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medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture Dear friends, As we continue to adjust to this strange time of pandemic, I've rendered another sermon from the 12th-century *Speculum Eccleisae* of Honorius Augustodunensis -- this time, for today's Feast of the Ascension: http://nathaniel-campbell.blogspot.com/2020/05/sermon-for-ascension-honorius-augustodunensis-speculum-ecclesiae.html . Notably, Émile Mâle determined that this sermon inspired the Ascension panels of the central lancet window (13th. cen.) of the apse in Lyons Cathedral (I've included images with the translation). I have not forgotten that there were several questions posed in response to the Easter sermon I posted in April (answering them got lost amidst grading papers). Rosemary Hayes noted quite rightly that the brothers of Canterbury Cathedral were monks, not canons. But as with all biographical data for him, the question of Honorius' profession is far from clear, and is particularly complicated by his itinerancy. Some manuscripts declare him a canon (Cambridge, Corpus Christi College 66 even places him specifically at the church of St. Mary in Mainz), while others describe him as a *monachus*, *inclusus*, or *solitarius*, in addition to being *presbyter et scholasticus*. Because of his wandering ways, however, the profession of canon makes the most sense, and so his early connections with Canterbury must have been as an ecclesiastic outside of the cathedral chapter itself. The fuzziness of our data concerning Honorius likewise complicates any answer to Stephen Miller's question concerning a possible date for the sermon collection. For the moment, our best conjectures are those of Valerie Flint, who spent decades studying Honorius, and summarized her conclusions (which evolved over time) in her 1995 volume, *Honorius Augustodunensis of Regensburg* (Authors of the Middle Ages 6, ed. P. J. Geary; Variorum / Ashgate). Honorius's earliest work, the *Elucidarius*, was likely composed in the last year or two of the 11th century, while he was in some way associated with Canterbury (there are numerous direct connections to Anselm). Although no manuscripts of English provenance survive of the *Speculum Ecclesiae*, Honorius's prefatory letter addressing it to the monks of Canterbury indicates that he had recently visited them, at which time they requested the work. This suggests that he was still in England (but no longer at Canterbury) when he composed the sermons. Shortly after writing them, however, he likely made his migration to Germany. Flint has suggested that this move to Germany came about 1109/1110, after St. Anselm's death, in search of better preferment. I find the possibility tantalizing, though utterly unproveable, that he made the move in the entourage of Mathilda, daughter of King Henry I of England, as she traveled to marry Emperor Henry V in 1110. He eventually settled in Regensburg (Flint conjectures as a canon of the *Alte Kapelle*), where we can pinpoint him at the very least by the late 1120's, when he was writing under the patronage of the city's bishop, Cuno of Raitenbuch. I hope everyone enjoys the Ascension Day sermon! --Nathaniel Campbell ---------------------------------------------------------- Email: [log in to unmask] Blog: http://nathaniel-campbell.blogspot.com/ Academia.edu Profile: http://unionky.academia.edu/NathanielCampbell ********************************************************************** To join the list, send the message: subscribe 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: unsubscribe 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/medieval-religion