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Text and concordance of Morales de Ovidio [microform] : a fifteenth-century Castilian translation of the Ovidius moralizatus : Madrid, Biblioteca Nacional ms. 10144

Petrus Berchorius und der antike Mythos im 14. Jahrhundert

Mit dem 1348 in Bologna entstandenen Prachtcodex, der hier erstmals vollständig präsentiert und dokumentiert wird, erhält eine für die Rezeption des antiken Mythos entscheidende Phase zwischen Mittelalter und Renaissance ein vollkommen neues Profil.00Der Text, der Ovidius moralizatus des Petrus Berchorius, der 1340 in Avignon geschrieben wurde und schnell große Verbreitung fand, unternimmt eine systematische Allegorese der Metamorphosen, die auf die aktuelle Situation in Kirche und Gesellschaft abzielt. Der exzeptionelle Miniaturenzyklus verrät ein ausgeprägtes Natur-Interesse und entwickelt daraus eine phantasievolle Ikonographie der Verwandlungen. Zugleich ist hier ein neues emotional-menschliches Ovidverständnis zu fassen.00Die Wiedergabe und Analyse der Bilder sowie die kritische Edition, Übersetzung und Kommentierung des Berchorius-Textes werden durch literarische und kunstgeschichtliche Vergleichsstudien kontextualisiert, so dass ein umfassendes Bild von der prominenten Rolle des antiken Mythos in den intellektuellen Debatten des 14. Jahrhunderts an den kulturellen Zentren Europas entsteht

The Moralized Ovid

"The Benedictine preacher Pierre Bersuire (ca. 1290-1362), also known by his Latin name Petrus Berchorius, was a prolific author and translator who spent much of his life working in the elite literary circles at Avignon and Paris. Like so many of his contemporaries, Bersuire valued both the Bible and classical literature as sources of moral instruction. The Moralized Ovid, commonly referred to by its Latin title, Ovidius moralizatus, to distinguish it from the anonymous French vernacular Ovide moralisé, was arguably the most influential interpretation of Ovid's Metamorphoses in the High Middle Ages. The Moralized Ovid circulated in three distinct versions produced in Avignon and Paris between 1340 and 1362. All three versions consist of sixteen sections in total-fifteen books, each corresponding to a book of the Metamorphoses, introduced by a first section comprising a brief prologue connected to a rather lengthy description of the major pagan deities. The Moralized Ovid may be considered the product of a long tradition of allegory and reworking of the Metamorphoses from late antiquity to 1340. At the same time, the Moralized Ovid also represents a new departure in Ovidian interpretation during the High Middle Ages, for Bersuire provides his readers, many of whom were probably preachers, with abundant illustrative material to inspire the minds of their listeners. His allegories and moralizations therefore have a distinctly Christian flavor and outlook, and are usually backed up by one or more proof texts drawn from a wide range of authors, including Augustine, Bernard of Clairvaux, Cicero, Gregory the Great, Pliny the Elder, Rabanus Maurus, Seneca, and Solinus"--"Written in about 1340 in Avignon by the Benedictine preacher Pierre Bersuire, The Moralized Ovid--commonly referred to by its Latin title, Ovidius moralizatus, to distinguish it from the anonymous French vernacular Ovide morališ--was arguably the most influential interpretation of Ovid's Metamorphoses in the High Middle Ages. It circulated widely in manuscript form and was frequently printed during the Renaissance. Originally intended as a sourcebook of exempla for preachers' sermons, The Moralized Ovid provides not only a window into the reception of classical literature in the fourteenth century but also amazingly vivid details of daily life in the Middle Ages across all strata of society. The work begins with a detailed description of the Greco-Roman gods, inspired in part by Bersuire's friend and fellow proponent of classical poetry, Francesco Petrarch. It then retells selected major myths from Ovid's Metamorphoses, each followed by numerous allegorical interpretations that draw from biblical stories, contemporary events, and the natural world. This edition presents the first full English translation alongside an authoritative Latin text."--