Medieval Latin Literature

L'anello del re e il «Paradiso» dell'Evangelista. Genesi di un episodio della «Vita sancti Edwardi regis et confessoris» di Aelredo di Rievaulx

by Francesco Marzella

published in 'Hagriographica' XVIII (2011), pp. 217-61.

The legend of the ring given by St. Edward the Confessor to St. John the Evangelist is probably the most famous of the... more The legend of the ring given by St. Edward the Confessor to St. John the Evangelist is probably the most famous of the stories that appear in the hagiographical dossier of the English saint, and the first instance of it had seemed to be in Aelred of Reivaulx's Vita sancti Edwardi regis et confessoris. However, a variant version of the story was found by Marc Bloch in an epitome of Osbert of Clare's Vita beati Eadwardi regis Anglorum. Now for the first time the complete text of this variant version (published with this article) is identified in a manuscript kept in Lambeth Palace Library. This discovery leads to new insights, and points to the conclusion that this version, wich derives many motives from visions of the other-world and tales of journeys to the Earthly Paradise, is probably the oldest and was interpolated in the biography written by Osbert before the canonization of Edward the Confessor (1161). Aelred therefore was not the first author to tell the legend, but reshaped it to fit his new biography of the saint.

La epístola contra la nigromancia de Arnau de Vilanova

by Sebastià Giralt

La coronica. A journal of medieval Spanish language, literature and cultural studies, 36.1 (2007), pp. 173-87

Durante siglos el nombre del médico y reformador espiritual Arnau de Vilanova (c. 1240-1311) ha sido vinculado a las... more Durante siglos el nombre del médico y reformador espiritual Arnau de Vilanova (c. 1240-1311) ha sido vinculado a las más variadas artes ocultas hasta convertirse en una figura arquetípica de maestro ocultista, a la vez que le eran atribuidas espuriamente numerosas obras pertenecientes a esas disciplinas. En realidad el interés real de Arnau por lo oculto no traspasó los oscilantes límites trazados por la élite intelectual de su tiempo . Lo cierto es que Arnau fue uno de los autores que encabezaron el proceso de racionalizar e incorporar a la medicina galenista bajomedieval procedimientos terapéuticos provenientes de la magia natural y de la astrología. No resulta contradictorio, sino perfectamente complementario, el que uno de sus primeros escritos conservados consista en un ataque sistemático a las bases intelectuales de la nigromancia. Se trata del De reprobacione nigromantice ficcionis, una breve pero densa epístola, más conocida en el pasado con el impropio título De improbatione maleficiorum, que ya había atraído el interés de varios historiadores de la magia y de la medicina, pero que hasta ahora no ha sido objeto de una edición crítica. El presente artículo pretende dar a conocer lo relativo a la composición y el contenido de este opúsculo de Arnau de Vilanova, que contribuye no sólo a esclarecer la posición de su autor frente a las artes ocultas, sino también a conocer mejor el pensamiento del siglo XIII en torno a la
magia destinada a los espíritus o demonios.

El Regimen quartane atribuït a Arnau de Vilanova

by Sebastià Giralt

Faventia, 27/1 (2005), pp. 97-112.

Presentation and critical edition of the Regimen quartane, a brief writing attributed to Arnau de Vilanova that gives... more Presentation and critical edition of the Regimen quartane, a brief writing attributed to Arnau de Vilanova that gives a medical treatment against the quartan fever.

Nigellus, Ausulus: Self-Promotion, Self-Suppression and Carolingian Ideology in the Poetry of Ermold

by Shane Bobrycki

published in Ego Trouble: Authors and Their Identities in the Early Middle Ages, eds. R. Corradini, M. Gillis, R. McKitterick, I. van Renswoude, Forschungen zur Geschichte des Mittelalters 15 (Vienna, 2010), pp. 161-173.

Treats the ninth-century Carolingian panegyrist Ermold Nigellus (aka Ermoldus Nigellus, Ermold the Black, Ermold le... more Treats the ninth-century Carolingian panegyrist Ermold Nigellus (aka Ermoldus Nigellus, Ermold the Black, Ermold le Noir, Ermoldo Nigello). In the late 820s, Ermold wrote a four-book panegyric in elegiac couplets to honor emperor Louis the Pious (r. 813-840), ostensibly to attain release from his exile. Argues that Ermold inserts himself into his poetry to remind his royal patrons of his usefulness as a propagandist, while carefully emphasizing his un-threatening status by rhetorical self-deprecation. Ermold balances between self-promotion and self-deprecation, as can be seen even in his sobriquet Nigellus (“little black one”), which may (p. 170) serve as a humble self-comparison to the famous poet and scholar Alcuin, who was known as Albinus (“the white”). Ermold’s authorial strategies shed light on the formation of Carolingian ideology by panegyric, which promotes rulers while allowing the promoters to benefit from their work (p. 173).

Abstract from Medioevo Latino vol. 32 (2011), 1232:

“Il panegirico di Ermoldo Nigello in onore di Ludovico il Pio, scritto come opera risarcitoria per la non meglio specificata colpa che Ermoldo pagò con l'esilio, attraverso la lode dell'imperatore esprime la piena adesione all'ideologia politica carolingia; per riabilitare sé stesso Ermoldo si presenta come umile suddito ma, soprattutto, come utile suddito. La stessa scelta dell'appellativo di nigellus, rimandando al nigra sum sed formosa del Cantico dei Cantici come anche, per contrasto, al ben noto appellativo di albinus di Alcuino, afferma attraverso una retorica dell'umiltà anche le potenzialità del letterato come promotore del sistema dei valori della corte carolingia.”

For full bibliographic information see: http://opac.regesta-imperii.de/lang_de/anzeige.php?buchbeitrag=Nigellus%2C+Ausulus%3A+self-promotion%2C+self-suppression+and+Carolingian+ideology+in+the+poetry+of+Ermold&pk=1526826.

Encyclopedia of the Medieval Chronicle

by Sarah Peverley

Ed. R. G. Dunphy, Published Brill, Leiden and Boston 2010. Online version available via http://referenceworks.brillonline.com

Entries on twenty-three English and Latin Chronicle(r)s: Adam of Usk, John Capgrave, William Caxton, Chronicle of the... more Entries on twenty-three English and Latin Chronicle(r)s: Adam of Usk, John Capgrave, William Caxton, Chronicle of the Rebellion in Lincolnshire, Chronicon Abbatiae Rameseiensis (Chronicle of Ramsey Abbey), Thomas Croftis, John Gower, John Hardyng, Historie of the Arrival of King Edward IV, John of Glastonbury, Henry Knighton, Lives of Henry V, John Lydgate, John Malverne, New Croniclys, Robert of Gloucester, John Rous, Short English Metrical Chronicle, John Somer, Thomas Castleford, John Vale, Warkworth's Chronicle, Westminster Chronicle.

Commentary and poetry in the medieval school of Rheims, c. 883-1100.

by Andrew Kraebel

Forthcoming in Encountering Scripture in Overlapping Cultures: Early Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Strategies of Reading and their Contemporary Implications, ed. by M. Cohen and A. Berlin.  40 pp. + 1 b/w illustration in MS.

The Liber ex lege Moysi: notes and text

by Sven Meeder

published in 'Journal of Medieval Latin' 19 (2009), pp. 173-218

Orderic Vitalis: New perspectives on the historian and his world (Call for papers)

by Daniel Roach

9-11 April 2013, St John’s College, University of Durham

Call for papers
Orderic Vitalis:
New Perspectives on the Historian and His World

(9-11 April... more Call for papers
Orderic Vitalis:
New Perspectives on the Historian and His World

(9-11 April 2013, St John’s College, University of Durham)

The organising committee of the Durham University Institute for Medieval and Renaissance Studies conference 'Orderic Vitalis: New Perspectives on the historian and his world' invite abstracts from prospective speakers. This event, funded by the Durham University IMRS, will provide a forum for the dissemination of new research into the life and works of the monastic scholar, Orderic Vitalis. With plans already in place to publish a 'companion' volume on Orderic, this conference will aim to re-invigorate existing work and open new lines of research around a figure whose legacy has proven vital to scholars of the Anglo-Norman world.

While the conference welcomes papers on a wide scope of topics, we particularly invite abstracts for papers relating to the following areas:

•The manuscript history of Orderic's Historia ecclesiastica.

•Orderic's scholarly and scribal career away from the Historia ecclesiastica.

•Orderic’s travels, administrative activities, and studies away from Saint-Évroul.

•Orderic’s world view and his networks of knowledge-exchange and transfer.

•The 'rediscovery' of the Historia ecclesiastica by early modern audiences, and Orderic's subsequent influence on the development of Anglo-Norman studies.

Prospective speakers are invited to submit abstracts of between 250-300 words, and should also include their contact details (name, affiliation, e-mail address). The deadline for submissions is 1 September 2012. Limited bursaries towards travel costs will be offered to postgraduate speakers. If you wish to apply for one of these, please indicate this when submitting an abstract.

For further information about Orderic Vitalis: New perspectives on the historian and his world or to submit an abstract, please email Charlie Rozier, at: c.c.rozier@durham.ac.uk or Dan Roach at: dr229@exeter.ac.uk, or visit:
www.dur.ac.uk/imrs/conferences/orderic_vitalis/

Кнут Лавард, принц датский

by Fjodor Uspenskij

Именослов. История языка. История культуры / Отв. ред. Ф. Б. Успенский. М., 2012
[в соавторстве с А. Ф. Литвиной]

Paulo Romanowski - dissertação - 2009 - pghis

by Paulo Romanowski

« À la recherche du commentaire littéral sur la Genèse d’Isidore de Séville »

by Jacques Elfassi

dans : Connaissance des Pères de l’Église, 125, mars 2012, p. 50-60.

Dans le prologue introduisant l’Exposition sur l’Ancien Testament, Isidore indique qu’il a déjà écrit un commentaire «... more Dans le prologue introduisant l’Exposition sur l’Ancien Testament, Isidore indique qu’il a déjà écrit un commentaire « selon le sens littéral ». Ce commentaire littéral est probablement perdu à jamais, mais on peut avoir une idée de ce à quoi il ressemblait en examinant certains textes isidoriens. Deux textes sont plus particulièrement étudiés ici : Sentences I, 8 et Étymologies VII, 7.

In the prologue introducing the Commentary on the Old Testament, Isidore indicates that he has already written a comment “according to the literal sense”. This literal commentary is probably lost for ever, but we can have an idea of what he looked like by examining some isidorian texts. Two texts are more particularly studied here : Sentences I, 8 and Etymologies VII, 7.

Work Notes on the Tavola Eugubine, Tavola IV, Script Q543-Q915

by Mel Copeland

The Tavola Eugubine is a series of bronze tablets found near the city of Gubbio. There are seven tablets, some of which are written on both sides. The tablets are said to be written in the Umbrian language and in Latin. There are seven tablets, some of which are written on both sides. The tablets are said to be written in the Umbrian language and in Latin. The texts of the group tend to follow a common theme, that of an oration. This text is a highly repetitive, hierophantic oration dealing with a funeral and perhaps a secret Bacchanalian rite. The archeological context of the tables is of interest, whether the seven bronze tablets were found in situ as one collection. This text is probably by that of an augur (haruspex) who is sacrificing sheep at a funeral, referring to Bacchus in the end of the text. The Bacchanalian rite was highly secret, held usually at night, and attended with the noise of revelry and the clashing of cymbals.

This is an update of our work on the Tavola Eugubine, IIB , III and IV (http://www.maravot.com/Translation_EugubineQ.html). Changes produced on this page will be added to our Etruscan GlossaryA.pdf. All of the words in the glossary follow a grammar similar to Latin. One can easily discover that the several hundred texts on Etruscan Phrases all share a common language and grammar. This controverts the prevailing theory that the Etruscan language is not an Indo-European language. It also warrants further examination of the prevailing conclusion that the Tavola Eugubine is written in the Umbrian language.

Etruscan GlossaryA.xls/pdf. is an index to about 2,300 Etruscan words that are similar to Latin, French, Italian and Romanian. Declension patterns follow those in Latin. The 2,500 words = the repeated words in 6,000 words of the major extant texts. The texts have been frozen in time, covering ~700-400 B.C., representing a lens to understanding the early formation of Indo-European languages, particularly the early Italic-Latin-Celtic languages, such as Italian, French & Romanian / Dacian. (By 45 BC. the language was a dead language - no one understood or could write Etruscan.)

This GlossaryA works together with Indo-European Table 1 which refutes theories by the Pallottino school of thought that the Etruscan language is not Indo-European and an isolate, unlike any other language. It is very close to Latin and, curiously, Romanian, Italian and French. The Latin suffix, "us" shifts to "o" as in Italian (Titus vs Tito); first person conjugation patterns are similar to French and Romanian. This GlossaryA provides a quick look at the grammatical structure of the Etruscan language, how closely it coincides with Latin. A more detailed Declension Table can be seen on the Etruscan Phrases website. These PDF documents facilitate independent confirmation of the words in GlossaryA.xls , the Grammar and Declension Table. All words can be examined from actual images of texts on the Etruscan Phrases website. Over 150 texts, with about 6,000 words can be examined at Etruscan Phrases.

The Etruscans surfaced in Italy about 1,000 B.C., reputed to have arrived from Lydia / Phrygia. The Phrygians originated near Macedonia in Thrace, according to Herodotus. One may therefore inquire whether the ancient Thracians (Dacians, Gettae, modern Romanians), spoke a language common to the Phrygians, at the time of the Trojan War and after (~1180 B.C.). The Thracians, Phrygians and Lydians (also dead languages) were allies of the Trojans, according to the Iliad. Etruscan Phrases finds a common vocabulary among Latin, Italian, French, Romanian, Etruscan and Phrygian. While French, Spanish, Italian and Romanian are considered Romance languages, showing a similar Latin heritage, Etruscan is not, of course, a Romance language, as it preceded Latin, at least in the written form (giving Rome its alphabet).
Resolution of the Etruscan Mystery may be likened to Michael Ventris' decipherment of Linear B and Jean-François Champollion's decipherment of Egyptian hieroglyphics using the Rosetta Stone - written in Egyptian hieroglyphics, Demotic and Greek.

The decipherment of Etruscan is a bit more challenging; since we have no multilingual Rosetta stone, but we do have enough vocabulary and grammar to establish that Etruscan is similar to Latin, French, Italian and Romanian. (Certainly far more vocabulary and a more extensive grammar are provided in Etruscan Phrases than that used by Ventris to claim translation of Linear B as an old form of Greek.)

We look forward to the time when a peer review of these Work Notes will warrant corrections to the prevailing record, showing that the Etruscan language was similar to Latin and decry the theory that the "Etruscan language is unlike any other and not an Indo-European language." The theory of a non-Indo-European Etruscan language is absolutely false.

There is a far richer record to be written of an Indo-European branch, dead as of ~400 B.C., that can shed light on the movements of the late Bronze Age and early Iron Age Italic peoples, perhaps out of southeastern Europe to Anatolia and then to Italy by sea. Herodotus, who recorded the Etruscan tradition, that they came from Lydia as a result of a long drought after the Trojan War, may be right. We mention this because there is more to be gained in sorting out the grammar at Etruscan Phrases - and possible confirmation of Herodotus - than can ever be hoped for in the bogus theory that "the Etruscan language is unlike any other language known to man." Wikipedia et al. should be corrected.

This text may be of interest to those interested how the liturgy of a Bacchanalian priest may compare to that of a modern liturgy.

L’edizione veneta di Albertino Mussato (1636) e l’erudizione europea di primo Seicento, “Italia medioevale e umanistica”, 50 (2009), pp. 313-341

by Simone Signaroli

The Venetian edition of Albertino Mussato and the chroniclers of the March o Treviso (1636) invites investigation of... more The Venetian edition of Albertino Mussato and the chroniclers of the March o Treviso (1636) invites investigation of the approach to medieval a humanistic Latin texts adopted by two of the leading scholars of the early 17th century, Felice Osio and Lorenzo Pignoria, principal editors of the volume. Their work, which had historical and political implications, is seen as part of a wider tradition of studies of local Paduan antiquities and of an international scholarly network which created contacts between statesmen, historians and philologists in the Republic of Venice, Holland, France and Enlgand.

Fabry, Irène. "Construction impossible et défense improbable : la tour du roi Vertigier dans l'Historia Brittonum de Nennius, l'Historia Regum Britanniae de Geoffroy de Monmouth, le Brut de Wace et le Merlin de Robert de Boron", Imaginer la construction au Moyen Age. Paris : Presses Universitaires de Paris Sorbonne, 2009, pp. 93-112.

by Irene Fabry-Tehranchi

La question architecturale de l'impossibilité de l'usurpateur Vertigier à construire sa tour se double d'une réflexion... more La question architecturale de l'impossibilité de l'usurpateur Vertigier à construire sa tour se double d'une réflexion politique et morale déterminante. La tour branlante est en effet à l'image du royaume déchiré de Grande Bretagne : elle emblématise l'instabilité politique et les affrontements militaires qui déterminent l'ascension illégitime puis la chute de ce mauvais roi.

« De la honte classique à la honte chrétienne ? Quelques réflexions d’après l’œuvre d’Isidore de Séville »

by Jacques Elfassi

dans : Rubor et pudor : vivre et penser la honte dans la Rome ancienne, éd. R. Alexandre, C. Guérin et M. Jacotot, Paris, 2012 (Études de littérature ancienne, 19), p. 119-126.

Étude de la notion de honte chez Isidore de Séville. Quelques thèmes sont spécifiquement chrétiens : l’humilité, la... more Étude de la notion de honte chez Isidore de Séville. Quelques thèmes sont spécifiquement chrétiens : l’humilité, la pénitence, la conversion personnelle et bien sûr le regard de Dieu. Mais la conception chrétienne et tardo-antique de la honte reste en fait très proche de la conception classique ; en particulier, il faut fortement nuancer l’opposition entre un monde païen qui serait celui de l’extériorité et un monde chrétien qui serait celui de l’intériorité.

Study of the notion of shame by Isidore of Seville. Some topics are specifically Christian: humility, penitence, personal conversion and of course the look of God. But the Christian and late antique conception of shame is actually very close of the classical conception; in particular, we must really temper the opposition between pagan world, supposedly world of exteriority, and Christian world, supposedly world of interiority.

‘Visualising the present past’ - Genealogical construction in the Lebor Gabála Érenn

by Christian Michael Zottl

Paper given at the VIII Symposium of Societas Celtologica Nordica (Helsinki, Finland, 21-23 September 2006).

Early medieval Irish scribal tradition was very closely linked with the ecclesiastical element in society. The Church... more Early medieval Irish scribal tradition was very closely linked with the ecclesiastical element in society. The Church was equally interwoven with the secular centres of power from where it drew the majority of its leading members. Consequently, the produced literature often took up a consolidating function, strengthening not just the ecclesiastical background but also the various relations between the existing social strata. In connection with the descendants of the various ancient people of Lebor Gabála (LG), Ireland is given its mythical ancestors of the dynasties of Connacht, Leinster, Munster and Tara, anticipating hegemonic rivalries between Armagh and Cashel. This is significant when we consider that the 8th century versions of LG may have been compiled in the face of an increasing hegemony of an Uí Néill kingship. The narrative framework thus merges with history and makes us see that we are dealing with a predominantly fictitious narration. Although the story-line may tell us little about the perceived past, we yet discover critical elements of the time of its compilation. The mythical-historical entity, therefore, may be assessed as fulfilling highly contemporary tasks of (1) reinforcing social cohesion within Irish early medieval societies, (2) strengthening the functional unity of that particular group that presents and justifies this order as being traditional, and (3) establishing all these modes within a codified form of a complex narration that is appealing to listen to, as well as easy to remember and transmit.

Chorisantes itaque puniuntur: Storia di un exemplum, dai danseurs maudits all’Huon d’Auvergne

by Michela G. Scattolini

La Parola del Testo, XVI/2, 2011, pp. 339-356

"(Re)claiming Adalbert: Patristic Quotations and Their Function in Canaparius' Vita S. Adalberti"

by Cristian-Nicolae Gaşpar

published in the Festschrift for Gábor Klaniczay: Promoting the Saints: Cults and Their Contexts from Late Antiquity until the Early Modern Period: Essays in Honor of Gábor Klaniczay for His 60th Birthday, ed. Ottó Gecser, József Laszlovszky, Balázs Nagy, Marcell Sebők, and Katalin Szende. Budapest & New York: Central European University Press, 2010, pp. 31-39.

Cantemus Domino cantica gloriae. Una visión panorámica de las epístolas farcidas en España a partir de la contenida en la misa de Santiago del Codex Calixtinus

by Arturo Tello Ruiz-Pérez

Published in El Codex Calixtinus en la Europa del siglo XII. Música, Arte, Codicología y Liturgia. ed. Juan Carlos Asensio, León: Instituto Nacional de las Artes Escénicas y de la Música, Ministerio de Cultura, 2011, pp. 228-257.
ISBN 978-84-87075-79-7

En el escenario general de la canción litúrgica, este trabajo tiene por objeto arrojar luz sobre algunos aspectos de... more En el escenario general de la canción litúrgica, este trabajo tiene por objeto arrojar luz sobre algunos aspectos de la tradición litúrgica, musical y literaria de las epístolas farcidas contenidas en manuscritos españoles. Está claro que el Codex Calixtinus es un testimonio particular en múltiples facetas, entre las cuales como unicum se sitúa Cantemus Domino cantica gloriae. Por ello mismo, por sus mismas peculiaridades, esta epístola será tomada como parangón privilegiado en la valoración litúrgico-musical de las diez epístolas farcidas localizadas hasta ahora en más de dos docenas de fuentes y fragmentos de la España medieval.

Review of L. Alfonsi, La letteratura latina medievale, Firenze-Milano 1972

by Giuseppe Aricò

«Giornale italiano di filologia» 24, 1972, pp. 520-522