Dear listmembers,
I've recently come across a German translation of psalms in two medieval
manuscripts (library of Stift Nonnberg, Salzburg); what seems to be
extraordinary about these psalms is that they feature Mary, i.e. instead of
"Lauda anima mea dominum" it would read (I translate into English here) "My
soul praises our Queen". It also seems as if some of the psalms have been
shortened and/or paraphrased in order to praise Mary. In one of the
manuscripts the psalms are included in the Feast of S. Anne, the second ms.
features psalms in the Feast Presentatio BMV; here each psalm starts with
an "Ave", each time ascribing another quality such as "highly praised",
"blessed", "bride of God" etc. to Mary.
Does anyone know if translating and partially rewriting psalms in order to
praise Mary was common in the Middle Ages or has someone come across
something similar? I couldn't find any literature on this specific feature;
of course, there's literature dealing with translations and the Cult of the
Virgin but I was unable to find a work dealing with this specific problem.
Thanks in advance,
Susanne Lang
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