Introduction

By placing twelfth-century Latin epic in the context of the Virgilian tradition, this study seeks to promote wider interdisciplinary knowledge of these poems. At the same time, it attempts to bridge a gap in scholarship between late antique epic and early modern epic. The Introduction presents what information is known about the lives of Joseph of Exeter, Walter of Châtillon, Alan of Lille, and John of Hauville, as well as the chronology of the composition of their poems, the Ylias, Alexandreis, Anticlaudianus, and Architrenius, respectively. The poets all lived in close geographical proximity—all were active in northern France for all or much of their careers. There was also a narrow window of time in which all four poems were composed—roughly a decade, centered around the 1180s. These facts suggest the possibility of direct competition and mutual influence.

The Medieval Classic

This book considers how ancient and medieval commentaries on the Aeneid by Servius, Fulgentius, Bernard Silvestris, and others can give us new insights into four twelfth-century Latin epics—the Ylias by Joseph of Exeter, the Alexandreis by Walter of Châtillon, the Anticlaudianus by Alan of Lille, and the Architrenius by John of Hauville. Virgil’s influence on twelfth-century Latin epic is generally thought to be limited to verbal echoes and occasional narrative episodes, but evidence is presented that more global influences have been overlooked because ancient and medieval interpretations of the Aeneid, as preserved by the commentaries, were often radically different from modern readings of the Aeneid. By explaining how to interpret the Aeneid, these commentaries directly influenced the way in which twelfth-century Latin epic imitated the Aeneid. At the same time, these Aeneid commentaries allow us a greater awareness of the generic expectations held by the original readers of twelfth-century Latin epic. Thus, this book provides a new way to look at the development of allegory and contributes to our understanding of ancient and medieval perceptions of the Aeneid while exploring the importance of commentaries in shaping poetic composition, imitation, and reading.

The Reception of Pseudo-Dionysius’s Negative Theology in Alan of Lille

The article investigates the reception of Pseudo-Dionysius’s negative theology in Alan of Lille’s philosophical and speculative theological works. In the first part, the paper discusses how Alan applied Pseudo-Dionysius’s negative theology to the problem of translatio and the limits of theological language. In the second part, the article sheds light on the problematic textual references and allusions in Alan’s appropriation and remarks about Pseudo-Dionysius. In the final section, the paper argues that despite Alan’s lack of access to the complete Corpus Aeropagiticum, his interpretation and adoption of negative theology is philosophically compelling.

Medieval Courtly Literature, Royal Patronage and World Harmony (III)

La musique vainc le diable, comme doit avoir dit Pythagore. Cette étude aborde le problème, pour la troisième fois déjà et à nouveau sur les traces de Stephen Jaeger, qui a défendu à ce propos aussi la thèse que bon nombre de ces principes spéculatifs tombaient dans la littérature vernaculaire. On suggère que l'harmonie cosmique est réunie à la Cour médiévale, telle que la Table Ronde d'Arthur, et que l'équilibre sous-entendu dans le concept de l'harmonie du monde se reflète. volens nolens, à la cour des rois médiévaux, princes et évèques (Jaeger, Origins of Courtliness). Une seconde analogie soutient que le concept d'harmonie cosmique correspond à la sphère sociale et humaine; comme le préconise Boethius, les humains peuvent aiguiser leur caractère en répondant convenablement à l'harmonie cosmique, conduisant ainsi à une connaissance personnelle plus profonde. Trois thèmes sont discutés: a) les buts de l'échelle de valeur de la littérature médiévale raffinée; b) l'arrière plan de la notion d'harmonie cosmique -que l'on retrouve dans la description de la Perfection, ou Homme Nouveau, une «union mystérieuse»- et qui est décrite dans deụx traités importants du douzième siècle, la Cosmographia de Bernardus Silvestris et l'Anti­claudianus de Alan of Lille. La dernière préoccupation est le but de l'harmonie du monde étant donné qu'elle suggère une fusion raffinée du divin et de l'humain, du cosmic et du social, du terrestre et du céleste, du macrocosme et du microcos­me.