An Edition Of Two Middle English Translations Of Aelred's De Institutione Inclusarum. (volumes I And Ii).

The Latin prose treatise De institutione inclusarum, written in 1160 by Aelred, abbot of the Cistercian abbey of Rievaulx in Yorkshire, provides guidance for the anchoritic life. The shorter first section contains instruction for the external life of the anchoress; the second treats of her inner life and provides three meditations on things past, present, and future. Aelred's treatise, preserved in ten Latin manuscripts, was twice translated into English in the fourteenth century; each translation survives in one manuscript. Bodelian MS. English Poetry a. 1 (Vernon), pp. a-k, contains Informacio Alredi. . .ad sororem suam inclusam, a translation only of the rule for the inner life, the second portion of the treatise. The other English translation, in Bodleian MS. Bodley 423, ff. 178r-192r, contains both portions of the treatise, condensing or deleting many passages. The two translations have different sources, neither of which can be identified with any extant text. The edition of these two Middle English translations consists of an introduction, a bibliography, and the translations, each with explanatory notes, glossary, and an index of proper names. The entire edition was produced by computer in order to ensure textual accuracy and to allow generation of a concordance from which to draw the glossaries. The introduction contains three sections. The first, the historical background of De institutione inclusarum, contains a discussion of medieval anchoritism, a brief biographical sketch of Aelred, and a summary of his literary works. The second section discusses the history, audience, composition and themes of the treatise. This section argues from internal and external evidence that Aelred first composed the portion of the work containing direction for the anchoress's inner life and that that portion circulated independently until Aelred added the direction for the outer life. The third section of the introduction discusses the two English translations, in each case describing the manuscript and reporting scribal practice, and examines the translators' treatment of their sources. The examination of the Vernon manuscript and translation suggests that it may have been made specifically as a preface to the anthology of devotional works which comprises the manuscript and that its source may have descended from an archetype closer to Aelred's original than any surviving Latin text of the treatise. Each text is followed by its own explanatory notes, glossary, and index of proper names. Emendation has been kept to a minimum; where it has been necessary, notes record the manuscript's reading. Expansion of scribal abbreviations is indicated. The explanatory notes to each text identify biblical and patristic passages, divergence from the extant Latin texts, words not attested by the MED, and grammatical anomalies. The glossaries record all forms which occur in the two translations and indicate their functions, meanings, and locations within the texts. The indices of proper names identify all people and places named in the translations. The bibliography includes all works cited in the Introduction or explanatory notes.Ph.D.Language, Literature and LinguisticsMedieval literatureUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/127575/2/8116344.pd

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