This volume publishes the proceedings of an international conference, "Transmission, Translation, and Dissemination in the European Middle Ages c. AD 1000-AD 1500," held in University College Cork in 2012. In addition to the papers contributed by participants at this conference, there were also some chapters specifically commissioned by the editors. Together, the studies provide "examples of research that would almost never be located within the same book but which, when read together, offer a unique and illuminating perspective on practices and theory around texts, ideas, and communication in Europe of the later Middle Ages" (xi). Indeed, the volume brings together ten chapters, which cover a variety of geographical locations, languages, and genres that are present in Western Europe in the later Middle Ages (1000-1500). The chapters are connected by the fact that they all deal with the ways in which texts and ideas could be disseminated, translated, re-contextualized, and received. Both the practical, physical side of the transmission of texts and more abstract interpretations of reception are represented.
The widely diverging threads of the different papers are brought together in a very nice and substantial introduction, which really draws the focus on why the editors wanted to combine these studies, set in diverse historical, geographical, and linguistic contexts, in a single volume. This is a strong point. It prepares the reader for the book's intention and directs him or her towards the thread that binds the articles together, zeroing in on the individual contributions' connection to the central theme. The editors address the motivation or justification explicitly and several times over, stating that the volume "makes the history of ideas and the spread and communication of those ideas core concerns" (xii), "seeks to address how the various marks of exchange and cultural encounters might be discerned in written work from the later medieval period" (xiii), "allow[s] the reader to compare literary traditions, the similarities and differences discerned together generate a greater understanding of text and transmission in the Middle Ages" (sic, xx). The latter quotation immediately illustrates a weakness of the introduction. While it has much to recommend it, it could have benefitted from a thorough rereading. Several times one encounters grammatical errors--articles that are missing, morphological errors, sentences that are not grammatically correct. These errors could have easily been avoided with a careful rereading at the proof stage. Despite this point of criticism, the introduction is a key element to the book's value.
The first chapter, "Aspects of the Narrative Development and Textual Transmission of the Voyaging of Saint Columba's Clerics" by Kevin Murray, deals with medieval and early modern Irish texts telling the story of two clerics, Snégdus and Mac Ríagla, sent by St. Colum Cille to deal with the appropriate punishment for a regicide, who encounter wonders on their journey. This study is an addition to previous work the author has done on dating the different versions of the story and the interrelations between the prose and verse versions. Based on three examples of interdependence and textual overlaps, the author argues that the prose and poetic forms may have been composed at the same time, rather than one on the basis of the other. Connecting to the general theme of the book, Murray concludes that intertextuality is central to the study of the different version of the "Voyaging" of Saint Columba's clerics, and this intertextuality is "not just between different renditions of the same narrative, but also with other tales in the same genre" (16).
In chapter 2, "Translating a Tradition: The Rune Poems of Anglo-Saxon England and Medieval Scandinavia," Tom Birkett studies textual migration between Old English and Old Norse literary culture, using a specific point where the traditions of Anglo-Saxon England, Norway, and Iceland intersect: rune poems. This is a very classically structured article, offering a status quaestionis on research into rune poems followed by examinations, first of the three traditions (Old-English, Norwegian and Icelandic) separately and then a long section on what connects the three traditions. This section looks at shared features that point to a relationship beyond that of the gnomic commonplace or the conditions of the format, concluding that the connections between the three traditions are rooted in "a body of partially reconstructable oral lore" (39), which was very prone to change but remained cohesive enough to account for similarities in composition between the three traditions, rather than a shared textual archetype. "The case of the rune poems should act as a caution...and highlight the possibility that similar texts arising from different literary milieus may represent nothing more than conditioned responses to the same poetic stimulus" (40).
Chapter 3 is "Something Gained in the Translation: Liturgical Quotation, Paraphrase, and Translation in the Fifteenth-Century English Carols." In this chapter, Beth Ann Zamzow's contribution demonstrates via an in-depth analysis of six examples, held together by the shared theme of Epiphany, how "liturgical and scriptural materials--borrowed, reconfigured, translated, and retransmitted--are the essential elements of the late Medieval English carols" (43). The analysis, which delves into the connections between the liturgy and the carols, is very dense and Zamzow's writing style can be difficult to understand. She has a penchant for potentially ambiguous and abstract sentences. The piece opens and ends with virtually the same sentence: "The borrowing of pre-existing text, whether by means of quotation, paraphrase, or translation, is a dynamic method of transmission whereby new poetic models (my emphasis) acquire multiple layers of meaning (43 and 65)." Whether this can be considered a "new model of transmission" (65), is up for debate. The chapter has a very limited bibliography, with no recent additions.
In chapter 4, "An Inter-Religious Example of Translation, Transmission, and Dissemination: The Alchoran latinus of 1143," Anthony Lappin discusses what is almost certainly the first translation of Qur'an to have been made outside an Islamic setting. Part of attempt to understand Islam, it was sponsored by Peter the Venerable, abbot of Cluny, during his trip to Spain in 1142-1143. The chapter has two main focus areas. The first is the process of translation, which shows "not seamless equivalences but temporary solutions and revisions, together with some clear and consistent preferences" (72). The second are two key moments in the transmission of the text: the first moment of distribution from Cluny, made tangible through the glosses, which show that the translation was initially meant to provide material for a refutation of Islamic belief, though the annotations often "prioritize explanation over polemic" (84), and the process of annotation in Renaissance philosophical circles in mid-fifteenth-century Italy. The text is crystal-clear, written in a simple yet elegant style, easy to grasp and yet filled with rich detail and a solid, nuanced analysis.
Krista Rascoe's chapter, "Blinded by the Light: Medieval Optical Physics in Dante'sParadiso," shows how and to what degree of accuracy Dante made use of "his knowledge optical physics from the known sources of the thirteenth century, particularly the concepts of reflection and refraction, as he describes the wonders of paradise" (101). The article starts with background information on optics, and the translation, transmission, and dissemination of scientific philosophy. The overview of the tradition starts in Greek antiquity and its medieval reception via the Arabic translations and culminates in the most important names: Grosseteste, Bacon, Witelo, and Pecham. The article concludes that "what emerges from Dante's coupling of medieval optics with aesthetic poetic form could be argued as the earliest form of science fiction writing," in that "Dante blends science and theology to develop his poetic form" (116).
Chapter 6, by Tamara Pérez-Fernández, is titled "From England to Iberia: The Transmission of Marginal Elements in the Iberian Translations of Gower's Confessio amantis." The Confessio amantis was the first English work ever translated into another European language--a defining moment for Portuguese and Castilian readers, who had not imported any literary products from England. The central question posed by the author is: "Is it possible to study the changes in the target audience through the analysis of the transmission and translation of marginal elements?" Using the Latin marginal annotations, which underwent a double process of translation, the study shows how they reveal the scribes' and translators' personal choices to accommodate their readership and the blurry ground between a reader-friendly approach more accessible to the new Iberian audience and a more scholarly driven edition that would have had a narrower audience.
Chapter 7 is Nóirín Ní Bheaglaoi's "Libri corrigendi: Revising the Topographia Hibernica." This chapter deals with Giraldus Cambrensis and focuses on the evidence in the thirty extant manuscripts of his Topographia Hibernica, evidence of a text that developed gradually over time with the addition of grammatical and stylistic revisions as well as new textual and visual material. The article shows that Giraldus was eager to disseminate small layers of revisions made to the editio longior of the text into the manuscript tradition at the earliest opportunity, whereas his extensive revision, of theeditio brevior, was carried out in a more systematic fashion. It focuses not only on the context of the transmission but also on the practicalities of revising text--using wax tablets or vellum notebooks--and how the revisions are then disseminated. This case study shows the sustained role of the author in the dissemination of his own work, the authorial intent and authorial redaction.
Chapter 8 by Caoimhe Whelan, titled "Translating the Expugnatio Hibernica: A Vernacular English History in Late Medieval Ireland" is a study about another work by the same author, Giraldus Cambrensis. It analyses the later medieval circulation of the underexplored English-language translation of the Expugnatio, in particular how the English-language translation could be interpreted, exploited, and identified with by the descendants of the English invaders in Ireland. Whelan demonstrates that the translator knew his intended audience well and was aware of the importance of the authority of the Latin text for certain aspects of the work. This is a prime example of the alteration that can come with translation and a good case study of the interplay between source text, mediator, and changing audiences.
In the penultimate chapter, "Reaching Readers, Influencing Ideas: The Dynamics of the Distribution of Vernacular Texts in the Later Middle Ages," Anna Dlabacová examines how vernacular texts were distributed in the Low Countries, outside of the established infrastructures--universities and Church gatherings--for the dissemination of Latin writings. It focuses on the Spieghel der volcomenheit, a manual for the contemplative life by Hendrik Herp (d. 1477) written originally in Middle Dutch. The chapter presents a first section on the early distribution mechanisms connected to the author, and a second section on the way readers contributed to the distribution, using there a translation of the work into Middle High German. This study also takes into account the transition from manuscript to print. While the conclusion is not groundbreaking—"success depended on the author, the network(s) at his disposal, and the readiness of readers to engage with the text, its clarity, and distribution" (209-210)--it is supported by a clearly presented, exemplary, in-depth analysis of the manuscript tradition.
Chapter 10, :Transmission and Selection: Instructing the Parish Clergy in Late Medieval Germany," is authored by Matthew Wranovix. It looks at the diocese of Eichstätt and examines the influence of bishops in promoting or controlling the transmission of texts such as official liturgical books, diocesan statutes, pastoral handbooks, works which were central to the instruction and work of the clergy and, more important, to the instruction of the laity. The article asks how well this system functioned and especially whether the prevalent image of clerical ignorance and incompetence correct? The author looks at the administrative duties that required priests to handle and produce documents (221) and addresses the physical transmission, notably the perishable format of unbound quires or booklets used for the diocesan statutes. The chapter's conclusion is that episcopal book prescriptions seemed not to stem from the desire to provide a minimum of knowledge, but rather to create order in the abundance of options.
The volume further contains a single index of people, places, titles (the latter singled out with italics), and a few concepts. There is no central bibliography. Rather, each chapter has its own bibliography, conveniently subdivided in manuscripts/unedited material, primary sources, and secondary sources.
Three points of criticism can be formulated. The first is a minor point. I see the individual merit in both chapters devoted to Giraldus Cambrensis' works and can appreciate that a double analysis of this kind may serve a purpose in offering a comparative perspective. Yet, given the editors' repeated emphasis on the variety of subjects addressed, and the near infinite possibilities for case studies in the field of medieval transmission studies, the dedication of two out of ten chapters to the same author seems undesirable to me. Secondly, in a volume filled with contributions that hold interest for their respective fields while also clearly connecting to the book's overall theme, Krista Rascoe's chapter on Medieval optical physics in Dante is the odd one out. It is the only piece in which the transmission of texts and ideas is manifestly subordinate to literary analysis and where the connection to the larger theme is difficult to find. The book would not have suffered from the exclusion of this piece. Finally, while I am reluctant to speak ill of the recently deceased Prof. Donnchadh Ó'Corráin or his work, I cannot describe the afterword as anything other than a disappointment. Where the introduction admirably offers both a summary of each chapter and a framework to give direction to these summaries as part of the larger scheme of the book, the afterword is satisfied with given a line or two to each contribution. It does not add anything at all to the rest of the book.
The introduction's--and thereby the book's--general conclusion is that there are more connections in Europe, greater scholarly activity, more diversity and more ways of transmitting knowledge than we currently have as our frame of reference. This conclusion may be considered somewhat bland, but it is certainly not without value. The worth of this volume lies less in the nature of its conclusion, but rather in the fact that the articles give substance and provide necessary data to support this conclusion. The fact that the chapters are concerned with varied contexts, with languages other than Latin, and--at least when it comes to the academic attention they have garnered--with sometimes marginal texts, makes the volume's contribution to the field of textual transmission even greater. While not without its flaws, it is well worth reading, and will be of use both to experts on the respective texts analyzed, and to anyone interested in the transmission of texts and ideas in Medieval Europe.