The Voice of My Beloved University of Pennsylvania Press MIDDLE AGES SERIES Edited by Edward Peters Henry Charles Lea Professor of Medieval History University of Pennsylvania A listing of the available books in the series appears at the back of this volume The Voice of My Beloved The Song of Songs in Western Medieval Christianity E. Ann Matter University of Pennsylvania Press Philadelphia Copyright © 1990 by the University of Pennsylvania Press First paperback printing, 1992 All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Matter, E. Ann. The voice of my beloved : the Song of songs in western medieval Christianity / E. Ann Matter. p. cm. — (University of Pennsylvania Press Middle Ages scries) Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 0-8122-8231-0 (cloth) ISBN o-8m-i42o-X (pbk) i. Bible. O.T. Song of Solomon—Criticism, interpretation, etc. —History—Middle Ages, 600-1500. I. Title II. Series. BS1485.2.M38 1900 223'.9O6'O9O2 dc2O 89-28611 CIP In Memory of Cora Elizabeth Lutz This page intentionally left blank Contents Acknowledgments ix Abbreviations xi The Vulgate Text of the Song of Songs xv 1 Introduction to the Genre 3 2 Hidden Origins: The Legacy of Alexandria 20 3 The Key to the Code: Allegory and the Song of Songs 49 4 The Song of Songs as the Changing Portrait of the Church 86 5 The Marriage of the Soul 123 6 The Woman Who is the All: The Virgin Mary and the Song of Songs 151 7 The Genre as Trope: The Song of Songs in the Vernacular 178 Conclusion 201 Appendix Latin Commentary on the Song of Songs to I2OO 2O3 Index of Biblical References 211 Index of Manuscripts 214 Index of Modern Scholars 216 General Index 221 This page intentionally left blank Acknowledgments Because I have been interested in commentaries on the Song of Songs since I first began to study the Middle Ages, the completion of this book gives me the opportunity to thank a long list of organizations, friends, teachers, and students who have helped me to understand and articulate the subject. I am grateful to the American Philosophical Society and the National Endowment for the Humanities for grants which supported research and travel to European manuscript libraries. The Research Foundation of the University of Pennsylvania funded the preparation of the manuscript for publication. The University of Pennsylvania Press was encouraging and supportive in moving the book toward publication. I am especially grateful to my colleague Edward Peters, editor of the Middle Ages Series, and to Alison Anderson, whose insightful editing produced a far more smooth and consistent manuscript than she had been given. Of course, any inaccura- cies which remain are my sole responsibility. Much of the research for this book was done in libraries in Europe. I am especially glad to have worked in the Salle des manuscrits of the Bibliothèque Nationalc of Paris, and the Sala di consultazione of the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milano. The staff of the Van Pelt Library of the University of Pennsylvania were unfailingly courteous and prompt with assistance in tracking down far-flung references. Among the many friends who have had a hand in this project, I thank especially Grover Zinn, who showed me my first medieval commentary on the Song of Songs; and Marvin Pope, who shared his vast knowledge of and fascination with the Song of Songs while he was working on his own translation and commentary. Others who encouraged me to con- tinue study of this difficult but entrancing subject include Seth Brody, Caroline Bynum, Elizabeth Clark, Marcia Colish, Arthur Green, Robert Kraft, Roland Murphy, Jaroslav Pelikan, Christa Rakich, Phyllis Trible, and students in a number of seminars on medieval exegesis at the Uni-