V. Alice Tyrrell, Merovingian Letters and Letter Writers. (Publications of the Journal of Medieval Latin 12.) Turnhout: Brepols, 2019. Paper. Pp. xxxi, 386; 2 figures and 1 table. €90. ISBN: 978-2-5035-8358-7.

This article addresses Thomas More's use of an especially complex Latin predicate, fio, as a means of examining the degree of classicism in this aspect of his writing. To this end, the main lexical-semantic and syntactic features of the verb in Classical Latin are presented, and a comparative review is made of More's use of the predicate—and also its use in texts contemporaneous to More, as well as in Late and Medieval Latin—in both prose and poetry. The analysis shows that he works within a general framework of classicism, although he introduces some of his own idiosyncrasies, these essentially relating to the meaning of the verb that he employs in a preferential way and to the variety of verbal forms that occur in his poetic text.

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« Si res ad synodum traheretur » (I, 416) Les procès imaginaires dans le livre I de l'Ysengrimus.

Rhetorica A Journal of the History of Rhetoric ◽

10.1525/rh.2020.38.4.411 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 38 (4) ◽

pp. 411-431

Author(s):

Jean FranÇois Poisson-Gueffier

Keyword(s):

Classical Rhetoric ◽

Medieval Latin ◽

Rhetorical Structures ◽

Judicial Oratory

The first book of medieval Latin beast epic, Ysengrimus, relates imaginary trials. In the episodes of the stolen ham and the fishing, the characters, Ysengrin and Renart, imagine that they would convene an ecclesiastic assembly, a synod, and that they would plead their case. Their plead reverses right and wrong (translatio criminis), invents speeches to denigrate each other (sermocinatio), and seems to take the form of large digressions. These speeches, which have been considered as “interminable” and “wordy” by J. Mann and É. Charbonnier, can be reassessed through classical rhetoric. This paper aims to demonstrate that, in spite of the extent of these speeches' apparent rambling, we can extricate some rhetorical structures (constitutiones) from the judicial oratory. This is the first point of a speech that also uses prolixity as an “art of being right.”

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Medieval Latin Palaeography

10.3138/9781442677173 ◽

1984 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Leonard E. Boyle

Keyword(s):

Medieval Latin

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Innovation in Byzantine Medicine

10.1093/oso/9780198850687.001.0001 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Petros Bouras-Vallianatos

Keyword(s):

Human Physiology ◽

Medical Literature ◽

Cultural Exchange ◽

Significant Degree ◽

Medieval Medicine ◽

Medieval Latin ◽

Main Thesis ◽

Wide Range ◽

Comprehensive Examination ◽

First Time

Byzantine medicine is still a little-known and misrepresented field not only in the wider arena of debates on medieval medicine but also among Byzantinists. Byzantine medical literature is often viewed as ‘stagnant’ and mainly preserving ancient ideas; and our knowledge of it continues to be based to a great extent on the comments of earlier authorities, which are often repeated uncritically. This book presents the first comprehensive examination of the medical corpus of, arguably, the most important late Byzantine physician John Zacharias Aktouarios (c.1275–c.1330). The main thesis is that John’s medical works show an astonishing degree of openness to knowledge from outside Byzantium combined with a significant degree of originality, in particular, in the fields of uroscopy, pharmacology, and human physiology. The analysis of John’s edited (On Urines and On Psychic Pneuma) and unedited (Medical Epitome) works is supported for the first time by the consultation of a large number of manuscripts. The study is also informed by evidence from a wide range of medical sources, including previously unpublished ones, and texts from other genres, such as epistolography and merchants’ accounts. The contextualization of John’s works sheds new light on the development of Byzantine medical thought and practice, and enhances our understanding of the late Byzantine social and intellectual landscape. Finally, John’s medical observations are also examined in the light of examples from the medieval Latin and Islamic worlds, placing his medical theories in the wider Mediterranean milieu and highlighting the cultural exchange between Byzantium and its neighbours.

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Theological Texts

The Oxford Handbook of Latin Palaeography ◽

10.1093/oxfordhb/9780195336948.013.105 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 905-923

Author(s):

Lesley Smith

Keyword(s):

Eleventh Century ◽

Medieval Latin ◽

Academic Study

This chapter surveys manuscripts of medieval Latin theology from the late eleventh century to the late thirteenth, and discusses the shift from monastic study of theology to its more academic study by scholars and mendicant friars. The changed needs of the new readers led to significant alterations in the layout, size, shape, and contents of theological manuscripts, most of the changes reflecting the need for quick reference rather than meditation.

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