Tales of Vice and Virtue

The First Old French <i>Vie des Pères</i>
Erscheinungsjahr 2005
ISBN: 978-90-420-1903-4
Verlag: Brill | Rodopi

Buch, Englisch, Band 253, 612 Seiten, Format (B × H): 155 mm x 230 mm, Gewicht: 1161 g

Reihe: Faux Titre

Here is presented for the first time an extraordinary medieval text, the first Old French Vie des Pères. The Vie des Pères is in fact a collective text comprising three branches and, at its fullest, over seventy individually enclosed pious tales / miracles. The first Vie – the first forty-one or -two tales – dates from the first third of the thirteenth century. It is a vitally significant but hitherto neglected part of the Old French canon. Indeed, in his preface to this volume Michel Zink, one of the most respected medievalists of his generation, notes that the qualities of the Vie des Pèrs ‘devraient valoir à son auteur une place au voisinage de celle qu’occupent pour nous celui de la Chanson de Roland ou Chrétien de Troyes.’ The tales are remarkably well written and offer fascinating glimpses of thirteenth-century life and spirituality. They were also extremely popular in Medieval France. Sharing close links with a number of traditions – fabliaux, Saints’ Lives, Miracles of the Virgin, Romance, Sermons – the Vie des Pères has value for those interested in many branches of vernacular literature, codicology, lexicography, art history, theology and philology. Tales of Vice and Virtue – the first sustained analysis of the entire first Vie des Pères to be published – is a groundbreaking book providing readers new to the text with detailed commentaries, offering abundant intertextual information for romance philologists, and suggesting many new areas for further research.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Tudor, Adrian P.

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Romanische Literaturen Französische Literatur

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Notes on References and Abbreviations
Acknowledgements
Preface by Michel Zink
Introduction
Part One: The Ten Commandments
Chapter One Thou shalt have no other gods than me
Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image
Chapter Two Thou shalt not take the name of the lord in vain
Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy
Honour thy father and thy mother
Chapter Three Thou shalt not kill
Thou shalt not commit adultery
Chapter Four Thou shalt not steal
Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house […] wife, nor […]
anything that is thy neighbour’s
Part Two: The Seven Deadly Vices and the Seven Cardinal Virtues
Chapter Five Pride, Covetousness, Lust, Envy
Chapter Six Gluttony, Anger, Sloth
Chapter Seven Prudence, Temperance, Fortitude, Justice
Chapter Eight Faith, Hope, Charity
Conclusion
Appendix: Editions of the First, Second and Third Vies
Bibliography