There is a good deal of early medieval evidence which suggests that
history--or rather, stories about the past--was often read allegorically. For
example, Byrhtferth of Ramsay, in his _Vita Oswaldi_ of 997x1005, records
that a battle at the town of Maldon in 991 ought to be read in the context of
Jeremiah: "Talis enim olim comminatio Iudeis promissa est, quam nostrates
tunc et nunc sustinebant et sustinent" etc. Similarly, Archbishop Wulfstan of
York wrote several sermons at the beginning of s.xi which relate the
allegorical significance of recent events. Insofar as these histories are
secular texts, there may be precedent here for assuming a habit of mind which
may have extended to literary texts as well.
Steve Harris
John Marlin wrote:
> I'd add one more note to the problem of using methods of biblical exegesis
> in understanding secular texts - there seems to be little evidence of such
> a method in practice. We have plenty of glossed manuscripts of Chaucer,
> but I don't recall seeing any glosses that systematically employ these
> methods (were many of such extant, I imagine Robertson and his school
> would have made much of them).
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