Walter POHL – Andre GINGRICH (Eds.)
medieval worlds • no. 7 • 2018
VERGING ON THE POLEMICAL: EXPLORING THE BOUNDARIES OF MEDIEVAL RELIGIOUS POLEMIC ACROSS GENRES AND RESEARCH CULTURES
Reima Välimäki
S. 153 - 169
doi:
10.1553/medievalworlds_no7_2018s153
Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften
doi:
10.1553/medievalworlds_no7_2018s153
Abstract:
Ulrich von Pottenstein translated Petrus Zwicker’s anti-Waldensian treatise Cum dormirent homines (1395) in his large catechetical encyclopaedia (ca. 1410), written in Early New High German. The translation was dispersed in different chapters, transforming the reading experience of the anti-heretical work but at the same time adding a polemical element to a pastoral text. The article discusses the historical context of Zwicker’s original Latin treatise and Ulrich’s translation, in particular the inquisitions against Waldensians that Zwicker led in Austria in the 1390s, as well as Ulrich’s ecclesiastical career. The second part of the article explores solutions Ulrich had to employ when he translated a text for a lay audience that was not only polemical but also required from its readers a basic understanding of exegesis. Finally, the reasons for Ulrich’s decision to translate Zwicker and the composite nature of the pastoral-didactic text with polemical passages is discussed. As for polemical treatises in general, the motivation behind Ulrich’s translation was to defend the Church against its enemies. Ulrich’s vernacular text had potential to extend the audience of a Latin anti-heretical treatise, but his catechetical encyclopaedia was too large and tedious to read to ever become a popular work. The article proposes that the polemical nature of the original was not mitigated in the process. On the contrary, Ulrich does not shy away from using denigrating or violent language, and polemical style is an essential part of his catechesis. A further study of polemical style in late-medieval pastoral and didactic works, especially vernacular texts, is proposed as a promising area of future research.
heresy; Waldensians; anti-heretical polemics; pastoral care; inquisition; Zwicker, Petrus; Ulrich von Pottenstein; translation; Early New High German, Wiener Schule
Published Online:
2018/06/29 15:07:25
Document Date:
2018/06/29 15:02:00
Object Identifier:
0xc1aa5572 0x00390b18
Rights:All rights reserved.For questions regarding copyright and copies please contact us by email.
MEDIEVAL WORLDS provides a new forum for interdisciplinary and transcultural studies of the Middle Ages. Specifically it encourages and links comparative research between different regions and fields and promotes methodological innovation in transdisciplinary studies. Focusing on the Middle Ages (c. 400-1500 CE, but can be extended whenever thematically fruitful or appropriate), MEDIEVAL WORLDS takes a global approach to studying history in a comparative setting.
MEDIEVAL WORLDS is open to regular submissions on comparative topics, but also offers the possibility to propose or advertise subjects that lend themselves to comparison. With a view to connecting people working on related topics in different academic environments, we publish calls for matching articles and for contributions on particular issues.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Verging on the Polemical: Towards an Interdisciplinary Approach to Medieval Religious Polemic
Sita Steckel
Escalations and/in the Different Contexts of Polemical Engagements
Anti-Jewish Polemics in Business Documents from Late Medieval Austria
Birgit Wiedl
Good and Bad Friars: Polemical Patterns and Strategies between Franciscans in the Early Fourteenth Century
Melanie Brunner
Obediencia, reformatio and veritas: Ecclesiological Debates during the Western Great Schism (1378-1417)
Bénédicte Sère
Polemics Investigated in a Late Fifteenth-Century Fastnachtspiel (Shrovetide Play)
Claudia Daiber
Embedding and Disembedding Polemical Texts
The Text as Heretic: Mixed Genres and Polemical Techniques in a Refutation of the Mirror of Simple Souls
Justine Trombley
Transfers of Anti-Waldensian Material from a Polemical Treatise to a Didactic Text
Reima Välimäki
Magistra magistrorum: Hildegard of Bingen as a Polemicist against False Teaching
Andra Alexiu
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