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Gerald of Wales, Authorship, and the Construction of Political, Religious, and Legal Geographies in Twelfth and Thirteenth Century Britain

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Gerald of Wales, Authorship, and the Construction of Political, Religious, and Legal Geographies in Twelfth and Thirteenth Century Britain Visions and Revisions: Gerald of Wales, Authorship, and the Construction of Political, Religious, and Legal Geographies in Twelfth and Thirteenth Century Britain by Amelia Lynn Borrego Sargent A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Comparative Literature in the Graduate Division of the University of California, Berkeley Committee in charge: Professor Frank Bezner, Chair Professor Maura Nolan Professor Joseph Duggan SPRING 2011 Visions and Revisions: Gerald of Wales, Authorship, and the Construction of Political, Religious, and Legal Geographies in Twelfth and Thirteenth Century Britain © 2011 by Amelia Lynn Borrego Sargent Abstract Visions and Revisions: Gerald of Wales, Authorship, and the Construction of Political, Religious, and Legal Geographies in Twelfth and Thirteenth Century Britain by Amelia Lynn Borrego Sargent Doctor of Philosophy in Comparative Literature University of California, Berkeley Professor Frank Bezner, Chair Gerald of Wales revised his Topographia Hibernica and Itinerarium Kambriae multiple times over the course of the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries. Each revision reshapes the text, adding nuance and contours that affect the understanding of the work’s meaning, its function, and its depiction of the underlying geographic space. This dissertation is a case study at the intersection of three foundational questions: what motivates textual revision, how can revision of depictions of landscapes in geographic texts affect the physical concept of space, and what was the conception of history and the text, such that they could affect the outcome of future events. By carefully parsing the versions of the Topographia and Itinerarium , and identifying and analyzing the differences between them, we can begin to understand how textual revision was deployed both to respond to changed circumstances and to affect future action. The resulting picture counters the idea that texts, history, or geography were static in the Middle Ages, and studying the dynamic relationship between them has implications for our understanding of medieval historiography, politics, religion, and authorship. 1 Illo quoque Ciceronis exemplo retardari non potui: “Ea,” inquit, “re poemata non scribo, quia qualia volo non possum, qualia possum, nolo.” Mihi enimvero ea mens est, et in hanc partem tam vehemens . Si qualia volo non possum, qualia possum, volo. ~ Giraldi Cambrensis Opera V, 5 I am not deterred by that example of Cicero, who said “I do not write poetry on that subject because I cannot write such verses as well as I would like, and I am unwilling to write those that I am capable of.” For I am of such a mind, and very vehement on this: If I cannot write as well as I would, I will at least write as well as I can. To Matt, to my family, to my mentors, and to my inspirations, thank you. i TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ................................................................................................................................. 1 Dedications ........................................................................................................................... i List of Charts ........................................................................................................................ iii Chapters Introduction: How Textual Revision can Change the World ................................. 1 Chapter I: Dating the Versions of the Topographia Hibernica ......................... 11 Chapter II: From Political Geography to Authorial Fashioning: Prospective History in the Topographia Hibernica ............................................. 33 Composing the “Landscape of Ireland” The Angevin Audience: Quaestum aliquem vel Conquaestum The Clerical Audience: Creating Authority Proximate Endings Chapter III: From Wales to Jerusalem: Inscribing the Journey of Gerald in the Itinerarium Kambriae ....................................................................... 114 The Versions of the Itinerarium Kambriae Version I: Composing the Landscape of Wales Version II: On Prophecy and Politics Version III: The Journey of Gerald Chapter IV: Historical Truths and Legal Fictions: Evidence and Prophecy at the Papal Curia, 1199-1203 ...............................................................175 Background of the Case Books Not Bribes: Gerald’s Literary Strategies ‘False, Fools, and Foliots’: Witnesses and Testimony Vos, Quasi Monstrum Conclusion: History in the Typological Mode ...................................................... 198 Colorplates Plate 1: Map of the British Isles, British Library, Arundel 14, f. 27v. ..................... 203 Plate 2: Map of Europe, National Library of Ireland 700, f. 48r. ............................. 204 Bibliography ......................................................................................................................... 205 Appendices: Version Charts A. Topographia Hibernica ............................................................................................ 216 B. Expugnatio Hibernica ............................................................................................... 252 C. Itinerarium Kambriae ............................................................................................... 256 D. Descriptio Kambriae ................................................................................................. 277 ii LIST OF CHARTS Chart 1: Comparison of William de Montibus and Gerald of Wales Chart 2: Distinctiones Hiberniae Chart 3: Version Comparison of the Fish with Three Gold Teeth in the Topographia Hibernica Chart 4: Locations of the Notabilia in the Itinerarium Kambriae Chart 5: Version II Silence Clauses in the Itinerarium Kambriae Chart 6: Version Comparison of Performing Mass in the Itinerarium Kambriae Appendices containing full comparison charts are found at the end of this dissertation. iii INTRODUCTION HOW TEXTUAL REVISION CAN CHANGE THE WORLD How can textual revision change the world? By this I mean three related questions. First is the question of revision itself. Why revise a text? That is, when thinking about why an author might revise a text, can we look beyond mere mundane reasons (such as error correction or updating facts) and locate a desire to revise based on an author’s perception of what the text is supposed to mean ? If a text resonates with a certain meaning at a certain time and in a certain context – including current events, anticipated readers, and projections about future history – when that context changes over time, the text’s meaning loses its legibility. For an author deeply involved in the creation, dissemination, and proper understanding of his works, these changed circumstances would compel him to revise, to locate meaningful resonance in new passages, and to re-envision the scope of his histories in such a way to encompass new anticipated contexts. Second, when a historical text focuses on a particular landscape, how does revising that text affect those landscapes , and what does this say about the concept of geographical reality in the Middle Ages? In a world of symbolic locations, of places that connect this world to the next, of places where the creases of history are visible on the very landscape – a world of Roman ruins and enta geweorc , churches made of spolia , places that commemorate miracles or display natural marvels – what is writing about geography? And how can revising that geography, literally, change the the way the world looks? Finally, how can revision of historical texts affect or alter the outcome of current or future events? That is, can we also locate a desire to revise based on an author’s perception of what a text is supposed to do ? Historical texts have functions, both post hoc and ante hoc. Histories recount prior deeds and events, memorialize people and stories, and describe journeys taken and places seen. But they can also persuade and compel readers to action, counsel against tactics that have failed in the past, and encourage readers to cast and articulate their contemporary struggles in terms of historical models. In the Middle Ages in particular, one function was found in the relationship between text and prophecy. This relationship is most immediately illustrated by the sortes Virgilianae or sortes biblicae , that game of divination-by-reading played by the genre’s most famous player Augustine, after hearing the command tolle lege (“take and read”). It is also seen in parallel in the typological method of textual interpretation, where Old Testament passages are considered to prefigure New Testament events. Other medieval genres too, such as historiography and hagiography, attempted to change and were changed by new contexts and circumstances. For an author steeped in these methods of reading and understanding texts – and not just texts, but the world around him – why wouldn’t he be convinced that his own works could have the same transformative power? 1 These three questions form the foundation of this study of the writings of Gerald of Wales, also known as Giraldus de Barri or Giraldus Cambrensis, who wrote the twelfth and thirteenth century works Topographia Hibernica (The Topography of Ireland ), and Itinerarium Kambriae (The Journey Through Wales ). Gerald revised each of these works multiple times; each revision, in turn, reshapes the text, adding nuance and contours that affect the understanding of the work’s meaning, its function, and its depiction of the underlying geographic space. The
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