Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Thesis Format

Monograph

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy

Program

English

Supervisor

Moll, Richard

2nd Supervisor

Schuurman, Anne

Abstract

This thesis examines the practice and understanding of the ancient ars memoria (art of memory) tradition in late medieval England. Using the work of fifteenth-century Augustinian friar Osbern Bokenham, I argue that his hagiography demonstrates a pronounced engagement with both ancient ars memoria techniques and original medieval adaptations and expansions of these narrative mnemonic strategies. The late medieval ars memoria, therefore, speaks to the education and training that allowed for complex and fluid approaches to mnemonic narration.

Bokenham’s surviving body of work includes a set of commissioned female saints’ lives entitled Legendys of Hooly Wummen, and a sizeable legendary of continental saints’ lives based largely on Jacobus de Voragine’s Legenda aurea, interspersed with both original and variously sourced local saints’ lives. Bokenham also wrote Mappula Angliae, a geographical history of England translated and adapted from sections of Ralph Higden’s Polychronicon. Finally, the “Dialogue at the Grave of Joan of Acres” is a short text that details Richard of York’s matrilineal claim to the throne.

Bokenham’s engagement with conventional mnemonic traditions demonstrates intentional adaptations and customizations that correlate to various categorizations of saints. The narratives of many of the English, Irish and Welsh saints that Bokenham inserts into Voragine’s established list do not easily lend themselves to those traditional mnemotechnics based on the more formulaic nature of earlier, continental saints’ lives. For these local and usually later saints Bokenham substitutes a pronounced and novel emphasis on mnemonic geographies, local anecdotes, or alternate forms of genealogies, such as spiritual or ecclesiastical lineages. For example, Bokenham employs etymology selectively instead of imitating Voragine’s near-universal application. Bokenham then takes the etymological and mnemonic principles of origin-mapping and transposes them onto geographical, cultural, and successional frameworks. The Mappula Angliae, which was designed to accompany Bokenham’s large legendary, emphasizes the innovative concept of transforming the cities, churches, shrines, and anecdotal memories of England and its people into a living, breathing memory palace.

Summary for Lay Audience

This thesis examines the practice and understanding of the ancient Greek and Roman ars memoria (art of memory) tradition in late medieval England. Using the work of fifteenth-century writer Osbern Bokenham, who translated and adapted a large collection of saints’ lives, I argue that his texts demonstrate both a pronounced engagement with ancient ars memoria techniques and a development of original medieval adaptations of these narrative mnemonic (i.e. memory device) strategies.

Bokenham’s surviving opus includes a set of commissioned female saints’ lives entitled Legendys of Hooly Wummen (Legends of Holy Women), and a sizeable legendary of saints’ lives based largely on Jacobus de Voragine’s Legenda aurea (Golden Legend), interspersed with adapted, variously-sourced, local saints’ lives. Bokenham also wrote Mappula Angliae (Map of England), a geographical history of England translated and adapted from sections of Ranulf Higden’s Polychronicon (A History of Many Ages).

Bokenham’s uses or adaptations of conventional mnemonic techniques demonstrate his engagement with the art of memory as well as his ability both to select existing strategies and create new ones depending on various categories of the saints whose lives he re-tells. Bokenham uses a Christianized form of classical etymology—or the moralized, symbolic, and purportedly linguistic origin of words—as well as vividly described images, to make high-profile saints like the apostles or female virgin martyrs stand out. For the English, Irish, and Welsh saints that Bokenham inserts that do not easily lend themselves to traditional mnemonic strategies, Bokenham substitutes a pronounced and novel emphasis on geographies, powerful local anecdotes, or alternate forms of genealogies, such as spiritual or ecclesiastical lineages.

In this way, Bokenham takes the etymological and mnemonic principles of origin-mapping and transposes them onto geographical, cultural, and successional frameworks. He also adapts the now popularized concept of memory palaces and transforms the cities, churches, shrines, and anecdotal memories of England and its people into a living, breathing memory palace. This project provides a look at the development of what is now arguably a lost art, and how, from its early roots in oratory, it was adapted for use in written religious works.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

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