DOCSLIB.ORG

Scottish Lollardy Amd Its Contribution to The

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Scottish Lollardy Amd Its Contribution to The SCOTTISH LOLLARDY AMD ITS CONTRIBUTION TO THE REFORMATION IN SCOTLAND WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE LOLLARDS OF THE WEST. ProQuest Number: 13905452 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a com plete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest 13905452 Published by ProQuest LLC(2019). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States C ode Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY ( Ph. D. In THEOLOGY ). BY THOMAS MITCHELL AULD MACNAB. M. A* B. D. MINISTER OF ST. ANDREW'S CHURCH PAISLEY. ■APRXL ■:' 1033* ' Introduction* Nature, Extent and Character of Material* pp. iv - xl The Scottish Church. The Lollard Period - 140® - 1525* (a).Formative Influences and Tendencies. pp. xii - xxiil The Scottish Church. The Lollard Period - 1400 - 1525. (hj.The Seedhed of Lollardy. pp. xxiv - xlvi. Nature, Extent &bcL Character of Material* The great difficulty with which the student of Scottish Lollardy is faced is the dearth of material with which to reconstruct the history of the movement* There are several reasons for this* There was no great leader in Scotland comparable to Wyelif in Eng­ land or Hus in Bohemia* That meant that the Scots, so far as Lollardy was concerned, were receptive rather than creative and consequently had. not the same need for self-expression, that is, for a Lollard literature. Again with regard to Scotland, there is a sense in which ifc is true to say that the roots of this movement were elsewhere, for its inspiration and drive were got from sources outwith the country* Again, as a consequence, there was very little occasion for Lollard literary V activity, but documents connected with the movement in England and Bohemia are invaluable and not to be neglected* Although from the earliest appearances of the move­ ment in Scotland, St* Andrews seems to have been a centre of Lollard sympathies, yet these were evident­ ly among the students rather than among the teachers, whereas both in England and Bohemia the leaders of the reform movement were among those who were moulding the minds and influencing the thought of the students and found the need for setting forth their teaching in writ­ ing* It was only nearer the Reformation that "St. Leonard1 s Well” became notorious* Another stream of Lollardy was mainly in the west, particularly in Ayrshire, where in later generations t&e Covenanters found many recruits* There, while not without the support of some of the chief families in the district, it could in no sense be called a lit­ erary movement. Rather was it one of nonconformity, in belief and practice, on the part of folks compar­ atively humble and obscure, who had neither the training Vi nor the opportunity to inaugurate or carry through a great national movement* In the present study three lines of investigation have been followed. These may toe classified as fol­ lows i. the records of the doings of the Lollards; ii. the memorials left toy the Lollards themselves; iii. indirect witnesses to the presence and work­ ing of the movement* i. The Records?- These unfortunately are very meagre indeed. One had hoped that loeal sources of informat­ ion, which lie outwith the scope and interest of the ordinary historian might toe discovered, tout these have proved disappointingly few. Take, for example, the Burgh Records of Prestwick. These have toeen transcrib­ ed for the Maitland Cluto. A careful perusal ©f them failed to discover a single reference to a movement that lived and had its toeing in that very neighbourhood. So too with regard to the Records of Ayr. The Burgh Court Book 1428-78 is unfortunately still only in manuscript, tout is well preserved. Such entries in it as the writer was atole to examine, through the courtesy of the Town Council, while telling of the usual inci­ dents in connection with the life of the burgh* are silent regarding anything connected with the Lollard movement. But dne cannot consider this source exhaust­ ed until the minutes are transcribed and so made more conveniently accessible. The nearest approach to local documents are the Protocol Books 1512-1532 of Gavin Ros, the Ayr notary, published in one volume by the Scottish Record Society. These have been carefully sifted and the results set forth in the appropriate chapters. These along with the Register of Great Seal and Privy Seal and the Acts of the Lords in Council in Civil Causes, Scotland^prac­ tically exhaust all the sources that have yielded in­ formation. Another difficulty confronts us in the fact that while doubtless there were considerable numbers of Lollards, there are very few of whom we know even the name, and regarding those few, it has been exceedingly difficult to discover raets sufficient to clothe the name with flesh and blood. Much that passes for viii info ma t ion has, on examination, been found to be at fault. This undoubtedly has had the effeet of making Scottish Lollardy appear somewhat shadowy and led to the temptation to underestimate its strength and im­ portance. Such sourees as PitcairnTs Criminal Trials in Scot­ land and the Diurnal of Occurrents are familiar and no doubt have yielded their data to previous enquirers but they give us something of the spirit of the times and, studied along with the other sources of informat­ ion* help us to put the movement into better focus* ii. The Memorials:- The memorials left by the Lollards themselves are also tantalisingly few. Lollardy, of course, was not merely suspect. It was under the ban of the Church as heresy. Prudence, therefore, and an instinct for self-defence would naturally lead the Lol­ lards to cover up their traces as far as possible, and no doubt this furnishes quite a good reason why the material today available is so meagre* Moreover, when the Reformation came, many records were carried off and either lost or destroyed, though some have been recovered, so that it is quite possible the sources ix of data, few enough to begin with, were still further diminished* Two important relics of this movement claim our attention viz. The Nova Scocie by Quintin Folkhyrde and Murdoch Nisbet!s New Testament in Scots* Thanks to Professor J.H.Baxter the text of the Nova Scocie is now available for all students in Appendix 6 of his edition of Copiale prioratus Sanetiandree* These letters are undoubtedly Lollard in tone and inten­ tion and raise several questions which, if able to be answered, would throw light on an obscure period in the history of our subject. The New Testament in Scots is unique in as much as it is the only relic of Scottish Lollardy in the ver­ nacular* At first sight it may not seem a specially fruitful source,yet the study of it, particularly in comparison with other translations of the New Testament, is by no means barren of results. iii. Indirect Witnesses;- A movement like Lollardy could not fail to have its repercussions in the history of the country and this is one of the most profitable fields in which the student may glean* Laws enacted X from time to time; policy modified or determined in the light of known or suspected facts, all are sign­ posts on the way of the history of the movement and the task is to endeavour to reconstruct the histor­ ical situation in the light of these facts. For this not only are the Acts of Parliament most valuable, but the Calendars of State Papers and Documents also help to make more intelligible incidents of which ww know too little. One of the most interesting of the indir­ ect witnesses is our Scottish Literature. Through it we come into touch with the spirit of the age and be­ come aware of the different interests and tendencies of the times. The voice or orthodoxy and of heresy both can be distinguished, along with others whieh give the age its character and expression. We get few facts of history here, but we get an atmosphere in which the facts live; and that is no small help. It is somewhat difficult to find an appropriate boundary line for a movement like Lollardy which passed away by passing into a larger movement. A comparison of the tenets of Lollardy with the teaching of Patrick Hamilton in his ”Places” and with that of xi John Gau in "The Richt Vay to the Kingdom of Heuine,"- both among the earliest fruits or the Reformation in Scotland,- helps us to fix on a line not only conven­ ient but defendable, after which Lollardy really mer­ ged in the Reformation. This naturally rules out much, like the (Jude and Godlie Ballatis, that is invaluable for the student of the Reformation, but obviously does not lie within the history of the earlier and lesser movement» xii II. The Scottish Church. The Lollard Period 1400 - 1525. (a). Formative Influences and Tendencies. It Is hardly possible to emphasise too frequently or too strongly the fact that in the history of move­ ments, dates, however necessary, are at best only conveniences and more or less arbitrary. The roots of every movement strike deep 5.nto the past, deeper than is to be discerned at first glance, and the consequences continue long after the movement itself has been lost in the larger life of history.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • CTSA Proceedings 73 / 2018 115 MORAL THEOLOGY (I)—TOPIC SESSION Topic: Humanae Vitae, 50 Years Later Convener: Kent J. Lasn
    CTSA Proceedings 73 / 2018 MORAL THEOLOGY (I)—TOPIC SESSION Topic: Humanae Vitae, 50 Years Later Convener: Kent J. Lasnoski, Wyoming Catholic College Moderator: Kent J. Lasnoski, Wyoming Catholic College Presenters: Maria Morrow, Seton Hall University David Cloutier, Catholic University of America Karen Ross, Loyola University Chicago This well-attended session celebrated the 50th anniversary of Pope Paul VI’s profound, prophetic, and polemical encyclical Humanae vitae. The session featured two younger scholars (Maria Morrow and Karen Ross) with a historical and ethnographic approach, respectively, as well as a senior scholar, David Cloutier, who’s more experimental, theoretical essay provoked long discussion well-beyond the session’s close. The session opened with Maria Morrow’s “Living With (and Growing From) Bad Timing: Penance and Humanae vitae.” Going beyond the reception history traced by Tentler’s well-known Catholics and Contraception, Morrow investigates the relationship between an erosion of penitential culture among American Catholics and the near impossibility of Humanae vitae’s safe landing on the shores of American Catholic consciences. Her paper’s focus centers on the bad-timing of three documents: Humanae vitae itself, Paul VI’s Paenitemini, and the United States bishops’ Pastoral Letter on Fast and Abstinence. Humanae vitae shocked Catholics from pew to cathedra, most of which were expecting ecclesial concession to contraception due to tidal changes at the cultural level. Paenitemini and the United States episcopal letter, while attempting to renew and invigorate penitential life, making it more personal, effected exactly the opposite. Catholics felt justified not only in dropping mortifications but also in their flight from the confessional.
    [Show full text]
  • Musings from Your Parish Priest
    SAINTS FOR THE YEAR OF THE EUCHARIST WELCOME TO ST. PETER JULIAN EYMARD St. Peter Julian Eymard was a 19th century CATHOLIC CHURCH French priest whose devotion to the Blessed Sacra- ment expressed itself both in mystical writings and the foundation of the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament, a religious institute designed to spread 2ND SUNDAY OF LENT - FEBRUARY 28TH, 2020 devotion to the Eucharist. Throughout his life, Peter Julian was afflicted Musings from your Parish Priest: by medical problems, including a “weakness of the In ancient times, the obligation of the penitential fast throughout Lent was to take only one full lungs” and recurrent migraines. He sought solace meal a day. In addition, a smaller meal, called a collation, was allowed in the evening. In practice, this for his suffering in devotion to both Mary and the obligation, which was a matter of custom rather than of written law, was not observed Blessed Sacrament, having originally been a mem- strictly. The 1917 Code of Canon Law allowed the full meal on a fasting day to be taken at any hour ber of the Society of Mary. While serving as visitor and to be supplemented by two collations, with the quantity and the quality of the food to be -general of the society, he observed Marian com- determined by local custom. Abstinence from meat was to be observed on Ash Wednesday and on munities near Paris who practiced perpetual adora- Fridays and Saturdays in Lent. A rule of thumb is that the two collations should not add up to the tion, and was moved by the devotion and happi- equivalent of another full meal.
    [Show full text]
  • The Mayor and Early Lollard Dissemination
    University of Central Florida STARS HIM 1990-2015 2012 The mayor and early Lollard dissemination Angel Gomez University of Central Florida Part of the Medieval History Commons Find similar works at: https://stars.library.ucf.edu/honorstheses1990-2015 University of Central Florida Libraries http://library.ucf.edu This Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by STARS. It has been accepted for inclusion in HIM 1990-2015 by an authorized administrator of STARS. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Recommended Citation Gomez, Angel, "The mayor and early Lollard dissemination" (2012). HIM 1990-2015. 1774. https://stars.library.ucf.edu/honorstheses1990-2015/1774 THE MAYOR AND EARLY LOLLARD DISSEMINATION by ANGEL GOMEZ A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Honors in the Major Program in History in the College of Arts and Humanities and in The Burnett Honors College at the University of Central Florida Orlando, Florida Spring Term 2012 Thesis Chair: Dr. Emily Graham Abstract During the fourteenth century in England there began a movement referred to as Lollardy. Throughout history, Lollardy has been viewed as a precursor to the Protestant Reformation. There has been a long ongoing debate among scholars trying to identify the extent of Lollard beliefs among the English. Attempting to identify who was a Lollard has often led historians to look at the trial records of those accused of being Lollards. One aspect overlooked in these studies is the role civic authorities, like the mayor of a town, played in the heresy trials of suspected Lollards.
    [Show full text]
  • Wyclif and Lollardy
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln Faculty Publications, Classics and Religious Studies Department Classics and Religious Studies 2001 Wyclif and Lollardy Stephen E. Lahey University of Nebraska-Lincoln, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/classicsfacpub Part of the Classics Commons Lahey, Stephen E., "Wyclif and Lollardy" (2001). Faculty Publications, Classics and Religious Studies Department. 82. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/classicsfacpub/82 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Classics and Religious Studies at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Publications, Classics and Religious Studies Department by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. Published in The Medieval Theologians, edited by G. R. Evans (Blackwell, 2001), pp. 334-354. Copyright © 2001 Blackwell Publishers. Used by permission. Wyclif and Lollardy Stephen Lahey John Wyclif’s place in the history of Christian ideas varies according to the historian’s interest. As scholastic theology, Wyclif’s thought appears an heretical epilogue to the glories of the systematic innovations of the thirteenth century. Historians of the Prot- estantism, on the other hand, characterize him as a pioneer, the “Morning Star of the Reformation,” acknowledging
    [Show full text]
  • The Virtue of Penance in the United States, 1955-1975
    THE VIRTUE OF PENANCE IN THE UNITED STATES, 1955-1975 Dissertation Submitted to The College of Arts and Sciences of the UNIVERSITY OF DAYTON In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for The Degree Doctor of Philosophy in Theology By Maria Christina Morrow UNIVERSITY OF DAYTON Dayton, Ohio December 2013 THE VIRTUE OF PENANCE IN THE UNITED STATES, 1955-1975 Name: Morrow, Maria Christina APPROVED BY: _______________________________________ Sandra A. Yocum, Ph.D. Committee Chair _______________________________________ William L. Portier, Ph.D. Committee Member Mary Ann Spearin Chair in Catholic Theology _______________________________________ Kelly S. Johnson, Ph.D. Committee Member _______________________________________ Jana M. Bennett, Ph.D. Committee Member _______________________________________ William C. Mattison, III, Ph.D. Committee Member iii ABSTRACT THE VIRTUE OF PENANCE IN THE UNITED STATES, 1955-1975 Name: Morrow, Maria Christina University of Dayton Advisor: Dr. Sandra A. Yocum This dissertation examines the conception of sin and the practice of penance among Catholics in the United States from 1955 to 1975. It begins with a brief historical account of sin and penance in Christian history, indicating the long tradition of performing penitential acts in response to the identification of one’s self as a sinner. The dissertation then considers the Thomistic account of sin and the response of penance, which is understood both as a sacrament (which destroys the sin) and as a virtue (the acts of which constitute the matter of the sacrament but also extend to include non-sacramental acts). This serves to provide a framework for understanding the way Catholics in the United States identified sin and sought to amend for it by use of the sacrament of penance as well as non-sacramental penitential acts of the virtue of penance.
    [Show full text]
  • The Culture of Literature and Language in Medieval and Renaissance Scotland
    The Culture of Literature and Language in Medieval and Renaissance Scotland 15th International Conference on Medieval and Renaissance Scottish Literature and Language (ICMRSLL) University of Glasgow, Scotland, 25-28 July 2017 Draft list of speakers and abstracts Plenary Lectures: Prof. Alessandra Petrina (Università degli Studi di Padova), ‘From the Margins’ Prof. John J. McGavin (University of Southampton), ‘“Things Indifferent”? Performativity and Calderwood’s History of the Kirk’ Plenary Debate: ‘Literary Culture in Medieval and Renaissance Scotland: Perspectives and Patterns’ Speakers: Prof. Sally Mapstone (Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of St Andrews) and Prof. Roger Mason (University of St Andrews and President of the Scottish History Society) Plenary abstracts: Prof. Alessandra Petrina: ‘From the margins’ Sixteenth-century Scottish literature suffers from the superimposition of a European periodization that sorts ill with its historical circumstances, and from the centripetal force of the neighbouring Tudor culture. Thus, in the perception of literary historians, it is often reduced to a marginal phenomenon, that draws its force solely from its powers of receptivity and imitation. Yet, as Philip Sidney writes in his Apology for Poetry, imitation can be transformed into creative appropriation: ‘the diligent imitators of Tully and Demosthenes (most worthy to be imitated) did not so much keep Nizolian paper-books of their figures and phrases, as by attentive translation (as it were) devour them whole, and made them wholly theirs’. The often lamented marginal position of Scottish early modern literature was also the key to its insatiable exploration of continental models and its development of forms that had long exhausted their vitality in Italy or France.
    [Show full text]
  • Handschriften Der Amploniana in 8° Und
    UB Erfurt, Dep. Erf. CA. 8° 1 Erschließungsstand der Beschreibung: Schum (1887) -- (Bearbeitungsstand: 01.10.2011) (Schum:) Pgt. · 72 Bl. · 8° · 2. Hälfte des 13. u. Anf. des 14. Jh. Allgemeiner Hinweis: Die Folioangaben bei Schum können von der heute gültigen Foliierung abweichen. (Schum:) Pgt. Bl. 1--20. In kl. Currentschr. des fr. 14. Jh. 1sp. auf vollst. Schema geschr.; rothe Initialen, halb aus der Columne heraussehend; rothe §§; Anfangsbuchst. der einzelnen Verse roth durchstr. u. in besonderer Columne stehend; unbezeichnete Quater.; spärliche Rand- u. Interlinearglosse vom Textschreiber in kl. Zügen. Bl. 20'--56'. Aus derselben Zeit wie Nr. 2, ähnlich ausgestattet; Schrift nur größer u. kräftiger. Bl. 57--72. Bis Bl. 69' in einer kl., feinen Cursive des mittleren 13. Jh. 1sp. auf vollst. Schema mit geringem rothem Schmuck geschr.; von da ab von 2 anderen Händen, von denen die 1. noch dem 13., die 2. wohl schon dem 14. Jh. angehört; letztere zeigt einen noch deutlicher ausgeprägten cursiven Character; Horiz. fehlen in beiden; Format des Pgt. etwas kleiner als vorher in Nr. 1 u. 2. (Schum:) Vorbesitzer: Einband ohne Signatur, doch sicher gleich Cat. Ampl. Rhetor. 6. Schum, Verzeichniss, 1887, S. 669. – Allgemeiner Hinweis: Für mögliche weitere Literatur vgl. auch die Forschungsdokumentation zu Handschriften und Alten Drucken der UFB Erfurt/Gotha: http://opac.uni-erfurt.de/LNG=DU/DB=8/ (Schum:) Holzdeckel mit grünem Lederrücken; Signatur fehlt. (Schum:) Bl. 1--20. Item liber Stacii Thebaidos (vel potius Achilleidos). Anf.: Magnanimum Eachiden formidatamque tonanti. Ende: aurea (!) silet, puppis currens ad littora venit. Expl. Stacius. Finito libro, sit l. et gl.
    [Show full text]
  • Teachings on the Need for Freely
    TEACHINGS ON THE NEED FOR FREELY CHOSEN PENITENTIAL PRACTICES IN LENT AND THROUGHOUT THE YEAR ON FRIDAY The need for conversion and salvation is unchanging, as is the necessity that, confessing our sinfulness, we perform, personally and in community, acts of penance in pledge of our inward penitence and conversion. For these reasons, Christian peoples, members of a Church that is at once holy, penitent and always in process of renewal, have from the beginning observed seasons and days of penance. They have done so by community penitential observances as well as by personal acts of self-denial; they have imitated the example of the spotless Son of God Himself, concerning whom the Sacred Scriptures tell us that He went into the desert to fast and to pray for 40 days. Thus Christ gave the example to which Paul appealed in teaching us how we, too, must come to the mature measure of the fullness of Christ. ^ Of the many penitential seasons which at one time or another have entered the liturgical calendar of Christians (who on this point have preserved the holy tradition of their Hebrew spiritual ancestors), three have particularly survived to our times: Advent, Lent, and the vigils of certain feasts. Lent as principal season of penance Lent has had a different history than Advent among us. Beginning with the powerful lesson of Ash Wednesday, it has retained its ancient appeal to the penitential spirit of our people. It has also acquired elements of popular piety which we bishops would wish to encourage. Accordingly, while appealing for greater development of the understanding of the Lenten liturgy, as that of Advent, we hope that the observance of Lent as the principal season of penance in the Christian year will be intensified.
    [Show full text]
  • SCOTTISH TEXT SOCIETY Old Series
    SCOTTISH TEXT SOCIETY Old Series Skeat, W.W. ed., The kingis quiar: together with A ballad of good counsel: by King James I of Scotland, Scottish Text Society, Old Series, 1 (1884) Small, J. ed., The poems of William Dunbar. Vol. I, Scottish Text Society, Old Series, 2 (1883) Gregor, W. ed., Ane treatise callit The court of Venus, deuidit into four buikis. Newlie compylit be Iohne Rolland in Dalkeith, 1575, Scottish Text Society, Old Series, 3 (1884) Small, J. ed., The poems of William Dunbar. Vol. II, Scottish Text Society, Old Series, 4 (1893) Cody, E.G. ed., The historie of Scotland wrytten first in Latin by the most reuerend and worthy Jhone Leslie, Bishop of Rosse, and translated in Scottish by Father James Dalrymple, religious in the Scottis Cloister of Regensburg, the zeare of God, 1596. Vol. I, Scottish Text Society, Old Series, 5 (1888) Moir, J. ed., The actis and deisis of the illustere and vailzeand campioun Schir William Wallace, knicht of Ellerslie. By Henry the Minstrel, commonly known ad Blind Harry. Vol. I, Scottish Text Society, Old Series, 6 (1889) Moir, J. ed., The actis and deisis of the illustere and vailzeand campioun Schir William Wallace, knicht of Ellerslie. By Henry the Minstrel, commonly known ad Blind Harry. Vol. II, Scottish Text Society, Old Series, 7 (1889) McNeill, G.P. ed., Sir Tristrem, Scottish Text Society, Old Series, 8 (1886) Cranstoun, J. ed., The Poems of Alexander Montgomerie. Vol. I, Scottish Text Society, Old Series, 9 (1887) Cranstoun, J. ed., The Poems of Alexander Montgomerie. Vol.
    [Show full text]
  • Gavin Douglas's Aeneados: Caxton's English and 'Our Scottis Langage' Jacquelyn Hendricks Santa Clara University
    Studies in Scottish Literature Volume 43 | Issue 2 Article 21 12-15-2017 Gavin Douglas's Aeneados: Caxton's English and 'Our Scottis Langage' Jacquelyn Hendricks Santa Clara University Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/ssl Part of the Literature in English, British Isles Commons, Medieval Studies Commons, and the Other Classics Commons Recommended Citation Hendricks, Jacquelyn (2017) "Gavin Douglas's Aeneados: Caxton's English and 'Our Scottis Langage'," Studies in Scottish Literature: Vol. 43: Iss. 2, 220–236. Available at: https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/ssl/vol43/iss2/21 This Article is brought to you by the Scottish Literature Collections at Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Studies in Scottish Literature by an authorized editor of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. GAVIN DOUGLAS’S AENEADOS: CAXTON’S ENGLISH AND "OUR SCOTTIS LANGAGE" Jacquelyn Hendricks In his 1513 translation of Virgil’s Aeneid, titled Eneados, Gavin Douglas begins with a prologue in which he explicitly attacks William Caxton’s 1490 Eneydos. Douglas exclaims that Caxton’s work has “na thing ado” with Virgil’s poem, but rather Caxton “schamefully that story dyd pervert” (I Prologue 142-145).1 Many scholars have discussed Douglas’s reaction to Caxton via the text’s relationship to the rapidly spreading humanist movement and its significance as the first vernacular version of Virgil’s celebrated epic available to Scottish and English readers that was translated directly from the original Latin.2 This attack on Caxton has been viewed by 1 All Gavin Douglas quotations and parentheical citations (section and line number) are from D.F.C.
    [Show full text]
  • The Enactment of Religious Conversion in Medieval and Early Modern European Saint Plays
    Transformed Within, Transformed Without: The Enactment of Religious Conversion in Medieval and Early Modern European Saint Plays Emily Ciavarella Kuntz Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy under the Executive Committee of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 2020 © 2020 Emily Ciavarella Kuntz All Rights Reserved Abstract Transformed Within, Transformed Without: The Enactment of Religious Conversion in Medieval and Early Modern European Saint Plays Emily Ciavarella Kuntz My dissertation investigates the ways in which both medieval and early modern saint plays depict and incite religious conversion through self-aware theatrical techniques. In each of my chapters, I examine one or two popular saint plays from a given period and area (medieval England, medieval France, early modern Spain, and early modern England) and show how each play invites the audience to undergo a spiritual shift parallel to that of the saint protagonist. These playmakers harnessed the affective power and technology of theatrical performance to invite the audience to engage with performed religious conversion in a controlled, celebratory environment and to encourage them to convert toward a more deeply felt Christianity. The plays reconfigured the audience’s sensory and intellectual understanding of Christian theology in order for the audience to recognize spiritual truth within an inherently communal, participatory, and performative space. The plays I examine depend on the audience’s familiarity with theatrical culture and practice in order to distinguish between sincere and insincere religious performance. By making the process of conversion a theatrical performance onstage, these plays could advocate for the theatrical medium as a genuine and effective catalyst for spiritual renewal.
    [Show full text]
  • 1 Heretical Self-Defence in the Middle Ages
    Heretical Self-Defence in the Middle Ages: Text, Law, Subterfuge, Flight and Arms University of Nottingham Abstracts Session 1: Late-antique and early-medieval Models ‘North African Donatism: Fighting against the heretical assimilation’ Carles Buenecasa Perez, University of Barcelona Donatism was nothing but a schism, and its theology was not so different from Catholicism. That’s why, in Africa, Donatism was widely widespread. Catholic bishops decided that, demonstrating to the emperors that Donatism was an heresy, they could impose on Donatists the strict legislation against heretics. Augustine of Hippo has played a significant role in this process, and the arguments he used were multiple. First of all, the bishop of Hippo developed thelogical and ecclesiological concepts, like the uselessness of the baptism given by those who are out of the Church, the lack of theological fundament for rebaptism, etc. Equally, he carried out a deep historical research to remind the Donatists the origins of their own schism (several lies behind the election of Cecilianus, the innocence of Felix of Abthugni...), and to denounce Donatists’s violences (the rupture of ecclesiastical unity, circoncellions’s assassinations...). Then, once Catholic bishops had proved the heretical condition of Donatism, imperial power could promulgate several edicts for its repression from 405. Donatists felt very mistreated by their opponents so they reacted in many and diverse ways. The only problem is that most of our sources are the Catholic ones, so there are not too much objectives. Augustine insists in the fact that the main Donatist reaction was violence agaisnt catholics, but can we really admit this? ‘Gottschalk of Orbais: the quest for Gottschalk’s models’ Bojana Radovanović, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Institut für Mittelalterforschung ‘Heretical self-defence in the Pseudo-Dionysius’ Alan P.
    [Show full text]