Vernacular Version Research Articles

The Old English Bede: English Ideology or Christian Instruction?

The Old English Bede (OEB), a vernacular version of Bede's Historia ecclesiastica (HE), was written sometime before c.900, possibly at King Alfred's behest. It adds little to Bede's text but makes substantial excisions and abbreviations, removing much historical narrative, many quoted documents and most references to theological controversy. It is often argued that Bede provided an ideological blueprint for the creation of a single English kingdom in the tenth century, but the parts of the HE upon which this interpretation depends are among those omitted from the OEB. This is significant, since there are indications that the OEB was more widely known that the HE in the tenth century. It seems that the translator was not concerned with promoting an English ideology. Rather, he appears to have aimed to produce a text focussed on the inculcation of virtue through examples. This interpretation of the OEB has significant implications for our understanding of the significance of ‘Englishness’ and of whether it was believed that the English were a ‘chosen people’ who enjoyed a ‘special relationship’ with God. In turn, this demands reconsideration of the factors underlying the emergence and endurance of the English kingdom.

The Pattern Of Mental Symptoms In Patients With Hiv/Aids Seen At A Teaching Hospital In Eastern Nigeria

Background: Reports from studies in developed countries indicate that mental disorders seem to be commonly associated with HIV/AIDS. Objective: In this study our major aim was to determine the pattern of mental symptoms in patients with HIV/AIDS seen at the NAUTH. Methods: Patients confirmed to have HIV/AIDS were registered in the special HIV/AIDS clinic of Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital, Nnewi. By use of the random table numbers, 347 of 900 patients were selected and assessed by trained research assistants using a translated vernacular (Igbo) version of the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ – 28). The conventional scoring of 0011 was adopted with enquiry as to the time of onset of positive GHQ – 28 symptoms in relation to the time of diagnosis/recognition of HIV/AIDS. Results: Using a cutoff score of 5 on the GHQ-28, 41.2% of the patients had mental morbidity. Of the 203 females, about 39% had mental morbidity whereas nearly 44% of the 144 males had mental symptoms. In the 4 subscales of GHQ – 28 the commonest symptoms reported were anxiety, worry, tension, hopelessness, depression, feelings of incompetence and difficulty with coping. Conclusion: A wide range of psychological/psychiatric symptoms occurs in a sizable proportion of patients who have HIV/AIDS. Mental health treatment should be an integral part of the management of patients with HIV/AIDS. Keywords: HIV/AIDS, Mental/psychiatric symptoms, Nigerians.Tropical Journal of Medical Research Vol. 11 (2) 2007: pp. 31-37

The Conversion of Sibilla in the History of the Holy Rood Tree

The Conversion of Sibilla in the History of the Holy Rood Tree Thomas D. Hill One interesting and little explored aspect of the various medieval literatures is the genre of Christian "apocryphal" romance, elaborate fictions that seem to have had little claim to historical truth. These texts, however, seem to have been enjoyed both as a kind of literature of the fantastic and the exotic and as texts that conveyed moral and doctrinal truths either directly or symbolically. 1 One such cycle of legends that was specifically recognized as "apocryphal" (that is, a text that cannot be ascribed to a known author and hence is of dubious historical authority) was the legendary history of the Holy Cross. 2 One of the earliest and most interesting versions of this history was translated into Old English late in the Old English period and then rewritten in the transitional English of the twelfth century, a century or so later. Partly because this text exists "between" Old and Early Middle English and partly because of modern discomfort with texts such as these (with medieval apocryphal literature that seems very strange and alien to a modern sensibility), the History of the Holy Rood Tree has not [End Page 123] attracted very much critical attention. 3 In this article I would like to address one specific, although important, episode in this legendary text, but this discussion may be of broader interest in that this article may illustrate some ways in which modern critics can understand and perhaps even to some degree appreciate the genre of medieval Christian "apocryphal" texts. The late Old English, or if one prefers, early Middle English History of the Holy Rood Tree is the earliest extant vernacular version of the legend of the Cross in Western European literature and is a twelfth-century redaction of a text that was first translated into Old English at least a century earlier. 4 The legend, which is in prose, relates the history of the Cross from the time that Moses crossed the desert until the passion and from the passion until the invention of the Cross by Helena. The episode with which I am specifically concerned here, the conversion of Sibilla, occurs at approximately the midpoint of this history. However, in order to give some sense of the kind of narrative with which I am dealing, I would like to summarize and to comment briefly on the introductory episodes of this history. It begins when Moses is in the desert with the people of Israel. As he lies sleeping one night, three shoots appear by his head and both hands, forming a triadic, cruciform pattern. Moses awakes, sees the shoots, and is struck by the marvel. Fearing to profane the area, he moves his camp about a mile away. But the next morning the shoots stand about him in the same pattern; and Moses, inspired by the Holy Spirit, prophesies and defines these shoots as tokens of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Then, at noon, Moses digs them up and goes on his way. The next evening, Moses and the children of Israel come upon [End Page 124] bitter waters, and, faced with the suffering and the consequent hostility of his people, Moses goes apart to pray. It then occurs to him to sweeten the bitter water with the shoots that are to become the wood of the Cross. He does so—the water is sweetened—and then Moses, with the shoots carefully packed and moistened, proceeds on the journey through the desert. This episode is an interesting one, since in its very bareness and simplicity it serves to illustrate one aspect of the technique of the author of the History of the Holy Rood Tree . The basis of the narrative is of course biblical. In the course of the journey of the Israelites through the desert, Moses did sweeten bitter waters. To quote the relevant verses: Et murmuravit populus contra Moyses, dicens:Quid bibemus?At ille clamavit ad Dominum,qui ostendit ei lignum: quod cum missessetin aquas, in dulcedinem versae sunt:ibi constituit ei praecepta, atque iudicia, etibi tentavit eum. (Exodus 15:24–25) 5 [And the people murmured against Moses...

“La ascención cortés de Apolonio”

The well-known brilliance of the anonymous Libro de Apolonio, the mid-thirteenth century vernacular version of the Historia Apollonii Regis Tyri is distinguished by the high literary stylization of the most significant motifs, and among them the initial incest gemination in the main episodes, as has been suggested by several scholars, such as C. Calvert Phipps and A. Deyermond. However, a part of criticism downplays the reverberation of this incest in one particular case, the musical evening in Pentapolin’s court, while other critics stress its echoes in other episodes without taking into account this one. On the contrary, it is necessary to give a comprehensive dimension to the ‘constructive incest’ between the king Architrastes and his daughter Luciana, together with the projection of this love within the courtly behaviour of Apolonio. The successive steps and offbeats before Apolonio’s concert deliver detailed images which spotlight a subtle game of charm, manipulation and acute perceptions among the three characters. All of this leads Apolonio to obtain the best crown from Architrastes, not only as king of Tyre, which allows him because of his recovered kingship to play music, but as the symbolic king of Pentapolin too, becoming father by transference, master and lover of the princess. The hero achieves this honour because of his ascent in courtly hierarchy, from being of a wretched foreigner to a male bonding with the king, and in his homophilia’s climb may be appreciated the author’s mastery over the poetic and narrative devices.

Did Chaucer Read the Wycliffite Bible?

This Illumination and Gift of discerning Spirits was indeed kept from Common people, by that execrable Policie of with-holding Bible from our English translation: so said one Geoffrey on the six teenth of lune last 1626.1 Chronology quickly alerts us that never said this. Rather, it was Sir Geoffery a character in William Vaughan's The Golden Fleece. The Golden Fleece is a predictable meld of predictable issues?English nationalism, Protestant cant, Royalist aggrandizement of Charles I. What invests Vaughan's work with some literary value, however, is its array of cameos: in addition to Chaucer, Thomas ? Becket, Luther, Arminius, Zwingli, even Doctor Wicliffe of Oxford make appearances. The specter of cropping up on such a list is surely more startling than specter of defending Bible in English, since early modern readers valued for his proto-Protestantism, his criticism of Church, and his translating prowess. They also valued him for his English. Any of these reasons recommends him as a suitable spokesman for vernacular Bible, though perhaps not as obvious a one as Doctor Wicliffe. But Vaughan's Chaucer never revisits linked subjects of Bible and vernacular, and, ultimately, this episode reveals more about reputation in Reformation rhetoric than it does about own interest in Bible, English or otherwise. Since seventeenth century, critics have pursued a more systematic study of and Bible, often building on Grace Landrum's 1924 article Chaucer's Use of Vulgate.2 Landrum convincingly estab lishes use of Vulgate Bible, and, to most Chaucerians, her argument is rote. While she is corrected in a few areas, these disputations are merely matters of degree.3 In one of her central arguments, Landrum spends several pages discussing and then discounting Wyclifflte Bible: It is almost impossible to conceive of Geoffrey as feeling him self among people in need of Wycliffe's vernacular version. Certainly it left no impress on his style.4 W. Meredith Thompson, Landrum's heir in study of biblical translation, is even more dogmatic,

The Source and Textual Identity of 'Homily' Napier XXXI - Aelfric & The Munuccild of Saint-Maurice D'agaune

Legends about the death of oblates exist in various forms in the medieval literatures of Europe. The only known version of such a story extant in Old English, the edifying example of the munuccild of Saint-Maurice d’Agaune in Napier XXXI, has been largely ignored in previous research. For the first time, this article presents the Latin source of the Old English text, contained in the Libri miraculorum of Gregory of Tours. Comparing Napier XXXI to its source reveals the consequent transformation of a Latin hagiographical text into a vernacular homiletic exemplum. AElfric's authorship of the translation seems possible, but his direct influence on the extant version must be doubted on both palaeographical and stylistic grounds. Analysing the context and layout of MS Bodleian Hatton 113, this study further suggests that the apparent fragmentary state of Napier XXXI could perhaps be remedied by its predecessing item, homily Napier XXX. A historical connection between Wulfstan of Worcester, whose private homiliary contains the legend of the munuccild, and bishop Ermenfrid of Sion, who probably acted as abbot of the monastery of St Maurice, can be established on the grounds of the latter's work as a papal legate in Worcester during the 1060s. Long before Chaucer's Prioress's Tale, Napier XXXI represents the earliest English, possibly even the earliest vernacular version of an oblatus mortus legend.

Fasiculo de medicina in volgare, Venezia, Giovanni e Gregorio De Gregori, 1494. Vol. 1, Facsimile dell'esemplare conservato presso la Biblioteca del centroper la storia dell'Università di Padova; Vol. 2, Il "Fasciculus medicinae" ovvero le metamorfosi del libro umanistico (review)

The most widely known medical incunabulum is famous for its illustrations, but it originated in a medley of minor tracts on uroscopy, bloodletting and astrology, diseases and wounds, gynecology, and sexology. This "little bundle of medicine," [End Page 594] or Fasciculus medicinae, compiled in early-fifteenth-century Bohemia, was not much copied by hand. In 1491 it was printed (with an added plague treatise) by the Venetian brothers Giovanni and Gregorio de Gregori, who in 1494 published a vernacular version, Fasiculo de medicina in volgare.1 If the printers were interested in marketing the text, modern attention has been virtually limited to the images. Now, both aspects are celebrated by an exquisite facsimile and a masterly commentary. A rare copy of the Fasiculo, now at the University of Padua, is reproduced with amazing authenticity—not only in the delicately colored woodcuts, but down to the smudges, fingerprints, and moisture stains.

A New Bilingual Fragment from the British Museum (Papyrus Bm Ea 69574)

Publication of the Late Period papyrus BM EA 69574. The text is highly remarkable for being laid out in verse-lines, each containing a Middle Egyptian and an early demotic (in hieratic script) version of the same text. Several general remarks on the grammar are included, especially concerning the vernacular version and its value in elucidating Middle Egyptian phenomena. The contents of the fragments are difficult to clarify. In general, they point towards a sort of ‘sapiental' composition in dialogue form. While the setting among herdsmen is clear, a connection with the youthful Horus remains more speculative.

The Two Oedipuses: Sophocles, Anguillara, and the Renaissance Treatment of Myth

To discuss so minor a writer as Giovanni Andrea dell'Anguillara (ca. 1517-1571) seems like an exercise in willful obscurantism or personal enthusiasm for what is better dead and buried. Of course, it could be claimed with Ernst Robert Curtius and Aby Warburg that God lurks in detail, that only by a minute exploration of even the minor figures of a period can we achieve any synthesis and understanding of literary history. We are all aware from experience how often a second or even third rate writer illuminates more clearly than a master the mentality of a period. But a more tangible justification exists for conjuring up the name of Anguillara from the dusty tomes of the past. His Edippo tragedia was both the first performed and first printed vernacular version of the Oedipus story in the Renaissance. Called among the most famous tragedies by one of those eighteenth-century collectors of details, Crescimbeni (I. iv. 309), the Edippo was printed twice in 1565,1 once in Padua and once in Venice. It was also performed twice, first in Padua in 1556 (Pelaez 77) or 1560 (Lorini 88) on a permanent stage designed by Falconetto for the home of Alvise Cornaro (Fiocco 142; Idea 219) and, I believe, a second time in Vicenza in 1561 on a temporary wooden stage designed by Palladio for the Olympic Academy. Both productions were done with a splendor and pomp befitting the famous story and befitting a text that would return the story of Oedipus to the stage after more than a thousand year hiatus. While the stage history of the 1585 production of Sophocles' Oedipus for the inauguration of Palladio's Teatro Olimpico has been told repeatedly, both in its own time (Ingegneri) and after (Gallo, Puppi, Schrade), the tale of Anguillara's play is hardly known. And it probably will never be told,

A NEW VERNACULAR VERSION OF A NUN'S PROFESSION

A NEW VERNACULAR VERSION OF A NUN'S PROFESSION Get access M. F. WAKELIN M. F. WAKELIN Royal Holloway College, University of London Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Notes and Queries, Volume 31, Issue 4, December 1984, Pages 459–461, https://doi.org/10.1093/nq/31-4-459 Published: 01 December 1984

The Welsh Versions of The New Testament, 1551—1620

In the fifth year of the reign of Queen Elizabeth I it was enacted by Parliament ‘that the Bishops of Hereford, Saint Davids, Asaph, Bangor and Llandaff… shall take such Order amongst themselves…, That the whole Bible…, with the Book of the Common Prayer…, as is now used within this Realm in English, to be truly and exactly translated into the British or WELSH tongue’. This authorization of a version of the Holy Scriptures by the English Parliament is unique, but that does not make the Welsh version the authorized version of the realm. What was endorsed by the 1563 Act was not the validity of the Welsh version as Scripture, but its legality despite being in Welsh. A generation earlier, the Act of Union of England and Wales had proscribed the use of Welsh in ‘any manner office or fees within this realm of England, Wales or other the Kings Dominion’. It so happened, however, that the 1563 Parliament had amongst its members a sufficient number who could be persuaded to put religious need before political expediency, having themselves but recently suffered for their religious convictions. Moreover, it was the good fortune of the Welsh people, in contrast with other Celtic groups, that they had in their midst, at this critical point in their history, men whose competence and scholarly equipment were equal to the task of producing a vernacular version. They were all alumni of the English Universities; and there they had come into contact with those movements which were radically transforming the intellectual, the religious and the political life of Western Europe. These were, of course, the rebirth of learning, the reformation of religion, the growth of national feeling with the accompanying emergence of vernacular literatures – movements whose irresistible onward surge was greatly accelerated by the printing press, an invention of the previous century. It was the dream of these Welshmen that this flood could be channelled to fructify the arid spiritual desert which they saw in their native land; and this they sought to achieve first and foremost by giving the Welsh people the Bible in printed form and in their own tongue.