T e prologue to layamon's Brut recounts its author's extensive travels "wide yond T thas leode" (far and wide across the land) i n r to gather the French, latin and english a books he used as source material. e M n first Middle english writer to discuss his e s methods of translating French into d l ELIZABETH DEARNLEY english, layamon voices ideas about i a e the creation of a new english tradition T v TranslaTors and by translation that proved very durable. o a is book considers the practice of r l translation from French into english in s e Their Prologues medieval england, and how the a n translators themselves viewed their n g task. at its core is a corpus of French d l to english translations containing a in Medieval T translator's prologues written between n h c.1189 and c.1450; this remarkable body of Middle english literary theory provides d e a useful map by which to chart the movement from a literary culture rooted in i england anglo-norman at the end of the thirteenth century to what, in the fifteenth, is r regarded as an established "english" tradition. Considering earlier romance and P Germanic models of translation, wider historical evidence about translation r practice, the acquisition of French, the possible role of women translators, and the o manuscript tradition of prologues, in addition to offering a broader, pan-european l o perspective through an examination of Middle dutch prologues, the book uses translators' prologues as a lens through which to view a period of critical growth g and development for english as a literary language. u e s elizaBethdearnleygained her Phd from the university of Cambridge. Cover image: la amon writing. london, British library, Ms Cotton Caligula a. iX, fol. 3r (probably Worceȝster, c. 1300–1325). © e British library Board. D E Bristol studies in Medieval Cultures A R N L E Y Translators and their Prologues in Medieval England 00 Dearn Book B.indb 1 21/07/2016 15:23 Bristol Studies In Medieval Cultures issn 1757–2150 Series Editor Dr Peter Dent Editorial Advisory Board Dr Marianne Ailes Dr Rhiannon Daniels Professor Helen Fulton Dr Emma Hornby Professor Carolyn Muessig Dr Benjamin Pohl Professor Ad Putter Dr Leah Tether Dr Ian Wei Dr Beth Williamson The remit of this peer-reviewed interdisciplinary series is to publish scholarly works on the cultures of the middle ages, from late antiquity up to and including the beginning of the sixteenth century. Queries about the series, or proposals for monographs, editions, or collections of essays, should be sent in the first instance to the director of the centre for medieval studies, who acts as general editor of the series, at the address below. birtha, Faculty Of Arts, 3–5 Woodland Road, Bristol, Bs8 1Tb Email: [email protected] previously published The Madonna of Humility: Development, Dissemination and Reception, C.1340–1400 Beth Williamson The Medieval Art, Architecture and History of Bristol Cathedral: An Enigma Explored Edited By Jon Cannon and Beth Williamson Chaucer and the Cultures of Love and Marriage Cathy Hume 00 Dearn Book B.indb 2 21/07/2016 15:23 Translators and their Prologues in Medieval England Elizabeth Dearnley D. S. BREWER 00 Dearn Book B.indb 3 21/07/2016 15:23 © Elizabeth Dearnley 2016 All rights reserved. Except as permitted under current legislation no part of this work may be photocopied, stored in a retrieval system, published, performed in public, adapted, broadcast, transmitted, recorded or reproduced in any form or by any means, without the prior permission of the copyright owner The right of Elizabeth Dearnley to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents act 1988 First published 2016 D. S. Brewer, Cambridge isbn 978–1–84384–442–6 D. S. Brewer is an imprint of Boydell & Brewer Ltd PO Box 9, Woodbridge, Suffolk ip12 3df, UK and of Boydell & Brewer Inc. 668 Mount Hope ave, Rochester, ny 14620–2731, USA website: www.boydellandbrewer.com A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library The publisher has no responsibility for the continued existence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this book, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. This publication is printed on acid-free paper Typeset in Adobe Arno Pro by doubledagger.co.uk 00 Dearn Book B.indb 4 21/07/2016 15:23 Prologues, like Bells to Churches, toul you in With Chimeing Verse; till the dull Playes begin John Dryden, Prologue to The Assignation (1673) 00 Dearn Book B.indb 5 21/07/2016 15:23 00 Dearn Book B.indb 6 21/07/2016 15:23 Contents List of Illustrations ix Acknowledgements xi Abbreviations xiii Introduction 1 1 The Translator’s Prologue: Latin and French Antecedents 19 The Latin Prologue Tradition and the Growth of Translation-Consciousness 19 The Beginnings of the French Translator’s Prologue 25 The ‘Precocity’ of Anglo-Norman and English > French Translation 30 From Vulgar Tongue to Prestige Vernacular 34 2 The Translator’s Prologue: The Germanic and Anglo-Saxon Background 39 Early Latin > German Translation: Otfrid and Notker Labeo 41 Translators’ Prologues in Anglo-Saxon England: Ælfred and Ælfric 43 The Conquest and Afterwards: Questions of Continuity in English-Language Writing 50 The Addition of French 55 3 The Development of the French > English Translator’s Prologue 63 Laȝamon’s Brut and the Beginnings of the French > English Translator’s Prologue 66 A Growing Translation-Consciousness: Developments to c. 1300 72 From Compilation to Translation: Developments in the Fourteenth Century 77 ‘Oral’ Romance Prologues: A Separate Type of Translator’s Prologue? 83 From Laȝamon to Caxton: The Fifteenth Century 90 4 The Figure of the Translator 97 ‘Feþeren he nom mid fingren’: The Figure of the Translator in Literary Sources 100 The Figure of the Translator in Pictorial Sources 108 An Iconography of Translation? 120 ‘I was at Ertheldoun |With Tomas spak Y thare’: ‘Clerk’ and ‘Minstrel’ Translators 128 5 The Acquisition of French 140 Literary Evidence: Prologues, Epilogues and Letters 144 ‘Du fraunceis ki chescun seit dire’: Teaching Material 150 ‘ne illa lingua Gallica penitus sit omissa’: Later Teaching of French 157 The Acquisition of French in the Cloister 158 00 Dearn Book B.indb 7 21/07/2016 15:23 viii Contents 6 The Case for Women Translators 162 Women’s Education and the Use of French 165 ‘Se femme l’ad si transaté’: The Evidence of the Twelfth-Century Women Translators 171 Continuity and Tradition? 180 ‘Crane’ and Chaucer’s Nun: Two Further Possibilities 182 7 The Presentation of Audience and the Later life of the Prologue 189 ‘To laud and Inglis man I spell’: Larger Audience Groups Named in Translations 192 ‘Gode men of Brunne’: Specific Audiences and the Question of Patronage 195 The Prologue in Context: Manuscript Evidence 197 The Knowing of Woman’s Kind and Women Audiences 201 Mouvance, Prologues and Mouvance within Prologues 210 8 Middle Dutch Translators’ Prologues as a Sidelight on English Practice 218 ‘ick de historie vele valsch | Gevonden hebbe in dat walsch’: Attitudes towards French in the Prologues of Jacob van Maerlant 226 ‘Sonder rime also ic sach’: Translating Le Livre de Sidrac 233 ‘menighe avonture | Die nemmer mee ne wert bescreven’: Walewein’s Anti-Translator’s Prologue 238 Conclusion 244 Appendices 249 Appendix 1: Breakdown of Corpus Motifs (as given in Chapter 3) 249 Appendix 2: Table of Verbs Used to Represent Translation in the Corpus 260 Appendix 3: Brief Biographical Information on the Translators 261 Bibliography 264 Index 289 00 Dearn Book B.indb 8 21/07/2016 15:23 Illustrations The author and publishers are grateful to all the institutions and individuals listed for permission to reproduce the materials in which they hold copyright. Every effort has been made to trace the copyright holders; apologies are offered for any omission, and the publishers will be pleased to add any necessary acknowledgement in subsequent editions. Fig. 1 Laȝamon writing. London, British Library, MS Cotton Caligula A. IX, fol. 3r (probably Worcester, c. 1300–1325). Reproduced by permission of the British Library. 111 Fig. 2 A scribe writing, probably Bede, from Life of St Cuthbert. London, British Library, MS Yates Thompson 26, fol. 2r (Durham, c. 1175–1200). Reproduced by permission of the British Library. 112 Fig. 3 A scribe writing the Gospels of Kildare, from Topographica Hibernica. London, British Library, MS Royal 13. B. VIII, fol. 22r (England, perhaps Lincoln, c. 1220). Reproduced by permission of the British Library. 112 Fig. 4 Initial ‘D’, the author writing his book, Li Livres dou Sante, by Aldobrandino of Siena. London, British Library, MS Sloane 2435, fol. 1r (France, late 13th century). Reproduced by permission of the British Library. 113 Fig. 5 The prophet Ezra writing, in the Codex Amiatinus. Florence, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, MS Amiatino 1, fol. 2r. Commissioned by Ceolfrith (d. 716) at Wearmouth-Jarrow, early 8th century. Courtesy of Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana and reprinted with the permission of the Ministry for Cultural Heritage. Further reproduction by any means is prohibited. (Italian original: Firenze, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Ms. Amiatino, i, c, Vr Su concessione del Minstero per i Beni i le Attivà Culturali E’ vietata ogni ulteriore riproduzione con qualsiasi mezzo.) 115 Fig. 6 St Matthew writing with his book on his knee, the Lindisfarne Gospels. London, British Library, Cotton Nero D. IV, fol. 25r (Lindisfarne, 720–721). Reproduced by permission of the British Library. 116 Fig. 7 Laurence of Durham writing on a writing-board attached to his chair. Durham University Library, MS Cosin V. III. 1, fol. 22v (Durham, c. 1150–1200). Reproduced by permission of Durham University Library. 116 Fig. 8 Jean de Meun writing the Roman de la Rose on a writing-board. Cambridge University Library, MS Gg. 4. 6, fol. 37r (France, c. 1340). Reproduced by kind permission of the Syndics of Cambridge University Library. 117 Fig. 9 Jean de Meun writing the Roman de la Rose at a desk. London, British Library, Harley 4425, fol. 133r (Bruges, Master of the Prayerbooks, c. 1500). Reproduced by permission of the British Library. 117 Fig. 10 Robed man copying from an exemplar, L’Estoire del Saint Graal. London, British Library, MS Royal 14 E.III, fol. 6v (France (Picardy?), c. 1300–1315). Reproduced by permission of the British Library. 118 00 Dearn Book B.indb 9 21/07/2016 15:23