The World Grown Old and Genesis in Middle English Historical Writings

Abstract

Modern historians of literature have approached primitivism in medieval writings through conventional topics such as the Fall, the Golden Age, and the six world ages. George Boas in 1948 demonstrated the numerous links between classical and medieval primitivisms, soft and hard, and he outlined various schemes of periodization by which medieval historians framed their chronicles.' Emerson, Kaske, and others have explored a special aspect of man's early history as interpreted by medieval writers the relationship between Cain, antediluvian giants, and Beowuif's Grendel.2 Recently, Ruth Mellinkoff has investigated the several legends surrounding Cain and his mysterious mark.3 Medieval primitivism based on Genesis essentially began with Augustine's exegetical history in De civitate Dei, book 15. In this work Augustine thoroughly rehearsed the Genesis events, and he labored to explain difficult narrative claims, such as the great age of antediluvian men like Methuselah (15.1 1), or obscure passages, such as the origin of giants from the sons of God (15.22-23). Augustine treated these and other issues as a scholar and historian, comparing the Vulgate with the Septuagint text and seeking the best, most reasonable interpretation. At the same time, he framed his historical exegesis generally in the context of six ages in decline and of the struggle between the earthly and heavenly cities. In Augustine's writings