Saints, Cure-Seekers and Miraculous Healing in Twelfth-Century England

A promising but neglected precedent for Thomas More’s Utopia is to be found in Ibn Ṭufayl’s Ibn Ḥayy Yaqẓān. This twelfth-century Andalusian philosophical novel describing the self-education and enlightenment of a feral child on an island, while certainly a precedent for the European Bildungsroman, also arguably qualifies as a utopian text. It is possible that More had access to Pico de la Mirandola’s Latin translation of Ibn Ḥayy Yaqẓān. This study consists of a review of historical and philological evidence that More may have read Ibn Ḥayy Yaqẓān and a comparative reading of More’s and Ṭufayl’s two famous works. I argue that there are good reasons to see in Ibn Ḥayy Yaqẓān a source for More’s Utopia and that in certain respects we can read More’s Utopia as a response to Ṭufayl’s novel. L’Ibn Ḥayy Yaqẓān d’Ibn Ṭufayl consiste en un précédent incontournable mais négligé à l’Utopie de More. Ce récit philosophique andalou du douzième siècle décrivant l’auto-formation et l’éveil d’un enfant sauvage sur une île peut être considéré comme un texte utopique, bien qu’il soit certainement un précédent pour le Bildungsroman européen. Thomas More pourrait avoir lu l’Ibn Ḥayy Yaqẓān, puisqu’il a pu avoir accès à la traduction latine qu’en a fait Pic de la Miradolle. Cette étude examine les données historiques et philologiques permettant de poser que More a probablement lu cet ouvrage, et propose une lecture comparée de l’Ibn Ḥayy Yaqẓān et de l’Utopie de More. On y avance qu’il y a non seulement de bonnes raisons de considérer l’Ibn Ḥayy Yaqẓān d’Ibn Ṭufayl comme une source de l’Utopie de More, mais qu’il est aussi possible à certains égards de lire l’Utopie comme une réponse à l’Ibn Ḥayy Yaqẓān.

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Cowal part of Strathclyde in the early twelfth century

The Innes Review ◽

10.3366/inr.2003.54.2.230 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 54 (2) ◽

pp. 230-233

Author(s):

John Durkan

Keyword(s):

Twelfth Century

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Excavations at Crookston Castle, Glasgow 1973–75

Scottish Archaeological Journal ◽

10.3366/saj.2003.25.1.27 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 25 (1) ◽

pp. 27-56 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

JOHN LEWIS

Keyword(s):

Twelfth Century ◽

12Th Century

Three seasons (1973–75) of excavation were undertaken at several locations around Crookston Castle, which is thought to have begun as a timber and earth fortification in the twelfth century. This was replaced by a stone castle around AD 1400. Trenches were opened across the castle's outer defences, the entrance, the E range and in and around the extant stone tower. There was evidence to suggest that the original counterscarp of the ditch was repaired some time after the stone castle was built and that the gatehouse area was refashioned on more than one occasion. No dating evidence was found to date the construction of the main defensive ditch, which is presumed to have been dug in the 12th century.

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