Verginia, Lucretia, and the Medieval Livy
An Edition and Translation of Episodes from Pierre Bersuire’s Tite-Live and Jean de Meun’s Roman de la rose
Seiten
2025
D.S. Brewer (Verlag)
978-1-84384-735-9 (ISBN)
D.S. Brewer (Verlag)
978-1-84384-735-9 (ISBN)
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The tragic stories of Lucretia and Verginia, taken from the fourteenth-century French version of Livy's History of Rome, presented with facing page English translation.
Livy was famous in the Middle Ages for what Dante called his "unerring" history of Rome. Within that history, two episodes were especially well-known, both promoting female virtue while also suggesting how sexual violence could trigger political change. Lucretia commits suicide after her rape, precipitating the fall of the monarchy. Verginia is murdered by her father, who prefers to see her die than be seized by the corrupt judge Appius; her death then inspires an uprising that overthrows the decemvirs, republican officials who abused the very laws they had codified. While these stories circulated widely in the medieval period, access to the Latin Livy was impeded by a scarcity of manuscripts. There is nonetheless evidence that some poets, notably Chaucer and Gower, knew Livy through the Tite-Live, a French translation by Pierre Bersuire that was completed around 1358, and borrowed from it for their own works.
There are many manuscripts of the Tite-Live, though little of it is available to modern readers. This book helps fill that gap by supplying critical editions and English translations of Bersuire's Verginia and Lucretia episodes, along with those in the Roman de la Rose by Jean de Meun, one of the earliest vernacular writers to show interest in Livy. Each text features a substantial critical apparatus, which glosses difficult terms and concepts and elucidates historical events and social contexts, while an introduction provides other contextual information.
Livy was famous in the Middle Ages for what Dante called his "unerring" history of Rome. Within that history, two episodes were especially well-known, both promoting female virtue while also suggesting how sexual violence could trigger political change. Lucretia commits suicide after her rape, precipitating the fall of the monarchy. Verginia is murdered by her father, who prefers to see her die than be seized by the corrupt judge Appius; her death then inspires an uprising that overthrows the decemvirs, republican officials who abused the very laws they had codified. While these stories circulated widely in the medieval period, access to the Latin Livy was impeded by a scarcity of manuscripts. There is nonetheless evidence that some poets, notably Chaucer and Gower, knew Livy through the Tite-Live, a French translation by Pierre Bersuire that was completed around 1358, and borrowed from it for their own works.
There are many manuscripts of the Tite-Live, though little of it is available to modern readers. This book helps fill that gap by supplying critical editions and English translations of Bersuire's Verginia and Lucretia episodes, along with those in the Roman de la Rose by Jean de Meun, one of the earliest vernacular writers to show interest in Livy. Each text features a substantial critical apparatus, which glosses difficult terms and concepts and elucidates historical events and social contexts, while an introduction provides other contextual information.
NOAH D. GUYNN is Professor of French and Comparative Literature at the University of California, Davis. DAVID F. HULT is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of French at the University of California, Berkeley. ELIZABETH SCALA is Perceval Professor of Medieval Romance, Historiography, and Culture in the Department of English at the University of Texas, Austin.
Acknowledgments
List of Figures
Introduction
Notes on the Edition
Notes on Images
1. The Tale of Verginia from Bersuire's Tite-Live
2. The Tale of Lucretia from Bersuire's Tite-Live
3. The Tale of Verginia from Jean de Meun's Roman de la Rose
4. The Tale of Lucretia from Jean de Meun's Roman de la Rose
Bibliography
Index
| Erscheint lt. Verlag | 14.1.2025 |
|---|---|
| Reihe/Serie | Gallica |
| Übersetzer | Noah D Guynn, David F Hult, Elizabeth Scala |
| Zusatzinfo | 16 b/w illus. |
| Verlagsort | Cambridge |
| Sprache | englisch |
| Maße | 156 x 234 mm |
| Themenwelt | Geisteswissenschaften ► Sprach- / Literaturwissenschaft ► Anglistik / Amerikanistik |
| Geisteswissenschaften ► Sprach- / Literaturwissenschaft ► Literaturwissenschaft | |
| ISBN-10 | 1-84384-735-3 / 1843847353 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-1-84384-735-9 / 9781843847359 |
| Zustand | Neuware |
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