Glamorous Sorcery: Magic and Literacy in the High Middle Ages

261 Pages·2000·13.12 MB·English

by  David Rollo

GLAMOROUS SORCERY
S E R I ES EDITORS
RITA COPELAND
BARBARA A. HANAWALT
DAVID WALLACE
Sponsored by the Center for Medieval Studies
at the University of Minnesota
Volumes in this series study the diversity of medieval
cultural histories and practices, including such
interrelated issues as gender, class, and social
hierarchies; race and ethnicity; geographical
relations; definitions of political space; discourses of
authority and dissent; educational institutions;
canonical and noncanonical literatures; and
technologies of textual and visual literacies.
Volume 25
David Rollo
Glamorous Sorcery: Magic and Literacy in the High
Middle Ages
Volume 24
Steve Ellis
Chaucer at Large: The Poet in the Modem Imagination
Volume 23
Edited by Barbara A. Hanawalt and Michal Kobialka
Medieval Practices of Space
For more books in the series, see pages 233-34.
G L A M O R O US
S O R C E RY
MAGIC AND LITERACY IN THE
HIGH M I D D LE AGES
DAVID ROLLO
Medieval Cultures, Volume 25
University of Minnesota Press
Minneapolis
London
Part of chapter 1 appeared in "William of Malmesbury's Fables of Literacy: Gerbert of
Aurillac and the Excavation of the Campus Martius," in Translationes Studii: Essays in
Honor of Karl D. Uitti on the Occasion of His Sixty-fifth Birthday, ed. Renate Blumenfeld-
Kosinski, Kevin Brownlee, Mary Speer, and Lori Walters (Amsterdam: Rodopi, 1999);
reprinted with permission from Editions Rodopi. Part of chapter 3 appeared in "Benoit
de Sainte-Maure's Roman de Troie: Historiography, Forgery, and Fiction," Comparative
Literature Studies 32, no. 2 (fall 1995): 191-225; copyright 1995 by The Pennsylvania State
University; reproduced by permission of The Pennsylvania State University Press. Part of
the conclusion appeared in "Three Mediators and Three Venerable Books: Geoffrey of
Monmouth, Mohammed, Chretien de Troyes," Arthuriana 8, no. 4 (winter 1999):
100-114; reprinted with permission from Arthuriana.
Copyright 2000 by the Regents of the University of Minnesota
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 written permission of the
publisher.
Published by the University of Minnesota Press
111 Third Avenue South, Suite 290
Minneapolis, MN 55401-2520
http://www.upress.umn.edu
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Rollo, David.
Glamorous sorcery : magic and literacy in the High Middle Ages / David
Rollo.
p. cm. — (Medieval cultures ; v. 25)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8166-3546-3 (alk. paper) — ISBN 0-8166-3547-1 (pbk.: alk.
paper)
1. Latin prose literature, Medieval and modern—England—History and
criticism. 2. Literature and history—Great Britain — History—To 1500.
3. Benoit, de Sainte-Maure, 12th cent. — Criticism and interpretation.
4. Great Britain — History—To 1485 — Historiography. 5. Anglo-
Norman literature — History and criticism. 6. England—Intellectual
life —1066-1485. 7. Literacy—England—History—To 1500. 8. Magic in
literature. I. Title. II. Series.
PA8045.E5 R65 2000
478'.0308—dc21 00-009010
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper
The University of Minnesota is an equal-opportunity educator and employer.
11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 00 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
To
Julia and Rosemary
This page intentionally left blank
CONTENTS
Introduction ix
1. William of Malmesbury: Magic and Prestige i
2. Geoffrey of Monmouth and John of Salisbury:
Themes of Credulity 32
3. Benoit de Sainte-Maure: Magic and Vernacular Fiction 57
4. William FitzStephen, Richard FitzNigel,
Benoit de Sainte-Maure: Bureaucratic Power and
Fantasies of Literate Control 97
5. Gerald of Wales: Writing for the Crowned Ass of England 122
Conclusion 157
Notes 173
Index 225
This page intentionally left blank
INTRODUCTION
According to Georges Duby, the sophisticated lay culture that developed
in twelfth-century England and France was a direct consequence of im-
proved fiscal control.1 As systems for calculating and coordinating levies
gained greater efficiency, the francophone baronies of the era augmented
their disposable wealth and began to appropriate some of the literate pre-
rogatives previously restricted to the clergy.2 Learning became an object
of acquisition, as younger sons were sent in increasing numbers to re-
ceive a formal education at cathedral schools;3 and, toward the end of the
century, the education they thereby acquired itself became a commodity
liable to trade.4 Not only did the royal courts enlist the services of the lit-
erate in the spheres of dynastic historiography and political administra-
tion; even minor landholders took clerics into their employ, primarily
as tutors for their children, but also on occasion as private scribes of re-
gional histories.5 One of the results was a considerable corpus of Latin
writing, produced in a secular environment for the edification of a lay
public.
But, as Duby also demonstrates, this historical fact of patronage cre-
ates something of a cultural paradox. Although representatives of the
landed barony acquired these insignia of learning, few of them displayed
an advanced literacy and the competent understanding of the Latin lan-
guage it would presuppose: inheritance by primogeniture required first
sons to submit themselves to a seigneurial training in arms that would
prepare for the eventual succession to title and territory, and under these
circumstances relatively little time was devoted to their formal education.6
As a consequence, it remains unclear by what means these titular mag-
nates understood the often extremely sophisticated Latin texts that were
written for their benefit:
What could have been the practical function of a work such as
the Historia Gaujredi duds, in Latin? Was it read? Where, in what
circumstances? How—in translation, with annotations? This