Website by Scott G. Bruce
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Books by Scott G. Bruce
For millennia, societies have told tales of their fears incarnate—otherworldly couriers of plague... more For millennia, societies have told tales of their fears incarnate—otherworldly couriers of plague, death, temptation, and moral decline. The Penguin Book of Demons summons these supernatural creatures—and the humans who have hunted and been haunted by them—across cultures and continents: the daimones of ancient Greece and Rome; the giant, biblical half humans known as Nephilim who stalked the earth before the Great Flood; corrupted angels, condemned to eternity in Hell; the jinn of Islamic Arabia; the female, child-eating Gelloudes of Byzantium; the seductive incubi and succubi of northern Europe; the animal spirits of early modern China; and the cannibalistic Wendigo of Native American folklore. From demonic possession to black magic, these accounts give life to a spellbinding, skin-crawling history of the paranormal.
The articles in this special issue of the Journal of Medieval History explore the persistent infl... more The articles in this special issue of the Journal of Medieval History explore the persistent influence of the dead on the living in medieval culture.
This handbook provides a comprehensive overview of the state of Cluniac studies in North American... more This handbook provides a comprehensive overview of the state of Cluniac studies in North American and European scholarship. Founded in 910 by Duke William of Aquitaine, the abbey of Cluny rose to prominence in the eleventh century as the most influential and opulent center for monastic devotion in medieval Europe. While the twelfth century brought challenges, both internal and external, the Cluniacs showed remarkable adaptability in the changing religious climate of the later Middle Ages. Written by international experts representing a range of academic disciplines, the contributions to this volume examine the rich textual and material sources for Cluny’s history, offering not only a thorough introduction to the distinctive character of Cluniac monasticism for university teachers and students but also the lineaments of a detailed research agenda for the next generation of historians.
Litterarum dulces fructus presents studies about medieval languages and literature in northern Eu... more Litterarum dulces fructus presents studies about medieval languages and literature in northern Europe in late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Drawing inspiration from the scholarship of Professor Michael W. Herren (founding editor of The Journal of Medieval Latin), this florilegium of studies advances our understanding of the dynamics of Latin and vernacular literature and learning in the early medieval world. Taken together, the papers gathered in this volume cast light on authors, poets, glossators, and compilers at work as they grappled with linguistic and literary ambitions and challenges, while negotiating their use of ancient authorities to address contemporary concerns.
The definitive anthology of historical legends and lore about the most popular mythological creat... more The definitive anthology of historical legends and lore about the most popular mythological creature in world literature, from the ancient world to the dawn of modernity. From classical antiquity to the dawn of the modern age, dragons have proved to be the most popular mythological creature in the human imagination, featuring prominently in heroic literature around the world. Giant serpents guarding forbidden springs, venomous monsters ravenous for human flesh, fire-breathing wyrms slumbering atop great mounds of gold—the examples are fearsome and unfailingly fascinating. Ranging from ancient Greece and India to medieval Europe and China to the badlands of modern America, The Penguin Book of Dragons uncovers hidden traditions about dragons from around the world and explores the meaning of these monsters in religious myths and popular folklore, the perils of encounters with them, and the virtues of the heroes who vanquished them.
This anthology presents in English translation a definitive selection of texts about the punitive... more This anthology presents in English translation a definitive selection of texts about the punitive afterlife written in the western tradition between antiquity and the twenty-first century. In modern discourse, “hell” serves as an all-pervasive metaphor for any kind of difficulty (“hard as hell”) or extreme (“hot as hell”), but the word has lost none of its religious currency in our so-called age of reason. A 2014 survey by the Pew Research Center found that 58% of American adults believe in the existence of a place “where people who have led bad lives and die without being sorry are eternally punished.” The tenacity of the belief in Hell in the modern world invites inquiry into its long history, from the origins and meaning of the punitive afterlife in the ancient world (Sheol, Gehenna, and Hades); the changing character of these places as paganism and Judaism receded before the advance of Christianity; the logic of Hell, the nature of its inhabitants, the purpose of its torments, and the possibility of redemption from them among medieval Christian thinkers; the arguments of the Protestant reformers against traditional Catholic doctrines in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries; the debates surrounding the eternity of infernal punishment among Victorian churchmen in the nineteenth century; and modern constructions of Hell in contemporary media. This volume illuminates the history of Hell over three thousand years, from the ancient Near East to modern America, through translations of a wide variety of texts that depict and discuss the geography and ecology of the underworld, its inhabitants, and its meaning, including religious poetry, theological treatises, saints’ lives, and miracle stories.
This book brings to light a unique twelfth-century poem on the benefits of prayers for the dead, ... more This book brings to light a unique twelfth-century poem on the benefits of prayers for the dead, which we call Relatio metrica de duobus ducibus (RMDD). Comprising 827 Leonine hexameters, this medieval Latin poem has never been printed before nor has it received more than passing notice in earlier scholarship. Our study provides an editio princeps of the text supplemented by an introduction and commentary that aim to draw out its significance for historians of medieval Latin literature as well as for scholars with interests in Cluniac monasticism, crusader spirituality, and the theology of Purgatory. The sole manuscript preserving the poem (Charleville-Mézières, Médiathèque Voyelles, ms. 190) does not name its author, but we argue that evidence of style, meter, and subject matter encourages an identification of the poet as a certain “Bernardus,” whose corpus of writings has until now consisted of only minor, incidental verses. The RMDD also repays study for its content, being by far the most expansive and learned reworking of a little studied prose exemplum relating a story allegedly told by Abbot Maiolus of Cluny (d. 994) about two warring dukes who encounter an army of the dead liberated from purgatorial suffering. In the process of elaborating that prose narrative, the poet of the RMDD has introduced new emphases on the concepts of holy war and a literal militia Christi; such ideas, which do not figure in the surviving prose versions of the exemplum, orient this particular poem towards the vast body of literature written in response to the First Crusade. In effect, the poet has transformed an earlier straightforward exemplum commending prayer for the dead into a dramatized lesson on the duties and rewards of knightly piety.
This book will appear in 2017 in the series Publications of the Journal of Medieval Latin (PJML) published by Brepols.
The dead live again in this haunting compendium of ghostly visitations through the ages, explorin... more The dead live again in this haunting compendium of ghostly visitations through the ages, exploring the history of our fascination with zombies and other restless souls. Since ancient times, accounts of supernatural activity have mystified us. Ghost stories as we know them did not develop until the late nineteenth century, but the restless dead haunted the premodern imagination in many forms, as recorded in historical narratives, theological texts, and personal letters. The Penguin Book of the Undead teems with roving hordes of dead warriors, corpses trailed by packs of barking dogs, moaning phantoms haunting deserted ruins, evil spirits emerging from burning carcasses in the form of crows, and zombies with pestilential breath. Spanning from the Hebrew scriptures to the Roman Empire, the Scandinavian sagas to medieval Europe, the Protestant Reformation to the Renaissance, this beguiling array of accounts charts our relationship with spirits and apparitions, wraiths and demons over fifteen hundred years, showing the evolution in our thinking about the ability of dead souls to return to the realm of the living—and to warn us about what awaits us in the afterlife.
In the summer of 972 a group of Muslim brigands based in the south of France near La Garde-Freine... more In the summer of 972 a group of Muslim brigands based in the south of France near La Garde-Freinet abducted the abbot of Cluny as he and his entourage crossed the Alps en route from Rome to Burgundy. Ultimately, the abbot was set free and returned home safely, but the audacity of this abduction outraged Christian leaders and galvanized the will of local lords. Shortly thereafter, Count William of Arles marshaled an army and succeeded in wiping out the Muslim stronghold. In Cluny and the Muslims of La Garde-Freinet, Scott G. Bruce uses this extraordinary incident, largely overlooked by contemporary scholars, to examine Christian perceptions of Islam in the Middle Ages. The monks of Cluny kept the tale of their abbot's abduction alive over the next century in hagiographical works and chronicles written to promote his sanctity. Bruce explores the telling and retelling of this story, focusing particularly on the representation of Islam in each account, and how that representation changed over time. The culminating figure in this study is Peter the Venerable, one of Europe's leading intellectuals and abbot of Cluny from 1122 to 1156. Remembered today largely for his views of Islam, Peter commissioned Latin translations of Muslim historical and devotional texts including the Qur’an. As Bruce shows, Peter’s thinking on Islam had its roots in the hagiographical tradition of the abduction at La Garde-Freinet. In fact, Peter drew from the stories as he crafted a "Muslim policy" relevant to the mid-twelfth century, a time of great anxiety about Islam in the aftermath of the failed Second Crusade. Compellingly written, Cluny and the Muslims of La Garde-Freinet provides us with an unparalleled opportunity to examine Christian perceptions of Islam in the Crusading era.
The field of premodern environmental history (the study of the complex and ever-changing interrel... more The field of premodern environmental history (the study of the complex and ever-changing interrelationship between human beings and the world around them prior to the Industrial Revolution) has grown vigorously over the past two decades, in no small part due to the energy and expertise of Richard C. Hoffmann (York University, Canada). In this collection, historians of medieval and early modern Europe and social scientists with a sensitivity to the use of historical information present their current research in honor of Richard C. Hoffmann's retirement from teaching. The result is a panoramic and dynamic view of the state of the field of premodern environmental history by leading practitioners. The papers are organized under the broad themes of "Premodern People and the Natural World" and "Aquatic Ecosystems and Human Economies."
Silence and Sign Language in Medieval Monasticism explores the rationales for religious silence i... more Silence and Sign Language in Medieval Monasticism explores the rationales for religious silence in early medieval abbeys and the use of nonverbal forms of communication among monks when rules of silence forbade them from speaking. After examining the spiritual benefits of personal silence as a form of protection against the perils of sinful discourse in early monastic thought, this work shows how the monks of the Abbey of Cluny (founded in 910 in Burgundy) were the first to employ a silent language of meaning-specific hand signs that allowed them to convey precise information without recourse to spoken words. Scott Bruce discusses the linguistic character of the Cluniac sign language, its central role in the training of novices, the precautions taken to prevent its abuse, and the widespread adoption of this custom in other abbeys throughout Europe, which resulted in the creation of regionally specific idioms of this silent language.
Papers by Scott G. Bruce
Around the turn of the first millennium, monks at the abbey of Cluny and in its orbit of influenc... more Around the turn of the first millennium, monks at the abbey of Cluny and in its orbit of influence developed a system of hand signs that allowed the brethren to communicate with each other without breaking the strict rules against speaking cultivated in their communities. Monastic customaries preserved evidence for this practice in the form of sign lexicons, that is, elaborate written descriptions of individual signs and their meanings, which novices learned in preparation for entering the cloister. While these sign lexicons generally organized their description of monastic signs thematically (signs for food, signs for clothing, etc.), a late eleventh-century customary from the abbey of Hirsau in the Black Forest presented a sign for laughter among symptoms of sickness, like nosebleed and vomiting. This paper attempts to explain this unexpected association. After surveying the meaning of silence in late antique and early medieval monasticism, it examines attitudes toward laughter in the early monastic tradition. It argues that raucous laughter was dangerous in the abbey not only because it was disruptive, but also because it caused the monk to lose control of his body and thereby break the rules of comportment that governed his actions in the cloister.
Journal of Medieval Monastic Studies, 2023
The early eleventh–century Miracula Maioli narrated accounts of more than four dozen miracles tha... more The early eleventh–century Miracula Maioli narrated accounts of more than four dozen miracles that took place at the shrine of Maiolus of Cluny in the town of Souvigny, where the abbot died in 994. This article examines the evidence of this little–known source to reconstruct the social life of a popular pilgrimage destination at the turn of the first millennium. It presents a profile of the kinds of people who visited Maiolus’ tomb, including their names, genders, and occupations. Next, it analyses the maladies for which these pilgrims sought relief through the healing power of the saint. Finally, it explores the social networks that facilitated the movement of pilgrims with motor and sensory disabilities from their homes to the abbot’s shrine.
Origen of Alexandria (ca. 185–255 CE) earned notoriety as a speculative theologian whose ideas ab... more Origen of Alexandria (ca. 185–255 CE) earned notoriety as a speculative theologian whose ideas about the divine nature of the human soul and the universal salvation of all rational creatures, including the Devil, led to his vilification during the First Origenist Controversy (c. 380–410 CE) and his condemnation as a heretic at the Fifth Ecumenical Council (553). These debates, which centered on Origen’s treatise De principiis (On First Principles) and took place primarily in the eastern Mediterranean, have long overshadowed the popularity of his exegetical and homiletical writings in Latin translation in early medieval Europe. This article examines the reception history of the “Latin Origen” from the fifth to the tenth centuries. In contrast to his condemnation in eastern Christianity, Origen was the most widely copied Greek patristic author in Latin translation before the year 1000. This study surveys the Latin portraits of Origen as a scholar and a martyr composed in the fourth century that predisposed western audiences to appreciate his biblical scholarship. It then introduces the late antique translators who rendered his work into Latin and examines the manuscript evidence for the survival of his exegetical and homiletical writings in Merovingian, Anglo-Saxon, and Carolingian libraries. His widespread appeal may account for renewed interest in On First Principles in the ninth century. The article concludes by showing how Carolingian readers mediated their encounter with this challenging treatise by copying it alongside late antique apologies for Origen that provided assurance of his orthodoxy. Long before his modern rehabilitation in the Catholic tradition, early medieval scholars claimed this renegade Greek theologian as their own, despite the issues raised by his most questionable doctrines.
Origène d’Alexandrie (v. 185-255) doit sa notoriété, en tant que théologien spéculatif, à ses idées sur la nature divine de l’âme humaine et sur le salut universel de toutes les créatures rationnelles, y compris le diable. Elles lui ont valu de virulentes critiques lors de la première controverse origéniste (380-410), et d’être condamné comme hérétique lors du cinquième concile œcuménique (553). Ces débats, centrés sur le traité d’Origène De principiis (Sur les premiers principes) et qui se sont déroulés principalement en Méditerranée orientale, ont longtemps éclipsé le succès de ses écrits exégétiques et homilétiques, traduits en latin dans l’Europe du haut Moyen Âge. C’est à l’histoire de la réception de l’« Origène latin » du ve au xe siècle qu’est consacré cet article. Contrastant avec la condamnation dont il a fait l’objet dans la chrétienté orientale, Origène est le Père grec le plus abondamment copié en traduction latine avant l’an 1000. Cette étude analyse les portraits latins d’Origène, composés au ive siècle, le décrivant comme érudit et martyr, et qui ont conduit le public occidental à apprécier son travail sur les Écritures. Elle présente ensuite les traducteurs de l’Antiquité tardive qui ont transmis son œuvre en latin, et elle examine les preuves manuscrites de la survie de ses écrits exégétiques et homilétiques dans les bibliothèques mérovingiennes, anglo-saxonnes et carolingiennes. La popularité de l’auteur peut ainsi expliquer le regain d’intérêt pour Sur les premiers principes au ixe siècle. L’article se referme en montrant comment les lecteurs carolingiens ont préparé leur rencontre avec ce traité difficile en le copiant auprès des apologies d’Origène, composées dans l’Antiquité tardive et garantissant son orthodoxie. Bien avant sa réhabilitation moderne dans la tradition catholique, les érudits du haut Moyen Âge se réclament ainsi de ce théologien grec renégat, en dépit des problèmes soulevés par ses doctrines les plus discutables.
Journal of Medieval Monastic Studies, 2022
Monastic reading communities in early medieval Europe had a voracious appetite for the works of t... more Monastic reading communities in early medieval Europe had a voracious appetite for the works of the Greek church fathers in Latin translation. This article examines the evidence for the availability of translated Greek patristics in western abbeys from the fifth to the ninth centuries through a survey of surviving manuscripts and monastic library inventories. While there was not yet a canon of officially recognized “fathers of the eastern church” in early medieval Europe, this article shows how western monks favored five of the six Greek patriarchs named in the sixth-century Decretum Gelasianum. In terms of genre, they strongly preferred the homiletical writings of eastern Christian authors over their polemical works, because sermons and biblical homilies had greater utility as tools for teaching and preaching. Lastly, this article highlights the fact that the most widely copied Greek church father in early medieval Europe was also the most notorious and suspect thinker in the eastern church: Origen of Alexandria, whose skill as an author of biblical commentaries outweighed his notoriety as a condemned theologian in the eyes of western monks.
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Website by Scott G. Bruce
Books by Scott G. Bruce
This book will appear in 2017 in the series Publications of the Journal of Medieval Latin (PJML) published by Brepols.
Papers by Scott G. Bruce
Origène d’Alexandrie (v. 185-255) doit sa notoriété, en tant que théologien spéculatif, à ses idées sur la nature divine de l’âme humaine et sur le salut universel de toutes les créatures rationnelles, y compris le diable. Elles lui ont valu de virulentes critiques lors de la première controverse origéniste (380-410), et d’être condamné comme hérétique lors du cinquième concile œcuménique (553). Ces débats, centrés sur le traité d’Origène De principiis (Sur les premiers principes) et qui se sont déroulés principalement en Méditerranée orientale, ont longtemps éclipsé le succès de ses écrits exégétiques et homilétiques, traduits en latin dans l’Europe du haut Moyen Âge. C’est à l’histoire de la réception de l’« Origène latin » du ve au xe siècle qu’est consacré cet article. Contrastant avec la condamnation dont il a fait l’objet dans la chrétienté orientale, Origène est le Père grec le plus abondamment copié en traduction latine avant l’an 1000. Cette étude analyse les portraits latins d’Origène, composés au ive siècle, le décrivant comme érudit et martyr, et qui ont conduit le public occidental à apprécier son travail sur les Écritures. Elle présente ensuite les traducteurs de l’Antiquité tardive qui ont transmis son œuvre en latin, et elle examine les preuves manuscrites de la survie de ses écrits exégétiques et homilétiques dans les bibliothèques mérovingiennes, anglo-saxonnes et carolingiennes. La popularité de l’auteur peut ainsi expliquer le regain d’intérêt pour Sur les premiers principes au ixe siècle. L’article se referme en montrant comment les lecteurs carolingiens ont préparé leur rencontre avec ce traité difficile en le copiant auprès des apologies d’Origène, composées dans l’Antiquité tardive et garantissant son orthodoxie. Bien avant sa réhabilitation moderne dans la tradition catholique, les érudits du haut Moyen Âge se réclament ainsi de ce théologien grec renégat, en dépit des problèmes soulevés par ses doctrines les plus discutables.
This book will appear in 2017 in the series Publications of the Journal of Medieval Latin (PJML) published by Brepols.
Origène d’Alexandrie (v. 185-255) doit sa notoriété, en tant que théologien spéculatif, à ses idées sur la nature divine de l’âme humaine et sur le salut universel de toutes les créatures rationnelles, y compris le diable. Elles lui ont valu de virulentes critiques lors de la première controverse origéniste (380-410), et d’être condamné comme hérétique lors du cinquième concile œcuménique (553). Ces débats, centrés sur le traité d’Origène De principiis (Sur les premiers principes) et qui se sont déroulés principalement en Méditerranée orientale, ont longtemps éclipsé le succès de ses écrits exégétiques et homilétiques, traduits en latin dans l’Europe du haut Moyen Âge. C’est à l’histoire de la réception de l’« Origène latin » du ve au xe siècle qu’est consacré cet article. Contrastant avec la condamnation dont il a fait l’objet dans la chrétienté orientale, Origène est le Père grec le plus abondamment copié en traduction latine avant l’an 1000. Cette étude analyse les portraits latins d’Origène, composés au ive siècle, le décrivant comme érudit et martyr, et qui ont conduit le public occidental à apprécier son travail sur les Écritures. Elle présente ensuite les traducteurs de l’Antiquité tardive qui ont transmis son œuvre en latin, et elle examine les preuves manuscrites de la survie de ses écrits exégétiques et homilétiques dans les bibliothèques mérovingiennes, anglo-saxonnes et carolingiennes. La popularité de l’auteur peut ainsi expliquer le regain d’intérêt pour Sur les premiers principes au ixe siècle. L’article se referme en montrant comment les lecteurs carolingiens ont préparé leur rencontre avec ce traité difficile en le copiant auprès des apologies d’Origène, composées dans l’Antiquité tardive et garantissant son orthodoxie. Bien avant sa réhabilitation moderne dans la tradition catholique, les érudits du haut Moyen Âge se réclament ainsi de ce théologien grec renégat, en dépit des problèmes soulevés par ses doctrines les plus discutables.