Things I Learned This Week

Almost all of last week, our internet was out. It amazed how dependent I've become on the 'net, not only so, but how much actual time I WASTE doing things like blogging, reading blogs, newspapers, elists and the like. So that was one thing I learned.

I also finished rereading Peter Brown's biography of Augustine, who I note produced volumes of works while he complained of being distracted by the duties of being a bishop et al. There's a lesson in there (I also remember John Wesley wrote while riding horseback between preaching engagements).

Embarrassingly, I'm finally reading Gregory the Great's Dialgoues, in translation. It never struck me before how very similar in style Bede's Historia is to the Dialogues, the difference being that between anecdotal hagiography Bede tells what we moderns might call real history. Nonetheless, the similarity to me is quite close and astounding, and I've begun to wonder how close Bede's Cuthbert is to Gregory's Benedict.

Writing a review, an overdue one, I was reminded by the editors of the volume I'm reviewing that two figures important for Anglo-Saxon and Biblical studies from the 17 century have no full treatment of their lives and work: Junius and Ussher. Junius at least has been the subject of some articles, but there's precious little on Ussher.

And something actually dissertation related, shocking as that might seem: The Letter to Sigeweard has largely been ignored in modern scholarship, and now after detailed study of it, I can almost see why. On the surface it seems so much like so much else of what Aelfric wrote. But there's gold in them thar hills, or I've wasted 4 years working on this beast.

Why I Teach Medieval Literature I

This post has been some weeks in the making and I'm not sure its done yet. It certainly needs a good deal of polishing. But here it is, at last, after two weeks of thinking about it. I'd like to hear from others on the question too.

The folks over at In the Middle were tagged with the "Why I teach" meme. I wasn't, but the comments there touch on things near and dear to me from defenses within the academy of why I/we do medieval (esp such arcane things as Old English, Old Norse, Anglo-Latin etc) and of what use are they, questions asked generally of the Humanities, but even within the Humanities there are those subfields that are looked at askance and need to defend themselves even more. And with fellow bloggers over there, I have to say that I could mount a rousing defense that in the end would be demolished for all sorts of reasons, and so get us to the suggested nihilism of Fish's recent comments (when taken at face value anyway): Study of the Humanities means nothing.

But I don't know that I agree either with Fish's actual intent and certainly not with his surface level meaning. Ok, I do know, I don't agree. But it made me think and ask why the Humanities, and specifically why medieval humanities? I wanted to think about not just why I teach, but why I teach what I teach.

Well, first, I teach Medieval Literature for me. I love the stuff. I love what it tells us about the period, how it appropriates the past, esp. the classical past, how it molds and melds language and motif from differing cultural traditions and combines all that into a foundation for something new. I love the interplay of literature and history, I love the manuscripts and codicological technologies that are yet with us, and being rediscovered in computers. There are few pieces of literature better than Beowulf, Old English Exodus, or Judith if you ask me. (And this gives me an idea for something else I've been trying to flesh out: how is it that I love this stuff while loving, but not quite as much, Gilgamesh, Genji, Odysseus, and Aeneas et al and how do they compare). Its beautiful, its moving, its complex, it both moves the soul and challenges the mind. So I teach it because of I love it. I hope to inspire others to at least appreciate it, if not love it, too.

I teach it because it tells us something about ourselves. Now I know this is true of any intellectual endeavor: the sciences at least in part study the human body, the genome, the brain, etc and our place in the universe. Other Humanities study, well, humans, the human condition. So why MEDIEVAL LITERATURE and LANGUAGES? Why not Jane Austen, the books to get lost in? Why not Conan Doyle and Sherlock Holmes? Or Dickens? Or African lit? Or Chinese history? (By the way, these are all subjects that I've delved into from time to time: I am if anything a restless mind). So that said, I'd like to address that one from a few different vantage points.

First, the question of why not something else is to a degree, well, silly. It implies that the Medieval is somehow less or other from some other field of Humanities study. It isn't. If I were a Miltonist or American historian the same question could be asked, "Why that and not this" and it would carry the same hidden implications. So "why medieval" rather than Li Po or Rashi is a question that to me has no value. All these are of value: and they all interconnect in some way. But I am but one person, and as G. K. Chesterton once said, if you try to stick the universe in your head, your head will crack. As much as I enjoy reading good literature and learning a language and reading history, anthropology, quantum physics, archaeology, theology, and so on, I can't be expert in it all, I can't study and teach it all. So I must pick and choose areas of expertise and be but a novice in all else. For me, I've chosen Medieval as that area of expertise and medieval literature and languages because the name fits so well: it is middle. This field enables me to study, read, and say at least a little something about the pre-Medieval past, about post-medieval early modern and later, about literary connections, about science, about other cultures and cultural contacts in the past and what that means for the present. So why medieval? Well, first I object to the implication that it is less worthy a field than others and second, because being "in the middle" (wonderful title of the blog I mentioned above too) is a great place to be because the middle of the wheel enables one to travel down all the spokes.

Second, there is the more utilitarian and practical reason. In spite of the rhetoric of the Englightenment and all that that our new, modern culture is "Roman" and based on Roman ideals etc. And though it is rhetoric, it isn't entirely wrong. At the same time, though, our culture is just as medieval as it is Roman. In fact, one could argue that the same Romanitas that the Medievals aspired to is the same Romanitas of the so-called Renaissance and Enlightenment. Not only so, but much that we use and think everyday is medieval in origin. Our ideas of leadership have far more to do with "god cyning" than with a Roman senator or emperor's image. The calendar we use, though often with Latin based names, owes a great deal yet to Bede. Multiple inventions including windmills are medieval in origin. Rightly or wrongly our ideas of class, and the obligation of the "upper" class to provide for the lower classes is a medieval concept. The abolition of slavery was a medieval concept. In fact, I may be wrong, but so far as I know no Christian writer before Aelfric and Wulfstan called for the practice of slavery to cease, not even St. Patrick who in his letter to Coroticus called for slavery of Christians by Christians to cease, somewhat more limited in scope. But even at that, it is a medieval writer who gives us this first taste of freedom. The notion that there are rights that inhere to others besides those in power that must be protected is in origin a medieval idea. And so on....And let us not forget that a great deal of the relationship between various Arabic and Muslim states and the West is still influenced, at least on their part, by medieval perspectives and events. The medieval is all around us and effects our life every day. Ignore it at our peril. I teach medieval literature because I believe that those dang medievals shaped our world, and what's more, they shaped the way we read and look back to the Greco-Roman past. Teaching the medieval is to teach something about the modern world and how the modern world became what it is. On a larger view, it teaches something about us as individuals and as a world.

Third, there's more practical stuff. Teaching languages, or at least teaching about words, is a way to approach any and all literature, esp. in English. The more about LANGUAGE students know, the better off they'll be both as people but also as future employees out there. It is language that ties us together, and it is language that tells us stories. So I teach because I love language, and also because learning about language, medieval languages, helps students known their own language and to better approach the literature I teach.

Fourth, yep, yet more practical, always the practical, is that Story is for me where its at. It is our stories that tell us about us, tell us about who someone is deep down, and tells us about that human experience and gives us lessons of how to live, or can critique our world and where we're going. Stories entertain, inform, and challenge all at the same time. I teach medieval literature because these stories say a great deal about all that and they were stories, unlike say a John Grisham novel, that entertained for CENTURIES rather than for a few years only to become remediated (and made into a different story in the process) into a film. So I want to know why these stories lasted so long and were told so much and are still being told and still fascinate. And I want to pass that question on to others to think about.

So those are reasons I teach medieval languages and literatures. I think they're good ones. It isn't going to save anyone, but Medieval Languages and Literature will certainly make someone's life better. Once a story is read, it is yours forever, whether the story of a word or the story of a hero, and may inform how you live and think.

Patristics Carnival Up

Patristics Carnival Up

The Week's News

Black Death not indiscriminate killer

AND

Black Death targeted the weak


Doctor writes about medieval murder


Gold ring treasure found in field

A Byzantine Encyclopaedia of Horse Medicine: The Sources, Compilation
and Transmission of the Hippiatrica.


TRAVELING EUROPE IN STYLE WITH AUCKLAND DINGIROO, DARK-AGE TOURIST AND
CRITIC OF FOOD AND DRINK: MYSTICS, HERMITS,AND PROPHETS


Bones found as site is cleared

Visitors flock to castle after TV exposure

CASTLE SHOULD BECOME 'A UNIQUE ATTRACTION'

UNVEILING OF PAST GLORIES

Medieval treasure at centre of ownership row


TREASURE LINK THEORY


Dig at homes site uncovers skeletons of eight monks


Minister rules out 'nonsense' chessmen bid

Experts unearth medieval Berlin under car park


More on the Lewis Chessman bruhaha:

Burning issue: Should the Lewis chessmen be brought back to Scotland?

Squabble after ancient seal find






Feb 4
Saints:
846 St. Joannicius
869 - Saint Cyril, Greek missionary to the Slavs
1189 St. Gilbert of Sempringham

Deaths:
211 Septimus Severus of Rome
708 Pope Sisinnius
855 Rabanus Maurus, archbishop of Mainz, dies
1498 Antonio Pollaivolo, sculptor

Events:
362 Roman Emperor Julian promulgates an edict that recognizes equal
rights to all the religions in the Roman Empire.
900 Coronation of Louis, "the Child," King of Germany
960 The coronation of Zhao Kuangyin as Emperor Taizu of Song
1194 Richard I, King of England, freed from captivity in Germany
1454 Secret Council of the Prussian Confederation sends a formal act
of disobedience to the Grand Master.



Feb 5
Saints:
251 St. Agatha - the model wife, patroness of Malta
348 St. Abraamius, bishop of Arbela, martyr
525 Avitus of Vienne, son of Isychius

Birthdays:
976 - Sanjō, Emperor of Japan

Deaths:
995 - William IV, Duke of Aquitaine

Events:
1205 Alexius V declared Eastern Roman Emperor
1265 Election of Pope Clement IV


Feb 6
Saints:
679 St. Amand of Maastricht

Deaths:
891 Photius, Patriarch of Constantinople
1215 Hojo Tokimasa
1378 Jeanne de Bourbon, wife of Charles V of France
1497 Jean d' Ockeghem

Events:
337 Election of Pope Julius I
743 Hisham ibn 'Abd al-Malik, 10th Moslem caliph, dies at about 52
1190 Jews of Norwich, England are massacred
1481 First Auto-da-Fe of the Spanish Inquisition

Feb 7
Saints:
St. Theodore the General (Stratelates)

Birthdays:
1478 Sir Thomas More


Events:
421 Constantius III becomes co-Emperor of the Western Roman Empire.
457 Leo proclaimed Eastern Roman Emperor
1301 Edward I revives the title Prince of Wales, confers it on his
son
1313 Robert, "the Bruce," captures Dumfries, Scotland


Feb 8
Saints:
412 St. Proclus, patriarch of Constantinople

Birthdays:
1191 Yaroslav II of Russia
1291 King Afonso IV of Portugal
1405 Constantine XI Palaiologos, the last reigning Emperor of the
Byzantine Empire
1487 Ulrich, Duke of Württemberg

Deaths:
1204 Alexius IV Angelus, deposed Eastern Roman Emperor
1250 Robert I of Artois, French crusader
1250 AL MANSURA; death of Fakhr ad-Din
1250 William II Longespee
1265 Hulagu Khan, Mongol ruler
1296 King Przemysł II of Poland


Events:
1250 7th Crusade defeated by Baibars
1254 William of Rubrick records the use of oracles among the Mongols
1492 Charles VIII of France enters Paris



Feb 9
Saints:
St. Apollonia
St. Teilo of Llandaff

Birthdays:
1119 Constantine Palaeologus

Deaths:
720 Umar II
1011 Bernard I, Duke of Saxony
1088 Muiredach MacRory (Marianus Scotus), Abbot of Ratisbon
1199 Minamoto no Yoritomo, Japanese shogun
1450 Agnès Sorel, mistress of King Charles VII of France

Events:
474 Zeno crowned as co-emperor of the Byzantine Empire
1098 Ridwan fails to relieve the Crusader's Siege of Antioch)
1119 Coronation of Pope Calixtus II in France
1292 First Scottish Parliament assembles at Scone
1401 Burning of a Mr. Sawtre as a Lollard heretic
1458 Marriage of Mathias I, King of Hungary, to Catherine of Bohemia


Feb 10
Saints:
Clare of Rimini

Birthdays:
1499 Thomas Platter, Swiss humanist

Deaths:
543 St. Scholastica
1126 William IX, Duke of Aquitaine
1162 Baldwin III, King of Jerusalem
1221 Muhammad Ala-ed-Din, Shah of Khwarizm
1242 Emperor Shijō of Japan
1278 Margaret II of Flanders
1471 Fredrick II

Events:
1258 Mongols sack Baghdad
1306 Murder of the Red Comyn
1354 1355 - The St. Scholastica's Day riot breaks out in Oxford, England, leaving 63 scholars and perhaps 30 locals dead in two days.
1480 The Emperor Go-Tsuchimikado occupies his Palace in Kyoto
1494 Founding of Aberdeen University
1495 Sir William Stanley, English lord chamberlain, executed



Blog of the Week: Got Medieval Muses on Medieval Warm Period in the News


Quote of the Week:
A Translation of O Mea Cella by Alcuin from
http://medieval.ucdavis.edu/120A/Alcuin.html

MY cell, my dearly lovely dwelling, farewell for ever, my cell. The trees stand all round you with their murmuring branches, a copse forever laden with flower-bearing leaves. All your fields will bloom with health-bringing herbs, which the hand of the physician plucks to cure the sick. Streams with blossoming banks gird you round, and there the cheerful angler stretches his nets. Thy cioisters smell of apple-trees in the gardens, and white lilies mingle with little red roses. Every kind of bird strikes up his matin song and by his singing praises God who made him. Once the kind voice of the master was heard in you, reading the holy books with devout lips. In you from time to time the holy praise of the Almighty rose from peaceful voices and hearts. My cell, I weep for you now in tearful songs, and I groan as I bewail my misfortune; for you have suddenly fled from the poets' songs and an unknown hand now possesses you. No longer now will Flaccus or the poet Homer or the youths come and sing under your roof. Thus suddenly does all the beauty of the earth come to an end, and all things are swept away one after another; nothing lasts for ever, nothing indeed is immutable. Dark night overwhelms even a holy day. Cold winter swiftly cuts off the beautiful flowers and a most bittcr wind ruffles the calm sea. The devoted youth who once chased Stags across the fields now leans on a stick, a tired old man. Wretched that we are, why do we love you, O world, as you flee from us? You flee from us, falling all the time and on every side. Keep on fleeing if you wish. Let us love Christ always and let the love of God possess our hearts for ever. May he defend His faithful servants from the dread enemy and snatch our souls away to heaven. Let us praise and love him equally with our whole heart; in his mercy he is our glory, our life, and our salvatlon.

Biblical Studies Carnival XXXVI up

Biblical Studies Carnival XXXVI up

News of the Week

Anglo-Saxon treasures will stay in region - vow

Same story, different take: MP in plea over ancient treasure

Event passed, but only thing I found on it: MEDIAEVAL FIND TO BE TOPIC
OF DISCUSSION AT MUSEUM

Medieval splendour as Ruins welcomes visitors

'Too good to be true' Thomson ivory declared genuine




Jan 28:

Birthday:
1457 Henry VII (Tudor) of England

Death:
814 Charlemagne; Louis "the Pious" inherits Frankish Empire
1232 Pedro de Montaigu, 15th Master of the Templars
1256 St. Peter Nolesco

Events:
893 Coronation of Charles III, "the Simple" as King of France
1077 King Henry IV submits to the Pope at Canossa
1256 William, King of the Romans, was killed
1393 "Bal des Ardents;" Death of the Count de Joigny, Yvain de Foix,
Aimery Poitiers, and Huguet de Guisay


Jan 20:
Saints:
591 St. Sulpicius

Deaths:
1118 Pope Paschal II

Events:
904 Sergius III crowned pope - beginning of the "Pornocracy"
1327 Coronation of Edward III of England


Jan 30:
Saints:
680 St. Bathild, Queen to Clovis II of France
Holiday of Three Hierachs (Eastern Orthodox)

Events:
435 Rome made peace with the Vandals, ending the "Fall"
1118 Election of Gelasius I as Pope
1328 King Edward III of England re-marries Phillippa of Hainaut
1349 Election of Guanther of Schwarzberg as King of Germany
1380 St. Catherine of Siena suffers a stroke
1487 Bell chimes invented


Jan 31:
Saints:
410 St. Marcella
626 St. Aidan (Madoc) of Ferns

Events:
314 St. Sylvester becomes Pope
1298 Peace of Tournai
1405 Jean de Bethencourt goes to France to obtain materials to
establish a colony on the Canary Islands

Ancient/Medieval Carnival Up

Carnival 35 is posted

News and More

A Treasure Trove of Books

Lombard trove in world heritage bid

Ivories on show in London before they leave to live in Canada

Medieval artefact rescued by amateur historian


St Mildred's Priory - Tower restoration to begin

The Sarmas Collection of Medieval Greek Coinage

Tithebarn could yield medieval treasures

Tudor 'correspondent' text online







Jan 21:
Saints:
259 St. Fructuosus
861 St. Meinrad

Birthdays:
1338 King Charles V of France

Deaths:

917 Erchanger, Duke of Swabia
1118 Pope Paschal II

Events:
911 King Louis the Child, last Carolingian ruler of Germany, dies

1189 Phillip Augustus, King of France, Henry II, King of England, and
Fredrick Barbarossa, Holy Roman Emperor, begin assembling the troops for
the Third Crusade

1217 Matthew Paris enters St Albans as a monk

1287 The treaty of San Agayz is signed.
Minorca is conquered by King Alfons III of Aragon.

1472 Great daylight comet of 1472 passes within 10.5 million km of
earth


Jan 22:
Saints:
304 St. Vincent of Saragossa
628 St. Anastasius the Persian


Birthdays:
1263 Ibn Taymiya, Islamic scholar (d. 1328)
1440 Ivan III (the Great), Grand Prince of Russia

Events:
565 Eutychius is deposed as Patriarch of Constantinople by John
Scholasticus.
1498 Columbus discovers St Vincent Island


Jan 23:
Saints:
616 St. John the Almoner
667 St. Ildefonsus
1275 St. Raymond of Penafort

Birthdays:
1350 Vincent Ferrer, Spanish missionary and saint (d. 1419)

Deaths:
1002 Otto III, Emperor of the West
1199 Yaqub, Almohad Caliph (b. 1160)

Events:
393 Theodosius I proclaims his nine year old son Honorius
co-emperor.
1264 Annullment of the Provisions of Oxford
1295 Coronation of Pope Boniface VIII
1368 In a coronation ceremony, Zhu Yuanzhang ascends to the throne of
China as the Hongwu Emperor, initiating Ming Dynasty rule over
China that would last for three centuries.


Jan 24:
Saints:
97 St. Timothy
260 Babylas, Bishop, Memorial
Felician and Messalina, Memorial

Birthdays:
1287 Richard de Bury
1287 Richard Aungerville, English bishop (d. 1345)
1444 Galeazzo Maria Sforza, Duke of Milan (d. 1476)

Deaths:
661 Murder of Ali by a Kharajite
772 Pope Stephen III (b. 720)
1002 Otto III, Holy Roman Emperor
1125 David IV of Georgia (b. 1073)
1366 Alfonso IV of Aragon (b. 1299)
1376 Richard FitzAlan, 10th Earl of Arundel, English military leader
1438 The Council of Basel suspends Pope Eugene IV as Prelate of
Ethiopia, arrives at Massawa from Goa.
1458 Matthias Corvinus elected King of Hungary
1473 Conrad Paumann, German composer

Events:
1438 The Council of Basel suspends Pope Eugene IV as Prelate of
Ethiopia, arrives at Massawa from Goa.



Jan 25:
Saints:
363 Sts. Juventinus and Maximinus
Conversion of St. Paul, Feast Day
460 St. Dwynwen - Memorial, the saint of Welsh lovers

Birthday:
749 Leo IV (the Khazar), Byzantine Emperor
1477 Anna, Duchess of Brittany, wife of Charles VIII of France

Death:
389 Gregory Nazianzus, theologian and Patriarch of Constantinople
477 Gaiseric, King of the Vandals
817 Pope Stephen V
844 Pope Gregory IV
1067 Emperor Yingzong of China
1138 Anacletus, anti-Pope
1366 Henry Suso, German mystic
1431 Charles II, Duke of Lorraine
1494 Ferrante I, King of Aragon

Events:
817 Consecration of Paschal I as Pope
1077 Emperor Henry IV submits to Pope Gregory VII at Canossa
1153 Baldwin III, King of Jerusalem, attacks Ascalon
1325 Lithuania opened to settlement
1327 Edward III becomes King of England.
1356 Edward III, King of England, having no further use for him,
pensions off Edward Balliol, "King" of Scots
1494 Alfonso II becomes King of Naples.
1498 Vasco da Gama reaches Quelimane, on the Sofala coast



Jan 26:
Saints:
166 St. Polycarp
404 St. Paula
648 St. Conan
1100 St. Eystein of Norway 1
1108 St. Alberic (Aubrey)
1271 St. Margaret

Birthdays:
1497 Emperor Go-Nara of Japan

Deaths:
724 Caliph Yazid II
946 Eadgyth, German Queen

Events:
1266 Charles of Anjou becomes King of Sicily
1316 Revolt in Wales by Llywelyn Bren
1316 Edward Bruce and Irish fight English
1340 King Edward III of England is declared King of France.
1347 University of Prague authorized by the Pope



Blog Entry of the Week:
Myths of Britain at In the Middle

Quote of the Week:

I have loved justice and hated iniquity: therefore I die in exile. Gregory VII

Words of the Week:

Dictionary.com brings us callow, meaning immature or inexperienced, from Old English calu meaning bald or bare, "many a man becomes bald suddenly" we're told in a proverb from the period.

D.com also brings us quietus, from Medieval Latin quietus est, meaning in English to be discharged, a final stroke or word that ends something, released from life, and even a period of inactivity. It is the perfect passive participle of the Latin verb quiesco, meaning to rest, to be at peace, be silent.

Continuing a medieval word theme it would appear, they also brought us upbraid, from Old English upbregdan, to twist, and by extension, to reproach, a word used by Wulfstan to encourage penance.


Webster's brings us a word not used much except in special applications in British English: hustings, from Old English which borrowed it from Old Norse, hus thing, house assembly, a court, and used in the 19th century to refer to the "stump" on which a candidate would make a speech.

There's also scarify, from French, from late Latin, from Greek meaning originally to scratch an outline, but in English meant to lacerate, either literally such as a wound, or figuratively, one's feelings or thoughts

The Medieval Review recent reviews:

Anlezark, Daniel Water and Fire: The Myth of the Flood in Anglo-Saxon England

Harari, Yuval Noah
Special Operations in the Age of Chivalry, 1100-1550

Garland, Lynda
Byzantine Women: Varieties of Experience, AD 800-1200

Bullón-Fernández, María, ed.
England and Iberia in the Middle Ages, 12th-15th Century

Knuuttila, Simo
Emotions in Ancient and Medieval Philosophy

Rosenwein, Barbara H.

Arnold, Martin
The Vikings: Wolves of War

CFPs

Call for Papers

The Heroic Age accepts papers on any topic within the geographical
(Northwestern Europe) and temporal (300-1200) boundaries of the
journal at any time. Submissions should be sent to Larry J. Swain,
haediting@yahoo.com

Below are plans for special, themed sections in upcoming issues.
The call for Issue 12 has been extended.

The Heroic Age Issue 12: Early Medieval Languages and Linguistics
(Spring 2008)

The Heroic Age invites submissions on any aspect of Late Antique or
Early Medieval languages and linguistics. Topics may include (but
are not limited to): place name studies; vocabulary borrowed from
different languages (such as William Sayers exploration of the
borrowing of nautical vocabulary from Norse in Issue 8 of The
Heroic Age); growth of vernacular languages; the influence of Latin
on vernacular; vernacular influence on Latin; runes; ogam; editions
or translations of little known texts or inscriptions; the use or
mis-use of Greek or Hebrew.

Submissions will be received at any time, no later than February 10,
2007. Submissions should be sent to Larry Swain, haediting@yahoo.com

The Heroic Age Issue 13: Early Medieval Manuscripts: Use and Abuse
(July 2008)

The Heroic Age invites submissions exploring the use or abuse of
Late Antique and Early Medieval manuscripts. Studies of individual
manuscripts, or the influence of disparate manuscripts on a
particular text, the peculiar travels of a manuscript(s), and other
studies are encouraged and welcome.

Submissions will be received at any time, no later than April 1,
2008. Submissions should be sent to Larry Swain, haediting@yahoo.com

The Heroic Age, Issue 14: Law and Legal Culture in the Early Middle
Ages

Guest Editor: Andrew Rabin, University of Louisville

The Heroic Age invites submissions for a special issue on law and
legal culture in the early middle ages. We construe the subject of
this issue broadly, and we are eager to receive submissions
representing a variety of perspectives, methodologies, national or
ethnic cultures, and disciplines. Possible topics include (but are
not limited to): royal legislation, legal manuscripts, law in/and
literature, legal procedure, charters and diplomatics, writs and
wills, dispute resolution, theories of law and justice, canon law,
editing medieval law, law and philosophy, perceptions of medieval law
in later periods, law in/and art, international law, and intersections
between medieval Asian and European legal traditions. We welcome
traditional philological and historicist approaches, as well as those
informed by modern critical theory.

Prospective contributors should feel free to contact Andrew Rabin
(andrew.rabin@louisville.edu) if they have any questions.

Articles should be 7000 words including bibliography and endnotes, and
conform to The Heroic Age's in-house style. Instructions may be found
at http://www.heroicage.org/authors.html. All submissions will be
reviewed by two readers according to a double-blind policy. All
submissions should be sent to haediting@yahoo.com. The deadline for
submission is August 1st, 2008.

This issue will also include a second special section on Early
Medieval Studies and Modern Theory, title to yet be determined.
The section is being edited and compiled currently by Eileen Joy
and will include papers from members of the BABEL project.


Future Plans: Issue 15: Ten Year Anniversary Issue: The World of
Late Antique Britain

For our ten year anniversary The Heroic Age is revisiting
its first issue in a way. Our first issue dealt with the Matter of
Arthur. Issue 15 will have three sections: One section is
historical and would examine the world of Late Antique Britain,
connections with the rest of the continent in Late Antiquity, and
new views of the Adventus Saxonum. The second section will examine
Arthur and Arthurian literature. The third section will include
studies of "under studied" early medieval authors stressing the
early period and stressing Irish and British authors.


The Heroic Age is an on-line, peer-reviewed academic journal hosted by
the Memorial University of Newfoundland. It focuses on Northwestern
Europe during the early medieval period (from the late 4th through
12th centuries). We seek to foster dialogue between all scholars of
this period across ethnic and disciplinary boundaries, including-but
not limited to-history, archeology, and literature pertaining to the
period.

The Week's News

'Nativity and Last Judgment' diptych confirmed as 12th or 13th century masterpiece:

Cathedral prepares for 750th anniversary


Giovanni Boccaccio’s house reopens to the public in Certaldo


Unearthing city's vibrant past one tiny piece at a time

Restorers uncover 600 years of history in building project

More on Salisbury Cathedral

Grisly discovery of headless bodies gives insight into justice Saxon
style

Gospel truth is treasures CAN be loaned out

Our chessmen were taken, but Scotland is heaving with stolen art



-----------

Tagged!

Michelle at Heavenfield has tagged me with a History Meme. After sitting on it for awhile, I decided I'd best get busy and respond to her.

1. Link to the person who tagged you.

See above. Michelle has been making some interesting posts, so check it out.

2. List 7 random/weird things about your favorite historical figure.

Well, wow, whom to pick; there are so many interesting figures to choose from. And some of the figures I would choose, there aren't 7 things known about them personally! Aelfric of Eynsham is one example: the most prolific writer of Anglo-Saxon England and yet we know practically NOTHING about him personally: not his birth, not his death, not when he became a priest, nor even exactly when he became an abbot. We know he wrote Old English and Latin texts, that he was very concerned with teaching the basics of Christianity; we know he was at Westminster in 987 and was sent to Cerne Abbas where he taught Latin and wrote the first grammar in English, and that he was a student of both Dunstan and Aethelwold. Sometime between 1002 and 1005 he was abbot of the refounded house at Eynsham where he continued to write, translate etc. Oddly, he lives in the midst of Viking depradations, but never once mentions anything specific about them. I think that's 7 things.

3. Tag seven more people at the end of your blog and link to theirs.

Are there 7 medieval bloggers left to tag? I'll have to catch up on that one later.

4. Let the person know they have been tagged by leaving a note on their blog.

Biblical Studies Carnival

Biblical Studies Carnival: at Targuman

Text Criticism cont.

In the comments Derek the Anglican raises a good point worth exploring. Especially when cataloging sermons, we tend to treat similar sermons, or sermons that have adapted another sermon as "the same text." And with Derek I have to say that I do not think that this is a valid procedure. At the very least we should be marking these with some way of differentiating the different versions. We need to recognize that even an adapted sermon or homily is remediated and recontextualized: that ol' problem of continuity with what it borrowed but discontinuity at the same time and the acceptance of a new audience. Sometimes that will be more important than at others.

More Medieval News

Historian: First English Bible Fueled First Fundamentalists

Medieval Justice Not So Medieval

French jails to be converted into swish hotels to cut State’s debts

Church takes first step to redundancy

Medieval pendant found in village

Germans Take Pride in the Wurst

Ancient Roman road map linking Spain to India unveiled












Obituary of Richard Hogg, from The Independent on 10 Dec 2007

Professor Richard Hogg: Historian of the English language
Published: 10 December 2007

Richard Milne Hogg, historian of the English language: born Edinburgh 20 May
1944; Lecturer in English Language, University of Amsterdam 1969-73;
Lecturer in English Language, Lancaster University 1973-80; Smith Professor
of English Language and Medieval Literature, Manchester University
1980-2007; General Editor, Cambridge History of the English Language
1992-2001; FBA 1994; married 1969 Margaret White (two sons); died Manchester
6 September 2007.

Richard Hogg, a world-renowned specialist in the linguistic history of
English, died suddenly midway through the sabbatical year which should have
allowed him to bring important projects on dialectology and on Old English
to completion. His best-known achievement is the six-volume Cambridge
History of the English Language (CHEL, 1992-2001), of which he was General
Editor.

Hogg's roots were in Edinburgh, where he was born, in 1944, grew up and
studied. After nearly 40 years away, he was still wholly a Scot in speech
and sympathies. His postgraduate career in Edinburgh had begun with two
contrasting academic preoccupations: the Chomskyan analysis of present-day
English syntax on the one hand (his PhD topic), and Middle English dialects
on the other (his research post). In their very different ways, both
represented state-of-the-art linguistics of the time.

At 26 he took up a lectureship in Amsterdam, and four years later he moved
to Lancaster University. In 1980 he arrived at Manchester University as the
surprisingly young Smith Professor of English Language and Medieval
Literature. Not that I recall him ever teaching literature: it was rarely
possible to get him to do anything that he didn't want to.

His early publications are mostly on the syntax of words like "both" and
"none", including the book (English Quantifier Systems, 1977) derived from
his PhD. Increasingly he started to focus on the sounds and forms of
historical English, especially Old English, the period up to about 1100, on
which he became an authority. He tackled linguistic change generally, and an
interest in analogy led to one paper called simply "Snuck" ­ an explanation
for that common variant of "sneaked". He also worked in phonological theory,
publishing the influential textbook Metrical Phonology (1987) with his
colleague and former student, Chris McCully.

The historical strand led to the multi-author Cambridge History of the
English Language (CHEL), a big project which took many years of planning and
good management to bring to successful completion. It has become a standard
work in the field. Hogg himself edited the first volume on the earliest
period of English and wrote the chapter on phonology and morphology. Last
year, we jointly edited a new one-volume History of the English Language,
and Hogg was still working on his own Grammar of Old English (volume 1
published in 1992, volume 2 nearly complete at his death).

He ranged widely. Interests included English dialectology ­ both the facts
of variation in historical and present-day English and the ways in which
scholars have approached these facts. Likewise he followed the history of
English grammar writing and attitudes to language. His main current project,
three-quarters finished, was a history of English dialectology that combined
those themes of language variation and of intellectual and cultural history.
He was planning a joint monograph with his newest colleague, Nuria
Yáñez-Bouza, on the history of prescriptivism in England.

In the mid-1990s Hogg became one of the founding editors (together with Bas
Aarts and me) of a new academic journal published by Cambridge University
Press, English Language and Linguistics. It would look for the best in
English language scholarship, but with a constant eye to its relation with
linguistic theory. In addition to his scholarly expertise, Richard Hogg
brought to the project a shrewd understanding of the academic world and of
academic publishing. Throughout his career he strongly promoted the
importance of English Language studies. Philologists pay close attention to
textual evidence; linguists build theories. Hogg did both.

Although he wore it lightly, Hogg was always a thinker, and time and again
his judgement was proved sound. He came up with imaginative, often
ingenious, suggestions both as a theorist and as an organiser. In meetings
he could talk his way through the twists and turns of a complicated sequence
of ideas with a body language to match. He had acted as Dean of the Faculty
of Arts in Manchester (1990-93), and was influential nationally and
internationally, often called on as adviser or consultant. In 1994 he was
elected a Fellow of the British Academy, and a decade later of the Royal
Society of Edinburgh.

Hogg was fun to have around, always ready for conversation and gossip. His
enthusiasm for the English language was infectious, and in breaks he could
chat with students about football, film or country music. Indeed, the
lectures themselves were often studded with anecdotes. He started a blog in
2006 in an "attempt to expose some of the many fallacies about English".
Church takes first step to redundancy

Good Post

I was going to compose a post on the 12 Days of Christmas, but was beaten to it by someone who said it much better.

Moyen Age

had a very good post on it earlier this week.

More Medieval News

Knights Templar to Seek Traces of Order's Members in Bulgaria

Hot on the trail of Genghis Khan


Silver Medieval Brooch

City’s medieval walls to be lit up

Fant Kongsgården på Borre

Proof of Liverpool's Viking past

Ancient Greenland mystery has a simple answer, it seems

Patristics Carnival VI

I missed this being up last week. But here it is:

Patristics Carnival VI

Textual Criticism

I'm knee deep in editing my manuscripts again. At least until its time to correct them thar papers and finals next week. But anyway, its brought up a question that started pontificating on back in April. Then I segued into modern applications, but now I want to tackle the problem from a different point of view.

I'll use my own work as an example. The Letter to Sigeweard survives in a single manuscript in its entirety. BUT, 3 other manuscripts have texts that seem to be part of the letter. BUT, those "parts" are not letters: that is, while the text overlaps with the text of the letter, and may a) have been adapted from the letter for other purposes or b) may have been material that Aelfric was preparing for sermons and used to fill out the letter written roughly simultaneously with his work on those sermons. In fact, I'm arguing both depending on which of the other manuscripts is being spoken of.

The issue I want to think about and raise here is about those other "parts." It seems that in each case the overlapping material with the letter is material being used as a sermon. In one case, it is highly improbable that Aelfric made this text into a sermon and so a later redactor adapted this letter for sermonic purposes, as he did also for a couple of other Aelfrician epistles. In the other cases it isn't so clear.

Now the traditional treatment of all these parts is to consider them as part of the "Letter to Sigeweard", though none of the other copies have ever been used to create a critical text of those overlapping portions. The closest we come is the Crawford edition of the letter in EETS The Heptateuch, which edits the main mss and one other that contains a large portion of the text, but does so in parallel columns rather than as a critical text.

So my questions are these: 1) isn't creating a critical edition of the Letter in a sense doing violence to the manuscript context of the adapted portions? 2) how best to produce both a "critical" edition and yet at the same time preserve the texts that appear as separate units in other manuscripts--that they be enjoyed, read, and studied not simply as parts of the Letter to Sigeweard but as independent texts, they are both and should be studied as both.

Still thinking about this....

Old English Musings

My first thought occurred over the American holiday: how sad for those poor saps in Europe who didn't have turkey and the trimmings! I mean, few things do I enjoy more than pulling my juicy turkey out of the oven, getting my stuffing out of it, sampling of course to make certain it isn't poisonous, and carving that bird...falling on my sword by eating some skin so that others won't have to and consume too much fat. This isn't to mention my mashed potatoes...I have to say, I do a mean batch of taters, there are even a few Anglo-Saxonists who have driven HOURS to have my mashed potatoes. I'm honored. But Aelfric and Alfred never had them....poor chaps. All our typical Thanksgiving fare here in the States (and I presume Canada) is of New World origin. It all reminded me that I've also been wanting to read A Handbook of Anglo-Saxon Food by Ann Hagen and The Mead Hall: The Feasting Tradition in Anglo-Saxon England by Stephen Pollington for some time, but I've not received either yet. My loverly spouse has given me Early French Cookery and The Medieval Kitchen in recent years and I've like both books.

The job market continues to loom in my musings as well. And I spare some of that musing to think of the field in general rather than just myself. I wonder and marvel at my university, which is not alone, in not filling a recently vacated Anglo-Saxon seat. In fact, what's odd is that while we did not even fill that seat, we did hire someone to do Chinese linguistics and literature with that line! Some years ago our English department absorbed Linguistics and one of the linguists who recently retired had a side interest in Chinese. So the powers that be found it more expedient to keep that interest and commitment going rather than hire a medievalist, specifically an Anglo-Saxonist. There are certainly other schools who want a general medievalist at this level....its a perception not even of the academy that is doing us in, but a perception or problem within ENGLISH Departments, among those of our colleagues closest to us who do Old English langauge and literature. What to do?

Medieval News

Demolition could uncover deserted medieval village

Thieves raid Medieval Village


Runesten fundet ved Fåborg


Royal burial ground unearthed

ARCHAEOLOGISTS REVEAL JEWELS OF AN ANGLO SAXON PRINCESS AT KIRKLEATHAM MUSEUM

Carnivalesque XXXiii

Carnivalesque XXXiii is up at Blogenspiel--Ancient/Medieval this time.
http://blogenspiel.blogspot.com/2007/11/carnivalesque-xxxiii.html

Medieval News

U of C boasts medieval bestseller

Beowulf: A hero for our times

U. South Carolina: Beowulf at U. South Carolina exhibit coincides with
new movie

Young Vikings help to make their vessel shipshape

Archeologists Discovered a 10th Century Tomb in Pskov

15th-century castle reopens to the public

Pre-Beowulf Thoughts

Yes, I'm still on a kick. As I prepare for the release of the latest Beowulf movie I can not help but brace myself, not for the movie, but for the outcry from my fellow Anglo-Saxonists. I expect all sorts of modernisms, from exploration of Grendel's and Grendel's Dam's motives and the conflict with the Danes or with Hrothgar personally---part and parcel of our world now is the explanation of the villain's villainy--temptation scenes for the hero, yes, I mean SEX, which while not in Beowulf proper is certainly in plenty of medieval tales and seems as necessary in modern tales.

Again, though, I have to say that every time a tale is newly told, we should expect differences. Of COURSE it isn't going to be the Beowulf of the Vitellius manuscript! The question I suppose is how far can it wander from that source and still be called Beowulf. Still, I'm apprehensive, and I hope its a good movie.

But what gives? In the last 7 years by my count there have now been four movies and 3 new translations and 2 new editions of the poem, make that 3 new editions of the poem. There seems to be a lot of interest in the poem not only among scholars but among the general reading public as well. An interest that we Anglo-Saxonists should harness and welcome, as it gives us opportunity to talk about Beowulf.

Really didn't find anything this week:


EU funds Fountains Abbey project

Patristics Blog Carnival

The Patristics Carnival is up at: The God Fearin' Forum

News of the Week

Italian synthesis still impresses


Historical detective” prof. dates calendars

Archaeologists hunt fire disaster


Historian finds oldest recipe for bratwurst

Sea Stallion from Glendalough 2007

Biblical Sutides Carnival for Oct

The Biblical Studies Carnival for October is up at Ancient Hebrew Poetry

Updates

It amazes me the strong, strident even, reactions people have to adaptations of Beowulf. In a recent discussion someone sent me at LiveJournal has at least some folks upset that Heaney used "archaisms" such as "tholed", which his introduction to the stand alone version has him explaining that the word derived from his grandparents Ulster dialect which one writer there said was a "snobbish" and didn't make Heaney special.

Interestingly though no one reacted specifically to things like "So" for "hwaet" or "tarn hag", and other things that have annoyed others. I do find it surprising and have a theory as to the root of it.

One of the good things that this shows though is that there is excitement about Beowulf, an excitement we Anglo=Saxonists should harness and enlarge on and encourage.

New Carnivalesque Up

The New Carnivalesque is up at Seredipities: http://earmarks.org/archives/2007/10/28/168
Its the Early Modern Edition this month.

The News

Not much going on Medievally speaking, but here's what there is:


Will a cemetery excavation establish a link between the Black Death and
resistance to AIDS?:

Late Antique Roman Graveyard At Copenhagen


Medieval Ruins Found Near Stockholm Castle

Medieval News

Robin Hood's greenwood under threat as ancient trees die off

RESTORED CHURCH GETS NEW LOCATION

and here

Saxon graves found at school

Medieval pond restored

Near Eynsham Abbey, home of Aelfric of Eynsham....

Willibrord

Back in Issue 6 of the Heroic Age (www.heroicage.org) Michelle Ziegler published an interesting paper that sought to establish that Bede was wrong about Willibrord "continuing" the work of Wilfrid in Frisia and that Willibrord can not be said to have belonged to Wilfrid's familia by the time he went to Frisia. Its an interesting paper, though in subsequent work I've come to disagree with it but not because of anything wrong with the paper itself. I know, that's confusing.

Anyway, among the evidence that Michelle adduces is the presence of Irish art, script, and works produced at Willibrord's monastery. But I've begun to wonder if this as certain an idicator that Willibrord was not part of Wilfrid's familia as I did those years ago when Issue 6 was published. On further examination of Wilfrid's biography, there is much of the Irish there: from hermits to connections to St. Brigid to his style of being a bishop, there is MUCH that Irish in Wilfrid's career. So pointing to the Irish with Willibrord seems to me not as much of an indication of Willibrord's connections as one might think.

Patristics Carnival

The Patristics blog Carnival is up: http://weekendfisher.blogspot.com/2007/10/patristics-carnival-4.html

First there was Tefillin Barbie, now this!

If you haven't seen this you must:

http://www.wizarduniverse.com/magazine/toyfare/005814968.cfm

The Week's Medieval News

Tennessee historian wins MacArthur genius grant

MYSTERY BIDDER BUYS CHURCH FOR £500K

Medieval screen restored

Medieval castle unearthed in Maenclochog

Viking longhouse project is right on track

Dig unearths part of city's Viking times

Tara Protected
Cabin from Viking Era Discovered in West Fjords?


Ancient rune stone found

Medieval 'treasure' to go online (Textus Roffensis)

Vatican paper set to clear Knights Templar

This is so wrong in so many ways

The first soferet Yes, folks, it is Tefillin Barbie. Wow. The article is interesting, but I'm just arrested by Tefillin Barbie....

More Medieval News

Rare medieval inscription found in Bulgarian monastery

Czechs get chance to view rare medieval manuscript

Man speared in eye with splinter from lance

Medieval Diaries Shed Light on Climate Change

Ancient Fishermen Lured Fish With Fire (or the medieval reveals the ancient)

Kalkbrennofen aus dem Mittelalter entdeckt

Archaeologists discover portable altar


75 Medieval Entombments Discovered in Veliki Novgorod


Lots of coverage of the Magna Carta copy, but here's the BBC's take

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