Aquinas and “Alcuin”: a New Source of the Catena Aurea on John

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Aquinas and “Alcuin”: a New Source of the Catena Aurea on John AQUINAS AND “ALCUIN”: A NEW SOURCE OF THE CATENA AUREA ON JOHN Alexander ANDRÉE, Tristan SHARP, and Richard SHAW Abstract In the Catena aurea Thomas Aquinas brought together commentary extracted from the works of all the major Fathers on the four Gospels. Unknown to him and to all scholars since, however, his citations from Alcuin in the Catena on John did not in fact come from the Northumbrian’s Commentarius. They derive instead from a commentary on John’s Gospel probably compiled by Anselm of Laon in the early twelfth century. This same text, the Glosae super Iohannem, was also the principal source for the so-called Glossa ordinaria on John. Through both the Glossa and the Catena therefore this intriguing text indi- rectly ensured the continued and widespread influence of Anselm and his teaching throughout the later Middle Ages. The Catena aurea, or Glossa (expositio) continua in Matthaeum, Mar- cum, Lucam, Iohannem, as it was originally known,1 was one of Thomas Aquinas’s most important and popular works. It marked “a turning point in the development of Aquinas’s theology as well as in the history of Catholic dogma.”2 The Catena was also one of the “most widely diffused works of Aquinas, both in manuscript and in print.”3 The very sobriquet, ‘Golden Chain’, which the Glossa con- tinua gained within a century of its composition, is testimony to the 1 Quotations from the Catena will be from: S. Thomae Aquinatis Catena Aurea in quattuor Evangelia, I: Expositio in Matthaeum et Marcum, II: Expositio in Lucam et Ioan- nem, ed. A. GUARIENTI, Turin/Rome 1953: henceforth GUARIENTI. 2 Comment by I. T. ESCHMANN in É. GILSON, The Christian Philosophy of St. Thomas Aquinas with a Catalogue of St. Thomas’s Works by I. T. Eschmann, tr. L. K. SHOOK, New York 1956, p. 397. See also J.-P. TORRELL, Initiation à Saint Thomas d’Aquin. Sa personne et son œuvre, 2nd ed., Paris 2002, pp. 204-205. 3 J. A. WEISHEIPL, Friar Thomas d’Aquino. His Life, Thought and Work, New York 1974, p. 171. Recherches de Théologie et Philosophie médiévales 83(1), 3-20. doi: 10.2143/RTPM.83.1.3154582 © 2016 by Recherches de Théologie et Philosophie médiévales. All rights reserved. 003_98858_RTPM_2016-1.indb 3 16/06/16 10:34 4 A. ANDRÉE, T. SHARP AND R. SHAW respect in which it was held. Despite these accolades the work has received less attention from modern scholars than almost any other work of Aquinas. Indeed, it is more than often overlooked, since it is regarded merely as “his compilation from commentaries by others.”4 This attitude, however, overlooks the evidence of medieval readers. Most of Aquinas’s biblical commentaries were little-read in the dec- ades after his death, whereas his Catena enjoyed an immediate suc- cess.5 Its reception testifies to the importance for medieval scholars of such an endeavour – the reworking of previous sources to create new readings of the existing corpus of literature. As a result, analysis of the Catena, such as that in Carmello Giuseppe Conticello’s seminal article on the Catena aurea on John,6 can teach us important lessons about both St Thomas and his sources. Conticello devoted a short section to each “Father” quoted in the Catena on John, examining the way Aquinas used each. He provided an absolutely vital starting point for research on Aquinas’s sources and his use of them; however, the section on Alcuin raises more questions than it answers.7 Conticello only examined the seven citations of Alcuin from the prologue to John’s Gospel,8 but he noted that six of the seven quotes were not actually present in Alcuin’s Commentary on John.9 Indeed, even the one citation which he accepted as derived 4 This is the reason that Eleonore STUMP gave for ignoring the Catena in her useful analysis of Aquinas’s biblical commentaries: “Biblical Commentary and Philosophy,” in: N. KRETZMANN – E. STUMP (eds.), The Cambridge Companion to Aquinas, Cambridge 1993, pp. 252-268, at p. 252. 5 M. M. MULCHAHEY, First the Bow is Bent in Study...: Dominican Education before 1350, Toronto 1998, p. 504. 6 C. G. CONTICELLO, “San Tommaso ed i padri: la Catena aurea super Ioannem,” in: Archives d’Histoire Doctrinale et Littéraire du Moyen Âge 65 (1990), pp. 31-92. 7 CONTICELLO, “San Tommaso ed i padri,” pp. 53-54. As the present article provides a re-examination of the sources of Aquinas’s quotations from Alcuin it is inevitable that we will find ourselves taking issue with Conticello’s conclusions. This in no way detracts from the wider value of Conticello’s important article. 8 That is, John 1:1-18 (although this is not marked out as a separate section in the Catena). 9 ALCUIN, Commentarius in Iohannem, PL 100, cols. 737-1008. A critical edition of this influential work of Alcuin is now long overdue. Pending this, see M. M. GORMAN, “Rewriting Augustine: Alcuin’s Commentary on the Gospel of John,” in: Revue Bénédic- tine 119 (2009), pp. 36-85, and S. C. BERARDUCCI, “La genesi redazionale del commen- tario di Alcuino di York al Vangelo di Giovanni e il codice Sankt Gallen, Stiftsbibliothek 258,” in: Immagini del Medioevo. Saggi di cultura mediolatina, Spoleto 1994, pp. 23-79. 003_98858_RTPM_2016-1.indb 4 16/06/16 10:34 AQUINAS AND “aLCUIN” 5 from Alcuin does not match the source precisely,10 and if Aquinas did take it from Alcuin, then he also added a phrase which changes the focus of the point being made.11 Conticello’s sample was obviously, and understandably, a small one, but we shall see his basic conclusion borne out by a broader sampling from the Catena on John: many of the quotes from “Alcuin” are not derived from Alcuin’s Commentary at all, and most of those which might seem to be are loose quotations or paraphrases. Noting that at least two of the Catena’s “Alcuin” citations in the prologue appear to be related to a homily of Bede,12 Conticello ten- tatively suggested that a possible reason for the Catena’s apparent misattribution of these quotes to Alcuin was that Aquinas “added the lemma ‘Bede or Alcuin’ to extracts that circulated in anonymous glosses.”13 It is a sensible proposal, especially in light of Conticello’s observation that the works of Bede and Alcuin were often confused in the Middle Ages.14 We are, however, now able to show that Aqui- nas excerpted the passages in question from a single, complete work which he wrongly believed to be by Alcuin. This is a little studied commentary on John, entitled the Glosae super Iohannem in several manuscripts,15 and recently attributed to Anselm of Laon.16 10 CONTICELLO, “San Tommaso ed i padri,” p. 53 and n. 155. 11 The Catena (GUARIENTI, II, p. 330a) has: “Alcuinus. Qualiter autem ponit sub- stantivum verbum erat? Ut intelligeres omnia tempora praevenisse coaeternum Deo patri verbum.” The similar Alcuin passage, as referenced by Conticello, is: “Ideo quater dicit evangelista, Erat, erat, erat, erat, ut intelligeres omni tempore praevenisse coaeternum Deo Patri Verbum.” (745B). 12 BEDE, Homilia I, 8 – In nativitate Domini, ed. D. HURST (CCSL 122), Turnhout 1955. Although the second of the examples seems to be only very distantly connected at best to Bede’s version: CONTICELLO, “San Tommaso ed i padri,” p. 54. 13 CONTICELLO, “San Tommaso ed i padri”, p. 54: “È pensabile che Tommaso abbia aggiunto il lemma BEDA o ALCUINO ad estratti che circolavano anonimi nelle glosse?” 14 CONTICELLO, ibid. 15 Two manuscripts give the name of the author as “Anselmus”: Durham, Dean and Chapter Library, B III 17, fols. 1r-31r (31r), England (Oxford?), s. XIII1/4; and Cam- bridge, Trinity College, B 1 10, fols. 82r-138r (83r), England, s. XII3/4 (although the hand that has added “Anselmus” is of later, though uncertain date). Other evidence, external and internal, helps ascribe this text to Anselm. See A. ANDRÉE (ed.), Anselmi Laudunensis Glosae super Iohannem (CCCM 267), Turnhout 2014, pp. XVI-XXV. 16 See A. ANDRÉE, “Anselm of Laon Unveiled: The Glosae super Iohannem and the Origins of the Glossa ordinaria on the Bible,” in: Mediaeval Studies 73 (2011), pp. 217- 260. 003_98858_RTPM_2016-1.indb 5 16/06/16 10:34 6 A. ANDRÉE, T. SHARP AND R. SHAW The Glosae is a skilful blend of excerpts from the works of previous commentators on John interspersed with original and independent comment by the author. Liberal use is made of Augustine’s Tractatus in Iohannis Euangelium, Bede’s Homilies, Gregory the Great’s corpus and the sermons of Heiric of Auxerre; but the base text, which provides the core and the structure of the commentary’s content is Alcuin’s Commentarius.17 There are therefore often sections of the Glosae which are either taken directly from Alcuin or which are close paraphrases. One consequence of this close dependence of the Glosae on Alcuin is to tend to obscure the real relationship between the Catena and its “Alcuin” source. Because the Glosae uses Alcuin’s Commentary as a base a superficial survey of the “Alcuin” passages in the Catena might give the impression that he was indeed the source for much of the material, even if it would be clear that the original had almost always been at least slightly altered by Aquinas and that some passages had no relation to Alcuin. In order to show convincingly that the “Alcui- nus” in the Catena is actually the Glosae, therefore, it is necessary to provide as comprehensive a picture as possible and analyse several different types of examples.
Recommended publications
  • WHAT IS TRINITY SUNDAY? Trinity Sunday Is the First Sunday After Pentecost in the Western Christian Liturgical Calendar, and Pentecost Sunday in Eastern Christianity
    The Blessed Trinity with Crown, by Max Fürst (1846–1917) Welcome to OUR 15th VIRTUAL GSP class! Trinity Sunday and the Triune God WHAT IS IT? WHY IS IT? Presented by Charles E.Dickson,Ph.D. First Sunday after Pentecost: Trinity Sunday Almighty and everlasting God, who hast given unto us thy servants grace, by the confession of a true faith, to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity, and in the power of the Divine Majesty to worship the Unity: We beseech thee that thou wouldest keep us steadfast in this faith and worship, and bring us at last to see thee in thy one and eternal glory, O Father; who with the Son and the Holy Spirit livest and reignest, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. WHAT IS THE ORIGIN OF THIS COLLECT? This collect, found in the first Book of Common Prayer, derives from a little sacramentary of votive Masses for the private devotion of priests prepared by Alcuin of York (c.735-804), a major contributor to the Carolingian Renaissance. It is similar to proper prefaces found in the 8th-century Gelasian and 10th- century Gregorian Sacramentaries. Gelasian Sacramentary WHAT IS TRINITY SUNDAY? Trinity Sunday is the first Sunday after Pentecost in the Western Christian liturgical calendar, and Pentecost Sunday in Eastern Christianity. It is eight weeks after Easter Sunday. The earliest possible date is 17 May and the latest possible date is 20 June. In 2021 it occurs on 30 May. One of the seven principal church year feasts (BCP, p. 15), Trinity Sunday celebrates the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, the three Persons of God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, “the one and equal glory” of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, “in Trinity of Persons and in Unity of Being” (BCP, p.
    [Show full text]
  • An Examination of Alcuin's Better-Known Poems
    Discentes Volume 4 Issue 2 Volume 4, Issue 2 Article 4 2016 Poetry Praising Poetry: An Examination of Alcuin's Better-Known Poems Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/discentesjournal Part of the Ancient, Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque Art and Architecture Commons, Classics Commons, and the History Commons Recommended Citation . 2016. "Poetry Praising Poetry: An Examination of Alcuin's Better-Known Poems." Discentes 4, (2):7-15. https://repository.upenn.edu/discentesjournal/vol4/iss2/4 This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/discentesjournal/vol4/iss2/4 For more information, please contact [email protected]. Poetry Praising Poetry: An Examination of Alcuin's Better-Known Poems This article is available in Discentes: https://repository.upenn.edu/discentesjournal/vol4/iss2/4 Poetry Praising Poetry: An Examination of Alcuin's Better-Known Poems Annie Craig, Brown University Alcuin, the 8th century monk, scholar, and advisor to Charlemagne, receives most of his renown from his theological and political essays, as well as from his many surviving letters. During his lifetime he also produced many works of poetry, leaving behind a rich and diverse poetic collection. Carmina 32, 59 and 61 are considered the more famous poems in Alcuin’s collection as they feature all the themes and poetic devices most prominent throughout the poet’s works. While Carmina 32 and 59 address young students Manuscript drawing of Alcuin, ca. 9th century CE. of Alcuin and Carmen 61 addresses a nightingale, all three poems are celebrations of poetry as both a written and spoken medium. This exaltation of poetry accompanies features typical of Alcuin’s other works: the theme of losing touch with a student, the use of classical - especially Virgilian – reference, and an elevation of his message into the Christian world.
    [Show full text]
  • © in This Web Service Cambridge University
    Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-89754-9 - An Introduction to Medieval Theology Rik Van Nieuwenhove Index More information Index Abelard, Peter, 82, 84, 99–111, 116, 120 beatific vision, 41, 62, 191 Alain of Lille, 71 beatitude, 172, 195–96 Albert the Great, 171, 264 Beatrijs van Nazareth, 170 Alexander of Hales, 147, 211, 227 beguine movement, 170 allegory, 15, 43, 45, 47, 177 Benedict XII, Pope, 265 Amaury of Bène, 71 Benedict, St., 28–29, 42 Ambrose, 7, 10, 149 Berengar of Tours, 60, 83, 129, 160, see also amor ipse notitia est 51, 117, see love and knowledge Eucharist anagogy, 47 Bernard of Clairvaux, 79, 82, 100, 104, 110, 112–15, analogy, see univocity 147, 251 analogy in Aquinas, 182–85, 234, 235 critique of Abelard, 110–11 Anselm of Canterbury, 16, 30, 71, 78, 81, 83–98, on loving God, 112–14 204, 236 Boccaccio, Giovanni, 251 Anselm of Laon, 72, 99 Boethius, 29–33, 125, 137 Anthony, St., 27 Bonaventure, 34, 47, 123, 141, 146, 148, 170, 173, apophaticism, 8, 34, 271 176, 179, 211–24, 227, 228, 230, 232, 242, 243, Aquinas, 182–83 245, 254 Aquinas, 22, 24, 34, 47, 51, 72, 87, 89, 90, 133, 146, Boniface, Pope, 249 148, 151, 154, 164, 169, 171–210, 214, 225, 227, 230, 235, 236, 237, 238, 240, 241, 244, 246, Calvin, 14 254, 255, 257, 266 Carabine, Deirdre, 65 Arianism, 20, 21 Carthusians, 79 Aristotle, 9, 20, 29, 78, 84, 179, 181, 192, 195, 212, Cassian, John, 27–29, 47 213, 216, 223, 225, 226, 227, 229, 237, 254, Cassidorius, 124 267, 268 cathedral schools, 82, 169 Arts, 124, 222 Catherine of Siena, 251 and pedagogy (Hugh), 124–28
    [Show full text]
  • History of the Christian Church*
    a Grace Notes course History of the Christian Church VOLUME 5. The Middle Ages, the Papal Theocracy in Conflict with the Secular Power from Gregory VII to Boniface VIII, AD 1049 to 1294 By Philip Schaff CH512 Chapter 12: Scholastic and Mystic Theology History of the Christian Church Volume 5 The Middle Ages, the Papal Theocracy in Conflict with the Secular Power from Gregory VII to Boniface VIII, AD 1049 to 1294 CH512 Table of Contents Chapter 12. Scholastic and Mystic Theology .................................................................................2 5.95. Literature and General Introduction ......................................................................................... 2 5.96. Sources and Development of Scholasticism .............................................................................. 4 5.97. Realism and Nominalism ........................................................................................................... 6 5.98. Anselm of Canterbury ................................................................................................................ 7 5.99. Peter Abelard ........................................................................................................................... 12 5.100. Abelard’s Teachings and Theology ........................................................................................ 18 5.101. Younger Contemporaries of Abelard ..................................................................................... 21 5.102. Peter the Lombard and the Summists
    [Show full text]
  • Relations in Earlier Medieval Latin Philosophy: Against the Standard Account
    Enrahonar. An International Journal of Theoretical and Practical Reason 61, 2018 41-58 Relations in Earlier Medieval Latin Philosophy: Against the Standard Account John Marenbon Trinity College, Cambridge [email protected] Received: 28-9-2017 Accepted: 16-4-2018 Abstract Medieval philosophers before Ockham are usually said to have treated relations as real, monadic accidents. This “Standard Account” does not, however, fit in with most discus- sions of relations in the Latin tradition from Augustine to the end of the 12th century. Early medieval thinkers minimized or denied the ontological standing of relations, and some, such as John Scottus Eriugena, recognized them as polyadic. They were especially influenced by Boethius’s discussion in his De trinitate, where relations are treated as prime examples of accidents that do not affect their substances. This paper examines non-stand- ard accounts in the period up to c. 1100. Keywords: relations; accidents; substance; Aristotle; Boethius Resum. Les relacions en la filosofia llatina medieval primerenca: contra el relat estàndard Es diu que els filòsofs medievals previs a Occam van tractar les relacions com a accidents reals i monàdics. Però aquest «Relat estàndard» no encaixa amb gran part de les discus- sions que van tenir lloc en la tradició llatina des d’Agustí fins al final del segle xii sobre les relacions. Els primers pensadors medievals van minimitzar o negar l’estatus ontològic de les relacions, i alguns, com Joan Escot Eriúgena, les van reconèixer com a poliàdiques. Aquests filòsofs van estar fonamentalment influïts per la discussió de Boeci en el seu De trinitate, on les relacions es tracten com a primers exemples d’accidents que no afecten les seves substàncies.
    [Show full text]
  • Thomas Aquinas College Newsletter Fall 2018
    quinas A C s o a l Thomas Aquinas College Newsletter m l e o g h e T Fall 2018 Volume 46, Issue 3 1971 Eastward Bound! College Receives Approval for New England Campus ulminating a rigorous process that campus and, thanks be to God, that day Cbegan in the spring of 2017, Thomas has arrived.” Aquinas College has received approval Notably, the College’s need for expan- from the Massachusetts Board of Higher sion counters a 50-year trend in higher Education to operate a branch campus education, in which more than a quarter in Western Massachusetts, where it will of the country’s small liberal arts schools award the degree of Bachelor of Arts in have either closed, merged, or abandoned Liberal Arts. The decision sets the stage their missions. “At a time when more for Thomas Aquinas College, New Eng- than a few liberal arts colleges have had land, to open its doors in fall 2019. to close,” says R. Scott Turicchi, chairman The Board’s approval comes as the of the College’s Board of Governors, “it is result of a thorough and rigorous appli- a testament to the excellence of Thomas cation process conducted by its legal Aquinas College’s unique program of and academic affairs staff at the Massa- Catholic liberal education and to its good chusetts Department of Higher Educa- stewardship that the school has received tion. Its grant of authority is subject to school in Northfield, Massachusetts, course, friends’ donations to cover the approval to operate a second campus.” stipulations, the most important of which which has been shuttered since 2005.
    [Show full text]
  • 53Rd International Congress on Medieval Studies
    53rd International Congress on Medieval Studies May 10–13, 2018 Medieval Institute College of Arts and Sciences Western Michigan University 1903 W. Michigan Ave. Kalamazoo, MI 49008-5432 wmich.edu/medieval 2018 i Table of Contents Welcome Letter iii Registration iv-v On-Campus Housing vi-vii Food viii-ix Travel x Driving and Parking xi Logistics and Amenities xii-xiii Varia xiv Off-Campus Accommodations vx Hotel Shuttle Routes xvi Hotel Shuttle Schedules xvii Campus Shuttles xviii Mailings xix Exhibits Hall xx Exhibitors xxi Plenary Lectures xxii Reception of the Classics in the Middle Ages Lecture xxiii Screenings xxiv Social Media xxv Advance Notice—2019 Congress xxvi The Congress: How It Works xxvii The Congress Academic Program xxviii-xxix Travel Awards xxx The Otto Gründler Book Prize xxxi Richard Rawlinson Center xxxii Center for Cistercian and Monastic Studies xxxiii M.A. Program in Medieval Studies xxxiv Medieval Institute Publications xxxv Endowment and Gift Funds xxxvi 2018 Congress Schedule of Events 1–192 Index of Sponsoring Organizations 193–198 Index of Participants 199–218 Floor Plans M-1 – M-9 List of Advertisers Advertising A-1 – A-36 Color Maps ii Dear colleagues, It’s a balmy 9 degrees here in Kalamazoo today, but I can’t complain—too much— because Kalamazoo will not feel the wrath of the “bomb cyclone” and polar vortex due to hit the East Coast later this week, the first week of 2018. Nonetheless, today in Kalamazoo, I long for spring and what it brings: the warmth of the weather, my colleagues and friends who will come in May to the International Congress on Medieval Studies.
    [Show full text]
  • Justifying Religious Freedom: the Western Tradition
    Justifying Religious Freedom: The Western Tradition E. Gregory Wallace* Table of Contents I. THESIS: REDISCOVERING THE RELIGIOUS JUSTIFICATIONS FOR RELIGIOUS FREEDOM.......................................................... 488 II. THE ORIGINS OF RELIGIOUS FREEDOM IN EARLY CHRISTIAN THOUGHT ................................................................................... 495 A. Early Christian Views on Religious Toleration and Freedom.............................................................................. 495 1. Early Christian Teaching on Church and State............. 496 2. Persecution in the Early Roman Empire....................... 499 3. Tertullian’s Call for Religious Freedom ....................... 502 B. Christianity and Religious Freedom in the Constantinian Empire ................................................................................ 504 C. The Rise of Intolerance in Christendom ............................. 510 1. The Beginnings of Christian Intolerance ...................... 510 2. The Causes of Christian Intolerance ............................. 512 D. Opposition to State Persecution in Early Christendom...... 516 E. Augustine’s Theory of Persecution..................................... 518 F. Church-State Boundaries in Early Christendom................ 526 G. Emerging Principles of Religious Freedom........................ 528 III. THE PRESERVATION OF RELIGIOUS FREEDOM IN MEDIEVAL AND REFORMATION EUROPE...................................................... 530 A. Persecution and Opposition in the Medieval
    [Show full text]
  • Affect and Ascent in the Theology of Bonaventure
    The Force of Union: Affect and Ascent in the Theology of Bonaventure The Harvard community has made this article openly available. Please share how this access benefits you. Your story matters Citation Davis, Robert. 2012. The Force of Union: Affect and Ascent in the Theology of Bonaventure. Doctoral dissertation, Harvard University. Citable link http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:9385627 Terms of Use This article was downloaded from Harvard University’s DASH repository, and is made available under the terms and conditions applicable to Other Posted Material, as set forth at http:// nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:dash.current.terms-of- use#LAA © 2012 Robert Glenn Davis All rights reserved. iii Amy Hollywood Robert Glenn Davis The Force of Union: Affect and Ascent in the Theology of Bonaventure Abstract The image of love as a burning flame is so widespread in the history of Christian literature as to appear inevitable. But as this dissertation explores, the association of amor with fire played a precise and wide-ranging role in Bonaventure’s understanding of the soul’s motive power--its capacity to love and be united with God, especially as that capacity was demonstrated in an exemplary way through the spiritual ascent and death of St. Francis. In drawing out this association, Bonaventure develops a theory of the soul and its capacity for transformation in union with God that gives specificity to the Christian desire for self-abandonment in God and the annihilation of the soul in union with God. Though Bonaventure does not use the language of the soul coming to nothing, he describes a state of ecstasy or excessus mentis that is possible in this life, but which constitutes the death and transformation of the soul in union with God.
    [Show full text]
  • Testing the Prophets BERNARD of SYMEON the NEW IBN TAYMIYYA CLAIRVAUX THEOLOGIAN
    Testing the Prophets BERNARD OF SYMEON THE NEW IBN TAYMIYYA CLAIRVAUX THEOLOGIAN ➔ CAMEL MEAT Reason does not suffice without revelation nor does revelation suffice without reason. The one who would urge pure taqlīd and the total rejection of reason is in error and he who would make do with pure reason apart from the lights of the Koran and the Sunna is deluded. If you are in doubt about whether a certain person is a prophet or not, certainty can be had only through knowledge of what he is like, either by personal observation or reports and testimony. If you have an understanding of medicine and jurisprudence, you can recognize jurists and doctors by observing what they are like, and listening to what they had to say, even if you haven’t observed them. So you have no difficulty recognizing that Shāfiʿī was a jurist or Galen a doctor, this being knowledge of what is in fact the case and not a matter of taqlīd shown to another person. Rather, since you know something of jurisprudence and medicine, and you have perused their books and treatises, you have arrived at necessary knowledge about what they are like. Likewise, once you grasp the meaning of prophecy and then investigate the Qurʾān and [ḥadīth] reports extensively, you arrive at necessary knowledge that [Muḥammad] is at the highest degree of prophecy. Thirst for grasping the true natures of things was a habit and practice of mine from early on in my life, an inborn and innate tendency (gharīza wa-fiṭra) given by God in my very nature, not chosen or contrived.
    [Show full text]
  • Accounts of the Raid on Lindisfarne
    Accounts of the Raid on Lindisfarne In the year 793 CE, Viking ships attacked the monastery at Lindisfarne on the east coast of England. Below are excerpts from some accounts of the raid: "Here Beorhtric [AD 786-802] took King Offa's daughter Eadburh. And in his days there came for the first time 3 ships; and then the reeve rode there and wanted to compel them to go to the king's town, because he did not know what they were; and they killed him. Those were the first ships of the Danish men which sought out the land of the English race." Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (Winchester MS) Such is the entry for AD 789, written by the chronicler a hundred years later. The king's reeve is said to have ridden to the harbor at Portland on the southwest coast of England, thinking the strangers to be traders whom he then would escort to the royal manor at Dorchester. (Even though the chronicler identifies the raiders as Danes, the term, like Northmen, was used generically to signify all Scandinavian invaders. The early Vikings tended to be Norwegian, although it was the Danes, who began their pillaging in AD 835, from whom the English suffered the most.) A few years later, there is another entry, even more ominous, this time for AD 793. "Here terrible portents came about over the land of Northumbria, and miserably frightened the people: these were immense flashes of lightening, and fiery dragons were seen flying in the air. A great famine immediately followed these signs; and a little after that in the same year on 8 June the raiding of heathen men miserably devastated God's church in Lindisfarne island by looting and slaughter." Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (Petersborough MS) The Vikings attack on the holy island of Lindisfarne off the northern coast of Northumbria is the earliest recorded and the best known of the Viking raids in the west.
    [Show full text]
  • J.P. GUMBERT Medieval Points Medieval Punctuation Is Not Often Considered a Very Fascinating Subject for Study. Editors of Class
    J.P. GUMBERT Medieval points Medieval punctuation is not often considered a very fascinating subject for study. Editors of classical and Medieval (and Renaissance) texts hardly seem to be aware of its existence - certainly they almost all agree that any Medieval dots and hooks are almost as irrelevant as fly-specks and can, nay must be absolutely disregarded by editors; this even though there exist pronouncements by authors from Alcuin to Erasmus stressing the importance of punctuation, which should mean that at least some authors punctuated according to a system they found adequate, and that at least some manuscripts - and certainly the autographs of such authors - show such a punctuation. For scholarly editions of later texts strict respect for the original punctuation is a matter of course; for Medieval texts the contrary is the case. Why? Because Medieval punctuation is different from ours. So is Medieval language and Medieval thought, but about that nobody complains; but in the case of punctuation the difference produces a lack of understanding, and thus a feeling that Medieval punctuation is either worthless, or very difficult, or both. The lack of editorial interest in its turn causes a lack of study. In (fairly) recent years, however, some books have appeared which really help us and which deserve notice. (See also the survey by Patrizia Rafti, 'L'interpunzione nel libro manoscritto: mezzo secolo di studi,' in Scrittura e civi*lta 12 (1988) 239-98.) One is a very instructive volume of congress proceedings; the other is the first major monograph on the subject. A. MAIERÙ (ed.), Grafia e interpunzione del Latino nel Medioevo, Seminario interna- zionale, Roma, 27-29 settembre 1984.
    [Show full text]