Fatherless Children: Anonymity and Namelessness in the Sixteenth Century

Abstract: The notion that medieval texts are generally anonymous while early modern texts bear authors' names has long since been discredited. More recent accounts of anonymity, especially by Marcy L. North, have shown how "name suppression" remains a key technique in literary writing throughout the sixteenth century (and there are, conversely, many studies of the author in medieval contexts). The actual use of the term "anonymous" in the sixteenth century was very limited, however, and does not appear in disguise of an author until very late in the period. Here, I investigate the largely overlooked category of namelessness, prevalent in the Middle Ages and then later the subject of discussion, especially in the context of religious polemic, in the course of the Reformation. Namelessness is a partial synonym for anonymity but the two concepts diverged in the early sixteenth century under the pressure brought to bear on written culture by heresy. Through the writings of Thomas More and, more particularly, the Birgittine monk Richard Whitford, I show how both hanker for an imagined world of humble medieval anonymity, while at the same time regretfully conceding that named works are a necessary part of the fight against heresy. After the Reformation, anonymity once again mutates, only now becoming an element of textual playfulness. Hence, although there can be no return to the original idea of medieval anonymity vs. early modern authorship, there was in the sixteenth century a decisive shift in the way authorship and anonymity were thought about, a shift which underlines the ways in which conservatives and evangelicals alike were engaged in making periodizing distinctions.