Visions and Revisions: the Sources and Analogues of the Old English Andreas
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Visions and Revisions: The Sources and Analogues of the Old English Andreas by Bill Friesen A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, Graduate Department of English, University of Toronto © Copyright by Bill Friesen, 2008 Library and Archives Bibliothèque et Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de l’édition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre référence ISBN: 978-0-494-57992-3 Our file Notre référence ISBN: 978-0-494-57992-3 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non- L’auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library and permettant à la Bibliothèque et Archives Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par télécommunication ou par l’Internet, prêter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des thèses partout dans le loan, distribute and sell theses monde, à des fins commerciales ou autres, sur worldwide, for commercial or non- support microforme, papier, électronique et/ou commercial purposes, in microform, autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L’auteur conserve la propriété du droit d’auteur ownership and moral rights in this et des droits moraux qui protège cette thèse. Ni thesis. Neither the thesis nor la thèse ni des extraits substantiels de celle-ci substantial extracts from it may be ne doivent être imprimés ou autrement printed or otherwise reproduced reproduits sans son autorisation. without the author’s permission. In compliance with the Canadian Conformément à la loi canadienne sur la Privacy Act some supporting forms protection de la vie privée, quelques may have been removed from this formulaires secondaires ont été enlevés de thesis. cette thèse. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires aient inclus dans in the document page count, their la pagination, il n’y aura aucun contenu removal does not represent any loss manquant. of content from the thesis. ii Thesis Abstract Title: Visions and Revisions: The Sources and Analogues of the Old English Andreas Degree: Doctor of Philosophy, 2008. Submitted by: Bill Friesen Department: Graduate Department of English, University of Toronto This dissertation investigates through the paradigms of the opus geminatum genre the relationship of the Old English verse Andreas to its potential exemplars, influences and subsequent renderings. The study focuses specifically upon the ways in which inherited textual dynamics of the opus geminatum—a pair of texts, one in verse and one in prose, which ostensibly treat the same subject—contribute to substantive and stylistic parallels or deviations between Andreas and these other texts. The first chapter positions the paradigm of the opus geminatum alongside the ongoing discussions about the relationships both of internal elements within Andreas, and between Andreas and its Latin or Old English analogues. It provides a detailed overview of the opus geminatum as this grows out of late antique traditions of paraphrase and into the distinctive and highly nuanced genre which Anglo-Saxon authors made their own. It argues that amidst the debates about Andreas’ relationship to other texts, the opus geminatum affords both an historically appropriate and potentially very productive paradigm. The second chapter considers within this paradigm the interplay of content and style between Andreas and what is often thought to be its closest Latin exemplar found in the Casanatensis manuscript, for I contend here that the shift in style, from Latin prose to Old English verse, bears a necessary, dramatic and consistently iii overlooked influence upon the content of the Old English Andreas, changing not only how one reads that content, but the very substantive nature of the content itself. In Chapter Three the discussion shifts to the relationship Andreas has with an indigenous work, Beowulf, for which a number of recent studies have laid a new groundwork which suggests exciting possibilities for analysis, most significantly at the formulaic level, exploring the tension between explicit oral and literary indebtedness between the two poems. Finally, in Chapter Four the focus shifts to a comparison between the verse Andreas and its Old English prose version of the legend, in MS Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, 198, fols. 386r–394v, allowing one to explore in concrete detail the assertions which opus geminatum writers like Alcuin made about the difference and affinities between prose and verse treatments of opus geminatum texts. My conclusion draws together the broad tendencies mapped throughout this inquiry and considers the intrinsically relational nature of a text like Andreas. It argues in light of uncovered evidence for the efficacy and flexibility of the methods intrinsic to the opus geminatum as a highly appropriate analytical lens and explores from the broad perspective how this paradigm opens numerous horizons of engagement, such as with the embedded language of the liturgy in MS Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, 198, or the self-conscious investment of secular literary traditions in Beowulf with Christian literary projects, such as Andreas. iv For my parents, who know not at all, and for my wife, who knows only too well. v Acknowledgements Too often, acknowledgements like these are quickly written and just as quickly forgotten, but I shall not quickly forget the personal, professional and institutional support I enjoyed and often needed while writing this thesis. I am grateful to the Department of English at the University of Toronto for the open fellowship and extensive employment opportunities which funded my studies. I was also fortunate to enjoy wise and astute guidance from Joe Goering at early stages of my work which kept me from many later difficulties, and at the other chronological end of the project, I would like to thank my external examiner, Fred Biggs, whose considerable expertise and munificent attitude turned the completion of the project into an extremely productive and positive experience. Moreover, I am deeply appreciative of Will Robin’s and Toni Healey’s meticulous and sagacious advice which did much to balance the varied impulses in my research. I must also offer my heartfelt thanks to David Townsend, whose knowledge, professionalism and encouragement never failed. Above all, however, I would like to thank my advisor, Andy Orchard, for his breadth of understanding, tremendous efficiency, unfailing support and academic acumen, which was all put with remarkable generosity at my disposal; it is this generosity more than anything else which constitutes the tap-root of my recent development as a scholar. Then there are those in the background who brought me to this point, and without whom I would have surely faltered. I think here of my professors from the past and colleagues in the present: Scott Veenvleit, Scott Masson, John Cooper and particularly Stephen Dunning, all of whom showed me what was good and important about being a scholar. But finally, there is my dear and beloved wife, Tammy, who has been with me through it all, and now I find, at the end, words are utterly insufficient to express my gratitude. vi Abbreviations BHL Bibliotheca Hagiographica Latina CCSL Corpus Christianorum, Series Latina. Turnhout: Brepols, 1954–. CSEL Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum. Vienna: Hoelder, Pichler, Tempsky, 1866–. EETS os Early English Texts Series, original series. EETS ss Early English Texts Series, supplementary series. MGH AA Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Auctores antiquissimi. MGH SGR Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Scriptores rerum Germanicarum. MGH SRM Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Scriptores rerum Merovingicarum. PL Patrologiae Cursus Completus Series Latina. 221 vols. Paris: J.P. Migne, 1844–1864. vii Table of Contents Title Page . i Dedication. ii Abstract. iii Acknowledgements . v Abbreviations. vi Table of Contents. vii List of Appendices . viii I. Andreas and the Opus Geminatum. 1 II. Andreas and the Legend of Saint Andrew . 33 III. Andreas and Beowulf: Family Resemblances . 107 IV. The Old English Prose and Verse Andreas . 242 V. Conclusion. 293 Appendix I: Content of the Casantansis Account and Andreas . 301 Appendix II: Cluster Index: Beowulf and Andreas . 308 Works Consulted . 313 1 Chapter I Andreas and the Opus Geminatum For scholars of Old English literature, the concept of pairing or twinning is very familiar;1 at the level of prosody, lines of verse are divided into their a- and b- components; compounds constitute an essential part of this literature’s diction; its kennings depend upon the interplay between a pair of verbal elements; its alliteration in and between lines doubles, and then often plays off that doubling for effect.2 At a broader level, characters and their characteristics are portrayed relative to one another, incidents repeat, and are simultaneously varied, stages of life or plot are presented in light of one another.3 Intertextually, texts and their components gesture significantly towards other texts, providing their audiences with an often methodical, complex and pervasive web of allusions, an understanding of which is requisite to the appreciation of such literature.4 A substantial amount of modern scholarship surrounds aspects of this twinning. What is less clear,