Charlotte Ross

Thesis title: A Circulation, Transmission, and Reception History of Thomas Hoccleve’s The Regiment of Princes

Supervisors: Professor Daniel Wakelin; Professor Nicholas Perkins

Research Interests: Medieval Literature; codicology; History of the Book; Late Medieval; Middle English poetry; manuscript studies; scribal craft

My current DPhil research concerns the manuscripts of Thomas Hoccleve's longest and most famous work, The Regiment of Princes. My thesis uses a combination of codicology and literary analysis to view scribal manuscripts of Hoccleve's works as a mirror for late medieval English readership and literary culture. Hoccleve studies have historically been heavily author-centred, however I am interested in the ways in which scribes and readers engaged with, or disengaged with, Hoccleve's text and what this tells us about late medieval attitudes towards literature. My research explores both Hoccleve’s role in this literary context and the extent to which Hocclevean manuscripts depart from, or conform to, the norms of the literary and codicological cultures in which their author participates.

My project is generously funded by the Anne Hudson Scholarship, in association with the English Faculty and Lady Margaret Hall. This was made possible by the support of Professor Anne Hudson, University Lecturer in the Faculty and Tutorial Fellow at Lady Margaret Hall from 1963 and Professor of Medieval English at the Faculty from 1989-2003. An awe-inspiring medieval scholar and eminent female academic, it is a privilege to be associated with her legacy.