CAMPBELL, A.P.

I-Revues

MÉLANGES
A DEBATE BETWEEN SHROVETIDE AND LENT
Here is a pair of letters extracted from the Rota Nova of
Guido Faba, a izth . century dictator, contained in Oxford Ms .
New College 255, fol . 1-5 8 v . I have set down elsewhere the reasons
why I believe the work was composed by Guido in Bologna abou t
the year Izz7 1 . New College 255, which is very clear, presentin g
few problems of transcription, has been dated by Coxe 14th .
century Z , but earlier by Denholm-Young, who says it was
" written apparently in Spain, about the last quarter of th e
thirteenth century in a good court hand, and illuminated "
The Rota is made up of three main parts : a short account o f
the career of the author, a section on theory, giving the rules o f
Ars Dictaninis, the remainder being lists of form letters suitable
as models for all occasions, accompanied by several very spirited
and eloquent messages from Guido to prospective students ,
announcing new courses .
Fol . 7 r marks the real beginning of the work, erroneously
placed here by the binder of the manuscript . It opens Incipit
Rota Nova magistri Guidonis Fabe . Letentur celi et exultet terra .
Fol . 7v ends Explicit Rota .
Fol . 1r begins the doctrinal part . : Incipit ala prima que ange-
lica dicitur .
1. See A . P. CAMPBELL, ed ., Guido Faba' s Rota Nova, unpublished Ph. D .
thesis, Fordham 'University, 1859, pp. io if .
2. Henricus A . CoxE, Catalogus Codicunt MSS qui in Collegio Aulisque Oxo-
niensibus hodie adseruntur, Oxford, 1852, Pars I, New College, D 255 .
3. N . DENHOLM-YOUNG, Collected Papers on Medieval Subjects, Blackwell ,
Oxford, 1946, p . 48 .
116
Fol . 2r opens the second part of the doctrinal matter : Incipit
ala secunda de regulis dictaminum a magistro Guidone Sancti
Michaelis composita .
Fol. 6v opens the first set of model letters : Incipiunt litter e
stili secularis facte . These are, of course, interrupted on folio 7
recto and verso by the autobiographical matter introducing th e
Rota .
Fol . 16 r . Incipiunt littere prosaici dictaminis stili ecclesiastici
a magistro Guidons composite .
Fol . 23 r . Incipiunt dictamina rethorica que celesti quasi oraculo . . .
Fol . 40v . Littera missa scolaribus Bononie et lecta per omne s
scolas civitatis omnium artium .
Fol . 49r . Littera carnisprivii contra quadragesimam adversaria m
suam .
Fol
. 49r . Invectiva quadragesime contra carnisprivium inimicu m
suum .
The remaining pages to fol . 58v are covered with form letters
continuing the dictamina rethorica begun on fol 23 r , along with
some letters from Guido himself .
The question immediately arises, what has this pair of spirited
and spiteful volleys from carnisprivium and quadragesima to do
with ars dictaminis, the sober art of writing letters correctly, an d
secondly, how do these two pieces fit into medieval debate tra-
dition. From the point of view of ars dictaminis it must be said
that these letters conform outwardly to the rules, such as thos e
of pointing, the cursus and the handling of parts, such as salu-
tatio, narratio, conclusio, etc . ; but a debate of this kind between
two abstract qualities or beings is completely outside of th e
dictaminal tradition . I have not been able to find a single instanc e
of a prose debate exchange in all the form letters in availabl e
collections. Before attempting to explore their antecedents a s
debate pieces, let us examine them a moment to see how they d o
relate in content and external form to ars dictaminis .
Although there are no debates properly speaking, there are i n
the Rota other examples of sharp exchanges between persons ,
such as between an ardent young man and a young lady, who put s
him in his place very wittily (fol . 26 r) ; between parents, wh o
paint a very gay scene of tavern activity, which they say is the
haunt of their student son, and the student himself, who shows
11 7
a very contrary picture (fol . 41 v
-42T) . But there is nothing that
can come close in spirit to the two letters printed here .
In their external shaping, these letters, as we have indicated ,
conform to the rules of prose ars dictaminis . Among the rule s
governing the use of the salutatio, for example, we find the fol
-
lowing passage :
Qui non debeant salutari
Item, nota quod non salutantur excommunicati, Saraceni pata-
reni, Iudei, sed dicitur, " stem consilii sanioris " . Iterum, non
salutantur inimici manifesti, ut dictum est, sed aliquid ponitur
salutationi contrarium " (fol . 5r) .
Thus, in our two letters, neither writer salutes the other, sinc e
they are inimici manifesti : Nullo salutationis eloquio carnissri-
vium Quadragesima to invitat, and Tibi carnisprivio quadragesima
de salutatione non loquitur .
The use of the narratio, which means the setting forth of th e
status questions and circumstances, is well exemplified in bot h
letters . The rules of pointing, which in the doctrinal part of th e
Rota are carefully specified and in the form letters very carefully
followed, appear to be slighted in one respect in these two letters :
the full stop, for which the Rota requires the periodus, the equi-
valent in shape of our modern " semicolon ", is several time s
indicated by single punctum, or point on the line . This might
suggest that these two letters were copied into New College 25 5
from a source different from that of the other forms .
Continuing our examination of the pointing, we find that the
rules specified by the Rota indicate a slight pause in a sentence by
a cola, made with a puncture on the line (fol . 5 v ) . A longer pause ,
called a coma, is made with a punctum on the line and a virgula
above it N . The periodus, identified as a kind of semicolon above ,
is sometimes, at the end of a letter, made 'with a period followe d
by a virgula, both on the line ( .,) .This form of the full stop is th e
only one we have in the two letters, along with a very libera l
sprinkling of properly employed cola and coma . It is worth
noting, perhaps, that the Candelabrum 4 , a famous work on ars
4 . Bene Di LUCCA, Candelabrum, unpublished Plimpton Ms . 65, fol . 5V .
118
dictaminis uses, in its doctrinal part, the same theory as we find
exemplified in the Rota .
Two other punctuation signs not yet mentioned need some
comment . The question mark, used as we use it today, is forme d
somewhat like our modern counterpart, except that the hook
part above the point is not so rounded. Then there is the slan t
line (/) used as the equivalent of our comma, especially used t o
mark off the units in a series of more or less parallel words o r
phrases . For example, in a letter to a friend, a student from th e
University of Napoli praises not only his University but the sur -
rounding country : . . . terra spectabilis est' apta studio' fertilis
et amena' in qua celi terre marisque divitie possidentur . (fol . 41 v ) .
Perhaps the best example is found in a letter from a clerk to a
bishop, praising him and asking for a benefice . One sentence runs :
Non sunt loquele neque sermones per quos mentis mee magnum
gaudium exprimatur quid tunc veraciter habui / et suscepi magnifice .
cum de vestre promotionis honore cognovi . quia post solum deum mee
parvitatis estis reverendus pater / Pius pastor / benignus iudex /
iustus rector / clemens antistes / honestatis exemplum/ prudenti e
speculum / misericors dominus / benefactor precipuus / portus tutis-
simus / et refugium singulars. (fol . 5=r , 11 . 21-23) .
If this did not move the bishop, he must have been hard t o
flatter .
The use of the slant line was not common in the Rota, but we
do notice an instance similar to the one quoted above in ou r
invective of Lent against his enemy Shrovetide .
In the cursus one of the most important elements of the pros e
dictamen, the two letters conform to the rules as laid down an d
exemplified generally in the Rota . Letter after letter has its
arrangement of planus (vtncld pérfrégït) b , tardas (v'ncld pér-
fregerdt), velox (vinciili m fregerâmi s) . These rhythmic runs
occur mainly at the ends of clauses but may be found almost
anywhere in these carefully constructed sentences . According t o
the rules in the Rota, each full stop, that is, each complete sentence ,
must end with a velox . This is one unbroken rule in all of the form
5
. These are not taken from the Rota, but are culled from other sources
.
119
letters in the Rota : examination will disclose in each letter at
least two instances, and usually three, of the velox : one at the end
of the narratio, a major division in the letter, and the other a t
the very end of the letter. If the narratio is lengthly it may have
more than one full stop ; and, of course, a velox may occur at any
point where rapid motion is desired .
In the two letters here published there are instances of th e
planus (fâcït discordës), (rëbéllës irdtös), ((acës frdngúntür) ;
and of the tardus, (cod et alértcd), (€mmö c&âmftds), (saluta-
tióne nón lóquïtür) . But there is a much larger number of instance s
of velox in these than is usual in the other letters, perhaps becaus e
the subject is light and the language heated and rapid. For
example, (âmnïbi2s inïmicd), (nóscitir prövën&r'), and a dozen
others in the first letter, and (ómniüm dnimdr2sm), (salutffërïs
örndméntis), and several others in the second letter. It is clear
from this examination of the cursive runs in the two letters that
the rhythmic pattern, being predominantly rapid, would be an
asset to the debate pattern .
The matter of the debate technique next arises . The question of
the tradition of a debate in Latin prose has received scant atten-
tion up to the present 8 . In my opinion, since the prose of the ars
dictaminis is rhythmic and highly skilled in form, the writers fel t
that it had a kinship with the poetical art, in which there existe d
by the twelfth and thirteenth centuries a very popular literary
form, the certamen, or debate. J.W.H. Atkins traces the begin-
nings of this forni back to the eclogues of Theocritus and Virgil 7 .
With the intellectual activity which sprang up and developed
around the school of Charlemagne, we find such famous Lati n
poetical exchanges as Conflictus veris et hiemis, attributed to the
Englishman Alcuin, and De rosae liliique certamine, of Seduliu s
Scotus . In the high Middle Ages, with the delight in philosophica l
speculation manifest everywhere in Europe, the debate developed
into a very popular literary form. The principals of the debate
6. H. Walther speaks of a Latin prose dialogue, a dispute between a rich ma n
and a poor man over the value of riches, in Das Streitgedicht in der lateinischen
Literatur des Mittelalters, München, 1gzo, p . 123 . Cf. note 2 .
7. J . W. H . ATICINS, ed ., The Owl and the Nightingale, Cambridge, 1922,
p . xlvii .
120
were sometimes birds or animals, at other times qualities o r
inanimate objects, such as summer and winter, water and wine ,
etc . The debate of the body and soul was found not only in Latin
but in Old French and in Medieval English . One required quality
of such debates was that the topic be eternally debatable, for the
point was not to settle a dispute, but to exercise and test in battl e
your wit and mental agility. Atkins attests to this purpose of
the debate :
" In Abelard's Sic et Non . . . the author had aimed not so much
at the imparting of truth, as at the sharpening of the wits of th e
beginners in philosophy . And this was the method that influenced
for the most part the intellectual activities of the 12th . century
scholars . It everywhere developed that taste for argument an d
formal discussion, and it established incidentally the vogue of
the 12th. century debate . Written at first as a mere exercise i n
the new study of dialectics, the debate soon became one of th e
most popular of literary forms . Before the end of the 12th.
century it had rapidly developed and had become one of the mos t
characteristic types in the literature of the period 8 . "
In English the most delightful of the medieval debates is The
Owl and the Nightingale ; it is found even in the Renaissance in
Milton's charming pair of poems L'Allegro and Il Penseroso
(unfortunately not always recognized as belonging to this tradi-
tion) .
The debate between Shrovetide and Lent presents all kinds o f
wonderful opportunity for fun and satire, and challenges the
ingenuity of the debaters . Shrovetide, originally intented as th e
time of serious preparation for Lent, especially in the matter of
going to Confession, gradually became an occasion of merriment ,
such as is found in the modern idea of " mardi gras " . Thus the
debate explains that the name has changed in meaning : . . .muta -
tum est nomen et ofcium variaturn, non enim cibi firivatio sed
carnium susceetio decetero volumus nominari . In the first letter,
issuing from Shrovetide, the author makes full use of his expe-
riences and observations in the forum of fasting ; the notion of the
8 . Op . cit . p. xlix .
12 1
monks being unable even to keep time in singing the office, du e
to their bad temper from fasting, is indeed a good touch . The
picture of women maddened and wild, running through the
woods, bloated with gas from fasting, is hardly equalled by
Chaucer . The sense of urgency in ordering Quadragesima out of
the country is very apt, since on the morrow the period of fastin g
was to begin . The severe scolding and condemnation that Lent
heaps upon the feasting Shrovetide is a delightful exhibition o f
the art of exaggeration, in which all those associated with Shro-
vetide are turned into the filthiness of dung and corruption, an d
every possible sin is seen as deriving therefrom : . . .iniquitates
fiunt / paces franguntur / federa violantur / sciscitantur lites / bella
geruntur / strupantur moniales et virgines corrumpuntur .
These pieces are undoubtedly the product of the monastery,
for not only do they demonstrate a keen knowledge of ho w
fasting can endanger the peaceful life of a group, but there is
shrewd instance in the first letter of the ironical misapplication of
scriptural quotation . In the line, comederunt et saturati suet nimis
[Ps.77:29], quoted in defence of feasting, one checks the contex t
and discovers that this refers to the feasting of the children of
Israel in the desert, after they had been complaining about th e
lack of meat . God sent them an abundance of quail . . . and then
swallowed them up in death I The irony of the quotation would
not be lost on the medieval monks and friars .
Ottawa
	
A. P . CAMPBELL .
Littera Carnisprivii contra Quadragesimam, adversariam seam .
Nullo salutationis eloquio Carnisprivium, Quadragesima, te invitat ,
cum saluti contraria sis et modis omnibus inimica, quia sub religionis
spetie gaudium mundi auferre niteris atque vitam . Et quid est hoc ?
Responde, misera ; loquaris, captiva . Tu precipis a populo Christiano
ieiunia celebrari : condescendunt admonitionibus tuis prima facie
religiosi et clerici universi, non voluntate spontanea, sed potins corn-
122
pulsiva — ut quemadmodum a laicis differunt in capa et clerica ,
sic eos qualitate videantur precellere meritorum . Sed numquid meliu s
est abstinere a vitiis quam a cibis ? Cuius auctoritate moveris ? Qu a
Scriptura induceris? Forte divina ? Nonne primo parenti dominus
dixit, « In sudore vultus tui vesceris panem . D ? (Gen . 3 : 19) Forte dicis
aliter prophetia testatur . Erubesce, tace, formidare, quiesce ! Nam
propheta dicit, « Comederunt et saturati sunt nimis . D (Ps 77 : 29)
Hiis, ergo, potest auctoritatibus et multis aliis comprobari quod non
utilitas, sed temeritas, non sanitas, immo calamitas ex superstition e
tua noscitur provenire .
Videamus, itaque, quis et quantus effectus ieiunii censeatur . Ie-
iunium fratres facit discordes, rebelles, iratos, invidos et multiplicite r
detractores, et vix capendo concordant, nec in officiis stare possunt .
Ante cibum exuriunt et postea sitiunt. Primo egroti sunt fame, nec
postmodum vivere possunt ventris dolore nimio fatigati . Sic perit
obedientia, dissipatur collegium et destruitur ecclesiastica disciplina,
Dei timor repellitur et hominibus reverentia denegatur .
Laici, quoque, languidi, pallidi, avari, frenetici, mellanconici, insani
et furiosi effecti, tuam ypocrisim et abstinentie vanitatem fugiunt si-
cut pestem. Mulieres, etiam, infatuate per nemora furiunt et deserta ,
membris ex ventuosis cibariis dissolutis . Et tam virgines quam conti-
nentes et coniugali federe copulate, cuiuscumque ordinis, conditionis
vel etatis existant, odiosum tuurn adventum totis viribus detestantur .
Tue, siquidem, temeritati districtione qua possumus inhibemus n e
more solito audatiam presumptionis assumas nec Ytalicain introea s
regionem, quia inbecillitas tua sentiet nostras vires cum per militum
nostrorum potentiam tua miseria nostris imperiis subiacebit . Ceterum ,
si scire desideras quis sit qui talia comminatur, mutatum est nomen
et officium variatum : non enim cibi privatio, sed carnium susceptio
decetero volumus nominari, nam in solio regni sedemus, mundi
principatuin tenentes . Per nos, quippe, cantilene fiunt iocunditates
pariter et corree, tristes letificantur et conciliantur disscordes, omnes -
que mortales glorificant nomen nostrum et omnia que sunt nobis .
Invectiva Quadragesime contra inimicum sum .
Tibi, Carnisprivio, Quadragesima de salutation non loquitur, cum
nulla tibi sit communia cum salute . Quenam participatio vite ad mor-
tern, tenebrarum ad lucern, aut Christi ad Bellialim? Tu, pessime
1 . Ms . : mimio .
12 3
lupe rapax, destructor es corporum et insidiator omnium animarum ;
per tuam crapulam et immoderatam saturitatem putrescunt quasi
marcida tuorum corpora sequatium singulorum, et in stercore luxuri e
sicut quatriduani fetidi polluuntur quicumque tuis deceptionibus
aquiescunt . Nempe velut a principe huius mundi cecitatis filii macu-
lantur, iniquitates fiunt, paces franguntur, federa violantur, scisci-
tantur lites, bella geruntur, strupantur moniales et virgines cor-
rumpuntur.
Dic nobis, miserime, homicidia, periuria, adulteria furta — und e
proveniunt ? A te criminoso descendant crimina, et secuntur viti a
vitiosum. Precipimus, itaque, tue prevaricationi sub multa distric-
tione ut cum omnibus tuis militibus de Ytalica festinanter fugia s
regione, quia die tali cum nostra milicia veste candida veniemus ad
purganda tuorum scelera nostrarum virtutum splendidis ac salutiferi s
ornamentis .


A Debate between Shrovetide and Lent

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

I-Revues