In 2006, Rauner Special Collections purchased a fifteenth-century manuscript containing a copy of the most popular version of British history to circulate in the late Middle Ages. Previously in private hands and therefore not included in any of the major studies of this textual tradition, the Rauner Brut contains a unique version of British history, from Trojan settlement to King Arthur to Henry V. This conference aims to bring the Dartmouth Brut into current scholarly discussions of late medieval English culture, scribal practices, and reading publics.
Introductions, 2:00-2:10
Traditions of British History (2:10 – 3:10)
History repeats itself‟: The Dartmouth Brut and Fifteenth-Century Historiography
Edward Donald Kennedy, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Diversities of Image and Text in the Middle English Prose Brut
Elizabeth J. Bryan, Brown University
Rewriting the Texts (3:20 – 4:20)
The Scribe of a Glasgow Brut: The Worst Little Scribbler in Surrey?
Lister Matheson, Michigan State University
Making Histories: The Belfast Brut Fragment and the Dartmouth Brut
Ryan Perry, Queen's University of Belfast
Reading from the Margins (4:30 – 6:00)
How longe not set down: Reading the Dartmouth Brut in Sixteenth-Century England
Emily Ulrich, Dartmouth College
The Dartmouth Brut and Early Modern Geographies of Britain
Meg Lamont, North Carolina State University
It ys to harde for my lernyng: Uses of the Dartmouth Brut
Julia Marvin, University of Notre Dame
Rauner Library: Reception and Manuscript Exhibit (from 6pm)
Bringing out the Leaves: Manuscripts and their Meaning
Curated by Dartmouth Undergraduate Medievalists:
John Burden, Lia Grigg, Ben Groverman, Kevin Mallen,
Olivia Martin, Madeline Sims, Bridgette Taylor, Emily Ulrich
Scholarship and Preservation into the Digital Age
9:15, Meet at Baker Library Information Desk for tour of Preservation Services
10:00, Deborah Howe, Collections Conservator: presentation of Brut preservation
10:30-12:30, Concluding seminar (further discussion of the manuscript, Friday's papers, etc.)
Major Sponsors: Dartmouth College Library; Leslie Humanities Center
Co-sponsors: Departments of Comparative Literature, English, and History;
Associate Deans of Arts and Humanities and of Interdisciplinary Studies
