Introducing the Medieval Swan - Couverture souple

Livre 3 sur 5: Medieval Animals

Goodison, Natalie Jayne

 
9781786838391: Introducing the Medieval Swan
Couverture souple
ISBN 10 : 1786838397 ISBN 13 : 9781786838391
Editeur : University of Wales Press, 2022

Synopsis

What comes to mind when we think of swans? Likely their beauty in domestic settings, their preserved status, their association with royalty, and possibly even the phrase ‘swan song’. This book explores the emergence of each of these ideas, starting with an examination of the medieval swan in natural history, exploring classical writings and their medieval interpretations and demonstrating how the idea of a swan’s song developed. The book then proceeds to consider literary motifs of swan-to-human transformation, particularly the legend of the Knight of the Swan. Although this legend is known today only through Wagner’s opera, it was a best-seller in the Middle Ages, and courts throughout Europe strove to be associated as ancestors of this Swan Knight. Consequently, the swan was projected as an icon of courtly and eventual royal status. The book’s third chapter looks at the swan as icon of the Lancasters, particularly important during the reign of Richard II and the War of the Roses, and the final chapter examines the swan as an important item of feasting, focusing on cookery and husbandry to argue that over time the right to keep swans became an increasingly restricted right controlled by the English crown. Each of the swan’s medieval associations are explored as they developed over time to the modern day.

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À propos de l'auteur

Natalie Goodison is a tutor in the Department of English Studies at Durham University. Her research is in medieval romance, embodiment, and the history of ideas, having published on medievalism in children's literature, the fair unknown tradition, and genetic possibilities in The King of Tars. Her first research project focused on transformations of the body in romance, which featured swans.

Les informations fournies dans la section « A propos du livre » peuvent faire référence à une autre édition de ce titre.

Éditeur
University of Wales Press
Date d'édition
2022
Langue
anglais
ISBN 10 
1786838397
ISBN 13 
9781786838391
Reliure
Broché
Nombre de pages
184
Coordonnées du fabricant
non disponible
Personne responsable
non disponible