'Written in the langage of Scottis natioun': The Intersection of Language and National Identity in Fourteenth- to Sixteenth-Century Middle Scots Poetry

This dissertation examines how late medieval Scottish poets sought to establish a literary movement independent of England. My project fills a gap in medieval cultural studies, which often overlook the literature of Scotland. Although recent research has provided new ways to talk about cultural identity in medieval Britain, most of this scholarship maintains an English-centric focus; critics typically examine the mix of identities and cultures that contributed to the establishment of England's nationhood, destabilizing notions of homogenous English identity. As I shift the focus to the development of a Scottish national identity, my work enters into dialogue with this suggestive body of scholarship, while also serving as a corrective to it. I argue that Scotland's late medieval poets asserted their literary identity through a contentious engagement with England and English. As they resist and subvert England's literary authority, these poets demonstrate the literary value of their Scots language.;Beginning with John Barbour's 1375 poem The Bruce, and concluding with texts from the early sixteenth century, I trace how poets used the historically antagonistic relationship between Scotland and England to craft poetry distinguishing the two realms. I also argue that these poets contribute to the transformation of "Inglis" (the Scottish dialect of English) to Scots (the vernacular language recognized by the Scottish people as distinctly their own), challenging medieval notions that suggest language is indicative of race. Despite attempts to set themselves apart from the English, however, Scottish texts were usually absorbed into the southern neighbor's language. Scottish poetry was often anglicized at the hands of London printers who were part of an English standardization movement that repeatedly erased any Scottish distinction. These erasures ultimately undermined the nationalist projects within Scottish texts.