Academic literature on the topic 'History of the Bible in the Middle Ages'

One of the most pressing needs in the field of medieval biblical studies is for an adequate historical overview of developments in the late Middle Ages. One of the pioneers, the late Beryl Smalley, never fully achieved the intended sequel to her magisterial Study of the Bible in the Middle Ages, although her English Friars and Antiquity was an excellent beginning, particularly for the early fourteenth-century English group. Other surveys end with Nicholas of Lyra, skip from the thirteenth century to the Reformation, or give only the most cursory attention to the late medieval period.2 And yet the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries were rich in biblical commentaries, and scholars, have long considered a more precise understanding of developments in that period to be essential for an adequate appreciation of the character and significance of biblical commentaries in the early sixteenth century.

The Hebrew works of convert Abner de Burgos/Alfonso de Valladolid (d. ca. 1347) were translated into Castilian in the fourteenth century, at least partly and probably entirely by Abner/Alfonso himself. Because the author avoids Christian texts and cites abundantly from Hebrew sources, his writing includes many passages taken from the Hebrew Bible and the Talmud. The Castilian versions of his works translate these citations directly from Hebrew and do not seem to make any direct use of existing Romance-language Bibles (although his work might have relied indirectly on Jewish Bible translations circulating orally in the fourteenth century). Given the abundance of citations, especially in Abner/Alfonso’s earliest surviving work, the Moreh ṣedeq (Mostrador de justicia), his writing can serve as a significant source in the history of Hebrew-to-Romance Bible translation in the fourteenth century. The goal of this article is to consider the impact of polemical writing on Bible translation in the Middle Ages by analyzing these citations in Abner/Alfonso’s Castilian works.

In teaching the history of astronomy, mosaics found at ancient synagogues in the Middle East are invaluable. The ancient Zodiac signs forming such mosaics are related to the seasons indicating the fact that the precession of the Earth axis had been neglected or even unknown. We demonstrate that the sage’s derivations of the patriarch’s ages in the chronology of the Septuagint version of the bible correspond to the signs of the zodiac, an assumption supported, for example, by the inscription found in the ruins of the Jewish synagogue in Ein-Gedi. Through our astronomical calculations we solve the sun-moon conjunctions occurring at the beginning of the zodiac signs – at the Vernal Equinox - considering the real sun's orbit. Since the Septuagint version of the bible is assumed to have been translated into Greek in the 3rd century BC from an earlier existing Hebrew source, the fact that the ages of the patriarchs correspond to the observations of the real sun's motion, leads to the conclusion that the Septuagint version is an important book of the history of science. As a result of our findings, the bible can, thus, be regarded as one of the most ancient detailed scientific teaching sources leading to improved astronomical models which determined the planetary orbits.

Abstract The power ascribed to the Bible codex was expressed by the word Segulah, which in biblical Hebrew translates as “treasured possession.” In the later Middle Ages, however, this word is better translated as “remedy” or “occult virtue,” reflecting an infusion of medical and magical concepts which can be seen to align with ideas present in writings about Torah study by Profiat Duran (Ma’aseh Efod, 1403). This article finds visual evidence for a multi-faceted understanding of Segulah in the Seder marks which were added to the thirteenth-century Iberian Bible known as the Damascus Keter (JNUL 4 790).

La Bible anglo-normande (B.a.n.) et la Bible de Jean de Sy (BJdS) sont deux traductions bibliques en langue d'oïl du XIVe siècle d'un intérêt considérable, mais encore peu étudiées. La B.a.n. est une traduction anonyme de la Vulgate, transmise par trois manuscrits. Elle représente non seulement l'une des premières versions complètes de la Bible en français, mais aussi peut-être la plus ancienne traduction biblique intégrale en prose produite en Angleterre. Au cours des dernières années, un intérêt renouvelé pour B.a.n. s'est manifesté par l'édition de livres isolés, mais l'œuvre reste en grande partie inédite.La BJdS fait partie d'un projet de traduction intégrale de la Bible en prose commandé par le roi de France Jean le Bon au frère dominicain Jean de Sy. Cependant, le travail de traduction s'est arrêté en 1356, après la capture du souverain à la bataille de Poitiers. L'ouvrage nous est parvenu dans un seul manuscrit incomplet, le ms. Paris, BnF, fr. 15397, chef-d'œuvre de l'enluminure médiévale qui contient uniquement le Pentateuque. Il n'existe à ce jour que des éditions de courts extraits du texte et de la riche glose exégétique qui l'accompagne.L'un des points les plus intéressants est le débat sur la relation entre ces deux traductions de la Bible : si, à la fin du XIXe siècle, S. Berger considère la BJdS comme une excellente réécriture de la B.a.n., en 2007, P. Nobel avance l'hypothèse que les deux ouvrages descendent d'une même source française perdue. D'autres chercheurs, en revanche, affirment l'indépendance des deux bibles, sans toutefois fournir de preuves à l'appui.Notre étude vise à fournir les éditions critiques du livre du Deutéronome de la B.a.n. et de la BJdS et à clarifier la relation entre les deux traductions. Le choix du Deutéronome nous permettra d'examiner un livre de la Bible au caractère hétérogène, qui alterne de courts passages narratifs avec des prescriptions juridiques et religieuses. Le présent travail doit donc être considéré comme un premier pas vers une édition plus complète de deux importantes traductions médiévales de la Bible en français, mais aussi comme une base pour de futures études traductologiques, linguistiques et lexicales.Le ch. 1 propose une contextualisation historique et culturelle des deux traductions, centrée sur leurs milieux de circulation respectifs : l'Angleterre du XIVe siècle et la cour royale de Jean le Bon. On explorera également le vaste commentaire exégétique de la BJdS et la possible relation entre la B.a.n. et une traduction du XIIIe siècle réalisée en Terre Sainte, la Bible d'Acre.Le ch. 2 est consacré à l'étude des rapports entre les deux bibles et leurs sources latines. Au sein de la vaste tradition de la Vulgate, on tentera d'identifier la famille à laquelle appartiennent les modèles latins utilisés comme base de traduction pour la B.a.n. et la BJdS. Les indices textuels compatibles avec une dynamique de révision sur la Vulgate dans les deux branches de la tradition de la B.a.n. seront analysés en détail.Le ch. 3 porte sur la délicate question des rapports entre la B.a.n. et la BJdS. La comparaison avec d'autres traductions, comme la Bible d'Acre et la Bible du XIIIe siècle, permettra d'avoir une vision plus approfondie du problème.Le ch. 4 présente l'examen linguistique des témoins : pour la B.a.n., l'analyse portera principalement sur le ms. L, manuscrit de surface de l'édition ; pour la BJdS, on procédera à une étude préliminaire des traits les plus importants, en l'absence de travaux antérieurs sur la langue du copiste.Une Note aux textes (ch. 5), avec des descriptions codicologiques et l'indication des critères de transcription et de reconstruction textuelle, précède les éditions du livre du Deutéronome de la B.a.n. et de la BJdS (ch. 6). Les deux textes sont accompagnés de commentaires philologiques et littéraires ; pour la seule traduction de Jean de Sy, on fournit également une liste des sources citées dans la glose par le dominicain
The Bible anglo-normande (B.a.n.) and the Bible de Jean de Sy (BJdS) are two 14th-century French biblical translations of considerable interest, but still largely unexplored. The B.a.n. is an anonymous translation of the Vulgate, of which three copies survive. In addition to being one of the earliest extant complete French biblical versions, the B.a.n. is probably the first full prose vernacular Bible produced in England. In recent years, a renewed interest in the B.a.n. has led to the edition of individual books, but the work remains largely unpublished.The BJdS was initially conceived as a full prose translation of the Bible, commissioned by the king of France Jean le Bon to the Dominican friar Jean de Sy. However, it was interrupted in 1356, with the capture of the sovereign at the Battle of Poitiers. The work is preserved in a single acephalous manuscript containing only the Pentateuch, the ms. Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, fr. 15397, a well-known masterpiece of medieval illumination. Only small parts of the text and of its rich exegetical gloss have been published so far.The debate on the relation between the two Bibles is a point of special interest: while at the end of the 19th century S. Berger considered the BJdS an excellent revision of the B.a.n., in 2007 P. Nobel suggests that the two translations descend from the same lost vernacular source. Other scholars, on the contrary, affirm the independence of the two works, without providing the support of sufficient evidence.The present study aims to provide a critical edition of the book of Deuteronomy of the B.a.n. and the BJdS and to clarify the relationship between the two Bibles through the comparative analysis of the two translations. The choice of Deuteronomy allows us to examine a book of the Bible which alternates short narrative passages with legal and religious prescriptions, unlike Leviticus, in which the legislative aspect predominates. Moreover, Deuteronomy does not present the reiteration of fixed phrases that turn entire chapters of Numbers into monotonous lists, perhaps less significant from the point of view of translation. The present study is therefore intended as a first step towards a more complete edition of two important medieval French translations of the Bible, as well as a starting point for future linguistic, translation and lexical studies.The first chapter proposes a cultural-historical background of the two Bibles, with a special focus on their circulation contexts: 14th-century England and the royal court of Jean le Bon. It will also explore the BJdS's exegetical gloss and the potential connection between the B.a.n. and a 13th-century translation made in the Holy Land, the so-called Bible d'Acre.The second chapter investigates the relations between the two translations and their respective Latin sources. Within the vast tradition of the Vulgate, we will try to identify to which Latin family the sources used for the redaction of the B.a.n. and the BJdS belong. We will analyse in detail the textual evidence suggesting a revision on the Latin Vulgate in the two branches of the B.a.n. tradition.The third chapter deals with the controversial relationship between the B.a.n. and the BJdS, also through comparison with other medieval translations (Bible d'Acre and Bible du XIIIe siècle).The fourth chapter is dedicated to the linguistic analysis: for the B.a.n., we will mainly examine the ms. L, manuscrit de surface of the edition; for the BJdS, a preliminary study of the most relevant features will be conducted, in the absence of other linguistic studies on the witness.The description of the manuscripts and the explanation of the criteria adopted for the constitutio textus (fifth chapter) precede the critical edition of the book of Deuteronomy in the B.a.n. and the BJdS (sixth chapter). Both editions are followed by commentary notes; after Jean de Sy's text we present a list of the sources mentioned in the gloss
La Bible anglo-normande e la Bible de Jean de Sy sono due volgarizzamenti biblici in lingua d’oïl del XIV secolo di considerevole interesse, ma tuttora scarsamente indagati. La Bible anglo-normande (d’ora in avanti B.a.n.) è una traduzione anonima della Vulgata, trasmessa da tre manoscritti.1 Oltre a costituire una delle prime versioni complete della Bibbia in francese esistenti, la B.a.n. è verosimilmente il più antico volgarizzamento biblico integrale in prosaprodotto in Inghilterra. Negli ultimi anni, un rinnovato interesse per la B.a.n. ha portato all’edizione di singoli libri, ma l’opera rimane in gran parte inedita. Di conseguenza, restano ancora da chiarire aspetti relativi alla collocazione culturale del testo, alle sue fonti e alla circolazione. La Bible de Jean de Sy (BJdS) rientra invece in un progetto di traduzione integrale della Bibbia in prosa commissionato dal re di Francia Jean le Bon al frate domenicano Jean de Sy. Il lavoro fu però interrotto nel 1356, con la cattura del sovrano nella battaglia di Poitiers. L’opera ci è pervenuta attraverso un unico manoscritto acefalo contenente solo il Pentateuco, il ms. Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, fr. 15397, conosciuto anche come capolavoro dell’arte libraria medievale. Nonostante la BJdS sia stata definita «la plus gigantesque tentative de traduction française et d'exégèse de la Bible qui ait vu le jour au Moyen Age» (AVRIL 1972, p. 123), ad oggi sono stati pubblicati solo brevi estratti del volgarizzamento e della ricca glossa esegetica che accompagna il testo. Il controverso rapporto tra le due traduzioni bibliche rappresenta un nodo di primario interesse: se alla fine dell’Ottocento Berger ritiene che la BJdS sia un’ottima riscrittura della B.a.n., nel 2007 Nobel avanza l’ipotesi che i due volgarizzamenti discendano dalla stessa fonte volgare andata perduta. Altri studiosi affermano invece l’indipendenza delle due opere, pur senza fornire il supporto di prove. Il presente studio mira a fornire un’edizione critica del libro del Deuteronomio della B.a.n. e della BJdS e a chiarire la relazione tra le due bibbie mediante l’analisi comparativa dei due volgarizzamenti. Il campo d’indagine è circoscritto al Deuteronomio, in quanto sezione completamente inesplorata di entrambe le traduzioni, al contrario della Genesi e dell’Esodo, dei quali sono disponibili per la B.a.n. l’edizione REVOL 2006 e il recente studio di SCHWALLER 2023. La scelta del Deuteronomio consentirà di esaminare un libro della Bibbia dal carattere eterogeneo, che alterna brevi brani narrativi a prescrizioni giuridico-religiose a cominciare dalla rievocazione dei Dieci comandamenti da parte di Mosè (Dt V, 1-21), diversamente dal Levitico, nel quale l’aspetto legislativo è nettamente predominante. Inoltre, il Deuteronomio è esente dalla reiterazione di formule fisse che riducono interi capitoli del libro dei Numeri a monotoni elenchi, forse meno significativi dal punto di vista della traduzione. Invitiamo dunque a considerare il presente lavoro come un primo passo verso un’edizione più completa di due importanti traduzioni medievali della Bibbia in francese, nonché come base per futuri studi traduttologici, linguistici e lessicali. Il capitolo 1 propone un inquadramento storico-culturale delle due traduzioni, con particolare attenzione ai rispettivi contesti di circolazione: l’Inghilterra del XIV secolo e la corte reale di Jean le Bon. Si approfondiranno inoltre l’esteso commento esegetico della BJdSe la potenziale relazione tra la B.a.n. e una traduzione duecentesca confezionata in Terra Santa, la cosiddetta Bible d’Acre (...)

Ensconced as sheriffs of Worcestershire since Norman times, the Beauchamps owed their earidom to a particularly fortunate marriage in the thirteenth century. Thereafter, they, like other magnate families, owed their increasing prosperity to marriage alliance and to royal service, found wanting only when the Crown itself exhibited weakness. Though virtually all the Beauchamp earls belonged to the later middle ages, the chance survival of their records and other factors have dictated that emphasis be laid on their history after 1369 and that, within that period, a personal bias be given to the life of the fifth earl. The balance has been redressed, however, by the discussion of other aspects not confined to the years 1401-39. The fourth earl's disgrace in 1397 marked the nadir of Beauchamp fortunes, a situation reversed by the advent of Henry IV. The beginning of the Lancastrian regime practically coincided with the majority of Earl Richard, who oversaw the recovery and expansion of the family's wealth and influence and prepared the way for their short-lived dukedom. This was extinguished, along with their earldom, on the failure of the male line in 1446. Detailed attention is given to the estate administration and finances of the fourth and fifth earls, who took an interest in such matters. As a result, they probably enjoyed a fairly steady income from land (political loss aside) in the period 1395-1423, and its expenditure reflected their current preoccupations: lawsuits, the purchase of property, the war, and patronage. The Beauchamps dispensed largesse to a numerous following, the subject of a final chapter dealing with the cost and nature of their patronage, the composition and stability of the affinity, and the interaction of the war and peace-time retinues.

Early medieval Europe is not well known for its crowds, unlike Antiquity or the later Middle Ages. After sixth-century demographic and urban decline, crowds were smaller, less spontaneous, and easier to control than in other periods of European history. This study, the first comprehensive analysis of collective behaviors and representations in Europe from c. 500 to c. 1000, argues that crowd-scarce early medieval societies nevertheless organized their institutions around the behavior of crowds. Assemblies, festivals, fairs, and the church’s invisible multitude of saints ensured that collective behavior remained central to early medieval public life. Under the impact of Christian values and new physical realities, elites abandoned old prejudices against mobs and rabbles while embracing the crowd’s legitimacy, with enduring results for later medieval political and religious life. In chapter 1, archaeological and demographic evidence reveal how early medieval gatherings co-opted seasonal agglomerations such as markets, harvests, and festivals. Early medieval gatherings depended on the temporary accumulation of populations, and so became less spontaneous than their Roman antecedents. Chapter 2 draws on the sociology of crowds and on written and archaeological sources to trace the decline of late antique crowd spaces (the old circuses, theaters, baths, and colonnades of Roman cities). It shows why and where early medieval elites developed new, medieval gatherings, such as royal and church assemblies, hunts, armies and war-bands, and political ceremonies. In chapter 3, the semantic history of collectivity in early medieval Latin and vernacular writings demonstrates how technical and connotative distinctions in ancient words for crowds became attenuated in the face of new concepts. The same word that had meant “a dangerous rabble” in the first century could be used to describe a sacred gathering of monks in the ninth century. Chapter 4 studies patterns to which crowds conformed in the imaginations revealed by written sources: clichés and type-scenes which repeated themselves in saints’ lives, histories, liturgy, and poems. Many of these literary devices reinforced links between crowds and legitimacy. Nevertheless, the chapter ends with counter-examples, in which elites expressed anxieties about crowds using new, gendered polemics. Chapter 5 investigates rituals and their representations, like royal assemblies and liturgical rites, which arose at the intersection of early medieval material horizons for physical assembly and early medieval mentalities. It argues that the role of crowds in early medieval ritual gatherings, and their representation in visual media, endured in subsequent medieval political, religious, and legal institutions. It concludes by showing how eleventh-century demographic and urban expansion sparked a new crowd regime, which departed but also arose from the concepts and practices shaped in the first half-millennium of the Middle Ages.
History

The focus of the thesis is the diplomatic and legal implications of the capture of ships at sea in the later Middle Ages. It challenges key assumptions in much secondary literature concerning the definition of piracy, seeking to explore several major themes relating to the legal status of shipping in periods of war or diplomatic tension in this period. The thesis draws primarily on diplomatic, legal and administrative records, largely those of English royal government, but also makes use of material relating to France, Holland and Zealand, Flanders and the Hanse. The majority of studies on this subject stress the importance of developments which occurred in the fifteenth century, yet I have found it necessary to follow the development of the law of prize, diplomatic provisions for the keeping of the sea and the use of devolved sea-keeping fleets back to the start of the thirteenth century. This thesis questions the tendency of historians to attach the term ‘piracy’, with its modern legal connotations, to a variety of actions at sea in the later Middle Ages. In the absence of a clear legislative or semantic framework a close examination of the complexity of practice surrounding the judgement of prize, the provision of restitution to injured parties, and diplomatic mechanisms designed to prevent disorder at sea, enables a more rounded picture to emerge. A detailed examination of individual cases is set within the broader conceptual framework of international, commercial and maritime law. Chapter 1 provides a study of the wartime role of devolved flees by means of a case study of Henry III’s Poitou campaigns of 1242-3. It demonstrates that private commissioned ships undertook a variety of naval roles including the transport of troops, patrolling the coast and enforcing blockades. Further, it argues that it is anachronistic to criticise private shipowners for seeking profit through attacks on enemy shipping as booty was an integral incentive in all forms of medieval warfare. Chapter 2 provides a detailed examination of the application of letters of marque, one of the principal means of obtaining redress for injuries suffered at the hands of the subject of a foreign sovereign. It demonstrates that far from being a justification for ‘piracy’ letters of marque were highly regulated legal instruments applied in the context of an internationally accepted body of customs. Chapter 3 examines the concept of neutrality and the relationship between warfare and commerce through a study of Anglo-Flemish relations during the Anglo-Scottish wars between 1305 and 1323. It argues that universal standards of neutrality did not exist in this period and that decisions on prize took place within the context of an ever-changing diplomatic background. Chapter 4 focuses on the provision of restitution once judgement had been made through an examination of a complex dispute between English merchants and the count of Hainault, Holland and Zeeland spanning the opening decades of the fourteenth century. It emphasises the ad hoc nature of restitution with a variety of means devised to compensate the injured parties and the difficult and often inconclusive process undergone by litigants against a backdrop of competing interests, both local and national. The thesis concludes that the legal process surrounding the capture of shipping was civil rather than criminal in nature. The plaintiff’s need to obtain restitution was the driving force behind such actions rather than the state’s desire to monopolise the use of violence at sea. The reliance of the English crown on devolved shipping made such a policy fiscally impractical.

The history of relations between Lubeck and Russia goes back to the Middle Ages. At that time, the main partner of Lubeck was Novgorod. After Novgorod became part of the Moscow state, the city tried to build relations with the tsars. In the XVIII–XIX centuries, the city became an important partner in the difficult Russian-German relations of that period.

After a short introduction on media evolution and their implications on human history the paper presents the results of two experiences held by the authors while using new technologies in disseminating bibliographical and historical information. The former experience concerns the Web publication of a bibliography on Beneventan manuscripts and arises from the need of overcoming the long edition times of printed information. It also proposes itself as an online resource for all researchers involved in studies on the South Italian book script in the Middle Ages. The latter one originates from most recent studies on women copyists in the Middle Ages and uses an online database to spread news on this subject. The paper then analyzes analogies and differences between the two experiences and suggests, at last, they can be seen as a source of online information for scholars, thus representing a first step towards the construction of new paradigms of knowledge and research in historical studies.

“Babur-nama” is considered by us as a very important and wide-profile source on history, ethnography, culture, geography, oriental studies, toponymy, jurisprudence of peoples and states of the vast territories, a number of regions of the East, in the Middle Ages and the beginning of modern times. “Babur’s Zapiski” informs in detail about the deeds of the people of state administration -rulers, commanders, no less skillfully tells about poets, people of art, music, as well as scientists, whose successes have opened up new achievements of science. It is noted that “Babur-nama” acts as a very valuable primary source on the history of the peoples of Central Asia, Afghanistan and India, and is also directly related to the history of Kyrgyzstan in the era of Babur and the Baburiods.

When most people think of the genre epic poem, they probably think of the great epics of antiquity and the Middle Ages. The further one follows literary history into the present, the rarer one encounters this art form. Two contemporary German-language authors, however, have deliberately chosen this form to tell heroine stories, in keeping with the tradition of the genre: Ann Cotten’s verse epic ‘Verbannt!’ (2016) and Anne Weber’s ‘Annette, ein Heldinnenepos’ (2020). Although both works are dedicated to the same form and function, they differ strikingly in both aspects.

During the centuries of the Middle Ages the special organizations of Crusader knight orders have been founded in order to achieve goals of public utility. They also disposed of their own properties needed for achieving those goals of public utility, just like modern NGOs. Their nonprofit activities were: military defense and public safety, administration (“locus credibilis authenticus”), and healing (hospitals, “leprosoriums”). The king, the superior ecclesiastical dignities, entrant members and individuals could equally support these organizations with their donations in the course of their latter functioning. The donations could be paid in one sum or on an annual basis; inter vivos (between the living), as a property benefit, or with a provision in the event of death, through a testament. In the course of carrying out public benefit activities, the Crusaders also committed abuses in the course of using the benefits provided to their organizations, similar to today’s nonprofit organizations. Within the framework of a “lesson” in legal history, the present study shows – mainly illustrated with Hungarian examples from the Arpad-era – the reasons that led to the disappearance of some knight orders, while how other organizations were able to survive – even until the present day.

New high precision lithogeochemistry and Nd and Hf isotopic data were collected on felsic rocks of the Rambler Rhyolite formation from the Ming volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) deposit, Baie Verte Peninsula, Newfoundland. The Rambler Rhyolite formation consists of intermediate to felsic volcanic and volcaniclastic rocks with U-shaped primitive mantle normalized trace element patterns with negative Nb anomalies, light rare earth element-enrichment (high La/Sm), and distinctively positive Zr and Hf anomalies relative to surrounding middle rare earth elements (high Zr-Hf/Sm). The Rambler Rhyolite samples have epsilon-Ndt = -2.5 to -1.1 and epsilon-Hft = +3.6 to +6.6; depleted mantle model ages are TDM(Nd) = 1.3-1.5 Ga and TDM(Hf) = 0.9-1.1Ga. The decoupling of the Nd and Hf isotopic data is reflected in epsilon-Hft isotopic data that lies above the mantle array in epsilon-Ndt -epsilon-Hft space with positive ?epsilon-Hft values (+2.3 to +6.2). These Hf-Nd isotopic attributes, and high Zr-Hf/Sm and U-shaped trace element patterns, are consistent with these rocks having formed as slab melts, consistent with previous studies. The association of these slab melt rocks with Au-bearing VMS mineralization, and their FI-FII trace element signatures that are similar to rhyolites in Au-rich VMS deposits in other belts (e.g., Abitibi), suggests that assuming that FI-FII felsic rocks are less prospective is invalid and highlights the importance of having an integrated, full understanding of the tectono-magmatic history of a given belt before assigning whether or not it is prospective for VMS mineralization.