The Use of Direct Quotation from Canonization Hearing to Hagiographical Vita et Miracula

The Use of Direct Quotation from Canonization Hearing
to Hagiographical Vita et Miracula
Michael Goodich
The material presented here is just a tiny sample of the evidence that may be
mustered to illustrate the integration of judicial testimony gathered at a
canonization hearing ioto narrative biography. By the twelfth ceotury maoy
hagiographical sources were often based oo eyewitness testimony to the saint’s life
aod miracles reported in the course of a papal canonization process, a hearing
conducted by the local bishop or statements recorded before a notary. Even prior to
the formal adoption of the canon law procedures for the deposition of testimony
and the conduct of an inquisition or inquiry, enshrined in the 1 234 Decretals of
Pope Gregory IX, many miracle collections in particular betray signs of some kind
of official inquiry guided by the rules of evidence.1 The adoption of Alexander
III’s 1 1 6 1 demand that all cults and relics require papal approval merely hastened
the growing reliance oo legitimate evidence of a virtuous life and provable
miracles as the foundation of sainthood, perhaps encouraged by the worrisome rise
ofheresy.2
Following Biblical precedeot, the classic miracle demands the presence of
bystanders who would become the voices of the faith and praise God after witoessiog
the supetnatural intervention of the Christian deity. To cite just ooe early
example, Stephen of Graodmoot’s (d. 1 1 80) biographer Gerard Ithier noted that
signs and prodigies are the surest ways of convincing non-believers.3 He therefore
1 For some of the primary sourccs, see Henricus de Segusio [Hostiensis], Summa aurea, ed.
Nicholas Soranzo (Lyons, 1537; repr. Aalen: Scientia, 1962), fol. 187•; Decrewles Gregorii
noni, II.tit.20.c.52, in Emil Friedberg and Lewis Richter, eds., Corpus iuris canonici, 2 vols.
(Leipzig: Tauchitz, 1879); lnnocent IV, Apparatus quinque librorwn decretalium, ed. P.
Roselle (Venice: Johannes Hamman, 1610), pp. 546 ff.
2 Andre Vauchez, La sainteilt en occident aux derniers siedes du moyen iige d „apres /es proces
de canonisation et I es documents hagiographiques (Rome: Ecole frans;aise de Rome, 198 1 );
Stephan Kuttner, „La reserve papale du droit de canonisation,“ Revue historique de droit
frant;ais et etranger, N.S. 1 7 ( 1 938), pp. 206-212; Eric Waldram Kemp, Canonisation and
Authority in the Western Church (London: Oxford University Press, 1 947).
3 Jean Becquet, ed., De revelatione Stephani, in Scriplores ordinis Grandimonrensis, in Corpus
christianorum. Continuatio mediaevalis, 7 (Tumhout: Brepols, 1 968), p. 284. Stephan of
Liciaco, Vita venerabilis viri Stephani Murelensis, in ibid., pp. 1 2 1 – 124 contains extensive
quotations on the occasion of the cardinal’s visit to Stephan before his death.
178 MJCHAEL GOODICH
provided extensive quotations from the words he had heard uttered by persons who
had visited Stephen’s tomb and experienced his miraculous powers.4
The canonization process itself, which heard the testimony of hundreds of
friends, neighbors, and colleagues who either knew the putative saint or were
touched by his or her charisma, was a further means of mobilizing the public in
support of the church against its ideological and political foes. The feast days,
indulgences, building.campaigns, processions and other events related to the cult
whipped up religious enthusiasm and attempted to create a wide consensus of
support for both the saint and the church itself. Local patriotism and group identity
were strengtherred in the rivalry between families, professions, villages, towns,
communes, and nations, as their relics and saintly heroes and heroines proved
God’s favor through the performance of miracles. The fullest canonization
dossiers, such as those of Thomas of Hereford (d. 1282), Yves of Tn!guier (d.
1303), John Buoni (d. 1 249), Niebolas of Tolentino (d. 1305) or Celestine V (d.
1294) may contain the eyewitness testimony of up to a dozen persons conceming
one miracle. For example, the lame and mentally disturbed Jeanne Laboisson from
the small village of Crosses, about I 0 kilometers from Bourges, was cured in
January, 1263, due to the merits of the recently deceased Archbishop Philip of
Bourges. This was reported in June, 1266, by twelve witnesses, including the
victim herself. her family, neighbors and local clergy.5
A public exorcism viewed by hundreds of spectators, who personally witnessed
the triumph of the faith over the incubi and succubi sent by the Devil, was
perhaps the most effective and dramatic means of mobilizing the community in
support of a burgeoning cult. The first posthumaus public miracle in the cult of
Bisbop Thomas of Hereford, for example, occurred during the April, 1287, transJation
of his relics to a new burial site in Hereford cathedral. Edith, the wife of an
iron merchant of Hereford, who had suffered emotional distress for slightly more
than a month, was exorcised in presence of many witnesses, some of whom testified
at Thomas‘ canonization hearing held twenty years later.6 Such hearings
typically elicited testimony, not only from ecclesiastics and members of the
nobility, but also from members of the laboring classes, both urban and rural.
These trials, along with their secular Counterparts, are among the few sources of
direct evidence concerning the Jives of such persons, although the mediating role
of court offleials must not be discounted. The contents of such testimony adhered
to the terms of a papal summons authorizing the corrimission and its agents to
4 De revelatione, in ibid., pp. 284-286.
5 Biblioteca Aposto1ica Vaticana, MS. Vat. Lat. 4019, fo1s. 62v-6s•. On this case see Michael
Goodich, „Microhistory and the lnquisitiones iuto the Life and Miracles of Philip of Bourges
and Thomas of Hereford“, in Medieval Narrative Sources, ed. J. Goosens, L. Melis and W.
Verbeke (Leuven: Mediaevalia Lovaniensia , 2001 ).
6 On this case, see Michael Goodich, „Liturgy and the Foundation of Cults in the Thirteenth
Century“, to appear in ‚De Sion exhibit Iex et verbum domini de Hierusa/em. ‚Essays on Medieval
Law. Liturgy and Literature in Honour of Amnon Linder, ed. Y. Hen (Turnhout: Brepols,
2001).
THE USE OF DIRECT QUOTATION 179
investigate the life, miracles and reputation (or fama) of the putative saint. Little
opportunity was given to the witnesses to stray from this pre-ordained procedure
and they were often allowed to amend their testimony at a later date. Any miracle
supported by conflicting testimony was also sure to be eliminated in the course of
the curial discussions over the case prior to the publication of a final bull of
canonization.7 This often insured a kind of boring, cooperative uniformity among
the witnesses, although one speaker might provide more evidence than another.
Such testimony was translated from the vemacular into Latin by court
officials and was sometimes transformed into indirect speech in the sources that
have reached us.8 The oral testimony elicited at a canonization hearing then
became the foundation for a variety of media through which the saint’s reputation
reached a wider public. Although much of this material was reworked into narrative
form, these depositions, drawn from the nobility, ecclesiastics, and common
folk, remained the evidentiaty foundation of the saint’s legend. The biographical
sources most often represented a reworking of the raw material of the hearing into
narrative form, in which the witnesses‘ Statements were surnmarized and enhanced
by the addition of traditional hagiographical topoi and Biblical or patristic allusions.
The original words ofthe speakers, reported directly or indirectly, continued
to be quoted in various versions of the legend, and members of the urban and mral
classes not usually heard in official diplomatic sources were given a voice. The
Latin and vemacular biographies, sermons, Jiturgical offices, and visual representations
based on judicial hearings, were fed back to the believing public as a
means of strengthening their faith and disseminating the official version of the
saint’s life and miracles. The use of testimony from a canonization hearing is
clearest in those biographies that directly cite the trial as their source, such as
Thomas Agni de Lentino’s life of Peter Martyr, or Maurice Geoffroi’s life of Yves
ofTreguier.9
The employment of oral testimony as the foundation of subsequent
biographies will be illustrated through several cases drawn from papal canonization
dossiers. The earliest extant papal canonization record appears to be the trial
of Galgano of Chiusdino ( d. 1 1 8 1 ), – held at Montesiepi in Tuscany from 4 to 7
August 1 1 85 under Pope Lucius III. Galgano’s inquiry was conducted by Conrad
of Wittelsbach, the cardinal-bishop of Santa Sabina, with the assistance of two
pontifical delegates and indicates the involvement of professional notaries trained
at Bologna and the curial bureaucracy in the organization of the canonization
7 See e.g .. F. van Ortroy, ed., „Proces-verbal du demier consistoire secret preparatoire a Ia
canonisation du Celestin V,“ Analeeta Bollandiana, 16 ( 1897), pp. 475-487.
8 Christi an Krötzl, „Zu Übersetzung und Sprachbeherrschung im Spätmittelalter am Beispiel von
Kanonisationsprozessen,“ Das Milltela/ter, 2 ( 1 997), pp. 1 1 1 – 1 1 8.
9 Thomas Agni de Lentino, Vita et miracula Petri Maryrii, in Acta sanctorum, 67 vols (Paris: V.
Palme, 1684-1940), 29 April lll: pp. 686-712; Maurice GeofTroi, Vita Yvonis, in Acta
sanctorum, 19 May IV: pp. 562-578.
180 MICHAEL GOODICH
inquiry. 10 The oath taken by the witnesses is of the kind used in subsequent
eanonization trials and indieates a new effort to insure that the life and miracles
would eonform to the standards of proof found in Roman law. The canonization
protocol also reports that Bisbop Ugo of Volterra was present during the eure of a
leprous woman at Galgano’s shrine 1 1 and undertook a preliminary investigation,
whieh is not extant.
The swom statements of Galgano’s own mother, Dionigia, and nineteen
others sUI-vive from the papal inquiry. At least three biographies, including one by
Roland of Pisa ( 1 220), may be traced to this souree and are a good example of the
judicial foundation of many hagiographical biographies. Galgano’s mother’s
words, which appear partly as indireet speech and partly as direet quotation citing
herself, her son and others at eritieal moments of the herrnit’s early life, are
repeated verbatim, but with rhetorieal additions.12 The trial testimony of Gerardino
Bimdi or Brandi eonceming the saint’s advice on the occasion of the eure of his
lame son also appears in the narrative biographies. Galgano’s reeorded words
were. „Son, put your faith in God, and then your son will be freed and will be able
to work with his hands.“13 In one subsequent biography they were slightly
embroidered to become, „Son, put your faith in God, and he will be freed; your son
will then work with his own hands, thanks to divine clemeney.“14 On the other
band, when this same Gerardino and his son went on a pilgrimage to Galgano’s
shrine, the man’s words to his father in this same biography aeeurately reflect the
words found in the protocol, „If you ean, son, try to go to the tomb of the holy
man.“15
In another ease from the same eanonization hearing, in the report of the
reseue of Petruceio di Montarrenti’s eight-year-old son from an aceidentat drowning,
16 Petrueeio’s testimony, which appears as indirect diseourse („dixit quod“) is
1° Fedor Sclmeider, ed., „Der Einsiedler Galgano von Chiusdino und die Anfange von San
Galgano,“ Quellen und Forschungen aus italienischen Archiven und Bibliotheken, 17 ( 1 9 14-
24), pp. 6 1 -77. Eugenio Susi, ‚·La Vita Beati Galgani del Codice Laurenziano Pluto 90., Sup.
48,“ Benedictina, 39 ( 1 992), pp. 3 1 6-340 contains a Vallurnbrosian life; Franeo Cardini, San
Galgano e il spada nella roccia (Siena: Cantagalli, 1 982), pp. 1 0 1 – 1 1 1 contains an
Augustinian biography of the fourteenth century; Eugenio Susi, L ‚eremita cortese. San
Galgano fra mito e storia nell ‚agiografica tosca del xii secolo (Spoleto: Centro italiano di
studi sull’alto mediocvo, 1 993), pp. 185-213 for an anonymous Cistercian life. Rudolph
Arbesmann, „The Three Earliest Vitae of St. Galganu􀏙,“ in Didascaliae. Studies in Honor of
Anselm M Albareda, ed. Sesto Prcte (New York: B. M. Rosenthal, 1961), pp. 1-37 deals with
the interdependence of Galgano’s biographies, but does not deal with the trial testimony on
which thcse lives were presurnably based.
1 1 Sclmeider, p. 77; Susi, San Galgano, p. I 05.
12 Susi, Vi ta, pp. 332-335; Sclmeider, pp. 71-72.
13 „Fili, confide in Domino, liberabitur filius tuus et adhuc manibus suis laborabit,“ Sclmeider,
p. 73; Susi, Vita, p. 337; Susi, L ‚eremita, p. 39. 14 Susi, Vita, p. 337: „Fili. confide in Domino, et liberabitur; filius tuus et adhuc, divina favente
clementia, propriis manibus /aborabit.“
15 lbid., p. 337: „Tempta, fili, si potes. ire usque ad tumulum beati viri.“; Schneider, p. 73.
16 Susi, L ‚eremita, p. 40; Susi, Vita, p. 337; Sclmeider, p. 74.
THE USE OF DIRECT QUOTA Tl ON 1 8 1
almost fully copied in the later life, but again, with amplification. This may or may
not reflect additional testimony that is not extant. The life and miracles of Galgano
also probably immediately produced a series of frescoes in the rotunda at Montesiepi
(no Ionger extant), an elaborate reliquary, and cycles by Lorenzetti (ca. 1340)
and Andrea di Bartolo (ca. 1 400/20), among others. Most of the scenes in these
works can be traced back to the protocol, which illustrates how such testimony
could reach an even wider audience through the visual arts.17 For example,
Dionigia’s words describing Galgano’s vision of St. Michael are depicted in
several media. Her testimony that the saint was attacked by the devil as he lay in
the forest between two beech trees1R is illustrated on the extant reliquary of the
saint’s head.
In another early example of a papal canonization, the case of the Cistercian
Ab bot Maurice of Camoet ( 1 1 1 4- 1 1 9 1 ) was heard in 1 222. 19 This hearing was
severely criticized by Pope Honorius III due to serious imperfections in the
deposition of witnesses, and a second inquiry was therefore held. According to the
Benedictine editor of his two brief biographies, these works postdate the hearings,
and, although short, contain quotes from the saint himself, his fellow monks and
various miracules. One biography directly cites the saint’s humorous response to a
conflict within his monastery conceming an infestation of rats, saying, „And what
can we [ do] about those rats? Everyone should keep his own shoes next to him or
even keep them under his feet.“20 The words of an incubus or the demoniac herself
are quoted („I will go with him, I will go with him“).21 A knight, who sorely
tortured one ofhis dependents in order to extort money, said, „Neither Maurice nor
Andrew can free you from my hands.“22 The saint then appeared to him in a vision
saying, „Why are you injuring this man who is under my protection?“. In addition,
the conversation between a father and his demoniac daughter, a request made to
Maurice by the rarents of a child who had drowned and the VOW of a lame man are
cited verbatim.2 The second biography likewise cites directly some sailors and the
saint himself, presumably on the testimony ofhis fellow monks.24
17 Lucie Gemez, „Reliques et images de saint Galgano a Sienne (xii<-xv< siecles),“ Medievales,
28 (1985), pp. 93-117; Diana Nonnan, „The Commission of the Frescoes of Montesiepi,“
Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte, 56.2 (1993), pp. 289-300. A „Seventeenth-century source
reports that the twelfth century rotunda included frescoes depicting the saint’s miracles, but
these do not survive.
18 Schneider, p. 73.
19 Beda Plaine, ed., „Duplex vita inedita S. Mauritii Abbatis Camoetensis Ordinis Cisterciensis
(1 14-1 191 ),“ Studien und Mittheilungen aus dem Benedictiner-und dem Cistercienser-Orden,
7.2 (1 886), pp. 375-393; 7.3 ( 1 886), pp. 1 57-64.
20 lbid., p. 384: „Et quid ad ratos ipsos possumus? Servet unusquisque suos (wtulares) vel in
pedibus habear.“
2 1 Ibid., p. 385: „vado cum eo. vado cum eo.“
22 lbid., p. 386: „Neque Mauricius. neque Andreas poterunt te liberare de manu mea“ and
„Quare sie ajjligis hominem in meum patrocinium conjidentem?“
2
3 Ibid., pp. 390, 392.
24 lbid., pp. 160, 161. 163.
182 MICHAEL GOODICH
The Iransformation of the testimony taken from a canonization trial in a
subsequent narrative biography becomes more evident with the survival of papal
canonization dossiers from the mid-thirteenth century. Three cases will be highlighted,
those of William of Bourges (d. 1 2 6 1 ), Richard of Chichester (d. 1 253)
and Edmund ofCanterbury (d. 1240). All of these cases come from the dassie age
of papal canonization, when many of the precedents were laid down by a series of
popes with legal training. Archbishop Philip of Bourges‘ dossier consists of three
major sources: 1 ) a full canonization record from 1265/6, copied at the curia . in
1 3 3 1 (Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vat. Lat. MS. 4019); 2) a Vita et miracula
based on the papal hearing; and 3 ) several miracles recorded in Bibliotheque
Nationale. MS Lat. 5373A, fols. 1 ‚-65′. This third source contains a Stenographie
summary of the number of witnesses for each miracle and the degree of their
agreement. Philip’s case was initiated as a result of petitions addressed to the pope
by Louis IX of France and prominent French ecclesiastics. Hearings were held in
1 265/6 under Popes Urban IV and Clement IV at Beaugency, Bourges, and
Orleans. Forty-three miracles were recorded. In 1 3 3 1 , this case was revived under
Pope John XXII, and an account of its history was made, alon􀀐 with a copy of the
canonization hearing, which survive in the Vatican manuscript. 5
The anonymously authored Vita et miracula may perhaps be classified as the
kind of summarium vitae that was often submitted to the curia for consideration
prior to canonization.26 lt summarizes most of the evidence and cites Philip’s own
words directly as reported either by those who were acquainted with him
personally or by those who had visions of him addressing them prior to the
performance of a miracle. The direct quotes were intended to highlight Philip’s
virtues such as perseverance in the face of adversity27 and charity to the poor
regardless of expense,28 or the saint’s directions for the fulfillment of a vow to a
miracule in a vision.29 A reading ofthe life reveals at least twenty-five instances in
which the author quotes the witnesses directly, introduced with. the words, dixit,
dicens, testificatur. This number rises to over fi fty if the cases of indirect quotation
are cited, largely among the miracles. One of Maurice of Carnoet’s Jives noted
earlier, which also appears to be a summarium vitae, contains four Biblical
citations and perhaps other literary allusions. The absence of any Scriptural
citations or direct comparative allusions to other hagiographical Iiterature in
21 For a history of the case, see Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, MS. Vat. Lat. 4019, fols.l‘- 1 1 ‚.
On Philip, see A. Gandilhon, „3. Berruyer (Philippe),“ in Dictionnaire d’histoire et de
geographie ecclesiastique, eds. A. Baudrillart et al., 27 vols. to date (Paris: Letouzey et Ane,
1912-2000), vol. 8, pp. 892-897.
26 Vita sancti Philippi archiepiscopi Biturcensis, in Edmond Manene and Ursin Durand, eds.,
Thesaurus novus anecdotorum, 5 vols. (Paris, 1 7 1 7-26. repr. New York: Burt Franklin, 1968),
vol. 3, pp. 1927-1946.
27 lbid., Ll3.
28 lbid., I.5, 8.
29 lbid., I.8.
THE USE OF DIRECT QUOTATION 1 83
Philip’s life and miracles, on the other hand, suggests more c learly the quasijudicial
nature ofthis biography.
The first part of Philip’s biography, the life, simply rearranges the testimony
according to the principal virtues of the saint. The miracles are divided into two
parts; those that took place in his lifetime are reported individually, and the
posthumous cases are reported according to the genre of miracle. One of the
persons quoted directly is the pope, probably Innocent IV, on the authority of the
Franciscan Guillaume de Ausillac, archdeacon of Chäteauroux and Philip’s
confessor. He may weil have been the author of this biography. Guillaume had
heard reports of the bishop’s conversation with the pope concerning the suspension
of Hugh de Ia Tow·, bishop of Clermont, in which the pope wondered at the
archbishop’s charity toward his adversary. The pope bad exclaimed, „You pray for
your adversary!“30 To this Philip had responded, „I fol low my patron the blessed
Stephen [patron saint of the cathedral church at Bourges], who prayed for his
persecutors.“31 Philip’s life is based largely on clerical witnesses, who provide the
direct quotes from the saint. Although the miracules themselves were often laity,
preference is given to the direct quotes of the clergy.32 ln the case of the testimony
of the laity, the author prefers a more narrative account and indirect speech.33 The
exception is the direct quotation of an appeal to the saint made by bystanders
conceming the son of a blacksmith, drowned in a vat, which reads, „Blessed
Philip, perform a miracle for us.“ 34 This faithfully reproduces the words of the
original Vatican protocol,35 although the fuller words of the boy’s mother do not
appear in the biography.
A sec<:md case, which Blustrates the Iransformation of the depositions at a
canonization hearing into both a prose and poetic biography, at the same time
retaining some of the original oral testimony, concems Bisbop Richard of
Chichester (d. 1253). The investigating commission into Richard’s life, miracles,
and reputation was appointed by Alexander IV in 1 256. The dossier was exarnined
in 126 1 by Odo of Chäteauroux, cardinal-bishop of Tusculum (d. 1 273) and his
household, who was also to examine Philip of Bourges‘ case in the curia. Richard
was canonized by Urban IV on 22 January 1262, with a bull probably written by
the important papal notary Berardo of Naples.36 Odo delivered a sermon in
Richard’s honor on this occasion, which contains a summary of contemporary
scholastic notions of sainthood and the miraculous, as he was to do later at the
30 Ibid., !.6: „Pro adversario tuo oras!“.
31 „Sequor patronum meum beatum Stephanum. qui pro persecutoribus exoravit.“.
32 See Vita sancti Philippi, 1 1 . 1 [pp. 1 933-4], 11.5 [p.1935], 11.6, Il.8, II.9.
33 E.g., Vita sancti Philippi. 1 1 . 1 0 ff. [pp. 1936 ff.].
34 „Beate PhiI ippe. facias nobis miracu/um.“ [Vita sancti Philippi. 11. 10 , p. 1937 bottom].
35 Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, MS. Yi!l. Lat. 4019, fol. 92′.
36 F. Kaltenbrunner, „Römische Studien IIJ: Die Briefsammlung des ßerardus de Neapo1i,“
Mitteilungen des Instituts für oesterreichische Geschichtsforschung, 7 ( 1886), pp. 2 1 – 1 18,
555-635, esp. 557, n. l . See also D. Lohrmann, „Caracio1i, Berardo,“ Dizionario biograjico
degli italiani, ed. Albeno Ghisalberti, 55 vols. to date (Rome: lstituto della Enciclopedia
italiana, 1 960-2000), vol. 19, pp. 3 1 3-317.
184 MICHAEL GOOD!CH
canonization of Hedwig of Silesia in 1267. Richard’s canonization process does
not survive. 1t may, however, be partially reconstructed with the aid of Urban’s
canonization bull, Odo’s sennon, a life and miracles by the Dominican Ralph
Bocking written between January, 1268, and November, 1272, and several
additional miracles that appear in Bibliotheque Nationale Lat. MS 15033.37
Bocking’s work was translated into an Anglo-Norrnan French poem in about
1 276/7 by Pierre d’Abemon ofFetcham for a lay audience at the request of a canon
of Chichester.38 It contains some miracles that occurred after the 1 276 trans1ation
of the relics.
The Bocking life, which survives in two slightly different manuscripts,
became the source for most of the summarized vemacular and Latin Jives of
Richard published subsequently.39 lt was conmlissioned by the Dominican Robert
Kilwardby, Archbishop of Canterbury, and dedicated to Countess Isabel of
Arundel (d. 1282). Isabel was the patroness of several saints‘ biographies, some by
the historian Matthew Paris. She had founded the abbey of Mareharn in 1 249,
dedicated by Richard. In his lifetime Richard had cured one of her friends of
blindness, the widow Alice Tyrel.40 His first posthumous miracle was the eure of
Isabel’s nephew, the son of her half-brother Hugh Bigod, justiciar of England.41
Hugh’s son was named Richard, was under Richard’s protection because he had
been baptized by him, and was cured at Lewes castle. At the time of the miracle,
the countess was probably staying with her full brother John Warenne, who had
inherited the castle. Bocking’s account of this miracle contains a long direct quote
from a girl of noble family, named Joan. She had measured the boy’s body – an
English devotional custom – presumably in order to prepare a wick that would be
the length of a candle to be dedicated to Richard. Joan’s imprecation to Richard is
cited, in all likelihood taken from the canonization record. This prayer was then
translated by Pierre d‘ Abernon into its Anglo-French poetic version, although the
girl may have uttered the original prayer in French.42 The boy revived immediate1y
and asked to receive the sacrament. His words are also quoted. l t may be assumed
that both of these quotations stem from the canonization hearing. Thus, oral
testimony at a canonization hearing was then repeated in several versions of the
saint‘ s life. Such repetition of the vow prior to the perforrnance of a miracle is the
most common direct citation from a canonization record that passes into its various
narrative versions. In order to distinguish magic from miracle, the commissioners
37 Ralph Bocking, Vita et Miracula S. Ricardi, in Acta sanctorum, 3 April !: 282-3 15; David Jones,
ed., Saim Richard ofChichester. The Sourcesfor his Life, in Sussex Record Society 79 ( 1 993),
pp. 71-75; Catalogus codicum hagiogmphicorum /atinorum Parisiensis, 4 vols. (Brussels:
Societe des Bollandistes, 1 893), vol. 3, pp. 294-299.
38 D.W. Russell, ed., La vie seint Richard evesque de Chycester, Anglo-Nonnan Texts Society,
51 (London, 1995).
39 David Jones, „The Medieval Lives of St. Richard of Chi ehester,“ Analeeta bollandiana, I 05
(1987), pp. 105-129.
40 Bocking, Vita et Miracula, pp. 303-304.
41 lbid., p. 308.
42 Russell, La vie, M l 3 1 – 1 47.
THE USE OF DIRECT QUOTATION 1 85
in such inquisitiones were typically asked to inquire „what words were used by
those who sou􀂞ht to have said miracles performed, and how they invoked God and
said . . .“ saint. 3 Those exposed to hagiographical accounts would thus learn
precisely what would be the most effective invocation ofthe saint.
The preservation of oral testimony was not limited to members of the
nobility. Another miracle concerns a two-year-old boy named John, who had been
crushed under the weight of a horse-driven cart laden with salt. It was driven by a
drunken, beer-swilling carter through the village square near the market of Winterboume,
near Lewes in Sussex, at noon on the feast of Mary Magdalene in July.44
This village of Winterbourne was under the authority of Isabel of Arundel’s
brother, John. The boy’s revival despite severe injury appears among those
canonically proven miracles cited by Urban IV in his 1262 bull of canonization. In
Odo of Chäteauroux’s paraphrase, this case refers to „a boy who had been killed
when a heavily laden cart ran over his stomach [who] was revived through his
merits. The print left by the wheel still remains on the boy’s stomach.“ Again,
Bocking’s very detailed and dramatic account notes that the persons who
witnessed the event and its aftermath included two local women riding in the cart,
the boy’s mother, Juliana, and his father Walter, villagers aroused by the accident,
and the village priest and rector Gilbert. When he examined the injured child as
they awaited the coroner, the curate Gilbert is quoted directly by Bocking saying,
„There is no doubt that the boy is dead. lt is no wonder, for even if a strong and
robust man had been injured by such a heavy weight, he would certainly die; more
so in the case of a young boy, not yet two years old. Let us leave since there is no
further hope for his life. „45 Nevertheless, after entreaties from the grieving mother,
and recalling rumors of Richard of Chichester’s miracles, the priest is quoted as
saying, „Let us all devotedly on bended knee pray to God that through the prayers
of the blessed confessor Richard the spirit of life may be restored to the dead
boy.“46 This led to the infant’s recovery. Again, this report of the participation of
the onlookers in John’s revival reflects the question posed by the papal
commissioners, inquiring, „whether, after said miracles had been accomplished,
due to these miracles faith or devotion had grown among those persons at whose
invocation or petition said miracles had occurred; or among those persons for
43 Processus canonizationis Thomae de Cantilupo, in Acta sanctorum, 2 October I: 585-586 for a
prototypical papal charge to the commissioners in a canonization case. Richard’s is not extant.
44 Bocking, Vita et Miracula, p. 3 1 5. Another translation appears in Joncs, Saint Richard of
Chichester, pp. 102-105; see Jones, pp. 74, 78.
45 „Indubitanter, inquit mortuus es/ puer: nec mirum. si emm hominem robustum et validum
tante mo/es oppressisset, omnino prorsus extinxisset. quanto magis pueru/um tene/lum, aetate
necdum bimum? Recedamus, inquit, quia vitam de isto sperare ulterius non est . . .“ (Bocking, p. 315).
46 „Unanimiter omnes et suppliciter ac devote genua flectentes Dominum deprecemur, ut B.
Richardi Confessoris sui precibus huic extinc10 pusioni vitae spiritum dignetur infundere.“
(Bocking, p. 3 1 5).
186 MICHAEL GOODICH
whom the miracle had occurred; or among others to whom it became k:nown; and
they had glorified God.“47
A comparison of Bocking’s entire version of this miracle with Pierre
d’Abernon’s poetic text, including the priest’s words,48 indicates a very faithful
translation, limited only by the demands of poetry. As in other canonization cases,
Richard’s inquiry had been preceded by a papal charge to the commission to investigate
the putative saint’s life, miracles, and reputation. Although in Richard’s
case such a document is lacking, it presumably contains the same detailed terms
found in other such cases. Bocking’s accoLmt is a summary of the trial evidence in
narrative form. By comparing the papal charges in canonization cases to Bocking’s
text it may be possible to partially reconstruct the contents of the witnesses‘
testimony. The work is filled with direct quotations from the saint himself, those
who k:new him, and those who experienced and witnessed his miracles. The oral
testimony that lay at the foLmdation of Bocking’s work became the basis of a series
of biographies of the saint in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, although the
fifteenth century Legenda nova Anglie retains only direct quotations from Richard
himself, rather than from his devotees.
The third example is drawn from the relatively full canonization dossier of
Edmund, Archbishop of Canterbury. This consists of several sources, including
letters of postulation, eyewitness first person accounts, several recensions of his
life made at Pontigny, and nearly contemporary biographies, including those by
Matthew Paris and Eustace of Faversham, who was hirnself one of the speakers in
the testimony of four of Edmund’s associates, the Quadrilogus (which is in the
form of first-person testimony). The relationship between these various sources has
been traced by Hugh Lawrence.49 Dependence on the testimony delivered at
Edmund’s canonization process is evident in all subsequent Jives, including the
later lectiones in British Library MS Royal 2D.Vl. fols. I 5 1 ‚-165‘.50 Hardly a
chapter in the Pontigny life Iacks direct quotations, presumably drawn from the
canonization hearing.51 The early life of the saint contains considerable citation
from his mother’s words, including a vision in which she appeared to him after
47 See supra, n. 4 1 .
48 Russell, La vie, M725-734, M751-56.
49 Hugh Lawrence, Sr. Edmund of Abingdon. A Study in Hagiography and History (Oxford:
Clarendon Press, 1 960), pp. 1 – 1 05. It is suggested that scveral of the lives are themselves
based on a biography that is no Ionger extant, and that depeoded on the canonization protocol.
See also his Matthew Paris, The Life of Edmund, Irans. C.H. Lawrence (Oxford: Allan Sutton,
1996).
50 Brilish.Library, MS Royal 2D.Yl. fols. 1 5 1 ‚-165′, see e.g. 153′-154• for vision ofhis mother in
a dream, 162•, for quote in English, 163′-164• for Edmund’s words to grieviog monks at
Pontigny, 164• for his deathbed speech. See also Vita sancti Edmundi [the so-called
Anonymous 8), in British Library MS Cotton Faustina, fols. 180′-183′, esp. 1 8 1 • for the deathbed
speech. Also Vita sanctissimi Edmundi (the Anonymous A], in British Library MS
Yitellius C. XII, fols. 280′-290′, esp. 285• for words of Edmund persuading a young man to
take up the cross.
51 Martene and Durand, op. cit. , 3, pp. 1775-1826 for Pontigny life.
THE USE OF DIRECT QUOTA T!ON 187
death counseling Edmund to study theology.52 This material was presumably
supplied by his brothers Robert, Nicholas, a Cistercian of Boxley, a third brother
who was a monk at Eynsham, or sisters Margaret and Alice, nuns at Catesby.
Details of his life at Oxford and conversations he held there were probably
supplied by fellow students or his own recollections as reported by members of the
archbishop’s familia; conversations that took place at Pontigny could have been
reported by the monks. His miracles while alive also contain examples of dialogue
that may weil have been supplied by the miracules themselves.
Quotations from the saint in English, French, and Latin appear throughout
the various versions of his life, and were regarded as emblematic evidence of his
sanctity. For example, in rejecting gifts, in a play on words he noted that the
French words “prendre“ (to take) and „pendre“ (to depend or hang) differ only in
one Ietter, and that the taking of gifts may Iead to dependence on the giver.53 On
his deathbed, joyfully accepting the viaticum, he reportedly recalled a proverb he
had heard from his mother and said in Middle English, „Men saith, game god en
wombe, ac ich seggem game gos en herte,“ i. e. „It is said that pleasure enters the
belly, but I now say it enters the heart.“54 This episode was also recounted in
Innocent IV‘ s 1 246 bull of canonization, and thus received wide currency.
Only a few examples of how the oral testimony at a canonization hearing
was later inserted into subsequent Jives of the saints have been presented here. So
as not to neglect Hungary, one weil known local example are the many direct
quotations of witnesses at Margaret of Hungary’s 1276 canonization trial, which
are to be found throughout the later Vita by Garin l ‚Eveque.55 The question ofhow
reliable the memory of witnesses at such trials may have been has not been
addressed. The specific Iist of questions posed, the desire to court the goodwill of
the authorities, the influence ofpost-event suggestions on the witnesses‘ perceptual
experiences, the impact of stereotypes and expectations, and the extreme elasticity
of human memory are just some of the issues that must be dealt with in
formulating an answer to this problem.56 Nevertheless, the persistence of the
testimony at these hearings through a variety of sources and media confirms the
close interdependence between the oral and written word in medieval hagiography.
52 The Ietter of postulation addressed by Oxford University in 1241 to the pope contains citation
of Ed.mund’s mother’s words in a dream directing him to study theology. See Lawrence, Sr.
Edmund, p. 2 9 1 ; see also Martene and Durand, 3, pp. 1839-1841.
53 Martene and Durand, 3, p.l 807.
54 Martene and Durand, 3, pp. 1 8 15-1817: „Dicitur quod Iudus in ventrem vadit, sed ego dico
nunc Iudus in cor tendit.“; also Quadrilogus, in Lawrence, p. 201 (i. e. testimony of one of his
biographers, Eustace of Faversham); Matthew Paris, Vita S. Edmundi, in Lawrence, p. 266.
55 Garin l ‚Eveque, Vita Margaretae, in Acta sanctorum, 28 January lll, pp. 900-906. The raw
materials are found in Vilmos Fraknoi, ed., Inquisitio super vita, conversatione et miracu/is
beatae Margarethae virginis, in Monumenra romana episcoparus Vesprimensis, 4 vols.
(Budapest: Collegium romanum historicorum hungarorum. 1896-1 907), vol. 1 , pp.163-384.
56 Elizabeth Loftus and James Doyle, Eyewitness Tesrimony: Criminal and Civil, 2″d ed. (Charlottesville,
Va.: Michie Company, 1992), pp. 68-74.
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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– ISBN 963 9241 64 4 (Budapest)
-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