The twenty-eight essays in this handbook represent the best current thinking in the study of Latin language and literature in the Middle Ages. Contributing authors--both senior scholars and gifted younger thinkers among them--not only illuminate the field as traditionally defined but also offer fresh insights into broader questions of literary history, cultural interaction, world literature, and language in history and society. Their studies vividly illustrate the field's complexities on a wide range of topics, including canonicity, literary styles and genres, and the materiality of manuscript culture. At the same time, they suggest future possibilities for the necessarily provisional and open-ended work essential to the pursuit of medieval Latin studies. The overall approach of The Oxford Handbook of Medieval Latin Literature makes this volume an essential resource for students of the ancient world interested in the prolonged after-life of the classical period's cultural complexes, for medieval historians, for scholars of other medieval literary traditions, and for all those interested in delving more deeply into the fascinating more-than-millennium-long passage between the ancient Mediterranean world and what we consider modernity.

ContributorsPreface, Ralph Hexter and David TownsendI. Framing the Field: Problematics and Provocations1. The Current Questions and Future Prospects of Medieval Latin Studies, David Townsend2. Canonicity, Ralph HexterII. Latinity as Cultural Capital3. Latin as an Acquired Language, Carin Ruff4. Latin as a Language of Authoritative Tradition, Ryan Szpiech5. The Cultures and Dynamics of Translation into Medieval Latin, Thomas E. Burman6. Regional Variation: The Case of Scandinavian Latin, Karsten Frijs-Jensen7. The Idea of Latinity, Nicholas WatsonIII. Manuscript Culture and the Materiality of Latin Texts8. Readers and Manuscripts, Andrew Taylor9. Gloss and Commentary, Rita Copeland10. Location, Location, Location: Geography, Knowledge, and the Creation of Medieval Latin Textual Communities, Ralph HexterIV. Styles and Genre11. Prose Style, Gregory Hays12. Verse Style, Jean-Yves Tilliette [translated from French]13. Crossing Generic Boundaries, A. G. Rigg14. Textual Fluidity and the Interaction of Latin and the Vernacular Languages, Brian MurdochV. Systems of Knowledge15. Martianus Capella and the Liberal Arts, Andrew Hicks16. Mythography, Winthrop Wetherbee17. Biblical Thematics: The Story of Samson in Medieval Literary Discourse, Greti Dinkova-Bruun18. The Language, Form and Performance of Monophonic Liturgical Chants, Susan Boynton and Margot FasslerVI. Medieval Latin and the Fashioning of the Self19. Regimens of Schooling, Mia M?nster-Swendsen20. Gender, Sylvia Parsons and David Townsend21. Sex and Sexuality, Larry Scanlon22. Medieval Latin Spirituality: Seeking Divine Presence, Anne Clark23. Modes of Self-Writing From Antiquity to the Later Middle Ages, Gur ZakVII. Periodizations24. Late Antiquity, New Departures, Marco Formisano25. Renaissances and Revivals, Monika Otter26. Humanism and Continuities in the Transition to the Early Modern, Ronald Witt27. Medieval Latin Texts in the Age of Printing, Paolo Chiesa [translated from Italian]28. Medieval Latin in Modern English: Translations from the Nineteenth Century to the Present Day, Jan ZiolkowskiChronology of Medieval Latin AuthorsIndex