On Wed, 23 Sep 1998, Patrick J. Nugent wrote:
The modern critical edition is not the text medieval
writers had, and...this is complicated further by the fact that
often a writer relies on memory, and even if his or her memory is
faulty, the text they're working with is the one in their mind, not
the one in the late-twentieth century edition. It's complicated yet
further when they're working on or from Augustine or Tertullian or
Ambrose or some other late antique author who themselves worked from
one of the Old Latin versions.
This prompts a spin-off query about scholarship on the use of
biblical quotation by medieval authors. I've been studying the various
means by which Northumbrian authors incorporate references to and
quotations from scripture into their works (with particular reference to
the anonymous vitae of Cuthbert and Gregory the Great, and to Stephanus'
Vita S. Wilfridi, all of which are early eighth-century texts. One thing
that has intrigued me is the way in which the authors of these vitae
often close brief, phrasal quotations of texts with what appear to be
mnemonic formulae, such as 'et reliqua', 'et cetera' or 'ut dicit
apostolus'. At the minute (although this is all rather preliminary and
needs more work on individaul instances ) I'm taking these as kind of
prompts to the audience or reader to supply from memory a supplementary
expansion of the text which is given, and this raises a couple of
obvious questions - I'm hoping that members of this list might be
able to point me in the direction of useful scholarship...
1. Northumbrian writers demonstrate familiarity not only with the Bible,
but also with Jerome, Augustine, Gregory Isidore and a whole host of
other Christian writers including Arator, Venantius Fortunatus, Paulinus
of Nola, Sedulius... I'm getting to grips with Gregory, but if anyone
can tell me anything about the use of similar mnemonic formulae by any
of these writers (e.g. particular texts that I should look at) it would
probably save me from going up several blind alleys.
2. Is there any existing scholarship on the use of mnemonic prompts of
this kind by early medieval authors, particularly in hagiographical and
historiographical texts, which I ought to look at?
3. I obviously need to take a good look at the form of the liturgy used
in eighth-century Northumbria - which is at present a mystery to me.
I've got access to a bibliography (RW Pfaff, Medieval Latin Liturgy: a
select bibliography, 1982) but any recommendations of particularly
useful treatments would be much appreciated.
With many thanks in advance for your help,
Kate Rambridge
University of Bristol.
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