KATERN 1 LES CANTIQUES SALEMON Page 1 MEDIEVAL WOMEN: TEXTS AND CONTEXTS Editorial Board under the auspices of the Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Hull Renate Blumenfeld-Kosinski, University of Pittsburgh Juliette Dor, Université de Liège Constant J. Mews, Monash University Anneke Mulder-Bakker, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen Barbara Newman, Northwestern University Gabriella Signori, Universität Konstanz Nicholas Watson, Harvard University Jocelyn Wogan-Browne, University of York VOLUME 16 Page 2 LES CANTIQUES SALEMON The Song of Songs in MS Paris BNF fr. 14966 Edited by Tony Hunt H F Page 3 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Les cantiques Salemon : the Song of Songs in MS Paris BNF fr. 14966. - (Medieval women : texts and contexts ; 16) 1.Bible. O.T. Song of Solomon. French (Old French) - Commentaries - History and criticism 2.Bible. O.T. Song of Solomon. French (Old French) - Commentaries 3.Bible. O.T. Song of Solomon - Paraphrases, French - History and criticism 4.Bible. O.T. Song of Solomon - Paraphrases, French - Early works to 1800 I.Hunt, Tony 223.9’077 ISBN-10: 2503518060 © 2006, Brepols Publishers n.v., Turnhout, Belgium All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. D/2006/0095/3 ISBN: 2-503-51806-0 Printed in the E.U. on acid-free paper Page 4 CONTENTS Preface vii Introduction 1 The Manuscript 1 The Work and its Author 3 Summary of Les Cantiques Salemon 8 The Exegetical Tradition of the Song of Songs 19 The Spiritual and Literary Context of the Poem 22 The Beguines and their History 24 The Beguines in Vernacular Literature 27 The Beguines’ Contribution to Vernacular Literature 37 The Commentary and the Lyrics 48 Literary Techniques 66 Appendix A: The Roman dou Lis 86 Appendix B: The Language of Les Cantiques Salemon 96 Page 5 Treatment of the Text 103 [Les Cantiques Salemon] 105 Rejected Readings 194 Notes 195 Glossary 221 Index of Proper Names 253 Page 6 PREFACE T he lyrical verse-commentary on the Song of Songs contained in Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS fr. 14966 is the last of a trio of Old French adaptations awaiting publication (see below pp. 19–22). In many ways it is the most intriguing of the three, so its almost total neglect by scholars is all the more puzzling.1 Its firmly tropological exegesis and intensely lyrical expression make it a significant text in the development of medieval mysticism and the literature of the Beguines. The present edition has been designed (through the provision of translations and a full glossary) to make the work accessible to readers who are not Old French specialists, whilst at the same time catering (through source references in the notes) to scholars of biblical interpretation, and (through the extensive introduction) to medieval historians. I am very grateful to Professor Jocelyn Wogan-Browne and the Board of the Medieval Women: Texts and Contexts series for their enthusiasm in accepting the edition and to their Reader for sympathetic and constructive criticism. 1 See the brief comments in J. Bonnard, Les Traductions de la Bible en vers français au moyen âge (Paris, 1984; repr., Geneva, 1967), pp. 162–66 and summary details in Grundriss der romanischen Literaturen des Mittelalters, vol. VI.2: La Littérature didactique, allégorique et satirique (Heidelberg, 1970), p. 83. Page 7 Page 8