Hi-This topic may have been raised here before. I am becoming really interested in medieval Latin, esp. history and poetry. Does anybody have a brief bibliography of secondary stuff on these topics? I am using Waddell’s “Medieval Latin Lyrics” and an i-net version of one of the crusader historians (forgot his name) as texts. Some background for these authors & a modern intro to Medieval Latin in general would be very welcome. Thanks! P.S. If you have a fav. Medieval Latin author, tell me! Thanks, Paige.
Iulianus, a colleague and friend of ours, would be the one to ask.
I’m no Iulianus, but perhaps I can assist anyway. 
Helen Waddell’s own bibliographies are good places to start. She references excellent texts by Stephen Gaselee, FJE Raby, Thomas Wright, and other English authors, and she also cites the standard works by Schumann/Hilke and Migne.
I read Raby’s text on secular Medieval poetry last year. His style is not so attractive as Waddell’s, but it is readable and his critical acumen is at least as sharp as HW’s (who I admire greatly).
So, some specific recommendations:
Medieval Latin - Karl P Harrington : Be sure to get the earlier edition. It’s something of a hodge-podge, but you’ll find some unusual selections there, along with some standard great stuff (Abelard, Erigena, the Carmina Burana, etc.).
A History Of Secular Medieval Latin Poetry - FJE Raby : Lengthy scholarly work that covers a much wider domain than HW (she’s mainly focused on the lyric poetry, he covers all genres). His book on Christian Medieval Latin poetry is equally recommended.
The Oxford Book Of Medieval Latin Verse : Another fine collection.
Biblia Sacra : A must-have if you’re serious about Medieval Latin.
Check Amazon and eBay for listings too. IIRC there’s a nice primer of Medieval Latin available [added: Beeson. Iuliano gratias.], and there are many other collections and anthologies.
Favorite authors/works ? The Archpoet is 'way up there on my list, along with Hugh Primas, the Carmina Burana, and the Waltharius. You’ll definitely want to read the selection by Angilbert in the MLL collection you have already. Medieval Latin prose is an embarassment of riches: the letters of Abelard and Heloise, the cosmic ruminations of Bernard Silvestris, almost anything by John of Salisbury, Dante’s Latin writings (especially the De Vulgari Eloquio)… the list goes on and on.
At its worst Medieval Latin literature is derivative, but it rarely displays the sterility of later more self-conscious revivals of the language. To the Medieval scholars antiquity was an age not so very far from their own, and their handling of its legacies is fundamentally different from the more artificial reverence of the Renaissance scholars. At its best Medieval Latin continues the classical cursus and brings a new note into Romance literature, the note that signalled the great change to come in the 15th century. And as HW points out, there are simply no better Spring songs to be found anywhere.
You might also like to read some of HW’s English fiction. Her “Peter Abelard” does a very nice job of conjuring the atmosphere of the high Middle Ages. Among her other non-fiction work I recommend “The Wandering Scholars” and “The Desert Saints”.
And while you’re at it you might like to read Thomas Mann’s “The Holy Sinner”, a wonderful modern realization of the Medieval tall tales regarding Pope Gregory The Great.
Some of the poems from the Carmina Burana have musical settings in the manuscripts. The recordings by the New London Consort and the Studio Der Fruehe Musik are highly recommended. Btw, the songs are often so tuneful that I suggest memorizing a handful for vocabulary practice. The Carmina Burana are also well-known in their more famous modern arrangements by Carl Orff. These days I prefer the gentler sounds of the Medieval orchestrations, but Orff’s setting of the Archpoet’s masterpiece is unforgettable (and well worth memorizing).
For language study I suggest looking into Jozsef Herman’s “Vulgar Latin”. This book is a most readable account of the processes by which Latin changed into the Romance languages. Very highly recommended.
Btw. Medieval Latin is not a homogenous study. The language is now categorized into Late Latin (the literary language of the very late Empire), Ecclesiastical Latin (the language as used within the Church), Vulgar Latin (spoken and colloquial Latin), and Medieval Latin (a specific evolution within intentional communities e.g. scholars and other researchers). Perhaps Iulianus will recommend a general study text, I don’t know of any that I can personally recommend.
At some point you may want to expand your studies into the wider world of Medieval literature. The poetry of the Troubadours (old Occitan aka Provencal) is most attractive, and the works of Francois Villon are a corrective to any over-romanticized notion of the era. See Ezra Pound’s “The Spirit Of Romance” for a readable introduction.
One more comment: While the study of Medieval Latin is gratifying in & of itself I urge you to continue study of the Classics, particularly Virgil and Ovid. Their importance to the Medieval literary mind cannot be overemphasized, and along with the Biblia Sacra you will eventually need to know those two authors in some depth. You’ll also be well-advised to read some Augustine, Boethius, Jerome, and other works by early Church Fathers and other Christian authors.
Great to hear you’re interested! I myself have started reading some medieval Latin and taking classes about a year ago, and absolutely fell in love with it. I’ll try and mention a few things you might find useful, even though Cantator has done an excellent job of outlining what’s available.
Beeson’s “A primer of medieval Latin” is a great way to start reading all kinds of medieval latin prose and poetry, spanning the entire middle ages. It has a good selection of poetry, if that interests you the most, including (selections of) poems of Fortunatus, Alcuin, Hrabanus Maurus, Walahfrid Strabo, Ekkehart’s “Waltharius”, and of course the Carmina Burana. The “Waltharius”, as Cantator already mentioned, is a great epic poem thats worth reading entirely; a nice, cheap, edition is this one, which has a good introduction with it (in German though). The big downside of Beeson’s anthology, however, is the lack of any real introduction matter; it’s just one text presented after another.
A book that remedies this is Sidwell’s “Reading Medieval Latin”, which has wonderful introductions and brief overviews of the latin of middle ages, as well as a handy orthographical appendix. The only problem here, however, is that it’s mostly prose; there’s only one small section of poetry here.
If you want any good secondairy materials though, I’m afraid I’m going to have to go old-school on you; the best works (mea opinio) are still the german ones:
Curtius’ “Europäische Literatur und lateinisches Mittelalter” from 1967; it’s been translated by Trask in 1990.
Strecker’s “Einführung in das Mittellatein”, translated by Palmer (Introduction to Medieval Latin) in 1976.
A final recommendation I would like to make, is Theodulf’s Carmina ad Carolum Regem; it’s great satire, and not in the least bit stingy, either. As far as I know, there’s not really any good edition available (I used a university syllabus), but the poem is accessible on this great website.
I hope this helps a bit; don’t hesitate to ask if you have any more questions!
Iulianus
William Paden’s An Introduction to Old Occitan (1998) also has a few reading selections which will correct sentimental ideas about the Troubadors. It’s probably the best book currently available in English for learning that language. For latinists or those interested in historical linguistics, the second section (of five) covers the phonological development of VL to OOc.
Gang: Thank you!! This is enough for one lifetime-i really didn’t know what was available on Med. Latin (I’m pretty well up on classical ). I’ve read sporadically in Medieval history (& culture)-nice to know that med. Latin lit. is a whole new world to explore. I’ve studied classics off and on for about eight years, & I’m still surprised by how vast the field is. Thanks again. Paige
Hi there,
I’m doing a medieval Latin course in a couple of months . That book you mentioned in your opening post (medieval latin lyrics by waddell) truly sounds interesting to me. Could you tell me something more about it?
Viking-I have a paperback version-forget what it costs-but it wasn’t too much. It is by Helen Waddell & the title is just “Medieval Latin Lyrics”. Sorry I don’t have it with me, so I could tell you the publisher, etc. But it’s pretty well known. It starts with poetry actually from the late Roman era, and goes up to late Medieval. It has the Latin text of the poem on the left page, & a good modern English trans. on the right. Very useable & Ms. Waddell is supposed to be good with her translations. Very readable-I would really recommend it. Also her intro & comments are good-all i know about the subject so far, i learned from reading them. Regards, Paige.
well, it looks like the book is not available where I live (in the Netherlands), so I’ve ordered ‘Reading medieval Latin’ by Keith Sidwell, which according member Iulianus, would be a great substitute . Thanks anyway .
Viking-If you look in Barnes & Noble “Used & Out of Print” you can find almost anything! I get a lot of books there, at really good prices. Also, might try Amazon’s used section. Good luck-it really is a nice book. Paige.