Later Medieval Europę zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA

The Making of Memory in

Middle Ages
Managing Editor

Douglas Biggs
University o f Nebraska ­ Kearney Edited by

Lucie Doleżalova
Editorial Board Members

Kelly DeVries
Loyola College
William Chester Jordan
Princeton University
Cynthia J. Neville
Dalhousie University
Kathryn L. Reyerson
University o f Minnesota

YOLUME 4

BRILL

LEIDEN . BOSTON
2010
Later Medieval Europę zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
The Making of Memory in the
Middle Ages
Managing Editor

Douglas Biggs
University of Nebraska ­ Kearney Edited by

Lucie Doleżalova
Editorial Board Members

Kelly DeVries
Loyola College
William Chester Jordan
Princeton University
Cynthia J. Neville
Dalhousie University
Kathryn L. Reyerson
University of Minnesota

YOLUME 4

zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPO
• f s

BRILL

LEIDEN . BOSTON
2010
Cover illustration front:zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
'Ihe image was designed by Petr Doleźal and is based on fol.
18r of manuscript I. G . 1 la, which is kept at the National Library in Prague. The
complete folio is reproduced as Figurę 4 in this book.
Cover illustration back: Detail from fol. 18r of manuscript I. G . 1 la, National Library,
Prague.
CONTENTS
'Ihis book is printed on acid­free paper.

Library of Gongress Gataloging­in­Publication Data List o f Figures ix

'Ihe making of memory in the Middle Ages / edited by Lucie Doleżalova.
Preface xi
p. cm. — (Later medieval Europę ; v. 4) Patrick }. Geary
Includes bibliographical references and index. Acknowledgements xiii
ISBN 978­90­04­17925­7 (hbk. : alk. paper) 1. Givilization, Medieval. 2. Middle
Ages. 3. Memory­Social a s p e c t s — E u r o p ę — H i s t o r y — T o 1500. 4. Collective
Contributors xv
m e m o r y — E u r o p ę — H i s t o r y — T o 1500. 5. Europę—Social conditions—To 1492.
6. Europę—Intellectual life. 7. Literaturę, Medicval—History and criticism. Revisiting M e m o r y i n the M i d d l e Ages (Introduction) 1
8. Narration (Rhetoric)—History—To 1500. 9. Europę—Social life and customs.
Lucie Doleżalovd and Tamds Visi
I. Dolezalova, Lucie. II. Title. III. Series.

CB353.M33 2009 C o m m u n a l M e m o r y of the Distributed Author:

909.07—dc22
Applicability o f the Connectionist M o d e l of M e m o r y
2009029440 to the Study o f Traditional Narratives 9
Slavica Ranković

PART I

STORING A N D RECUPERATING K N O W L E D G E

A . The A r t o f M e m o r y in Practice

W r i t i n g the M e m o r y o f the Virtues and Vices in

Johannes Sintram's (d. 1450) Preaching A i d s 31
Kimberly Rivers
ISSN 1872­7875
ISBN 978 90 04 17925 7
M e m o r y , Meditation and Preaching: A Fifteenth­Century
Gopyright 2010 by Koninklijke Brill N V , Lciden, Ihe Netherlands. M e m o r y M a c h i n ę in Central E u r o p ę (The Text Nota hanc
Koninklijke Brill N V incorporates the imprints Brill, Hotei Publishing, figuram composuerunt doctores... I Pro aliąuali
IDG Publishers, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers and VSP.
intelligentia...) 49
Ali rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, Farkas Gabor Kiss
stored in a rctricval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, clectronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission
The Staging of Memory: Ars memorativa and the Spectacle o f
from the publisher.
Imagination in Late Medieval Preaching in Poland 79
Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Rafał Wójcik
Koninklijke Brill N V providcd that the appropriate fees are paid directly to
Ihe Gopyright Glearance Genter, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suitę 910,
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Printed and bound in Great Britain by

CPI Antony Rowe, Chippenham and Rastbourne
vi C O N T E N T S zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA CONTENTS vii

" A n d nothing will be wasted": Actualization of the Past i n

O n Mistake and Meaning:zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
Scinderationes Fonorum in Medieval
Artes Memoriae, M n e m o n i c Verses, and Manuscripts 95 Caesarius of Heisterbach's Dialogus Miraculorum 253
Victoria Smirnova
Lucie Doleżalovd
B. Social Contexts
B. M n e m o n i c A i d s
The Latin Vocabulary of M e m o r y in Medieval Hungary 269
The Verse Bibie as Aide­memoire 115 Elód Nemerkenyi
Greti Dinkova­Bruun
Exhibete membra vestra: Verbal and Visual Enthymeme as The Construction of M e m o r y and the Display of Social Bonds
Late Medieval Mnemotechnics 133 in the Life of Corpus Christi Fraternity from Sibiu
Laura Iseppi De Filippis (Hermannstadt, Nagyszeben) 283
Carmen Florea
The Late Medieval Summa Iovis as a Case Study for the Use
of Poems as M n e m o n i c A i d s 149 Props of M e m o r y , Triggers of Narration: T i m e and Space i n
Riidiger Lorenz Medieval Jewish Hagiography 309
Lucia Raspe
Pseudo­Apocryphal Dialogue as a T o o l for the Memorization
of Scholastic W i s d o m : The Farewell of Christ to M a r y and C. Individual Versus Collective Memories
the Liber de vita Christi by Jacobus 161
Peter Tóth Anselm of Laon in the Twelfth­Century Schools:
Between fama and memoria 331
The O l d Norse K e n n i n g as a M n e m o n i c Figurę 199 Cedric Giraud
Bergsveinn Birgisson
M e m o r y and Hagiography: The Formation of the M e m o r y of
Three Thirteenth­Century Female Saints 347
P A R T II
Ddvid Falvay
R E M E M B E R I N G A N D F O R G E T T I N G T H E PAST
Dixit ąuod non recordatur: M e m o r y as Proof in Inąuisitorial
A . Literary Strategies Trials (Early Fourteenth­Century France) 365
Irenę Bueno
The Landscape as a M e m o r y Construction in the Latin
Petrarch 219 D . Forgetting
Francesco Stella
Peasants' Revolts Memories: Damnatio memoriae or
Posthumous Messages: M e m o r y , Romance, and the Hidden Memories? 397
Morte Darthur 241 Yincent Challet
Jon Whitman
viii zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
CONTENTS

Remembering and Forgetting the Sabians: Moses Maimonides,

Moses Narboni, and Eleazar Eilenburg 415 zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
Tamds Visi LIST O F F I G U R E S

E. Constructing the Past

Figurę 1: Tree of Vice. The Pierpont Morgan Library,
N e w York, M S M.298, fol. 159v. Photography:
The Past as a Precedent: Crusade, Reconquest and
Joseph Zehavi, 2008
Twelfth­Century Memories of a Christian Iberia 441
Figurę 2: Tree of Virtues. The Pierpont Morgan Library,
William J. Purkis
New York, M S M.298, fol. 160r. Photography:
Joseph Zehavi, 2008
M e m o r y of the Past and O l d Norse Identity 463
Figurę 3: A German translation of the original Latin verse
Elsę Mundal
from the Fasciculus morum. The Pierpont Morgan Library,
New York, M S M.298, fol. 40v. Photography:
In memoriam defunctorum: Visual Arts as Devices of M e m o r y 473
Joseph Zehavi, 2008
Milena Bartlovd
Figurę 4: Prague, National Library, M S I. G . 11 a,
fol. 17v­18r
Index 487
Figurę 5a­d: Arbor vitae contemplativae, Niirnberg,
Creussner, 1473, fols. 2­5 ( G W 2672)
Figurę 6: The memory table following the ars memorativa
contained in the Ars vitae contemplativae, with
contemporary notes in Hungarian (Budapest, Hungarian
National Library, Inc. 1243, fol. 13v). Each animal
(simeus, thaurus, lupus, asinus, etc.) is surrounded by
four "craftsmen" (tailor, painter, waitress, idiot; blacksmith,
cook, baker, stakeholder) in a r o o m {camera). The animals
were to be placed on the doors of the rooms
Figurę 7: " W a r n i n g to Swearers," Broughton,
Buckinghamshire, early 15th century; photo: Trevor and
A n n e Marshall
Figurę 8: Structure of the Summa Iovis
Figurę 9: Corresponding text passages in Summa Iovis and
Summa dictaminis ,
Figurę 10: The herring tern (drawing by Kjartan Hallur
Gretarsson)
Figurę 11: The fire wolf (drawing by Kjartan Hallur
Gretarsson)
 78 zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
F A R K A S G A B O R KISS

18.zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
Olomouc, Stdtni vedeckd knihovna, M I 156
15th c , originally from Brno­Kralovo Pole, Carthusian monastery
domus sanctae Trinitatis. The preceding text is the Ars memorativa T H E STAGING OF M E M O R Y :
secundum modum Parisiensem, inc. Pro aliąuali intelligentia praesentis ARS MEMORATWA A N D T H E S P E C T A C L E O F I M A G I N A T I O N
figurae... IN L A T E M E D I E V A L P R E A C H I N G I N P O L A N D

19. Rome, BAV, Pal. Lat. 870 Rafał Wójcik

15th c , 214 fols., (1462, 1467, 1469). Hermanni Zoest de monasterio
ordinis Cisterciensis phaselexis, Canon law materials (Ioannis Andreae
The main point of this article is to consider two levels of staging which
super ąuarto decretalium), letters. fols. 127­132: Recordatio theologiae,
can be perceived i n late medieval preaching in Poland, particularly in
vita contemplativa, ludus sacrae paginae, promptitudo praedicandi,
the Polish Observants' ars memorativa and the art of preaching.' There
temptationes superandi et salus humani generis. Inc. Pro aliąuali intel­
are two reasons for the choice of the topie. Firstly, the art of memory
ligentia presentis figurę est sciendum... Cf. Henry Stevenson, I.B. De
in East Central E u r o p ę has still not been sufficiently investigated. Sec­
Rossi, Codices Palatini Latini Bibliothecae Yaticanae, vol. 1. (Vatican:
ondly, the case o f the Observants in Poland is very interesting both
Biblioteca A p o s t o ł k a Vaticana, 1886), 311.
as far as studying their intellectual, spiritual and preaching activity is
concerned, and for investigating their interest in the art of memory at
20. Salzburg, Erzabtei St. Peter, MS b VI16
the turn o f the sixteenth century. The idea of the two levels o f stag­
15th c , fols. la­185a: Greculus: Sermones de tempore, fols.l87r­303r:
ing (intra and extra) during the act o f preaching came to m y m i n d
Peregrinus: Sermones de sanctis; fol. 303b: Tituli librorum veteris
while reading Krzysztof Bracha's excellent book o n the collection o f
testamenti, fol. 304r­306v: Sermo de signis in die ultimi judicii, fol. 2
sermons of Piotr of Miłosław. Although the connections between the
307r­322r: Dominicus de Capranica: Ars moriendi, fol. 327r­337r:
art o f memory and preaching, and especially the use o f mnemonics
Paradigmata de arte praedicandi, fol. 339r­347r: Meditationes de
while preparing the sermons, have been well recognized, the elements
attributis divinis, de ąuatuor novissimis etc, inc. Pro aliąuali intelli­
of staging i n medieval ars memorativa have not been considered so
gentia praesentisfigurae;fol. 347r­350v: Nota de memoria artificiali
far. The idea of an internal theatre and of dramatic scenes taking place
secundum Parisiensem.
in the preacher's m i n d seemed so interesting to me, that I decided
to devote a whole study to comparing these two types o f intellectual
21. Wien, ÓNB, Cod. 13855
activity, ars memorativa and staging.
15th c , around 1461­1465, Liber formularum (1439­1471), Summa
praedicandi; fol. 26r­34r: Super [!] speculum anime atąue modus con­
templandi.

1
I am grateful to Kimberly Rivers for her advice on how to improve my text.
Among other, she suggested that Jody Enders' basie points are close to mine. See
Jody Enders, The Medieval Theater of Cruelty: Rhetoric, Memory, Violence (Ithaca,
NY: Cornell University Press, 1999) and eadem, "The Theater of Scholastic Erudition,"
Comparative Drama 27 (1993): 341­363.1 also express my gratitude to Professor Peter
Stotz for his useful comments on the last version of this text.
2
Krzysztof Bracha, Nauczanie kaznodziejskie w Polsce późnego średniowiecza.
Sermones dominicales et festwales z tzw. Kolekcji Piotra z Miłosławia (Preachers'
teaching in Poland of the late Middle Ages: "Sermones dominicales et festivales"
from the so­called collection of Piotr of Miłosław) (Kielce: Wydawnictwo Akademii
Świętokrzyskiej, 2007), hereafter cited as Bracha, Nauczanie kaznodziejskie.
 80zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
R A F A Ł WÓJCIK
Dramatic and theatrical facets o f the art of memory can be found as
early as in Roman times inzyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
ars memorativa, especially in the anony­
mous Rhetorica ad Herennium. These dramatic or scenie elements are:
the spectacle, actors, the play, the spectator or spectators, a peculiar
combination o f the performance, the limits of space and time, stage­
craft, stage design, costume design, props, light design, and, o f course,
direction and staging as the interpretation o f a text. The inherent fea­
ture o f staging in the classical mnemonic tradition (by the classical
tradition I mean the art of memory o f the loci and imagines agentes),
which is both strange and fascinating, is that the whole "spectacle,"
the whole performance was directed, staged, enacted, designed i n
costumes, props and light and finally watched and interpreted by the
same person, the so­called memorista (a memorista is a person who
studies and uses the art o f memory). Furthermore, the whole scenę
or sequence o f scenes were re­enacted (in the first level) exclusively
in the imagination o f the memorista. Since the previously mentioned
Roman texts exerted enormous influence upon the formation o f the
art o f memory throughout the M i d d l e Ages, I would like to remind
readers of the more expressive example, known from Rhetorica ad
Herennium:
Since, then, images must resemble objects, we ought ourselves to choose
from all objects likenesses for our use. Hence likenesses are bound to be
of two kinds, one of subject­matter, the other of words. Likenesses of
matter are formed when we enlist images that present a generał view of
the matter with which we are dealing; likenesses of words are established
when the record of each single noun or appellative is kept by an image.
Often we encompass the record of an entire matter by one notation,
a single image. For example, the prosecutor has said that the defendant
killed a man by poison, has charged that the motive for the crime was an
inheritance, and declared that there are many witnesses and accessories
to this act. If in order to facilitate our defense we wish to remember this
first point, we shall in ourfirstbackground form an image of the whole
matter. We shall picture the man in ąuestion as lying ill in bed, if we
know his person. If we do not know him, we shall yet take someone to
be our invalid, but not a man of the lowest class, so that he may come to
mind at once. And we shall place the defendant at the bedside, holding
in his right hand a cup, and in his left tablets, and on the fourth finger
a ram's testicles. In this way we can record the man who was poisoned,
3
the inheritance, and the witnesses.
' Quoniam ergo rerum similes imagines esse oportet, ex omnibus rebus nosmet
nobis similitudines cligere debemus. Duplices igitur similitudines esse debent, unae
STAGING OF MEMORY 81
A novice (preacher) was supposed to write down and associate to
consecutive loci details related to the contents to be memorized. In
this way, a memorista brought to life a series of imagined events or
scenes building up a story that were then depicted by actors (imag­
ines agentes), as well as some of the staged actions i n his imagina­
tion. A distinction between the theatre and the above mentioned rules
of memorization is a difference o f "scenę." The spectator­memonsfa
moves from one scenę, which is loeus, to another one. In the classical
theatre, however, the spectator sits motionless and watches the actors'
movements, which seem to change before his eyes.
The following excerpt from the Rhetorica ad Herennium deals with
the fitting of the imagines agentes with costumes and props:
We ought, then, to set up images of a kind that can adhere longest in
the memory. And we shall do so if we establish a likenesses as striking
as possible; if we set up images that are not many or vague, but doing
something; if we assign to them exceptional beauty or singular ugliness;
if we dress some of them with crowns or purple cloaks, for example, so
that the likeness may be more distinct to us; or if we somehow disfigure
them, as by introducing one stained with blood or soiled with mud or
smeared with red paint, so that its form is more striking, or by assigning
certain comic effects to our images, for that, too, will ensure our remem­
bering them more readily. The things we easily remember when they are
real we likewise remember without difficulty when they are figments, if
they have been carefully delineated. But this will be essential—again and
again to run over rapidly in the mind all the original backgrounds in
4
order to refresh the images.
rerum, alterae verborum. Rerum similitudines exprimunlur, cum summatim ipsorum
negotiorum imagines conparamus; vcrborum similitudines constituuntur, cum unius
c u i u s ą u e nominis et vocabuli memoria imagine notatur.
Rei totius memoriam saepe una nota et imagine simplici conprehendimus; hoc
modo, ut si aceusator dixerit ab reo hominem veneno necatum, et hereditatis causa
factum arguerit, et eius rei multos dixerit testes et conscios esse: si hoc primum, ut
ad defendendum nobis expeditum <sit,> meminisse volemus, in primo loco rei totius
imaginem conformabimus: aegrotum in lecto eubantem faciemus ipsum illum, de
quo agetur, si formam eius detinebimus; si eum non, at aliquem aegrotum <non>
de minimo loco sumemus, ut cito in mentem venire possit. Et reum ad lectum eius
adstituemus, dextera poculum, sinistra tabulas, medico testiculos arietinos tenen­
tem: hoc modo et testium et hereditatis et veneno necati memoriam habere poteri­
mus (Ad G . Herennium: De ratione dicendi [Rhetorica ad Herennium], trans. Harry
Caplan, Loeb Classical Library [London: Heinemann et al., 1954), Book III, par. 33,
213­215).
1
Imagines igitur nos in eo genere constituere oportebit, quod genus in memoria
diutissime potest haerere. Id accidet, si quam maxime notatas similitudines constitue­
mus; si non multas nec vagas, sed aliquid agentes imagines ponemus; si egregiam
puleritudinem aut unicam turpitudinem cis adtribuemus; si aliquas exornabimus, ut si
 82 zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
R A F A Ł WÓJCIK S T A G I N G OF M E M O R Y 83

The above example serves as a good reminder of how the elements from among the three authors of the classical texts only Quintilian
of staging i n the art o f memory were perceived as far back as i n the (Marcus Fabius Quintilianus) considered the composition, structure
ancient times. However, the main point of the present study is to focus and division o f the text for mnemonic aids helpful not only to the
on the role of the dramatization (theatricalization) o f imagination, orator but also to the audience. 7

which can be observed i n Jan Szklarek'szyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA

Opusculum de arte memora­ The most expressive examples o f the first type of staging can be
5
twa (printed in Cracow in 1504) and in the practices of late medieval found i n Jan Szklarek's Opusulum de arte memoratwa. A s for the case
preachers i n Poland. It is precisely from this perspective that I prq­ of external staging, being fully aware of the complex character of the
pose to scrutinize the text. A t that time in Poland such treatises as the issues related to an investigation of the art of preaching, I shall limit
anonymous Ars commoda, Artificiosa memoria secundum Parisienses myself in this paper to the aspects of staging and the spectacularity of
or Memoria fecunda were widely read, as well as the works o f such the activity.
authors as Jacobus Publicius, Thomas Murner, C o n r a d Celtes, Petrus
de Rosenheim, Johann Enclen de Cusa (Johannes Cusanus) and an
The Director and the Stage Designer
Observant Paulinus de Scarbimiria. Particular attention will be placed,
however, o n the Szklarek's treatise and other works that originated
The preacher­memorista is someone like the director and stage designer
within the circle of Polish Observants, as I would like to present two
who deals with the two levels of the spectacle; o n the one hand, per­
levels o f staging for the memorized and remembered contents. The
forming for himself i n his consciousness, while, on the other hand,
first level was enacted i n the m i n d of the adept of the art o f memory
staging different performances for the audience. O n the first level, the
and can be called intra; the other was enacted in front of the audience
intra, his task was to create mnemonic places i n the imagination and
during the preaching and its main objective was to catch the audience's
then to put the corresponding imagines agentes in them; he had to
attention and to facilitate the memorization process of the lesson, and
interpret a text to express it with a symbolic image, to assign the parts
it can be called extra. The central person was the preacher­memomta
to the "actors," and to give them the props and the costumes. In the lat­
in both o f these levels. The main aids of preachers were, o n the one
ter case, during the act of preaching, the memorista was also the direc­
hand, mnemonic treatises and, o n the other hand, handbooks o f the
tor, because he himself interpreted the text for the audience and made
art o f preaching (ars preadicandi) which very often contained sections
decisions regarding the use of intonation, lilt, gestures and, sometimes,
on ars memorativa or provided answers to ąuestions related to mem­
6 props used for illustrating the sermon. W e have to remember that the
ory such as Francesc Eximenis' ars praedicandi. Curiously enough,
praedicantes, particularly in the mendicant orders, were drilled on the
intonation, gestures and diction in special rooms which had been spe­
cially prepared for that purpose. For example, Jodok o f Głuchołazy,
coronis aut veste purpurea, quo nobis notatior sit similitudo; aut si qua rc deformabi­
the abbot of the Canons Regular of W r o c ł a w , had a special c o m m o n
mus, ut si cruentam aut caeno oblitam aut rubrica delibutam inducamus, quo magis
insignita sit forma, aut ridiculas res aliquas imaginibus adtribuamus: nam ea res quo­ room, the so­called stubella, ordered for the Augustinians where the
quc faciet, ut facilius meminissc valeamus. Nam, quas res <veras> facile memineri­ friars could practice preaching. The Dominicans were prepared for
mus, casdem fictas et diligenter notatas meminisse non difFicile est. Sed illud facere i

oportebit, ut identidem primos quosque locos imaginum renovandarum causa celer­ further pulpit service by experienced preachers called exercitatores.
iter animo pervagemus (Ad Herennium III, 37, trans. Caplan, 221). The preachers' e ą u i p m e n t was not only a knowledge of the Scriptures
5
Rafał Wójcik, Opusculum de arte memoratwa Jana Szklarka. Bernardyński trak­ and their authority on the subject, ecclesiastical erudition and theolog­
tat mnemotechniczny z 1504 roku ("Opusculum de arte memorativa" of Jan Szklarek:
Observant mnemonic treatise from 1504) (Poznań: Biblioteka Uniwersytecka, P o z n a ń ­ ical arrangement, but also a whole set of audiovisual tools which were
skie Studia Polonistyczne, 2006) (hereafter cited as Opusculum); Jan Szklarek, Opus­ helpful and useful for the preacher and for the audience. A s Krzysztof
culum de arte memoratwa (Cracow: Kasper Hochfeder, 1504).
6
Kimberly Rivers, "Memory and Medieval Preaching: Mnemonic Advice in the
Ars Praedicandi of Francesc Eximcnis (ca. 1327­1409)," Viator. Medieval and Renais­
sance Studies 30 (1999): 253­284; Ccsare Vasoli, "Arte delia memoria e predicazione," 7
Rivers, Memory and Medieval Preaching, 257.
Medioevo e Rinascimento 3 (1989): 201­321. " Bracha, Nauczanie kaznodziejskie, 133.
 84 zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
R A F A Ł WÓJCIK S T A G I N G OF M E M O R Y 85

Bracha rightly considers: "The sphere o f the art of inventionzyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA

(inventio, The Actors
dispositio, elocutio), that is the method for filling the framework with
content, also included the expositional practice, that is, the practice o f There are two categories o f players (imagines agentes) i n the first
preaching which encompassed the whole of audiovisual aids for ver­ representation (intra), which can be found i n Szklarek's Opusculum.
bal practice, a particular theatre of gestures and words, behavior and, Observants cali them litterae personales and figurae ideales. Litterae
sometimes, even the clothes o f the preacher." 9
personales are the persons placed i n alphabetical order by names which
have some distinguishing features. Additionally, those characters were
to perform certain activities or adopt poses the memorista wanted them
The Spectator
to perform. They could stand, sit, bend down, prostrate themselves, or
lie on their backs. The preacher associated a concrete position with a
The director was the same person in both cases o f staging (intra and
concrete syllable, and the concrete syllable with a specific word related
extra), but the matter is quite different i f we are considering the pres­
to a part o f the story or the sermon." The above­mentioned figurae
ence of the spectators. In the first case o f staging, the role of spectator
ideales were the images of real or fictitious persons. A n adept charged
was enacted by the preacher himself. In his own imagination he was
them with a task and gave them some props and costumes.
watching the scenes, the actions, or the performance o f imagines agen­
W h i l e the preacher was preaching, he was playing the part o f an
tes, which he staged and produced by himself. In the second one the
actor at the same time. Real sculptures or pictures i n the church
spectators, often very demanding, were the preacher's audience. D u r ­
could serve as imagines agentes for the listening people. Sometimes
ing their sermons preachers had to make efforts to attract the audi­
a preacher would point at them while speaking to the audience dur­
ences attention. Since the spectators differed, preachers would divide
ing a sermon. This issue has already been considered by Frances A .
them into different categories. Jacobus de V i t r y (ca. 1160­1240), for
Yates: "For when people were being taught to practice the formation
example, distinguished 120 categories o f listeners. The most c o m m o n
of images for remembering, it is difficult to suppose that such inner
division at the time identified four groups: some viewers listen with
images might not sometimes have found their way into outer expres­
pleasure, but then they tend to forget everything very quickly; the sec­ 12
sion." Gerhard Jaritz wrote about this: "Das Bild ist allen verstan­
ond group listens willingly to stories and anecdotes; those from the
dliche Dauerpredigt," ("an image is a permanent sermon intelligible
third group listen to the preachers lessons or to the divine words to 13
to everyone"). According to Krzysztof Bracha's conclusions resulting
boast o f their knowledge later on; the last and the most laudable audi­
from his studies o n the sermons of Piotr of Miłosław, many words of
10
ence listens to the sermon i n order to change his or her o w n life.
this preacher suggest that he often referred to iconographic motifs,
O n the other hand, preachers tried to compose and preach i n such a
and his sermons were sometimes commentaries to the well known
way that it facilitated memorizing and remembering the lessons they 14
vivid scenes and stories.
taught. Hence, the desire to attract the audience's attention; the aim
for the successful memorization o f the lesson influenced not only on
the composition o f the sermon, but also its audiovisual setting.

9
Bracha, Nauczanie kaznodziejskie, 133 (my translation); see also Jerzy Wolny,
11
"Łaciński zbiór kazań Peregryna z Opola i ich związek z tzw. 'Kazaniami G n i e ź ­ Wójcik, Opusculum, 142­143.
12
n i e ń s k i m i ' " ('Ihe Latin collection of the sermons of Peregrinus of Opole and its rela­ Frances A . Yates, The Art of Memory (Chicago: University of Chicago Press,
tionship to the so­called "Sermons of Gniezno"), in Średniowiecze. Studia o kulturze 1966), 81.
(The Middle Ages. Studies on culture) 1, ed. J. Lewański (Warszawa: P a ń s t w o w e 13
Gerhard Jaritz, "Bildąuellen zur mittelalterlichen Volksfrómmigkeit," in Volks­
Wydawnictwo Naukowe, 1961), 171­238. religion im hohen und spdten Mittelalter, ed. P. Dinzelbacher, D.R. Bauer (Paderborn:
10
Bracha, Nauczanie kaznodziejskie, 112; Harry Caplan, "Rhetorical Invention in Ferdinand S c h ó n i n g h , 1990), 201.
Some Mediaeval Tractates on Preaching," Speculum 2 (1927): 284­295. " Bracha, Nauczanie kaznodziejskie, 127.
 86 zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
R A F A Ł WÓJCIK zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
The Text
The issue of the text, which was twice interpreted and memorized by
a preacher, is very interesting. The internal visualization seems to be a
first interpretation for the preacher's own use. The words, which will
be told later during the act of preaching, are not yet developed into
a finał form. A novice to the art of memory simply imagined the loci
and imagines agentes, not specific words (I am omitting the question
of memoria verborum, which was not very common), but an image
of some story, a series of separate scenes which were later freąuently
shaped into the act of improvization in the appropriate form accord­
ing to the ars praedicandi. W e should remember M a r y Carruthers'
pertinent remarks relating to acts of improvization in the medieval
world. The classical art o f memory, when it was not at students' dis­
posal in revising for exams, d i d not consist of studying word­for­word.
It was rather a thesaurus of motifs and ideas. A novice could arrange
his own sermon on the basis of earlier prepared stories or quotations
15
from the Scriptures. Just as Homer, or other epic poets were continu­
ally re­narrating other versions of the same story, preachers keeping
to the framework of the sermon that had been prepared and memo­
16
rized earlier improvised in front of the audience. This epoch was still
oral, although there were preachers in the late M i d d l e Ages who used
a piece of paper with the text of a sermon or its master plan writ­
ten on it. Johann U l r i c h Surgent, the preacher and lawyer from Basel
(1450­1502), recommended such form of assistance to preachers with
17
a weak memory, but this practice was not c o m m o n l y accepted. In
fact, techniques like this were generally prohibited, for example at the
18
Canons Regulars of Cracow. In the case of sermones moderni, their
structure and composition facilitated memorizing and remembering
processes. They were elear and easy to understand, in line with ars
praedicandi. Furthermore, sometimes preachers applied inner rhymes
15
Mary Carruthers, The Craft oflhoughł. Meditation, Rhetoric, and the Making of
Images, 400­1200 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006), 7­10.
" Wójcik, Opusculum, 24.
17
Rudolf Cruel, Geschichte der deutschen Predigt im Mittelalter (Darmstadt: Wis­
senchaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1966), 633­634; cited in Bracha, Nauczanie kazno­
dziejskie, 95.
" Kazimierz Łatak, Kanonicy regularni laterańscy na Kazimierzu w Krakowie do
końca XVI w. (Regular Lateran canons in Kazimierz in Cracow till the end of the 16th
century) (Ełk: Kuria Biskupia Diecezji Ełckiej, 1999), 286.
S T A G I N G OF M E M O R Y 87
and rhythm, which were also the components of ars memoratwa. A l l
this made preaching from memory easy, and it aided the audience in
remembering. 19
The Limits of Space and Time
In the case of internal staging, the limits of space depended on the
preacher's creative invention and on the k i n d and number of mne­
monic places which had been constructed for the purpose. Szklarek
exemplifies several model categories o f loci, but they are only exam­
ples. Each novice in preaching created in m i n d his own complex of the
mnemonic space. Szklarek describes three ready­made categories of
places, but each memorista could and was supposed to take advantage
of any architectural form (rooms, accommodations):
[...] some places are generał, such as a city, a monastery, a church or
a house; some are particular, such as workshops, rooms in monasteries
and in colleges, altars, choir­stalls, corners in the temples; while some
are uniąue, such as tables, chests, reliąuaries in rooms, and other things
20
that can be found there. [...]
Szklarek discussed another set of prepared places from Cracow con­
cerning the mnemonic preparation of the sermon on St. Stanislaus. In
it we read about the A l l Saints' C h u r c h (no longer existing); a nearby
cemetery; Szewska Street (platea sutorum), which began at the church;
another St. Francis cemetery and the porch leading out to the farm­
yard. A preacher used to assign actors {imagines agentes) to those par­
ticular places where the consecutive parts of the sermon should be
played out:
There is another way of memorizing sermons through the method of
causae, so that we put the principal parts resulting from dividing [the
whole) in generał places, in the same way as we create the generał places.
We put the first part in the first place, the second part in the second
place, the third part in the third place, and so on subsequently. And we
choose the following places: the first one is the All Saints' Church, the
second one is its cemetery, the third one is the street coming out from
" Bracha, Nauczanie kaznodziejskie, 93­95.
2 0
[...] quidam loeus est generalis, vt ciuitas, claustrum, ecclesia, domus. Quidam
specialis, vt offkine, camere in claustris et in bursis, altaria, formę, anguli in templis.
Quidam vero singularis, vt in cameris m e n s ę , cistę, tece et alia ibi contenta (Wójcik,
Opusculum, 140­141, my translation).
 86 zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
R A F A Ł WÓJCIK zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
The Text
The issue of the text, which was twice interpreted and memorized by
a preacher, is very interesting. The internal visualization seems to be a
first interpretation for the preacher's own use. The words, which will
be told later during the act of preaching, are not yet developed into
a finał form. A novice to the art of memory simply imagined the loci
and imagines agentes, not specific words (I am omitting the question
of memoria verborum, which was not very common), but an image
of some story, a series of separate scenes which were later freąuently
shaped into the act of improvization in the appropriate form accord­
ing to the ars praedicandi. W e should remember M a r y Carruthers'
pertinent remarks relating to acts of improvization in the medieval
world. The classical art o f memory, when it was not at students' dis­
posal in revising for exams, d i d not consist of studying word­for­word.
It was rather a thesaurus of motifs and ideas. A novice could arrange
his own sermon on the basis of earlier prepared stories or quotations
15
from the Scriptures. Just as Homer, or other epic poets were continu­
ally re­narrating other versions of the same story, preachers keeping
to the framework of the sermon that had been prepared and memo­
16
rized earlier improvised in front of the audience. This epoch was still
oral, although there were preachers in the late M i d d l e Ages who used
a piece of paper with the text of a sermon or its master plan writ­
ten on it. Johann U l r i c h Surgent, the preacher and lawyer from Basel
(1450­1502), recommended such form of assistance to preachers with
17
a weak memory, but this practice was not c o m m o n l y accepted. In
fact, techniques like this were generally prohibited, for example at the
18
Canons Regulars of Cracow. In the case of sermones moderni, their
structure and composition facilitated memorizing and remembering
processes. They were elear and easy to understand, in line with ars
praedicandi. Furthermore, sometimes preachers applied inner rhymes
Mary Carruthers, The Craft of Thoughł. Meditation, Rhetoric, and the Making of
Images, 400­1200 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006), 7­10.
" Wójcik, Opusculum, 24.
17
Rudolf Cruel, Geschichte der deutschen Predigt im Mittelalter (Darmstadt: Wis­
senchaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1966), 633­634; cited in Bracha, Nauczanie kazno­
dziejskie, 95.
" Kazimierz Łatak, Kanonicy regularni laterańscy na Kazimierzu w Krakowie do
końca XVI w. (Regular Lateran canons in Kazimierz in Cracow till the end of the 16th
century) (Ełk: Kuria Biskupia Diecezji Ełckiej, 1999), 286.
S T A G I N G OF M E M O R Y 87
and rhythm, which were also the components of ars memoratwa. A l l
this made preaching from memory easy, and it aided the audience in
remembering. 19
The Limits of Space and Time
In the case of internal staging, the limits of space depended on the
preacher's creative invention and on the k i n d and number of mne­
monic places which had been constructed for the purpose. Szklarek
exemplifies several model categories o f loci, but they are only exam­
ples. Each novice in preaching created in m i n d his own complex of the
mnemonic space. Szklarek describes three ready­made categories of
places, but each memorista could and was supposed to take advantage
of any architectural form (rooms, accommodations):
[...] some places are generał, such as a city, a monastery, a church or
a house; some are particular, such as workshops, rooms in monasteries
and in colleges, altars, choir­stalls, corners in the temples; while some
are uniąue, such as tables, chests, reliąuaries in rooms, and other things
20
that can be found there. [...]
Szklarek discussed another set of prepared places from Cracow con­
cerning the mnemonic preparation of the sermon on St. Stanislaus. In
it we read about the A l l Saints' C h u r c h (no longer existing); a nearby
cemetery; Szewska Street (platea sutorum), which began at the church;
another St. Francis cemetery and the porch leading out to the farm­
yard. A preacher used to assign actors (imagines agentes) to those par­
ticular places where the consecutive parts of the sermon should be
played out:
There is another way of memorizing sermons through the method of
causae, so that we put the principal parts resulting from dividing [the
whole) in generał places, in the same way as we create the generał places.
We put the first part in the first place, the second part in the second
place, the third part in the third place, and so on subsequently. And we
choose the following places: the first one is the All Saints' Church, the
second one is its cemetery, the third one is the street coming out from
" Bracha, Nauczanie kaznodziejskie, 93­95.
2 0
[...] quidam loeus est generalis, vt ciuitas, claustrum, ecclesia, domus. Quidam
specialis, vt officine, camere in claustris et in bursis, altaria, formę, anguli in templis.
Quidam vero singularis, vt in cameris m e n s ę , cistę, tece et alia ibi contenta (Wójcik,
Opusculum, 140­141, my translation).
 88 R A F A Ł WÓJCIK
the cemetery, and the fourth one is the St. Francis cemetery, thefifthone
is the porch attached to the court. Thus, a sermon, which is used here as
an example, can be memorized in this way: we put thefirstpart, that is,
the maleficent subject, in the mentioned church, the second one, that is,
the object of pleasure, in the cemetery, the third part [that is, the riches
of respect] in the third place—on the street, the fourth one [that is, the
precious advance] in the fourth one, and thefifthone [that is, miserable
deficiency] in thefifthplace. Thefirstmember should be further divided
in the church, as we did with thefirstzyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
causa of the Decretal. The second
member should be further divided in the cemetery. The third member
should be further divided on the right side of the street in front of shoe­
makers right up to the bailey. The fourth member should be further
divided in the St. Francis cemetery, the fifth one in the porch of [the
church of] St. Francis. zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
21
The scenę was the place in which the preacher stood and was watched
by the congregation while delivering a sermon.
W e can easily discover the limits o f time during preaching: they
were just the sermon's beginning and its end. However, it is very dif­
ficult to find the beginning and the end o f the story that played in the
imagination o f the memorista. A preacher, just like any human being,
could roam through his imagined world at any point o f time. H e could
begin the wandering through the particular loci from any place and
he could also finish it at any point, with the exception o f the actual
moment of preaching. Then the preacher was playing his own series o f
scenes in his m i n d and, at the same time, re­enacting the same story,
but in a completely different way, in front of the audience. The specta­
cle o f imagines agentes, the imagined persons which symbolized some
topics, stories or examples, were taking shape in his imagination and
a moment later the preacher himself played the part, expressing and
formulating his symbolic representation of ideas and stories from his
21
Alius modus rcponendi sermones per modum causarum, vt ponendo principalia
membra diuisionis in locis generalibus, prout loca facimus generalia. Primum mem­
brum in vno, aliud in alio et tercium in tercio et sic c o n s e ą u e n t e r . Et erunt loca:
Omnium Sanctorum ecdesia, cimiterium eius, exeundo de cimiterio platea tercius
locus et cimiterium sancti Francisci quartus, quintus locus porticus ad ambitum.
Sermo ergo, quem posuimus pro exemplo, ita possct poni: primum membrum, scili­
cet subiectum viciosum, in ecclesia prefata. Secundum, scilicet obiectum graciosum, in
cimiterio. Tercium membrum in tercio loco in platea. Cjuartum in quarto et quintum
in quinto loco. Primum membrum subdiuidatur in ecclesia tali modo, sicut fecimus de
prima causa Decreti. Secundum membrum subdividatur in cimiterio. Tercium mem­
brum subdiuidatur in platea ad dexteram versus sutores vsque ad circulum. Quartum
membrum subdiuidatur in cimiterio sancti Erancisci. Quintum in porticu sancti Fran­
cisci (Wójcik, Opusculum, 182­183, my translation).
STAGING OF MEMORY 89
m i n d in words, phrases and sentences. Very often he would add vig­
orous gesticulation, use props or furnishings and accessories from the
church. In the case o f external staging, the stage was the place in which
the sermon was delivered and the preacher temporarily arranged the
space for the needs o f a sermon. Most often sermons were told from
a suspended pulpit or a podium. Mendicant friars used to carry little
podiums with them and they preached in those places where people
used to gather in numbers, such as marketplaces. 22
The Set Design: Stage Design, Light Design, Props and Costumes
The mnemonic place is a k i n d of specific stage. M n e m o n i c treatises,
including Szklarek's Opusculum de arte memorativa, recommended
the way in which they were to be designed and lighted. Szklarek sug­
gested that the place be straight or angular, circular or sąuare, empty
or marked, well k n o w n , permanent and immutable, a bit remote and
stretched, not too light and not too dark:
Concerning the fourth subject, that is, the spatial place, one should keep
firmly in mind the features of these places. Two groups of five features
exist, but together with their counterparts, one obtains twenty attributes.
But first one should distinguish several types of places: there exist gen­
erał places, such as a city, a monastery, a church or a house, and there
are particular places, such as workshops, rooms in monasteries and in
colleges, altars, choir stalls, corners in the churches. Some are uniąue,
such as tables, chests, reliąuaries in rooms, and others things that can be
found there. Some places can be very specific according tofifteenmodes,
about which we will talk later.
straight or curved I
A place in this art can be round or square
especially distinguished for being mobile or immobile III
empty or signed IV
neither too bright, nor V
too shady
The other five features should be well kept in mind, too:
well­known, not unknown I
constant, not changeable II
2 2
Bracha, Nauczanie kaznodziejskie, 134; G ó t z Adriani, "Der mittelalterliche Pre­
digtorł und seine Ausgestaltung," Ph.D. dissertation, Tiibingen, 1966.
 90 zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
R A F A Ł WÓJCIK STAGING OF MEMORY 91

A place can be stretched out, not condensed III sword, a crown, a wheel, one gilded shoe and one embroidered shoe;
remote, not close IV and finally, the rare image of a woman, which was to contain a sword,
single, or subdivided, V a helmet, a shield, greaves and a spur:
a single place having only one ele­
ment, or not having elements at Concerning the third subject, that is, the ideałfiguresor forms, we cali
all, is not good in itself, if it is not these idols, images or likenesses of things, and they can have five distinc­
23
distinctive. tions. Firstly, we can create an idol containing horrible things, e.g. the
times of Herod, when he ordered the massacre of children by torturę, in
Earlier i n this study when considering some inner players, apart from zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
the following manner:
litterae personales, we mentioned figurae ideales, that is, the images o f
I he should hołd a sword in right hand;
real or fictitious persons or parts o f the body. The preacher attributed
II he should wear a helmet on the head;
different tasks or roles to be played to them; he would assign some III he should hołd a stabbed child in the left hand;
things that needed to be remembered during particular parts o f the IV another dead child under the left foot;
sermon to them. Szklarek distinguished five categories o f such images; V his right foot should be wounded by an enemy or a dog.
four o f them were: images o f human beings, which were dressed or
trimmed, depending on the need, with different costumes or props Second, the images of pleasant things. An example: when somebody
receives his friend at home, he presents him with:
(e.g. the imagined H e r o d holding a sword and a helmet in one hand
and a pierced body o f a little boy in the other, with another child lying I wine in the right hand;
under his foot, and still one more near h i m that had been wounded II he should wear a wreath on the head;
III a fried chicken in the left hand;
by an enemy or a dog); images o f friends, described as a man with
IV a golden spur on the left foot;
some props like wine, a wreath, a fried chicken, a golden spur and a V a beautiful, little dog on, or close to the right foot.
little dog; images o f St. Catherine, which were to be trimmed with a
Thirdly, mixed images, that is, partly pleasant and partly horrible pic­
tures, such as that of St. Catherine:

2 3
I a sword in the right hand;
Circa quartum, scilicet locum spaciosum, et iste conditiones locorum diligenter
notentur, que sunt bis quinque, quemlibet articulum duplicando et sic erunt quasi
II a crown on the head;
viginti. Sed prius locum distinguendo, quia quidam locus est generalis, vt ciuitas, III a wheel in the left hand;
claustrum, ecclesia, domus. Quidam specialis, vt officine, camere in claustris et in IV a gilded shoe on the left foot;
bursis. Altaria, formę, anguli in templis. Quidam vero singularis, vt in cameris m e n s ę , V an embroidered shoe on the right foot, that is, made with gold, silk
cistę, tece et alia ibi contenta. Quidam singularissimus, vt quindecim modi ad hoc
distincti, de quibus dicetur postea. and jewels.
Directus vel curuatus; I
Sit locus in
Fourthly, the marvelous image. For example, a woman who should wear:
Rotundus vel quadratus; II
hac arte preser­ Coniunctus vel translatus; III I a sword in the right hand;
tim specialis Nudatus vel signatus; HU
II a helmet on the head;
Non serenus nec opacus. V
Alie conditiones quinque etiam notentur bene. III a shield in the left hand;
Cognitus non ignotus; I IV a greave on the left foot;
Firmatus non mutatus; II V a spur on the right foot.
Extensus non constrictus; III
Sit locus Remotus non propinquus; IIII Fifthly, an image of possible things, such as someone with a broken or
Vnicus vel plicatus, vnicus, V crippled hand, or wearing rings, or gloves, or someone with a decorated
id est vnam vel nullam in se
or a clean­shaven head, or with a festering, booted, bare, or lame leg,
habens materiam non est bonus,
nisi caractarisetur.
and the stranger the image, the more memorable it will be. If someone
(Wójcik, Opusculum, 140­141, my translation). would like to have a sixth place, he could add it near the belt, the pocket
 92 zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
R A F A Ł WÓJCIK STAGING OF M E M O R Y zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWV
93

or the bag around the mid­height of a man. But it is better to form five
places because of the number, sińce two images contain ten attributes,
and four images twenty. Etc. 24
D u r i n g the act o f preaching some preachers, especially the Observants
operating in this period, very often used some props to support them
in attracting the attention o f the audience. In addition to the intona­
tion or gestures, they would use various objects to facilitate the acts
of memorizing and remembering the sermon. The majority o f promi­
Władysław o f Gielniów, the notable poet composing songs i n Polish
and Latin. Władysław composed most of his works in the form of versus
25
abecedarii or acrostic. H e was also known as an excellent preacher
and he possessed all the features o f a good speaker—he was endowed
with a loud and resounding voice and was considered to be a fiery
preacher (praedicator ferventissimus), surrendering himself to eestatie
prayer during the act o f preaching, and often erying out the phrase
Iesus Nazaraenus Rex Iudaeorum to move the listening crowd. 26

nent Observant preachers were interested i n the art o f memory, for Finally, two remaining questions must be posed. Firstly, i n the
example, Stanisław Korzybski, A n t o n i o f Radomsko, Jan Szklarek o r medieval mnemonic treatises that I have had the chance to inspect I
have found no direct reference to the theatre, spectacles or actors. The
authors o f mnemonic treatises d i d not use theatrical or stage meta­
2 4
Circa tercium, scilicet figuras vel formas ideales, et vocantur idola vel simulacra phors; nevertheless, as I have tried to suggest and to demonstrate,
siue similitudines rerum aliquarum, que possunt se habere in quintuplici differentia. there is a chain o f dependencies and similarities between the rules
Primo rerum horribilium, vt tempore Herodis, quando misit interficere pueros ex
tortore, faciemus ydolum sic:
existing i n the mnemonic images and the world of spectacle. Perhaps
two reasons for the absence o f such metaphors are: their absence in
I gladium teneat dextra manu;
II galeam habeat in capitc; the three Roman texts and the generał resentment or even hostility
III puerum confossum in sinistra; of medieval clergy towards players, actors, and theatrical and scenie
IV puerum alium occisum sub pede sinistro; 27
activities, which were perceived as the source o f depravity and sin.
V pedcm dcxtrum cum vulnere facto ab hoste vel cane.
The authors o f mnemonic treatises in the M i d d l e Ages were predomi­
Secundo rerum delectabilium. Exemplum: Amicus suscipiens amicum in domum offert:
nantly the Dominicans and the Franciscans, so it seems likely that as
I dextra manu vinum;
clergymen they could not exemplify the rules o f the art o f memory
II in capite habet sertum;
III in sinistra manu pullum assum; with the help o f activities against which the church fought.
IV in pede sinistro calcar aureum;
V in pede dextro vel prope canem pulerum paruulum.

Tercio componibile, id est mixtum, hoc est partim delectabile, partim horribile, vt de 2 5

sancta Katherina in [!]: W i e s ł a w Wydra, Władysław z Gielniowa. Z dziejów średniowiecznej poezji pol­
skiej ( W ł a d y s ł a w of Gielniów, from the history of mcdieval Polish poctry) (Poznań:
I in manu dextra spatam; Bestseller, 1992), 13; Wójcik, Opusculum, 80­85; Rafał Wójcik, "Władysława z Giel­
II in capitc coronam; niowa komentarz do Pieśni nad pieśniami" ( W ł a d y s ł a w of Gielniów's commentary on
III in manu sinistra rotam; the Song of songs), in "Cantando cum citharista". Wpięćsetlecie śmierci Władysława z
IV in pede sinistro caleeum deauratum; Gielniowa ("Cantando cum citharista." O n the quincentenary of the death of W ł a d y s ł a w
V in pede dcxtro caleeum racamatum, id est cum auro serico et gemmis factum. of G i e l n i ó w ) , ed. R. Mazurkiewicz (Warszawa: Instytut Badań Literackich, 2006),
79­92.
Quarto mirabile. Exemplum de femina, que habeat: 2 6
Wydra, Władysław z Gielniowa, 39­40; Jan z Komorowa, "Memoriale Ordi­
I in manu dextra gladium; nis Fratrum Minorum," in Monumentu Poloniae Historica 5 (Lwów: w Komisie
II in capite galeam; Księgarni Gurynowicza i Schmidta, 1888), 291: Ule respondit alta voce et tubali, (juam
III in sinistra manu scutum; habuit
IV in ocrea pes sinister; 27
As, for example, Honorius Augustodunensis wrote in his Elucidarium (before
V cum calcari pes dexter. 1108): Habent spem joculatores?—Nullam: tota namąue intentione sunt ministri Satanae
("Can jugglers hope (for salvation]?—No, because they are Satan's servants with their
Quinto rerum possibilium cum manu fracta vel manca vel anulata, id est cum anu­
entire will...") (Honorius Augustodunensis, "Elucidarium sive dialogus de summa
lis, aut cirotecata, capite ornato vel raso, pede vlcerato, rostrato, nudo vel claudo, et
totius Christianae theologiae," Patrologiae Cursus Completus. Series Latina, vol. 217,
quanto mirabilius, tanto erit memorabilius. Si quis vult habere sextum locum, potest
ed. Jacqucs­Paul M i g n ę [Paris: Garnier Fratres, 1895), col. 1148); see also Andrzej
ordinari circa cingulum, circa bursam vel peram in medio hominis. Cjuamuis melius
Dąbrówka, Teofr i sacrum w średniowieczu. Religia cywilizacja, estetyka (Iheatre and
per quinque loca propter numerum, quia duo idola faciunt decem et quatuor idola
sacrum in the Middle Ages. Religion, civilization, aesthetics) (Wrocław: Funna, 2001),
faciunt X X . Et sic consequenter (Wójcik,zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
Opusculum, 142­147, my translation).
237­254.
94 zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
R A F A Ł WÓJCIK zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA

Secondly, in m y opinion, it might be useful to investigate the depen­

dence between staging the mnemonic images in the M i d d l e Ages and
the later "theatres o f memory," which have been so penetratingly con­ O N MISTAKE A N D MEANING:
sidered by Frances A . Yates. It is generally known that this English SCINDERATIONES FONORUM I N M E D I E V A L ARTES
scholar has demonstrated a close dependency between the art o f mem­ MEMORIAE, M N E M O N I C V E R S E S , A N D M A N U S C R I P T S *
ory and the theatres o f memory o f Giullio Camillo or Robert Fludd,
and she has also suggested the influence of them upon the Globe The­ Lucie Doleżalova
atre. F r o m m y perspective, I would like to add that Camillo's the­
atre seems to be a particular manifestation in the real world, namely
A m o n g the most obscure medieval texts, are the two treatises on gram­
a manifestation o f the earlier virtual systems which existed only in the
mar by a curious author calling himself Virgilius M a r o Grammaticus,
m i n d o f the adept o f the art of memory. M y objective was, neverthe­ 1
probably living in the first half o f the seventh century, perhaps in
less, to demonstrate the theatrical and dramatic elements i n the rules 2 3,
Ireland. They are entitled Epitomae and Epistolae and are formed on
and principles o f this very important part o f medieval education.
the model of Donatus' Ars maior and Ars minor. The non­negligible
difference in comparison to Donatus lies in the fact that Yirgilius'

* A n earlier, only slightly different version of this article was published in Language
and History 52 (2009), see www.maney.co.ukjournals/lhi. It presents some ideas that
I have been developing while working on a larger research project "Obscurity and
Memory in the Middle Ages," which should result in a more comprehensive mono­
graph in 2011. Research leading to this article was supported by a Junior Research
Grant from the Grant Agency of the Acadcmy of Sciences of the Czech Republic no.
KJB801970701, and within the framework of a research project MSM0021620843 car­
ried out at the Faculty of Humanities, Charles University in Prague, as well as by a
visiting research fellowship at the Centrę for Medieval Studies in Bergen, Norway. I
am indebted to Kimberly Rivers and Peter Stotz for their useful remarks.
1
This assumption (which is, however, not unanimously accepted) is based on
Virgilius' dependence on Isidore of Seville and on being quoted in some sources from
the second half of the seventh century. The first fuli surviving manuscripts come only
from the ninth and tenth centuries.
2
Although there is no direct evidence, his Irish origin is much promoted by Michael
Herren ("Some new light on the life of Virgilius Maro Grammaticus," Proceedings of
the Royal Irish Academy 79, section C (1979): 27­71), and his works are often seen as
precursors to the specific Irish poctic tradition later devcloped in Hispericafamina and
culminating in James Joyce's Finnegan's Wake. Vivien Law thought that the author
might have been English (Vivien Law, Insular Latin Grammarians (Woodbridge:
Boydell Press, 1982), 87. Virgilius himself makes an indirect mention of his origin in
Gall. Abbo of Fleury calls him Tolosanus (of Toulouse). He was also considered to be a
Jew: many of the strange words he uses seemed to be of Hebrew origin. The most curi­
ous (and the least accepted) is the idea of Leo Wiener, who sees Virgilius as coming
from an Arabie culture, interpreting most of his obscurities as words of Arabie origin
(Leo Wiener, Contributions Toward a History of Arabico­Gothic Culture (Piscataway:
Gorgias Press L L C , 2002), 21.
3
Edited most recently by Bengt Lófstedt, Virgilius Maro Grammaticus: Opera
Omnia (Munich and Leipzig: K G Saur, 2003). Previous editions are Giovanni Polara,
trans., L. Garuso and G . Polara, eds., Virgilius Maro Grammaticus, Epitomi ed Epistole,
Nuovo medioevo 9 (Naples: Liguori, 1979), and Johannes Huemer, ed., Virgilii Maronis
grammatici opera (Leipzig, 1886).