 |
 |
medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture Cecilia: Though I could easily have missed it, my sense from having read a number of 13th and 14 century mendicant vitae (and after looking at some notes) is that that this setting-out of a distinction between chronology and theme is not common in prologues. There's something perhaps close to it in the vita of Pelingotto of Urbino (+1304) (in AA SS June vol. 1), where the anonymous author says that he's not covering the whole history of the saint, but rather will give a succinct account of his "life, mores and miracles"; a distinction between chronology and topic is kind of implicit there, though the more direct point is that the work is going to be short as opposed to long. In the prologue to the vita of Margaret of Cortona, Giunta Bevegnati is explicit about arranging things topically, but I don't think he is explicit about having chosen against chronology. What he does do is to invite the readers to rearrange anything they "find out of place" -- which certainly shows him interested in categorizing, but the point may be more along the lines of a topos of humility. Regards, John Coakley On 6/25/06, cecilia gaposchkin <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > > medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture > > Dear all, > > I hope you will forgive me my addressing this question to the list. I am > away from my office and thus my books for a week (country living) and have > stumbled upon an interesting parallel, and I want to know whether it is a > parallel of two, or a paralell of general medieval use. > > Bonaventure, in his Legenda Maior for Francis, explains in his prologue > his > method of organization. He explains: > > To avoid confusion I did not always weave the story together in a > chronological order. Rather, I strove to maintain a more thematic order, > relating to the same theme events that happened at different times, and to > different themes events tah happened at the same time, as seemed > appropriate. > > (This is taken from the ed. Armstrong Early Documents translation) > > Can anyone tell me if this is a common trope in hagiographical prologues? > I > know that roughly speaking it is a trope of hagiographical writing - and > that many authors in fact did precisely this. But I'm curious if this is a > standard opening to a vita, followed by chapter headings. > > So, please, list away the yeses and nos for any vita/e you're familiar > with, > especially if it is 13th or 14th century, or Franciscan. (These are my > current parameters). > > As always, thank you for your attenion. I do so appreciate the generosity > of this list. And I am still troubling by my text in 12 chapters, which I > would otherwise think is a Franciscan text... > > cecilia > > > M.C.Gaposchkin, Ph.D. > History, Dartmouth College > > ********************************************************************** > To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME > to: [log in to unmask] > To send a message to the list, address it to: > [log in to unmask] > To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion > to: [log in to unmask] > In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to: > [log in to unmask] > For further information, visit our web site: > http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html > ********************************************************************** To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME to: [log in to unmask] To send a message to the list, address it to: [log in to unmask] To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion to: [log in to unmask] In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to: [log in to unmask] For further information, visit our web site: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html