Water in medieval intellectual culture : case-studies from twelfth-century monasticism / by James L. Smith.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Smith, James L. (Editor), author.

Series:

Cursor mundi (Turnhout, Belgium) ; v. 30.

Cursor mundi ; volume 30

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Water--Religious aspects--Christianity.

Water spirits in literature.

Water in literature.

Monastic and religious life--Middle Ages.

Monks' writings.

Europe.

Monks' writings--History and criticism.

Literature, Medieval--History and criticism.

Literature, Medieval.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

xiii, 209 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Turnhout, Belgium : Brepols, [2017]

Summary:

This study examines the significance and the deployment of fluid imagery in the composition, narration, and recollection of organised thought in the High Middle Ages through a blend of environmental and intellectual history. This volume provides a new contribution to the understanding of twelfth-century monasticism and medieval intellectual culture by exploring the relationship between water and the composition of thought. It provides a fresh insight into twelfth-century monastic philosophies by studying the use of water as an abstract entity in medieval thought to frame and discuss topics such as spirituality, the natural order, knowledge visualization, and metaphysics in various high medieval texts, including Godfrey of Saint-Victor's 'Fons Philosophiae', Peter of Celle's letter corpus, and the 'Description of Clairvaux'.

Contents:

Chapter 1 Interpreting Water as Complex Metaphor p. 15

Surveying Medieval Water Studies p. 17

The Modern Problem of Water p. 23

Universality and Specificity p. 31

Approaching Water as Intellectual Metaphor p. 37

Chapter 2 The Medieval Properties of Water Metaphor p. 43

Fluid Knowledge through Christ and Cosmos p. 44

The Likeness of an Element p. 58

The Rhetorical Colores of Water p. 65

Chapter 3 'An Unpolluted Spring': Godfrey of Saint-Victor's Fons Philosophiae and the Riparian Liberal Arts p. 75

Godfrey of Saint-Victor and His Poem p. 81

The 'Watershed' of the Seven Liberal Arts p. 84

Theologia, the Mystical End of Knowledge p. 100

Conclusion: The Forts Philosophiae as a Pedagogical Hydrology p. 109

Chapter 4 'Your pen poured forth good words': Liquid Models in the Epistolary Style of Peter of Celle p. 113

Peter of Celle and His Letters p. 117

The Tongue of the Pen p. 121

The Agriculture of Community p. 128

Conclusion: Rhetorical Flows and Epistolary Macrotexts p. 139

Chapter 5 'To Serve you as a Mirror': Spiritual Topography and Monastic Waterscape in A Description of Clairvaux p. 143

Mental Image and Cistercian Landscape p. 147

Abstract Hydrology and Nature-Textuality p. 153

Reading the Aube in the Description of Clairvaux p. 158

Conclusion: Spirituality Without, Clairvaux Within p. 173.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 187-204) and index.

ISBN:

9782503572338

2503572332

OCLC:

1012506426