Evoking Auditory Imagination: On the Poetics of Voice Production in The Story of The Glorious Resurrection of Our Lord (c. 1580)

Evoking Auditory Imagination:
On the Poetics of Voice Production in
The Story of The Glorious Resurrection of Our Lord
(c. 1580)
Jolanta Szpilewska
Drama is a form of art where oral delivery meets audio-visual reception. It is
along this line of communication, actors – delivering their speeches – on one end,
and audience members – listening, at the other end, that the Biblical story with its
moral and theological message is being presented in the religious theatre.
Medieval and early modern religious theatre of the Latin Church developed
different ways of establishing theatrical communication and securing proper
audience reception. One of the tools of presenting a clear message and keeping the
audience tagether was the traditional prologue and epilogue of the play as weil as
addresses to the audience in the play-text. Still another device was elaboration of
the vocal delivery of the text. Thus, different voice pitches would be introduced to
underline certain parts of the script, to make a play more lively and colourful.
Elements of vocal delivery of the play such as raisingllowering the voice, pausing,
using exclamations, as weil as cursing, or singing, all amount to the so-called
poetics of voice production or emission. The term poetics has been used for the
purposes of the present inquiry since it embraces the principles of drama and
theatrical performance that seem to keep the audience silent, secure continuous
presentation of Biblical events on the stage, and help to avoid interruptions from
the public.
One of the few surviving early mystery plays in Poland that introduce
various ways of oral delivery, and thus evoke rich auditory effects, is the 1580s
vemacular Easter play entitled The Story ofthe Glorious Resurrection ofOur Lord
from Southem Poland. 1 The play was either edited or written by a Pauline monk,
1 Historyja o Chwalebnym Zmartwychwstaniu Paliskim (The story of the glorious Resurrection
of Our Lord). Ms Cim. 0.496 in Komik J> AN Library. This is the so-called Redaction A of a
highly popular play published in Cracow c. 158 1-85. For its editions see: Stanislaw
Windakiewicz, in ßiblioteka Pisarzow Polskich, 25 (Cracow: n.p., 1 893); Julian Lewailski, in
Dramaty staropolskie: Anto/ogia, vol. 2 (Warsaw: PIW, 1959), pp. 287-354; Jan Okoil, in
ßibliote/..a Narodowa I, vol. 201 (Wroclaw: Ossolineurn, 1971). Further bibliography in
·’Nowy Korbut:“ ßibliografia literatury polslciej (New Korbut: Bibliography of Polish
literature), ed. Roman Pollak, 3 vols (Warsaw: J>IW, 1965), and Wladyslaw Korotaj et al.,
Dramat staropols/ci od poczqtkOw do powstania sceny narodowej: ßibliografia: Teksty
dramatyczne drukiem wydane do r. 1 765 (Bibliography of early J>olish drama since its
EVOKING AUDITOR V IMAGINATION 249
Mikolaj from Wilkowieck. lt has come down in its sixteenth-century printed
version. There are also two Jater editions and numerous manuscript copies
preserved. It seems to have been an extremely popular play since we find its
redactions all over Poland and in Ukraine as late as the eighteenth century. I arn
focusing on this particular text in order to show what the roJe of voice emission in
a religious play may have been. I would also like to raise the question as to
whether or not we may actually speak of patterns or poetics of voice emission in
Biblical plays and if so, how this knowledge contributes to our understanding of
the function of an early religious play.
Before I enumerate specific forms of voice emission in The Story of the
Glorious Resurrection, it is worthwhlle noting that although the earliest known
version of the play is a printed version, a hypothesis of the existence of an earlier
popular play circulating in the oral tradition cannot be discarded. The 1 580s edition
is apparently meant for a wider use since it has neither dedication nor any mention
of a specific community that would stage the play. Instead, we have a general
prologue addressed to „anyone who would stage the play.“2 The play’s introduction
is a curious mixture of two modes of communication: oral and written. While the
dramatis personae Iist is entitled „persony rozmawiaj<�.ce“ („speaking personae“),
the introduction addresses a bonus Ieetor – a kind reader, as the text says: „may the
kind reader not worry that the play needs altogether 35 personae.“3 We then find
sorne clues for combining several roles in the play. Thus we see how the play
obviously meant for oral delivery acquires its written form, and the potential
director of the play becomes its reader before anything eise. As a result, we are
facing a theatrical play being mediated by script; oral delivery is inscribed in an
early printed literary work. In a ward, the available resources of the urban culture
that produced religious plays have conditioned the existence of our play text.
Vernacular religious drama, of whlch The St01y of the Glorious Resurrection is an
invaluable example, depended not only on literacy established in Latin ecclesiastical
culture, later flourishing among the laity, but it also depended upon the oral
tradition of religious performances and ceremonies that were in existence lang before
they were recorded.
Speaking about ways of appealing to the audience’s auditory imagination in
The Story of the Glorious Resurrection, we may account for three main groups of
such devices: addresses to the audience, colloquial phrases and exclamations, and
stage directions for the voice emission. All three groups of devices help to define
the relationship between the world of the play and the real world, once we choose
to follow the division of the dramatic Situation into the ordinary world and
beginnings to the rise ofthe national theatre: Dramatic texts published before 1 765), vol. 1, pp.
198-200 (Wroclaw: Osso1incum, 1 965). – The present article refers to J. Lewar\.ski’s edition.
2 Historyja, p. 288. Translations are mine throughout the paper.
3 Historyja, pp. 288-289.
250 JOLANTA SZPILEWSKA
dramatic or fictitious world.4 The relationship between the two worlds is indeed
shaped by the spoken word. However, while the addresses to the audience have an
important function of sustaining the dramatic world and keeping the crowd
together, the vocal effects, such as exclamations, screams, and changes of tone, in
fact bridge the two worlds and help to bring the audience members into the world
of the play. Affective language is supposed to appeal to the vocally agile listeners
and to focus their attention on the particular scene endowed with these vocal
effects.
Direct addresses to the audience are the type of conventional utterances that
do not really threaten the integrity of the play; rather, they help to keep the audience
interested. Addressing the audience in a popular religious play was an important
strategy of establishing and sustaining the dramatic world. In The Story of the
Glorious Resurrection, the audience is being addressed in the Prologue as „dear
and faithful Clu·istians gathered here in the name of God.“5 The prologue then
summarises the events that would shortly be presented, and excuses any incoherence
of the presented play with the Biblical narrative, explaining that this is
due to the use of the apocrypha. Finally, there comes a short speech with comic
undertones, in which the Prologue figure asks the audience to calm down and Iisten
attentively. He also promises to introduce songs in the course of the play so that
the audience listens more eagerly, and in case the people were falling asleep the
song between the verses would wake them up. This is a comic excuse, but behind it
there is probably a real concem to assure the best communication and reception of
the play.
In its use of the prologue address to the public, The Story of the Glorious
Resurrection follows the pattern of many late mystery plays where the audience is
usually addressed right at the beginning ofthe play so that everyone can be clear in
his mind what the situation is. This type of dramatic address to the public is often
called a framing type.6 As Diller points out: „Here, a presenter or precursor or per,
clearly belonging to the ordinary world, addresses the audience, exhorts its
members to decent behavior, and often gives an account of the plot of the play,
characterising it as something to be watched and enjoyed.“7 The audience is being
addressed in their real world capacity: as sinners, as people to be taught and entertained.
4 This distinction has been discussed in the context of English mystery cycles and Tudor
comedies by Hans-Jürgen Diller, „Theatrical Pragmatics: The Actor-Audience Relationship
from the Mystery Cycles to the Early Tudor Comedies,“ in Drama in the Middle Ages:
Comparative and Critical Essays, eds. Clifford Davidson et al. (New York: AMS Press,
1985), pp. 3 2 1 -330.
l Historyja, I . 1.3-14.
6 Diller distinguishes threc ways that inform the relationship between the ordinary and dramatic
world of the play: the „straddling“ type in which speakers move freely between the two
worlds, the „homiletic“ type where characters make utterances that are relevant to the
audience in their own world, and finally the „framing“ type discussed above. See Dillcr,
„Theatrical Pragmatics,“ p. 323.
7 Diller, „Theatrical Pragmatics,“ p. 323.
EVOKING AUDITOR V IMAGINATION 251
Speaking of the second group of devices that were supposed to appeal to the
auditory imagination ofthe public, the use of daily language, we cannot know how
many utterances in the play come from the contemporary colloquial language.
There are numerous hints at the possible use of the well-established everyday
patterns of speech and colloquial phrases, but we should bear in mind that some of
the scenes might have been stylised to imitate the simplicity of daily life and its
language. For example, in the Ernmaus scene, the words and gestures of the
speakers are fashioned after the behaviour of pilgrims. The disciples who are on
their way to Ernmaus speak a more refined language and use stylised Italian
pilgrimage greetings.8 Similarly, the exclamations of the guards of Christ’s tomb
are only signs of real-life utterances introduced for theatrical effect. Thus, when
the guards see the empty Iomb on Easter Sunday and exclaim in Italian, Hungarian,
and Ukrainian, a spatio-temporal elsewhere is being represented as though actually
present for the audience who might have been familiar with these languages.9
Another example of such stylisation is the scene in which the chief guard Theoron,
who is supposed to be German, makes mistakes in Polish by adding a characteristic
German part of speech, or when Philemon, his fellow, gets terrified at the sight of
the empty tomb and starts stammering. 10 In a similar vein, Proclus, the third guard
tries to show his bravery and uses a typical hunting terrn when he wants to say that
it is too late to do anything about the disappearance of Christ’s body. Other stylised
utterances appear when the guards greet the high priests with a late sixteenthcentury
greeting formula or when the three Marys greet each other in a very simple
way, possibly fashioned after everyday women’s greetings. 1 1
The greetings of pilgrims, women, and the elders are on one side of this
everyday language repertory; curses and blasphemies are on the other. Thus, we
cannot omit a series of blasphemous shouts of Lucifer and his pack in the
Harrowing of Hell scene.12 The Patriarchs do not stay behind, and reply with a set
of abusive phrases in order to verbally challenge the devils, before Jesus comes to
conquer Hell in person. When Jesus arrives, he also calls Lucifer names.
lnterestingly, some other real life exclamations may be identified in the words of
Cerberus summoning his companions to fight Adam. Cerberus uses the expression
„Ad idem! Ad idem omnes!“ the phrase that was supposedly used by Krakow
students while plundering Protestant churches. A series of attacks is known to have
taken place after I 0 October, I 574. 13 Thus, by introducing all these colloquial
8 Such as: „Bona vita!“ „Bon fradello,“ Historyja, I. 1234, 1 240.
9 „0, Dio!“ (ltal.), Historyja, I. 349, „Uram gazda!“ (Hung.), I. 3 5 1 , „Pro Boha“ (Uk.r.), I. 357.
10 Historyja, I. 377.
11 Histor;ja, I. 285, 289.
12 The Harrowing of Hell scene comes as part 4 in the play’s 6-partite structurc. Historyja, 3 1 1 –
330.
13 See Jan Okon, „Historyja o Chwalebnym Zmartwychwstaniu P01?skim na tle misterium
rezurekcyjnego“ (The hisrory of the glorious Resurrection of our Lord and the cycle of thc
Resurrection mystery plays), in Drama/ i teatr religijny w Polsee (Liturgical and religious
theatre in Po land), cd. lrena Slawinska, vol. 2 (Lublin: KUL, 1991 ), p. 7 1 .
252 JOLANTA SZPILEWSKA
phrases the play takes the audience back from the Biblical world to their own
historical moment.
Since The Story ofthe G/orious Resurrection is clearly a text that was meant
for oral delivery, it is worthwhile to Iook for the devices that were supposed to
enhance the delivery of certain parts of the play. We have to bear in mind that the
play relies on much earlier tradition, perhaps going back to the beginning of the
sixteenth century, thus medieval theatrical pattems in its oral delivery have to be
taken into account. No codified rules of theatrical speech delivery are known to
have existed in Poland in the sixteenth century or earlier. At that time, only foreign
rhetorical treatises were known in academic circles in Poland.14 In any case, the
early popular religious theatre, to which The Story of the G/orious Resurrection
belongs, would hardly draw upon specific rhetorical rules and indications of
speech delivery found in these theoretical works. The voice emission indications
encountered in The Story of the Glorious Resurrection text have rather to do with
the unwritten staging rules of a popular medieval theatre. The influence of liturgy
also cannot be discarded. There are three types of voice indications in the text:
Mutata voce – ‚having changed the voice;‘ Alciori voce – ‚in a higher voice,‘ from
altioro, meaning ‚raise, Iift;‘ Distincte – ‚clearly, distinctly, expressively,‘ has
connotations with intelligere, exprimere, repraesentare, significare (all pertaining
to theatre context). The other meaning of distincte has to do with the formal
disposition of the text: distincte may also mean ’separately, piece by piece,
separatim.‘ Besides these indications, we should also mention a Polish voice
emission phrase meaning „Exclamavit voce magne.“ We should also note a
frequent use of shouting indicated by means of the clamabit direction. Clamo
belongs only to devils and Adam in the Harrowing of Hell scene.
We may suppose that alciori or alciori voce indicates chanting in different
tones, as happened at solemn Gospel readings or in liturgical drama where similar
directions may be found. Indications like a/ta voce or phrases like „each time sing
in a higher tone“ are ubiquitous in liturgical drama, and they are still preserved in
the Holy Saturday liturgy in the Latin Church. These indications stress the
solemnity of the feast and they have a practical roJe as weil, for the celebrating
priest has to start at an appropriate tone in order to be able to reach the higher one
in several changes of voice, but without straining his voice too much.
However, the exact phrasing a/ciori or alciori voce as weil as distincte does
not appear in liturgy, as far as l have been able to check with a performer and
researcher of the liturgical chant, Marcin Bomus-Szczycinski. As a result of this
inquiry, I have come to the point of discarding the possibility for any of the abovementioned
directions to signify singing or recitation, as some researchers of the
14 In sixteenth-century Poland only foreign works on poetics and rhetoric were known, though
some of the authors were related to Poland, Iike Conrad Celtis, H. Beb! or J. Va Hegendorfin’s Stichologia ( 1 534) was written while he held a teaching position in Poland. The
earliest examples of the local school of poetics might bc considcred two works: W. Korwin’s
Compendiosa etfacilis diversorum carminum structura . . . ( 1 496), and Zacius‘ Libri duo ad
artem versificatoriam . . . ( I 532).
EVOK ING AUDITOR V IMAGINATION 253
play and its perfonnance context have suggested. The reason why I suppose that
these voice indications relate to simple dramatic heightening of the voice in the
spoken manner, and clear declamation with no singing, is that the play text usually
indicates singing whenever needed. Thus, at the beginning, the singing of a
traditional vemacular Easter song is highly advised by the redactor, IS and then
throughout the play, at regular intervals, there appear verses of another song that
match the story presented in each episode. 16 Also, whenever the choirboys have to
sing in the Harrowing of Hell scene, it is clearly indicated in the text. My
suggestion therefore is that these stage directions do not presuppose the singing of
the parts of the dialogue, they rather underline the dramatic moment of the
particular scene and they also become the attributes of some of the dramatis
personae. In a word, they are part of the impersonation that is taking place on the
stage. In this sense, early sixteenth-century popular theatre detaches itself from
highly symbolic use of voice in the liturgical drama. We find a great deal of
conventionality in the Visitatio plays, for example, where it is enough for an
Angel, perfonned by a man, to sing in a slightly higher tone to indicate the part of
a woman. He is not told to imitate female voice, so we assume that the liturgical
theatre was based on a set of conventions while later popular religious theatre
introduced voice change indications in order to underline the impersonation. This
new phenomenon significantly reduces our plays‘ direct connections with the
liturgy.
Voice emission directions in the The Story of the Glorious Resurrection
appear in different contexts; they may be found in both shorter dialogues and in
extensive monologues where several voice changes are prescribed for the same
speaker. Most of these directions appear in the Prologue, in the Harrowing of Hell
scene and in some comic scenes. The Harrowing of Hell scene is the fourth scene
of the play and it seems to be the liveliest and the noisiest one. We encounter 6
mutata/mutabit vocem directions, 3 clamabit, 1 alciori voce and a Polish variety of
„exclamavit voce magna.“
Let us take a Iook at the Han·owing of Hell episode in The Story of the
Glorious Resurrection. First of all, Jesus changes his voice when he knocks at the
gates of Hell, citing verses of Psalm 23. Later Lucifer and Cerberus, in tums, are
supposed to shout or speak loudly, as the direction clamabit indicates. They
express their concem for the souls that they will lose when Christ enters Hell. At
one point of their dialogue, Lucifer is supposed to change his voice (mutabit
vocem) and say „Have the heavens gone mad?“17 After that, Cerber’s monologue
follows in which three voice indications are specified: clamabit, alciori voce, two
15 Historyja, p. 289. The song is an exte11ded Easter trope, „Przez Twe swi�tte zmartwychwstanie,“
and it is the earliest mentioned vemacular song in a religious play text in
Po land.
16 The other song is a traditional Easter song surviving in several versions in religious songbooks.
17 Historyja, I. 644.
254 JOLANTA SZPILEWSKA
mutata voce. There is no distincte direction as in the Prologue, though this
monologue is a long one, and it may be broken into logical units just like the
Prologue was. This scene probably plays more on the effect of a negative character
speaking than on stressing the logical argument of his speech. Perhaps numerous
voice changes in this monologue signify the unstable position of Cerber, his terror
and eventual defeat. However, shouting is ambiguous in a way that it may express
both threat and fright. The shouting devil may therefore be threatening the greedy
merchants, vain warnen, and disloyal servants to whom he refers in his monologue.
Due to the lively dialogues the Harrowing of Hell scene tums into a real verbal
battle between Jesus and the pack of devils. The argument and the frequent change
of voice by the devils and Patriarchs as opposed to only one change of voice on the
part of Jesus underline the atmosphere of confusion in Hell at the coming of Christ.
All these vocal effects create a truly apocalyptic noise and underline the difference
between the noisy, retreating camp of devils and the serene and dignified figure of
Christ.
In the Ernmaus scene, Jesus walking in a pilgrim’s guise with the Apostles is
supposed to change his voice (mutata voce) after his complaint about the people
unable to acknowledge his resurrection. He changes the tone again and makes a
very practical remark about the Iodging for the night. In this context the change of
voice indicates the ontological difference between the two utterances. Later, in the
same scene, we see the rest of the disciples still hiding from possible persecution
when Jesus enters and addresses the disciples with a speech with four distincte
directions. These pauses in Christ’s speech help to differentiale between everyday
details and the theological message of the appearance of Christ. First Jesus has to
speak ‚distinctly‘ as he introduces himselfto the disciples and says:
I am the true Son of God,
Resurrected, Present, Alive.18
Later Andrew ‚distinctly‘ inquires:
What is it, for God’s sake, a ghost or some vision?
Here is some Strange divine creature. 19
To which Jesus distinctly replies:
Look here:
My side, feel and hands,
And even more, if you want,
Come and touch my wounds.20
Later, Thomas changes his voice as he expresses his doubt at the news he has just
been told. To which Jesus responds in twelve lines and after first six he changes his
voice and invites Thomas to come over and tauch his wounds. Thomas expressively
refuses to do so, and professes his faith in Christ. The use of distincte at this
point may indicate the influence of serrnon perforrnance in the early modern
period. Since the first acting companies were known to come from ecclesiastical
18 Historyja, L 1 344-45.
19 Historyja, L 1 350-5 1 .
20 Historyja, L 1360-1363.
EVOKING AUDITOR Y IMAGINATION 255
circles, the rhetoric of the earliest religious plays might be related to the theoJogical
exposition practised in the form of a sermon.
All in all, as we can see from the play’s voice emission indications, the
atmosphere of solemnity mixes with very down-to-earth humour. The theme of the
play and the subject matter of separate scenes brought into the play complex reIigious
and moral issues, as weil as different interpretations of the Biblical events.
In view of this multitude of meanings and characters in a religious play, a mixture
of Biblical events and apocryphal stories, the overall meaning of the play might
have been lost. It seems therefore that a clear presentation of the subject matter and
parts of the play was being achieved by an appropriate voice modulation and the
text’s . formal disposition. Moreover, dialogues in The Story of the Glorious
Resurrection bear many features of everyday life dialogues, as the speakers move
from solemn appraisal to a strong rebuke, from doubt to enthusiasm. In this way,
the dialogue may be said to come close to a real life conversation.
To sum up, exclamations, cries, colloquial phrases and voice emission
directions in The Story ofthe Glorious Resurrection have several functions:
1 . They emphasize the extraordinary elements in the play, creating an atmosphere
of terror, threat, joy, and surprise.
2. The use of the distincte/mutata voce directions helps to underline dogmatically
crucial episodes in the play; they organise some ofthe monologues rhetorically,
as they bring order and clear disposition into particular speeches.
3. By introducing different pitches, affective language, the word is used to clarify
the differences between certain characters, to enrich the visual message of the
play, and, above all, to keep the audience in suspense.
4. We have to take practical matters into consideration: the play would be staged
outdoors, in a hall or a semi-enclosed space that was a specific acoustical setting.
It might have happened that the conditions provided by the church for the
liturgical drama setting were not available for the vemacular urban theatre and
thus additional voice modulation directions had to be invented to emphasise
parts ofthe play, to assure sound and clear delivery ofthe text.
5. The narrator’s addresses to the audience, the colloquial phrases, and everyday
situations might have been used to create an impression of audience familiarity
with the Biblical story as weil as to strengthen group bonds between the members
ofthe audience.
The redactor of The Story of the Glorious Resurrection emphasized the verbal
material of the play and its oral delivery, and thus he also introduced some spoken
Ianguage of which parts can be recovered with some reservations. If we follow the
hypothesis of the play being an adaptation of an ltalian Rappresentazione/1 we
have to underline that through the introduction of numerous vocal effects, and
genuine linguistic material, the play acquired a life of its own and influenced the
2 1 „Rappresentazione della Resurrezione di Gesu Cristo (1 559/1572),“ in Sacre rappresentazioni
dei seco/i XIV. XV e XV/, ed. A. d‘ Ancona, vol.l (Fiorence: Successori le Monnier., 1872), pp.
329-356.
256 JOLANTA SlPILEWSKA
development of the mystery play tradition in Poland. lt is worth mentioning,
however, that the effect of the colloquial phrases as weil as all the voice emission
directions, is best tested in the course of performance, as many such reconstructed
performances have shown.
ORAL HISTORY OF THE MIDDLE AGES
THE SPOKEN WORD IN CONTEXT
Edited by Gerhard Jaritz and Michael Richter
MEDIUM AEVUM QUOTIDIANUM
SONDERBAND XII
=
CEU MEDIEV ALIA
VOLU1vfE 3
Oral History of the Middle Ages
The Spoken W ord in Context
Edited by Gerhard Jaritz and Michael Richter
Krems and Budapest 200 1
GEDRUCKT MIT UNTERSTÜTZUNG DER ABTEILUNG
KULTUR UND WISSENSCHAFT DES AMTES
DER NIEDERÖSTERREICIDSCHEN LANDESREGIERUNG
niederästerreich kultur
copy editor: Judith Rasson
Cover illustration: The wife of Potiphar covets Joseph: “ … erat autem Joseph pulchra facie et
decorus apectu: post multos itaque dies iecit domina oculos suis in Ioseph et ait donni mecum.“
(“ … And Joseph was (a] goodly fperson], and weil favoured. And it came to pass after these
things, that his master’s wife cast her eyes upon Joseph; and she said, Lie with me. „), Gen. 39:
6-7 (KJV). Concordantiae Caritatis, c. 1350. Cistercian abbey of Lilienfeld (Lower Austria), ms
151, fol. 244v (detail). Photo: Institut fiir Realienkunde des Mittelalters und der frühen Neuzeit
(Krems an der Donau).
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Published by:
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-ISSN 1587-6470 CEU MEDIEVALIA
Medium Aevum Quotidianum. Gesellschaft zur Erforschung
der materiellen Kultur des Mittelalters, Körnermarkt 13, A-
3500 Krems. Austria,
Department ofMedieval Studies, Centrat European University,
Nador utca 9, H-1051 Budapest, Hungary.
Printed by Printself, Budapest.
Table of Contents
Preface . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ……………………….. 7
Michael RICHTER, Beyond Goody and Grundmann ………. . . . . . . ………. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I I
Tom PETTIIT, Textual to Oral: the Impact ofTransmission
on Narrative Word-Art …………………………………………………………………….. 1 9
Elöd NEMER!<.ENYI, Fictive Audience. The Second Person Singular in the Deliberatio ofBishop Gerard of Csanäd …………………………………………….. 3 9 Katalin SZENDE, Testaments and Testimonies. Orality and Literacy in Composing Last Wills in Late Medieval Hungary ……………………………. 49 Anna ADAMSKA, The Kingdom of Po land versus the Teutonic Knights: Oral Traditions and Literale Behaviour in the Later Middle Ages …………… 67 Giedre MICKÜNAITE, Ruler, Protector, and a Fairy Prince: the Everlasting Deeds of Grand Duke Vytautas as Related by the Lithuanian Tatars and Karaites ………………………………… 79 Yurij Zazuliak, Oral Tradition, Land Disputes, and the Noble Community in Galician Rus‘ from the 1440s to the 1 460s ……………………………………… 88 Nada ZECEVIC, Ai􀃭tc; yA.uKeia. The Importance ofthe Spoken Word in the Public Affairs ofCarlo Tocco (from the Anonymous Chronaca dei Tocco di Cefalonia) . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . 108 lohn A. NICHOLS, A Heated Conversation: Who was Isabel de Aubigny, Countess of Arundel? …………………………… 1 1 7 Tracey L. BILADO, Rhetorical Strategies and Legal Arguments: ‚Evil Customs‘ and Saint-Florent de Saumur, 979- 1 0 1 1 …………………….. 1 28 Detlev KRAACK, Traces of Orality in Written Contexts. Legal Proceedings and Consultations at the Royal Court as Reflected in Documentary Sources from l21h-century Germany ……… 1 42 6 Maria DOBOZY, From Oral Custom to Written Law: The German Sachsenspiegel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154 Martha KEIL, Rituals of Repentance and Testimonies at Rabbinical Courts in the 151h Century . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 64 Michael GOODICH, The Use of Direct Quotation from Canonization Hearing to Hagiographical Vita et Miracula . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 77 Sylvia ScHEIN, Bemard of Clairvaux ’s Preaching of the Third Crusade and Orality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ….. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188 Michael BRAUER, Obstades to Oral Communication in tbe Mission offriar William ofRubruck among the Mongois . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196 Elena LEMENEVA, From Oral to Written and Back: A Sermon Case Study . . . . . . . . 203 Albrecht CLASSEN, Travel, Orality, and the Literary Discourse: Travels in the Past and Literary Travels at the Crossroad of the Oral and the Literary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . 217 Ulrich MÜLLER and Margarete SPRJNGETH, “Do not Shut Your Eyes ifYou Will See Musical Notes:“ German Heroie Poetry („Nibelungenlied“), Music, and Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236 Jolanta SZPILEWSKA, Evoking Auditory Imagination: On the Poetics of Voice Production in The Story ofThe Glorious Resurrection ofOur Lord (c. 1580) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248 Jens T. WOLLESEN, SpokenWords and Images in Late Medieval Italian Painting . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 257 Gerhard JARTTZ, Images and the Power of the Spoken Word . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277 List of Contributors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295 Preface Oral culture played an instrumental role in medieval society.1 Due to the Iack of any direct source evidence, however, research into the functions and importance of oral communication in the Middle Ages must confront a number of significant problems. Only indrect traces offer the opportunity to analyze phenomena that were based on or connected with the spoken word. The ‚oral history‘ of the Middle Ages requires the application of different approaches than dealing with the 201h or 2 151 century. For some decades Medieval Studies have been interested in questions of orality and literacy, their relationship and the substitution of the spoken by the written word2 Oral and literate culture were not exclusive and certainly not opposed to each other.3 The ‚art of writing‘ was part of the ‚ars rhetorica‘ and writing makes no sense without speech.4 Any existing written Statement should also be seen as a spoken one, although, clearly, not every oral Statement as a written one. Authors regularly wrote with oral delivery in mind. ‚Speaking‘ and ‚writing‘ are not antonyms. It is also obvious that „the use of oral conununication in medieval society should not be evaluated … as a function of culture populaire vis-a-vis culture savante but, rather, of thc communication habits and the tendency of medieval man 1 For the late Middle Ages and the early modern period, cf. Willern Frijhoff, „Communication et vie quotidienne i1 Ia fin du moyen äge et a l’epoque moderne: reflexions de theorie et de methode,“ in Kommunialion und Alltag in Spätmillefalter und fniher Neuzeit, ed. Helmut Hundsbichler (Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1992), p. 24: „La plupart de gens vivait encore pour l’essentiel dans une culture orale et !es procedes d’appropriation des idCes passaient de prefcrence par Ia parolc dite et ecoutee, quand bien memc on ctait capable d’une Ieelure visuelle plus ou moins rudimentaire.“ 2 See Marco Mostert, „New Approaches to Medieval Communication?“ in New Approaches to Medieval Communication. ed. Marco Mostert (Tumhout: Brepols, 1999), pp. 15-37; Michael Richter, “Die Entdeckung der ‚Oralität‘ der mittelalterlichen Gesellschaft durch die neuere Mediävistik,“ in Die Aktualität des Miue/alters, ed. Hans-Werner Goetz (Bochum: D. Winkler, 2000), pp. 273-287. 3 Peter Burke calls the constrnct of „oral versus literate“ useful but at the same time dangerous: idem, „Mündliche Kultur und >Druckkultur< im spätmittelalterlichen Italien,“ in Volkskultur des europäischen Spätmittelalters, eds. Peter Dinzelbacher and Hans-Dieter Mück (Stuttgart: Alfred Kröner Verlag, 1987), p. 60. 4 Michael Clanchy, „lntroduction,“ in New Approaches to Medieval Communication. ed. Marco Mostert (Tumhout: Brepols, 1999), p. 6. 8 to share his intellectual experiences in the corporate framework.“5 Oral delivery was not „the sole prerogative of any socioeconomic class. „6 For all these reasons, it is important to analyze the extent of and context, in which ’speech acts,‘ auditive effects, and oral tradition occur in medieval sources .7 Research into the use of the spoken word or references to it in texts and images provides new insight into various, mainly social, rules and pattems of the communication system. 1t opens up additional approaches to the organization and complexity of different, but indispensably related, media in medieval society, and their comparative analysis.8 The spoken word is connected with the physical presence of its ’sender.‘ Speech may represent the authenticity of the given message in a more obvious way than written texts or images. Therefore, the use of ’speech acts‘ in written or visual evidence also has to be seen in context with the attempt to create, construct, or prove authenticity. Moreover, spoken messages contribute to and increase the lifelikeness of their contents, which may influence their perception by the receiver, their efficacy and success. Being aware of such a situation will have led to the explicit and intended use and application of the spoken word in written texts and images- to increase their authenticity and importance, too. lf one operates with a model of ‚closeness‘ and ‚distance‘ of communication with regard to the Ievel of relation of ’senders‘ and ‚receivers,‘ then the ’speech acts‘ or their representation have to be seen as contributors to a ‚closer‘ connection among the participants of the communication process.9 At the same time, however, Speech might be evaluated as less official. One regularly comes across ‚oral space‘ 5 Sophia Menache, The Vox Dei. Commwzication in the Middle Ages (New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990), p. 19. 6 Ibidem, p. 21. Cf. also Jan-Dirk Müller, „Zwischen mündlicher Anweisung und schrifilicher Sicherung von Tradition. Zur Kommunikationsstruktur spätmittelalterlicher Fechtbücher,“ in Kommunikation und Alltag in Spätmittelalter und früher Neuzeit, ed. Helmut Hundsbichler (Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1992), p. 400: „Offensichtlich sind schriftliche und nichtschriftliche Tradierung von Wissen weiterhin relativ unabhängig voneinander, nachdem die Schrift längst dazu angesetzt hat, lnseln der Mündlichkeil oder praktisch-enaktiver Wissensvermittlung zu erobem. Die Gedächtnisstütze kann die Erfahrung nicht ersetzen, sendem allenfalls reaktivieren. Sie ist sogar nur verständlich, wo sie auf anderweitig vermittelte Vorkenntnisse stößt.“ 7 􀆿f. W.F.H. Nicolaisen, ed., Oral Tradition in the Middle Ages (Binghamton: Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 1995). 8 See, esp., Horst Wenzel, Hören und Sehen, Schrift und Bild. K ultur und Gedächtnis im Mittelalter (Munich: C.H. Beck, 1995), passim. 9 See also Siefan Sonderegger, „>Gesprochen oder nur geschrieben?< Mündlichkeil in mittelalterlichen
Texten als direkter Zugang zum Menschen,“ in Homo Medietas. Aufsätze zu Religiosität,
Literatur und Denkformen des Menschen vom Mittelalter bis in die Neuzeit. Festschrift
for Alois Maria Haas zum 65. Geburtstag, eds. Claudia Brinker-von der Heyde and
Niklaus Largier (Bem e\ al.: Peter Lang, 1999), p. 665: „Jedenfalls darf man sich bewußt bleiben,
daß auch in den Texten des deutschen Mittelalters die Reflexe gesprochener Sprache eine
bedeutende Schicht ausmachen, die besonders dann immer wieder hervortritt, wenn es um
einen direkten Zugang zum Menschen geht, um einVerstehen aus unmittelbarer Partnerschaft
heraus … “
9
that has become institutionalized or more official by the application of ‚written
space.‘ 10 Simultanous employment of such different Ievels and qualities of
messages must often have had considerable influence on their efficacy.11
The papers in this volume are the outcome of an international workshop that
was held in February, 2001, at the Department ofMedieval Studies, Central European
University, Budapest. Participants concentrated on problems of the occurrence,
usage, and pattems of the spoken word in written and visual sources of the
Middle Ages. They dealt with the roJe and contents of direct and indirect speech in
textual evidence or in relation to it, such as chronicles, travel descriptions, court
and canonization protocols, sermons, testaments, law-books, literary sources,
drama, etc. They also tried to analyze the function of oral expression in connection
with late medieval images.
The audiovisuality of medieval communication processes12 has proved to be
evident and, thus, important for any kind of further comparative analysis of the
various Ievels of the ‚oral-visual-literate,‘ i.e. multimedia culture of the Middle
Ages. Particular emphasis has to be put on methodological problems, such as the
necessity of interdisciplinary approaches,13 or the question of the extent to which
we are, generally, able to comprehend and to decode the communication systems
of the past.14 Moreover, the medievalist does not come across any types of sources
in which oral communication represents the main concem.15 lnstead, she or he is
confronted, at first glance, with a great variety of ‚casual‘ and ‚marginal‘ evidence.
We would like to thank all the contributors to the workshop and to this
volume. Their cooperation made it possible to publish the results of the meeting in
the same year in which it took place. This can be seen as a rare exception, at least
in the world of the historical disciplines. The head, faculty, staff, and students of
the Department of Medieval Studies of CentTal European University offered
various help and support. Special thanks go to Judith Rasson, the copy editor of
10 This, e.g., could be weil shown in a case study on thc pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela:
Friederike Hassauer, „Schriftlichkeit und Mündlichkeil im Alltag des Pilgers am Beispiel der
Wallfahrt nach Santiago de Compostela,“ in Wallfahrt und Alltag in Mittelalter und früher
Neuzeit, eds. Gerhard Jaritz and Barbara Schuh (Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie
der Wissenschaften, 1992), pp. 277-316.
11 Cf. Bob Scribner, „Mündliche Kommunikation und Strategien der Macht in Deutschland im
16. Jahrhundert,“ in Kommunikation und Alltag in Spätmittelalter und früher Neuzeit, ed.
Helmut Hundsbichler (Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften,
1992), pp. 183-197.
12 Wenzel, Hören rmd Sehen, p. 292.
13 Cf. Ursula Schaefer, „Zum Problem der Mündlichkeit,“ in Modernes Miuelalter. Neue Bilder
einer populären Epoche, ed. Joachim Heinzle (Frankfurt am Main and Leipzig: Insel Verlag,
1994), pp. 374 f.
14 Frijhoff, „Communication et vie quotidienne,“ p. 25: „Sommes-nous encore en mesure de
communiquer avec Ja communication de jadis?“
1􀅄 Michael Richter, Sprache und Gesellschaft im Mittelalter. Untersuchungen zur mündlichen
Kommunikation in England von der Mit te des elften bis zu Beginn des vierzehnten Jahrhunderts
(Stuttgart: Anton Hiersemann, 1979), p. 22.
10
this volume, who took particluar care with the texts of the many non-native
speakers fighting with the pitfalls of the English language.
Budapest, Krems, and Constance
December 200 I
Gerhard Jaritz and Michael Richter