The use of rhetoric in biographical portraits of the twelve Roman emperors in Alfonso the X’s "Primera Cronica General"

243 Pages·1993·12.034 MB·English

by  Ann Garrison Moncayo

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The use of rhetoric in biographical portraits of the twelve
Roman emperors in Alfonso the X’s “Primera Cronica General”
Moncayo, Ann Garrison, Ph.D.
The University of Michigan, 1993
U M I
300 N. Zeeb Rd.
Ann Arbor, MI 48106
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
THE USE OF RHETORIC IN BIOGRAPHICAL PORTRAITS
OF THE TWELVE ROMAN EMPERORS
IN ALFONSO THE X S
PRIMERA CRONICA GENERAL
by
Ann Garrison Moncayo
A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment
of the requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
(Romance Languages and Literatures: Spanish)
in The University of Michigan
1993
Doctoral Committee:
Professor Charles F. Fraker, Chair
Professor Luisa Lopez-Grijera
Professor Monroe Z. Hafter
Associate Professor Ralph Williams
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
© Ann Garrison Moncayo 1993
All Rights Reserved
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
This dissertation is dedicated to my parents,
Delna Wilson Garrison and George Lloyd Garrison,
to Carlos and Doris Fraker and to Millie Atkins
with love and gratitude for their unfailing support and friendship.
ii
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
DEDICATION....................................................................................................II
INTRODUCTION..............................................................................................1
CHAPTER
I. PRIMARY SOURCES AND THE RHETORICAL
'ATTRIBUTES OF MAN1 IN ALFONSINE
BIOGRAPHY................................................................................5
II. THE ALFONSINE BIOGRAPHY OF CAESAR
AUGUSTUS: A MEDIEVAL PORTRAIT.............................30
III. THE TOPICS 'LINEAGE' AND 'RELATIVES' AS
'SPECIAL CHARACTERISTIC, AGE', 'DEATH',
'AFTER DEATH' AND 'QUALITIES OF BODY AND
SOUL' IN THE PORTRAIT OF CAESAR
AUGUSTUS.............................................................................53
IV. THE TOPIC OF 'LIFEWORK' IN THE PORTRAIT OF
CAESAR AUGUSTUS............................................................80
V. RHETORICAL TOPICS AND THEIR FUNCTION IN
THE ALFONSINE TRANSFORMATION OF CAESAR
AUGUSTUS FROM PAGAN TO CHRISTIAN RULER....102
VI. JULIUS CAESAR: FOUNDER AND LEADER...................132
VII. SUETONIUS AS THE PRINCIPAL SOURCE OF
TOPICS IN THE LIVES OF THE EMPERORS FROM
TIBERIUS TO DOMITIAN.....................................................189
BIBLIOGRAPHY................................................................................222
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INTRODUCTION
The premise of this study is that Alfonso X of Castile and his
committee of scholars created the biographies of the twelve Roman emperors
found in the Primera Cronica General according to precepts from rhetorical
handbooks circulating in the thirteenth century. Among the guiding principles is
the 'attributes of man1, a list of characteristics or topoi to be taken into
consideration when writing the lives of reknowned individuals. In addition to the
translation and editing of Suetonian fragments from the Vitae, the committee
selected passages from other authorities to enhance particular characteristics
they felt were essential to the prototype of a medieval ruler. I will also describe
the editors' process of fashioning the only biography without Suetonian
material, that of Augustus Caesar, through the compilation of passages from
other Latin historical writing.
Alfonso and his scholars did not always have access to primary
sources. Excerpts from Peter Comestor, Hugo de Fleury, and Pseudo
Hegessipus were taken from the intermediate source, Vincent de Beauvais'
Speculum Historiale. However, others such as Paulus Orosius' Historiarum
adversum paganos and St. Jerome's compilation of Eusebius' Chronicis
Canones were available as primary sources. I shall describe the methods
employed by the Alfonsine scholars when gleaning data from such primary
sources to create the imperial portraits in accordance with the rhetorical theory
of 'attributes of man'.
1
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