Prof Rhiannon Purdie
Head of School
Professor of English and Older Scots
- Phone
- +44 (0)1334 46 2674
- rp6@st-andrews.ac.uk
- Office
- Room 41
- Location
- Castle House
Research areas
My main research interests are in Older Scots literature, later Middle English literature, medieval romance, and textual editing. I am the Editorial Secretary for the Scottish Text Society (for whom I edited Shorter Scottish Medieval Romances in 2013): I have also published scholarly editions with TEAMS (Six Scottish Courtly and Chivalric Poems including Lyndsay's Squyer Meldrum, co-ed. with Emily Wingfield, 2018) and the Early English Text Society (Ipomadon, 2001). I have published books and articles on Older Scots literature, medieval romance and Chaucer as well as supervising PhD theses on topics such as Arthurian legend in pre-Modern Scotland, Middle English romance, Older Scots narrative craft, women's engagement with literary culture in pre-modern Scotland, and the medieval roots of the Gothic novel. I held a Leverhulme Major Research Fellowship 2021-23; in 2016 I was a Fulbright research fellow at the University of Rochester, NY. I am the outgoing Chair of the Scottish Medievalists (until January 2025), and I remain a series co-editor for Boydell & Brewer's 'Studies in Medieval Romance'.
I founded and manage the 'Read Older Scots' initiative, designed to make pre-Modern literature (roughly pre-1700) in Scots better known and more accessible to modern readers: https://readolderscots.scot/
PhD supervision
- Valerie Gruenzel
Selected publications
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Manuscripts and Manuscript Culture
Purdie, R., 2019, Geoffrey Chaucer in Context. Johnson, I. (ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 43-49 7 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
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Six Scottish courtly and chivalric poems, including Lyndsay's Squyer Meldrum
Purdie, R. (Editor) & Wingfield, E. (Editor), Nov 2018, Michigan: Medieval Institute Publications. 290 p. (Middle English texts series)Research output: Book/Report › Scholarly edition
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King Orphius and Sir Orfeo, Scotland and England, memory and manuscript
Purdie, R., Sept 2018, The transmission of medieval romance: metres, manuscripts and early prints. Putter, A. & Jefferson, J. A. (eds.). Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, p. 15-32 18 p. (Studies in Medieval Romance; no. 21).Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
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Medieval romance and the generic frictions of Barbour's Bruce
Purdie, R., Sept 2015, Barbour's Bruce and its cultural context: politics, chivalry and literature in late medieval Scotland. Boardman, S. & Foran, S. (eds.). Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, p. 51-74 24 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
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Malcolm, Margaret, Macbeth and the Miller: Rhetoric and the Re-shaping of History in Wyntoun's Original Chronicle
Purdie, R., Dec 2015, In: Medievalia et Humanistica. New Series, 41, p. 45-63 19 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Before the Makars: Older Scots literature under the early Stewart Kings
Purdie, R., Feb 2014, A Companion to British Literature: Vol. 1: Medieval Literature, 700-1450 . DeMaria, Jr, R., Chang, H. & Zacher, S. (eds.). Blackwell, p. 293 307 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
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Shorter Scottish Medieval Romances: Florimond of Albany; Sir Colling the Knycht; King Orphius; Roswall and Lillian: Scholarly edition of 'Roswall and Lillian' (parallel-text), 'Sir Colling the Knycht', 'King Orphius' (parallel-text with newly-discovered fragment) and 'Florimond of Albany’. Finished volume has 150 pages of analysis (Introduction, Explanatory Notes, Glossary); 128 pages of edited texts; 12 pages of Index and Bibliography.
Purdie, R. (Editor), 2013, Edinburgh: Scottish Text Society. 302 p. (Scottish Text Society Fifth Series; no. 11)Research output: Book/Report › Scholarly edition
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Medieval Romance, Medieval Contexts
Purdie, R. (Editor) & Cichon, M. (Editor), 2011, Cambridge: Boydell & Brewer.Research output: Book/Report › Anthology
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Anglicising Romance: Tail-Rhyme and Genre in Medieval English Literature
Purdie, R., 2008, D. S. Brewer. 283 p. (Studies in Medieval Romance)Research output: Book/Report › Book