Abstract
dc:description.abstract<p>"Welsh Manipulations of the Matter of Britain" examines the textual relationships between Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia regum Britanniae and the Welsh Brut y Brenhinedd in the Cotton Cleopatra manuscript. This thesis initially provides an overview of the existing scholarship surrounding the Welsh translations of Geoffrey's Historia with a specific focus on the Cotton Cleopatra Brut. The textual examination of the two histories begins with an extended commentary on the general textual variations between the two texts before concentrating on the specific changes that were made in the Cotton Cleopatra to reflect the adapter's pro-Welsh nationalistic and political biases. The general alterations allow the Cotton Cleopatra adapter to express his Welsh sympathies rather subtlety but these biases become more readily apparent with the examination of the changes made to the narratives of the early Trojans, the martial prowess of the Trojans and their British descendants, and the decline and eventual subjugation of Britain. The political contexts of the separate texts are also examined in terms of how the separate narratives were shaped by contemporary events. Ultimately, this thesis shows how the Cotton Cleopatra Brut is essentially a propaganda piece was modified by its translator to reflect and inflame the pro-Welsh nationalistic sentiments that developed shortly after the Edwardian conquest of Wales. </p>
Degree
thesis:*- Name thesis:degree_name
- Master of Arts in English (MA)
- Level thesis:degree_level
- Thesis
- Year dc:date.available
- 2014
Author and committee
dc:creator, dc:contributor.*- Author dc:creator
-
- Nelson, Timothy J.
- Advisor dc:contributor.advisor
-
- Smith, Joshua B.
- Contributors dc:contributor
-
- Quinn, William A.
- Devries, Kelly
Subjects
dc:subject × 10Identifiers
dc:identifier.*- Repository record dc:identifier
- https://scholarworks.uark.edu/etd/2216
- OAI identifier oai:identifier
- oai:scholarworks.uark.edu:etd-3755