Abstract
The following piece will represent the first in-depth evaluation of the lives of Saint Augustine and his mother Monica in the as-yet unpublished Abbotsford manuscript, Bokenham’s long-lost translation of the Legenda Aurea, a text which survives in a single manuscript, purchased by Sir Walter Scott at Sotheby’s in 1809, which had remained unattributed and unstudied until it was brought to the attention of Simon Horobin by the Faculty of Advocates in 2004 (Horobin 2008: 135). As a celebration of the remarkable piety of a wife and mother (as opposed to a virgin martyr), it is a highly unusual hagiographic text and would have presented a particularly accessible model of spirituality to the network of powerful lay female patrons by whom we know Bokenham to have been employed. I will argue that Bokenham’s vita espouses an incarnational Augustinian poetics which is at odds with the more ascetic, eremitical vision of the original Legenda Aurea.Keywords: Osbern Bokenham; Abbotsford Legenda Aurea; Augustine; Monica; hagiography
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callMore From: SELIM. Journal of the Spanish Society for Medieval English Language and Literature.
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
