Medieval Mythography

"A remarkable achievement. Its breadth and depth give readers a stunning view of these important mythographic writers."--J. Stephen Russell, Hofstra University

The second volume in Jane Chance's study of the history of medieval mythography from the 5th through the 15th centuries focuses on the time period in Western Europe between the School of Chartres and the papal court at Avignon. This examination of historical and philosophical developments in the story of mythography reflects the ever-increasing importance of the subjectivity of the commentator.

In this period between two great cultural and literary renaissances, Chance shows how scholars working in the most conservative and least literary of genres covertly played out the meaning of new ideas that were too dangerous to espouse publicly. She finds several factors facilitating this development: the assimilation of the classical and moralizing Christian traditions and dissemination of the mythographies of the Martianus commentaries; the advent of the "New Science," Aristotelian philosophy, and its influence on Ovid commentary and mythological exemplum; and the rise in accusations of heresy among scholars and the appearance of mythographic exempla in preaching manuals to counter its popular spread.

Through her vast and wide-ranging familiarity with hitherto seldom studied primary texts spanning nearly 1,000 years, Chance provides a guide to the assimilation of classical myth into the Christian Middle Ages. Rich in insight and example, dense in documentation, and compelling in its interpretations, Medieval Mythography is an important tool for scholars of the classical tradition and for medievalists working in any language.

Jane Chance is professor of English at Rice University and author of Medieval Mythography, Volume 1: From Roman North Africa to the School of Chartres, AD 433-1177 (winner of the 1994 South Central Modern Language Association Book Prize) and of 13 other books and collections.