This timely volume examines the commitments of historicism in the wake of New Historicism. It contributes to the construction of a materialist historicism while, at the same time, proposing that discussions of work need not be limited to the clash between labour and capital. To this end, the essays offer more than a strictly historical view of the complex terms, social and literary, within which labour was treated in the medieval period. Several of the essays strive to reformulate the very critical language we use to think about the categories of labour and work through a continually doubled engagement with modern theories of labour and medieval theories and practices of labour.

"This collection of essays examines a favorite topic of medievalists, breathing new life into its analysis. Robertson and Uebel have achieved something remarkable here. The essays are wide-ranging, innovative, and provocative. Medieval labor is granted a complexity and an expansiveness that readers will likely find inspiring. Consistently engaging, lucidly composed, and full of insight, the work gathered in this important book constitutes essential reading for all those interested in the critical reexamination of the past." - Jeffrey J. Cohen, Department of English, George Washington University