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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Research for this book was generously supported by a Research Board fellowship from the University of Missouri, a Research Council Summer fellowship from the University of Missouri–Columbia, and by a Summer Research Fellowship and an Affirmative Action Research Grant from San Francisco State University. An early version of a portion of chapter 3 first appeared as “Performing Reform: The Marriage of Mary and Joseph in the N-Town Cycle” in Studies in the Age of Chaucer 22 (2001). I am grateful for permission to reprint that material here. A few pages of that same chapter are drawn from “Language on Trial: Performing the Law in the N-Town Trial Play” in The Letter of the Law: Legal Practice and Literary Production in Medieval England, edited by Candace Barrington and Emily Steiner (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2002). I have many people to thank for their help in writing this book. Lee Patterson , Sarah Beckwith, Gail McMurray Gibson, Judith Ferster, and Stanley Fish shaped the initial project and my understanding of medieval literature and culture. Kathy Ashley, Frank Grady, and Emily Steiner read portions of the manuscript and made many helpful suggestions and comments. I am grateful for the engagement and support of my colleagues (and former colleagues ) at University of Missouri, especially Martin Camargo, Ben Honeycutt , and Bill Kerwin. My book was significantly improved by the responses of the two anonymous readers for the University of Notre Dame Press. My thanks to Barbara Hanrahan for her wisdom and patience in guiding me through the publication process. My ideas about medieval marriage and medieval literature have been deepened and strengthened by many of my friends who are medieval scholars, especially Candace Barrington, Patricia DeMarco, Carroll Hilles, and Ethan Knapp. They offered an ideal blend of friendship and scholarly acumen; each offered invaluable suggestions and encouragement at key moments. ix Lipton 000.FM 6/8/07 12:45 PM Page ix John Evelev read all of the manuscript multiple times. Without his intellectual engagement, love, and support, I might never have finished. The arrival of my daughter Margaret brought joy and distraction to the final stages of revision. This book is dedicated to my parents: to my mother, Alice Lipton, who first sparked my interest in the past, and to my father, Chuck Lipton, who always encouraged me to follow my passions. x Acknowledgments Lipton 000.FM 6/8/07 12:45 PM Page x ...

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