'To gowerne þi persoune, crovne, and realme’: The development of advice to Princes in Britain in the High and Late Middle Ages

Abstract

This thesis traces the development of advice to princes texts in Britain during the High and Late Middle Ages. Advice to princes texts were often produced at particular moments of political crisis, predominately those written by figures operating in the context of royal and aristocratic patronage – from Gerald of Wales and John of Salisbury to John Gower and Thomas Hoccleve. Charting the complex relationship of advisory literature to wider textual traditions, as well as the political world beyond the text, this thesis is concerned also with the multigeneric nature of advisory literature, which operated in relation to prophetic, pastoral, and complaint literature, among others – a selection informed by the specific topicality of these genres in the context of specific periods. While many advice to princes texts provide seemingly similar advice for rulers, such as the need to heed good counsel, eschew flattery, and ensure the stability of the kingdom, they more often than not express this advice as possessing pointed applicability to their king and closely paralleling other contemporary writings which articulate modes of critique conventionally understood as more direct. This thesis aims to contextualise such advice and criticism, providing instances where the language and themes found within the work echo that used by other contemporary authors and appear to react to specific political events. Thus, both the political and textual environments in which these works were written and/or compiled are revealed as formative sites of textual and extra-textual exchange and development in late-medieval political culture