Seppo Heikkinen | University of Helsinki (original) (raw)

Papers by Seppo Heikkinen

The Journal of Medieval Latin, 2007

Quaestiones Medii Aevi Novae, 2017

Suomen Kirkkohistoriallisen Seuran Vuosikirja, 2019

Keskiaikainen liturgia elettynä ja koettuna Medieval liturgy as lived emotions This paper addre... more Keskiaikainen liturgia elettynä ja koettuna

Medieval liturgy as lived emotions

This paper addresses the images and emotions stimulated by medieval liturgy and their role as a verbal and musical medium, sonic hagiography. We observe the question on two time levels: on the one hand, the medieval Dominican community where our liturgical sources have originated, on the other hand, the workshops on medieval chant that we organized in 2015 and 2016. This discussion aims at a many-sided study of a researcher’s means of interpreting the past while also addressing the interpretation of medieval imagery from the background of the present, utilizing the subjective experiences of a modern listener.

Our medieval research material consists of the musical notation and texts of the liturgical chants dedicated to the Dominican saint Thomas Aquinas (1224/5–1274). Analyzing medieval manuscripts, the extant memorial chants of Thomas, their music and lyrics and their contextualization in our knowledge of Dominican liturgy provide our analysis of the function of medieval music with an important frame of reference. In analyzing the material collected in our workshops (descriptions of participants’ thoughts and emotions), we have been guided by theories of modality, acoustic feeling and phenomenology.

This study focuses, above all, on the body: the living and dead body of Thomas, his relics, as well as the bodies of the medieval and modern singers who have performed liturgical chants that describe the body of Thomas Aquinas. The structure of the article moves between medieval and modern contexts as we observe the sensory impressions created by music in the Middle Ages and the modern world on occasions when their respective singers have participated corporally in the offices of Thomas Aquinas by singing and listening.

The material collected in our workshops is largely similar regardless of their participants’ age, education and other background factors. This is an indicator of the general uniformity of the human auditory experience. A singer’s personal voice in his own body can produce experiences that connect to the atmosphere of medieval chant and its singers.

Rhyme and Rhyming in Verbal Art, Language and Song, Studia Fennica Folkloristica 25, 2022

Multiple origins? Some observations on the medieval Latin rhyme The very etymology of the word... more Multiple origins? Some observations on the medieval Latin rhyme

The very etymology of the word ‘rhyme’ betrays the contexts in which rhyme in West European verse evolved, as the word itself was adopted in the Middle Ages from of the Latin rhythmus, by way of such intermediate forms as ridmus, riddimus, rimus etc. In other words, at least by the High Middle Ages, end rhyme was conceived as a quintessential, if not defining feature of rhythmic (or non-quantitative) poetry. This may strike us as surprising, as rhythmic (as opposed to the earlier metric) verse is generally defined as a form that only considers the number of syllables and, possibly, word accent, and its earliest definitions (e.g. the Venerable Bede) only discuss the number of syllables. At the same time, a substantial amount of metric verse with regular rhyme (e.g. the so-called leonine hexameter) was composed throughout the Middle Ages.

The origins of end rhyme in medieval Latin verse, together with its evolution towards increasing regularity, have been a matter of some debate: it has variously been attributed to Semitic or Celtic influences as well as certain mechanisms inherent in the Latin language and its verse technique. The problem of what constitutes rhyme is also problematic. Early examples of rhyme in, e.g., the hymns of Caelius Sedulius generally border on mild assonance and are a far cry from the elaborate and regular disyllabic end rhyme of the High Middle Ages. At the same time, however, the manneristic use of the hyperbaton (the separation of an adjective from its noun head) in Late Latin verse frequently produced a rhyme-like effect through its placement of identical case endings. Whether this was the desired outcome or merely a side effect is open to debate, but at least by the eighth century, such grammarians as Bede acknowledged the association of word order and end rhyme. This paper discusses the various traditions on which the medieval Latin rhyme drew in producing the form as it is known to us from High Medieval Latin and later vernacular verse.

Interfaces between Language and Culture in Medieval England, 2010

The dactylic hexameter was the most frequently used of the classical Greek and Roman metres. It w... more The dactylic hexameter was the most frequently used of the classical Greek and Roman metres. It was praised by ancient and medieval authors alike for its versatility, being suited to both loft y and common subjects. This chapter investigates Anglo-Saxons' attitudes to spondaic verses, contextualising them within the earlier history of Latin hexameter verse before investigating the ideas and influence of the Anglo-Saxon authors Aldhelm and Bede. Spondaic verses have a very distinctive character: they lack the "dum-di-di-dum-dum" cadence that for most people, presumably even in antiquity, is the most recognisable part of the hexameter line. The roots of the dactylic hexameter extend as far back as the oral epic traditions of the Greeks, and possibly even earlier. There was, however, one prominent exception to the tendency of Latin hexameter poetry to be more spondaic than Greek - the fifth foot of the hexameter. Keywords: Anglo-Saxon; dactylic hexameter; Greeks; Latin hexameter

Israel the Grammarian was a tenth-century scholar and poet of presumably Breton origin, who playe... more Israel the Grammarian was a tenth-century scholar and poet of presumably Breton origin, who played an influential role in King Æthelstan’s court before becoming tutor to Bruno, the future archbishop of Cologne. This article focuses on his hexameter poem “Versus Israhelis de arte metrica super nomen et uerbum,” a discussion of the prosody of final syllables, addressed to Bishop Robert of Trier, Israel’s patron. While on the surface the “Versus de arte metrica” appear to be a didactic poem, it has, in reality, probably been intended as an academic parlour game that tests the reader’s command of Latin grammar and grammatical literature. At the same time, it reflects the central role of inflectional paradigms and the emergence of inflection tables in medieval Latin instruction.

Israël le Grammairien était un érudit et poète du Xème siècle, probablement d’origine bretonne, qui a joué un rôle influent à la cour du roi Æthelstan avant de devenir tuteur de Brunon, le futur archevêque de Cologne. Cet article se focalise sur son poème hexamètre “Versus Israhelis de arte metrica super nomen et uerbum”, une discussion de la prosodie des syllabes finales adressée à son supérieur hiérarchique, l’évêque Robert de Trèves. Même s’il s’agit ostensiblement d’un poème didactique, il doit très probablement être compris comme un jeu académique qui teste l’érudition grammaticale de son lecteur. En même temps, il reflète le rôle central des paradigmes grammaticaux et l’émergence des tableaux de flexion dans l’enseignement latin du moyen âge.

Classica et Mediaevalia : Danish Journal of Philology and History 65

The Venerable Bede’s eighth-century treatise De arte metrica contains the first description of th... more The Venerable Bede’s eighth-century treatise De arte metrica contains the first description of the trochaic septenarius, an archaic metre best-known from early Roman comedy but also adopted by Christian hymnodists. Although Bede’s presentation was partly flawed, it became a guideline for Carolingian poets who often followed it to the letter, demonstrating the artificiality of their verse technique and their dependence on metrical theory.

Philological Quarterly 94.1

Hrabanus Maurus’s ninth-century Excerptio de arte grammatica Prisciani is a compendium of prosodi... more Hrabanus Maurus’s ninth-century Excerptio de arte grammatica Prisciani is a compendium of prosodic rules intended for classroom use as an aid to the scansion and composition of metrical poetry, a hard-learned skill in the Early Middle Ages, when syllable lengths had disappeared from spoken Latin. The work is best understood as a creative synthesis of several Late Antique and Early Medieval grammatical works, mainly those of Donatus and Priscian. In addition, Hrabanus’s presentation of common syllables (syllables that can be interpreted as either long or short) relies heavily on Bede’s eighth-century De arte metrica, and, in many places, quotes it verbatim.
In his highly polemical De arte metrica, Bede sought to create a standard for purely Christian verse, replacing Vergil and the “pagan” classics with Christian epic poets as a normative model, even in questions of prosody. In Hrabanus’s paraphrase, however, Bede’s strongly pro-Christian sentiment has been moderated to a high degree. Bede’s condemnation of “pagan” prosodic license is presented in a considerable less severe form, and Hrabanus has re-introduced quotations from pre-Christian poets into his presentation, including the verse of Horace, which had enjoyed a renaissance in the Carolingian age. While Hrabanus does not directly challenge Bede’s dichotomy of pagan and Christian verse technique, he has sought to find a compromise between the Bedan norm and the Carolingians’ new-found interest in the classical tradition in order to meet the demands of his audience.

Arctos: Acta Philologica Fennica 48

Lupus of Ferrières's ninth-century De metris Boethii was the first attempt to describe the varied... more Lupus of Ferrières's ninth-century De metris Boethii was the first attempt to describe the varied and complex poetic metres employed by Boethius in his De consolatione philosophiae, and it constituted the most important authority on the subject throughout the Middle Ages. Although Lupus's presentation of the metres has mainly been assembled from Servius's Late Antique De centum metris, this article demonstrate its dependence on Bede's De arte metrica especially in its discussion of the hexameter and the so-called terentianean metre, which Lupus gives an analysis that is thoroughly consistent with Bede's, although it is manifestly ill-suited to Boethius's poems. Lupus's surprising reliance on Bede's treatise testifies for Bede's role as the central authority on Latin metre in the Early Middle Ages.

Ennen ja nyt : historian tietosanomat 2/2013, Nov 12, 2013

The Virgil Encyclopedia (eds. Richard F. Thomas, Jan Ziolkowski), p. 175, 2013

Studies in Variation, Contacts and Change in English 10: Outposts of Historical Corpus Linguistics: From the Helsinki Corpus to a Proliferation of Resources, eds. Jukka Tyrkkö, Matti Kilpiö, Terttu Nevalainen and Matti Rissanen). Helsinki. , 2012

A central prosodic feature of nearly all Latin verse, classical and medieval alike, is the avoida... more A central prosodic feature of nearly all Latin verse, classical and medieval alike, is the avoidance of hiatus, where a word with a final vowel, or in classical verse, a final m, is followed by a word with an initial vowel, (or, in classical verse, an initial h). In classical Latin, hiatus is eliminated by a process known as elision, or synaloephe, where the final vowel of the preceding word is fused with the following one or left unpronounced. The avoidance of hiatus is a feature of most medieval verse, as well, but early insular verse forms a notable exception: hiatus is abundant in many rhythmical Irish and Anglo-Latin hymns, and even in much of Anglo-Latin hexameter poetry elision is not systematically observed. This is a noticeable feature, above all, in the verse of Aldhelm and his followers, although Aldhelm himself gives a detailed description of elision in his treatise on metrics (De metris). Bede took an opposite line in his strenuous avoidance of hiatus in his own verse. In his metrical treatise De arte metrica he went so far as to condemn hiatus as a ‘pagan’ feature, a view which he attempted to corroborate with examples of Vergil’s artful deviations from the rules of elision. Bede’s reluctance to recognise hiatus for a contemporary rather than a pre-Christian feature reflects his attempts to show Christian verse in as favourable light as possible, although, in a roundabout way, he probably also tried to regularise the prosodic practices of Anglo-Latin verse. The present paper studies this discrepancy between Anglo-Saxon prosodists’ views on hiatus and the prevailing verse technique of the same period and suggests that some seeming idiosyncrasies in Aldhelm’s use of elision are, in fact, probably based on certain less-known practices of Late Latin hexameter verse.

Interfaces between Language and Culture in Medieval England. A Festschrift for Matti Kilpiö, eds. Alaric Hall, Olga Timofeeva, Ágnes Kiricsi and Bethany Fox. Boston–Leiden: Brill (The Northern World, vol. 48), pp. 81–98.., 2010

Journal of Medieval Latin 17, pp. 101-109, 2007

Teologinen Aikakauskirja 6/2004, pp. 586-588

The Eastern Mediterranean in the Late Antique and Early Byzantine Periods, eds. Maria Gourdoba, Leena Pietilä-Castrén and Esko Tikkala, Helsinki (Papers and Monographs of the Finnish Institute at Athens vol. IX.), pp. 17-31., 2004

Latin vulgaire - latin tardif VI: Actes du VIe colloque international sur le latin vulgaire et tardif. Helsinki, 29 août - 2 septembre 2000, eds. Heikki Solin, Martti Leiwo et Hilla Halla-aho, Hildesheim: Olms, pp. 173-182., 2003

The Journal of Medieval Latin, 2007

Quaestiones Medii Aevi Novae, 2017

Suomen Kirkkohistoriallisen Seuran Vuosikirja, 2019

Keskiaikainen liturgia elettynä ja koettuna Medieval liturgy as lived emotions This paper addre... more Keskiaikainen liturgia elettynä ja koettuna

Medieval liturgy as lived emotions

This paper addresses the images and emotions stimulated by medieval liturgy and their role as a verbal and musical medium, sonic hagiography. We observe the question on two time levels: on the one hand, the medieval Dominican community where our liturgical sources have originated, on the other hand, the workshops on medieval chant that we organized in 2015 and 2016. This discussion aims at a many-sided study of a researcher’s means of interpreting the past while also addressing the interpretation of medieval imagery from the background of the present, utilizing the subjective experiences of a modern listener.

Our medieval research material consists of the musical notation and texts of the liturgical chants dedicated to the Dominican saint Thomas Aquinas (1224/5–1274). Analyzing medieval manuscripts, the extant memorial chants of Thomas, their music and lyrics and their contextualization in our knowledge of Dominican liturgy provide our analysis of the function of medieval music with an important frame of reference. In analyzing the material collected in our workshops (descriptions of participants’ thoughts and emotions), we have been guided by theories of modality, acoustic feeling and phenomenology.

This study focuses, above all, on the body: the living and dead body of Thomas, his relics, as well as the bodies of the medieval and modern singers who have performed liturgical chants that describe the body of Thomas Aquinas. The structure of the article moves between medieval and modern contexts as we observe the sensory impressions created by music in the Middle Ages and the modern world on occasions when their respective singers have participated corporally in the offices of Thomas Aquinas by singing and listening.

The material collected in our workshops is largely similar regardless of their participants’ age, education and other background factors. This is an indicator of the general uniformity of the human auditory experience. A singer’s personal voice in his own body can produce experiences that connect to the atmosphere of medieval chant and its singers.

Rhyme and Rhyming in Verbal Art, Language and Song, Studia Fennica Folkloristica 25, 2022

Multiple origins? Some observations on the medieval Latin rhyme The very etymology of the word... more Multiple origins? Some observations on the medieval Latin rhyme

The very etymology of the word ‘rhyme’ betrays the contexts in which rhyme in West European verse evolved, as the word itself was adopted in the Middle Ages from of the Latin rhythmus, by way of such intermediate forms as ridmus, riddimus, rimus etc. In other words, at least by the High Middle Ages, end rhyme was conceived as a quintessential, if not defining feature of rhythmic (or non-quantitative) poetry. This may strike us as surprising, as rhythmic (as opposed to the earlier metric) verse is generally defined as a form that only considers the number of syllables and, possibly, word accent, and its earliest definitions (e.g. the Venerable Bede) only discuss the number of syllables. At the same time, a substantial amount of metric verse with regular rhyme (e.g. the so-called leonine hexameter) was composed throughout the Middle Ages.

The origins of end rhyme in medieval Latin verse, together with its evolution towards increasing regularity, have been a matter of some debate: it has variously been attributed to Semitic or Celtic influences as well as certain mechanisms inherent in the Latin language and its verse technique. The problem of what constitutes rhyme is also problematic. Early examples of rhyme in, e.g., the hymns of Caelius Sedulius generally border on mild assonance and are a far cry from the elaborate and regular disyllabic end rhyme of the High Middle Ages. At the same time, however, the manneristic use of the hyperbaton (the separation of an adjective from its noun head) in Late Latin verse frequently produced a rhyme-like effect through its placement of identical case endings. Whether this was the desired outcome or merely a side effect is open to debate, but at least by the eighth century, such grammarians as Bede acknowledged the association of word order and end rhyme. This paper discusses the various traditions on which the medieval Latin rhyme drew in producing the form as it is known to us from High Medieval Latin and later vernacular verse.

Interfaces between Language and Culture in Medieval England, 2010

The dactylic hexameter was the most frequently used of the classical Greek and Roman metres. It w... more The dactylic hexameter was the most frequently used of the classical Greek and Roman metres. It was praised by ancient and medieval authors alike for its versatility, being suited to both loft y and common subjects. This chapter investigates Anglo-Saxons' attitudes to spondaic verses, contextualising them within the earlier history of Latin hexameter verse before investigating the ideas and influence of the Anglo-Saxon authors Aldhelm and Bede. Spondaic verses have a very distinctive character: they lack the "dum-di-di-dum-dum" cadence that for most people, presumably even in antiquity, is the most recognisable part of the hexameter line. The roots of the dactylic hexameter extend as far back as the oral epic traditions of the Greeks, and possibly even earlier. There was, however, one prominent exception to the tendency of Latin hexameter poetry to be more spondaic than Greek - the fifth foot of the hexameter. Keywords: Anglo-Saxon; dactylic hexameter; Greeks; Latin hexameter

Israel the Grammarian was a tenth-century scholar and poet of presumably Breton origin, who playe... more Israel the Grammarian was a tenth-century scholar and poet of presumably Breton origin, who played an influential role in King Æthelstan’s court before becoming tutor to Bruno, the future archbishop of Cologne. This article focuses on his hexameter poem “Versus Israhelis de arte metrica super nomen et uerbum,” a discussion of the prosody of final syllables, addressed to Bishop Robert of Trier, Israel’s patron. While on the surface the “Versus de arte metrica” appear to be a didactic poem, it has, in reality, probably been intended as an academic parlour game that tests the reader’s command of Latin grammar and grammatical literature. At the same time, it reflects the central role of inflectional paradigms and the emergence of inflection tables in medieval Latin instruction.

Israël le Grammairien était un érudit et poète du Xème siècle, probablement d’origine bretonne, qui a joué un rôle influent à la cour du roi Æthelstan avant de devenir tuteur de Brunon, le futur archevêque de Cologne. Cet article se focalise sur son poème hexamètre “Versus Israhelis de arte metrica super nomen et uerbum”, une discussion de la prosodie des syllabes finales adressée à son supérieur hiérarchique, l’évêque Robert de Trèves. Même s’il s’agit ostensiblement d’un poème didactique, il doit très probablement être compris comme un jeu académique qui teste l’érudition grammaticale de son lecteur. En même temps, il reflète le rôle central des paradigmes grammaticaux et l’émergence des tableaux de flexion dans l’enseignement latin du moyen âge.

Classica et Mediaevalia : Danish Journal of Philology and History 65

The Venerable Bede’s eighth-century treatise De arte metrica contains the first description of th... more The Venerable Bede’s eighth-century treatise De arte metrica contains the first description of the trochaic septenarius, an archaic metre best-known from early Roman comedy but also adopted by Christian hymnodists. Although Bede’s presentation was partly flawed, it became a guideline for Carolingian poets who often followed it to the letter, demonstrating the artificiality of their verse technique and their dependence on metrical theory.

Philological Quarterly 94.1

Hrabanus Maurus’s ninth-century Excerptio de arte grammatica Prisciani is a compendium of prosodi... more Hrabanus Maurus’s ninth-century Excerptio de arte grammatica Prisciani is a compendium of prosodic rules intended for classroom use as an aid to the scansion and composition of metrical poetry, a hard-learned skill in the Early Middle Ages, when syllable lengths had disappeared from spoken Latin. The work is best understood as a creative synthesis of several Late Antique and Early Medieval grammatical works, mainly those of Donatus and Priscian. In addition, Hrabanus’s presentation of common syllables (syllables that can be interpreted as either long or short) relies heavily on Bede’s eighth-century De arte metrica, and, in many places, quotes it verbatim.
In his highly polemical De arte metrica, Bede sought to create a standard for purely Christian verse, replacing Vergil and the “pagan” classics with Christian epic poets as a normative model, even in questions of prosody. In Hrabanus’s paraphrase, however, Bede’s strongly pro-Christian sentiment has been moderated to a high degree. Bede’s condemnation of “pagan” prosodic license is presented in a considerable less severe form, and Hrabanus has re-introduced quotations from pre-Christian poets into his presentation, including the verse of Horace, which had enjoyed a renaissance in the Carolingian age. While Hrabanus does not directly challenge Bede’s dichotomy of pagan and Christian verse technique, he has sought to find a compromise between the Bedan norm and the Carolingians’ new-found interest in the classical tradition in order to meet the demands of his audience.

Arctos: Acta Philologica Fennica 48

Lupus of Ferrières's ninth-century De metris Boethii was the first attempt to describe the varied... more Lupus of Ferrières's ninth-century De metris Boethii was the first attempt to describe the varied and complex poetic metres employed by Boethius in his De consolatione philosophiae, and it constituted the most important authority on the subject throughout the Middle Ages. Although Lupus's presentation of the metres has mainly been assembled from Servius's Late Antique De centum metris, this article demonstrate its dependence on Bede's De arte metrica especially in its discussion of the hexameter and the so-called terentianean metre, which Lupus gives an analysis that is thoroughly consistent with Bede's, although it is manifestly ill-suited to Boethius's poems. Lupus's surprising reliance on Bede's treatise testifies for Bede's role as the central authority on Latin metre in the Early Middle Ages.

Ennen ja nyt : historian tietosanomat 2/2013, Nov 12, 2013

The Virgil Encyclopedia (eds. Richard F. Thomas, Jan Ziolkowski), p. 175, 2013

Studies in Variation, Contacts and Change in English 10: Outposts of Historical Corpus Linguistics: From the Helsinki Corpus to a Proliferation of Resources, eds. Jukka Tyrkkö, Matti Kilpiö, Terttu Nevalainen and Matti Rissanen). Helsinki. , 2012

A central prosodic feature of nearly all Latin verse, classical and medieval alike, is the avoida... more A central prosodic feature of nearly all Latin verse, classical and medieval alike, is the avoidance of hiatus, where a word with a final vowel, or in classical verse, a final m, is followed by a word with an initial vowel, (or, in classical verse, an initial h). In classical Latin, hiatus is eliminated by a process known as elision, or synaloephe, where the final vowel of the preceding word is fused with the following one or left unpronounced. The avoidance of hiatus is a feature of most medieval verse, as well, but early insular verse forms a notable exception: hiatus is abundant in many rhythmical Irish and Anglo-Latin hymns, and even in much of Anglo-Latin hexameter poetry elision is not systematically observed. This is a noticeable feature, above all, in the verse of Aldhelm and his followers, although Aldhelm himself gives a detailed description of elision in his treatise on metrics (De metris). Bede took an opposite line in his strenuous avoidance of hiatus in his own verse. In his metrical treatise De arte metrica he went so far as to condemn hiatus as a ‘pagan’ feature, a view which he attempted to corroborate with examples of Vergil’s artful deviations from the rules of elision. Bede’s reluctance to recognise hiatus for a contemporary rather than a pre-Christian feature reflects his attempts to show Christian verse in as favourable light as possible, although, in a roundabout way, he probably also tried to regularise the prosodic practices of Anglo-Latin verse. The present paper studies this discrepancy between Anglo-Saxon prosodists’ views on hiatus and the prevailing verse technique of the same period and suggests that some seeming idiosyncrasies in Aldhelm’s use of elision are, in fact, probably based on certain less-known practices of Late Latin hexameter verse.

Interfaces between Language and Culture in Medieval England. A Festschrift for Matti Kilpiö, eds. Alaric Hall, Olga Timofeeva, Ágnes Kiricsi and Bethany Fox. Boston–Leiden: Brill (The Northern World, vol. 48), pp. 81–98.., 2010

Journal of Medieval Latin 17, pp. 101-109, 2007

Teologinen Aikakauskirja 6/2004, pp. 586-588

The Eastern Mediterranean in the Late Antique and Early Byzantine Periods, eds. Maria Gourdoba, Leena Pietilä-Castrén and Esko Tikkala, Helsinki (Papers and Monographs of the Finnish Institute at Athens vol. IX.), pp. 17-31., 2004

Latin vulgaire - latin tardif VI: Actes du VIe colloque international sur le latin vulgaire et tardif. Helsinki, 29 août - 2 septembre 2000, eds. Heikki Solin, Martti Leiwo et Hilla Halla-aho, Hildesheim: Olms, pp. 173-182., 2003

The Venerable Bede s eighth-century De arte metrica was the most important treatise on Latin metr... more The Venerable Bede s eighth-century De arte metrica was the most important treatise on Latin metrics to emerge in the early Middle Ages. It played a central role in the transmission of the classical literary tradition to the medieval audience, but, at the same time, constitutes one of the first efforts at creating a textbook on metrics that was primarily intended for the monastic curriculum. This historical background, together with the author s Christian agenda, is present in virtually every aspect of the way the work discusses the Latin poetic heritage. The main focus of De arte metrica is on hexameter verse and the problems inherent in its composition at a time when syllable quantity had disappeared from spoken Latin. The work departs from previous grammatical tradition by incorporating syllable lengths into its discussion of poetic metres, a didactic solution necessitated by the linguistic conditions of Anglo-Saxon England. Even here, Bede consciously strives to create a consistently Christian literary norm. Instead of relying on the example of Vergil and other classics, he seeks to base his presentation of metrical rules, from syllable lengths to larger structures, on the example of Christian poets, most notably Sedulius, implying that pagan authors were even prosodically less advanced than Christian ones. Bede s views have been influenced by his belief in the biblical origins of metre, an idea expounded by several Christian apologists. Bede s discussion of other poetic metres is mainly restricted to those employed in Christian hymnody, and their simplified analyses correspond with Christian usage. Bede is also the first author to give an appropriate presentation of rhythmic or non-quantitative verse, anticipating later medieval poetic practices. The aim of this thesis is to examine the ways in which Bede sought to recast the classical poetic heritage in a form more appropriate for Christian scholars. This usually manifests itself in minute alterations of wording, but sometimes Bede takes a definite stand for the virtues of Christian verse as opposed to the pre-Christian classics. As many of Bede s definitions influenced numerous generations of medieval grammarians and poets, and the work itself became a model for the genre of Artes metricae, the strong role of its Christianising tendency must not be underestimated.

The Medieval Offices of Saint Thomas Aquinas, 2019

e-publication) ISBN 978-952-329-124-9 (printed publication) ISBN 978-952-329-125-6 (e-publication... more e-publication) ISBN 978-952-329-124-9 (printed publication) ISBN 978-952-329-125-6 (e-publication) Cover Jan Rosström Layout Henri Terho

Latinan äänneoppia käsittelevä luku julkaisemattomaan suomenkieliseen latinan kielioppiin. A chap... more Latinan äänneoppia käsittelevä luku julkaisemattomaan suomenkieliseen latinan kielioppiin.
A chapter on Latin phonetics and phonology for an unpublished Finnish-language grammar of Latin.