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2000 Colloquium Paper Abstracts

The Lycanthropic Text: A Generative Re-reading of "Wulf and Eadwacer"
T. Ross Leasure, English

The poem we call "Wulf and Eadwacer" (for convenience's sake) remains one of the most enigmatic in the Exeter Book. It continues to generate widely varying interpretations due not only to its semantic and narrative ambiguity, but also as the result of its speaker's apparent emotional ambivalence. Scholars, whether they favor internal or external modes of interpretation, can only agree that the poem takes the form of a dramatic monologue, that the speaker is a woman, and that her current circumstances (which have something to do with a man named Wulf) make her unhappy. Readers even differ on such fundamental details as the number of identifiable characters in the narrative. More radical readings go so far as to suggest that the poem is in actuality a charm against wens, or that it is a continuation of the preceding Exeter text, "Deor." Some readers suggest that the characters are not humans but dogs or wolves; still others posit elaborate anthropological explanations for the scenarios they read into the poem. I suggest first that the diversity of opinion may be a function of the original poet's intentional ambiguity, explaining why the compositor of the manuscript placed it immediately before the first group of riddles. Second, any or all of the answers provided by eminent Anglo-Saxonists may constitute valid solutions to the puzzle the poem poses. And third, I propose a new reading which both harks back to the early work of W. J. Sedgefield (1931) and attempts to account for and incorporate more recent literary-historical, philological, and anthropological data. In this way, I attempt to harmonize internal and external interpretations, minimizing the critical cacophony that surrounds the text. The "Wulf" poet's consistent application of a peculiarly lupine vocabulary, and the potential for the narrative's ultimately prehistoric continental and/or Scandinavian origin(s) open up one more tantalizing interpretive possibility: Wulf may represent something both more and less than the man he appears to be. This syncretic solution conforms to Gregory Jember's somewhat unorthodox "generative method" for the study of Anglo-Saxon riddles (1977), and invites comparison with humerous other early medieval texts, continental Celtic, and Norse in provenance.

From Youth to Age Through Old English Poetry
Jordi Sánchez Martí, Medieval Studies

It has been argued that the most pre-eminent age of man among the Anglo-Saxons was senectus. This view is based on the fact that many contemporary texts emphasize the wisdom associated with age while ignoring the physical deterioration that it involves. At the same time, it is assumed that young people had not generally acquired enough experience to be regarded as wise.

This paper examines the representation of this problem in Old English poetry. First, I assess the importance that Anglo-Saxons granted to wisdom, to then analyze the two paths that youths could follow to become wise: the association with a sage man, and the experience of the world. These were the conventional methods, but there were extraordinary instances in which the cursus aetatis could be altered.

My analysis produces a very specific result: from the written evidence of Old English we can assume that the Anglo-Saxons regarded the stage intermediate between youth and age as the perfecta aetas. In this age, which they called 'fulfremede' or completed, a sufficient degree of intellectual maturity is accomplished, while the symptoms of decrepitude and senility are not yet manifest.

'An Equal of Its French Counterparts?'  A Reexamination of the Harley Lyrics and the English Alliterative Tradition
Jennifer Jacobi, History of Art

The Harley Lyrics come at a dramatic moment in the history of English Literature. After years of domination by the French language and literary genres, the Harley Lyrics are among the first poetic voices marking the gradual return of the "native." Scholars treating this period have approached with caution. They are hesitant, yet seemingly anxious, to praise this transitional style; their tone is often apologetic for the clumsy and crude poetry written in the shadow of its pristine French originators. Whether the discussion is framed by a "revival theory" based on the "battle between native and alien elements" or a continuous tradition which has since been lost to us as a result at the whims of manuscript survival, the sense is that, for one reason or another, the English lyrics just do not measure up. The alliterative poets are "imitators of a courtly tradition who could not always keep up with the pretense"; or, their "excessive use of conventional phrases shows a lack in a sense of balance and proportion." The verdict is that these unfortunate provincial poets had been exposed to something "better" than their native tradition and strove, yet failed, to imitate it.

"In a fryht as Y con fare fremede" is no exception to this criticism. Arthur Moore sees it as "... clumsy beside the really good pastourelles, in both conception and execution ... the end is obscure and inconclusive," while Rosemary Woolf argues for the "correction of a scribal error" to reveal the true value of the poem as a pastorelle "equal to its French counterparts." Yet is this apparent inability to duplicate the French genre the only frame through which we can read the Lyrics? Could not the poet's use and misuse of French traditions be used to some end other than slavish imitation? For, after all, both courtly and provincial medieval poetry is based on the adoption of literary conventions; indeed, St. Bonaventure's classification of the four types of medieval writers leaves no place for a writer who writes entirely his own work. Unlike the modern valorization of originality, the medieval poets were judged on their ability to use or manipulate stock characters, cliches, and genres. Thus, rather than claim that "In a fryht" shows "a lack of real sophistication ... in mixing of genres," I will show how this "mixing of genres" is used by the poet to give new meaning to these poetic conventions.

Of Merchants and Miracles: The Croxton Play of the Sacrament and Its Contexts
John Sebastian, Medieval Studies

The fifteenth-century Croxton Play of the Sacrament portrays the misadventures of several hapless Jews who subject a consecrated Host, sold to them by a Christian merchant with a conscience, to "a new passyoun" in a failed attempt to disprove the Christian faith. The Croxton Play, unusual among works of the English dramatic tradition of the Middle Ages for its spectacular on-stage recreation of a series of miracles, has itself been subjected to various critical experiments by scholars eager to locate the play within the discourses of anti-Semitism, anti-Lollard polemics, and Marxism, among others. Yet none of these theories is entirely convincing when the play is considered within its historical and cultural contexts. Many of the challenging interpretative cruxes of the play, however, are more readily explained in light of the merchant culture of fifteenth-century East Anglia, which provided the backdrop for the play's original production both as a text and as a theatrical performance. An historicist reading of the play suggests that many of the traditional critical approaches to The Croxton Play of the Sacrament are forced and that the play was most likely directed toward merchants who were prominent inhabitants of the region of England, which was probably the site of the play's original performances. Recent scholarship on fifteenth-century East Anglian society and internal textual evidence from the play suggest an original audience comprised of Norfolk merchants and those familiar with the daily commercial and religious practices of those merchants. The play, moreover, is consistent with religious trends prevalent in this region during the fifteenth century, particularly in its treatment of the Eucharist and its reenactment of the Passion of Christ. Although The Croxton Play of the Sacrament may remain unique stylistically, it is nevertheless typical thematically of the culture that produced it.

Drama Presentation by Colgate University

Colgate University will be presenting a short performance on "Noah," adapted from a medieval play text. Their performance will emphasize gender and role. Following, several members of the cast will briefly present their specific areas of research.

Re-presenting Gothic Architecture
Stacey Kaplan, History of Art

When studying art and architecture, we depend on visual representations of the works. We encounter representations of art and architecture in our research, and we illustrate our own theories and ideas with representations. Like the words that fill the numerous publications on Gothic architecture, the representations contained therein are interpretations. However, we rarely think about whether the representation is an accurate, undistorted record of the structure. I will examine some of the ways in which scholars have represented Gothic architecture in relation to the historical context in which the images were produced. Nineteenth-century representations of Gothic architecture, which range from highly detailed nave elevations to Viollet-le-Duc's restoration plans for Notre Dame in Paris, reveal more about the period's method of interpreting Gothic architecture than about the architecture itself. The advent of photography changed the way scholars illustrated Gothic architecture, allowing for a more experiential interpretation of the Gothic. Although most people consider text to be the primary vehicle for disseminating theories and concepts about architecture, it is the visual representation, which misleadingly seems objective, that reveals the way people have thought about Gothic architecture in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Why Dig Medieval Dirt?
Jimmy Schryver, Medieval Studies

Medieval studies is an inherently interdisciplinary field. As such, its participants are often confronted with bits of information from a number of different sources. Since no one can be fluent in all fields, one may legitimately question the type of perspective and information that different fields have to offer. One such field is medieval archaeology. It is often cited as an important part of any interdisciplinary approach, but the issue as to why this is so is not as frequently addressed. As often as we defend ourselves to our colleagues in other fields who doubt our legitimacy, we rarely discuss the simpler questions: what is this academic entity we are definding? Why do we do what we do?

In addition, during the time when groups outside of academia are gaining an increasingly greater influence on issues such as funding and support, these simpler issues are becoming more and more important. The questions being asked by the public about where and to what end funds and effort are being expended should indicate to medieval archaeologists that they do not operate in a vacuum. What is more, the outside world is beginning to become conscious of the fact that archaeological data and findings can be used for political gain. As a result of these facts, the field as a whole must examine its relevance to today's world.

For different reasons, more and more people are becoming interested in medieval archaeology. As a result, we must become now more sure than ever what exactly it is that we do, and why it is that we do it. This paper will address the following issues: why do we do medieval archaeology? What have we learned? What is its significance to today's world? Our colleagues and the public have begun and will continue to have both interests and concern about what we do. This paper is a step toward providing answers that will show them why they should continue to support our endeavors and why our work is relevant to their lives.

The Women of Vinland: Norse Women at the Dawn of the Millennium
Ken Baitsholts, Cornell University Library

Women play a major role in the attempted Norse settlement of Atlantic Canada. Two such women, Gudridr Thorbjarnardottir and Freydis Eiriksdottir, are among the main protagonists of the Vinland Sagas (Eiriks saga rauda and Graenlendinga saga). While the former is held up as a model of Christian piety, the latter is described as the evil, illegitimate daughter of a stubborn pagan. The picture presented, however, may tell us more about the viewpoint of the thirteenth-century saga writers -- most of whom were male clerics -- than it may about Norse women at the dawn of the millennium. The Christian piety of Gudridr is an anachronism, while there is good reason for reinterpreting the behavior of Freydis as showing her to be strong and independent, though not a Christian.

With the discovery, in the early 1960s, of the Norse archaeological site a L'anse aux-Meadows, Newfoundland, the Vinland Sagas were given new credence. Among the finds were a spindle whorl and a stick pin, objects which demonstrate that women were present and prove that the site should be seen as a settlement attempt. The Norse expansion into Atlantic Canada may represent the first time the European women came into contact with Native American women. This contact is alluded to in the Vinland Sagas.

It is the status of Norse women, both before and after the introduction of Christianity, as symbolized by Freydis and Gudridr, as well as the initial contacts between European and Native American women, which will be discussed in this paper.

A millennium has passed since the conversion of northern Europe, the Vinland voyages, and the initial contacts between Europeans and Native Americans. The central importance of women in each of these events is only now being recognized.

James of Viterbo on Self-Knowledge
Bernd Goehring, Medieval Studies

I want to investigate the question of whether the mind needs an object other than itself in order to understand itself. The perennial problem whether the mind, or intellectual soul, is able to achieve self-knowledge by mere introspection is debated by contemporary philosophers as much as it was disputed by thinkers seven centuries ago. In my paper, I examine the arguments and solution put forward by James of Viterbo, a Master of Paris for the Augustinian Order of Hermits.

"It is impossible to fully understand Aristotle's views about the active intellectual principle operating in human cognition ... propter sui sermonis brevitatem et obscuritatem." This is the complaint James raises in the 1290s when disputing a question on the nature of the intellect. Nevertheless, he will make every effort to harmonize the Aristotelian model of the human mind with a different, or rather, his preferred model: the one he finds in Augustine. However, while other doctores such as Aquinas had emphasized that in this life human cognition begins with sense experience, James stresses the Augustinian view that human beings are also and primarily able to achieve knowledge by introspection.

James held a number of quodlibetal and disputed questions. The first of his Disputationes de quodlibet (1293-97) contains a notable question about self-knowledge, "Whether the soul understands itself through a form (species) generated by itself" (q. 14), a question that involved both general epistemological problems and more specifically the topic of introspection or immediate self-awareness. And, of course, it features two important figures in the thirteenth-century reception of Ancient thought: Aristotle and Augustine. These are the views James tries to reconcile:

1. Aristotle's argument in De anima III is supposed to show that the soul understands itself in the way it understands other things (sicut et alia), i.e. through a form received from other things.

2. On the contrary, it is argued with Augustine (De Trinitate XII) that when the soul cognizes itself "it generates an awareness (notitia) of itself that is similar to itself." This awareness can be called a 'form.'

My paper has two major parts. First, I sketch James of Viterbo's theory of knowledge and divine illumination, and in particular his terminology. Hence, the term 'form' (species) is used properly when it refers to an intelligible form's being in the intellect, or soul. Such forms appear to be necessary for human cognition because of their representational, meditative, formative, and conservative function. Second, given this account, I analyze how the author transforms and combines views (1) and (2) by distinguishing two ways of understanding species in the intellect. One is linked to notitia, the soul's cogitatio, which requires that the intellect first have an object other than itself (cognitio alterius), before it can consciously come to know itself by reflecting on its own act (cognitio sui).

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