Germanic Philology

The Reception of Myth in the Old English Boethius: The Pleasure of Telling the ‘False’ to Assert the ‘True’

Carla Riviello — Wed, 10 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000

In the Old English Boethius, references to myth are often introduced or accompanied by the clarification that they are untrue stories, but necessary to explain important truths. This attitude, common to medieval Christendom, is made explicit on several occasions in the Old English Boethius. Respecting the function proposed in the original, the mythological material is then reworked through omissions and additions to suit the specific reception the work would have had in Anglo-Saxon England in the Alfredian period. The comparison with the possible sources studied by the critics offers interesting conjectures, while the analysis of individual passages seems to reveal peculiar translation strategies in the repositioning of episodes involving figures such as Orpheus, Hercules or the giants. The aim of this article is to investigate which translation strategies are adopted for the representation of the myth in the vernacular reworking: beyond didactic requirements, it seems to be guided by the fascination of these ancient tales, which are set in worlds that are geographically and chronologically unknown, tales whose reality is not to be believed, but which the author presents in detail, sharing with the audience the pleasure of extraordinary and astonishing stories.

The Myth of Orpheus in the Work of Notker III of St Gall (with a Look Back at the Translation by Alfred the Great)

Verio Santoro — Wed, 10 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The paper will examine the reworking of the myth of Orpheus by Notker III of St. Gallen in his annotated translation of Boethius’ De consolatione philosophiae. As is well known, the myth of Orpheus has spanned all ages from antiquity to the present day and represents one of the greatest and most important cycles of European culture. The myth of Orpheus is not static or immutable; on the contrary, its strength lies in its adaptability over time. A vast repertoire of elements is therefore available that form a whole that can be summarized under the label “Myth of Orpheus”. In 1997 S. Sonderegger published an essay on Orpheus in Notker, mainly focused on the problem of sentence structure, alliteration and stylization of the final rhyme – all aspects of style, completely neglecting the interesting content aspects of Notker’s reworking. In fact, if Boethius was the first Latin author to develop an ethical allegory of the story of Orpheus and Eurydice, the doctissimus magister of St. Gall fits in an original way into the multi-faceted Christian reinterpretation of the myth, which in the Germanic linguistic area had begun with the translation into Old English, commonly attributed to King Alfred the Great. The proposed analysis will deal with the reworking of the myth of Orpheus in Notker: the interpretations of ancient mythology (Tantalus, Titius, the Danaids, Sysyphus); the figure of Eurydice, the role of quotations from classical literature (Virgil’s Eclogues) and from the Gospel of Luke, the hitherto unnoticed points of contact between the poem of Orpheus and the central poem III, IX of the Consolatio, the (possible) use of commentaries (“Anonymous of St. Gall” and Remigius).

“And þerfore seythe Seneca”: The Reception of the Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium in Middle English Sermons

Laura Poggesi — Wed, 10 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000

A practice shared by late medieval Christian preachers in their sermons was to resort to some auctoritates in order to support their arguments and provide tropological readings of the Bible. Such auctoritates were not confined to Scriptures or patristic literature but include texts from classical antiquity. Among the classical authors, Seneca was widely appreciated for his positions on ethical issues, which are exemplified in his Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium, and which often align with Christian beliefs. The present paper aims to investigate how Seneca’s thought was received by late medieval English preachers and adapted to the principles of Christian doctrine through the analysis of a selection of Middle English sermons preserved in two fifteenth-century manuscripts: London, British Library, Royal 18.B.xxiii and Oxford, Bodleian Library, e Musaeo 180. The authors of these collections reserve a space for Seneca’s voice in their sermons, either by quoting passages from the EM or by recounting the exempla reported by the philosopher himself in his letters to Lucilius. The analysis focuses on the modalities of reception of the principles of the Stoic philosophy by Christian preachers as well as on the stylistic strategies used to introduce passages from Seneca’s work.

The Virgin and the Philosophers: Plato in the English Lives of Saint Katherine

Pierandrea Gottardi — Wed, 10 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000

In the Life of Catherine of Alexandria, the saint refers to Plato during her debate with fifty pagan wise men. The Platonic argument in support of the Incarnation, as presented by Catherine, employs a particularly obscure formulation in one recension of the South English Legendary. A comparison with parallel passages in the Middle English hagiographic tradition shows that most compilers chose to omit this Platonic reference altogether. However, the Gilte Legende and the Scottish Legendary display valuable variants for further investigation. The present article aims to reconstruct the origin of this crux and investigate the ways in which Christian Platonism was received in Middle English hagiography, taking the Lives of St Catherine as a case study. It also explores, through the example of the Scottish Legendary, how a hagiographer might have linked the apologetic passage to Plato’s Timaeus or its commentaries, which appear to be the ultimate sources of the argument. Finally, it offers conclusions regarding the treatment of doctrinal content by Middle English hagiographers, identifying three recurring approaches and a possible hierarchy among them.

Reinterpreting Alexander in the German Middle Ages: The case of the Basler Alexander

Lorenzo Ferroni — Wed, 10 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000

This article explores the multifaceted reception of Alexander the Great in medieval German literature. Alexander’s historical image as both an exemplary leader and a figure prone to excess and hubris has been continuously reinterpreted, shaped by diverse cultural, religious, and political contexts. Central to this study is the differentiation of three primary interpretative trends: Alexander as an instrument of divine providence within a biblically framed universal history; as a negative exemplum used to warn against vices like pride and greed; and as an idealized model of perfect kingship, embodying chivalric virtues and noble leadership. The Basler Alexander, one of the three redactions of the Alexanderlied, resists alignment with these dominant interpretative frameworks. Unlike other texts, it avoids explicit moral judgments or allegorical readings. Instead, it presents a concise and secularized narrative, emphasizing Alexander’s conquests and marvels without extensive extradiegetical commentary or idealization. Through codicological analysis and comparison with other versions, the article highlights how this redaction offers a factual and less idealized portrait of Alexander suitable for its integration within a manuscript conceived as a secular universal chronicle.

The Odysses of Ulixes Through Medieval and Early Modern Literature

Manfred Kern — Wed, 10 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000

This essay focuses on the Medieval and Early Modern reception of Ulysses and his myth, with a strong focus on the literature in the German vernacular, the concepts established and communicated by this reception, its continuity but also its unique shifts and ‘peaks’ within specific texts. It begins with Ulysses’ role in the medieval Trojan romance, outlines the long tradition of the allegoric interpretation, especially in regard to the myth of the Sirens, reaching back to Antiquity. Both separated tracks of reception show a significant continuity and ambivalence, culminating in the representation of Ulysses in Dante’s Commedia and its famous and crucial report of Ulysses’ last journey, where Ulysses functions as an example of human curiosity and human desire for knowledge and experience, both fatal and fascinating. In relation to medieval allegoric concepts Sebastian Brant wants to conceive Ulysses as a counterexample to foolishness and fools in his Narrenschiff, the intended clear didactic meaning nevertheless is thwarted by the complexity of the myth’s narrative. Finally, Simon Schaidenreisser’s alias, Minervius’, first German translation of the Odyssey brings back the original story. Still accompanied by allegoric and moral interpretation provided by commentaries in the margins, the myth now claims its own right and Ulysses’ interest in mundane experience and knowledge becomes an undisputed positive quality indicating the anthropological turn performed by writing and learning of the Early Modern period.

Translating Antiquity. The Ideological Reading of Virgil’s Aeneid in its first German translation

Julia Frick — Wed, 10 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The paper focuses on Virgil’s Aeneid in the first German translation by Thomas Murner (Strasbourg, 1515). It addresses the historical reach of the Latin classic and the Roman imperial ideology conveyed through it. The discussion therefore centres on the ideological and political meaning of the Aeneid and explores the mechanisms by which this model, with its emphasis on peace (Pax Augusta), developed a dynamic relevance in the context of German Humanism. Indeed, with regard to the respective contemporary engagements with Virgil’s Aeneid, one can observe an effort not only to render the ancient classic accessible to vernacular readers but also to establish its function as a cultural key text. In doing so, it serves as a medium for self-affirmation within existing power structures through a distinctly ideological reading. The historical recontextualisation of the Roman epic, as outlined in this article, is closely tied to a contemporary figure of rulership who serves as a focal point for the ‘new’ imperial meaning attributed to the ‘German’ Aeneid: Maximilian I, King of the Romans from 1486 and Holy Roman Emperor (1508-1519), who constitutes the decisive point of reference shaping the intermedial transformation of Virgilian reception in the translation of Thomas Murner.

Indeed, with regard to the respective contemporary engagements with Virgil's Aeneid, one can observe an effort not only to render the ancient classic accessible to vernacular readers but also to establish its function as a cultural key text. In doing so, it serves as a medium for self-affirmation within existing power structures through a distinctly ideological reading.

The historical recontextualisation of the Roman epic, as outlined in this article, is closely tied to a contemporary figure of rulership who serves as a focal point for the ‘new’ imperial meaning attributed to the ‘German’ Aeneid: Maximilian I, King of the Holy Roman Empire (1508–1519), who constitutes the decisive point of reference shaping the intermedial transformation of Virgilian reception in the translation of Thomas Murner.

Comedy for schools: The German-language translations of Plautus and Terence from the 16th century in the context of their reception

Jennifer Hagedorn — Wed, 10 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The comedies of the Roman poets Plautus and Terence were part of the 16^th century canon of the reception of antiquity and were translated into German in large numbers. The translators usually came from a scholastic background and produced their translations explicitly for use in schools. Despite overarching continuities with Early Modern translations of antiquity, however, there are major differences between the individual comedy translations, both in the translators’ paratextual statements and in the translation practice, which has been little studied to date. This article aims to examine the effects of the school-specific reception context on the translations on the basis of cultural translation research: The question to be asked is how the intended reception space of school translations is reflected in the texts, distinguishing between translations for the school stage and language didactic learning aids, and what position the Palliata translations occupy in the reception of antiquity in the 16^th century.