De duodecim abusivis saeculi explained

Latin: De duodecim abusivis saeculi (“On the Twelve Abuses of the World”), also titled simply De duodecim abusivis, is a Hiberno-Latin treatise on social and political morality written by an anonymous Irish author between 630 and 700,[1] or between 630 and 650.[2] [3] [4] [5] During the Middle Ages, the work was very popular throughout Europe.

Origin

In the manuscripts, the work is frequently ascribed to a named author, most commonly Saint Cyprian or Saint Augustine; this led to early editions being published among the works of these authors.

In 1905, however, John Bagnell Bury pointed out that it quoted from the Latin Vulgate, which was incompatible with an attribution to Cyprian or Augustine. He pointed out that the ninth abuse was quoted almost entirely in the Collectio canonum Hibernensis, where it was ascribed to Saint Patrick; and that extracts from the same section were quoted in a letter addressed by Cathwulf, circa A.D. 775, to King Charles the Great, and preserved in a ninth-century manuscript. He concluded that this evidence “proves that the treatise is older than A.D., 700, and strongly suggests that its origin is Irish, that it was ascribed in Ireland to Patrick, and travelled to Gaul under his name.”[6]

In his 1909 edition,[7] Siegmund Hellmann (de) adduced further evidence, establishing it as the work of an anonymous Irish author of the 7th century. Since then, its author is conventionally known as Pseudo-Cyprian.

Sources

The text is based largely on the Bible, containing “over thirty citations from the Old Testament and twenty-three from the New excluding the Gospels, with nineteen more from the Gospels”;[8] these citations are made from the Latin Vulgate.

Ever since Hellmann's edition, the Rule of St. Benedict has also been regarded as an important source.[9] Hellmann regarded the ordering of the text into twelve abuses as a reversal of the twelve steps of the ladder of humility from the seventh chapter of the Rule. Breen thought it was more probable that it drew instead from the Regula Magistri, a different text which was itself a source for that chapter in the rule of St. Benedict. Constant Mews argues instead that it draws on the model of the twelve modes of forgiveness in the Irish penitential of Cummian.[10] Meanwhile, Joyce argues it adapts the model of linguistic abuses from the twelve vices of grammar defined by Donatus.[11]

The text also seems to have drawn on various of the Church Fathers, although none are cited by name; particularly, Origen, Cyprian, Ambrose, Augustine, Rufinus, Jerome, Cassian and Gregory the Great.

Hellmann thought that the text drew on St Isidore. Almost everyone agreed with this, but Breen[12] did not.

Twelve abuses

De duodecim abusivis condemns the following twelve abuses:[13]

Latin: AbusivisAbuse
Latin: sapiens sine operibus bonisthe wise man without good works
Latin: senex sine religionethe old man without religion
Latin: adolescens sine oboedientiathe young man without obedience
Latin: dives sine elemosynathe rich man without almsgiving
Latin: femina sine pudicitiathe woman without modesty
Latin: dominus sine virtutethe lord without virtue
Latin: Christianius contentiosusthe argumentative Christian
Latin: pauper superbusthe poor man who is proud
Latin: rex iniquusthe unjust king
Latin: episcopus neglegensthe negligent bishop
Latin: plebs sine disciplinathe people without discipline
Latin: populus sine legethe people without law

Influence

The work was very influential, both directly and through the Hibernensis; especially the ninth abuse, the unjust king.

There is some direct evidence for the text's popularity in tenth-century England. Bishop Æthelwold of Winchester is known to have donated a copy to the Peterborough house.[14] Ælfric of Eynsham drew on a version included in Abbo of Fleury's Latin: Collectio canonum for his Old English treatise Latin: De octo vitiis et de duodecim abusivis gradus, in which the section on the Latin: rex iniquus was translated whole.

Hellmann points out the extensive influence of the work upon Carolingian writings, such as the mirrors for princes, and later political literature.

Later, the work was quoted by multiple medieval theologians and scholars such as Vincent of Beauvais and John of Wales. Translations and adaptations in multiple vernacular languages were prepared.[15]

See also

Further reading

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Anton. Hans Hubert. Pseudo-Cyprian, De duodecim abusivis saeculi und sein Einfluß auf den Kontinent, insbesondere auf die karolingischen Fürstenspiegel, in Die Iren und Europa im früheren Mittelalter (1982) • CODECS: Online Database and e-Resources for Celtic Studies. 2021-08-27. www.vanhamel.nl.
  2. Book: Kenney, James F.. The sources for the early history of Ireland : ecclesiastical : an introduction and guide. 1929. Octagon Books. 0-374-94560-8. New York. 282. 506596474.
  3. Book: Hughes, Kathleen. Church and society in Ireland, A.D. 400-1200. 1987. Variorum Reprints. D. N. Dumville. 0-86078-206-9. London. 18321980.
  4. Towards a critical edition of De XII Abusivis : Introductory essays with a provisional edition of the text and accompanied by an English translation. Trinity College (Dublin, Ireland). Department of History. 1988. thesis. en. Aidan. Breen. 2262/77107 .
  5. Web site: Breen . Aidan. De XII abusivis: text and transmission, in Ireland and Europe in the early Middle Ages (2002) • CODECS: Online Database and e-Resources for Celtic Studies. 2021-08-27. www.vanhamel.nl.
  6. Book: Bury, J. B.. The life of St. Patrick and his place in history. 1905. Macmillan and Co. 0-7905-4168-8. [Impression 2]. London . 296198.
  7. Book: Hellmann, Siegmund. Texte und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der altchristlichen Literatur. 1909. Berlin Kommission für Spätantike Religionsgeschichte, Akademie der Wissenschaften, Akademie-Verlag. PIMS - University of Toronto.
  8. Web site: Breen. Aidan. Pseudo-Cyprian De duodecim abusivis saeculi and the Bible, in Irland und die Christenheit (1987) • CODECS: Online Database and e-Resources for Celtic Studies. 2021-08-27. www.vanhamel.nl.
  9. Néill, Ó. "Romani influences on seventh-century Hiberno-Latin literature." Ireland and Europe: The Early Church (1984): 280-290.
  10. Mews, Constant J. "The De XII Abusivis Saeculi and Prophetic Tradition in Seventh-Century Ireland', in Prophecy, Fate and Memory in the Early and Medieval Celtic World, ed. Jonathan Wooding and Lynette Olson. Sydney, 2020, 125-147: 139-43.
  11. Joyce, Stephen J. "'Each in the Calling to Which They are Called': Images of Authority in the De XII Abusiuis Saeuli." Addressing Injustice in the Medieval Body Politic, ed. Constant J. Mews and Kathleen B. Neal. Amsterdam, 2023, 87-109: 92-3.
  12. Web site: Breen. Aidan. The date, provenance and authorship of the Pseudo-Patrician canonical materials, Zeitschfirt der Savigny-Stiftung für Rechtsgeschichte, Kanonistische Abteilung 81 (1995) • CODECS: Online Database and e-Resources for Celtic Studies . 2021-08-27. www.vanhamel.nl.
  13. Book: Aelfric, Abbot of Eynsham. Two Ælfric texts : the twelve abuses and the vices and virtues. 2013. Mary Clayton. 978-1-78204-191-7. Cambridge. 862973099.
  14. http://www.anglo-saxons.net/hwaet/?do=seek&query=S+1448 Sawyer no. 1448
  15. See Constant J. Mews and Kathleen B. Neal, "Justice and Its Abuse in the Medieval Body Politic." Addressing Injustice in the Medieval Body Politic, ed. Mews and Neal. Amsterdam, 2023. 15-34.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "De duodecim abusivis saeculi".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2024, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.