Dr. Larissa “Kat” Tracy, Professor of Medieval Literature in the Department of English and Modern Languages, recently published an article titled “Arthur, Richard I, Charlemagne and the Auchinleck Manuscript: Constructing English National Identity in Early Middle English,” in the peer-reviewed journal Early Middle English (EME) 1.1 (2019): 83–89.
This piece explores the construction of English kingship in the early-fourteenth century Auchinleck Manuscript, which resides in the National Library of Scotland in Edinburgh, and the ways in which medieval English authors reclaimed the legendary King Arthur and historical King Richard I as figures of English national identity in opposition to French figures like Charlemagne.
Tracy is currently finishing a monograph on this manuscript and other medieval English collections titled England’s Medieval Literary Heroes: Law, Literature, and National Identity which she plans to submit to Oxford University Press later this year.
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