Architrenius

Edit links
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Architrenius is a

Archbishop of Rouen). The work was popular among the humanists
of the 16th century, perhaps as much for an allegorized but frank description of feminine "charms" in the last section, as for anything else. "Architrenius" is also the name of the poem's protagonist.

The text

The Architrenius made its first appearance in manuscript form c. 1184. It was copied by hand until its first publication in 1517 by the printer

Jacques-Paul Migne's Patrologia Latina (1844-1855) and Thomas Wright's Satirical Poets of the Twelfth Century (London, Rolls Series
, No. 59 1872). A critical edition in German was published in 1974 (München, Wilhelm Fink) with a prelude and comments by Paul Gerhard Schmidt.

The apparent first translation into English was the prose translation of Nicholas P. Carlucci, in his 1977 Ph.D. dissertation,[2] under the guidance of John W. Clark. This was based on Wright's edition, several medieval copies, and partly on the Schmidt edition. A more recent Architrenius was translated and edited by Winthrop Wetherbee of Cornell University,[3] based on the Schmidt text, apparently unaware of the Carlucci translation. These two translations helped motivate a lengthy article in German by Bernd Roling.[4] A revised edition was published by Winthrop Wetherbee in 2019.[5] Architrenius was first translated in italian (in verse) by Lorenzo Carlucci of Sapienza University (Rome 1) and Laura Marino of Cassino University.[6]

The plot

According to

C.S. Lewis, this poem involves "the story of the 'Arch-mourner', the youthful Architrenius, who, in mere despair at the wickedness within him and about him, sets out to seek his mother Nature and be healed. His journeys lead him through many places, including the university of Paris and the island of Thule, thus offering the author the opportunity for lavish satiric description, before the wanderer finally meets Nature. The account of the university is said to be of great interest to the social historian (see reference to Gibbon below), but... gives us an early example of the allegory in the form of a journey—that is, in its best form."[7]
Lewis continues: "A universal longing is expressed and, but for the language, the lines might have been written in any age:

The story is also summarized by Bartleby's Cambridge History of English and American Literature in 18 Volumes (1907–21). Volume I. From the Beginnings to the Cycles of Romance. Chapter X:

"The pilgrim of that satire pays a visit to Paris, and describes the hardships of the students and the fruitlessness of their studies; he afterwards arrives at the hill of Presumption, which is the haunt of all manner of monks and ecclesiastics, as well as the great scholastic doctors and professors."

Other references to the Architrenius

abbey of St. Germain des Prés. By the injuries of time and the Normans
this ancient palace was reduced in the twelfth century to a maze of ruins, whose dark recesses were the scene of licentious love.

Yet such intrigues (here Gibbon refers to the furtis) might be less pernicious to mankind than the theological disputes of the

Sorbonne, which have been since agitated on the same ground.[9]

Notes

  1. Catholic Encyclopaedia: "John of Hauteville". Archived
    from the original on 26 November 2005. Retrieved 2005-12-07..
  2. ProQuest 302867277. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help
    )
  3. ISBN 0521405432
    .
  4. S2CID 163503997
    .
  5. ISBN 9780674988156
    .
  6. ISBN 9788843094226
    .
  7. ^ Lewis, C.S. (1936). The allegory of love: a study in medieval tradition. Oxford: Clarendon Press. pp. 109–110.
  8. ^ Carlucci, p. 123-124
  9. ^ Pierre Nicolas Bonamy, Mém. de l'Académie, tom. xv. p. 678-682

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Architrenius&oldid=1217883028"