Wednesday 15th March 15:00—16:30, Session 2
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Session: |
Dissemination of Knowledge |
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Place: |
Seminarraum 2 |
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Moderator: |
Martin Dekarli |
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Paper 1: |
Translating Theology in Vienna and Prague - the Question of Adequate Language |
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Paper 2: |
... das man den frümen layen pücher zü dewtsch pringet. Disseminating Knowledge to Non-Academics through German Translations |
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Paper 3: |
Putting Boethius Back into Chaucer’s Boece: A Unique Middle English Translation of the Consolatio in Bodleian Library, Oxford MS Auct. F.3.5 |
Translating Theology in Vienna and Prague - the Question of Adequate Language
Pavlína Rychterová
The paper concerns the possibilities of comparison of two translational cultures: between the practice of translation of theological and pastoral literature in late medieval Bohemia and in Austria. Between the literary cultures in Bohemia and Austria many similarities may be identified: Geopolitical position of the lands, similar size, similar density of population, similar social and economic structure, and last but not least - similarly ambitious rulers. The translation gained in Bohemia as well as in Austria specific meaning as a part of the representative strategies of both ruling houses. These strategies were of course not static and were subject to permanent change. The comparison has to be based on texts which may be compared. Based on this comparison it is necessary to develop methods of analysis which would be able to describe the qualities of the individual texts in contexts crossing the boundaries of one language, of one literary culture and of one scholarly discipline. Late medieval Bohemia, Austria and lower Germany represent together a very suitable starting point for such goal. They enable to examine the modes of comparison which may allow us to define the comparative units anew without necessity of premature labeling. He comparison between the two cultures may allow us not only to pour a fresh energy into the research on the Viennese school and in the tradition of the translation in Bohemia, to re-arrange the priorities of respective literary studies and to contribute to the better insight into late medieval translating cultures.
... das man den frümen layen pücher zü dewtsch pringet. Disseminating Knowledge to Non-Academics through German Translations
Iris Palenik
Just two decades after its foundation members of the University started a concerted effort to disseminate knowledge to a broader non-academic audience by translating their original Latin texts into the vernacular. This was highly encouraged by the duke and his court, which commissioned quite a number of those works. Today these German texts are considered as a specific type of literature in late medieval Austria, the so called “School of Vienna” (Wiener Schule). This literature was specifically intended for the Laity and the Clergy.
In a time of spiritual turmoil (Schisma, conflicts with heretics like the Hussites) quite a lot of these texts focus on what the University considered to be the righteous and faithful Christian life. For this purpose a number of treatises and sermons written by theologians were translated. In my paper I want to focus on this kind of translations. For me an interesting part of these texts are the German translations of sermons and their use as Literature for clerics and Laymen/women. Sermons are not particularly known for their use as literature rather than textbooks for members of the clergy.
Professors had their students translate their Latin texts into vernacular. Because these translations were intricate tasks the author would often watch over them and help with this. During this process, the source texts were either translated literally or to convey the general meaning. In large part this was not due to the skills of the translator but according to their subject matter. The redactors had to consider the suitability of complex theological discussions and the capabilities of their non-academic audience. In order to insure orthodoxy and not to confuse people, complex theological discussions were often severly reduced, simplified or completley stricken.
To further illustrate what knowledge was deemed exactable for the Laity, I want to analyse two translations specifically. The first deals with the heresy of the so called 24 seniores (around Judenburg). The second one speaks about the condemnation of Johannes Grießer (a supporter of Hieronymus of Prague) as an heretic and his burning in 1411. Both examples show how a complex theological discussion, that took place at the University, was condensened and transformed into a German text, which was intended to be suitable for a non-academic audience.
Putting Boethius Back into Chaucer’s Boece: A Unique Middle English Translation of the Consolatio in Bodleian Library, Oxford MS Auct. F.3.5
Melinda Nielsen
Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius is widely regarded as the last of the ancient authors and the first of the medievals. As such, his writings constituted a key gateway through which much classical learning—including the writings of Plato and Aristotle—were translated to the western world. Yet for medieval readers of de Consolatione Philosophiae, the testimony of Boethius’s life was as powerful as his writings since the Roman senator suffered imprisonment and brutal execution rather than countenance the emperor’s injustice.
However, despite the importance of Boethius’s biography to centuries of readers and their interpretations, no scholarly research whatsoever exists regarding his biography’s dissemination or influence. This lack has seriously obscured modern scholarship’s ability to understand Boethius’s significance to medieval readers—readers that consistently venerated Boethius for embodying the philosophy he professed. My project shows how two of Chaucer’s earliest documented readers amend his translation by drawing upon these paratextual sources to frame Boethius’s philosophical writings within the praxis of his political and religious actions. In doing so, my research demonstrates the fluid status of Middle English translation and how Boethius’s life and text became an integrated model for other politically-engaged people to emulate.
To demonstrate the significance of this lost vein of the Boethian tradition, my paper shows how as a case study the fascinating yet hitherto unstudied manuscript, Bodleian Library, Oxford MS. Auct. F.3.5. This manuscript contains a unique Middle English translation of Boethius’s Consolation of Philosophy. The manuscript demonstrates how the Consolatio was regarded as a living text: Its anonymous translation both improvises freely upon Boethius’s text and also incorporates aspects of Geoffrey Chaucer’s Middle English translation and the Latin vitae tradition into its own wording. Thus, the manuscript is an ideal site to trace how Boethius’s life functions across a series of Latin and Middle English texts. By working across genres, my research demonstrates the porous relationships between the different strands of the Boethian tradition, and how reader’s of Boethius’s text as a living document in which they could participate.