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Total of 10 Pages Only May Be Xeroxed CENTRE FOR NEWFOUNDLAND STUDIES TOTAL OF 10 PAGES ONLY MAY BE XEROXED (Without Author's Pem1ission) National Library Bibliotheque nationale 1+1 of Canada du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisisitons et Bibliographic Services services bibliographiques 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A ON4 Ottawa ON K1A ON4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 0-612-93012-2 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 0-612-93012-2 The author has granted a non­ L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive licence allowing the exclusive permettant a Ia National Library of Canada to Bibliotheque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loan, distribute or sell reproduire, preter, distribuer ou copies of this thesis in microform, vendre des copies de cette these sous paper or electronic formats. Ia forme de microfiche/film, de reproduction sur papier ou sur format electronique. The author retains ownership of the L'auteur conserve Ia propriete du copyright in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protege cette these. thesis nor substantial extracts from it Ni Ia these ni des extraits substantiels may be printed or otherwise de celle-ci ne doivent etre imprimes reproduced without the author's ou aturement reproduits sans son permission. autorisation. In compliance with the Canadian Conformement a Ia loi canadienne Privacy Act some supporting sur Ia protection de Ia vie privee, forms may have been removed quelques formulaires secondaires from this dissertation. ont ete enleves de ce manuscrit. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires in the document page count, aient inclus dans Ia pagination, their removal does not represent il n'y aura aucun contenu manquant. any loss of content from the dissertation. Canada WINDOWS ON A MEDIEVAL WORLD: MEDJEVAL PIETY AS REFLECTED IN THE LAPIDARY LITERATIJRE OF THE :MIDDLE AGES by ©© Richard A Beinert A thesis submitted to the School of Graduat~Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Department ofReligious Studies Memorial University ofNewfoundland October, 2003 St. John's Newfoundland ABSTRACT The lapidary literature of the Middle Ages has been overlooked as a source for the study of medieval Christian piety. These stone-lists, which expounded the magical and medicinal powers of stones, enjoyed a broad circulation throughout Europe both as Latin scientific writings as well as popular vernacular medicinal and religious texts. Recent scholarship in medieval lapidary literature has tended to marginalize the texts, treating them either as na1ve prolegomena to modern scientific studies or as examples of an undercurrent of fabulous or pagan folk life. Investigations in the manuscript sources and distribution of the lapidary texts, however, show that the medieval lapidary was a popular, creative, and widely used genre of literature throughout European civilization. Scientific writers sought to explain the formation and various virtues of stones within the Aristotelian framework of medieval scholarship. Encyclopedic lapidaries were used in the university and royal court alike. Theological reflections within the literature claim divine authorship for the powers and virtues of stones as framed within the medieval doctrine of exemplarism. The vernacular language lapidary texts also give indication of the contours and characteristics of the popular piety of the unlettered masses ~ Given this broad spectrum of medieval society which is reflected within the lapidary texts, the lapidary literature of the Middle Ages is a veritable 'treasure chest' for the student of medieval religious life, offering a panoramic view of the religious piety-both scholarly and popular - of medieval European civilization. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank all of the people who have helped to bring this thesis project to completion. In particular, I would like to thank Susan Kearsey for her untiring help in tra~king down library references while I continued my research from out-of-province, Vicar Lome Manweiler for his help in proof-reading and his formatting advise, my supervisor, Dr. David N. Bell, for his patience and for sharing the wisdom of his learning and experience with me, my loving wife Valerie for her unceasing encouragement and badgering to 'get the thesis done,' and lastly, my son Kiernan who taught me to dream a little. 11 TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract Acknowledgments u Table of Contents 111 Abbreviations v Chapter 1 Introduction 1 Chapter 2 Manuscript Sources ofMedieval Lapidary Knowledge 13 2.1 Classical Sources 14 2.2 Popular Medieval Lapidaries 23 2.3 Scientific Lapidaries 27 2.4 Christian Symbolic Lapidaries 32 2.5 Conclusion 34 Chapter 3 Description of a Medieval Lapidary 37 3.1 Introduction and Prologue 38 3.2 The List of Stones 41 3.3 Conclusion 53 Chapter 4 Medieval Science on the Virtues of Stones 55 4.1 On the Causes of Stones 57 4.2 Accidental Properties of Stones 60 4.3 On the Powers of Stones 62 4.4 On the Physiological Actions of Stones 67 4. 5 Conclusion 69 Chapter 5 The Theological Dimension of Medieval Stone-Lore 70 5.1 The Powers of Precious Stones 71 5.2 Jesus Christ the Cornerstone 74 5.3 Stones and Sacraments 81 111 5.4 The Catechetical Use of Stones 85 5.5 Stones and the Contemplative Life 90 5. 6 Conclusion 94 Chapter 6 Vernacular Piety as Reflected in Medieval Lapidary Texts 96 6.1 Popular Exemplarism 98 6.2 Pragmatic Orientation 101 6.3 Accessing the Divine Power within Stones 107 6.4 Syncretism ofReligious Sources and Ideas 115 6.5 Popular Spirituality 123 6.6 Excursus on the Transmission ofLapidary-Knowledge 128 6. 7 Conclusion 132 Chapter 7 Conclusion 134 Bibliography 139 lV ABBREVIATIONS ANL Paul Studer & Joan Evans. Anglo-Norman Lapidaries. Paris, 1924; reprint Geneve, Slatkine Reprints, 1976. EETS Early English Text Society. EML Joan Evans & MaryS. Serjeantson, editors. English Medieval Lapidaries. EETS 90. London: Oxford lJniversity Press, 1933. Evans Joan Evans. Magical Jewels ofthe Middle Ages and the Renaissance. New York: Dover Publications, 1922, 1976. HMES Lynn Thorndike. History ofMagic and Experimental Science. Eight volumes. New York: Columbia University Press, 1951-58. Laity Andre Vauchez. The Laity in the Middle Ages: Religious Beliefs and Devotional Practice. Edited by Daniel E. Bomstein. Translated by Margery 1. Schneider. Notre Dame: University ofNotre Dame Press, 1993 Lambel Volmar. Das Steinbuch. Edited by Hans Lambel. Heilbronn: Gebr. Henninger, 1877. Litho John M . Riddle. ''Lithotherapy in the Middle Ages ... Lapidaries Considered as Medical Texts," Pharmacy in History 12 (1970):39- 50. Marbode John M. Riddle, ed. Marbode ofRennes' (1025-1 123) De Lapidibus considered as a medical treatise. Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner Verlag, 1977. PG J.P. Migne, ed. Patrologia Cursus Completus, Series Graeca. 161 volumes. Paris: Migne, 1857-1866. PL J.P. Migne, ed. Patrologiae Cursus Completus, Series Latina. 221 volumes. Paris: Migne, 1844-1864. Sarton George SartoR Introduction to the History ofScience . Three volumes. Baltimore: Carnegie Institution ofWashington, 1927-1948, 1950, 1953. SpMW Andre Vauchez. Spirituality of the Medieval West: The Eighth to the Twelfth Century. Translated by Colette Friedlander. Kalamazoo: Cistercian Publications, 1993 Summa Thomas Aquinas. Summa 1heologic~: Latin text and English translation, Introductions; Notes, Appendices and Glossaries. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1972. T/K Lynn Thorndike & Pearl Kibre. A Catalogue ofIncipits ofMediaeval Scientific Writings in Latin. Revised and Augmented Edition. Cambridge: The Mediaeval Academy of America, 1963. Wyckoff Albert Magnus. De minera/ibus. Translated by Dorothy Wyckoff Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1967. · v CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION Peter Kitson, in his study of Anglo-Saxon lapidary texts, writes 'jewels have always fascinated man. They have been admired simply for their beauty-their depth of colour and their different propensities for catching and reflecting light. The combination of these qualities, rare in nature, has encouraged the attribution to them of many magical and medical powers."1 In the Middle Ages, from the eleventh to the fourteenth century, this fascination in stones and their powers exploded throughout European society as evidenced by the significant corpus of extant lapidary literature from every corner and strata of European civilization. Yet modern studies of these lapidary texts have not taken their historical provenance fully into consideration. As such, the corpus oflapidary literature has not been studied to the full potential of what it can offer modem students of the Middle Ages. Given the broad cultural fascination with stones, and the broad social and linguistic distribution of the lapidary texts, medieval lapidary traditions present a unique literary phenomenon that offer a rare window on medieval European culture and society, providing modem students of the Middle Ages an unparalleled vantage point from which they may view the entire breadth of medieval culture and society. As Joan Evans and Mary Seijeantson point out, fascination with gems and ''the ascription of. .. virtues to precious stones is older than written history." Classical authors 1 Peter Kitson, "Lapidary traditions in Anglo-Saxon England: part I, the background; the Old English Lapidary," Anglo-Saxon England 7 (1978): 9. 1 in both ancient Greece and Rome composed early treatises on stone-lore? From at least the seventh century with Isidore of Seville and certainly from the eleventh century with the landmark stone-list ofMarbod bishop ofRennes,3 the literary type known as the lapidary formed a standard part of the medieval encyclopedic tradition, emerging also as a popular vernacular literary type generally available to the literate public from as early as the eleventh century onwards. 4 With more than 616 lapidary texts extant,5 it is clear that the medieval fascination with stones was not a marginal element of medieval thought and culture but rather a significant part of culture and learning of the Middle Ages.6 As an artifact of a cultural and religious preoccupation, the medieval lapidary points to a widespread fascination with the vernacular culture ofthe day.
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