Defiant Devotion in MS Laud Misc. 108: The Narrator of Havelok the Dane and Affective Piety

Resituating the early Middle English romance Havelok the Dane in its hagiographical manuscript context helps to account for its effusive, emotional narrator. Juxtaposed to the personal, prayerful narrator of the South English Legendary found in the same manuscript, Bodleian Library, Laud Misc. 108, the narrator of Havelok emerges as an instigator of affective, meditative response. Reading the responsive role of the Havelok audience as possessing a meditative aspect aligns the poem with the manuscript's devotional concerns and practices. Ultimately, Havelok directs an audience's affective receptivity toward an investment in rightful secular power.