Germanic Philology

Fimbulvetr between Ecocriticism and Text Criticism

Adele Cipolla — 2024-12-02

Considering the Vǫluspá, related eddic and skaldic witnesses, and their adaptation in Snorri’s rhetorical treatise (under the pervasive influence of late antique erudition and Christian lore on their written fixation), this contribution aims to assess the convenience of adopting ecocriticism, a discipline of sociological matrix, to the analysis of texts from the Old-Icelandic manuscript tradition and Swedish runology. Advanced techniques of scientific investigation (like volcanology and dendrochronology) and new methodologies and theoretical frameworks (like geosemiotics) appear capable of achieving fascinating results, claimed to be relevant to Old-Icelandic mythography and the reconstruction of underlying beliefs in Scandinavian pre-Christian oral culture. Under the impact of the current climatic emergency, these have been applied with the re-reading of the Rök Stone, where, in the runic inscription, a series of riddles referring to the death of the sun is deemed to be derived from the apocalyptic fears aroused by the memory of a climatic catastrophe, the fimbulvetr (Great Winter). The volcanic winter of 536 has been linked to the poetic invention of the fimbulvetr, the myth of which is actually documented in Iceland from the half of the 13th c. onwards, with a simple reference in the Vafþrúðnismál and a short report in the Gylfaginning, where the fimbulvetr is the triggering event of the Ragnarök. The paper will reassess the development and variability of the Great Winter narrative in the written sources and the soundness of the ecocritical approach to its philological interpretation.

The Transitus of the Soul and the Intercession of the Angels in Old English Resignation A 49b-56

Gabriele Cocco — 2024-12-02

Resignation (A+B) is still a subject of debate as to its textual unity and classification. Though it is usually partnered to the Old English elegies, Resignation A (ll. 1-70) bears more affinities with penitential poetry. The poem also echoes death liturgy. The invocation geoca mines gæstes (‘save my soul’, 46a) anticipates the soul’s longing not to be captured by demons (49b-53). The plea for angels to lead her at the transitus recurs in antiphons, responsories, and prayers in the Agenda mortuorum of pre-Conquest manuscripts such as the Leofric Missal, the Missal of Robert of Jumièges, the Red Book of Darley, and the Winchcombe Sacramentary. The paper aims to confirm that Resignation A is a penitent’s prayer, whose poet is well learned both in liturgy and theology.

The Ludus de Antichristo: imperial eschatology between East and West

Sebastiano Crestani — 2024-12-02

Composed in Germany in the second half of the 12th century, the Ludus de Antichristo is configured as a political instrument at the service of the Hohenstaufen court. In the text, in fact, the Germanic emperor will be the one who, as the eschaton approaches, will subdue all the kings of the Earth, and then go to Jerusalem and hand over his kingdom to Christ, laying down his royal insignia on the altar of the Templum Domini. This act will be the prelude to the appearance of the Antichrist.

The events narrated in the Ludus are based on the legend of the Last Christian Emperor, a recurring topos in medieval eschatological literature. Unlike the other texts in which this figure appears, in the Ludus the ruler lays his crown inside the Templum Domini in Jerusalem, i.e. in the Dome of the Rock on the Esplanade of the ancient Jewish Temple. This is to be seen in the context of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem, which was established in the wake of the first crusades, with the Esplanade regaining importance also in the Christian sphere, after it had been left aside for centuries due to the pre-eminence of the Holy Sepulchre.

This paper considers the political implications of the identification of the Germanic ruler with the Christian Last Emperor, and then focuses on the renewed centrality of the Temple Esplanade in the medieval Christian eschatological discourse, with a hint at a possible reading of the theme of the Last Emperor laying down his royal insignia in the Temple also in a Jewish eschatological text. Apocalyptic-eschatological literature, as well as conveying images of power, can in fact be understood as the privileged medium for interreligious encounters and exchanges.

Enlisting the Truth of Damnation: the Rhetoric of Wulfstan’s Lifelong Engagement with Eschatology

Federica Di Giuseppe — 2024-12-02

Around the year 1000, England is in a state of crisis and demoralisation which most likely fosters apocalyptic anxieties. The preoccupation becomes prominent in the writings of contemporary vernacular homilists, and plays a key role in Archbishop Wulfstan’s eschatological preaching. By focusing on his use of the list of sinners, this paper illustrates the evolution of Wulfstan’s apocalypticism throughout his career, from ideological conviction to rhetorical tool. In particular, I intend to focus on how the alliterating catalogue, which first appears in De Fide Catholica (Bethurum sermon no. 7, p. 163 and ll. 128-134), is then reworked not only in the longest version of the Sermo Lupi ad Anglos (Bethurum sermon no. 20, p. 273 and ll. 161-166) but also in Wulfstan’s legal writings and political tracts (in which case the list comes to describe earthly sinners, namely criminals proper). The way the catalogue is rephrased signals a change in Wulfstan’s eschatological tone, which is ever-present but still loses its immediacy as the years, his career and the Viking invasions wear on.

The motif of the Descensus Christi ad Inferos in Old English poetry

Concetta Giliberto — 2024-12-02

The motif of the Harrowing of hell (Latin: Descensus Christi ad Inferos) refers to the triumphal descent of Jesus into hell between the Crucifixion and the Resurrection to release the Patriarchs and bind Satan. This legend has a large circulation throughout the Middle Ages: references are found in various biblical loci as well as in the writings of the Church Fathers. Together with the account of the trial of Jesus, the Harrowing of hell is the main topic of the apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus, translated into English around the mid-tenth century. In the early English literary tradition, the journey of Christ into hell occurs at various levels and is expressed in different forms. The theme is treated in a number of Old English poems, in some of them more obliquely (as in the Panther or Guthlac B), while in others it is integral to the narrative architecture (as in Christ and Satan); moreover, the Exeter Book preserves a minor poem entitled Descent into Hell. The purpose of the present essay is to survey the poetic passages dealing with the Harrowing of hell and to identify the interpretative keys of their eschatological content, also in connection with the themes of the Second Coming and Doomsday.

‘Fifteen Signs’ before the end of the world: Ms. Ava knows them

Wolfgang Haubrichs — 2024-12-02

In the beginning of the 12th century, Frau Ava († 1127), the first known authoress writing in German, composed a cycle of four Middle High German rhyme-poems, beginning with the life of the praecursor Christi Johannes Baptista, then dealing with the Life of Jesus, and continuing with the eschatological ‘Vita Antichristi’, the story of the final adversary of Christ, and ending with the events of Doomsday, when Jesus Christ will come back to judge the living and the dead. Since Carolingian times, there exists a legend, telling that before the last judgement fifteen signs will appear to announce the world’s end. In her narration of the last things Ava in principle follows the two oldest versions of the ‘Quindecim Signa’, first the version of Pseudo-Beda (about 820) and second, more intensively, the version contained in the ‘Historia Scholastica’ of Petrus Damiani († 1072). The systematic analysis of the sources shows that Ava runs an astonishingly independent arrangement and interpretation of the tradition, leading sometimes to an anti-aristocratic impetus. However, the main objective is the pastoral creation of a consciousness of all the griefs and sorrows, of all the misery which waits for the humans at the end of the times, especially for the unjusts and sinners. During the process of literarization of the last things the ego of the speaker just as the ‘we’ of the audience will be seized by fear. The function of the literary text is to pass the knowledge of the end and to achieve by that the conversion of all mankind.

Some Remarks On The Lexicon of Muspilli

Lidia Francesca Oliva — 2024-12-02

This study considers an aspect of Muspilli which, despite the numerous studies on the text, was often overlooked and never extensively analysed: its lexicon. In this article I shall focus on three particularly interesting nouns, OHG hilfa, mord and muspilli, and on their meaning in this Old High German eschatological text. Unlike OHG muspilli, the occurrences of OHG hilfa and mord were never closely examined: as I hope to demonstrate, the interpretation which has generally been given to them is not exactly accurate. As for OHG muspilli, on the other hand, many before me have tried to trace back its etymology and have debated its meaning. As I will argue in the article, though, one hypothesis was never given enough attention by the scholarship, leading to what might be an incorrect interpretation of the term which could, indeed, not mean ‘end of the world’.

Theiz ist ábulges dag. The representation of the Day of Judgement in book V, chapter 19 of the Liber Evangeliorum by Otfrid of Weißenburg

Verio Santoro — 2024-12-02

The theological reflection on the final destiny of people and creation is widely present in a large number of German texts throughout the medieval period; the theme appears in vernacular translations of the sacred text, but is also a central topic in a large number of poetic texts, from the Muspilli of the Carolingian period to the religious poems of the 11^th and 12^th centuries (among others, Frau Avas poems, Hamburger Jüngstes Gericht, Himmel und Hölle, Das himmlische Jerusalem). The eschatological theme is also at the centre of Otfrid of Weißenburg’s reflection. Despite a good number of studies devoted also to the interpretation of specific passages of his work, chapter V, 19 (De die judicii) has never been the focus of a particular study. In this essay we shall attempt to highlight the cornerstones of Otfrid’s reflection on the Last Judgement through the examination of the structure of the chapter and the interpretation of its individual parts.

Sô sprichet got mit grimme. Lexical semantics and narrative representation of apocalyptic wrath in spiritual poetry and the Last Judgement

Pia Schüler — 2024-12-02

This article examines the lexical-semantic constitution and the narrative portrayal of the apocalyptic wrath of God in German-language texts of the 12th, 13th and 16th centuries. The analysis focuses on early religious poetry (Ava‘s ‚Jüngstes Gericht‘, ‚Die Hochzeit‘), biblical poetry (‚Mitteliederdeutsche Apokalypse‘, Heinrich von Hesler‘s ‚Apokalypse’) and late medieval plays (‚Münchner Weltgerichtsspiel‘, Tengler's ‚Weltgerichtsspiel‘). The comparative study shows that although the wrath of God appears frequently as a lexeme, the narrative representation is redirected to alternative motifs and plot devices. The abstraction of the eschaton is countered by the frequent reference to the possibility of atonement in the immanent present and in the imagination of specific punishments and legal orders. The theologically founded challenges of the term discussed in the texts also emerge in the lexical analysis, which categorises the wrath of God with regard to its anthropomorphic quality, among other things.

Who Is Coming to Get You? Death-Scene narratives and Illustrations from early Medieval England

Loredana Teresi — 2024-12-02

This article compares textual narratives of the going-out of souls from the body at death, circulating in early medieval England, with visual representations of similar post-mortem scenes featuring in manuscript illustrations. Around twenty images on the topic have emerged from the survey. They appear to be a reflection of their textual counterparts, insomuch as they present the same variety and can be associated to the various traditions circulating in England and on the continent, and which can be ultimately traced back to apocryphal Eastern texts. In literature, two main types of post-mortem death scenes can be found: a type presenting a struggle for the soul that can be associated with such texts as the Visio Pauli, and a type where the soul is received only by the appropriate band of psychopomps (either angels or devils) on the basis of the moral quality of the dead, as can be seen, for example, in the accounts deriving from the “Macarian legend”. The iconography follows both traditions, although the “Macarian” prejudgement appears prevalent.

Some Observations on the First Middle English Translation of the Revelation of John

Letizia Vezzosi — 2024-12-02

The Revelation of John represents one of the most popular texts of medieval Europe. This popularity, undoubtedly fuelled by fears and expectations of the year one thousand, is reflected not only in the presence of millenarian themes in contemporary literature, but also and above all in an extremely rich manuscript tradition in Latin and vernacular languages. Medieval England is no exception, except for the fact that the earliest translations are in Anglo-Norman, and the first copies in Middle English are not available until the middle of the fourteenth century. The most significant work in this regard is certainly the so-called Wycliffe translation, which deviates from the Anglo-Norman model. However, it would not have been possible without being preceded by various attempts, of which we still have evidence. This article intends to focus on the first translation that has been handed down to us, trying to highlight the translation practices employed in terms of syntactic, lexical and morphological choices. As a matter of fact, although it is a very adherent translation to the Anglo-Norman version, it shows interesting and strategical attempts to adapt the text to the Middle English language for a successful rendition of the apocalyptic message.