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Clergie , Clerkly Studium , And The Medieval Literary History Of Chréétien De Troyes's Romances, Levilson C. Reis

Modern Languages & Cultures Faculty Scholarship

This article traces the development of medieval literary history across the thirteenth century through manuscript readings of Chréétien de Troyes's romances. Redefining clergie as the clerkly pursuit of learning, the author argues that scribes played an important role in shaping Chréétien's romances and establishing their place in medieval literary history. Examining manuscript collections centred on Cligéés, the author delineates synchronic and diachronic shifts in the organization and presentation of Chréétien's manuscripts, evaluating the roles that different scribes and compilers played in the formation of a Chréétien corpus and the development of a romance genre.