Julian Yolles | Brepols Publishers (original) (raw)

Papers by Julian Yolles

Research paper thumbnail of A Companion to Josephus in the Medieval West

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Research paper thumbnail of Scientific Language in the Latin Qur'ans of Robert of Ketton and Mark of Toledo

Journal of Qur'anic Studies, 2020

This paper centres on the Latin translations of the Qur'an by Robert of Ketton (d. 1142–1143)... more This paper centres on the Latin translations of the Qur'an by Robert of Ketton (d. 1142–1143) and Mark of Toledo (d. 1209), as viewed within the context of their earlier translations of scientific works. In previous scholarship, the Latin Qur'ans of Robert of Ketton and Mark of Toledo have been studied with respect to linguistic features and considered separately from their translations of astrological and medical texts. This paper proposes to reunite these strands of translation activity by examining the ways in which scientific discourse influenced these Latin translations of the Qur'an. The paper demonstrates that the translators incorporated their scientific expertise into their translations of the Qur'an by employing terminology specific to their respective fields of astrology and medicine. On the basis of this new evidence, it is argued that Robert of Ketton sought to promote the study of astrology and astronomy, while Mark of Toledo's use of medical jargon...

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Research paper thumbnail of Latin vigilance and Greek invention in twelfth-century Antioch.: A new interpretation of 'Adelphus

A twelfth-century Latin account claims to record a conversation with a Greek Christian in Antioch... more A twelfth-century Latin account claims to record a conversation with a Greek Christian in Antioch about the origins of Islam. While this so-called ›Adelphus‹ narrative has solely received scholarly attention as a work of Latin polemic against Islam made by a western traveller, this article argues that the text belongs to a Levantine cultural context and speaks to a contentious religious and intellectual dynamic between Latins and Greeks in twelfth-century Antioch. Through subtle literary techniques borrowed from the medieval Latin classroom, the author levels a veiled attack on the perceived threat of the Orthodox Church to Christian unity and orthodoxy. The ›Adelphus‹ account thus represents a highly original entry in the body of Christian-Muslim polemical literature that should be viewed within the context of Levantine Latin intellectual culture. Keywords: Crusades, Crusader States, Latin East, Antioch, Christian-Muslim polemic, Latin-Greek relations

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Research paper thumbnail of Divine Omnipotence and the Liberal Arts in Peter Damian and Peter Abelard

Rethinking Abelard, 2014

This chapter compares Peter Damian and Peter Abelard's approaches to the question of divine o... more This chapter compares Peter Damian and Peter Abelard's approaches to the question of divine omnipotence. It then explores in brief the approaches of the major theologians of the twelfth century to see whether either of the two intellectuals under discussion had a significant impact on later treatments. In tracing back Abelard's treatments of divine omnipotence to Peter Damian and by comparing the issue to other thinkers, the chapter obtains a clearer view of the methods that both of these intellectuals employed, and what place they occupy within the dynamic intellectual movements of this period. Peter Abelard's position on the nature of the relationship between the liberal arts and theology is perhaps less ambiguous. Abelard therefore interprets Jerome's statement as follows: God is a rational being; it is therefore impossible for Him to will or act contrary to reason. Keywords: divine omnipotence; God; Jerome; liberal arts; Peter Abelard; Peter Damian

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Research paper thumbnail of Geoffrey, Prior of the Templum Domini, On the Seven Books of Josephus

This article presents an edition of a twelfth-century versification of Josephus’ Jewish War compo... more This article presents an edition of a twelfth-century versification of Josephus’ Jewish War composed by Geoffrey, prior and later abbot of the Templum Domini in Jerusalem. The versification is the third and final poem in a three-part collection, the first of which was composed by Achard of Arrouaise, Geoffrey’s predecessor as prior of the Templum Domini, while the second poem comprises a versification made by Geoffrey of 1 and 2 Maccabees. The present edition is preceded by a brief discussion of the available prosopographical evidence surrounding Geoffrey, who played an important role in Jerusalemite politics in the mid-twelfth century. A more detailed overview of the manuscript evidence and affiliations of the manuscripts follows, concluding with a short discussion of the sources used by Geoffrey in his versification and a brief statement on the editorial principles underlying the edition.

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Research paper thumbnail of Medieval Latin Lives of Muhammad

Islam and Christian–Muslim Relations

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Research paper thumbnail of What It Means to Be Literary in Latin

The Classical Review, 2021

This volume collects essays presented at a colloquium at the university of Angers in 2016, which ... more This volume collects essays presented at a colloquium at the university of Angers in 2016, which sought to apply M. Marghescou’s notion of ‘littérarité’ (hereafter: ‘literariness’) to the field of Latin literary studies. Little known at the time of its appearance in 1974, the republication of Marghescou’s study in 2009 (Le concept de littérarité) inspired the creation of a research project examining ‘the concept of literariness in Roman antiquity’; this volume significantly extends this scope to post-classical Latin literature up to the Renaissance. In the introduction Colot lists the main points of Marghescou’s theory that were seized upon by the colloquium’s participants: the notion of a ‘programme of literary reading’ (‘régime de lecture littéraire’), by which certain ‘fundamental categories’ (e.g. person, space, time) assume a symbolic significance beyond their immediate referentiality. Colot rejects unspecified elements of Marghescou’s theory as outdated, turning to G. Molinié ...

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Research paper thumbnail of Latin Literature and Frankish Culture in the Crusader States (1098–1187)

Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, 2015

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Research paper thumbnail of 17The Maccabees in the Lord’s Temple: Biblical Imagery and Latin Poetry in Frankish Jerusalem

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Research paper thumbnail of Scientific Language in the Latin Qur’ans of Robert of Ketton and Mark of Toledo

Journal of Qur'anic Studies, 2020

This article centres on the Latin translations of the Qur’an by Robert of Ketton (1142–3/537–8) a... more This article centres on the Latin translations of the Qur’an by Robert of Ketton (1142–3/537–8) and Mark of Toledo (1209/606), as viewed within the context of their earlier translations of scientific works. In previous scholarship, the Latin Qur’ans of Robert of Ketton and Mark of Toledo have been studied with respect to linguistic features and considered separately from their translations of astrological and medical texts. This paper proposes to reunite these strands of translation activity by examining the ways in which scientific discourse influenced the Latin translations of the Qur’an. The paper demonstrates that the translators incorporated their scientific expertise into their translations of the Qur’an by employing terminology specific to their respective fields of astrology and medicine. On the basis of this new evidence, it is argued that Robert of Ketton sought to promote the study of astrology and astronomy, while Mark of Toledo’s use of medical jargon formed part of a calculated polemical strategy in which he portrayed the spread of Islam as a disease to be treated by a physician.

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Research paper thumbnail of Latin Vigilance and Greek Invention in Twelfth-Century Antioch: A New Interpretation of ‹Adelphus›

Mittellateinisches Jahrbuch, 2020

A twelfth-century Latin account claims to record a conversation with a Greek Christian in Antioch... more A twelfth-century Latin account claims to record a conversation with a Greek Christian in Antioch about the origins of Islam. While this so-called ‹Adelphus› narrative has solely received scholarly attention as a work of Latin polemic against Islam made by a western traveler, this article argues that the text belongs to a Levantine cultural context and speaks to a contentious religious and intellectual dynamic between Latins and Greeks in twelfth-century Antioch. Through subtle literary techniques borrowed from the medieval Latin classroom, the author levels a veiled attack on the perceived threat of the Orthodox Church to Christian unity and orthodoxy. The ‹Adelphus› account thus represents a highly original entry in the body of Christian-Muslim polemical literature that should be viewed within the context of Levantine Latin intellectual culture.

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Research paper thumbnail of The Maccabees in the Lord's Temple: Biblical Imagery and Latin Poetry in Frankish Jerusalem

This chapter examines how the figures of the Maccabees were deployed within the context of the in... more This chapter examines how the figures of the Maccabees were deployed within the context of the institutional concerns of the Templum Domini (erstwhile Dome of the Rock) amid the emerging religious and political landscape of the kingdom of Jerusalem. The prior of the community of canons at Achard of Arrouaise composed a poem to make the case to the Frankish king of Jerusalem that the treasures that were taken from the Templum Domini during the siege of Jerusalem ought to be returned. In the process, Achard evokes the Maccabean resistance against religious persecution, with a pointed reflection on the treasures taken from the Jewish Temple by Antiochus IV. Achard’s successor Geoffrey composed an entire poem that centered on the Maccabees, combining a versification of 1 and 2 Maccabees with a moral exegesis of the biblical text, in which he criticized the practice of simony, and also seems to warn against making political alliances motivated by greed. Both poems, while largely dealing with biblical subject matter, address pressing concerns of the authors’ own time and place.

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Research paper thumbnail of Latin Literature and Frankish Culture in the Crusader States (1098–1187)

The so-called Crusader States established by European settlers in the Levant at the end of the el... more The so-called Crusader States established by European settlers in the Levant at the end of the eleventh century gave rise to a variety of Latin literary works, including historiography, sermons, pilgrim guides, monastic literature, and poetry. The first part of this study (Chapter 1) critically reevaluates the Latin literary texts and combines the evidence, including unpublished materials, to chart the development of genres over the course of the twelfth century. The second half of the study (Chapters 2–4) subjects this evidence to a cultural-rhetorical analysis, and asks how Latin literary works, as products by and for a cultural elite, appropriated preexisting materials and developed strategies of their own to construct a Frankish cultural identity of the Levant.

Proceeding on three thematically different, but closely interrelated, lines of inquiry, it is argued that authors in the Latin East made cultural claims by drawing on the classical tradition, on the Bible, and on ideas of a Carolingian golden age. Chapter 2 demonstrates that Latin historians drew upon classical traditions to fit the Latin East within established frameworks of history and geography, in which the figures Vespasian and Titus are particularly prevalent. Chapter 3 traces the development of the conception of the Franks in the East as a “People of God” and the use of biblical texts to support this claim, especially the Books of the Maccabees. Chapter 4 explores the extent to which authors drew on the legend of Charlemagne as a bridge between East and West.

Although the appearance of similar motifs signals a degree of cultural unity among the authors writing in the Latin East, there is an abundant variety in the way they are utilized, inasmuch as they are dynamic rhetorical strategies open to adaptation to differing exigencies. New monastic and ecclesiastical institutions produced Latin writings that demonstrate an urge to establish political and religious authority. While these struggles for power resemble to some extent those between secular and ecclesiastical authorities and institutions in Western Europe, the literary topoi the authors draw upon are specific to their new locale, and represent the creation of a new cultural-literary tradition.

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Research paper thumbnail of Geoffrey, Prior of the Templum Domini, On the Seven Books of Josephus

This article presents an edition of a twelfth-century versification of Josephus’ Jewish War compo... more This article presents an edition of a twelfth-century versification of Josephus’ Jewish War composed by Geoffrey, prior and later abbot of the Templum Domini in Jerusalem. The versification is the third and final poem in a three-part collection, the first of which was composed by Achard of Arrouaise, Geoffrey’s predecessor as prior of the Templum Domini, while the second poem comprises a versification made by Geoffrey of 1 and 2 Maccabees. The present edition is preceded by a brief discussion of the available prosopographical evidence surrounding Geoffrey, who played an important role in Jerusalemite politics in the mid-twelfth century. A more detailed overview of the manuscript evidence and affiliations of the manuscripts follows, concluding with a short discussion of the sources used by Geoffrey in his versification and a brief statement on the editorial principles underlying the edition.

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Research paper thumbnail of Divine Omnipotence and the Liberal Arts in Peter Damian and Peter Abelard

Rethinking Abelard: A Collection of Critical Essays, Apr 2014

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Research paper thumbnail of Rethinking Abelard flyer

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Research paper thumbnail of The rhetoric of simplicity: faith and rhetoric in Peter Damian

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Conference Presentations by Julian Yolles

Research paper thumbnail of Unlikely authors: the Latin East as a place for literary mobility (Leeds Medieval Congress, 2019)

This paper uses the concept of exilic creativity to reorient thinking about the Latin culture of ... more This paper uses the concept of exilic creativity to reorient thinking about the Latin culture of the twelfth-century Latin East. Following Ralph Hexter’s notion of the literary and linguistic exile experienced and cultivated by the Latin community of medieval clerics, I argue that the clerics who settled in the Latin East experienced a kind of double exile: they were exiled not only from the classical home of Latinity like their European counterparts, but also from the European centers of learning that cultivated this literary exilic longing. Although it could not compete with European centers of learning, in many ways, the twelfth-century Latin East afforded opportunities to Latin intellectuals. With no fewer than 35 dioceses, the Latin East featured an extremely dense church organization outpacing even that of southern Italy and requiring a large number of clerics to sustain it. Because of this demand, even minor clergy who might have struggled to make a name for themselves in Europe could hope for something more in the Latin East—to achieve what I call “literary mobility.”

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Research paper thumbnail of Kalamazoo 2020 CFP: Christian-Muslim exchange in art, literature, and science (Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library )

The Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library is pleased to invite paper proposals for a session at the 202... more The Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library is pleased to invite paper proposals for a session at the 2020 International Medieval Congress in Kalamazoo on “Christian-Muslim exchange in art, literature, and science” (see the attached call for papers). Interested participants are asked to send an abstract (300 words maximum) for a 20-minute paper, a short bio, keywords, and a completed Participant Information form to Nicole Eddy, Managing Editor of the Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library (eddyn01@doaks.org) by September 15.

Dr. Julian Yolles
Centre for Medieval Literature
University of Southern Denmark
jyolles@sdu.dk

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Research paper thumbnail of Flavius Josephus as an Eyewitness Authority

Throughout his body of work, the ancient Jewish writer Flavius Josephus sought to leverage his kn... more Throughout his body of work, the ancient Jewish writer Flavius Josephus sought to leverage his knowledge of Jewish history and culture to appeal to an audience of aristocratic Romans. His history of the Jewish War, however, presented Josephus with a quandary, for it was precisely his Jewish identity and his privileged position as eyewitness that rendered his role as historiographer problematic. This paper argues that Josephus utilized various literary strategies to address this tension: by deploying within his narrative the dual concept of praise and censure in relating facts, through a depiction of Titus as an eyewitness, and by formulating the innovative concept of prophetic autopsy Josephus sought to neutralize his critics.

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Research paper thumbnail of A Companion to Josephus in the Medieval West

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Research paper thumbnail of Scientific Language in the Latin Qur'ans of Robert of Ketton and Mark of Toledo

Journal of Qur'anic Studies, 2020

This paper centres on the Latin translations of the Qur'an by Robert of Ketton (d. 1142–1143)... more This paper centres on the Latin translations of the Qur'an by Robert of Ketton (d. 1142–1143) and Mark of Toledo (d. 1209), as viewed within the context of their earlier translations of scientific works. In previous scholarship, the Latin Qur'ans of Robert of Ketton and Mark of Toledo have been studied with respect to linguistic features and considered separately from their translations of astrological and medical texts. This paper proposes to reunite these strands of translation activity by examining the ways in which scientific discourse influenced these Latin translations of the Qur'an. The paper demonstrates that the translators incorporated their scientific expertise into their translations of the Qur'an by employing terminology specific to their respective fields of astrology and medicine. On the basis of this new evidence, it is argued that Robert of Ketton sought to promote the study of astrology and astronomy, while Mark of Toledo's use of medical jargon...

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Research paper thumbnail of Latin vigilance and Greek invention in twelfth-century Antioch.: A new interpretation of 'Adelphus

A twelfth-century Latin account claims to record a conversation with a Greek Christian in Antioch... more A twelfth-century Latin account claims to record a conversation with a Greek Christian in Antioch about the origins of Islam. While this so-called ›Adelphus‹ narrative has solely received scholarly attention as a work of Latin polemic against Islam made by a western traveller, this article argues that the text belongs to a Levantine cultural context and speaks to a contentious religious and intellectual dynamic between Latins and Greeks in twelfth-century Antioch. Through subtle literary techniques borrowed from the medieval Latin classroom, the author levels a veiled attack on the perceived threat of the Orthodox Church to Christian unity and orthodoxy. The ›Adelphus‹ account thus represents a highly original entry in the body of Christian-Muslim polemical literature that should be viewed within the context of Levantine Latin intellectual culture. Keywords: Crusades, Crusader States, Latin East, Antioch, Christian-Muslim polemic, Latin-Greek relations

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Research paper thumbnail of Divine Omnipotence and the Liberal Arts in Peter Damian and Peter Abelard

Rethinking Abelard, 2014

This chapter compares Peter Damian and Peter Abelard's approaches to the question of divine o... more This chapter compares Peter Damian and Peter Abelard's approaches to the question of divine omnipotence. It then explores in brief the approaches of the major theologians of the twelfth century to see whether either of the two intellectuals under discussion had a significant impact on later treatments. In tracing back Abelard's treatments of divine omnipotence to Peter Damian and by comparing the issue to other thinkers, the chapter obtains a clearer view of the methods that both of these intellectuals employed, and what place they occupy within the dynamic intellectual movements of this period. Peter Abelard's position on the nature of the relationship between the liberal arts and theology is perhaps less ambiguous. Abelard therefore interprets Jerome's statement as follows: God is a rational being; it is therefore impossible for Him to will or act contrary to reason. Keywords: divine omnipotence; God; Jerome; liberal arts; Peter Abelard; Peter Damian

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Research paper thumbnail of Geoffrey, Prior of the Templum Domini, On the Seven Books of Josephus

This article presents an edition of a twelfth-century versification of Josephus’ Jewish War compo... more This article presents an edition of a twelfth-century versification of Josephus’ Jewish War composed by Geoffrey, prior and later abbot of the Templum Domini in Jerusalem. The versification is the third and final poem in a three-part collection, the first of which was composed by Achard of Arrouaise, Geoffrey’s predecessor as prior of the Templum Domini, while the second poem comprises a versification made by Geoffrey of 1 and 2 Maccabees. The present edition is preceded by a brief discussion of the available prosopographical evidence surrounding Geoffrey, who played an important role in Jerusalemite politics in the mid-twelfth century. A more detailed overview of the manuscript evidence and affiliations of the manuscripts follows, concluding with a short discussion of the sources used by Geoffrey in his versification and a brief statement on the editorial principles underlying the edition.

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Research paper thumbnail of Medieval Latin Lives of Muhammad

Islam and Christian–Muslim Relations

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Research paper thumbnail of What It Means to Be Literary in Latin

The Classical Review, 2021

This volume collects essays presented at a colloquium at the university of Angers in 2016, which ... more This volume collects essays presented at a colloquium at the university of Angers in 2016, which sought to apply M. Marghescou’s notion of ‘littérarité’ (hereafter: ‘literariness’) to the field of Latin literary studies. Little known at the time of its appearance in 1974, the republication of Marghescou’s study in 2009 (Le concept de littérarité) inspired the creation of a research project examining ‘the concept of literariness in Roman antiquity’; this volume significantly extends this scope to post-classical Latin literature up to the Renaissance. In the introduction Colot lists the main points of Marghescou’s theory that were seized upon by the colloquium’s participants: the notion of a ‘programme of literary reading’ (‘régime de lecture littéraire’), by which certain ‘fundamental categories’ (e.g. person, space, time) assume a symbolic significance beyond their immediate referentiality. Colot rejects unspecified elements of Marghescou’s theory as outdated, turning to G. Molinié ...

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Research paper thumbnail of Latin Literature and Frankish Culture in the Crusader States (1098–1187)

Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, 2015

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Research paper thumbnail of 17The Maccabees in the Lord’s Temple: Biblical Imagery and Latin Poetry in Frankish Jerusalem

Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact

Research paper thumbnail of Scientific Language in the Latin Qur’ans of Robert of Ketton and Mark of Toledo

Journal of Qur'anic Studies, 2020

This article centres on the Latin translations of the Qur’an by Robert of Ketton (1142–3/537–8) a... more This article centres on the Latin translations of the Qur’an by Robert of Ketton (1142–3/537–8) and Mark of Toledo (1209/606), as viewed within the context of their earlier translations of scientific works. In previous scholarship, the Latin Qur’ans of Robert of Ketton and Mark of Toledo have been studied with respect to linguistic features and considered separately from their translations of astrological and medical texts. This paper proposes to reunite these strands of translation activity by examining the ways in which scientific discourse influenced the Latin translations of the Qur’an. The paper demonstrates that the translators incorporated their scientific expertise into their translations of the Qur’an by employing terminology specific to their respective fields of astrology and medicine. On the basis of this new evidence, it is argued that Robert of Ketton sought to promote the study of astrology and astronomy, while Mark of Toledo’s use of medical jargon formed part of a calculated polemical strategy in which he portrayed the spread of Islam as a disease to be treated by a physician.

Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact

Research paper thumbnail of Latin Vigilance and Greek Invention in Twelfth-Century Antioch: A New Interpretation of ‹Adelphus›

Mittellateinisches Jahrbuch, 2020

A twelfth-century Latin account claims to record a conversation with a Greek Christian in Antioch... more A twelfth-century Latin account claims to record a conversation with a Greek Christian in Antioch about the origins of Islam. While this so-called ‹Adelphus› narrative has solely received scholarly attention as a work of Latin polemic against Islam made by a western traveler, this article argues that the text belongs to a Levantine cultural context and speaks to a contentious religious and intellectual dynamic between Latins and Greeks in twelfth-century Antioch. Through subtle literary techniques borrowed from the medieval Latin classroom, the author levels a veiled attack on the perceived threat of the Orthodox Church to Christian unity and orthodoxy. The ‹Adelphus› account thus represents a highly original entry in the body of Christian-Muslim polemical literature that should be viewed within the context of Levantine Latin intellectual culture.

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Research paper thumbnail of The Maccabees in the Lord's Temple: Biblical Imagery and Latin Poetry in Frankish Jerusalem

This chapter examines how the figures of the Maccabees were deployed within the context of the in... more This chapter examines how the figures of the Maccabees were deployed within the context of the institutional concerns of the Templum Domini (erstwhile Dome of the Rock) amid the emerging religious and political landscape of the kingdom of Jerusalem. The prior of the community of canons at Achard of Arrouaise composed a poem to make the case to the Frankish king of Jerusalem that the treasures that were taken from the Templum Domini during the siege of Jerusalem ought to be returned. In the process, Achard evokes the Maccabean resistance against religious persecution, with a pointed reflection on the treasures taken from the Jewish Temple by Antiochus IV. Achard’s successor Geoffrey composed an entire poem that centered on the Maccabees, combining a versification of 1 and 2 Maccabees with a moral exegesis of the biblical text, in which he criticized the practice of simony, and also seems to warn against making political alliances motivated by greed. Both poems, while largely dealing with biblical subject matter, address pressing concerns of the authors’ own time and place.

Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact

Research paper thumbnail of Latin Literature and Frankish Culture in the Crusader States (1098–1187)

The so-called Crusader States established by European settlers in the Levant at the end of the el... more The so-called Crusader States established by European settlers in the Levant at the end of the eleventh century gave rise to a variety of Latin literary works, including historiography, sermons, pilgrim guides, monastic literature, and poetry. The first part of this study (Chapter 1) critically reevaluates the Latin literary texts and combines the evidence, including unpublished materials, to chart the development of genres over the course of the twelfth century. The second half of the study (Chapters 2–4) subjects this evidence to a cultural-rhetorical analysis, and asks how Latin literary works, as products by and for a cultural elite, appropriated preexisting materials and developed strategies of their own to construct a Frankish cultural identity of the Levant.

Proceeding on three thematically different, but closely interrelated, lines of inquiry, it is argued that authors in the Latin East made cultural claims by drawing on the classical tradition, on the Bible, and on ideas of a Carolingian golden age. Chapter 2 demonstrates that Latin historians drew upon classical traditions to fit the Latin East within established frameworks of history and geography, in which the figures Vespasian and Titus are particularly prevalent. Chapter 3 traces the development of the conception of the Franks in the East as a “People of God” and the use of biblical texts to support this claim, especially the Books of the Maccabees. Chapter 4 explores the extent to which authors drew on the legend of Charlemagne as a bridge between East and West.

Although the appearance of similar motifs signals a degree of cultural unity among the authors writing in the Latin East, there is an abundant variety in the way they are utilized, inasmuch as they are dynamic rhetorical strategies open to adaptation to differing exigencies. New monastic and ecclesiastical institutions produced Latin writings that demonstrate an urge to establish political and religious authority. While these struggles for power resemble to some extent those between secular and ecclesiastical authorities and institutions in Western Europe, the literary topoi the authors draw upon are specific to their new locale, and represent the creation of a new cultural-literary tradition.

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Research paper thumbnail of Geoffrey, Prior of the Templum Domini, On the Seven Books of Josephus

This article presents an edition of a twelfth-century versification of Josephus’ Jewish War compo... more This article presents an edition of a twelfth-century versification of Josephus’ Jewish War composed by Geoffrey, prior and later abbot of the Templum Domini in Jerusalem. The versification is the third and final poem in a three-part collection, the first of which was composed by Achard of Arrouaise, Geoffrey’s predecessor as prior of the Templum Domini, while the second poem comprises a versification made by Geoffrey of 1 and 2 Maccabees. The present edition is preceded by a brief discussion of the available prosopographical evidence surrounding Geoffrey, who played an important role in Jerusalemite politics in the mid-twelfth century. A more detailed overview of the manuscript evidence and affiliations of the manuscripts follows, concluding with a short discussion of the sources used by Geoffrey in his versification and a brief statement on the editorial principles underlying the edition.

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Research paper thumbnail of Divine Omnipotence and the Liberal Arts in Peter Damian and Peter Abelard

Rethinking Abelard: A Collection of Critical Essays, Apr 2014

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Research paper thumbnail of Rethinking Abelard flyer

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Research paper thumbnail of The rhetoric of simplicity: faith and rhetoric in Peter Damian

Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact

Research paper thumbnail of Unlikely authors: the Latin East as a place for literary mobility (Leeds Medieval Congress, 2019)

This paper uses the concept of exilic creativity to reorient thinking about the Latin culture of ... more This paper uses the concept of exilic creativity to reorient thinking about the Latin culture of the twelfth-century Latin East. Following Ralph Hexter’s notion of the literary and linguistic exile experienced and cultivated by the Latin community of medieval clerics, I argue that the clerics who settled in the Latin East experienced a kind of double exile: they were exiled not only from the classical home of Latinity like their European counterparts, but also from the European centers of learning that cultivated this literary exilic longing. Although it could not compete with European centers of learning, in many ways, the twelfth-century Latin East afforded opportunities to Latin intellectuals. With no fewer than 35 dioceses, the Latin East featured an extremely dense church organization outpacing even that of southern Italy and requiring a large number of clerics to sustain it. Because of this demand, even minor clergy who might have struggled to make a name for themselves in Europe could hope for something more in the Latin East—to achieve what I call “literary mobility.”

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Research paper thumbnail of Kalamazoo 2020 CFP: Christian-Muslim exchange in art, literature, and science (Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library )

The Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library is pleased to invite paper proposals for a session at the 202... more The Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library is pleased to invite paper proposals for a session at the 2020 International Medieval Congress in Kalamazoo on “Christian-Muslim exchange in art, literature, and science” (see the attached call for papers). Interested participants are asked to send an abstract (300 words maximum) for a 20-minute paper, a short bio, keywords, and a completed Participant Information form to Nicole Eddy, Managing Editor of the Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library (eddyn01@doaks.org) by September 15.

Dr. Julian Yolles
Centre for Medieval Literature
University of Southern Denmark
jyolles@sdu.dk

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Research paper thumbnail of Flavius Josephus as an Eyewitness Authority

Throughout his body of work, the ancient Jewish writer Flavius Josephus sought to leverage his kn... more Throughout his body of work, the ancient Jewish writer Flavius Josephus sought to leverage his knowledge of Jewish history and culture to appeal to an audience of aristocratic Romans. His history of the Jewish War, however, presented Josephus with a quandary, for it was precisely his Jewish identity and his privileged position as eyewitness that rendered his role as historiographer problematic. This paper argues that Josephus utilized various literary strategies to address this tension: by deploying within his narrative the dual concept of praise and censure in relating facts, through a depiction of Titus as an eyewitness, and by formulating the innovative concept of prophetic autopsy Josephus sought to neutralize his critics.

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Research paper thumbnail of Christian-Muslim Polemic in the Latin East: Latin Intellectualism in “Adelphus”

A twelfth-century Latin account claims to record a conversation with a Greek Christian in Antioch... more A twelfth-century Latin account claims to record a conversation with a Greek Christian in Antioch about the origins of Islam. Like many ostensibly inter-religious polemical texts, this Latin account primarily, if not exclusively, addresses concerns of the author’s own cultural environment. What is unusual about this depiction of the life of Muhammad, is that it makes an argument for the cultural, religious, and intellectual supremacy of the Latin tradition. This position of superiority comes at the cost of, not so much Islamic or Arabic intellectualism, but surprisingly, that of the Greeks. Through subtle literary hints, the author levels a veiled attack on the threat of the Eastern Church to Christian unity and orthodoxy. The "Adelphus" account represents a highly original entry in the body of polemical literature on Christianity and Islam that should be viewed within the context of Levantine Latin intellectual culture.

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Research paper thumbnail of Contesting Frankish Identity in Jerusalem

In his pioneering study La topographie légendaire des Évangiles, Maurice Halbwachs observed that ... more In his pioneering study La topographie légendaire des Évangiles, Maurice Halbwachs observed that the crusaders who settled in the East sought to recreate—in a literary, artistic, and architectural sense—the holy sites as they had learned of them in the West. Yet this process did not always occur without problems, and the Holy Land could become a locus for rival traditions of cultural memories. After the First Crusade, those who participated became part of a process of cultural memory-forming: they were celebrated as heroes, and commemorated in literature and through grave markers, inscriptions, and other forms of monumental architecture. As pilgrimage to the Holy Land greatly increased, so did the number of pilgrim accounts, and in these narratives these heroic figures also began to be conceived as part of the sacred landscape. This paper will focus on an intriguing instance of heroic commemoration: around 1160, John of Würzburg traveled to the Holy Land and wrote a detailed pilgrim guide. At the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, John expressed his dismay at the lack of commemoration of “Aleman” crusader heroes. As an example, he offered the tomb of the renowned hero Wigger (an Alemannus according to John), whose epitaph had been effaced and replaced by one praising the Franks. John, in turn, presented his own version of an epitaph that might replace the offending verse. Here, then, is a wonderfully complex instance of cultural memory-forming in progress, one that is contested by a pilgrim. This passage allows us to examine the forming of rival traditions of cultural memories, the role played in this process by pilgrim guides, and the contestation of narratives of the past.

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Research paper thumbnail of Making the East Latin: The Latin Literature of the Levant in the Era of the Crusades

Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Humanities, 2022

“This new day, new joy, the consummation of toil and devotion with ever new and eternal rejoicing... more “This new day, new joy, the consummation of toil and devotion with ever new and eternal rejoicing, required new words, new songs from all!”

So wrote Raymond of Aguilers, a Provençal priest, when an army of nobles, knights, footmen, and priests from across Europe managed to conquer Jerusalem after three years of traveling and fighting. And there certainly were new words and new songs. These settlers produced a hybrid Latin literature—a “Levantine Latinity”—distinct from that in Europe, and their new literary tradition both drew on and resisted Levantine Muslim, Christian, and Jewish cultures in the newly occupied territories.

This volume analyzes the literary and rhetorical techniques of well-known authors such as William of Tyre, literary compositions of communities of canons in the Kingdom of Jerusalem, and individual scholars in the Principality of Antioch. These varied sources reveal the coherent and increasingly sophisticated ways in which Crusader settlers responded to their new environment while maintaining ties with their homelands in western Europe. In a short time, Levantine Latinity emerged to form an indispensable part of the literary history of both the Near East and Europe.

Recents reviews:

Nicholas Morton in Al-Masaq: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09503110.2023.2173876

Jessalynn Bird in The Medieval Review 23.08.13:
https://mailchi.mp/bmcreview.org/tmr-497820-h9wn99v0b0-502896-duw4kzgzya-504300?e=716f05c3cf

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Research paper thumbnail of Medieval Latin Lives of Muhammad - Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library brochure

Throughout the Middle Ages, Christians wrote about Islam and the life of Muhammad. These stories,... more Throughout the Middle Ages, Christians wrote about Islam and the life of Muhammad. These stories, ranging from the humorous to the vitriolic,
both informed and warned audiences about what was regarded as a schismatic form of Christianity. Medieval Latin Lives of Muhammad covers nearly five centuries of Christian writings on the prophet,
including accounts from the farthest-flung reaches of medieval Europe, the Iberian Peninsula and the Byzantine Empire. Over time, authors portrayed Muhammad in many guises, among them: Theophanes’s influential ninth-century chronicle describing the prophet as the heretical leader of a Jewish conspiracy; Embrico of Mainz’s eleventhcentury depiction of Muhammad as a former slave who is manipulated by a magician into performing unholy deeds; and Walter of Compiègne’s twelfthcentury presentation of the founder of Islam as a likable but tricky serf ambitiously seeking upward mobility.

The prose, verse, and epistolary texts in Medieval Latin Lives of Muhammad help trace the persistence of old clichés as well as the evolution of new attitudes toward Islam and its prophet in Western culture. This volume brings together a highly varied and fascinating set of Latin narratives and polemics never before translated into English.

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Research paper thumbnail of Medieval Latin Lives of Muhammad

Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library 51, May 2018

Throughout the Middle Ages, Christians wrote about Islam and the life of Muhammad. These stories,... more Throughout the Middle Ages, Christians wrote about Islam and the life of Muhammad. These stories, ranging from the humorous to the vitriolic, both informed and warned audiences about what was regarded as a schismatic form of Christianity. Medieval Latin Lives of Muhammad covers nearly five centuries of Christian writings on the prophet, including accounts from the farthest-flung reaches of medieval Europe, the Iberian Peninsula, and the Byzantine Empire. Over time, authors portrayed Muhammad in many guises, among them: Theophanes’s influential ninth-century chronicle describing the prophet as the heretical leader of a Jewish conspiracy; Embrico of Mainz’s eleventh-century depiction of Muhammad as a former slave who is manipulated by a magician into performing unholy deeds; and Walter of Compiègne’s twelfth-century presentation of the founder of Islam as a likable but tricky serf ambitiously seeking upward social mobility.
The prose, verse, and epistolary texts in Medieval Latin Lives of Muhammad help trace the persistence of old clichés as well as the evolution of new attitudes toward Islam and its prophet in Western culture. This volume brings together a highly varied and fascinating set of Latin narratives and polemics never before translated into English.

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Research paper thumbnail of PAIXUE Symposium: Classicising Learning, Performance, and Power: Eurasian Perspectives from Antiquity to the Early Modern Period (Abstracts)

by Foteini Spingou, Michael Höckelmann, Ming Kin Chu, Christophe Erismann, Bram Fauconnier, Michael Fuller, Elena Gittleman, Jaakko Hämeen-Anttila, Marina Loukaki, Christopher Nugent, Daphne (Dafni) / Δάφνη Penna / Πέννα, Alberto Rigolio, Jonathan Skaff, Elizabeth M Tyler, Milan Vukašinović, and Julian Yolles

The PAIXUE symposium explores how public performances of classicising learning (however defined i... more The PAIXUE symposium explores how public performances of classicising learning (however defined in different cultures) influenced and served imperial or state power in premodern political systems across Eurasia and North Africa.

Further information in: http://paixue.shca.ed.ac.uk/node/12

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Research paper thumbnail of The Study of the Qur’an in Europe

Medievalia et Humanistica, vol. 45, 2019

Review of The Qur'an in Western Europe, special issue of the Journal of Qur'anic Studies, vol. 20... more Review of The Qur'an in Western Europe, special issue of the Journal of Qur'anic Studies, vol. 20, no. 3 (2018).

Appeared in: Medievalia et Humanistica vol. 45 (2019): 142-145.

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Research paper thumbnail of The natural and the supernatural in medieval Latin lives of Muhammad (Keynote: Annual Classical, Medieval and Early Modern Studies Research Master Conference at Groningen University)

This keynote lecture examines the genre of polemical lives of Muhammad, written by Christians in ... more This keynote lecture examines the genre of polemical lives of Muhammad, written by Christians in Latin between the ninth and fourteenth centuries. I argue that the evolving portrayal of Muhammad should be viewed in light of the sweeping changes in European intellectual culture from the early twelfth century onward, which involved not only the increasing application of rationalism to theology, but also a sudden large influx of Arabic texts and ideas as part of the translation movements of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. While the lives of Muhammad are typically regarded as a discourse separate from the intellectual developments taking place across Europe, I suggest that these narratives participate in a complex engagement with the growing influence of Muslim thinkers on Christian intellectual culture.

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Research paper thumbnail of Constructive Absences in Medieval Literature: A Transformations and Translocations workshop

This online two-day workshop moves from previous Transformations and Translocations workshops and... more This online two-day workshop moves from previous Transformations and Translocations workshops and conferences on forms to examine the question of the absence of forms and of absence as form. We invite participants to reflect critically on the methodological problems, implications, and above all, opportunities of absence and related concepts of discontinuity and fragmentation. How can we make the evidentiary gaps inherent in our field productive and meaningful? What insights can we gain from focusing on the lacuna as a structuring form? In other words, how did absence shape the sources we have? By situating absence at the centre of our discussion, this workshop aims to engender fruitful new ways of thinking about the incomplete record at our disposal as medievalists.

The participants work across diverse fields of medieval literature, including French, Arabic, English, Latin, Hebrew, Greek, Slavic, Irish, and Spanish literatures.

Organizers: Divna Manolova, Elizabeth Tyler, Julian Yolles, and Rosa M. Rodríguez Porto

A blog post about the event is published and available here: https://cml.sdu.dk/blog/constructive-absences-in-medieval-literature-a-transformations-translocations-workshop

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