even mis-perceived by readers – might have had to play in the transmission, adaptation, and development of the Bevis of Hampton narratives across English and Francophone traditions. In recent years, a number of studies have demonstrated the importance of the multi-text manuscript as a medium for texts to be integrated into new reading communities, and I therefore use multi-text Bevis manuscripts as a starting point for my enquiry. In particular, this article focuses on an Anglo-Norman Boeve de Haumtone manuscript (Leuven, Universiteitsbibliotheek, MS G. 170 or the 'Firmin-Didot manuscript', now lost), an English Bevis of Hamptonmanuscript (British Library, Egerton MS 2862) and a copy of the so-called “first version” of the continental French Beuve de Haumtone (Bibliothèque nationale de France MS Fr. 25516). Beginning with the “intratexts” that occur within the confines of the Firmin-Didot codex, this article moves forward to consider, in more hypothetical terms, the different textual encyclopedias that may have been available to the historic readers of Bevis manuscripts, and the ways in which readerly understandings (and misunderstandings) of a text's intertextuality could prompt new narrative branches to sprout forth, and eventually lead to the emergence of new traditions.

AB - This article investigates the role that reader-oriented, unlimited intertextuality – that is, intertextual references only as perceived or even mis-perceived by readers – might have had to play in the transmission, adaptation, and development of the Bevis of Hampton narratives across English and Francophone traditions. In recent years, a number of studies have demonstrated the importance of the multi-text manuscript as a medium for texts to be integrated into new reading communities, and I therefore use multi-text Bevis manuscripts as a starting point for my enquiry. In particular, this article focuses on an Anglo-Norman Boeve de Haumtone manuscript (Leuven, Universiteitsbibliotheek, MS G. 170 or the 'Firmin-Didot manuscript', now lost), an English Bevis of Hamptonmanuscript (British Library, Egerton MS 2862) and a copy of the so-called “first version” of the continental French Beuve de Haumtone (Bibliothèque nationale de France MS Fr. 25516). Beginning with the “intratexts” that occur within the confines of the Firmin-Didot codex, this article moves forward to consider, in more hypothetical terms, the different textual encyclopedias that may have been available to the historic readers of Bevis manuscripts, and the ways in which readerly understandings (and misunderstandings) of a text's intertextuality could prompt new narrative branches to sprout forth, and eventually lead to the emergence of new traditions.

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DO - 10.1007/s11061-023-09763-y

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ER -

Intertextual Potential and the Reader in the Bevis Tradition: Boeve de Haumtone, Bevis of Hampton and Beuve de Hantonne

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