61 research outputs found
The Descensus ad inferos in the Old English Prose Life of St Guthlac and Vercelli Homily xxiii
No full textConcetta Giliberto’s essay investigates the motif of the descensus ad inferos in the anonymous Old English version of Felix’s Vita S. Guthlaci and Vercelli Homily xxiii, two texts which have been shown to be independently derived from a now lost vernacular translation of the Latin Vita. Apart from some differences in the two texts, the account of the devilish persecution of St Guthlac culminating in the episode of the descensus ad inferos is a most revealing case study of the Anglo-Saxon appropriation of the hagiographic genre, in that one of the most classical topoi of the saints’ lives narratives, that is the struggle with demons, itself demonstrably traceable to the very foundational hagiographies of the Desert Fathers, first of all the Vita Antonii, has been moved to an eschatological context and blended with some of the most distinctive elements of the Anglo-Saxon vision literature
Theological and doctrinal texts in the Old Frisian Thet Autentica Riocht
No full textThe Frisian literary corpus is composed mostly by legal texts. However, interspersed in the law manuscripts, various texts of different nature are occasionally attested, several of which are of religious content. Among them, worthy of consideration are a number of short pieces devoted to theological and biblical topics, such as those contained in the so-called Thet autentica Riocht (fifteenth century): the Seven Virtues of the Mass, the Seven Things that God hates, the Ten Signs in the Host, the Three Unforgivable Sins, as well as a piece devoted to the benefits of confession. These texts share features with the Five Keys to Wisdom, a brief didactic treatise preserved in the First and Second Hunsingo Manuscripts and stemming from the Collectanea by Sedulius Scotus, an Irish scholar.
The proposed essay aims to analyze these items, through the study of their themes and structures, as well as of their possible sources and analogues. The research should also shed light on the connections between these documents and the legal compilations in which they are found.
These texts, which are arranged according to a numerological pattern, find parallels in other literary traditions of the Middle Ages (both in Latin and the vernacular); for instance, the Collectanea Pseudo-Bedae – a compilation of unknown origin made from Irish, English and Continental materials not later than c. 820 – includes also a version of the Keys to Wisdom and of the Seven Things that God hates. In this perspective, the study of these Old Frisian texts contributes to a better understanding of the peculiar position of Frisian culture in medieval Europe. Although part of the Frankish Empire, Frisians maintain their identity and traditions; nonetheless, Frisian literature – far away from being isolated – is involved in the net of literary topics and themes in circulation in medieval Europe, as these texts seem to suggest
I sette doni dello Spirito Santo nella poesia religiosa tedesca del XII secolo
No full textThe essay deals with the theme of the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit in a group of early Middle High German works dating from the XII century: a Commentary on the Our Father, the Siebenzahl (or De vii Sigillis), Priester Arnolt’s Loblied auf den heiligen Geist and a passage of Frau Ava’s Leben Jesu devoted to the Gifts of the Holy Spirit. The analysis focuses on the connections between these texts and the devotional literature of medieval Germany, with particular regards to the numerological philosophy, and above all to the symbolism of number “seven”. Attention will be paid to the didactic and catechetic role of the the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirits within these works, highlighting a number of literary motifs and allegorical elements which provide their ideological foundation
Old Frisian skalk: A ‘Servant’ or a ‘Rogue’?
No full textThe Old Frisian word scalc, scalch, schalc is usually used in the sense of ‘servant, slave’.
However, the word evidences a pejoration in meaning, being also attested in the
Frisian written tradition in the sense of ‘ill-mannered person, villain, a bad guy’. The investigation
of the occurrences of skalk–along with a comparison of its Germanic cognates–
will allow us to draw a picture of the semantic development of this word from
medieval times to the Modern stage of the Frisian language. In the author’s opinion,
the negative connotation of skalk as an offensive epithet is the final result of a range of
different causes, whose origin should be searched both in Frisian-Scandinavian contacts
during the Viking Age and in the influence exerted by neighbouring Middle Low
German and Middle Dutch
Glimpses of the Hereafter in the Late-Medieval Thet Freske Riim
No full textThe article analyzes a passage of the narrative poem Thet Freske Riim, one of the few non-legal texts preserved in Old Frisian. The passage in question is a digression describing the Joys of Heaven and the Horrors of Hell, which so far has attracted little attention in the scholarly literature on medieval accounts of the hereafter. The representations of the afterlife and its realms circulating in Medieval Europe draw inspiration from a wide body of both orthodox and apocryphal literature on ecstatic dreams, of which one of the most influential work is the Visio Sancti Pauli or Apocalypse of Paul.
The study aims to identify – in the examined passage – themes and features of otherworldly literature, and discover possible sources and analogues, establishing a connection between Thet Freske Riim and the wider apocalyptic tradition of medieval Europe. The analysis of the passage demonstrates that the anonymous Frisian author stands in a long and widely attested patristic tradition to which, however, he also appears to have added new and original elements. The portrayal of heaven as a land covered with thick forests and luxuriant vegetation agrees with the conventional image of the hereafter already found in various eschatological writings of the Jewish tradition (both canonical and apocryphal). And the images of the souls’ hanging punishment as well as of the infernal dragon are among the most popular motifs in medieval representations of hell. Nonetheless, besides parallels with the visionary texts, the description of the afterlife landscape in Thet Freske Riim also shows some interesting innovations, such as the presence in hell of a solitary tree with the hanging souls and the mention of the four demons sitting silently near the tree and striking the sinners.
The anonymous author of Thet Freske Riim has tried to compose inside the main poem a little visionary-apocalyptic poem, with an evidently hortatory purpose. This passage of the Freske Riim deserves a place in the heterogeneous panorama of the eschatological literature, where it provides its peculiar contribution to the development and dissemination of visionary narrative
Where Do They Belong? Typology and Meaning of the Signs of the Last Judgement in Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts
No full textI segni del Giudizio della famiglia “Ava” e gli aspetti innovativi del poemetto del ms. München, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Cgm 717
No full textIl saggio analizza in dettaglio il poemetto sui “Quindici segni premonitori del Giudizio Universale” tràdito nel ms. München, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Cgm 717, evidenziandone le analogie e differenze rispetto al testo di Frau Ava e soffermandosi sui tratti innovativi e originali che lo caratterizzano, in particolare sull’interesse per l’aspetto naturalistico-scientifico e sulla ricerca di una spiegazione razionale per il verificarsi di alcuni segni. Inoltre si sottolinea la presenza di temi e motivi apocalittici (quali lo scorrere contro corrente delle acque) e l’interpolazione di alcuni brani tratti da una versione del Fisiologo, che contribuiscono a distinguere il poemetto nell’ambito della tradizione escatologica nel mondo germanico medievale
I segni del Giudizio Finale nella tradizione letteraria basso tedesca
No full textTHE SIGNS OF DOOMSDAY IN THE MIDDLE LOW GERMAN LITERARY TRADITION. During the Middle Ages the interest in eschatological themes pervades every expression of culture and spirituality in Germany. Theological speculation concentrated on issues linked to various events, such as the coming of the Antichrist, the Second Coming of Christ, the resurrection of the dead and the Last Judgment. This particular cultural framework represents the background of the circulation and success of the legend of the fifteen signs before Doomsday, concerning wonders and fatal events occurring in the two weeks before the end of the world. This legend enjoyed large circulation throughout the Middle Ages, and found expression in various genres and textual forms. The present paper will focus on a version of the fifteen Doomsday signs in Middle Low German surviving in two manuscripts of the Stadtbibliothek of Trier. In both manuscripts the work on the fifteen signs is preserved along with other eschatological works, including a poem on the Antichrist and a poem on the Heavenly Jerusalem. This paper presents the first edition of this short composition, and considers the relationship between its eschatological motifs and other works of the same tradition (i.e. the Middle High German versions belonging to the Pseudo-Bede and Peter Damian tradition), in order to ascertain its peculiar contribution to the growth of devotional literature in Germany
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