'Wonderful and Astonishing Occurrences' - The Miraculous and Wondrous in Angevin Narratives, c.1150 - 1250

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Miracles and wonders form part of a new historical and literary tradition which develops in the period c.1150 to 1250, and are integral to this emerging literary landscape. This investigation will consider the place and purposes of miraculous and strange events in Angevin narratives across the period of c.1150 to 1250. It will engage with a spectrum of wondrous occurrences, addressing issues of categorisation, perception and misuse in order to determine what they tell us about Angevin world views. It will consider how authors use the astonishing as a way of rationalising their present and the interface between the human and divine. It seeks to provide an insight into how the wonderful and astonishing fits into the Angevin narratological and historiographical tradition. It will examine the miraculous and wondrous in light of both literary theory and the debt owed to Classical literary and rhetorical models in order to provide a new understanding of the meaning and significance of these events.