Medieval Guide

Preaching – an important practice in the Judeo-Christian cultures; ancient and early medieval preaching traditions included

· Jesus and the Great Commission “Go into all the world…”—a specifically persuasion-based injunction

· Paul’s missionary vocation—an interconnection with classical Graeco-Roman rhetoric

· Strong community basis of Jewish and Christian preaching differs from Graeco-Ciceronian approach to oratory; preaching is for the good of the community, not the speaker

Augustine sees the utility of the developed Classical tradition for the preaching needs of the Christian church—for education and exhortation

But his syntheses in De doctrina and De catechezandis fail to spark a movement— Preaching remains untheorized for 800 years after Augustine; Why?

· “Laser beam focus” on the content of the gospel rather than style or form

· Concept of “the speaker” did not fit with Graeco-Roman model, where speaker was elevated in importance

Pope Gregory the Great (6^th cen.) and Rabanus Maurus (9^th cen.) write about preaching and training preachers, but neither builds a preaching theory

· Guibert is still concerned with biblical interpretation as a way to get material for a sermon together, but he does indicate that sermon creation is an important process and should be attempted systematically

· Alain’s book is mostly a collection of model sermons, but first chapter sets up the art perceptively, beginning with first ever formal definition of preaching: “manifest and public instruction in faith and morals, zealously serving the information of mankind, proceeding by the narrow path of reason and the fountain of authority” (Murphy 307)

· Main features of ars praedicandi already seem “stabilized”: divisio (divisions), auctoritas (authorities), and correspondentia (correspondence between parts); he coins term forma praedicandi or form of preaching

True theoretical perceptive art of preaching develops rapidly after 1200—fully established by 1220; Why, after such a long period of non-theory?

· More likely a critical Western European “discourse community” of writers willing and able to theorize what had been going on in practice for many years

· Alexander of Ashby, English Augustinian monk, De modo praedicandi (The Mode of Preaching) c. 1200. Concepts of divisions, subdivisions, and proofs; arrangement of a sermon in to four parts; and teaching on addressing mixed (learned and unlearned) audiences. Fully preceptive, with examples attached. Assumes a “standard form” exists and should be taught. First fully preceptive treatise since Augustine.

· Thomas of Salisbury, Summa de arte praedicandi ("Overview" of the Art of Preaching) c. 1220. Fully unites Ciceronian theory (Rhet. ad Herennium as source) with preaching theory--the preacher must make use of the persuasive possibilities in rhetoric (first such statement since Augustine). Highlights important points of preaching theory: varying narrations with "significations" and division of the theme (a means of invention). Lays out 6 part plan for a sermon;

Scripture remains dominant, with rhetoric the "prime vehicle" for taking it to the people; ars praedicandi is fully formed and in use by this time and fully reflected in Thomas's Summa

· Richard of Thetford, Ars dilatandi sermones (Art of Amplifying Sermons) c. 1245. Assumes full development of the art and offers a specialized treatment of one aspect, amplification of themes. Uses common "eight modes" Very popular, must have been a practical aid to many preachers; indicates the specializing tendency when a theoretical art has been fully developed an in use

After 1250, ars praedicandi is stable as a specialized rhetorical art, focused on a single purpose and consciously applying all previous theory that it found useful. Many typical artes exist; best known is Robert of Basevorn's De forma praedicandi 1322.

Ars praed. continues into the early modern period as a vital tradition, with influence even on Reformation practices; only replaced by Ciceronian models of the Humanist Classical tradition

Mixing the Arts of Discourse: “Preceptive Grammar”: Grammar and Rhetoric from late antiquity through the middle ages

Rhetoric was always tied to public discourse, and its tradition was preceptive. It furnished guidelines or precepts for the future creation of discourse, mostly oral but using writing as a technology to support it.

Grammar always began the study regime in ancient and medieval schools—students would learn their letters, words, and declensions. Later they would read the simpler writings and emulate them (imitatio). Donatus’s Ars minor and Ars maior were the two common beginning Latin textbooks

Older students would study advanced grammar using the Institutiones grammaticae of Priscian (early 5^th cen) and would progress to more complex literary models. Literary study became immensely detailed -- Grammar also taught the identification and use of figurative language— Broken down into schemes, tropes, and metaplasms, these strategies of diction, syntax, and metaphoric representation assumed a huge role in the arts of discourse for Roman orators (usually drawing on Book IV of the Rhetorica ad Herennium), medieval grammarians and rhetoricians, and Renaissance humanist scholars and educators.

An important tension always existed between grammar and rhetoric—where one stopped and the other began. Quintilian complains of grammarians in 1^st century Rome encroaching on the more advanced territory of the rhetoricians; and he tells them to “back off.” But as rhetoric lost its cultural anchor in the public practice of oratory—as the Roman era transitioned into the middle ages—the confusion of the two arts of discourse became easier. They were both much more theoretical “book based” subjects when Latin ceased to be the first language of its learners and public speaking became less possible. Confusions often revolved around the doctrine of figurae or figures of speech, which Donatus had divided into “figures of grammar” and “figures of rhetoric,” but unsystematically. This particular crossover concern never got “straightened out”—

Until about 1200, grammar meant what was basically found in Donatus and Priscian: close attention to correct language: its parts, its constructions, vocabulary, syntax, etc. It meant studying literature as a gauge of correctness to see how auctores used language, to emulate in one’s own speaking and writing.

Around 1200, for reasons that are not well understood, grammatical scholarship began to develop rapidly and seek new directions.

First step was the publication of a new advanced textbook to replace Priscian—the Doctrinale of Alexander of Villedieu This offered an update to Latin structure and diction—it was still “traditional grammar” that defined ordinary, correct usage; its inclusion of extensive teaching on Latin metrics and figurae suggest that these facets of language use had become even more embedded into the Ars grammatica.

The Graecismus of Evrard of Bethune followed in the mould of the Doctrinale as a new rendition of older material, but with its own new emphases; Evrard also treats the figurae, but divides them into “permissive, prohibited, and preceptive”; the assumption here is that the main stream of traditional grammar was often including preceptive material that could aid verse composition

At this time (early 13^th cen) grammarians began to branch into novel directions, leaving traditional “grammar” in the hands of Donatus (his books were still used as beginning texts), Alexander and Evrard: the Ars rithmica, the Ars poetriae, and “Speculative Grammar”

The Ars rithmica: a special extension of grammatical teaching on rhythmic language that offered guidelines for composing rhythmic prose (yes, that’s rhythmic prose). A major work in this area is the Summa artis dictaminis of Thomas of Capua. Rhythmic prose is a composition that is organized around the number of syllables and consonance of sounds (resembles characteristics of English prosody or verse more than Latin verse, which was quantitative according to vowels). Ars rithmica is especially important because of the close connection with the Ars dictaminis (as Thomas’s title implies). The “artistic” approach to dictamen of the French scholars gave that concept a more general “prose writing” meaning; and the theory of prose writing was heavily involved with rithmus. The Ars rithmica covered the theory and practice of rhythmic writing in general, and this thus applied to prose writing of various sorts; letters and hymns were often named as some major products of this preceptive art.

Most well-known and popular branch of the “grammatical revolution” was the sudden flowering of the Ars poetriae at the end of the 12^th cen. “A much discussed and little understood movement,” but one with intriguing ties to the rhetorical preceptive tradition.

First production is the “Versificator’s Art” by Matthew of Vendome at the end of the 12^th cen. It is a generalized treatment, but, as Murphy explains, still tells us some valuable things about 12^th cen grammar masters; “that they were interested in beginnings and ends of poems, that they toyed with ways to change words (permutatio), that they respected existing genres, that they taught the tropes and figures, that they looked to Cicero as well as to Horace for methods of description.” (168)

Geoffrey of Vinsauf’s “New Poetics” is the best known of these books; written about 1200 he offers advice in verse to those wishing to produce elegant verses. He is concerned with invention and disposition of material, with amplification and abbreviation, and with ornamentation—traditional areas of Ciceronian oratorical theory. He also wrote a prose version of his teachings known as the Documentum.

The implicit union of rhetoric and grammar in Geoffrey is made even more specific in Gervase of Melkley’s book “The Art of Versification”; this text seems to have relied on Geoffrey but Gervase specifically says in the preface that writers should seek help and advice from Donatus, Horace, or Cicero, whoever can help, and that it is a “moot point whether elegance is gained more from grammar or rhetoric.” (173)

So, medieval grammarians of the 13^th cen sought to extend their body of theoretical knowledge and preceptive practice to all modes of composition—verse, rhythm, and prose and various combinations of these; oral composition is also included from time to time. The high tide of this movement can be seen in the treatise by John of Garland that sought to unify all strands of preceptive teaching in one place—the Unified Field Theory of medieval writing instruction. The concept was too large to work out in practicality—

The most ambitious of all of the grammar pioneers were the speculative grammarians or modistae. Here, grammar joined forces with philosophy to confront some fundamental problems of language: How do words mean? What is the significance of the parts of speech? What is the nature of language itself? Is there a universal language? These questions were tackled, among many, by Martin of Dacia and the English philosopher and alchemist Roger Bacon; their inquiry comes close to what today we would call theoretical linguistics. The modistae demonstrate the willingness of medieval grammarians to think in unfamiliar ways and to explore the implications of their studies.

Although speculative grammar had a small but consistent group of scholars who propagated it throughout the middle ages after the 13^th cen., the ars poetriae did not gain a large following as a preceptive undertaking and lost momentum after the mid 13^th cen. Why this happened is also unclear, just as the origins of the movement were. Probably, the theoretical unity of the several arts was too hard to hold together in the face of the practical and diverse uses of writing. After a while, scholars and lay persons became more interested in composing or reading a good manual on letter writing or on preaching than in theoretical speculations on how various genres could be unified and taught with a single set of precepts. Cicero’s tradition was more flexible and applicable to these specialized arts than that of Donatus and Priscian.

So the end of the middle ages (15^th cen) sees the continuing ancient rhetorical tradition doing just that—continuing, and influencing specialized applications of preceptive theory in letter writing and preaching. Grammar was still preeminent -- The history of preceptive rhetoric was to take a bold new direction soon, however, as new classical texts and new social conditions would reinvigorate the tradition of eloquence.

7. How did the Ars dictaminis develop as the first systematic theory of writing?

A uniquely medieval invention; first "writing theory" in West designed to produce written texts

Many major public figures wrote letters in ancient world, especially Cicero, but as a by-product of their rhetorically-based literacy; Letter-writing theory proper begins with Julius Victor, 4^th cen AD Roman rhetorical theorist; letter theory added as afterthought to his Ars rhetorica; letters seen as "informal discourse"

Cassiodorus Senator (6^th cen.) Wrote thousands of letters in the classical, Ciceronian artistic style, including official correspondence; his collection, Variae, hugely popular in middle ages--but no theorizing of letters as separate entities

Early middle ages: (6^th to 10^th centuries) Formula letters or patterns to copy for formal or legal documents were common, but not theory based; need for flexible "art" to respond to many demands of feudal society was clearly needed by 11^th cen.

First preceptive tradition grew out of teaching at Monastery of Monte Cassino; monk Alberic produced two works that lay out groundwork for new epistolary theory based on Ciceronian rhetorical teachings: Dictaminum radii and Breviarium de dictamine

These are first theoretical teaching works to focus on writing as writing, not speaking; they stress the colores or figurae, and emphasize importance of the beginnings of letters; A. changes Ciceronian exordium into salutatio and captatio benevolentiae (he coins this phrase, which becomes standard), "greeting," and "securing of goodwill"; beginnings of letters assume greatest importance from this point on. Relatively little theory is produced about the other standard parts of a letter, the narratio, petitio, and conclusio.

· Emphasis on salutation and intro. sections, with distinction between social levels

· Implication of connection between rhythmic prose (cursus) and letter writing

In Italy, the Ars dictaminis becomes connected with public documents, the "notarial" arts; theory is direct and focused solely on useful, practical letter-writing purposes and occasions. "Dictatores" or letter writing specialists are secular and business-oriented.

Examples of works from this strand: Hugh of Bologna's Rationes dictandi prosaice and the anonymous treatise Rationes dictandi, both written in Bologna in Italy in the early 12^th cen. Guido Faba is the most successful "Dictatore."

Later treatises become extremely formulaic and separated from theory, e.g., Lawrence of Aquilegia's Practica

The traditional, artistic/Ciceronian approach begun by Alberic is continued mostly in France, at Orleans, where Dictamen was united with grammar to represent the study and practice of written composition in general, in prose and verse. Style is usually stressed, along with teaching on the figurae. The cursus is considered integral to the art.

Pons of Provence wrote a treatise that included model letters but also theory on arrangement of discourse

Writers like Geoffrey of Vinsauf and Matthew of Vendome combined theory of letter writing with verse composition, emphasizing style (elocutio) and including large sections on the figurae.

Ars dictaminis continued to be popular in various forms throughout Europe into the Renaissance. It was replaced by the wholesale return to Ciceronian principles advocated by Humanists: imitation of master models (Cicero himself), a knowledge of literature as background, a focus on artistic, non-formalistic composition.

Marjorie Curry Woods, “The Teaching of Writing in Medieval Europe,” in A Short History of Writing Instruction, ed. James Murphy, 1990

The master narrative of “rhetoric” (founded by Greeks, oral in nature, disappearing in middle ages, reappearing in Renaissance) expounded by scholars like George Kennedy takes a narrow view of rhetoric historically, and masks how it was integrated into the language arts and became part of other practices, especially composition in various modes (prose, verse, rhythmic prose) 78-9

Woods sees unity of grammar and rhetoric in teaching described by John of Salisbury (in Metalogicon) as propounded by Bernard of Chartres

-includes daily memorization of passages and short compositions in prose and verse based on these readings

-Bernard expounded to students the rhetorical choices necessary in different kinds of composing

Composition teaching was based on a collection of texts used with broad consistency throughout Europe—late antique—early medieval short works exemplifying several types of language. 81 These were collected into the Liber Catonianus which included

1. Distichs of Cato 3d century

2. Eclogue of Theodulus 10^th cen

3. Fables of Avianus 4^th cen

4. Elegies of Maximianus 6^th cen

5. Achilleid of Statius 1^st cen

6. Rape of Proserpine of Claudian 5^th cen

These were studied after students mastered basics of Latin via Donatus—most are in verse, in short stanzas suitable for memorization and imitation

Gervais of Melkely also names other common and pedagogically interesting and useful works for YOUNGER students, including Architrenius by John of Hanville (de Hauteville) , Anticlaudianus of Alain de Lille, Bernard Sylvester’s Cosmographia and the eyewitness account of the Fall of Troy by Dares the Phrygian. Ovid’s Metamorphoses were always popular. More advanced students should consult Cicero and Donatus’ Barbarismus. 85

Students reworked themes in their own verse that included figures and other language features. They also worked toward an understanding of larger discourse structures, like artificial beginnings and transitions discussed and exemplified in Poetria nova 86

Poteriae nova was a cross over text, used for both early students in their versifying and in university for its theory of rhetoric and composing. 87

Nature of these texts for children (boys) is surprising to our sensibilities—sexual and lurid content is common. Moralizing and allegorization happened for OLDER students and adults; university study was not sexy.

Woods suggests that the insights gained from looking at how rhetoric was actually applied to discourse in the middle ages move us away from the grand narrative of the Greeks, Plato, Aristotle, and Cicero and toward a broadening of our consideration of what rhetoric actually is: 92-93

Some of her points:

-focusing the rhetorical lens only on adult civic discourse misses the point that the basis of rhetoric has always been the pedagogical tradition

-rhetorical training moves from narration to persuasion, personal to public, from literature and poetry to civic discourse; individual’s learning experiences seem to follow this pattern

-throughout the whole Western tradition, the nominal goal of training public speakers has overshadowed the real goal of teachers in carrying forward a textual heritage to serve as the basis of communication/creativity

-rhetoric combines both the permanent and transitory—textual and oral, performed and imaginary

-“rhetoric is used in all shared aspects of life”

-“Primary rhetoric” is our inheritance of written and spoken texts

9. What was the impact of rhetorical theory and study on universities? and vice versa?

· Of various new developments, quite substantial--Dictamin, Poetriae, Praedicandi all developed significantly in University settings (esp. Paris, Oxford: Praedicandi; Bologna: Dictamin)

Rhetoric and Preaching: From Genesis to the Ars praedicandi

Mixing the Arts of Discourse: “Preceptive Grammar”: Grammar and Rhetoric from late antiquity through the middle ages

Examples of works from this strand: Hugh of Bologna's Rationes dictandi prosaice and the anonymous treatise Rationes dictandi, both written in Bologna in Italy in the early 12^th cen. Guido Faba is the most successful "Dictatore."

Later treatises become extremely formulaic and separated from theory, e.g., Lawrence of Aquilegia's Practica

Rhetoric and Preaching: From Genesis to the Ars praedicandi

Mixing the Arts of Discourse: “Preceptive Grammar”: Grammar and Rhetoric from late antiquity through the middle ages

Examples of works from this strand: Hugh of Bologna's Rationes dictandi prosaice and the anonymous treatise Rationes dictandi, both written in Bologna in Italy in the early 12th cen. Guido Faba is the most successful "Dictatore."

Later treatises become extremely formulaic and separated from theory, e.g., Lawrence of Aquilegia's Practica

Examples of works from this strand: Hugh of Bologna's Rationes dictandi prosaice and the anonymous treatise Rationes dictandi, both written in Bologna in Italy in the early 12^th cen. Guido Faba is the most successful "Dictatore."