How Monstrosity and Geography were used to Define the Other in Early Medieval Europe Jason Ryan Berg Submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Leeds School of History 26 October, 2015 2 The candidate confirms that the work submitted is his own and that appropriate credit has been given where reference has been made to the work of others. This copy has been supplied on the understanding that it is copyright material and that no quotation from thesis may be published without proper acknowledgement. The right of Jason R. Berg to be identified as Author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs, and Patents Act 1988. © 2015 The University of Leeds and Jason R. Berg 3 Acknowledgements Throughout my short academic career I have incurred many scholarly debts and I would like to begin my repayment by thanking the people who have tirelessly aided and guided me in my educational path from the Grande Prairie Regional College in my hometown to the Universities of Alberta, Cambridge, and Leeds. I begin with Dr. Michael Fox for diligently teaching me both Medieval Latin and Old English, and for instilling in me a fascination with Alcuin of York – a fascination that continues to this day. It was also Dr. Fox who first suggested that I consider applying to Cambridge and for that I will always be grateful. I would like also to thank Dr. John Kitchen for his unique and infectious teaching style that always managed to keep the subject matter enjoyable, no matter the topic. A special thanks goes to my fellow University of Leeds colleagues, without whom my time at Leeds would not have been nearly as enjoyable, and educational. I would especially like to thank Ricky Broome, Tim Barnwell, and Michael Kelly with whom I co-founded Networks and Neighbours. I can honestly say that I had no idea that our little project would ever be as successful as it has been and I hope that its success continues for many years to come. Other colleagues at Leeds that deserve special mention include N. Kıvılcım Yavuz, Otávio Luiz Vieira Pinto, and Hope Williard who have not only contributed a great deal to N&N’s success but who have also educated and entertained me during Ian Wood’s weekly seminars over the last three years. I would also like to thank Professor Ian Wood who guided me through my PhD with what, at times, seemed like superhuman efficiency and ease. Without Ian’s support, suggestions, and deep knowledge (on almost every aspect of the Early Middle Ages) I would never had been able to finish this project. However, my deepest gratitude is, as always, to my family, especially to my wife Erika Sigurdson who has selflessly and generously supported me through this whole process. I also would like to thank my late grandfather, William Ballance, for insisting that I worked hard at whatever I do; without his early support I would certainly not have continued this far. This thesis would not have been possible without all of their support - emotional, financial or otherwise, and it is therefore to them that I dedicate this work. 4 Abstract My thesis deals with texts that are either often not investigated in their entirety or that have large portions of their narratives overlooked in favour of more traditionally popular sections. The stories and descriptions of monstrous races included in these texts, many of which are cornerstones of western myth – cynocephali, amazons, cyclopes, giants, dragons, etc. – were inherited by the Early Middle Ages from its Greco-Roman past and redeployed in response to shifting frontiers, both literally and metaphorically in order to make sense of their new world. My thesis is very much an inter-disciplinary study, making use of anthropological and literary theory concerning social identity and the conceptions of the fabulous, miraculous, and the monstrous and combines a close textual analysis of primary source material with a detailed reconstruction of the context in which these texts were created and transmitted. What was it about these particular texts that resulted in their widespread transmission? How were these descriptions of the monstrous used to define the other? How were these same descriptions used to define barbarian groups? Was there a geographical link between where these texts placed their monsters and real geographical frontiers? How were texts like this used to shape a Christian identity in such a way that it was distinct from a non-Christian one? These questions and others like them will lie at the heart of my thesis. 5 Table of Contents Acknowledgements ............................................................................................. iii Abstract ................................................................................................................ iv Table of Contents .................................................................................................. v Notes on Translations .......................................................................................... vii Abbreviations .................................................................................................... viii Introduction ........................................................................................................... 1 Chapter One: Monster Theory ............................................................................. 15 I.1: Introduction ............................................................................................... 15 I.2: Post-Medieval Monstrous Studies ............................................................. 20 I.3: Orientalism ................................................................................................ 27 I.4: Anthropology of the Monstrous ................................................................ 32 I.5: Literary Analysis ....................................................................................... 35 I.6: Monstrous Body ........................................................................................ 41 I.7: Classical Modes of Thought ...................................................................... 45 I.8: Medieval Modes of Thought ..................................................................... 53 I.9: Modern Modes of Thought ....................................................................... 56 I.10: Conclusions ............................................................................................. 59 Chapter Two: The Sources .................................................................................. 62 II.1: Introduction .............................................................................................. 62 II.2: The Ancient Tradition .............................................................................. 70 II.3: The Encyclopaedic Tradition ................................................................... 81 II.3.1: Pliny’s Historia Naturalis ................................................................. 84 II.3.2: Isidore of Seville’s Etymologiae ....................................................... 87 II.3.3: Hrabanus Maurus’ De Universo ........................................................ 94 II.3.4: Johannes Scotus Eriugena’s Periphyseon ......................................... 96 II.3.5: Liber monstrorum ............................................................................ 100 II.4: Historical Sources .................................................................................. 102 II.4.1 Orosius .............................................................................................. 106 II.4.2: Bede ................................................................................................. 112 II.4.3: Jordanes ........................................................................................... 115 II.4.4: Classical tradition of linking geography and history ...................... 117 6 II. 5: Conclusions ........................................................................................... 119 Chapter Three: Human Nature(s) in the Monstrous and the ‘Othering’ of Nations or the Invention of the Medieval Barbarian as Monstrous ................................ 121 III.1: Introduction .......................................................................................... 121 III.2: Ancient Ethnography ............................................................................ 127 III.2.1: The problem with ‘barbarians’ ....................................................... 130 III.2.2: Centre vs periphery or the struggle for rhetorical domination ....... 135 III.2.3: How does the monster add meaning? ............................................ 136 III.3: Scythians ............................................................................................... 146 III.3.1 Herodotus’ Scythians ...................................................................... 150 III.3.2 Herodotus’ monsters ....................................................................... 152 III.4: Turks ..................................................................................................... 153 III.4.1 Turks as monsters ............................................................................ 155 III.5: Huns ...................................................................................................... 168 III.5.1: Huns as monsters ........................................................................... 170 III.6: Goths