The "Scottish Legendary": Towards a Poetics of Hagiographic Narration

Description

This is the first book-length study of the late-fourteenth-century 'Scottish Legendary', the only extant collection of saints' lives in the vernacular from medieval Scotland. The fifty saints' legends are remarkable for their narrative art: the enjoyment of reading the legends is heightened, while didactic and edifying content is toned down. This study scrutinises the dynamics of hagiographic narration, its implicit assumptions about literariness and the functions of telling the lives of the saints. Focusing on the role of the narrator, the depiction of the saintly characters, their interiority, as well as temporal and spatial parameters, the author demonstrates that the Scottish poet has adapted the traditional material to the needs of an audience versed in reading romance and other secular genres. The legends of the saints are 'secularised' in their narrative design and the emphasis put on aspects such as familial conflict and interpersonal tensions. The Scottish compilation is placed within the hagiographic landscape of medieval Britain: while undoubtedly bearing similarities to other vernacular saints' legends such as the 'South English Legendary' or Osbern Bokenham's legends, it ultimately follows its own agenda of popularising the hagiographic tales. The implications of the Scottish poet's narrative strategies are scrutinised also with respect to the Scottishness of the legendary. This study will be of interest to students and academics interested in late medieval narrative, the legends of the saints, and the intersections of secular and religious literature in medieval Britain. List of illustrations Acknowledgements List of abbreviations Introduction The 'Scottish Legendary' and narrative art Introducing the 'Scottish Legendary' Saints lives as narratives Transcending genre: the Scottish Legendary and romance Notes 1. Towards a narrative poetics of medieval saints’ lives Narrative theory and the Scottish Legendary: a pragmatic approach Narrative 'communication' and the open text: performing saints’ legends Notes 2. Teacher and poet: the narrator in the Scottish Legendary The Prologue of the 'Scottish Legendary' Metanarrative and narratorial roles Digressions and prayers Narrating the Scottish Legendary: conclusions Notes 3. Words and deeds: character depiction and direct discourse Disruptive speech: female martyrs and pagan rulers Holy and hollow? Narrating the saint Mary of Egypt: how to talk without conversing Theodora: the saint, the witch, and the adulterer Andrew: a conversation postponed Conclusions: gender, miracles, and the spoken word Notes 4. Putting the saint in perspective: ideology and hagiographic narration Parameters of perspective: narrating the Other Foregrounding and the miraculous Conclusions: authorising the hagiographic narratives Notes 5. Saintly interiority: narrating conscience and consciousness The representation of consciousness Limiting the point of view Conclusions Notes 6. The past, a foreign country: time, space, and the Scottishness of the 'Scottish Legendary' Salvation history and the suspension of time Sanctifying space(s) How Scottish is the 'Scottish Legendary'? Notes Conclusion: A poetics of hagiographic narration Notes Appendix: the 'Scottish Legendary': authorship, dialect, and arrangement Scribal practice Dialect and dating Dedications to the saints Arrangement of the legends Bibliography Primary sources Secondary sources Online databases Index