| This study examines the depictions of the Flemish in Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, Langland's Piers Plowman, several historical chronicles including The Brut continuations, poetic works such as The Libelle of Englysh Polycye, additional short poems dealing directly with events of the Hundred Years' War, and excerpts from the Paston family papers. The study considers the political and economic context in which these works were produced. Each chapter demonstrates how the roles played by the Flemish in medieval England, including the roles of immigrant, merchant, prostitute, pirate, and presumptuous burgher, correspond to their depictions in Middle English and Ango-Latin texts. The result is an analysis of how Flemings were used in texts produced during times of economic and political instability and what portion of these depictions relied on negative stereotypes and which, if any, were more realistic. This analysis then considers how any negative depictions might have served as the oppositional force necessary for the further development of English cultural identity in the late medieval period. |
