Performing Medieval Text

Book excerpt: Insight into the rich cultural canvas of the Middle Ages is granted by a host of texts: liturgical manuals; manuscripts of epic poetry, vernacular lyric, and music; paintings, and many more. Adopting a wide range of disciplinary perspectives-literary studies, liturgical studies, iconography, and musicology-this collection of essays reveals the two-fold performative nature of such texts: they document, mediate, or prefigure acts of performance, while at the same time taking on performative roles themselves by generating additional layers of meaning. Focussing on acts, authors, and receptive processes of performance, the authors demonstrate the significance of the performative to the culture of the High and Late Middle Ages (c.1000-1500), from chant to Chaucer, from Scandinavia to Imperial Augsburg.