'Mech harm upon þe borderes of Ynglond': imagining the revolt of Owain Glyndŵr in English chronicle narratives 1400 to c.1580

[Truncated] This thesis is a study of the representation of the revolt of Owain Glynd! r in English chronicle narratives from 1400 to c.1580. It is concerned in particular with the narrative strategies employed in the representation of these events by sixteen chroniclers, including Adam Usk, Thomas Walsingham, John Capgrave, John Hardyng, Robert Fabyan and Edward Halle.

The first three chapters deal with narrative voices, time and chronology, and space. These three categories are primary determinants of any narrative and affect all other aspects of the text. Each of these has a profound effect on the revolt narratives. Despite the common claim that the chronicles employ entirely self-effacing and colourless narrative voices, and are structured by a rigid chronology, my analysis suggests that the reality of the chronicle narratives is more subtle. In the first chapter I argue that the chronicle narrators vary widely in the degree to which they are overt within their narratives, and consequently in the degree of interpretive room which they allow their readers. The second chapter is an analysis of the role of time and chronology in the structuring of the chronicle narrative. The treatment of time in the chronicles can at times be complex, employing significant reordering of events in order to extract a particular meaning. The range and implication of the approaches taken by the chroniclers are particularly apparent in the endings (or absence of endings) of the revolt narratives. The third chapter is an exploration of space in the chronicle narratives. Here I argue that there is an implicit sense of space in the chronicle tradition, closely related to the maps which sometimes accompany them. As with the treatment of time, this spatial sense informs the representation of events. In the case of the revolt narratives, this is especially apparent in the spaces in which Owain Glynd! r appears.