Authors, Factions, and Courts in Angevin England: A Literature of Personal Ambition (12th–13th Century) (The New Middle Ages)

Acknowledgments
Contents
List of Figures
Chapter 1: Introduction: But What Is the Point of Courtly Writing?
	Case Studies and the Structure of the Book
	References
Part I: The Hydra: The Court’s Body and Its Wandering Heads
	Chapter 2: Re-thinking Literature at the English Royal Court, Its Protagonists and Contexts
		The Reign and Court of Henry II (1154–1189)
			Henry II’s Choices and the Growth of the Courtly Body
			Talking Heads: Courtiers’ Profiles
		Authors and Texts at the Service of Royal Propaganda
			The Mirror of the Court: Courtiers Making Their Offices
			More Royalist than the King: Courtiers and Royal Propaganda
		Common Language, Personal Ends: The Pragmatic Use of Literature
			Models, Themes, and Specificities of Angevin Court Literary Culture
			Who Tolls the Bell: A Literature of Personal Ambition
		Tools for a Comprehensive Approach to Courtly Texts
			Living in a Material World: Curiales as Pragmatic Intellectuals
			Networked Entertainment: Courtly Writings, Agency, Texts, and Society
		References
	Chapter 3: Starting at the Bottom: The Authors
		Twelfth-Century Authorship in England
			The Importance of Being an Author: Models of Literary Agency
			‘Affine Variety’: Officium, Lives, and Ambitions in a Delimited Text
		A Multilingual Chanter: Walter Map
			An Englishman in Wales: Map’s Early Networks and Cultural Background
			Friends in High Places: Walter Map’s Path into the Royal Court
		A Zealous Writer: Gerald of Wales
			A Family Man: Convergences and Empowerment in South Wales
			An Insider at Court: Intermediation and Conspiracy
		Courtiers beyond the Court: Places, Networks, and Purposes
			Somewhere over the Court: The Wanderings of Walter Map and Gerald of Wales
			The Churches and the Marches: Exploiting Local Conflicts for Personal Ambitions
		References
Part II: The Messages between the Lines: A Political Reading of Courtly Texts
	Chapter 4: An Accurate Curriculum: Walter Map’s De Nugis Curialium
		A Contrived but Uncompleted Opera
		Living on the Welsh Frontier
			I Know Who Lives Here: Walter Map and the Welsh Marchers
			Noisy Neighbours: The Cistercians in Wales
			The Right Man in the Right Place: Walter Map as a Marcher Bishop
		Talking about Kings
			Two and a Half Kings: Henry II, Louis VII, and Henry the Young King
			The King of Portugal and Apollonides: Literary Avatars for Real Rulers
			Three Knights and a Revolt: Henry the Young King, Richard I, and Philip of Alsace in 1173
		Who Is Pious? Monastic Orders and False Saints
			Not All Monks: English Exceptions in a Material World
			True Saints Perform Miracles: Bernard of Clairvaux and Peter of Tarentaise
			The High Way to Rome: Thorny Anglo-Papal Relations
		Possible Publics: An Identikit
		References
	Chapter 5: A Family Business: Gerald of Wales’ Topographia Hibernica
		A First Step for an Ambitious Project
		Making the Irish Frontier
			On an Island Far, Far Away: Scientific Proof of Ireland’s Remoteness
			No Ordinary Barbarians: Constructing Irish Cultural Barbarism
			Ireland or the Cross: Gerald of Wales’ Cultural Opportunism between Crusaders and Martyrs
		Waiting for a King
			Making Ireland English Again: The Past, Present, and Future History of the Island
			Outdated Historiography for a New Ireland: Gerald of Wales and the Kings’ Responsibility
			Conquerors, Kings, and Officers: The Anglo-Irish Battleground of Topographia Hibernica
		What Is a Monk? Monasteries between Local Networks and Newcomers
			Monks Cannot Administer Souls: The Problems of Irish Devotion
			Monks Administering Bishoprics: The Unreformed Irish Church
			Monk Island: Irish Elites and Control over the Dioceses
		Topographia Hibernica at Court
			To the Attention of the Royal Court: Reports on English Officers, Geraldines, and Irish Saints
			Ecclesiastical Tastes: Topographia Hibernica, the Bishop of Hereford, the Archbishops of Canterbury, and Rome
		References
Part III: The Real World Is Here: The Role of Courtly Literature between Factions and Crisis
	Chapter 6: Surviving in the Upside-Down: Henry II’s Courtiers under Richard I’s Reign (1189–1199)
		A Brave New World: New Rulers and Old Companies
			Paying the Price for a Kingdom: Old Rebels, New Lords
			Blood Is Thicker than Water: The Royal Family
			Mediators, Delegates, and Junctions: Bishops and Archbishops
		The Wheel of Fortune: Patrons and Arts in Richard I’s England
			Reaching the Top: New Courts, New Narratives
			Turned Down: The Death and Legacy of Baldwin of Forde and Ranulf de Glanville
		Far from the King’s Grace: Henry II’s Courtiers outside the Court
			From Palermo to Chesterton: Peter of Blois’ and Gerald of Wales’ Networks
			A Past Yet to Come: Walter Map’s Early Career and Networks
		Finding New Places and New Readers in a Fragmented Kingdom
			Gambling Years: Courtiers, Justiciars, Archbishops, and Kings
			Starting Anew with Old Stories: The Bishops of Henry II in the 1190s
		References
	Chapter 7: Moving Text into Action: Local Careerism and International Crisis
		Political and Cultural Centres at the End of the Twelfth Century
			A Cultural Centre for a Borderland: Hereford and the Welsh Marches
			Courtiers, Saints, and Archbishops at the Crossroads of Lincoln
		Almost at the Top: Networks and Ambitions
			Converging Interests: The Networks of Lincoln and Oxford
			Factions, Ambitions, and Elections: Gerald of Wales and Walter Map Becoming Bishops
		All Hail the New King: John’s Necessities and Authors’ Hopes
			Moving the Engines: John’s New and Old Friends
			A King of the Welsh Marches: John’s Politics and Authors’ Ambitions
		Cupio Dissolvi
			Losing Ground: The Years of Welsh Activism
			The Death of Hubert Walter: The Last Chance for Gerald of Wales’ Ethnographic Exploits
		References
	Chapter 8: Conclusion: Contingently Situated Literature and Court Dynamics
		Situatedness and Ambition, a Heuristic Device for Exceptional Texts
		References
Index