View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Columbia University Academic Commons Communities in Translation: History and Identity in Medieval England Mary Kate Hurley Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 2013 © 2012 Mary Kate Hurley All rights reserved ABSTRACT Communities in Translation: History and Identity in Medieval England Mary Kate Hurley “Communities in Translation: History and Identity in Medieval England” argues that moments of identity formation in translated texts of the Middle Ages are best understood if translation is viewed as a process. Expanding on Brian Stock’s idea that texts organize and define real historical communities, I argue that medieval translations—broadly considered as textual artifacts which relate received narratives—create communities within their narratives based on religious, ethnic, and proto-nationalist identities. In my first chapter, I assert that the Old English Orosius—a translation of a fifth-century Latin history—creates an audience that is forced to assume a hybrid Roman-English identity that juxtaposes a past Rome with a present Anglo-Saxon England. In chapter two, I argue that the inclusion of English saints among traditional Latin ones in Ælfric of Eynsham’s Lives of the Saints stakes a claim not only for the holiness of English Christians but for the holiness of the land itself, thus including England in a trans-temporal community of Christians that depended on English practice and belief for its continued success. In my third chapter, I turn to Chaucer’s Man of Law’s Tale, and read it alongside its historical source by Nicholas Trevet in order to demonstrate Chaucer’s investment in a multicultural English Christianity. These arguments inform my reading of Beowulf, a poem which, while not itself a translation, thematizes the issues of community raised by my first three chapters through its engagement with the problematic relationship between communities and narrative. When Beowulf’s characters and narrator present an inherited narrative meant to bolster community, they more often reveal the connections to outside forces and longer histories that render its textual communities exceedingly fragile. Where previous studies of translation focus on the links of vernacular writings to their source texts and their Latin past, I suggest that these narratives envision alternative presents and futures for the communities that they create. TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements............................................................................................................... ii Introduction............................................................................................................................ 1 Translation Studies and Old English..................................................................... 6 Translation and Community in Medieval England............................................. 9 Alfredian Temporalities: Time and Translation in the Old English Orosius................. 16 “Cwæð Orosius”...................................................................................................... 19 Writing an Audience............................................................................................... 48 Conclusion............................................................................................................... 52 Sanctity and Soil: Making England Holy in Ælfric’s Lives of the Saints........................... 55 Ælfric’s Lives of the Saints: Identity and Holiness................................................. 57 The Holiness of English Land: Ælfric’s Life of Oswald....................................... 76 Oswald, Warrior King............................................................................................ 78 Holy Soil, Holy Kingdom...................................................................................... 97 Conclusion............................................................................................................... 106 Becoming England in the Man of Law’s Tale...................................................................... 108 Two Stories of England.......................................................................................... 115 A “Mannysh” Mother-in-Law................................................................................ 128 Christian Monarch, Christian Nation................................................................... 133 Conclusion................................................................................................................ 140 Beowulf’s Collectivities......................................................................................................... 146 The Lay of the Last Survivor................................................................................. 151 Sympathy for the Devil........................................................................................... 171 Ides Gnornode......................................................................................................... 179 Conclusion................................................................................................................ 188 Conclusion.............................................................................................................................. 193 Bibliography........................................................................................................................... 198 i Acknowledgements Ten years ago, I decided that I would become a medievalist. At the age of nineteen, I had little idea of what that path would entail. Long hours in the library. Reading. Writing. Maybe a bit of teaching. I didn’t quite understand, at nineteen, that dissertations—and the Ph.D. candidates who write them—are never only a finished product. At the age of twenty-nine, I’ve found that graduate school is a process that, thankfully, doesn’t end when the dissertation is distributed, defended, or deposited. And like any process, graduate school cannot be undertaken in isolation. This dissertation would not have been possible without teachers, colleagues, friends, and family. My first intellectual home will always be the English department at Wake Forest University. Particular thanks are due to Gale Sigal and Gillian Overing. Professor Sigal took the freshman who wanted to study at Oxford seriously. When I was a senior in her Arthurian literature and Chaucer courses, she pushed me to become a more careful and capacious scholar, encouraging my most ambitious projects even when they required me to learn Anglo-Norman. In Spring 2002, Dr. Overing challenged an Old English class to do the impossible, and I found out that what I wanted most from my life was to understand the beautiful and impossible Old English poetry. Her generosity serves as a model for what academia should be like, and I could not be more grateful for the inspiration she provides as scholar, teacher, and mentor. At Columbia, I found a new intellectual home that challenged me in ways I could never have anticipated. A constant presence throughout my dissertation process, my committee has read multiple drafts of this dissertation with care and precision. Susan Crane’s uncanny ability to identify and nurture the scholarly commitments of her students has benefited me enormously – not least her suggestion that perhaps I was “really interested in translation,” an insight that changed my career. Kathleen Davis took up her role on my committee with thoughtful comments and suggestions that have never failed to push my thinking and my abilities. She has graciously guided me through a ii project that would not be possible without her own outstanding scholarship. Patricia Dailey and I arrived at Columbia at the same time in 2004, and her guidance has been indispensable from my MA thesis to the dissertation and job market. Her patience with my journey from undergrad to Ph.D. candidate is a model of dedication, and I owe her a deep debt of gratitude for the transformation she has seen me through. Colleagues near and far have made this work more bearable. Members of the Medieval Guild, past and present, have offered suggestions, words of wisdom, and conviviality. Bob Hanning provided advice and good humor from the moment I joined the Columbia medievalist “family.” Eleanor Johnson has consistently found the joy in my project in the moments that I felt it most tedious. I am deeply grateful for Hal Momma’s unwavering support through my exams and her presence as outside reader for the dissertation. Stacy Klein has provided a model of collegiality throughout my career, and our epic afternoons of processing ISAS dues at Rutgers during her tenure as ISAS executive director provided a welcome sense of accomplishment and relaxation during the toughest times of the dissertation. Richard Sacks’ guidance and linguistic expertise was fundamental to my time in the Ph.D. program at Columbia. An ISAS workshop in 2009 with Martin Foys and Dan O’Donnell brought the larger context of my work into sharp relief, for which I am exceedingly grateful. No acknowledgements could be complete without mention of my co-bloggers, Jeffrey Cohen, Eileen Joy, Karl Steel, and Jonathan Hsy. Their model of sharing work is a daily inspiration, and their support throughout this process has been invaluable to both my intellectual development and my development