Commentum Sedulii Scotti In Maiorem Donatum Grammaticum

Papers read to the colloquium which was organized from 28 to 30 May 1990 at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven.

It would be difficult to overestimate the importance of the Bible in the medieval world. For the Anglo-Saxons, literary culture emerged from sustained and intensive biblical study. Further, at least to judge from the Old English texts which survive, the Old Testament was the primary influence, both in terms of content and modes of interpretation. Though the Old Testament was only partially translated into Old English, recent studies have shown how completely interconnected Anglo-Latin and Old English literary traditions are. Old English Literature and the Old Testament considers the importance of the Old Testament from a variety of disciplinary perspectives, from comparative to intertextual and historical. Though the essays focus on individual works, authors, or trends, including the Interrogationes Sigewulfi, Genesis A, and Daniel, each ultimately speaks to the vernacular corpus as a whole, suggesting approaches and methodologies for further study.

Surveys of linguistics in the Middle Ages often begin with the twelfth century, dismissing the preceding six centuries as 'devoid of originality' or 'dependent upon Donatus and Priscian'. This collection of articles devoted to linguistics in the early Middle Ages attempts to redress the balance by presenting a variety of approaches to new and controversial questions.The volume opens with a study of the historiography of early medieval grammar, with a bibliography of primary and secondary literature. The history of linguistic doctrine is discussed in articles dealing with Virgilius Maro Grammaticus, with the Irish contribution to the analysis of Latin, and with the Carolingian grammarians. A paper discussing a grammar from late Anglo-Saxon England (Beatus quid est) offers new insights into pedagogical techniques and the integration of literary texts into grammar teaching. The attitudes towards varieties of Latin in late antique and early medieval grammars are discussed in a wider context of cultural history. Finally, the volume includes two articles on the transmission of the grammars of the later Roman Empire to the early Middle Ages (Priscian and Dynamius).

The intellectual history of the Middle Ages involves many earlier traditions and developments from them, but just as many completely new lines of thought. The influence of Classical Antiquity is always present: in the continuation and adaptation of late antique forms of education and intellectual training, but also in the works of the Latin Church Fathers and of the major ancient philosophers whose works were passed down and built upon in the Middle Ages. From the 12th century onwards Arabic-Islamic learning, which bore the clear stamp of Greek philosophy and science, became known in Latin-speaking Europe and was a catalyst for many new developments. In keeping with the educational system of the period, theology and philosophy, the latter being seen as a universal science, were the main vehicles of intellectual life. In logic, ethics and natural philosophy as well as in scientific theology, medieval scholars attained standards, which in some cases have not even been equalled today. 'Studien und Texte zur Geistesgeschichte des Mittelalters' aims to address itself to this cultural plurality with a correspondingly broad publication programme. It is open to specialist research into the influence of Classical philosophy, to text editions, to monographs on the history of various intellectual problems, to examinations of hitherto undiscovered or undervalued contributions by medieval thinkers to the development of thought. Conceived as an hommage for Edouard Jeauneau - maitre par excellence - the volume is introduced by a reconstruction of the Creation on the North portal of Chartres Cathedral, followed by a section on the transmission of significant texts, such as Plato's Timaeus, through the manuscript tradition. The chapter on later Greek philosophy contains studies on Plotinus and Augustine, Proclus, and Pseudo-Dionysius. A separate section interprets the thought of Johannes Scottus Eriugena, whose connections with earlier authors and influence on medieval neoplatonists constitutes a leitmotiv throughout the volume. The twelfth century is represented by articles on Gilbert of Poitiers on matter, Adelard of Bath, Honorius of Autun, Abelard's ethics and theology, monastic asceticism, Hildegard of Bingen's allegories, allegorical zoology, Alan of Lille's anthropology, the role of the Muses, and the Hermetic Asclepius. The particular usefulness of this study is its presentation of neoplatonic thought in its historical unfolding from Antiquity to the Later Middle Ages through a wide range of disciplines, focused on specific ideas and metaphors.

The twenty-eight essays in this Handbook represent the best of current thinking in the study of Latin language and literature in the Middle Ages. The insights offered by the collective of authors not only illuminate the field of medieval Latin literature but shed new light on broader questions of literary history, cultural interaction, world literature, and language in history and society. The contributors to this volume--a collection of both senior scholars and gifted young thinkers--vividly illustrate the field's complexities on a wide range of topics through carefully chosen examples and challenges to settled answers of the past. At the same time, they suggest future possibilities for the necessarily provisional and open-ended work essential to the pursuit of medieval Latin studies. While advanced specialists will find much here to engage and at times to provoke them, this handbook successfully orients non-specialists and students to this thriving field of study. The overall approach of The Oxford Handbook of Medieval Latin Literature makes this volume an essential resource for students of the ancient world interested in the prolonged after-life of the classical period's cultural complexes, for medieval historians, for scholars of other medieval literary traditions, and for all those interested in delving more deeply into the fascinating more-than-millennium that forms the bridge between the ancient Mediterranean world and what we consider modernity.

The establishment of language as a focus of study took place over many centuries, and reflection on its nature emerged in relation to very different social and cultural practices. Written by a team of leading scholars, this volume provides an authoritative, chronological account of the history of the study of language from ancient times to the end of the 20th century (i.e., 'recent history', when modern linguistics greatly expanded). Comprised of 29 chapters, it is split into 3 parts, each with an introduction covering the larger context of interest in language, especially the different philosophical, religious, and/or political concerns and socio-cultural practices of the times. At the end of the volume, there is a combined list of all references cited and a comprehensive index of topics, languages, major figures, etc. Comprehensive in its scope, it is an essential reference for researchers, teachers and students alike in linguistics and related disciplines.

"To teach correct Latin and to explain the poets" were the two standard duties of Roman teachers. Not only was a command of literary Latin a prerequisite for political and social advancement, but a sense of Latin's history and importance contributed to the Romans' understanding of their own cultural identity. Put plainly, philology-the study of language and texts-was important at Rome. Critics, Compilers, and Commentators is the first comprehensive introduction to the history, forms, and texts of Roman philology. James Zetzel traces the changing role and status of Latin as revealed in the ways it was explained and taught by the Romans themselves. In addition, he provides a descriptive bibliography of hundreds of scholarly texts from antiquity, listing editions, translations, and secondary literature. Recovering a neglected but crucial area of Roman intellectual life, this book will be an essential resource for students of Roman literature and intellectual history, medievalists, and historians of education and language science.