>Dear All,
>
>Can anyone inform me about pre-1150 examples of the use of the
>metaphor of the wheel of fortune in medieval literary or historical texts?
>
>Carolyn Muessig
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Dear Carolyn,
I've only just had a chance to look at this, and I see some people have
already made pertinent points. The obvious starting point is indeed
Boethius *Consolation of Philosophy* (unless you don't consider this a
"literary" text), and of course this is reflected in king Alfred's Old
English translation (and, I think, in Notker's German version). The works
by H.R.Patch to consult are *The goddess Fortuna in Medieval Literature*
(1927) and *The Tradition of Boethius* (1935), but you might also want to
look at P.Courcelle, *La Consolation de Philosophie dans la Tradition
Littéraire* (1967), which has many illustrations, and a chapter on the
early commentaries on Boethius; F.P.Pickering, *Literature and Art in the
Middle Ages* (1970), with a chapter on the historical tradition including
Boethian Fortune), and J.D.Frakes, *The Fate of Fortune in the Early Middle
Ages* (1988). You might also find interesting the article by A.H.Nelson,
"Mechanical Wheels of Fortune 1100-1547", *Journal of the Warburg and
Courtauld Institutes*, 43 (1980) 227-33.
I have a lot of material on the post-12th century use of fortune and her
wheel (and other iconographies) if this is of interest to you. I hope this
helps.
Cheers,
Brian Donaghey
Brian Donaghey - Dept of English Language & Linguistics - Ext 6291
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