Latin Bible of the Week

Long ago I set myself the task of reading the Vulgate, preferably directly from the manuscripts. I try to do a chapter a week, in part to keep Latin fresh when I'm not otherwise working in it, as well as just trying to get to know the book and style of Latin that influenced the medieval period so heavily. I'm not always consistent or successful in making the time to do a chapter a week, but today I did. I started a month or so back on the book of Sirach, aka Ecclesiasticus in part because I've not ever read all of it in English much less anything else, and I've a new appreciation for wisdom literature. So here is today's reading:

1 fili accedens seruituti Dei sta in iustitia et timore et praepara animam tuam ad temptationem
2 deprime cor tuum et sustine declina aurem et excipe uerba intellectus et ne festines in tempus obductionis
3 sustine sustentationes Dei coniungere Deo et sustine ut crescat in nouissimo uita tua
4 omne quod tibi adplicitum fuerit accipe et in dolore sustine et in humilitate tua habe patientiam
5 quoniam in igne probatur aurum et argentum homines uero receptibiles in camino humiliationis
6 crede Deo et recuperabit te et dirige uiam tuam et spera in illum serua timorem illius et in illo ueteresce
7 metuentes Deum sustinete misericordiam eius et non deflectatis ab illo ne cadatis
8 qui timetis Deum credite illi et non euacuabitur merces uestra
9 qui timetis Deum sperate in illum et in oblectatione ueniet uobis misericordia
10 qui timetis Deum diligite illum et inluminabuntur corda uestra
11 respicite filii nationes hominum et scitote quis sperauit in Dominum et confusus est
12 permansit in mandatis eius et derelictus est et quis inuocauit illum et despexit illum
13 quoniam pius et misericors Deus et remittit in tempore tribulationis peccata omnibus exquirentibus se in ueritate
14 uae duplici corde et labiis scelestis et manibus malefacientibus et peccatori terram ingredienti duabus uiis
15 uae dissolutis corde qui non credunt Deo ideo non protegentur ab eo
16 uae his qui perdiderunt sustinentiam qui dereliquerunt uias rectas et deuerterunt in uias prauas
17 et quid facietis cum inspicere coeperit Deus
18 qui timent Dominum non erunt incredibiles uerbo illius et qui diligunt illum conseruabunt uiam illius
19 qui timent Dominum inquirent quae beneplacita sunt illi et qui diligunt eum replebuntur lege ipsius
20 qui timent Dominum parabunt corda sua et in conspectu illius sanctificabunt animas suas
21 qui timent Dominum custodiunt mandata illius et patientiam habebunt usque ad inspectionem illius
22 dicentes si paenitentiam non egerimus incidemus in Dei manus et non in manus hominum
23 secundum enim magnitudinem illius sic et misericordia ipsius cum ipso

Vetus Latina

This group has placed an excellent edition of the VL of John's gospel online.

3 Posts in a Week!

The news of last week:

A little slow getting this up:

Gilded Horns Stolen in Denmark

AND: Danish Police Recover

Archaeologists hunt fire disaster

EXCLUSIVE: MOVIE FOOTAGE FROM MIDDLE AGES!

CAMPAIGNERS FIGHT TO SAFEGUARD RUINS

Treasure trove is found in Cumbria

Rain uncovers Viking treasure trove

Car park dig for medieval castle

Mind the Gap

Aelfric in the Letter to Sigeweard fits things into the typical "ages of the world", identifying 8. He traces in two places Christ's birth in the sixth age of the world, but his final comment on the ages traces the sixth age as BEGINNING at the Ascension and proceeding to Judgement Day. There seems to be an uncertainty about what to do with Jesus' lifetime: does the Incarnation mark a new age, or is it part of the old one and the Ascension mark the beginning of the new? Alefric seems unsure....

Carnivalesque XXXI

Carnivalesque XXXI's roundup of blog entries of note is up at Tiruncula

Matthew: Anti-Pauline Sentiments

This began as a) reading a new article by David Sims in the latest New Testament Studies on Matthew 7 as specifically anti-Pauline. The bloggers at Deinde offered a response to the article, which I had read a couple days before running into the blog. I posted the following comments on the E-Matthew list:

Deinde has a 2 part post on Daniel Sims' latest article. I just read
this over the weekend, but I'm one of those who while perhaps not
going quite as far as Sims think that it is hard to read Matthew as
pro-Pauline or reconcile some of Matthew's statements with Paul. The
post is interesting in that it seeks to disprove Sims central thesis,
that Matthew is writing directly against Paul and not those who have
distorted Paul. IN my view though, the blogger raises some good
issues, but in the end doesn't assail Sims position. For example, one
objection is that Paul like Matthew has the.....

I didn't quite finish it, but continued in another post....
First, this assumes that some points of agreement must mean that
there can not be significant points of disagreement.

Second, most of the passages to which he points, save one, don't seem
to me to address the issue the blogger desires: none of them are the
defense of Torah or statements about its usefulness. So even if
"Matthew" has read Paul's letter to the Romans, which in itself is
doubtful, those passages are not going to warm the cockles of
Matthew's heart. Even the passage in Romans 13 which Deinde (a team
of bloggers, not sure who did that entry), points out is an
agreement between Matthew and Paul (Paul's recitation of the
"commandments" of which the greatest is love of neighbor as self)
does not set these in the context of observing the Torah as Torah--in
fact this proto-"love and do as you please" may in fact be read as
"set aside the Torah IF you "love" for love fulfills the Torah (or
"love is all you need" from the Boys from Liverpool). So rather than
affirm Matthew's view of the Law, the statements in Rom 13:8-10 might
despite their verbal similarity mean opposite things.

Third, even if Paul and Matthew agree on the point of "love your
neighbor as yourself" as the greatest commandment, it might be noted
that so do the Pharisees. Yet, one can hardly claim that such
agreement with the Pharisees means that these Pharisees, Matthew, and
Paul have no sources of rather significant disagreement with one
another.

Fourth and lastly, I think the blogger at Deinde has forgotten or at
least overlooked passages like Acts 21: 20-21 and further 21:28. The
charge against Paul as preaching AGAINST the Torah seems not only a
very real one, but Luke takes some pains to illustrate a) the
Jerusalem churches' full blessing and acceptance of Paul's message to
the Gentiles [note though that he does not here mention James or any
other leader] and b) that he subsequently presents Paul as an
observant Jew well versed in the Torah and "pirke avoth" to borrow a
title. Luke, writing at least Acts after Matthew, is well aware of
the attacks on Paul and the perception of Paul, not Paul's followers
who are at issue here, but Paul himself. Such a testimony I think
underscores the veracity of Sims reading of Matthew 7.

Just to add a few points too: Matthew's Jesus deals with other Jewish groups. In the Sermon on the Mount there are several statements criticizing the practices and positions of Pharisees, Sadduceess, and perhaps even "Essenes", at least positions taken by the Qumran community. And we know from the NT itself that all is not peaceful and unified in the early CHristian movement and that the writers of the NT documents made no bones about criticizing those with whom they disagreed, including the famed disagreement between Peter and Paul recorded in Galatians. Should it then be a surprise if Matthew while criticizing other non-Christian Jewish groups in the gospel should not also be taking to task other Christians who have gone awry from his point of view? Rhetorical question....of course it shouldn't.

The Week's News

Homosexual Civil Unions: A Medieval Tradition?

Dig in and find out about Dartmoor's past

Latin phrases you pretend to understand


St Francis relic unmasked Santa Croce tunic not old enough, researchers say

Medieval News

The medieval news of the week:

The week's medieval related headlines:

Prague's famed Charles Bridge to undergo renovation


The Byzantine castle 'Hieron Oros' remains vulnerable


Archaeologists Study Terrain Outside Medieval Fortress Cherven

Roberta Frank in the Sports Pages

Medieval Cambodian City Was World's Largest

A bit overstated but.....

Revealedix: the Gaul of Asterix was no joke

Ring declared treasure

Bulgarian Archaeologists Discover Christian Necropolis on Perperikon


Ottoman Turks possibly perpetrated massacre during 14th Century
Bulgarian siege:

Roberta Frank and Baseball

For those not in the know yet:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/30/sports/baseball/30squirrel.html?_r=2&ref=sports&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

Yes, we medievals do get around!

Medieval News of the Week

This is all I found this week, and all I really had time for. Interesting stuff nonetheless.

1,200-year-old graves found

Medieval Cross Turns Up in Trash

Mystery of the medieval skulls still has archaeologists scratching their heads

Medieval News of the Week

Istanbul’s city walls to be restored with international support

Will DNA turn Madoc myth into reality?

Harry Potter can be seen as a modern teenager, but also, according to UC Professor Kathryn Lorenz’s work, as a representation of different Arthurian characters.

Conquering decay at the castle

Prodi keen to revive medieval pilgrim routes

Development uncovers historical treasure trove

Black Death casts a genetic shadow over Eng

New Viking graves discovered

MfD: Czech archaeologists uncover unique Central European ditch

Archaeologist uncover possible medieval mosque in Sicily

April cont.

WAAAYYY back in April as I was doing my Congress paper, I gave a post that talked about continuity, reinterpretation of works, etc. The point was to try and compare medieval strategies of appropriation of different works that a) either take the "same" work, and here we have to be careful of terms like "same", but retell it with new spins, essentially taking an old story and making it new and/or b) appropriating a text from the past and recasting it in some way. I used Tolkien and Tolkien movies as one example.

A related realization came at the same time. Now this realization is new to me, and its precious for all that, but the rest of the medieval world has probably realized this and it is so basic as not to be considered. But here it is: it is the same process and the same mindset that approaches the Germanic past in Beowulf and Widsith and borrows from the great cauldron of story that also produces Judith and Exodus etc out of enlarged cauldron of story that now includes Biblical and Roman/Classical sources; AND influences prose writers like Aelfric, Hrabanus, and the like: i. e. the encyclopedia approach for which some of the early middle ages has been dismissed as is the same process that leaves us tantalizing hints of Volsunga Saga in Beowulf or Theodoric in Norse tales and the like. Thus the prose writers are picking and choosing in the same way as the oral poet. As has been long recognized now neither Bede, nor Alfred, nor Aelfric are mere translators or users of the past in an unqualified fashion. Rather they take, they reshape, reuse, and produce new, innovative texts. In my Congress paper I explored this somewhat by suggesting that evidence of audience reception in the manuscripts in which Letter to Sigeweard reside s reveal a degree of appropriation in a way similar to how tales become retold, the text in manuscript is no longer Aelfric's but becomes a sermon in Oxford, Bodley, 343, and in Oxford, Laud 509 we have evidence of readers, Old English and Latin, who are commenting and interacting with the text making it their own. In other manuscripts we seem to have parts of the Letter excised from their context and reused as homilies. In 2 of these cases, the text is anonymized: in Bodley 343 and London, BL, Harley, there is little to suggest that the homilies were Aelfrician in origin, they've become someone else's text.

Now I say all this to make a modern point, one that Scott Nokes will be making in an essay to be published in the next Heroic Age. There's been a spate of medieval movies, always has been really from Errol Flynn in Robin Hood to the great Lion in Winter to the BBC's recent Robin Hood series and even some bad ones like Christopher Lambert's Beowulf complete with Roland in purple tights and porn stars as Grendel's mother and an invented character supposedly Hrothgar's daughter. While Heaney's Beowulf may not be "Beowulf" in one sense, as one scholar of note has written that she threw the book across the room, it is in another as much Beowulf as the Beowulf in Cotton Vitellius A.xv, for we assume that the version in the manuscript is but one poet's version and that another performer, written or oral, would have a somewhat different Beowulf. Similarly, Tolkien steals scenes from Beowulf or even rewrites The Wanderer while Tolkien himself is "retold" in the various movies (and even in the numerous books that literally rip him off). I posit that this is the same strategy of retelling and appropriation that the medieval authors we medievalists study engaged in! And rather than be excoriated and put down and groaned over, we should welcome these retellings.

We should welcome them not because they give us an excuse to write papers for the Studies in Medievalism conference, or give us an opportunity to relax our gaze somewhat as we do some easy work (by which I mean I need not hone my Latin or Old ENglish or other linguistic skills or strain my eyes peering at a manuscript page damaged by fire and hard to distinguish words etc). I mean that we should welcome them because we want there to be interest in the medieval period! We in fact should FAN THE FLAMES! Sure, some, if not many, of these films and stories will not be historically accurate, nor will they be "medieval" in the sense that they'll appeal to medieval audiences. In the latter case, while our story stealing strategies may in fact be similar if not the same, all stories even retold ones speak to our own time. So a medieval story retold is going to be told for a modern audience, which has a different sense of story, humor, and characterization than the medieval. In the former case of "historically" accurate, I don't worry too much about that either in the case of stories. The Old English Exodus for example is certainly not historically accurate, but its a grand piece of poetry.

This isn't to say that I think we as professionals should give up historical accuracy or talking about medieval literature in favor of modern medievalisms or anything of that nature. I am saying that we should, for practical, theoretical, and survival reasons encourage, welcome, praise, and comment on modern medievalisms rather than disparage, reject, put them down. Medieval studies is increasingly in the academy being marginalized. Particularly in the English departments of the world, Old English is no longer a requirement, medievalists who retire are not being replaced, and if the medieval is covered at all, it is in a general survey course. Of all the jobs in the last few years advertised for English departments, 15 and 13 were general medieval positions, and most of those expected some sort of composition or WOrld Literature or Renaissance component--i. e. medieval was only a part of the package. 3 last year were specifically for Old English, 4 the year before if I remember correctly. This doesn't bode well. But if, and here I'm echoing Scott's piece but I am in complete agreement with it, we are seen as engaged in popular culture, and can harness popular culture to increase interest in our fields, all the better for us.

And we already know that such a strategy works. The recent Chronicle of Higher Ed article on the Congress at K'zoo was revelatory in this respect. Of the current crop of young medievalists, and those currently in grad school, the vast majority developed their interest in medieval studies by reading Tolkien or playing D and D, or fantasy literature, or some other popular culture expression of medievalism! If it worked for them, why not for a wider audience? Its the old adage all over again: you attract more flies with honey than vinegar. Encouraging and welcoming these movies is going to attract students who want to learn more, and so we have opportunities to correct the errors without being disparaging. Being negative and decrying the movies will drive away potential students, and we can not afford to drive away students--without students interested in our work at all levels, universities will not hire us in this increasingly market driven view of higher education prevalent in the US now and being exported abroad.

So theoretical and practical points: modern medievalisms are engaging in a medieval practice by appropriating and retelling medieval stories and we should be happy and encourage that and reap the benefits of such interest. Ok, sermonizing mode off.

Book Proposals at Bloggy U

Over at Bloggy U the issue of Book Proposals and how do one has been broached. Anyone with advice, knowledge, experience, and insight is welcome, nay, begged, cajoled, etc., to post.

The Week's News

Medieval tiles discovered at Abbey


Demonic Possession And Miraculous Healing


For Sale: Dracula's Castle

A medieval mystery


MEDIEVAL RUINS FOUND AT PUB SITE

MEDIEVAL KINGS OF MANN MANUSCRIPT RETURNS TO ISLE OF MAN FOR GALLERY
OPENING

Archaeologists set to unearth secrets of Scone and its
kings

Site worthy of Note

I was updating the HA links files and came across this site. Ah, if only every medieval text could be so treated:

">Vita St. Eufrosine

More Medieval News

Medieval Gold Jewellery Found in Thracian Mound in Bulgaria

Rare carving on display at Cathedral


Angel is back after 1,100 years


Crumbling glory gets new lease of life


Library raises funds to save medieval manuscript

Medieval horse harness unearthed

REMEMBERING A BLOODY BATTLE

Medieval News

Mysterious medieval maze restored:
http://www.24dash.com/news/58/22379/index.htm

Ethiopia's 'lost' Muslim towns belie Christian past:
http://www.metimes.com/storyview.php?StoryID=20070615-051900-6778r

Othello's Cypriot citadel on the brink of ruin:
http://in.today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=entertainmentnews&storyID=2007-06-15T190741Z_01_NOOTR_RTRMDNC_0_India-303299-1.xml

Medieval fun to see in 800 years of city:
http://www.wetherbynews.co.uk/wetherby-news?articleid=2954987

Marking market's start, Charter Market in Cricklade:
http://www.wiltsglosstandard.co.uk/news/latest/display.var.1474814.0.marking_markets_start.php

Up and coming star' librarian to catalog Westminster Abbey books:
http://www.news.uiuc.edu/news/07/0612cook.html

Claim that £1m El Cid sword is a forgery provokes a duel of words:
http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article2651055.ece

Romanian government criticized by lawmakers for returning 'Dracula
Castle':
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/06/14/europe/EU-GEN-Romania-Draculas-Castle.php

More Medieval News June 8-16

Medieval News June 8-14

Bodies from Viking ships to be exhumed

Ancient Hill of Tara is put on 'crisis list' backed

Israel Museum unveils rare Biblical manuscript from 'silent era'

Is this Chaucer's astrolabe?

Konstantin der Große - Landesausstellung in Trier


English manuscript unveiled in LA


June 8

Saint:
William, Archbishop of York, d. 1154

Death:
218 Macrinus, Roman Emperor
410 St. Melania the Elder
632 Muhammad
1042 Harthacanute, King of Denmark and England
1154 St. William of York
1376 Edward, the Black Prince
1383 Thomas de Ros, 5th Baron de Ros, English Crusader
1384 Kanami, Japanese actor
1476 George Neville, English archbishop and statesman
1492 Elizabeth, wife of King Edward IV of England

Events:
68 The Roman Senate accepts emperor Galba.
536 St. Silverius consecrated as pope
793 Norsemen sack Lindesfarne
1042 Harthacnut, King of England & Denmark, dies, is succeeded in
England by Edward the Confessor, in Denmark by Magnus, King of
Norway
1147 King Louis VII and Queen Eleanor of France leave St. Denis on
crusade
1191 Richard I, King of England, lands at Acre
1287 Revolt of Rhys ap Meredudd
1333 Edward III orders seizure of the Isle of Man
1374 Chaucer given the office of Controller of Customs
1405 Richard le Scrope, Archbishop of York and Thomas Mowbray, Earl
of Norfolk, executed in York on Henry IV's orders.
1495 First written record of Scotch Whisky




June 9

Saints:
Ephrem the Syrian
Columba
Willibald of Eichstät

Death:
68 Nero, Roman Emperor
373 Ephrem the Syrian, Christian hymnodist
597 St. Columba (Colum Cille)
630 King Shahrbaraz of Persia
1171 St. Silverius consecrated as bishop
1290 Beatrice, Dante's inspiration
1361 Philippe de Vitry, French composer

Events:
1064 Coimbra is taken by Ferdinand, King of Castile
1075 HOMBURG (defeat of Saxons by Henry VI of France)
1156 Marriage of Friedrich "Barbarossa" King of Germany, to
Beatrix of Burgundy
1198 Otto IV chosen King of Germany
1247 Carpini, Papal Legate returning from the Mongols, reaches Kiev,
Russia
1310 Duccio's Maestà Altarpiece, a seminal artwork of the early
Italian Renaissance, is unveiled and installed in the Siena
Cathedral in Siena, Italy.
1358 MEAUX (Jacquerie defeated by Captal de Buch and Gaston Phoebus)
1365 Pope Urban V excommunicates Don Pedro, King of Castile
1480 Turks attack Malta

June 10

Saints:
John Dominic, Archbishop of Ragusa

Birthday:
1213 - Fakhruddin 'Iraqi, Persian philosopher

Death:
1075 Ernest of Austria
1190 Friedrich "Barbarossa," King of Germany, Burgundy, and the Holy
Roman Empire,drowns in the Saleph River while leading an army to
Jerusalem.
1424 Duke Ernest of Austria

Events:
1179 Baldwin IV defeated by Saladin
1194 Much of Chartres, France, destroyed by fire
1248 Destruction of Bergen, Norway, by fire
1258 Provisions of Oxford Issued
1376 Election of Wenceslaus as King of Germany
1429 Defeat of the Earl of Suffolk by Joan d'Arc


June 11

Birthday:
1403 John IV, Duke of Brabant
1456 Anne Neville, wife of Richard III of England

Death:
1183 Henry the Young King, son of Henry II of England
1216 Henry of Flanders, Emperor of the Latin Empire
1216 Henry, Emperor of Rumania supposedly poisoned by his wife
1292 Roger Bacon
1488 King James III of Scotland

Events:
1144 Dedication of the Abbey Church of St. Denis, the first great Gothic church in France
1186 The Glastonbury Abbey "Lady Chapel" is consecrated
1258 Provisions of Oxford reforms proposed by Parliament
1381 "John Ball hath rungen his bell" Peasant revolt in England
1474 Louis XI, King of France, ratifies the "Perpetual Peace"
1488 SAUCHIEBURN; Murder of James III, King of Scotland
1496 Columbus returns to Spain

June 12

Saints:
Barnabus the Apostle
Pedro Rodrigues and Companions, Military Martyrs

Birthday:
1107 Emperor Gaozong of China

Death:
816 St. Leo, Pope
918 Ethelfleda, daughter of Alfred "the Great," King of England
1020 Lyfing, Archbishop of Canterbury
1418 Bernard VII, Count of Armagnac, Constable of France
1435 John FitzAlan, 14th Earl of Arundel, English military leader
1479 St. John of Sahagun

Events:
1298 Wm. Wallace routs English
1349 Edward III, King of England, orders the practice of Archery
1365 King Edward III bans football in London, orders archery practice
1381 Peasants' Revolt: In England rebels arrive at Blackheath.
1402 John, Duke of Burgundy, massacres 3500 people in Paris
1418 An insurrection delivers Paris to the Burgundians.
1429 Hundred Years' War: Joan of Arc leads the French army in their
capture of the city and the English commander, William de la
Pole, 1st Duke of Suffolk in the second day of the Battle of
Jargeau.
1442 Alfonso V, King of Aragon, crowned King of Naples
1446 Peace of Constance
1458 College of St. Mary Magdelen founded, Oxford, England

June 13

Saints:
Anthony of Padua

Birthday:
823 Charles II (the Bald), King of France & Emperor

Death:
1103 Ali az-Zahir, caliph
1231 St. Anthony of Padua
1256 Tankei, Japanese sculptor

Events:
1290 Coup on the Slave Dynasty in India
1329 The Kingship of Robert I, "the Bruce," King of Scots, is
recognized by Pope John XXII
1373 Anglo-Portuguese Treaty of Alliance (world's oldest) is signed
1374 Chaucer given an annual pension from John of Gaunt
1392 Pierre de Craon attempts the assassination of Clisson, Constable
of France
1483 Richard of Gloucester accuses Jane Shore of sorcery

June 14

Saints:
Methodius I of Constantinople
Joseph the Hymnographer

Birthday:
1444 Nilakantha Somayaji, Indian mathematician
1479 Giglio Gregorio Giraldi, Italian poet

Deaths:
775 Saint Ciarán of Disert-Kieran, Irish saint and writer
847 St. Methodius of Constantinople
1161 Emperor Qinzong of China (b. 1100)
1381 Simon Sudbury, Archbishop of Canterbury

Events:
1144 Consecration of Notre Dame, Paris
1170 Coronation of Henry III as King of England
1191 Phillip II of France orders a general assault on Acre. It fails
1272 Founding of Gouda, Holland
1325 Ibn Batuta leaves Tangier to make Pilgrimage to Mecca. He does not return for twenty-nine years.
1334 The Mongol Khatun (Princess) Bayalun journeys to Constantinople
1381 Richard II makes promises to rebels
1497 Murder of Duke of Gandia, Juan Borgia

Quote of the week:
Bernard of Chartres used to say that we are like dwarfs on the shoulders of giants, so that we can see more than they, and things at a greater distance, not by virtue of any sharpness of sight on our part, or any physical distinction, but because we are carried high and raised up by their giant size.--John of Salisbury

Poetry Day

Robert Frost:

'OUT, OUT--'
The buzz-saw snarled and rattled in the yard
And made dust and dropped stove-length sticks of wood,
Sweet-scented stuff when the breeze drew across it.
And from there those that lifted eyes could count
Five mountain ranges one behind the other
Under the sunset far into Vermont.
And the saw snarled and rattled, snarled and rattled,
As it ran light, or had to bear a load.
And nothing happened: day was all but done.
Call it a day, I wish they might have said
To please the boy by giving him the half hour
That a boy counts so much when saved from work.
His sister stood beside them in her apron
To tell them 'Supper'. At the word, the saw,
As if to prove saws knew what supper meant,
Leaped out at the boy's hand, or seemed to leap--
He must have given the hand. However it was,
Neither refused the meeting. But the hand!
The boy's first outcry was a rueful laugh.
As he swung toward them holding up the hand
Half in appeal, but half as if to keep
The life from spilling. Then the boy saw all--
Since he was old enough to know, big boy
Doing a man's work, though a child at heart--
He saw all spoiled. 'Don't let him cut my hand off
The doctor, when he comes. Don't let him, sister!'
So. But the hand was gone already.
The doctor put him in the dark of ether.
He lay and puffed his lips out with his breath.
And then -- the watcher at his pulse took fright.
No one believed. They listened at his heart.
Little -- less -- nothing! -- and that ended it.
No more to build on there. And they, since they
Were not the one dead, turned to their affairs.


From Beowulf in honor of Karen:
Forth he fared at the fated moment,
sturdy Scyld to the shelter of God.
Then they bore him over to ocean's billow,
loving clansmen, as late he charged them,
while wielded words the winsome Scyld,
the leader beloved who long had ruled....

In the roadstead rocked a ring-dight vessel,
ice-flecked, outbound, atheling's barge:
there laid they down their darling lord
on the breast of the boat, the breaker-of-rings,
by the mast the mighty one. Many a treasure
fetched from far was freighted with him.

No ship have I known so nobly dight
with weapons of war and weeds of battle,
with breastplate and blade: on his bosom lay
a heaped hoard that hence should go
far o'er the flood with him floating away.

No less these loaded the lordly gifts,
thanes' huge treasure, than those had done
who in former time forth had sent him
sole on the seas, a suckling child.

High o'er his head they hoist the standard,
a gold-wove banner; let billows take him,
gave him to ocean. Grave were their spirits,
mournful their mood. No man is able
to say in sooth, no son of the halls,
no hero 'neath heaven, -- who harbored that freight!

taken from the translation of http://www.kami.demon.co.uk/gesithas/readings/bss_me.html

The Heroic Age Issue 10

The Board and Editors of The Heroic Age would like to announce
our tenth issue located at www.heroicage.org. With this issue, The
Heroic Age has introduced 2 sections of articles, one themed, and one
unthemed. We hope you enjoy this issue. Below, I've included a
table of contents, and I would also like to remind you of our Calls
for Papers for upcoming issues.

Issue 10:
Articles: Saints and Sanctity
Relics, Religious Authority, and the Sanctification of Domestic Space
in the Home Gregory of Tours: An Analysis of the Glory of the
Confessors 20
by Dennis Quinn

Miracle Stories and the Primary Purpose of Adomnán's Vita Columbae
by Sara E. Ellis Nilsson

Preserving the Body Christian: The Motif of "Recapitation" in
Ireland's Medieval Hagiography by Máire Johnson

Boniface's Booklife: How the Ragyndrudis Codex Came to be a Vita
Bonifatii by Michel Aaij

Tradition and Transformation in the Cult of St. Guthlac in Early
Medieval England by John R. Black

Articles-Unthemed Section

The P-Celtic Place-Names of North-East England and South-East Scotland
by Bethany Fox

Trade, Gift-giving and Romanitas: A Comparison of the Use of Roman
Imports in Western Britain and Southern Scandinavia by Thomas Green

Editions and Translations

The Revelatio Ecclesiae de Sancti Michaelis and the Mediterranean
Origins of Mont St.-Michel by John Charles Arnold (Forthcoming)

Columns

The Forum: The Historicity and Historiography of Arthur: A critical
review of King Arthur: Myth-Making and History by N. Higham, and The
Reign of Arthur: From History to Legend by C. Gidlow by Howard M.
Wiseman

Electronic Medievalia: If I were "You": How Academics Can Stop
Worrying and Learn to Love "the Encyclopedia that Anyone Can Edit" by
Daniel Paul O'Donnell

Continental Business by Michel Aaij

History by Biography:

The Changing Hagiography of St. Æthelthryth by Stacie Turner

Saint Elisabeth of Thuringia, 1207-2007 by Michel Aaij

In addition we have our book reviews edited by Brad Eden from various
contributors and recent losses to the Medieval community.

Issue 11 is planned for a mid-summer release.

Larry J. Swain