scholarly journals Staročeské sumáře v biblích 15. století

2019 ◽  
Vol 54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kateřina Voleková
Keyword(s):  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Old Testament ◽  
Bible Translations ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Late Middle Ages ◽  
Biblical Texts ◽  
Holy Writ ◽  
Biblical Translation ◽  
The Middle Ages

Old Czech Summaries in Fifteenth-Century BiblesThis article focuses on some non-biblical texts accompanying Old Czech Bible translations in the Middle Ages. The oldest translation of the entire Bible into Old Czech, which comes from the 1350s, included a particular type of non-biblical texts: prefaces to biblical books. The following Old Czech revisions and new translations of the Bible were provided, to varying degrees, with other textual aids, such as the lists of Mass readings. In this paper, we focus on the so-called capitula, summaries of individual chapters of particular biblical books. In the Middle Ages, the capitula were an aid providing orientation in the text for the study of the Holy Writ in Latin. During the revision of the Czech biblical translation at the turn of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, chapter summaries in Latin were also translated. However, they are only preserved in their entirety in one manuscript, the second volume of the Litoměřice-Třeboň Bible. Other Old Czech Bibles included biblical summaries only exceptionally and selectively; the Old Czech chapter summaries survived in nine biblical manuscripts, mainly before individual chapters of selected books of the Old Testament. They were primarily intended to familiarise readers with the content of the text. The biblical summaries deserve a critical edition and further research, especially for their Old Czech vocabulary, reflecting the formation of biblical language and style in the late Middle Ages. Staroczeskie streszczenia w piętnastowiecznych tłumaczeniach BibliiNiniejszy artykuł jest poświęcony tekstom towarzyszącym staroczeskim przekładom Biblii z okresu średniowiecza. Pierwszy staroczeski przekład całej Biblii, pochodzący z lat pięćdziesiątych XIV wieku, zawierał również szczególny rodzaj tekstu: przedmowy do poszczególnych ksiąg. Zarówno jego zmodyfikowane wersje, jak i nowe przekłady, były (w różnym stopniu) zaopatrzone w teksty pomocnicze, na przykład listy czytań mszalnych. Przedstawiona analiza omawia tzw. capitula, czyli streszczenia poszczególnych rozdziałów ksiąg biblijnych. W średniowieczu stanowiły one jedyną w swoim rodzaju pomoc, umożliwiającą orientację w treści łacińskiego tekstu Pisma Świętego. Podczas modyfikacji czeskiego przekładu Biblii na przełomie XIV i XV wieku przetłumaczono również łacińskie streszczenia; zachowały się one w całości tylko w jednym manuskrypcie – drugim tomie Biblii litomierzycko-trzebońskiej. Inne biblie staroczeskie zawierały takie streszczenia tylko w wybranych rozdziałach; zachowały się one w dziewięciu manuskryptach, gdzie w większości przypadków poprzedzają poszczególne rozdziały wybranych ksiąg Starego Testamentu. Ich głównym celem było zapoznanie czytelnika z treścią tekstu biblijnego. Streszczenia, o których mowa, zasługują na krytyczne opracowanie i dalsze badania, zwłaszcza ze względu na staroczeskie słownictwo, odzwierciedlające formowanie się języka i stylu biblijnego w okresie późnego średniowiecza.

scholarly journals Die Benennung und Bestimmung der Räume im südlichen Repräsentativteil des Geschosses des zweiten „Hochmeisterpalastes“ auf der Marienburg im Mittelalter im Lichte der Schriftquellen

2021 ◽  
Vol 26 ◽  
pp. 315-340
Author(s):  
Sławomir Jóźwiak ◽  
Janusz Trupinda
Keyword(s):  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Late Middle Ages ◽  
Intended Use ◽  
Written Sources ◽  
The Middle Ages

Nomenclature and intended use of the rooms of the southern (representative) part of the upper floor of the “palace” of Grand Masters in the Marienburg Castle in the Middle Ages on the basis of written sources   The analyses carried out in this article concerning the southern part of  the upper floor of the new (second) “palace” of the Teutonic Order’s superiors in the late Middle Ages allow to formulate several important conclusions. First of all, the building certainly existed before 11 September 1392, but it cannot be ruled out that it was erected at the beginning of the 1370s. In the fifteenth-century sources, its entire southern representative part (looking from the so-called Low and High Halls) along with five rooms of different sizes located there, were referred to as the “Summer (or, less often, Winter) chamber (gemach)”. This name comes from the most characteristic interiors located there: the “Summer Refectory” / “Great Summer Hall” in the western part and the Winter Refectory in the central part. The thorough analysis of medieval written sources carried out in this article allows for the formulation of the thesis that the chamber located in the easternmost part of the southern part of the “palace”, supported by two columns, should be  identified as the “Minor Summer Hall” (aula minor estivalis), which was recorded in the transumpt of 14 May 1456. Thus, all the suggestions concerning this interior and its supposed intended use in the discussed period, hitherto put forward by the researchers who have so far formulated their conclusions in isolation from the written accounts of the period, should be rejected. This name comes from the most characteristic interiors located there: the "Summer Refectory" / "Great Summer Hall" in the western part and the Winter Refectory in the central part. The thorough analysis of medieval written sources carried out in this article allowed for the formulation of the thesis that the chamber located in the easternmost part of the southern part of the "palace", supported by two columns, should be  identified as the "Minor Summer Hall" (aula minor estivalis), which was recorded in the transumpt of 14 May 1456. Thus, all the suggestions concerning this interior and its supposed intended use in the discussed period,  hitherto put forward by the researchers who have so far formulated their conclusions in isolation from the written accounts of the period, should be rejected.

Biblical Apocrypha

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian Murdoch
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
New Testament ◽  
Old Testament ◽  
Medieval Period ◽  
Early Middle Ages ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Manuscript Tradition ◽  
Noncanonical Texts ◽  
Variable Group ◽  
The Middle Ages

The term “biblical apocrypha” is imprecise. What is not meant is what is commonly known as the Apocrypha, the (variable) group of books placed separately in some post-Reformation Bibles between the two Testaments. Those are works found in the 3rd-century bce Greek Old Testament (the Septuagint) but not accepted in the Hebrew canon, which was established later. When Jerome translated the Old Testament into Latin for his Vulgate, he included books (such as Judith), for which he had no Hebrew original, as deuterocanonical, a “second list” of nevertheless biblical books. The word apocrypha (Greek: “hidden things”) can imply simply “noncanonical,” but more specifically the term refers to noncanonical texts involving (or ascribed to) biblical personages, or expanding upon biblical books and events. Alternative terms used include pseudepigrapha (“spuriously attributed writings,” though this too is imprecise), midrash (Hebrew: “story”), generic designations such as apocalypse (many Old and New Testament apocrypha are apocalyptic), or blanket terms such as legend (or legend cycle). Recent studies refer to “the re-written Bible,” the “Bible in progress,” or (in the title of an important Festschrift) “the embroidered Bible.” The word apocryphus in medieval Latin means “uncertain,” “unreliable,” or “anonymous” or “pseudonymous.” Old Testament apocrypha may date from the 2nd century bce to the early Middle Ages, New Testament apocrypha continued to be produced well into the medieval period, and some overlap exists between the two. Some Old Testament apocrypha are extant in Hebrew or Aramaic, but frequently the original is fragmentary or only presumed on philological grounds or external evidence. Surviving versions are often in Greek and were themselves often translated into one or more languages, such as Syriac, Coptic, Ethiopic, Armenian, Georgian, or Latin. The earliest New Testament apocrypha are in Greek or Latin. Relatively recent discoveries have confirmed the antiquity of some, other apocrypha not known in the Middle Ages have been identified, and Christian writers refer to now-lost apocrypha. The manuscript tradition of many Old and New Testament apocrypha, however, is medieval, and, unlike biblical texts, they were not subject to standardization. Many enjoyed wide circulation throughout the Middle Ages and were translated or adapted into vernacular languages. Sometimes the sole known text may be a medieval version in a language such as Slavonic or Irish. The often neglected but continued development of Old and New Testament apocrypha in the Middle Ages is important, as is the knowledge of these texts within different Eastern and Western medieval cultures. It is thus appropriate to consider individual apocryphal works, and then the various cultures in which they are located.

The Contents of the Bible

The Bible ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Coogan
Keyword(s):  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
The Bible ◽  
The Middle Ages

What are the books of the Bible? The Bible is divided into books. For easy reference, scholars in the Middle Ages divided the books into chapters (except for the very short books), and beginning in the fifteenth century the chapters into verses, just as study...

The Aerial Battle in the Toledot Yeshu and Sodomy in the Late Middle Ages

2013 ◽  
Vol 19 (5) ◽  
pp. 493-533 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruth Mazo Karras
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Activity ◽  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
Sexual Intercourse ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Latin Translation ◽  
Textual Tradition ◽  
Late Middle Ages ◽  
Latin Version ◽  
The Middle Ages

Abstract Thomas Ebendorfer’s fifteenth-century Latin translation of a Hebrew Toledot Yeshu text is the earliest extant Latin version to include a full narrative from the birth of Jesus to the events following the crucifixion, and predates existing Hebrew versions. After reviewing the place of Ebendorfer’s work in the textual tradition of the Toledot, the article examines carefully the work’s account of the aerial battle between Jesus and Judas, in comparison to other versions. Ebendorfer includes the detail of sexual intercourse between the two, which is absent in many later versions. In the context of a discussion of Christian and Jewish attitudes toward male–male sexual activity in the Middle Ages, the article concludes that while this detail was in Ebendorfer’s exemplar, he could have elaborated on it in a way that indicates this was a particularly Christian concern.

Romance in Contact With Semitic

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniele Baglioni
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Mediterranean Area ◽  
Romance Languages ◽  
Forthcoming Article ◽  
Religious Rituals ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Late Middle Ages ◽  
Oral Interaction ◽  
The Middle Ages

This is an advance summary of a forthcoming article in the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Linguistics. Please check back later for the full article. The coexistence over centuries of Romance-speaking and Semitic peoples in the Mediterranean area has led to reciprocal linguistic influence and contact phenomena. All Romance languages have been involved in this process, although some of them, such as Romanian, only superficially and indirectly. For what concerns the Semitic counterparts, the major role has been played by Arabic in the Middle Ages, not only in Moorish Spain (711–1492) and in the Emirate of Sicily (831–1072), where interlinguistic contact was daily and intense, but also in Provence and in the main ports of Continental Italy (Pisa, Genoa, Venice), thanks to their commercial relations with the Eastern Mediterranean and North Africa. In addition, a consistent amount of Arabic intellectual lexicon has entered the Romance languages through the translations of scientific treaties, generally through the mediation of Latin. Hebrew has also given a significant contribution, both via the translations of the Bible and, from the Late Middle Ages on, through the oral interaction of the local Jewish communities with non-Jews. In both cases contact has been indirect, since biblical loanwords have been mediated first by Greek and later by Latin, whereas the rest of the borrowings has been transmitted by the Judeo-Romance languages. The other Semitic languages have had no influence on Romance, except for a very limited number of Amharic loanwords to be found in Italian, as a consequence of Italian Colonialism in East Africa (1882–1936). Although Medieval Spanish and Sicilian display traces of Arabic interference at all levels, including phonology, morphology and syntax, in most Romance languages effects of contact with Semitic are limited to lexicon. These comprise both direct borrowings and structural calques, as far as Arabic and—to a lesser extent—Hebrew are concerned, and pertain to several semantic ambits, such as trade, anatomy, astronomy, and botany (Arabic); religious rituals and practices (Hebrew); and, more generally, daily life, especially in peculiar sociolects and slangs. A case apart is represented by Maltese, a Western Arabic dialect deeply influenced by Italo-Romance (notably Sicilian) from the Middle Ages until the first half of the 20th century, which is a unique example of Romance-Semitic mixing not only at a lexical, but also at a phonological and morphosyntactic level.

Religious Women

2020 ◽  
pp. 284-299
Author(s):  
Sigrid Hirbodian
Keyword(s):  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Religious Identity ◽  
Religious Communities ◽  
Religious Women ◽  
Late Middle Ages ◽  
Women's Communities ◽  
Religious Lives ◽  
Church Law ◽  
The Middle Ages

This chapter explores how the identities of religious women in the late Middle Ages were projected and perceived. Beyond the life led by regular nuns, the Middle Ages saw the emergence of many different opportunities for women who wished to lead religious or ‘pious’ lives. The focus is on women who, in terms of Church law, belonged somewhere between the secular and the religious, but who thought of themselves as leading religious lives—in particular, secular canonesses and beguines. The example of Strasbourg is used to demonstrate the varieties of women’s religious communities existing at a given time (here the second half of the fifteenth century) in a single place. It argues that regional circumstances, along with the support of influential religious and secular personalities, shaped the various monastic landscapes and largely defined the religious identity of women’s communities.

In the Eyes of the Christian Writer al-Hārit ibn Sinān Poetics and Eloquence as a Platform of Inter-Cultural Contacts and Contrasts

Arabica ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 56 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-26
Author(s):  
Joseph Sadan
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Old Testament ◽  
Tenth Century ◽  
Modern Times ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Semitic Language ◽  
Christian Literature ◽  
Christian Writer ◽  
The Middle Ages

AbstractWhile ostensibly aspects of poetics are best discussed within a purely literary perspective, in fact they can hardly be disconnected from their socio-cultural and religious frameworks. Al-Hārit ibn Sinān was a Christian scholar and writer who lived under Muslim rule towards the end of the ninth and apparently also the beginning of the tenth century, precisely at the time when the first fruits of the idea of the Qur‘ān's stylistic inimitability (i’ğāz) began to ripe. Although this concept played a role also in interfaith polemics throughout the Middle Ages, our author shows his temperance and restraint by praising the style of the Bible (he would appear not to have read the books of the Old Testament in the original Hebrew but demonstrated understanding and a feeling for the text through another Semitic language: Syriac), both because as a Christian living under Muslim rule he was loathe to arouse an overt controversy with the society in which he lived, and also because glorifying the style of Holy Scripture, which he had apparently inherited from the Syriac-Byzantine culture, was an important tendency in and of itself in both Jewish and Christian literature (in England, for example, upsurges of this tendency have occurred even in modern times). Nevertheless, we cannot ignore the fact that our author did compare the poetics of four cultures: that of the Hebrews, that of the Greek (or rather Greek-Byzantine, rūm), that of the Syriac elements and that of the Arabs. He even tries to prove, using somewhat specious arguments, that the Hebrew portions of the Bible contain rhymes. His positions thus deserve to be considered retrospectively also in an interfaith and intercultural context.

Antiochene Exegesis in Western Europe During the Middle Ages

1947 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. L. W. Laistner
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Old Testament ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Good Deal ◽  
The West ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Pauline Epistles ◽  
Allegorical Interpretation ◽  
Holy Writ ◽  
Medieval Scholar

The outstanding importance of allegorical interpretation to the medieval scholar engaged on interpreting the Scriptures is well known. The method, which had originated in the East and was older than Christianity, became well established in the West during the Patristic age; in its application there was a good deal of variety. Ambrosiaster in commenting on the Pauline epistles combined orthodoxy with an unswerving adherence to the historical sense. Tyconius, on the other hand, laid down no less than seven rules whereby to interpret the prophecies in the Old Testament. Augustine went further in finding allegorical meaning in passages of Holy Writ than Jerome, who always maintained a certain balance in expounding the literal and the spiritual sense. The latter is more pronounced in his earlier commentaries when he was still consciously under the influence of Origen. In his later works allegorical interpretation becomes noticeably less; but it is not wholly absent even from his unfinished commentary on Jeremiah. To Gregory the Great the sensus spiritalis and particularly the sensus moralis were of such paramount significance as almost to oust the literal meaning. His influence on Bede and through Bede, as well as directly, on later expounders of the Bible was enormous.

scholarly journals Arbor Praedicandi. Some Remarks on Dispositio in Mediaeval Sermons (on the Example of Sermo 39 “Semen Est Verbum Dei” by Mikołaj of Błonie)

Terminus ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (Special Issue 2) ◽  
pp. 169-195
Author(s):  
Lidia Grzybowska
Keyword(s):  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Fourteenth Century ◽  
Thomas Aquinas ◽  
Abstract Concepts ◽  
Paper Briefly ◽  
Field Of Study ◽  
Late Middle Ages ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Middle Ages

The main aim of this paper is to present the motif of a tree-shaped compositional scheme called arbor picta (arbor praedicandi) and to show it against the field of rhetorical elements such as dispositio and memoria as found in mediaeval sermons. The basic sources for the analysis of this question are two fourteenth-century theoretical treatises on the art of preaching (manuals: Libellus artis preadicatorie by Jacobus de Fusignano and Tractatulus solennis de arte et vero modo praedicandi by Pseudo-Thomas Aquinas), and one of the sermons from the collection de tempore of a fifteenth-century Polish preacher, Mikołaj of Błonie (Dominica sexagesime: sermo 39 “Semen est verbum Dei”). The problems of arbor praedicandi, which are part of a broader field of study on the structure of sermons, editorial methods of texts and mnemonics, were the subject of interest of many researchers such as H. Caplan, O.A. Dieter, S. Khan, S. Wenzel. In Poland, this issue has not yet become a subject of proper study. In order to analyse this scheme in the treatises of Jacobus de Fusignano and Pseudo-Thomas Aquinas, as well as in the exemplary sermon, the paper briefly outlines the existence of topics and images of the tree in the writings of the Middle Ages (e.g. lignum vitae, arbor sapientiae, arbor amoris). Then fragments from the manuals of Jacobus de Fusignano and Pseudo-Thomas Aquinas are presented in which the authors discussed the scheme in question and explained its importance for the practice of preaching. An analysis of a practical example—here: sermo 39 from Mikołaj of Błonie’s collection de tempore—shows the creative use of the tree scheme in the sermon by the Polish preacher (with the speculative assumption that Mikołaj of Błonie knew Jacobus’s theory of preaching). Particular attention is also paid to the circumstances of the development of the art of preaching in the late Middle Ages in Poland. Finally, the importance of the concept of the sermon as a tree for the elements of rhetoric such as dispositio/divisio/partito and memoria is emphasised. In this study, it is shown that the use of the tree scheme in presenting abstract concepts and structuring texts allowed preachers and their audiences to visualise vague and often difficult ideas, as well as to describe their relationship within the subjects of the sermons. Therefore, the use of the scheme in the Middle Ages had great significance for ars memorativa and the didactic dimensions.

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