Abstract
The study addresses the subject of methods and character of medieval text transmission and interpretation through a case study of a brief obscure poem sometimes entitled Versus maligni angeli. While its origin is not known, it provoked four different detailed interpretations. All the commentators explain its meaning as Christian one but radically differ in the specific interpretations. They also justify the supposed devil’s authorship of the poem in very different ways. They apply traditional strategies of Biblical exegesis to this idiosyncratic source. Although it is a mere opuscule, this case shows medieval exegetical flexibility as well as curiosity inherent in perceiving the created world. List of surviving manuscript copies of the verses as well as editions of two of the glossed versions are provided in appendices.
Highlights
The study addresses the subject of methods and character of medieval text transmission and interpretation through a case study of a brief obscure poem sometimes entitled Versus maligni angeli
I do not doubt that all this was divinely arranged for the purpose of subduing pride by toil, and of preventing a feeling of satiety in the intellect, which generally holds in small esteem what is discovered without difficulty.”
From all the possible obscurities,1 it is the obscurity of the Scriptures that is discussed most frequently throughout the Middle Ages
Summary
From all the possible obscurities, it is the obscurity of the Scriptures that is discussed most frequently throughout the Middle Ages. To what degree does the existence of an interpretation, explanation, or commentary to a text imply that the text itself is obscure? It might be possible to assess the efforts behind the appropriation: the more obscure the text, the more struggle lies behind its explanation, which might be articulated within the commentary. In cases where a number of commentaries exist from the same time, one can detect either the unanimity of exposition or a variety in it The former indicates either a lesser degree of obscurity within the text, or a higher force of the norm, the latter suggests the opposite: that the text found itself at the edge, not belonging anywhere, not easy to appropriate. The present case study is an attempt at such a multi-faceted analysis of interpretation and appropriation of an obscure text
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