Les Cantiques Salemon: The Song of Songs in MS Paris BNF fr. 14966

266 Pages·2006·1.307 MB·English

by  Tony Hunt (ed.)

KATERN 1
LES CANTIQUES SALEMON
Page 1
MEDIEVAL WOMEN: TEXTS AND CONTEXTS
Editorial Board under the auspices of the
Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Hull
Renate Blumenfeld-Kosinski, University of Pittsburgh
Juliette Dor, Université de Liège
Constant J. Mews, Monash University
Anneke Mulder-Bakker, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen
Barbara Newman, Northwestern University
Gabriella Signori, Universität Konstanz
Nicholas Watson, Harvard University
Jocelyn Wogan-Browne, University of York
VOLUME 16
Page 2
LES CANTIQUES SALEMON
The Song of Songs in MS Paris BNF fr. 14966
Edited by
Tony Hunt
H
F
Page 3
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Les cantiques Salemon : the Song of Songs in MS Paris BNF
fr. 14966. - (Medieval women : texts and contexts ; 16)
1.Bible. O.T. Song of Solomon. French (Old French) -
Commentaries - History and criticism 2.Bible. O.T. Song of
Solomon. French (Old French) - Commentaries 3.Bible. O.T.
Song of Solomon - Paraphrases, French - History and
criticism 4.Bible. O.T. Song of Solomon - Paraphrases,
French - Early works to 1800
I.Hunt, Tony
223.9’077
ISBN-10: 2503518060
© 2006, Brepols Publishers n.v., Turnhout, Belgium
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise,
without the prior permission of the publisher.
D/2006/0095/3
ISBN: 2-503-51806-0
Printed in the E.U. on acid-free paper
Page 4
CONTENTS
Preface vii
Introduction 1
The Manuscript 1
The Work and its Author 3
Summary of Les Cantiques Salemon 8
The Exegetical Tradition of the Song of Songs 19
The Spiritual and Literary Context of the Poem 22
The Beguines and their History 24
The Beguines in Vernacular Literature 27
The Beguines’ Contribution to Vernacular Literature 37
The Commentary and the Lyrics 48
Literary Techniques 66
Appendix A: The Roman dou Lis 86
Appendix B: The Language of Les Cantiques Salemon 96
Page 5
Treatment of the Text 103
[Les Cantiques Salemon] 105
Rejected Readings 194
Notes 195
Glossary 221
Index of Proper Names 253
Page 6
PREFACE
T
he lyrical verse-commentary on the Song of Songs contained in Paris,
Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS fr. 14966 is the last of a trio of
Old French adaptations awaiting publication (see below pp. 19–22). In
many ways it is the most intriguing of the three, so its almost total neglect by
scholars is all the more puzzling.1 Its firmly tropological exegesis and intensely
lyrical expression make it a significant text in the development of medieval
mysticism and the literature of the Beguines. The present edition has been
designed (through the provision of translations and a full glossary) to make the
work accessible to readers who are not Old French specialists, whilst at the same
time catering (through source references in the notes) to scholars of biblical
interpretation, and (through the extensive introduction) to medieval historians.
I am very grateful to Professor Jocelyn Wogan-Browne and the Board of the
Medieval Women: Texts and Contexts series for their enthusiasm in accepting
the edition and to their Reader for sympathetic and constructive criticism.
1 See the brief comments in J. Bonnard, Les Traductions de la Bible en vers français au moyen
âge (Paris, 1984; repr., Geneva, 1967), pp. 162–66 and summary details in Grundriss der
romanischen Literaturen des Mittelalters, vol. VI.2: La Littérature didactique, allégorique et
satirique (Heidelberg, 1970), p. 83.
Page 7
Page 8