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OE final
medieval english lit
46
English
Undergraduate 1
04/23/2009

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Term
comitatus
Definition
companionship/company, description of relations between lord and retainers.
loyalty/service for treasure/support.
name was later-more of an idea at the time.
Term
tacitus
Definition
emphasizes good of germans to criticize romans.
literary, not historical.
Term
location of Judith (poem)
Definition
Beowulf MS. (London, BL, Cotton Vitellius. A. xv.)
Term
Differences between OE and Biblical Judith
Definition
Biblical: Judith=widow, prayer before beaheading is to "Lord God," offers post-victory winnings to God
OE: Judith=virgin, prayer before beheading is to Father, son, spirit (christian, trinitarian, and anachronistic); keeps post war gainings (fulfills comitatus)
Term
sexuality/gender elements in OE Judith
Definition
Medieval Christianity - proper ways of expressing sexuality were virginity,
conjugality in marriage, and chaste widowhood
Term
Chaucer
Definition
1386, starts Canterbury Tales
Term
Canterbury Tales
Definition
1386-1400, never completed
Term
Canterbury Tales characters
Definition
Nobility: Knight
Commoners: Miller, Reeve
Term
Physiologous
Definition
Whale, Panther, PArtridge in Exeter book
Term
Phoenix
Definition
version drawn from Lactantius,Carmen de Ave Phoenix
Term
Middle English Physiologous
Definition
MS London, British Lib, Arnundel 292
East Midlands dialect
1st 1/2 of 13th century
prayers, sermons, a life of Merlin Ambrosius, some works of the historian Geoffrey of Monmouth, beast fables of Odo
the "bestiary" trans of latin verse (cf Harley 3093, Addl. 10415, Arnundel 243 (all Brit Lib MSS)
Term
Liber Monstrorum
Definition
Anglo-Latin text, 5 MSS
Term
LM- attitude towards marvels
Definition
drew heavily on classical sources, esp Augustine, Isidore, and Virgil
Earlier material may not have been known to authors
Possible source for Wodners/Letter
Distrustful of pagan authors, unless verified by Christian writers or of sufficient authority (virgil)
Term
Wanderers of the East MSS
Definition
London, BL, Cotton Vitellius A xv (beowulf MS)
early 11th century
Term
Alexander the Great
Definition
(356-323 BCE)
son of philip of macadonia
student of aristotle
Term
Anonymous: Alexander Romance
Definition
most likely source for OE translator
possibly late 9th/early 10th century exemplar in beowulf- uncertain
Term
Beowulf MS
Definition
London, BL, Cotton Vitellius A. xv
Term
Pieces within Beowulf MS
Definition
5 texts that deal with monsters/humans acting monstrous
1. Wonders of the East
2. The Letter of Alexander to Aristotle
3. Beowulf
4. Judith
Term
Wonders of the East
Definition
marvels supposedly found in India
Term
Letter of Alexander to Aristotle
Definition
purports to be a letter that Alex. wrote to describing battles with monsters and the marvels he sees in India
Term
Beowulf
Definition
one leaf had fallen out in copying and wasn't properly placed until 19th century
Term
Judith
Definition
deuterocanonical text about Jewish woman who helps her town of Bethulia withstand the Assyrians by tricking and beheading Holofernes
Term
WHenever Beowulf was written
Definition
it was COPIED into this MS early in the 11th century
Term
Sermon
Definition
preaching on a specific topic, not the pericope (appointed reading for the day)
Term
Homily
Definition
explication of the day's reading
Term
Wulfstan's religious writings
Definition
Sermo Lupi ad Anglos (Sermon of WOlf to the English) between 1009 and 1014
-3 versions of the sermon, explains England's social/political problems as divine punishment
Term
The Katherine Group
Definition
Lives of St. Margeret, St. Juliana, St. Katherine, Sawles Ward, HALI MEIOHAD
Term
Hali Meiohad
Definition
Oxford, Bodlein Library, Bodley 34, c1225
Term
Old ENglish Martrology
Definition
Cambridge, Corpus Christi College 303, 12c
Term
Sexuality: Medieval Christianity
Definition
proper ways of expressing sexuality were virginity, conjugality in marriage, and chaste widowhood
order matters
Term
Paul's ideas
Definition
shaped by classical education
-sexual desire points one to the world away from God
Term
Stoics
Definition
distrust of emotions- rational life
Term
Cynics
Definition
distrust of material/social world-intellectual/spiritual life
Term
Virginity/Celibacy
Definition
could be seen as empowering in a rigid society
Term
marriage and remarriage
Definition
permitted, but the ideal was moving one's love from material to spiritual world
Term
courtly love
Definition
originated in satires of Ovid, Roman writer
Ars amatoria, Remedia amoris, Amores
Term
The Art of Courtly Love (text)
Definition
Andreas Capallanus
rhetoric book on how to attract women of different classes (12c)
Term
courtly love (in general)
Definition
how to show finer feelings and emotional attachment in very controled sexual atmosphere
-reactive to culture of arranged marriages and family control over women's sexuality
often sexual love, unconsummated desire (Dante, Petrarch)
often disparity between lovers' classes
Distance/inaccessibility of lovers
More literary ideal than historical one
-few practiced
Term
chivalry
Definition
military duties to one's lord
-liefe/vassal relationship: parallel, but not = to comitatus (more freedom)
social obligation: collection of taxes, support of households and manor
-feudalism: term on way out, imprecise
-serves God and lord
-social relationships had more direct importance as time went on
Term
Lai
Definition
short poem, octosyllabic couplets, usually on subject of courtly love
-some form of personal crisis: situations similar to saints lives & didactic literature, but from more secular view point
Term
Fabliau
Definition
short, humorous poems, usually sexual in content, often anti-clerical, anti-nobility satire
Term
Marie
Definition
all we know for sure: noble, educated, around the court of Henry II
Term
the Lais texts
Definition
3rd quarter of 12th century (1173-1185)
Term
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight-MSS
Definition
-London, British Library, Cotton Nero A.x
-part of "Alliterative Revival" of late 14h century
-Pearl, Cleanness/Purity, Patience, Sir Gawain...
Term
Sir G and the G Knight: Stanza format
Definition
-also part of alliterative revival, 14th c
-bob and wheel (2 syllable divider line "bob" and 4 lin ballad stanza "wheel"
Term
Tolkein's work with SGGK
Definition
-coeditor of ME texts w. EV Gordon in 1925, rev ed 1967 w. Norman Davis
-translation was in existence by 50's and broadcast on BBC in 53
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