Norman Blake (academic)
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Norman Francis Blake (19 April 1934 – 29 July 2012) was a British academic and scholar specialising in
Middle English Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman Conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English pe ...
and
Early Modern English Early Modern English (sometimes abbreviated EModEFor example, or EMnE) or Early New English (ENE) is the stage of the English language from the beginning of the Tudor period to the English Interregnum and Restoration, or from the transit ...
language and literature on which he published abundantly during his career.


Life

Norman Blake was born in
Ceará Ceará (, ) is one of the 26 states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, northeastern part of the country, on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast. It is the List of Brazilian states by population, eighth-largest Brazilian State by ...
, Brazil, where his English father worked as a banker at the Bank of London and South America. His mother was half-Brazilian and half-German. In 1938, when he was four years old, he was sent to boarding school in Surrey and then to Magdalen College School in Brackley, Northamptonshire, in 1944. The outbreak of
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
meant that he was not able to see his parents for eight years. Two years after the end of the war his older brother, who attended the same boarding school, died in an accident. In 1953 he went up to study at Magdalen College where his tutors for Medieval English were, amongst others,
C. S. Lewis Clive Staples Lewis (29 November 1898 – 22 November 1963) was a British writer, literary scholar and Anglican lay theologian. He held academic positions in English literature at both Magdalen College, Oxford (1925–1954), and Magdalen ...
and J. A. W. Bennett, and for Old Icelandic
Gabriel Turville-Petre Edward Oswald Gabriel Turville-Petre (25 March 1908 – 17 February 1978) was an English philology, philologist who specialized in Old Norse studies. Born at Bosworth Hall (Husbands Bosworth), Bosworth Hall, Leicestershire to a prominent ...
. During the academic year 1956–1957 he studied Old Icelandic
manuscript A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand or typewritten, as opposed to mechanically printed or reproduced in some indirect or automated way. More recently, the term has ...
s at the newly established Arnamagnæan Institute, part of the
University of Copenhagen The University of Copenhagen (, KU) is a public university, public research university in Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in Scandinavia, after Uppsala University. ...
. He finished his studies with a BLitt in 1959. Following his studies at Oxford, he was appointed assistant lecturer at the
University of Liverpool The University of Liverpool (abbreviated UOL) is a Public university, public research university in Liverpool, England. Founded in 1881 as University College Liverpool, Victoria University (United Kingdom), Victoria University, it received Ro ...
where he stayed until 1973, interrupted only by an interval as visiting professor at the
University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...
in 1963–1964. In 1973 Blake was appointed to the
Chair A chair is a type of seat, typically designed for one person and consisting of one or more legs, a flat or slightly angled seat and a back-rest. It may be made of wood, metal, or synthetic materials, and may be padded or upholstered in vario ...
of English Language at the
University of Sheffield The University of Sheffield (informally Sheffield University or TUOS) is a public university, public research university in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. Its history traces back to the foundation of Sheffield Medical School in 1828, Fir ...
, becoming head of the Department for English Language and Linguistics, a post he held until 1998. When the Department of English Language and Linguistics was amalgamated with the Department of English Literature, Blake moved to
De Montfort University De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) is a public university in the city of Leicester, England. It was established in accordance with the Further and Higher Education Act 1992, Further and Higher Education Act in 1992 as a degree awarding body ...
,
Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...
, taking up a research professorship. Norman Blake married Susan Valery Miles at Liverpool in 1965. The couple adopted a daughter, Dorinda, born in 1973. He was an ardent user of public transport and enjoyed
hiking A hike is a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside. Walking for pleasure developed in Europe during the eighteenth century. Long hikes as part of a religious pilgrimage have existed for a much longer time. "Hi ...
, particularly in the
Peak District The Peak District is an Highland, upland area in central-northern England, at the southern end of the Pennines. Mostly in Derbyshire, it extends into Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Staffordshire, West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire. It is subdivi ...
. In May 2004 Norman Blake suffered a massive stroke severely restricting his movement and speaking capabilities. The ensuing years he spent either at home or at the
Royal Hallamshire Hospital The Royal Hallamshire Hospital is a general and teaching hospital located in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. It is in the city's West End, Sheffield, West End, facing Glossop Road and close to the main campus of University of Sheffield and ...
. Norman Blake passed away on 29 July 2012. He was survived by his wife and daughter.


Scholarship

Blake's finishing project at Magdalen College in 1959 was editing the '' Jómsvíkinga saga''. His edition of the
saga Sagas are prose stories and histories, composed in Iceland and to a lesser extent elsewhere in Scandinavia. The most famous saga-genre is the (sagas concerning Icelanders), which feature Viking voyages, migration to Iceland, and feuds between ...
was published in 1962. Whilst being at Liverpool University he published an edition of the
Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...
poem '' The Phoenix'' in 1964, and in 1970 an edition of
William Caxton William Caxton () was an English merchant, diplomat and writer. He is thought to be the first person to introduce a printing press into Kingdom of England, England in 1476, and as a Printer (publishing), printer to be the first English retailer ...
's translation of the
Middle Dutch Middle Dutch is a collective name for a number of closely related West Germanic dialects whose ancestor was Old Dutch. It was spoken and written between 1150 and 1500. Until the advent of Modern Dutch after 1500 or , there was no overarching sta ...
version of '' The History of Reynard the Fox''. In the late 1960s and during the 1970s it emerged that Blake's academic interests were twofold, namely the
history of the English Language English language, English is a West Germanic language that originated from North Sea Germanic, Ingvaeonic languages brought to Great Britain, Britain in the mid-5th to 7th centuries AD by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo-Saxon migrants ...
, particularly late medieval and early modern, and ''The Canterbury Tales''. This led to extensive work not only on
William Caxton William Caxton () was an English merchant, diplomat and writer. He is thought to be the first person to introduce a printing press into Kingdom of England, England in 1476, and as a Printer (publishing), printer to be the first English retailer ...
, but also on
William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
. The publication of a
monograph A monograph is generally a long-form work on one (usually scholarly) subject, or one aspect of a subject, typically created by a single author or artist (or, sometimes, by two or more authors). Traditionally it is in written form and published a ...
on William Caxton in 1969, ''Caxton and His World'', established Blake as one of the foremost scholars on the subject. In the book he put an emphasis on the larger context in which Caxton was operating and challenged the traditional views on Caxton by positing that Caxton was predominantly a merchant and entrepreneur rather than a craftsman printer. Eventually, he would publish more than 40 books and essays on Caxton. In 1980 Blake published an edition of ''The Canterbury Tales'', based on the Hengwrt manuscript. This edition was, at the time, not well received as Blake advocated the significance and importance of the Hengwrt manuscript, being the oldest manuscript of the tales, and should take precedence over the Ellesmere manuscript on which most published editions and translations were based. The criticism led him to publish a number of books and articles over the following 15 years enhancing and augmenting his argument. Blake contributed several articles to the German encyclopaedia '' Lexikon des Mittelalters'' and the '' Dictionary of the Middle Ages'', and was also editor and contributor to the second volume of '' The Cambridge History of the English Language'' published in 1992. From 1994 until 2000 Blake was head of the ''Canterbury Tales Project''. The project was first based at the University of Sheffield and from 1998 onwards at De Montfort University. It was funded by amongst others the Leverhulme Trust and the
British Academy The British Academy for the Promotion of Historical, Philosophical and Philological Studies is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the sa ...
. Its aim was to make electronically available all the manuscripts and early printed versions of ''The Canterbury Tales'', a total of approximately 80 manuscripts and books elucidating the textual tradition of the work and providing understanding of the reshaping of the English language during an important phase in its history. By the end of the project eight manuscripts were transcribed as well as the best part of seven others as well as all witnesses of '' The Franklin's Tale'', consisting of about 330,000 words. Subsequently, '' The Wife of Bath's Prologue'' and '' The General Prologue'' were released on
CD-ROM A CD-ROM (, compact disc read-only memory) is a type of read-only memory consisting of a pre-pressed optical compact disc that contains computer data storage, data computers can read, but not write or erase. Some CDs, called enhanced CDs, hold b ...
, and the Hengwrt Manuscript on CD. No further transcriptions were published until in 2011 the Digital Humanities Institute of the University of Sheffield developed online editions of diplomatic transcriptions of eight of the manuscripts prepared by the ''Canterbury Tales Project'', called the ''Norman Blake Editions of The Canterbury Tales''.


Commemoration

Following his death, the School of English at the University of Sheffield founded a biennial lecture, the ''Norman Blake Lecture'' to honour Norman Blake. The first lecture was held in 2013.


Selected publishings


Editions

* ''The Saga of the Jomsvikings'', London, Thomas Nelson and Sons Ltd 1962. * ''The Phoenix'', Manchester, Manchester University Press 1964. * ''The History of Reynard the Fox'', Oxford, Oxford University Press 1970. * ''Selections from William Caxton. With an introduction, notes and glossary'', Oxford, Clarendon Press 1973. * ''Caxton's Own Prose'', London, Andre Deutsch 1973. * ''Quattuor Sermones. Printed by William Caxton'', Heidelberg, Winter 1975. * ''The Canterbury Tales: From the Hengwrt Manuscript'', London, Edward Arnold 1980.


Monographs

* ''Caxton and His World'', London, Andre Deutsch 1969. * ''Middle English Religious Prose'', London, Edward Arnold 1972. * ''Caxton. England's First Publisher'', London, Osprey Publishing 1976. * ''The English Language in Medieval Literature'', London, Dent 1977. * ''Non-standard Language in English Literature'', London, Andre Deutsch 1981. * ''Shakespeare's Language. An Introduction'', London, Macmillan 1983. ** Re-issued as ''The Language of Shakespeare'', New York, Palgrave 1989. ISBN 978-0-333-49778-4 * ''English Historical Linguistics. Studies in Development'', (with Charles Jones), Sheffield, Department of English Language 1984. * ''The Textual Tradition of the Canterbury Tales'', London, Hodder Arnold 1985. * ''William Caxton. A Bibliographical Guide'', New York, Garland Publishing 1985. * ''Index of Printed Middle English Prose'', New York, Garland Publishing 1985. * ''Traditional English Grammar and Beyond'', Basingstoke, Macmillan 1988. * ''An Introduction to the Language of Literature'', Basingstoke, Macmillan 1990. * ''William Caxton and English Literary Culture'', London, A&C Black 1991. * '' The Cambridge History of the English Language, Volume II'' (editor and contributor), Cambridge, Cambridge University Press 1992. * ''An Introduction to the English Language'' (with Jean Moorhead), Basingstoke, Macmillan 1993. * ''A New Concordance to The Canterbury Tales Based on Blake's Text Edited from the Hengwrt Manuscript'', Okayama, University Education 1994 * ''A History of the English Language'', Basingstoke, Macmillan 1996. * ''The General Prologue, Geoffrey Chaucer'' (edited by Elizabeth Solopova), Cambridge, Cambridge University Press 2000. * ''A Grammar of Shakespeare's Language'', Basingstoke, Palgrave 2001. * ''Shakespeare's Non-Standard English. A Dictionary of his Informal Language'', London, Continuum 2006.


Articles

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See also

* The Canterbury Tales *
Old English literature Old English literature refers to poetry (alliterative verse) and prose written in Old English in early medieval England, from the 7th century to the decades after the Norman Conquest of 1066, a period often termed Anglo-Saxon England. The 7th- ...
* Middle English literature * Old Norse literature *
William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
* Elizabethan literature *
William Caxton William Caxton () was an English merchant, diplomat and writer. He is thought to be the first person to introduce a printing press into Kingdom of England, England in 1476, and as a Printer (publishing), printer to be the first English retailer ...


References


External links


The ''Canterbury Tales'' Project
publishing transcripts, images, collations and analysis of all surviving 15th-century copies {{DEFAULTSORT:Blake, Norman 1934 births 2012 deaths People educated at Magdalen College School, Oxford Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford Academics of the University of Liverpool University of Toronto people Academics of the University of Sheffield Academics of De Montfort University Linguists from England Historical linguists of English English philologists Anglo-Saxon studies scholars Old Norse studies scholars Chaucer scholars Shakespearean scholars English people of German descent English people of Brazilian descent