Overview

The Wandering Jew's Chronicle is a chronological ballad published between 1630 and 1830 in at least ten broadsides and two chapbooks. Each version relates the succession of the throne of England between 1066 and that version's date of publication. One broadside version has previously been digitized by the UCSB Early Modern Center's English Ballad Archive; this project will digitise the remainder One broadside version has previously been digitized by the UCSB Pepys Ballad Archive; this course will complement ongoing, interdisciplinary research into Early-Modern ballads at UCSB and extend it chronologically and thematically. The first quarter will survey appropriate readings in book history and print culture, including oral and visual communication; typography and other aspects of the material text; the development of the ballad trade; and the history of ballad collecting and study. In the second quarter we will intensively study the ballad itself, preparing it for textual criticism and digital publication. We will scan images and transcribe text from all surviving versions, collating their variants. A single, edited version that documents the text's complete variants will be the theoretical goal of the project, as will a version or versions suitable for performance or reading. Specialized digital humanities software will be critically assessed for our purposes. The project will ultimately make available all versions of the ballad, together with appropriate critical apparatuses and commentaries, through online publication. We will also study the ballad's place within early-modern historical and political thought, through readings in nationalism, cultural theory and historiography. The first quarter provides an historical introduction to the ballad form [English 231: English Broadside Ballads, 1500-1800 Patricia Fumerton, Winter 2007] as well as an introduction to the project phase. This course will run half-time, meeting alternate weeks, over Fall 2006 and Winter 2007; students may audit the Fall quarter only.