Translators and Their Prologues in Medieval England

316 Pages·2016·15.483 MB·English

by  Elizabeth Dearnley

T
e prologue to layamon's Brut recounts
its author's extensive travels "wide yond
T
thas leode" (far and wide across the land) i
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to gather the French, latin and english
a
books he used as source material. e M
n
first Middle english writer to discuss his
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s
methods of translating French into d l ELIZABETH DEARNLEY
english, layamon voices ideas about i a
e
the creation of a new english tradition T
v TranslaTors and
by translation that proved very durable. o
a
is book considers the practice of r
l
translation from French into english in s
e Their Prologues
medieval england, and how the a
n
translators themselves viewed their n
g
task. at its core is a corpus of French d
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to english translations containing a in Medieval
T
translator's prologues written between n
h
c.1189 and c.1450; this remarkable body of Middle english literary theory provides d
e
a useful map by which to chart the movement from a literary culture rooted in i england
anglo-norman at the end of the thirteenth century to what, in the fifteenth, is r

regarded as an established "english" tradition. Considering earlier romance and P
Germanic models of translation, wider historical evidence about translation r
practice, the acquisition of French, the possible role of women translators, and the o
manuscript tradition of prologues, in addition to offering a broader, pan-european l
o
perspective through an examination of Middle dutch prologues, the book uses
translators' prologues as a lens through which to view a period of critical growth g
and development for english as a literary language. u
e
s
elizaBethdearnleygained her Phd from the university of Cambridge.
Cover image: la amon writing. london, British library, Ms Cotton Caligula a. iX, fol. 3r
(probably Worceȝster, c. 1300–1325). © e British library Board.
D
E
Bristol studies in Medieval Cultures A
R
N
L
E
Y
Translators and their Prologues
in Medieval England
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Bristol Studies In Medieval Cultures
issn 1757–2150
Series Editor
Dr Peter Dent
Editorial Advisory Board
Dr Marianne Ailes
Dr Rhiannon Daniels
Professor Helen Fulton
Dr Emma Hornby
Professor Carolyn Muessig
Dr Benjamin Pohl
Professor Ad Putter
Dr Leah Tether
Dr Ian Wei
Dr Beth Williamson
The remit of this peer-reviewed interdisciplinary series is to publish
scholarly works on the cultures of the middle ages, from late
antiquity up to and including the beginning of the sixteenth century.
Queries about the series, or proposals for monographs, editions,
or collections of essays, should be sent in the first instance to the
director of the centre for medieval studies, who acts as general editor
of the series, at the address below.
birtha, Faculty Of Arts, 3–5 Woodland Road, Bristol, Bs8 1Tb
Email: [email protected]
previously published
The Madonna of Humility:
Development, Dissemination and Reception, C.1340–1400
Beth Williamson
The Medieval Art, Architecture and History of Bristol Cathedral:
An Enigma Explored
Edited By Jon Cannon and Beth Williamson
Chaucer and the Cultures of Love and Marriage
Cathy Hume
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Translators and their Prologues
in Medieval England
Elizabeth Dearnley
D. S. BREWER
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© Elizabeth Dearnley 2016
All rights reserved. Except as permitted under current legislation
no part of this work may be photocopied, stored in a retrieval system,
published, performed in public, adapted, broadcast,
transmitted, recorded or reproduced in any form or by any means,
without the prior permission of the copyright owner
The right of Elizabeth Dearnley to be identified as
the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with
sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents act 1988
First published 2016
D. S. Brewer, Cambridge
isbn 978–1–84384–442–6
D. S. Brewer is an imprint of Boydell & Brewer Ltd
PO Box 9, Woodbridge, Suffolk ip12 3df, UK
and of Boydell & Brewer Inc.
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website: www.boydellandbrewer.com
A catalogue record for this book is available
from the British Library
The publisher has no responsibility for the continued existence or accuracy
of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this
book, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will
remain, accurate or appropriate.
This publication is printed on acid-free paper
Typeset in Adobe Arno Pro by doubledagger.co.uk
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Prologues, like Bells to Churches, toul you in
With Chimeing Verse; till the dull Playes begin
John Dryden, Prologue to The Assignation (1673)
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Contents
List of Illustrations ix
Acknowledgements xi
Abbreviations xiii
Introduction 1
1 The Translator’s Prologue: Latin and French Antecedents 19
The Latin Prologue Tradition and the Growth of Translation-Consciousness 19
The Beginnings of the French Translator’s Prologue 25
The ‘Precocity’ of Anglo-Norman and English > French Translation 30
From Vulgar Tongue to Prestige Vernacular 34
2 The Translator’s Prologue: The Germanic and Anglo-Saxon Background 39
Early Latin > German Translation: Otfrid and Notker Labeo 41
Translators’ Prologues in Anglo-Saxon England: Ælfred and Ælfric 43
The Conquest and Afterwards: Questions of Continuity in
English-Language Writing 50
The Addition of French 55
3 The Development of the French > English Translator’s Prologue 63
Laȝamon’s Brut and the Beginnings of the French > English Translator’s
Prologue 66
A Growing Translation-Consciousness: Developments to c. 1300 72
From Compilation to Translation: Developments in the Fourteenth Century 77
‘Oral’ Romance Prologues: A Separate Type of Translator’s Prologue? 83
From Laȝamon to Caxton: The Fifteenth Century 90
4 The Figure of the Translator 97
‘Feþeren he nom mid fingren’: The Figure of the Translator in
Literary Sources 100
The Figure of the Translator in Pictorial Sources 108
An Iconography of Translation? 120
‘I was at Ertheldoun |With Tomas spak Y thare’: ‘Clerk’ and
‘Minstrel’ Translators 128
5 The Acquisition of French 140
Literary Evidence: Prologues, Epilogues and Letters 144
‘Du fraunceis ki chescun seit dire’: Teaching Material 150
‘ne illa lingua Gallica penitus sit omissa’: Later Teaching of French 157
The Acquisition of French in the Cloister 158
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viii Contents
6 The Case for Women Translators 162
Women’s Education and the Use of French 165
‘Se femme l’ad si transaté’: The Evidence of the Twelfth-Century
Women Translators 171
Continuity and Tradition? 180
‘Crane’ and Chaucer’s Nun: Two Further Possibilities 182
7 The Presentation of Audience and the Later life of the Prologue 189
‘To laud and Inglis man I spell’: Larger Audience Groups
Named in Translations 192
‘Gode men of Brunne’: Specific Audiences and the Question of Patronage 195
The Prologue in Context: Manuscript Evidence 197
The Knowing of Woman’s Kind and Women Audiences 201
Mouvance, Prologues and Mouvance within Prologues 210
8 Middle Dutch Translators’ Prologues as a Sidelight on English Practice 218
‘ick de historie vele valsch | Gevonden hebbe in dat walsch’:
Attitudes towards French in the Prologues of Jacob van Maerlant 226
‘Sonder rime also ic sach’: Translating Le Livre de Sidrac 233
‘menighe avonture | Die nemmer mee ne wert bescreven’:
Walewein’s Anti-Translator’s Prologue 238
Conclusion 244
Appendices 249
Appendix 1: Breakdown of Corpus Motifs (as given in Chapter 3) 249
Appendix 2: Table of Verbs Used to Represent Translation in the Corpus 260
Appendix 3: Brief Biographical Information on the Translators 261
Bibliography 264
Index 289
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Illustrations
The author and publishers are grateful to all the institutions and individuals listed for
permission to reproduce the materials in which they hold copyright. Every effort has
been made to trace the copyright holders; apologies are offered for any omission, and the
publishers will be pleased to add any necessary acknowledgement in subsequent editions.
Fig. 1 Laȝamon writing. London, British Library, MS Cotton Caligula A. IX, fol. 3r
(probably Worcester, c. 1300–1325). Reproduced by permission of the British
Library. 111
Fig. 2 A scribe writing, probably Bede, from Life of St Cuthbert. London, British
Library, MS Yates Thompson 26, fol. 2r (Durham, c. 1175–1200). Reproduced
by permission of the British Library. 112
Fig. 3 A scribe writing the Gospels of Kildare, from Topographica Hibernica.
London, British Library, MS Royal 13. B. VIII, fol. 22r (England, perhaps
Lincoln, c. 1220). Reproduced by permission of the British Library. 112
Fig. 4 Initial ‘D’, the author writing his book, Li Livres dou Sante, by Aldobrandino
of Siena. London, British Library, MS Sloane 2435, fol. 1r (France, late 13th
century). Reproduced by permission of the British Library. 113
Fig. 5 The prophet Ezra writing, in the Codex Amiatinus. Florence, Biblioteca
Medicea Laurenziana, MS Amiatino 1, fol. 2r. Commissioned by Ceolfrith
(d. 716) at Wearmouth-Jarrow, early 8th century. Courtesy of Biblioteca
Medicea Laurenziana and reprinted with the permission of the Ministry for
Cultural Heritage. Further reproduction by any means is prohibited. (Italian
original: Firenze, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Ms. Amiatino, i, c, Vr
Su concessione del Minstero per i Beni i le Attivà Culturali E’ vietata ogni
ulteriore riproduzione con qualsiasi mezzo.) 115
Fig. 6 St Matthew writing with his book on his knee, the Lindisfarne Gospels.
London, British Library, Cotton Nero D. IV, fol. 25r (Lindisfarne, 720–721).
Reproduced by permission of the British Library. 116
Fig. 7 Laurence of Durham writing on a writing-board attached to his chair. Durham
University Library, MS Cosin V. III. 1, fol. 22v (Durham, c. 1150–1200).
Reproduced by permission of Durham University Library. 116
Fig. 8 Jean de Meun writing the Roman de la Rose on a writing-board. Cambridge
University Library, MS Gg. 4. 6, fol. 37r (France, c. 1340). Reproduced by
kind permission of the Syndics of Cambridge University Library. 117
Fig. 9 Jean de Meun writing the Roman de la Rose at a desk. London, British
Library, Harley 4425, fol. 133r (Bruges, Master of the Prayerbooks, c. 1500).
Reproduced by permission of the British Library. 117
Fig. 10 Robed man copying from an exemplar, L’Estoire del Saint Graal. London,
British Library, MS Royal 14 E.III, fol. 6v (France (Picardy?), c. 1300–1315).
Reproduced by permission of the British Library. 118
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