The Life of Christ in the French of England: Theme and Variations
Maureen Boulton, University of Notre Dame

I propose to discuss the centrality of the life of Christ in Anglo-Norman religious texts of widely different types: from the learned theologically sophisticated "Chasteau d'Amour" (Robert Grosseteste) to the travesty of  Christ's passion recounted in the ballad "Little St. Hugh of Lincoln" as well as in the more conventional forms of the Enfances de Jesu and the Contemplacioun sur la Passion (Harley 2253). I will try to situate these texts at the meeting point of lay and clerical cultures, at the intersection of Latin, Continental and Insular French, and English textual communities.