Charlotte Brewer (born 1956) is professor of English language and literature at

Hertford College, Oxford Hertford College ( ), previously known as Magdalen Hall, is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It is located on Catte Street in the centre of Oxford, directly opposite the main gate to the Bodleian Library. The col ...

. Before joining Hertford in 1990, she was a thesis fellow at All Souls College, Oxford. She has also taught at the

University of Leeds , mottoeng = And knowledge will be increased , established = 1831 – Leeds School of Medicine1874 – Yorkshire College of Science1884 - Yorkshire College1887 – affiliated to the federal Victoria University1904 – University of Leeds , ...

and Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford. Her teaching covers Old and

Middle English literature The term Middle English literature refers to the literature written in the form of the English language known as Middle English, from the late 12th century until the 1470s. During this time the Chancery Standard, a form of London-based English b ...

and the history of the English language. Brewer began her research career as a medievalist, with publications on the late Middle English poem '' Piers Plowman'' and its textual and editing history. The poet appears to have produced several versions of ''Piers Plowman'' at different times. Brewer's book ''Piers Plowman: the Z version'

edited with A.G. Rigg, Toronto 1983) advanced the view that a disregarded manuscript in Oxford's Bodley Library (Bodley 851) might be an early, or even first, iteration of the poem rather than a conflation of two other versions. In a later book, ''Piers Plowman: the Evolution of the Poem'' (Cambridge University Press, 1996; reprinted 200

Brewer looked at how editors producing single printed texts of the poem over the last five centuries assessed the evidence of the poet's original intent from the numerous and lexically varied scribal manuscripts available for scholarly interpretation. Brewer later shifted her research focus to the ''

Oxford English Dictionary The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the first and foundational historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP). It traces the historical development of the English language, providing a co ...

'' (''OED''). Brewer's recent research interest has attempted to understand how the ''OED'' has chosen quotations. Her 2007 book ''Treasure House of the Language: the Living OED'' covered the history of the second Supplement to the OED. In 2009, Brewer held a Leverhulme Research Fellowship to explore the ''OEDs treatment of female-authored quotation sources of the eighteenth century. She is married to the environmental writer Chris Goodall and has three daughters.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brewer, Charlotte Alumni of Hertford College, Oxford Fellows of Hertford College, Oxford Fellows of All Souls College, Oxford Oxford English Dictionary 1956 births Living people Academics of the University of Leeds