Show press agents unknown to medieval writers A striking feature of medieval 1 lit grature la Is its general anon anonymity writes W it II schofield in II english egils literature from tile tho norman conquest to chaucer of 0 the many who wrote the names of but few are recorded and of the history of 0 these few we have only tile most monger details ilet alls nor Is tills this a simple accident F Foi orni merly erly the 11 importance attached to an authors personality wits was far less than now in case either of it a narrative atho or a didactic work it wits vas tile substance above till nil that attracted attention nalty of matter ans ns deplored as I 1 a fault independence of treatment meant to our contempt of t nu nil thor thO tty rItY a heinous offense in their eyes it was tie aa unsafe for a storyteller to depart from tile well ivell marked marke lines of inherited tradition as for him ailin to disregard ard orthodox beliefs and eyen even the lie greatest eren grei test dared not present new views without at least claiming august support A prudent author sought a powerful patron in order to insure success or fathered ills his enven thoua on some ancient worthy biln could not deny them kut but tile the last thing he would have deemed wl a would lieve been to copyright them us Is his own |