Elucidarium
Encyclopedia
Elucidarium is an encyclopedic work or summa
about medieval Christian theology
and folk belief, originally written in the late 11th century by Honorius Augustodunensis
, influenced by Anselm of Canterbury
and John Scotus
. It was probably complete by 1098, as the latest work by Anselm that finds mention is Cur deus homo. This suggest that it is the earliest work by Honorius, written when he was a young man. It was intended as a handbook for the lower and less educated clergy. Valerie Flint
(1975) associates its compilation with the 11th-century Reform
of English monasticism.
The work is set in the form of a Socratic dialogue
between a disciple and his teacher, divided in three books. The first discusses God, the creation of angels and their fall, the creation of man and his fall and need for redemption, and the earthly life of Christ. The second book discusses the divine nature of Christ and the foundation of the Church at Pentecost, understood as the mystical body of Christ manifested in the Eucharist
dispensed by the Church. The third book discusses Christian eschatology
. Honorius embraces this last topic with enthusiasm, with the Antichrist
, the Second Coming
, the Last Judgement, Purgatory
, the pains of Hell
and the joys of Heaven
described in vivid detail.
The work was very popular from the time of his composition and remained so until the end of the medieval period. The work survives in more than 300 manuscripts of the Latin text (Flint 1995, p. 162).
The theological topic is embellished with many loans from the native folklore of England, and was embellished further in later editions and vernacular translations. Written in the 1090s in England, it was translated into Anglo-Saxon within a few years of its completion (Southern 1991, p. 37).
It was frequently translated into vernaculars and survives in numerous disparate versions, from the 16th century also in print
in the form of popular chapbook
s.
Later versions attributed the work to a "Master Elucidarius".
A Provençal translation revises the text for compatibility with Catharism. An important early translation is that into Old Icelandic, dated to the late 12th century. The Old Icelandic translation survives in fragments in a manuscript dated to ca. 1200 (AM 647a), one of the very earliest surviving Icelandic manuscripts. This Old Icelandic Elucidarius was an important influence on medieval Icelandic literature and culture, including the Snorra Edda.
The editio princeps of the Latin text is that of the Patrologia Latina
, vol. 172 (Paris 1895).
Late Middle Ages
16th century
Summa
Summa and its diminutive summula are mainly used, in English and other modern languages, for texts that 'sum up' knowledge in a field, such as the compendiums of theology, philosophy and canon law which were used both as textbooks in the schools and as books of reference during the Middle...
about medieval Christian theology
Christian theology
- Divisions of Christian theology :There are many methods of categorizing different approaches to Christian theology. For a historical analysis, see the main article on the History of Christian theology.- Sub-disciplines :...
and folk belief, originally written in the late 11th century by Honorius Augustodunensis
Honorius Augustodunensis
Honorius Augustodunensis , commonly known as Honorius of Autun, was a very popular 12th-century Christian theologian who wrote prolifically on many subjects. He wrote in a non-scholastic manner, with a lively style, and his works were approachable for the lay community in general...
, influenced by Anselm of Canterbury
Anselm of Canterbury
Anselm of Canterbury , also called of Aosta for his birthplace, and of Bec for his home monastery, was a Benedictine monk, a philosopher, and a prelate of the church who held the office of Archbishop of Canterbury from 1093 to 1109...
and John Scotus
Johannes Scotus Eriugena
Johannes Scotus Eriugena was an Irish theologian, Neoplatonist philosopher, and poet. He is known for having translated and made commentaries upon the work of Pseudo-Dionysius.-Name:...
. It was probably complete by 1098, as the latest work by Anselm that finds mention is Cur deus homo. This suggest that it is the earliest work by Honorius, written when he was a young man. It was intended as a handbook for the lower and less educated clergy. Valerie Flint
Valerie Flint
Valerie Irene Jane Flint was a British scholar and historian, specialising in mediæval intellectual and cultural history.- Early life :...
(1975) associates its compilation with the 11th-century Reform
Gregorian Reform
The Gregorian Reforms were a series of reforms initiated by Pope Gregory VII and the circle he formed in the papal curia, circa 1050–80, which dealt with the moral integrity and independence of the clergy...
of English monasticism.
The work is set in the form of a Socratic dialogue
Socratic dialogue
Socratic dialogue is a genre of prose literary works developed in Greece at the turn of the fourth century BC, preserved today in the dialogues of Plato and the Socratic works of Xenophon - either dramatic or narrative - in which characters discuss moral and philosophical problems, illustrating a...
between a disciple and his teacher, divided in three books. The first discusses God, the creation of angels and their fall, the creation of man and his fall and need for redemption, and the earthly life of Christ. The second book discusses the divine nature of Christ and the foundation of the Church at Pentecost, understood as the mystical body of Christ manifested in the Eucharist
Eucharist
The Eucharist , also called Holy Communion, the Sacrament of the Altar, the Blessed Sacrament, the Lord's Supper, and other names, is a Christian sacrament or ordinance...
dispensed by the Church. The third book discusses Christian eschatology
Christian eschatology
Christian eschatology is a major branch of study within Christian theology. Eschatology, from two Greek words meaning last and study , is the study of the end of things, whether the end of an individual life, the end of the age, or the end of the world...
. Honorius embraces this last topic with enthusiasm, with the Antichrist
Antichrist
The term or title antichrist, in Christian theology, refers to a leader who fulfills Biblical prophecies concerning an adversary of Christ, while resembling him in a deceptive manner...
, the Second Coming
Second Coming
In Christian doctrine, the Second Coming of Christ, the Second Advent, or the Parousia, is the anticipated return of Jesus Christ from Heaven, where he sits at the Right Hand of God, to Earth. This prophecy is found in the canonical gospels and in most Christian and Islamic eschatologies...
, the Last Judgement, Purgatory
Purgatory
Purgatory is the condition or process of purification or temporary punishment in which, it is believed, the souls of those who die in a state of grace are made ready for Heaven...
, the pains of Hell
Hell
In many religious traditions, a hell is a place of suffering and punishment in the afterlife. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hells as endless. Religions with a cyclic history often depict a hell as an intermediary period between incarnations...
and the joys of Heaven
Heaven
Heaven, the Heavens or Seven Heavens, is a common religious cosmological or metaphysical term for the physical or transcendent place from which heavenly beings originate, are enthroned or inhabit...
described in vivid detail.
The work was very popular from the time of his composition and remained so until the end of the medieval period. The work survives in more than 300 manuscripts of the Latin text (Flint 1995, p. 162).
The theological topic is embellished with many loans from the native folklore of England, and was embellished further in later editions and vernacular translations. Written in the 1090s in England, it was translated into Anglo-Saxon within a few years of its completion (Southern 1991, p. 37).
It was frequently translated into vernaculars and survives in numerous disparate versions, from the 16th century also in print
Printing press
A printing press is a device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a print medium , thereby transferring the ink...
in the form of popular chapbook
Chapbook
A chapbook is a pocket-sized booklet. The term chap-book was formalized by bibliophiles of the 19th century, as a variety of ephemera , popular or folk literature. It includes many kinds of printed material such as pamphlets, political and religious tracts, nursery rhymes, poetry, folk tales,...
s.
Later versions attributed the work to a "Master Elucidarius".
A Provençal translation revises the text for compatibility with Catharism. An important early translation is that into Old Icelandic, dated to the late 12th century. The Old Icelandic translation survives in fragments in a manuscript dated to ca. 1200 (AM 647a), one of the very earliest surviving Icelandic manuscripts. This Old Icelandic Elucidarius was an important influence on medieval Icelandic literature and culture, including the Snorra Edda.
The editio princeps of the Latin text is that of the Patrologia Latina
Patrologia Latina
The Patrologia Latina is an enormous collection of the writings of the Church Fathers and other ecclesiastical writers published by Jacques-Paul Migne between 1844 and 1855, with indices published between 1862 and 1865....
, vol. 172 (Paris 1895).
Versions
High Middle Ages- An Old Icelandic version of ca. 1200. Magnús EiríkssonMagnús EiríkssonMagnús Eiríksson was an Icelandic theologian and a contemporary critic of Søren Aabye Kierkegaard and Hans Lassen Martensen in Copenhagen....
, "Brudstykker af den islandske Elucidarius," in: Annaler for nordisk Oldkyndighed og Historie, Copenhagen 1857, pp. 238-308. Ed. Evelyn Scherabon Firchow and Kaaren Grimstad, Elucidarius: in Old Norse translation, 1989; ed. E. S. Firchow, Camden House, 1992; ed. Heather O'Donoghue, Oxford University Press, 1993. - A 13th century translation into Old FrenchOld FrenchOld French was the Romance dialect continuum spoken in territories that span roughly the northern half of modern France and parts of modern Belgium and Switzerland from the 9th century to the 14th century...
by the Dominican Jeffrey of Waterford - A 13th-century translation into Middle High GermanMiddle High GermanMiddle High German , abbreviated MHG , is the term used for the period in the history of the German language between 1050 and 1350. It is preceded by Old High German and followed by Early New High German...
, followed by a German-language ms. tradition of the 13th to 15th centurieshttp://www.handschriftencensus.de/werke/176
Late Middle Ages
- A Provençal translation http://www.europeana.eu/portal/record/03908/1A8DB4192A4BB001992553E3F93B2E4CA31C5257.html
- A Middle Welsh version from the Llyvyr agkyr Llandewivrevi (Jesus college ms. 119, 1346), ed. J. M. Jones (1894)http://www.archive.org/details/elucidariumother00joneuoft
- A 15th century Czech translationhttp://is.muni.cz/th/75492/ff_b/Bakalarska_prace.pdf
16th century
- Nuremberg, 1509.http://dfg-viewer.de/show/?set%5Bmets%5D=http%3A%2F%2Fmdz10.bib-bvb.de%2F~db%2Fmets%2Fbsb00009053_mets.xml
- Nuremberg, 1512.http://dfg-viewer.de/show/?set%5Bmets%5D=http%3A%2F%2Fmdz10.bib-bvb.de%2F~db%2Fmets%2Fbsb00009081_mets.xml
- Landshut, 1514.http://daten.digitale-sammlungen.de/~db/0001/bsb00011693/images/
- Vienna, 1515.http://dfg-viewer.de/show/?set%5Bmets%5D=http%3A%2F%2Fmdz10.bib-bvb.de%2F~db%2Fmets%2Fbsb00009052_mets.xml
- Hermannus Torrentinus, Dictionarivm poeticvm qvod vvlgo inscribitur Elucidarius carminum, apvd Michaellem Hillenium, 1536http://books.google.com/books?id=j4NbAAAAQAAJ&dq=Elucidarius&source=gbs_navlinks_s; Elucidarius poeticus : fabulis et historiis refertissimus, iam denuo in lucem, cum libello d. Pyrckheimeri de propriis nominibus civitatum, arcium, montium, aeditus, Imprint Basileae : per Nicolaum Bryling., 1542http://www.e-rara.ch/bau_1/content/titleinfo/690468
- Eyn newer M. Elucidarius, Strasbourg 1539http://dfg-viewer.de/show/?set%5Bmets%5D=http%3A%2F%2Fmdz10.bib-bvb.de%2F~db%2Fmets%2Fbsb00028913_mets.xml