Beards and Texts by Dr Seb Coxon is published today - available for download now

German Department's Dr Seb Coxon has written the monograph, Beards and Texts.

Beards and Texts explores the literary portrayal of beards in medieval German texts from the mid-twelfth to the early sixteenth centuries. It argues that as the pre-eminent symbol for masculinity the beard played a distinctive role throughout the Middle Ages in literary discussions of such major themes as majesty and humanity. At the same time beards served as an important point of reference in didactic poetry concerned with wisdom, teaching and learning, and in comedic texts that were designed to make their audiences laugh, not least by submitting various figure-types to the indignity of having their beards manhandled. You can find out more, and access the book in different formats, here: https://www.uclpress.co.uk/collections/literature-and-translation/products/106874. 

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