The Metamorphosis Goliae Episcopi: A Revised Edition,Translation, and Notes

Abstract

The Metamorphosis Goliae Episcopi, unlike most twelfth-century “Goliardic” poems, can be grounded in place and time. It was written in the early 1140s, shortly before or after the death of Peter Abelard, and aims to vindicate the secular element in the intellectual culture of the cathedral schools of Paris and northern France. The action is framed by the allegory of Martianus Capella’s De nuptiis, which presents the liberal arts curriculum in an idealized form, and the large cast includes a number of magistri of the time renowned for their mastery of the liberal arts. The poem builds toward a condemnation of Bernard of Clairvaux and the Cistercians, whose role in suppressing Abelard’s theological writings is made to epitomize the hostility of the religious establishment to liberal and innovative scholarship.