Two Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) researchers at the University of York have found evidence that the London Guildhall served as the cradle of English Literature in the late Middle Ages.

It was the home to scribes who copied the first manuscripts of works by fourteenth-century authors Geoffrey Chaucer and John Gower, as well as early copies of other Middle English authors including William Langland and John Trevisa.

Professor Linne Mooney and Dr Estelle Stubbs, of the Centre for Medieval Studies at York, discovered evidence of the identities of several scribes of Middle English literature who were members of the civic secretariat at the London Guildhall. 

They include John Marchaunt, the Common Clerk of the City from 1399 to 1417, who copied two of the four earliest manuscripts of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. He also copied all or parts of eight manuscripts of Gower's Confessio Amantis ('The Confession of the Lover') as well as manuscripts of works by William Langland and John Trevisa.

The discoveries were the result of painstaking research in the London Metropolitan Archives, where the York scholars matched the handwriting of scribes copying important early English literary manuscripts with the hands of Guildhall clerks copying documents and custumals.

Professor Mooney said: “Our findings show that not only did major authors of early English literature live in London, but their works were disseminated by the clerks who worked for the City's Mayor and Aldermen, supported by the City itself through its governing body and through its guilds.”

The work is part of a major Arts and Humanities Research Council  project, 'Identification of the Scribes Responsible for Copying Major Works of Middle English Literature', in which Professor Mooney and Dr Stubbs are collaborating with Dr Simon Horobin, of Magdalen College, Oxford. 

You can read more about the project on the York website. 

ENDS

Notes to Editors:

• More information on the University of York’s Centre for Medieval Studies at http://www.york.ac.uk/medieval-studies/

• Each year the Arts and Humanities Research Council provides approximately £112 million from the Government to support research and postgraduate study in the arts and humanities. In any one year, the AHRC makes approximately 700 research awards and around 1,300 postgraduate awards. The quality and range of research supported by this investment of public funds not only provides social and cultural benefits but also contributes to the economic success of the UK.