The North Through its Names: A Phenomenology of Medieval and Early-Modern Northern England

by David A. Postles

The North of England and northern-ness are elusive concepts, both academically and in popular perception. This volume in the English Surnames Survey series looks at what can be learned about the idea of the 'North' of England as a distinct identity from its surnames. The personal names from the north during the medieval/early modern period are linguistic phenomena, incorporating dialect speech that defined a northern consciousness, and in this way are an invaluable resource in exploring a northern identity. Dave Postles attempts to reconstruct the language of the speech community and communities of northern England through the reporting and recording of personal name elements, examining the evidence from patronyms, metronyms and personal names, as well as occupational bynames, and even nicknames. He identifies many distinctions including the longer continuity of insular personal names in the north which implies a cultural dissonance with the south perhaps in terms of a residual culture, but equally perhaps in terms of a resistant or oppositional culture. Since (what others might assume to be) insalubrious nickname bynames continued later in the north than in more southerly environments, northern speech through names could be represented as (by northerners) direct and (by southerners) uncivil.

243 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 2007

About the author

Dr. David A. Postles is an Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the University of Hertfordshire ("i.e. hanger-on with great interest in the excellent work being done at UH.")

I'm a strange beast who concentrated on early-modern history (British and European) as an undergraduate until I irrationally selected a special subject on medieval economy and manorial society. I subsequently published on medieval matters in Journal of Ecclesiastical History, Journal of Medieval History, Agricultural History Review, Journal of Interdisciplinary History, Continuity and Change, Cambridge Law Journal, and so on. Whilst at the University of Leicester, I was increasingly involved in teaching and learning in the early-modern ('Tawney's century') modules and consequently changed the focus of my research. Since my favourite colleagues worked in the School of English, I was gradually induced into some fields of English literature. When I retired in 2005, I became associated with the School of English at Leicester as a University Research Fellow. My pusillanimous efforts have attempted to consider the relationships of (dramatic) representation and (social) 'reality', which is the subject of some of my most recent books:
* Social Dramas: Literature and Language in Early-Modern England (2010) and Social Proprieties in Early-Modern England (1500-1680) (2006).

Additionally, I recently brought together collections of previously published essays with a sprinkling of new material in:
* Social Geographies in England (1200-1640) (2007); and
Missed Opportunities? Religious Houses and the Laity in the English "High Middle Ages" (2009).

On my way, I've been interested in applying statistical techniques (non-parametric), concordance analysis, GIS, and formal social network analysis - not always appropriately, I suspect. My current work on inequality explores Gini coefficients and Lorenz curves in early-modern England and capital accumulation through specialties (bonds) and associated interest, for which I have a Leverhulme Emeritus Fellowship for one year.