1st Edition

Maps and Monsters in Medieval England

By Asa Simon Mittman Copyright 2006
    284 Pages 93 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    292 Pages 93 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    This study centers on issues of marginality and monstrosity in medieval England. In the middle ages, geography was viewed as divinely ordered, so Britain's location at the periphery of the inhabitable world caused anxiety among its inhabitants. Far from the world's holy center, the geographic margins were considered monstrous. Medieval geography, for centuries scorned as crude, is now the subject of several careful studies. Monsters have likewise been the subject of recent attention in the growing field of "monster studies," though few works situate these creatures firmly in their specific historical contexts. This book sits at the crossroads of these two discourses (geography and monstrosity), treated separately in the established scholarship but inseparable in the minds of medieval authors and artists.

    Introduction: Medieval English Manuscripts, Maps and Monsters:
    A User's Guide

    Part One: Mapping the Outer Edges of the World
    Chapter 1: Mythical Origins
    Chapter 2: Mapping Identity
    Chapter 3: The Monsters on the Edge

    Part Two: The Marvels of the East over Three Centuries and a Millennium
    Chapter 4: The Reality and Persistence of Monsters
    Chapter 5: Containment and Consumption
    Chapter 6: Monstrous Sin and Salvation

    Part Three: Lexical Spaces as Battlegrounds
    Chapter 7: Monstrous Nature
    Chapter 8: The Monster Within
    Chapter 9: Saints in the Margins

    Conclusion: Dwelling in the Monster

    Biography

    Asa Mittman