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Queeste. Tijdschrift over middeleeuwse letterkunde in de Nederlanden. Jaargang 2005 (2005)

Queeste. Tijdschrift over middeleeuwse letterkunde in de Nederlanden. Jaargang 2005

(2005)– [tijdschrift] Queeste–rechtenstatus Auteursrechtelijk beschermd

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Medieval Multilingualism: A New International Project
Bart Besamusca & Thea Summerfield

Following the start of a new international project on multilingualism we here present current plans for cooperation on this subject between scholars in the Low Countries and England.

 

In the Middle Dutch romance Van den vos Reynaerde Reynaert the fox is on his way one day to King Nobel's court. Reynaert will have to account there for his many misdeeds. He is accompanied by Grimbeert, the badger. Pretending to be in the throes of death, Reynaert expresses the need to confess his sins to his companion. When the badger consents, the fox recites the beginning of the confession formulary as follows: Confiteor, pater, mater (L. 1453). His garbled version of the Latin (Confiteor, pater, peccavi) is interpreted by the badger as being French: Oem, walschedi? he asks (L. 1457. ‘Uncle, are you speaking French?’). A fox speaking corrupt Latin and a badger unintentionally revealing that he knows neither French nor Latin: multilingualism in this passage is quite clearly used by the poet of the Middle Dutch text to poke fun at two representatives of the aristocracy.1 Passages such as these, and many other instances of multilingualism will be the focus of interest of a considerable group of scholars in the next few years.

 

In the autumn of 2003 the Utrecht Centre for Medieval studies (UCMS) was invited by Dr Ad Putter of the University of Bristol to take part in a project entitled Multilingualism in Medieval Societies (2005-2008), organized by the universities of Bristol and Madison Wisconsin, and supported by the WUN network in which Utrecht as well as the organizing universities participate. WUN stands for Worldwide Universities Network, a global research-led network linking universities in Europe, the United States and China. Medieval Studies is the only discipline from the Arts and Humanities sector of academie research in the Network; other projects concern such ‘hard’ science as Bioinformatics, Biogeochemistry and ‘Intelligent Uninhabited Air Vehicles’.2 Participants in The Multilingualism Project are medievalists from the universities of Bristol, York, Leeds and Sheffield in the U.K., Madison Wisconsin and Pennsylvania State in the U.S., Bergen and Oslo in Norway, and Utrecht, where the coordinators are Bart Besamusca and Thea Summerfield.

Ad Putter's invitation came at a time when ideas for a project on this same subject, multilingualism, had been discussed in the UCMS for some time, and had even taken fairly definite form. All concerned quickly realized that participation in this larger project would have many advantages. The reaction during a staff meeting with all the Utrecht medievalists where this idea was presented was very positive: at least twelve colleagues expressed their interest in the project and their willingness to take part in workshops and seminars. What was clear from the start, however, was that everyone was wary of ‘conference overload’. Teaching takes a great deal of everyone's time and energy, and most people were already involved in other research projects, all of which organize conferences, symposia etc.

Participation in the WUN project had a financial, as well as an academie component. Fortunately WUN Utrecht and the Prestige Master Fund Medieval Studies Utrecht were kind enough to share

this financial burden. After a slight delay the project was started officially in October 2005, and a first meeting of the representatives of participating universities was organized in Bristol on 10th October 2005. Some of those representatives were present in person (i.e. from Utrecht, York, Bergen), others took part in the discussion by video-link (Penn State, Madison, Leeds). A major point of discussion was the direction the research in the project should take, as the study of multilingualism, the occurrence of more than one or two languages in use in a particular society at a particular time, has many facets, some of which, such as translation strategies and intertextuality, already have a long research tradition. In the meeting a strong argument was presented (especially by York and Utrecht) to focus primarily on the function of multilingualism within specific communities. And again the danger of ‘conference overload’ was stressed. Since then further discussions about the project as a whole have been held in Utrecht with Keith Busby, representing the co-organizing university of Madison Wisconsin.

Soon after the invitation had been received, and the formalities had been concluded, the Utrecht side of the project was started. On Monday, 20 June 2005, a preliminary meeting was organized in Utrecht for all those who had indicated interest in the project, and anyone else who might be interested. We were lucky enough to find Dr Anna Adamska, who has long been occupied with yet another contingent area of multilingualism, orality and literacy, prepared to read a paper entitled ‘Middeleeuwse meertaligheid - een uitdaging voor de historicus?’ (Medieval Multilingualism - a challenge for the historian?).

As a result of this meeting it became clearer how we should proceed, and where possible difficulties lay. The discussions with colleagues abroad have further sharpened our ideas of the focus we should wish to maintain on the subject of multilingualism in Utrecht. It also became clear quite quickly that many people have been aware of the use of more than one language in the texts, songs, illuminations, manuscripts, objects etc. that they have been studying, without giving the matter - and its implications - a second thought. It is hoped that this project will at the very least help to create an increased awareness of such implications. And finally we decided on a way of exploring this subject in a way that would hopefully prove rewarding to all participants while at the same time remaining ‘low profile’.

Multilingualism has many facets, as our first workshop on 7th November 2005 made clear. Our main speaker, Dr Elizabeth Archibald from the University of Bristol, revisited the subject of macaronic poetry.3 Macaronic poems cleverly combine English, French and Latin, sometimes two of these languages, sometimes all three. There are poems where lines in different languages alternate, or where the language changes in mid sentence. Often such poems express political discontent or are satirical in intent. Certainly their multilingual character would draw attention, as in this bilingual attack on the friars, dated c. 1400:

 
freers, freers, wo ye be! / ministry malorum. /
 
for many a mannes soule brynge ye / ad penas inffernorum ...[sic]
 
 
 
(Friars, friars, woe be to you! ministers of evil.
 
For many a man's soul you bring/ to the torments of hell.)4

or in this trilingual satire on the state of the land written in the reign of Edward II (1307-1327) (for reasons of space only two out of the 36 lines are given):

 
En seynt eglise sunt multi saepe priores;
 
Summe beoth wyse, multi sunt inferiores.
(In holy church there are often many who hold advanced situations; some are wise, many are inferior.)5

Subsequently the other speakers at the workshop presented ten-minute papers, and many intriguing questions. Below follow brief abstracts of their contributions, provided by the speakers.

Erik Kooper: Trilingual manuscripts in England

Between 1100 and 1500 England had a trilingual society, in which Latin, French and English were used by specific social groups, although they could also serve as languages of communication between these. After the Norman Conquest of 1066 anti-Norman feelings remained strong especially in the West Midlands.

The multilingualistic reality is visible in two manuscripts produced in the period between 1250 and 1350: Oxford, Bodleian Library MS Digby 86 (late 13th century), and London, British Library MS Harley 2253 (early 14th century). Each manuscript was written by a single scribe, and both contain a wide variety of texts in all three languages, sometimes even found on the same page, without any noticeable change in the script or lay-out. The mixing of languages is also manifested in such things as French titles for poems in English or Latin ones for French texts, while a Latin poem that was added later to accompany the preceding poem in English shows the varied predilections of different types of users.

The manuscripts are private productions, and can be connected with families in the border counties between England and Wales, an area where in this period the English language was used more often in written material than in the rest of the country.

Martine Meuwese: Miniaturists and multilingualism

Miniaturists illuminating medieval manuscripts often based their illustrations on annotations written in the margin at an earlier stage of production. Such notes tend to be written in the language best understood by the illuminator. This could be Latin or a vernacular, but sometimes different languages were mixed. Little attention has been paid so far to multilingual instructions or to the abbreviations used as colour indicators derived from different languages in one and the same manuscript. Yet understanding this phenomenon may afford insight into the background and knowledge of the illuminator, how he used his source, the circumstances in which the book was produced or the place where it was made.

Anna Adamska: Medieval Multilingualism and the Social Roles of Languages

Whatever languages are, they are also instruments of social behaviour. Examples of the effects of the conscious choice of one language rather than another can be found in the history of international politics, i.e. in diplomacy. The choice of a language by one party often was unacceptable to another party, e.g. if the tongue of a political enemy was chosen. Irrespective of whether the receivers of the message could in fact understand the language, and irrespective of the content of the message, choosing an ‘indecent’ language might deliberately offend the addressee. The use of the vernacular could express an exceptionally strongly national consciousness. This happened in East Central Europe (Bohemia, Poland and Hungary), where German, acceptable as a vehicle for ‘Western’ culture but politically very ambiguous, was put into a situation of ‘linguistic conflict’ with the local vernaculars. In this region of intensely felt linguistic tensions, political communication was best conducted in Latin, a language that was considered both ‘decent’ and emotionally indifferent.

José van der Helm: Making a text edition of a Latin-Italian book of proverbs

Arpád Orbán and myself have been working for some time on a critical edition (with introduction and commentary) of a fifteenth-century manuscript now in the British Library and known there as Breve opusculum quorundam notabilium seu auctoritatum multorum sapientium. Our research will also include the bilingual aspect of the text: medieval Latin side by side with an Italian that has the dialect features of the Veneto. In addition to a linguistic analysis of the two languages, we shall address such questions as: What was the implicit significance of the use of the two languages? What is the purpose that this bilingual text was to serve, and who was or were the intended users?

Jacqueline Borsje: Fairies, demons and jokes: examples of multilingualism in medieval Ireland

Three examples of medieval Irish multilingualism were discussed. The second one dealt with demons in an Old Irish poem. The leader of a band of robbers makes off with his rival's wife. Instead of a romantic night a bloodbath ensues and the decapitated leader of the robbers appears as a ghost to his lover. By way of a last will and testament he composes a poem: the woman is to commemorate him by erecting a stone in his memory and by passing on the poem. She may appropriate his treasure. At the same time he warns her of a number of things, among them the ‘terror (úath) of the night’. Úatha are supernatural creatures who test warriors, kings and the sons of kings (Borsje 2005). But why should such a creature present a danger to a woman? If we translate the Irish into Latin, we find that the puzzle can be solved. The timor nocturnus is a biblical demon who frightens people in the dark of night and is especially dangerous for newly weds. This night marked the new marriage of the leader of the robber band and the woman. In other words, to understand the story we need knowledge of both the Irish narrative tradition and Semitic and Latin traditions.

 

In Utrecht we intend to organize further workshops focusing on the function of multilingualism in the Low Countries and England, both as country-specific phenomena and in comparison; in other words, on multilingualism in action. We aim to organize a series of thematic afternoon sessions or ‘workshops’ for participants from the UU, other Dutch and Belgian universities, but certainly also scholars (currently) not working in a university. For each session one or more guest speaker(s) will be invited. The next workshop, entitled ‘Multilingualism at the court’, is planned for Monday, 12 June, 14.00-17.00, Sweelinkzaal, Drift 21, Utrecht. Speakers will be Dr. Serge Lusignan, University of Montreal, Dr Remco Sleiderink, Katholieke Universiteit Brussel, and Dr Livia Visser-Fuchs, an independent scholar.6 They will discuss aspects of multilingual discourse at the courts of France, Brabant and England respectively. After the workshop drinks will be served in the hall of Drift 21.

Plans for future workshops are also taking shape, and will involve the participation of linguists who have expressed an interest in our project. We shall be very pleased to avail ourselves of the opportunity to deepen our knowledge of linguistic processes at work in multilingual societies. Suggestions for sessions in 2007 are also welcome; much is possible. Think, for example, of multilingualism in manuscripts (lay-out, annotations, multilingual codices, rubrication and text in different languages, etc); migration (what do guides for travellers say about foreign languages, multilingual songs by trouveres and troubadours, communication in different language environments, crusades, comments on immigrants, wordlists etc), multilingualism as a tool to introduce satirical or ironie intent, multilingualism in romances, artes texts, etc. Please contact either Bart Besamusca or Thea Summerfield if you wish to participate or wish to be kept informed of future events.

 

In addition, a number of research activities have been organized by members of the project other than Utrecht: conferences in York, Madison and Bristol,7 and a series of video-linked seminars in which Utrecht will participate. The first such seminar will be ‘broadcast’ from Utrecht on 22 March. Speakers will be Thea Summerfield and Marco Mostert. The subject that the two speakers will discuss has been announced as ‘Approaches to Medieval Multilingualism so far - An attempt at assessment’. A second video-linked seminar in which we shall be involved more passively is scheduled for 10 May.

Address of the authors: Bart Besamusca (Bart.Besamusca@let.uu.nl), Instituut Nederlands, Trans 10, nl-3512 jk Utrecht & Thea Summerfield (thsummer@iae.nl), Vanvitelliweg 35, nl-5624 jk Eindhoven.

Bibliography

Archibald, Elizabeth, ‘Tradition and Innovation in the Macaronic Poetry of Dunbar and Skelton’, in: Modern Language Quarterly 53 (1992), 126-149.
Borsje,J., ‘“Fled Bricrenn” and tales of terror’, forthcoming in: Peritia. Journal of the Medieval Academy of Ireland 19.
Bouwman, André, & Bart Besamusca (eds), Reynaert in tweevoud. Deel 1, Van den vos Reynaerde. Amsterdam, 2002.
Coss, Peter (introd.), Thomas Wright's Political Songs of England. From the Reign of John to that of Edward II. First published London, 1839. Rpt. 1996.
Lusignan, Serge, Parler vulgairement. Les intellectuels et la langue française aux XIIe et XIVe siècles. Paris, 1987.
Lusignan, Serge, La langue des wis au Moyen Âge. Le français en France et en Angleterre. Paris, 2004.
Robbins, R.H., Historical Poems of the 14th and 15th Centuries. New York, 1959.
Sleiderink, Remco, De stem van de meester. De hertogen van Brabant en hun rol in het literaire leven (1106-1430). Amsterdam, 2003.
Visser-Fuchs, Livia, & Anne Sutton, The hours of Richard III. Stroud, 1990.
Visser-Fuchs, Livia, & Anne Sutton, Richard III's Books. Ideals and Reality in the Life and Library of a Medieval Prince. Stroud, 1997.

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