The Whitby life of Gregory the Great: exegesis and hagiography

The eight-century Whitby Vita Gregorii is one of the earliest examples of Anglo-Saxon hagiography, and is the earliest surviving life of Gregory the Great (590-604). The work has proved itself an anomaly in subject matter, style and approach, not least because of the writer’s apparently arbitrary insertion of an account of the retrieval of the relics of the Anglo-Saxon King Edwin (d.633). There has, however, been relatively little research on the document to date, the most recent concentrating on elements in the Gregorian material in the work. The present thesis adapts a methodology which identifies patristic exegetical themes and techniques in the Vita. That is not only in material originating from the pen of Gregory himself, which is freely quoted and cited by the writer, but also in the narrative episodes concerning the Pope. It also identifies related exegetical themes underlying the narrative of the Anglo-Saxon material in the document, and this suggests that the work is of much greater coherence then has previously been thought. In the course of the thesis some of the Vita Gregorii’s major patristic themes are compared with Bede and other insular writers in the presentation of topics that have been of considerable interest to insular historians in recent years. That is themes including: the conversion and salvation of the English people; the ideal pastor; monastic influence on formation of Episcopal spiritual authority; relations between king and bishop. The thesis also includes a re-evaluation of the possible historical context and purpose of the work, and demonstrates the value of a proper understanding of the Vita’s spiritual nature in order to achieve this. Finally the research is supported by a new structural analysis of the entire Vita Gregorii as an artefact formed within literary traditions.

But if you desire God and His Messenger : The concept of choice in Sahih al-Bukhari

The aim of this dissertation is to discuss the concept of choice in the most important collection of Islamic traditions, Sahih al-Bukhari. The author of the collection, Muhammad ibn Isma'il al-Bukhari, lived between 810-870. My starting point is the collection of texts as it is now in its normative, established form. I read the hadiths as pieces of reality, not as statements about reality. The historicity of the texts has no role at all in my analysis. Part I sketches out the hagiography of the life and work of the author and provides a short history of the development of hadith literature and the processes of collecting and classifying the texts are discussed briefly. Part one ends with the presentation of my way of using rhetorical analysis as a methodological tool. Part II introduces my analysis of the concept of choice. It is divided into ten chapters, each concentrating on one hadith cluster. Part II ends with a discussion of the philosophy of free will and predestination in early Islam. Hadith literature is often considered as a representative of predestinarian theology compared to the Qur'an which emphasises the reponsibility of people of their own acts. In my conclusions I suggest that accoding to the texts in Sahih al-Bukhari, people do deal with real choices in their lives. The collection includes both strictly predestinarian texts but it also compises texts which claim that people are demanded to make real choices, even choices concerning life and death.

Los demonios en la hagiografía latina hispana: algunas calas

[ES] El autor examina el motivo de la presencia del diablo en la hagiografía latina de la Hispania visigótica y medieval, centrándose para ello en la 'Vita Emiliani' de Braulio de Zaragoza, en la 'Replicatio sermonum aprima conversione' de Valerio de Bierzo y en la 'Vita Martini Legionensis' de Lucas de Tuy. Y, en apéndice final, se estudian las locuciones y términos latinos mediante los cuales Braulio de Zaragoza designa al diablo.

¿Encargó Braulio de Zaragoza a Eugenio de Toledo que compusiera una Misa de San Millán?: para una interpretación de «Vita Emiliani», 3, 5-10

[EN] What is Braulio asking from Eugenius in this passage: that he requires a Mass to be celebrated (where?) in honour of San Millán, or that Eugenius himself writes the Mass, or, simply, some parts or prayers for it? Firstly, translations and interpretations provided by scholars to date are checked and criticized; then an interpretation of the passage is proposed, being based on textual criticism approaches, on the work context and on the cultural environment in which this work takes place.

La «Vita Emiliani» de Braulio de Zaragoza: el autor, la cronología y los motivos para su redacción

[ES] En este trabajo se pretende realizar un estudio histórico-filológico de algunos puntos centrales de 'Vita Emiliani' y que responden a las preguntas siguientes: ¿Por qué Braulio de Zaragoza, uno de los obispos más importantes de la Hispania visigótica, escribe la vida de San Millán, un eremita, un santo un tanto singular, con asomos polémicos y aristas molestas? ¿Qué vinculación tenía la familia altoeclesiástica de Braulio con el centro monástico de San Millán? ¿Por qué se eligio a Braulio para escribir la 'Vita'? ¿cCómo reaccionó Braulio ante esa solicitud? ¿Pretendió Braulio dibujar un santo nacional para la Hispania visigótica? ¿Quería Braulio hacer de Millán un modelo ortodoxo frente a los arrianos y/o priscilianistas? ¿Se escribió 'Vita Emiliani' con una finalidad y textura apologética? ¿Nació 'V. Em.' para una función y uso litúrgico? ¿Qué clase de público leería 'V. Em.'? Además, en los dos primeros puntos del trabajo se intenta precisar la fecha de composición de 'V. Em.' mediante la discusión de los datos pertinentes, y se da un sucinto panorama de la historia de su autoría.

¿Uno o dos frunimianos en 'Vita Emiliani' y cartas de Braulio de Zaragoza?

[EN] We try to prove, with arguments taken from the texts, that the person named "Fruinianus", to whom Braulio de Saragossa addresses his letters XIII and XIV in his epistolary, is the same Frunimianus as the one from the introductory letter to 'Vita Emiliani', that is, Braulio's brother.

Hagiografía hispanolatina visigótica y medieval (s. VII-XII)

Coordinador de las actas: Maurilio Pérez González

Las vitae sanctorum de la Hispania medieval: sus manuscritos y su historia editorial

Ejemplar dedicado a: Hagiografía y archivos de la Iglesia santoral hispano-mozárabe en las Diócesis de España. Actas del XVIII Congreso de la Asociación celebrado en Orense (1ª parte) (9 al 13 de septiembre de 2002).