Psalm Paraphrases Research Articles

Poetic License, Textual Fidelity and the Liturgical Impulse in Aleksandr Sumarokov’s Early Spiritual Verse

The present essay considers the paraphrases of Psalms and other biblical and liturgical texts that Sumarokov composed between 1744 and 1769. He initially treated his paraphrases primarily as literary exercises: while taking care not to distort the Church Slavic and ipso facto Greek (Septuagint) source texts, he had no qualms about both expanding and abridging the original texts within the confines of traditional metrical and stanzaic structures. Subsequently in the 1760s, he began to experiment with variable iambic and trochaic lines in spiritual verse, though such forms are typically associated with less lofty genres such as fables and epigrams. His experiments in turn allowed him to achieve greater fidelity to the Church Slavic texts targeted for paraphrasis, and to bring his texts stylistically closer to the liturgical norms associated with the Church Slavic originals. At the same time, he strove to improve the fidelity of his own paraphrases of the Psalms by consulting German translations of the Hebrew (Masoretic) originals. Thus, Sumarokov paradoxically brings to his new translations of the 1660s the philological Protestant sensibility of German translations of the Psalter, and an Orthodox sensibility that favors the traditional Church Slavic register associated with the Psalter as a liturgical text. These new translations in free and frequently unrhymed iambs set the stage for the final, more radical experiments undertaken in 1773–1774.

Psalm Paraphrases in Latin in Sixteenth Century Hungary

The most popular trend in sacra poesis (sacred poetry) in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries was the paraphrase of psalms into Latin. In parallel with numerous European examples, there are a good number of paraphrases of psalms from this period in Hungarian Neolatin poetry. Psalm transcriptions in Latin are associated with Georgius Purkircher (Psalm 72, 79), Christianus Schesaeus (Psalm 79, 90), Caspar Piltz (Psalms 3, 4, 23, 31, 51, 79, 80, 91, 110, 127), Johannes Sylvester (Psalm 79), Georgius Ostermaier (Psalms 1, 42, 122–126, 133), Laurentius Szegedinus (Psalms 51, 128), Valentinus Crispus (Psalms 42, 51) and Johannes Bocatius (Psalm 103). In my study, I attempt to outline the main similarities and differences between the paraphrases of the psalms in Hungary and Germany by selecting from this corpus of texts, by means of a detailed philological analysis of the poems and by highlighting the parallels between them.

Псалтирь царя Давида Симеона Полоцкого в контексте паралитургической и парафрастической традиции XVI–XVII вв.

The collection of poetic translations of King David’s Psalms, compiled by Symeon of Polatsk, is usually used in the scientific discourse under the descriptive title Psaltir’ rifmotvornaya. In this article, King David’s Psalter (1680) of Symeon is considered not in the context of the poet’s entire creative heritage, but in terms of the evolution of the European book tradition of paraliturgical discursive psalmic practices and the poetic paraphrase of the psalms, beginning with the German poets of the Renaissance Helius Eobanus Hessus and Ioannes Mylius Libenrodensis. Not only the artistic experience of Western and Central Europe but also of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania is taken into account. Addressing the broader historical context allows us to move away from traditional scientific discussions about the degree of influence of Jan Kochanowski’s poetic paraphrases of psalms (Psałterz Dawidów, 1578) and to more adequately appreciate Symeon’s merits in the field of cultural transfer. The King David’s Psalter of Symeon is evaluated as a result of the interaction of the European book tradition of creating poetic paraphrases of biblical texts and the East Slavic singing culture. The functioning of this culture from the end of the 16th century and especially in the 17th century was greatly influenced by Polish spiritual songs (first of all, the poetic paraphrases of the psalms of Jan Kochanowski), as well as by the increased interest in polyphonic singing thanks to Nikolai Diletsky.

Navigating Sacred Languages: Paraphrasing the Psalms in Renaissance Scotland

Translations and paraphrases of the Biblical psalms were popular throughout early modern Europe. The Latin poetic paraphrase of Psalm 51 by George Buchanan is examined alongside the Scots-language translation of Psalm 2 by Alexander Montgomerie to illustrate some of the complexities of the Renaissance interplay between Latin and vernacular translation, poetics, confession, and politics. Both poets engage with contemporary debates over the meaning of the Biblical texts, and both display a high degree of poetic and rhetorical sophistication in transforming the psalms according to their own interpretative commitments. Each demonstrates close attention towards and care for correct interpretation, and each shows a high degree of freedom in adapting and recreating the polysemous meanings of the original while also applying new meanings to serve their own liturgical, spiritual, and poetic purposes.

“Poetic Liberty and Liturgical Reformation: Milton’s Paraphrases of Psalms 114 and 136.”

“Poetic Liberty and Liturgical Reformation: Milton’s Paraphrases of Psalms 114 and 136.”

La mélancolie marotique. Sur une rime du Psaume 137

Marot’s Psalm paraphrases have been widely hailed as a major poetic achievement in French Renaissance poetry. Although Marot wants to stay as close as possible to his biblical source, his rendering of Ps. 137 stands out due to some of its metrical features and tone, as shaped by the initial rime aquatiques-melancoliques, which is totally absent from earlier translations. Far from being ornamental, such an innovative move imparts a new reading to the text, reworking some of its features while thoroughly rephrasing the expression of loss that pervades the entire poem. Engaging in a close exegetical reading of the text, the article aims at showing how Marot achieves to convey a deeper poetic meaning in addressing one of the most violent, excruciating songs of the Psalter, thus turning its bitter harshness into a meditative piece of sorts and a genuine masterpiece, testifying to both his spiritual commitment and his aesthetic position.

From Court to Community: Francis Seager's Certayne Psalmes and the Popularization of Mid-Tudor Scriptural Verse

ABSTRACT Although previous scholarship has characterized Francis Seager’s metrical psalm paraphrase collection Certayne Psalmes select out of the Psalter of Dauid, and drawen into Englyshe Metre (1553), as a text designed for courtly audiences, the work is best understood as one designed to bring God’s word in compelling form to common men and women. New evidence for Seager’s background and career reveals his evangelical commitments and his focus on common audiences, attitudes shared by his text’s publisher William Seres. To attract common audiences, Seager selects psalms that speak particularly to the experiences and hopes of those of the lower classes, and he cast his psalm paraphrases as works to be communally sung rather than silently read, granting to them a form that allows their messages to travel beyond any individual owners of his work to all who might gather to sing or hear sung his psalms.

Psalms and Interpretation in Milton's Nativity Ode

Psalms and Interpretation in Milton's Nativity Ode

Enn einn „útlenskur tónn'' í Rask 98

The manuscript Rask 98, also known as Melódía (in the Arnamagnæan Collection, Copenhagen), was written ca. 1660–70 by an unknown scribe and contains 223 notated songs. The manuscriptʼs heading states that it contains “foreign tunes to Icelandic poetry.” Since none of the songs in Rask 98 carries an attribution, tracing their origins has proved to be an arduous task. In an article published in this journal in 2012, the present author identified models for five “foreign tunes” in Rask 98, extending our knowledge of musical repertoire and transmission in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Iceland. One further piece can now be added to the collection: Jacobus Clemens (non Papa)ʼs four-part song Godt es mijn licht, first published in Leuven in 1567 but in Nuremberg a year later to a text in German, Gott ist mein liecht. Only the latter version repeats the songsʼs last two phrases, a repeat that is also found in Rask 98. Thus the Nuremberg print can be identified as the source for the version in Rask 98. The Icelandic text, Englar og menn og allar skepnur líka senn, is not a translation, but seems to be a free paraphrase of Psalm 148. Rask 98 (and JS 138 8vo, a later manuscript that seems to be a direct copy) contains only Clemensʼs tenor part in a non-rhythmic notation. Like the other polyphonic pieces that were brought to Iceland in the second half of the sixteenth century, Englar og menn was presumably sung in four parts while vocal resources allowed, and its lower parts were still transmitted on their own a century later.

“That Hart May Sing in Corde:” Defense of Church Music in the Psalm Paraphrases of Matthew Parker

Translation of sacred texts is always a dangerous act. In the sixteenth century, translators of the Bible into vernacular languages faced persecution and even execution for their perceived heresy. Nevertheless, when Archbishop of Canterbury Matthew Parker (1504-1575) published his poetic paraphrases of the biblical psalms, for which Thomas Tallis wrote the corresponding psalm tunes, Parker joined a growing number of scholars and clerics risking the translation of scripture under the aegis of the Protestant Reformation. In his paraphrases Parker carefully negotiated between strict translation and poetic interpretation of the text, particularly in regards to musical themes. I argue that in his psalm paraphrases, Parker advanced a musico-theological justification for the inclusion of music in liturgy during an era when vocal polyphony and instrumental music in sacred settings fomented the suspicion of many proto-Puritan Protestant reformers. Comparison of the printed 1567 text with Parker’s original manuscript held at the Inner Temple Library in London reveals that Parker often chose explicitly musical terms in his paraphrases of the psalms. In doing so, he provided foundational justification for establishing a central role for music in Anglican liturgy, harnessing all the tools of his humanist training and the power of his position to advance his conviction that music, far from distracting congregants, enriched and uplifted them spiritually. Drawing on recent scholarship on the genre of metrical psalmody, I demonstrate how Parker’s art of paraphrase facilitated his multifaceted defense of church music in the face of increasingly hostile factions within the English Protestant Church.

RECEPTION OF THE BOOK OF PSALMS IN M. OPITZ’S POETRY (THE PROBLEM OF BIBLICAL ARCHETEXTUALITY)

The problem of relationship between fiction and «axial» archetext of Christian culture and European literature, the Bible, is an important problem of contemporary literature. The Bible is not only a religious text, but also a literaty one. It includes outstanding examples of poetry and The Book of Psalms that is an anthology of ancient Hebrew religious and philosophical poetry clearly representing a dialogue between I and the Eternal Thou (in M. Buber’s terminology). The significance of the Bible has an especially high level for the development of German religious and philosophical poetry. In the article the author studies an archetextual role of The Book of Psalms in Martin Opitz’s (1597–1639) poetry using cultural and historical, comparative, hermeneutic methods and a method of textual holistic analysis. M. Opitz is the first of German poets, who turns to the genres of paraphrase of Psalm and spiritual song. M. Opitz starts with penitential Psalms for paraphrasing. He makes the concept of guilt and confession deeper and considers it a means of withdrawal from the spiritual crisis and prevention of a national tragedy. Following the logic and structure of Psalms, which also play the role of architexts, the German poet explains and complements them, correlates them with his time, going after the moral and didactical purpose above all. Futhermore, he is the first to use consistent accentualsyllabic verse introduced by him and song structures so that his paraphrases are remembered by people. Spiritual songs which contain numerous allusions on Psalms are characterized by shorter metre and simpler syntax. While the poetics of baroque prevails in the paraphrases of Psalms, the tendencies of classicism are more expressive in the spiritual songs. Paraphrases of Psalms and spiritual songs by M. Opitz connect personal and national ground, expression of suffering and hope for transformation of life during hard times for Germany viz. the epoch of Thirty Years’ Wars.

Біблійныя матывы і сімвалы ў польскамоўнай паэзіі Беларусі ХІХ стагоддзя

<p>W artykule podjęto temat rozwoju poezji religijnej w polskojęzycznej literaturze białoruskiej XIX w. Analizie poddano sposoby interpretacji motywów biblijnych w twórczości Tadeusza Łady- Zabłockiego, Jana Czeczota, Gabrieli Puzyniny, Władysława Syrokomli, uwzględniając przy tym swoiste oddziaływanie romantyzmu na wymienionych twórców. Tekst Łady-Załockiego Żale Jeremiasza przedstawiono jako parafrazę psalmu 137 (w tradycji wschodniochrześcijańskiej – 136). Zwrócono uwagę na cykl religijnych wierszy Czeczota z tomu Pieśni ziemianina, który dotychczas nie był przedmiotem zainteresowania białoruskich naukowców. Utwory poety wzorowane na listach apostoła Pawła odczytano jako poetycką interpretację przykazań i cnót chrześcijańskich, co pozwoliło sformułować tezę o swoistym „katechizmie” poetyckim Czeczota. Porównanie motywów biblijnych w twórczości Puzyniny i Syrokomli pokazało bliskość asocjacyjną autorów, poszukujących niebanalnych metafor i dążących do nadania nowych znaczeń symbolom chrześcijańskim, takim jak: dzwon, krzyż, kościół, kleryk. Autorka artykułu dochodzi do wniosku, że w literaturze romantycznej, zwłaszcza w poezji, wzrasta zainteresowanie psalmami jako gatunkiem oraz zapisaną w nich symboliką biblijną. Odwołania do motywów biblijnych pomagają poetom wyrażać uczucia patriotyczne, sakralizować je, eksponować ideę wolności. Poezja religijna badanego okresu pełni funkcje dydaktyczne, przybierając postać swoistego „świeckiego apostolstwa”. Można zatem mówić o poetyckiej pedagogice chrześcijańskiej, której zasady egzegezy i katechezy oparte są na wzorach zaczerpniętych z historii narodowej.</p>

Dawid pokutujący w Biblii i w kantacie „Davide penitente” Wolfganga Amadeusa Mozarta

Dawid, król Izraela, jest wybitną postacią w historii biblijnej. Niezwykle utalentowany, zostawił wiele wspaniałych dzieł na różnych polach ‒ religijnym, politycznym, artystycznym. Nie ustrzegł się jednak poważnych błędów, a nawet zbrodni, ale potrafił się z nich podnieść przez pokutę, odwoływanie się do Bożego miłosierdzia. Widać to najlepiej po cudzołóstwie z Batszebą i doprowadzeniu jej męża Uriasza do śmierci oraz po spisie ludności. Autor omawia te przypadki i zatrzymuje się także nad psalmami pokutnymi, które są refleksem postawy Dawida. W drugiej części została zanalizowana kantata Davide penitente Mozarta (KV 469), w której kompozytor wykorzystał muzykę z Wielkiej Mszy c-moll (KV 427/417a) do włoskich parafraz psalmów z XVIII wieku. Autor omawia genezę utworu i libretto oraz komentuje go w warstwie muzycznej i słownej. Kantata stanowi harmonijną syntezę, w której bogata muzyka dopełnia natchnione słowa, oddaje ich wewnętrzne napięcia i emocje. Słuchając tego utworu, można głębiej przeżyć treści zawarte w tekście biblijnym i wniknąć w dramatyczny świat Dawida, rozświetlony zawsze Bożą łaską.

Disciplinary Measures from the Metrical Psalms to Milton. Kenneth J. E. Graham. London: Routledge, 2016. Pp. xiv+206.

<i>Disciplinary Measures from the Metrical Psalms to Milton</i>. Kenneth J. E. Graham. London: Routledge, 2016. Pp. xiv+206.

Offord, Derek; Ryazanova-Clarke, Lara; Rjéoutski, Vladislav and Argent, Gesine (eds) French and Russian in Imperial Russia. Volume 1: Language Use Among the Russian Elite Offord, Derek; Ryazanova-Clarke, Lara; Rjéoutski, Vladislav and Argent, Gesine (eds) French and Russian in Imperial Russia. Volume 2: Language Attitudes and Identity (review)

REVIEWS 511 ~ xto spodivaitcja (K) ‘that put their trust [in him]’ (p. 178), spasennje (M) ~ spasennja (K) ‘salvation’ (p. 178), peščera (M) ~ pečera (K) ‘cave’ (p. 185), čystyj (M) ~ ščyryj (K) ‘righteous’ (p. 185), čudesa (M) ~ dyva (K) ‘wondrous works’ (p. 186); some long-naturalized (regional) Polonisms are also changed with ‘more’ vernacular forms of the type kotryj (M) ~ jakyj (K) ‘which’ (p. 180) and papir (M) ~ bomaha (K) ‘[the volume of the] book’ (p. 183); one can also add here a northern Ukrainian form typical of the previous literary tradition — pljundrovaty (M) next to modern pljundruvaty (K) ‘to plunder’ (p. 188). No doubt, the translation of Moračevs’kyj is a true trove of data reflecting the vagaries of the formation of new standard Ukrainian, including its high style. Yet this process would have appeared more nuanced had the authors of the introduction placed the creation of the Ukrainian Psalter in the wider context of similar translations made not only before Moračevs’kyj but also after him. In this regard, one should mention Pantelejmon Kuliš whose first paraphrases of Psalms 1 and 13 appeared in 1868, and Oleksandr Navroc’kyj and Volodymyr Aleksandrov who paraphrased the Psalter, under the influence of Kuliš, in the 1880s. Needless to say, publication of their works in the future would complement the edition of the pioneering translation made by Moračevs’kyj in 1865 and prepared for publication by Hnatenko 150 years later. Department of Modern Languages and Cultures Andrii Danylenko Pace University Offord, Derek; Ryazanova-Clarke, Lara; Rjéoutski, Vladislav and Argent, Gesine (eds). French and Russian in Imperial Russia. Volume 1: Language Use Among the Russian Elite. Russian Language and Society. Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh, 2015. xviii + 270 pp. Figures. Tables. Notes. Bibliographies. Index. £75.00. Offord, Derek; Ryazanova-Clarke, Lara; Rjéoutski, Vladislav and Argent, Gesine (eds). French and Russian in Imperial Russia. Volume 2: Language Attitudes and Identity. Russian Language and Society. Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh, 2015. xviii + 266 pp. Illustrations. Notes. Bibliographies. Index. £75.00. In January 1868, suffering from a periodic inflammation of the eye, P. A. Valuev, soon to be deposed as Alexander II’s Minister of Internal Affairs, was obliged to dictate his diary to his wife. Whereas he habitually recorded his thoughts in Russian, she preferred to write in French. Depressed by developments in St Petersburg and pessimistic about the state of Russian morals, the aloof Europeanized statesman was prompted to reflect, not for the first time, that it was ‘not natural’ that French should have become ‘more or less’ the SEER, 94, 3, july 2016 512 most influential language in Russian society: ‘Le chinois nous conviendrait beaucoup mieux.’ What motivated individual language choices in imperial Russia? And what can such choices tell us about the formation, consolidation and fragmentation of personal, social and national identities? Though isolated attempts have been made to answer such questions in the past, the subject has never been tackled in the concerted way represented by these two selfstanding but complementary volumes. Remarkably, the effort has finally been made neither in Russia nor in France, but in Britain, where a conference on ‘Enlightened Russian’, organized by Lara Ryazanova-Clarke at the University of Edinburgh in 2012, provided one of the sources for these books. The other was the Arts and Humanities Research Council project on ‘The History of the French Language in Russia’, led by Derek Offord at the University of Bristol with the collaboration of the remaining two editors. Though he generously acknowledges the extent to which this was a collective enterprise, Offord was clearly its guiding mind. Not the least of his contributions has been to translate more than a third of the twenty-four essays that comprise these two richly rewarding volumes. Written by an international cast of authors, ranging from doctoral candidates to senior scholars, the essays probe an impressively wide variety of published and unpublished materials. Beginning with a general consideration of the use of French and Russian in Catherine II’s Russia (Derek Offord, Gesine Argent and Vladislav Rjéoutski), the first volume goes on to discuss the empress’s letters to Grimm (Georges Dulac), language use by the Stroganovs...

Hearing King David in Early Modern France: Politics, Prayer, and Louis XIII's Musique de la Chambre

Scholars of Louis XIV have long recognized the “representational” strategy employed by the composers of the Chapelle Royale (and those who designed its liturgy), in which the words of the psalms (the work of poet-musician King David) allied to an elaborate musical setting (the grand motet) attested to the king's strength and power in both spiritual and temporal domains. By contrast, in the absence of a comparable repertory inspired by the psalms from an earlier period, the role of King David at the court of Louis XIII has received almost no attention. Yet, as this article shows, the biblical king did indeed play a central role at the court of Louis XIII, albeit in unexpected ways. The “public” voice of David—the voice of a warrior who defeated his enemies—spoke outside the confines of the court in orations, pamphlets, and psalm paraphrases (with simple musical settings), celebrating, in particular, the king's victory over the Huguenots at La Rochelle in 1628. On the other hand, study of the psalm-texted works composed for Louis XIII's Musique de la Chambre (recently identified in Bibliothèque Nationale de France, MS Vma rés. 571) reveals a “private” voice, a voice that reflected Louis's anxiety and penitence in the years around 1620 and that was heard only by the king's closest allies at court. By contextualizing this “private” voice it is also possible to account for the rise of the Domine salvum fac regem, a musical genre that originated in the same circumstances, and to suggest that Louis XIII and Louis XIV in fact had a common interest in David as supplicant.

The Book of Psalms and the early modern sonnet

AbstractPsalms and sonnets were the most popular lyric genres in early modern English writing. Little scholarly attention, however, has been paid to the common ground between the two forms, largely because they have been perceived as incompatible, with one epitomizing the sacred, and the other, the secular, literature of their day. Nonetheless, sixteenth‐century writers often moved from one genre to the other; the first sonnet sequence in English (Anne Lock's A Meditation of a Penitent Sinner, 1560), takes the form of a translation of Psalm 51; and paraphrases of other psalms appear in sonnet sequences by Barnabe Barnes and Henry Lok. The figure of David as psalmist and poet is invoked in sonnets as well as psalms, and the diction of the biblical texts was harnessed and remade for the secular tradition. This essay argues for a close relationship between psalms and sonnets, and through an examination of the influences exerted on both genres, including contemporary poetics and Petrarchism, it suggests that both the biblical Book of Psalms, and the broader tradition of psalm translation, provided an important model for the early modern English sonnet sequence.

The psalms and threat in sixteenth‐century English court culture

AbstractThe psalms are routinely considered to be sources of comfort and occasions of thanksgiving. In this essay I present a different, and opposite function for the psalms: that of expressing an intense state of isolation, threat, hatred and self‐annihilation. So far from supplying what sixteenth‐century readers called ‘comfortable words’, the psalm translations discussed here inflame authorial pain. They actively deprive authors of any consolation. They deprive authors even of the consolations of expressing the desire for vengeance, despite the frequency with which these texts call vengeance down upon the heads of enemies. Just as the psalms were imagined to have been written originally in a threatening courtly environment, so too are they used by early Tudor courtiers to express the predicament of court life. I focus on psalm paraphrases of the following writers: Sir Thomas Wyatt; George Blage; Henry Howard Earl of Surrey; and Sir Thomas Smith.

‘All skillful praises sing’: how congregations sang the psalms in early modern England

AbstractThe tunes of The Whole Book of Psalms would become the foundation of congregational singing in England. But when Thomas Sternhold published his first collection of paraphrases (circa 1548) he expected them to be sung in a private domestic context, and the few extant Edwardian settings do not differ in character from secular songs and dances of the time. There is no record of congregational singing until it was adopted by the Marian exiles under the direct influence of Calvin. The first tunes were printed as part of the 1556 Anglo‐Genevan service book. They were clearly modelled on the grandly solemn tunes of the French Psalter, but the fundamental differences between French and English prosody created a conflict that was too much for anyone in the small English colonies to resolve satisfactorily. Nevertheless, congregational singing of ‘Geneva psalms’ was rapidly adopted in English churches from 1559 onwards. The tune selection was revised and enlarged, and had settled into a permanent ‘canon’ by the time the 1565 edition of The Whole Book of Psalms appeared. Metrical psalm‐singing soon became popular well beyond the Puritan faction, both in church and in private settings. The tunes, like the psalms, were reprinted with only minor changes for the rest of Elizabeth's reign. There is evidence, however, that by the 1590s many of them had been abandoned in practice as too difficult, or perhaps too tedious, as they slowed down year after year. They were largely replaced by a handful of short, simple tunes of unknown authorship, which became known as the ‘common tunes’ because they were not tied to specific texts. In some respects the common tunes were a return to the more popular idiom of Edwardian times. Many of them outlived the psalm paraphrases themselves and are still in widespread use as hymn tunes today.

Bronze flagon from Pontes with an inscription from the 29th Psalm of David

During the campaign which took place in 1983 at the site of Pontes - Trajan?s Bridge near Kostol, in the layer between a house from the second half of the 9th century and a house from the 11th century, a treasury consisting of medieval iron tools placed around, or inserted into, a bronze flagon was discovered in a shallow pit. The whole find was named Treasury B. At first, the flagon itself was dated into the period between the 6th and the 8th centuries, however, we have recently dated it into the 6th-7th century. The inscription on the neck of the vessel is a paraphrase of the 3rd verse from the 29th Psalm of David. This is proof that the flagon was a liturgical vessel. In this text we are trying to show that this flagon was analogous to the specimen from the treasury from Vrap in Albania, whose deposition during the third part of the 7th century is connected with the activity of Bulgarian Khan Kuber. The Byzantine vessel was a part of treasure plundered from the Avars, and the production of this flagon, just as of that one from Pontes, can be dated into the period between the 6th century and the first half or the middle of the 7th century.