Linguistic Borrowing in Fulcher of Chartres!

I am finally back to tend to my blog now that work is settling down and the holidays are behind me!

As I had promised in an earlier post, Fridays will be devoted to random but compelling medieval soundbites. Today's offering comes from the Historia Heirosolymitana by Fulcher of Chartres, the famous chronicler of the First Crusade. As I was reading through the chronicle this week, I was struck by the following passage for a number of reasons, one of which being Fulcher's mentioning of linguistic borrowing in the Levant. His argument that geographic and ethnic identities are ultimately replaceable is also rather compelling and would, I sense, be of interest to those who study issues of medieval colonialism/postcolonialsim:

"A that time the sun appeared to us in dazzling color for almost one hour. It was changed by a new hyacinthine beauty and transformed into the shape of the moon as in a two-pronged eclipse. This happened on the third day before the Ides of August when the ninth hour of the day was waning.

Therefore do not marvel when you see signs in the heavens because God works miracles there as he does on earth. For just as in the heavens so also on earth He transforms and arranges all things as He wills. For if those things which he made are wonderful, more wonderful is He who made them. Consider, I pray, and reflect how in our time God has transformed the Occident into the Orient.

For we who were Occidentals have now become Orientals. He who was Roman or a Frank has in this land been made into a Galilean or a Palestinean. He who was of Rheims or Chartres had now become a citizen of Tyre ro Antioch. We have already forgotten the places of our birth; already these are unknown to many of us or not mentioned any more.

Some already possess homes or households by inheritance. Some have taken wives not only of their own people but Syrians or Armenians or even Saracens who have obtained the grace of baptism. One has his father-in-law as well as his daughter-in-law living with him, or his own child if not his step-son or step-father. Out here there are grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Some tend vineyards, others till fields.

People use the eloquence and idioms of diverse languages in conversing back and forth. Words of different languages have become common property known to each nationality, and mutual faith unites those who are ignorant of their descent. Indeed it is written "The lion and the ox shall eat straw together" [Isai.62:25]. He who was born a stranger is now as one born here; he who was born an alien has become as a native.

Our relatives and parents join us from time to time, sacrificing, even though reluctantly, all that they formerly possessed. Those who were poor in the Occident, God makes rich in this land. Those who had little money there have countless bezants here, and those who did not have a villa possess here by the gift of God a city.

Therefore why should one return to the Occident who has found the Orient like this? God does not wish those to suffer want who with their crosses dedicated themselves to follow Him, nay even to the end.

You see therefore that it is a great miracle and one which the whole world ought to admire. Who has heard anything like this? God wishes to enrich us all and draw us to Himself as His dearest friends. And because He wishes it we also freely desire it, and what is pleasing to Him we do with a loving and submissive heart in order that we may reign with him throughout eternity."

(From A History of the Expedition to Jerusalem, translated by Frances Rita Ryan, edited by Harold S. Fink (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1969), III.xxiii, 272-73).

York Mystery Plays, 2010

I recently discovered that the performance of the Mystery Cycle in York, which I was fortunate enough to see this past summer, is available for purchase from the production's website! A preview/making-of video is available on YouTube:



The plays themselves were truly spectacular and richly inventive. Each troupe had their own, elaborately decorated wagon, and performed their play at various stations throughout the city, much as the guilds would have done centuries ago. I watched all of the 12 plays selected for this past summer's festival, which totaled about five hours of performance time! Rather than traveling to different stations and taking a risk of missing one of the plays, I opted to watch all of them in succession at Dean's Park, with the stunning York Minster just behind the performance site.

If you are at all interested in medieval cycle plays, and/or plan to teach medieval drama at some point, I really recommend picking up a copy of this DVD. Not only is the price rather reasonable, and the plays remarkable, but you'll also be supporting future production of the cycle plays in the town of York. For more info, you can check out the following website: http://www.yorkmysteryplays.co.uk/.

Finally, here are some photos I took while watching the plays this past summer -- hope you enjoy them!

Wessex, Mouvance, and Magnussona Saga

This is just a brief shout-out, of sorts. I am currently working on my MLA paper -- one that explores the nomadic qualities of Manussona Saga -- and am in the process of discussing the text in terms of the theory of 'mouvance' as established by Paul Zumthor and Michel Zink. In my cursory searches for writings on/about this theory, I stumbled upon this wonderful website:Wessex Parallel Web Texts. In addition to providing a wealth of information on medieval Insular lyrics (the Harley Lyrics in particular), it also includes a cogent summation of the theory of 'mouvance' as well as a case-study which can be quite easily incorporated into a lesson-plan on medieval lyric poetry. Hope you enjoy!

Greetings, Kingdom of the Internets!

Having grown inspired by the number of wonderful medievalist blogs cropping up of late, I have decided to create one of my own. I am looking forward to the adventure and hope that this little patch of ether proves itself useful and entertaining to those who stumble upon it.

My main goal in establishing this blog is to create a space in which I can write on anything medieval in nature that catches my interest -- whether it be pop culture, film, television, contemporary poetry and fiction, or (of course) the work I'm currently doing on my dissertation! The latter explores the influence the crusades wielded on late Middle English romance, and I just wrapped up a chapter draft that examines the differing treatments of Eastern races across various Middle English texts.

My hope is to contribute something substantial to the blog at least twice a week, with Fridays being a "special" day in which I offer a random factoid about Medieval England. Stay tuned. They will be strange. And funny. Hopefully very funny.

Additionally, this blog will serve as a way to document and regale readers with my Medieval-Studies related travels -- to conferences, etc.

And, as my little header indicated, I might occasionally branch off from "things medieval" from time to time to write about some of my other great loves: karate, hula, and yoga. The first I have done since 2003 and -- through a series of serendipitous events -- I found myself the head instructor for my university's Shotokan club about two years ago. Teaching and training in Shotokan has helped keep me sane and excited about my work, and I often find myself comparing my work to the things (both physical and metaphysical) I've learned by practicing karate. As for hula, I was born in Kailua, Oahu, and have danced traditional hula since I was a little girl. Finally, I've been practicing Vinyasa yoga for over a year now and it -- like karate and hula -- has helped keep me passionate about living and working. And so, I might slide into talking about these non-medieval topics on my blog -- mainly to comment on the good that they do me in the midst of projects, grading, article writing, and dissertating!