Epilogue

This chapter comments on the accomplishments and future prospects of medieval studies in Great Britain. It highlights the intellectual power, range and originality of British medievalists of the twentieth century and stresses the need to expand the scope of medieval studies to include other fields such as comparative literary studies. It also discusses the problems of British medieval studies including the compartmentalization of medievalist institutions and the publication of medievalist monograph series devoted to history, or to language and literature, or to other narrower areas.

The History of the Book

This chapter examines the history and developments in study of medieval manuscript books in Britain during the twentieth century. The twentieth century saw the study of the manuscript book rightly move from the margins to centre stage in British medieval studies. However, much of what was accomplished was due to the heroic labours of a small number of dedicated and determined individuals rather than to coherent institutional support. In addition, Great Britain still lags behind France and Germany in manuscript book research.

Metrics

This chapter examines the history and developments in British study of medieval metrics during the twentieth century. It explains that the contribution of British scholars to medieval metrics has been minor partly because British culture prefers empirical observation to abstract systems. In the second half of the century several British scholars made substantial contributions to historical metrics. They include Geoffrey Leech in his linguistic guide to poetics, W. Sidney Allen in his reconstruction of Classical Latin phonology and Nigel Fabb in his study of form and literary theory.

Romance Studies 2: Hispanic Literatures

This chapter examines the history and developments in the study of medieval Hispanic literatures in Great Britain during the twentieth century. It explains that the importance of Hispanic studies in British universities increased greatly after the end of the First World War and that by 1925 there were four professorships in Spanish studies. The first chair of Spanish studies in Cambridge was J.B. Trend. Other notable British hispanists include William James Entwistle and Gerald Brenan.

Old English

This chapter examines study in Britain of Old English during the twentieth century. It explains that the field of Old English, the nature of the language and the corpus of literature, was essentially discovered and defined during the course of the nineteenth century, principally by scholars in Germany and Scandinavia. It highlights the institutional support provided by the British Academy to Old English studies.

Latin

This chapter examines the study of Latin language and literature in Great Britain during the twentieth century. It explains that Latin is so pervasive in the literature, philosophy, science, law and historiography of medieval western Europe that most aspects of scholarship on Latin are covered in most medieval studies. It provides background information on Latin language of the earlier middle ages and discusses Latin literature.

Slavonic Studies

This chapter examines the history and developments in Slavonic studies in Great Britain. It explains that English awareness of Slav Europe was not great in the middle ages and that the inclusion of the medieval period of the various Slav peoples in the general history of Europe was a gradual process. It suggests that the study of Slavonic languages and literatures was not a discipline in British universities until comparatively recent times. However, a good many of the university departments of Russian or Slavonic studies which formerly existed in Great Britain, especially in the post-World War 2 period, have now been closed.

Byzantine Scholarship: Twelfth-Century Constantinople, Twentieth-Century Britain

This chapter examines twentieth century Byzantine studies in Great Britain. It explains that British Byzantinists have been negatively affected by the restructuring of university departments, increasing educational emphasis on vocational subjects, and declining academic salaries. In the British context Byzantine studies could clearly be described as a small subject with disproportionate international influence and it is not clear whether they would ever regain the authority and influence in the academic establishment that they had in 1903.

Anglo-Saxon England

This chapter examines British research on the history of Anglo-Saxon England. There are about two hundred significant books and a thousand or so significant articles wholly or partly devoted to the history of England between c. 450 and 1066 written by British scholars. One of the most pioneering works was Anglo-Saxon England by F.M. Stenton which covers the period from 500 to 1087. Other notable British publications during the twentieth century include The History of England from the Earliest Times to the Norman Conquest by Thomas Hodgkin and England before the Norman Conquest by Sir Charles Oman.

The Study of Medieval Art I: 1900–50

This chapter examines the history of the study of medieval art in Great Britain during the first half of the twentieth century. Before 1932, no British university offered an honours degree course in the history of art. In the case of the British Academy, art did not figure in any of its sections until 1923 when the title of Section Two was changed to Medieval and Modern History and Archaeology and Art. Three fellows of this section include M.R. James, G.F. Warner and O.M. Dalton. This chapter also highlights the contributions of continental art historians to the development of British medieval studies. They include Hugo Buchtal, Otto Demus and Ernst Kitzinger.